The MGF - the No.1 UK roadster that suddenly disappeared!
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- A roadster is all about fun. Sunny, carefree Sunday’s driving somewhere, anywhere, just for the sheer pleasure of driving. Cars like the MGB provided that fun, when you weren’t sitting at the side of the road trying to work out why it wouldn’t start. The MGF was an attempt to recreate that MG roadster passion with a mid-engined, nimble sports car. So why did the dream end after 10 years in production when the car was still the number one selling UK roadster?
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Nice piece of research and story .....happy to have been a part of the history
Wow - thanks Steve. That means a lot coming from you! You did a fantastic job on the MGF. I hope I didn't get too much wrong!
@@BigCar2 my sketches and the mentions of MGA hit the essence. It was great to know that my theme, actually inspired by the Ferrari 250 LM and the Jag XJR13, was chosen. Gerry"s team toned it down and added those over large bug eyes, which shocked me when I was taken by Autocar to their photoshoot. Later even Geoff Uoex said it lost its initial gaul. Never mind it still got the market. 20 years later in China, SAIC never understood the role of the sports car roadster. The closest I ever got to doing a truer MG, was the 2012 MG ICON concept car, which best best concept at Beijing show, as an homage to the BGT
I couldn't agree more. Excellent effort
Wake Up!
I’m not even European so I don’t know half these cars and I enjoy it
BigCar is one of the most consistently enjoyable 20 minutes on RUclips.
It's like Clarkson's car years but more in depth, I love it.
Thank you! It's a lot of hard work.
Agreed!!
I agree, very high quality production values.
Only when we are his face
I had a British Racing Green one, the thing cornered like it was on rails and with the VVT engine it had power to burn. Smiled every time I drove it. Nearly cried when I sold it to fund a "more family friendly car"
Same here, I was so fed up of crawling under it and constant silly problems, but GOD I missed it when I sold it !
It was a 2002 TF with 35 K on the clock. Not wanting the hassle of a private sale, I traded it in for a new car,
and got £ 900 for it ( gutted !!! )
@@johnfellows2867 900 quid was a good deal.
@@johnfellows2867 absolutely I bought a brand new 55 plate one when they went bust. Trophy blue TF. Carpet coming loose, leaks and some poor quality faults.. but do I regret selling mine?.. yep, it was so fun to drive and handled amazingly round quiet country roads with the roof down
I had silver but with green leather interior like you said it's was a dream to drive, women with short dress s getting into the cock pit awesome too lol
and there was me thinking only females and hairdressers bought them.
It's so depressing seeing the ideas British car firms had and then they're like "hmmm... nah let's just make this cheap one that we'll redesign 20 times"
Clearly this is an idea that the Volkswagen Group used to great effect in a good few of their vehicles and that's before you factor in the likes of their international subsidiaries Bentley, Audi and Skóda et cetera - too bad British Car firms found out to their cost.
That's what happens when you have conservatives in charge.
@@kristoffer3000 ... that was 40 years ago, most of those are dead now, move on.
@@MersyyLife Yet their policies are still felt today.
British car companies were full of lazy workers who were more interested in striking than working, they were producing notoriously shit quality cars that were overpriced, ugly, and outdated in design phase.
It had nothing to do with the government, what it had to do with the government was them realising the above and getting rid of them as they were an enormous money pit effectively they might as well have been on benefits, it would've probably been cheaper.
It's evident you like to waste your time crying about political issues from 40 years ago and associating those policies with an entirely different party... in fact the whole house is different bar a few old codgers... but please, please keep it to yourself, no one cares and the people that do care probably aren't worth paying attention to.
Go get yourself a dog and take it for walk instead next time you moany old cunt.
I once had a test drive of the MGF in the nineties, it was on my 28th birthday if I recall correctly. It was a cracking little car to drive and I was very much sold on the idea of getting one until my (then) fiancee decided it was too scary. I ended up plumping for a 4 year old Saab 9000 instead, which I don't regret, but I'd still rather have had that MGF at the time. And that fiancee? She became my wife, turned into a complete twat bag and I divorced her. She was my biggest regret of the nineties, frankly.
What did she do? What made her a twat bag why was she your biggest mistake in the 90s?
That twist-ending though, lmao
I lived in Surrey Quays, South London in the 1990s and 2000s. The roundabout on the south side of the Rotherhithe tunnel had a number of accidents involving MGFs. Owners would go round the roundabout and come out tail end first and usually into the park railings or into the hedges. It seemed there was a fault in the suspension of the MGF that lead to instabilities on this roundabout as the camber was undulating. One Sunday morning (probably 1998 or 1999) Rover requested the roundabout be cordoned off by the police and council and their test drivers took 3 new cars around. 2 smashes later they worked out what was going on. I remember watching from my house as they tested. The geometry of the roundabout unsettled the rear suspension of the car. I believe they corrected the fault and put it into new cars.. It was an interesting situation to watch..
A great historical look at these cars! You have made this "yank" have an even greater appreciation for the UK cars. I learned alot about the different models from childhood, from playing with my favorite toy, the venerable matchbox cars, which I still have, and appreciate!
I worked on the mgf project in the early 90's making checking fixtures and prototype pressings. I remember Coventry having loads of sheet metal factories like Premier sheet metal ,Mayflower, Abbey Panels. We done lots of work for Alabany Zinc who were a major contributor to the XJ220 in 1989 and I remember seeing the full scale windscreen fixture on our cmm machine ,and boy did it look futuristic 😊.
BMW shafted Rover.
Slev Meister How did BMW shaft Rover
@@Behwyelzebub took everything that was worth having for themselves, while and doing the least they could get away with to advance/rescue the company. They correctly cancelled a lot of dead-end projects, but that was about the only thing they got right as far as Rover was concerned.
Rover had this perpetual problem of working on 7 different designs to replace 1 car, burning all of the available money in doing so, and leaving them doing a low budget rework of the old car that was already long overdue replacement. BMW killing a whole bunch of that was a brilliant first move, but they then appeared to basically stop, certainly in terms of acting in Rover's interests.
The only new car Rover got during BMW's ownership was the 75. The good bits from the Range Rover were commandeered by BMW for the X5, a Rover prototype (currently in the BMW museum) and design was taken by BMW to become the 1 Series instead of a new Rover, along with the Mini. BMW claimed to be throwing money into a bottomless pit of a helpless company while pillaging engineering work for themselves, leaving Rover with out of date designs, and no budget. The 25 and 45 were technically new, but they weren't much more than revised (replace the Honda bits) 200 & 400, nowhere near the mark of the competition, and the crash test results dictated a short future.
Rover could have created new cars based on the BMW 3 & 5 series platforms, while working on a new Mini and the Range Rover. They could even have done a farmer-spec Discovery to replace the Defender, it can't have been that difficult to make it in to a van and a pickup.
The Rover 75 was an unnecessary new platform and engineering expense which would have been better spent on other things, such as sorting out quality control and consistency, and updating/streamlining the facilities. Ignoring the need to replace the 25 & 45 was sealing their fate.
BMW owned Rover from 1994 to 2000. What progress was made?
All bmw wanted was landrover tech
Won't buy it now, even if something amazing comes out. Chinese, no thanks
I miss rover and mg
I miss Triumph
@@davidpeters6536 Trumpet and BSA looked like they were the same bike. Did they come out of the same factory?
steven dudson ....I've never seen one outside of RUclips, don't know if they were even offered here in Calif, but I would love to own a V8 powered Rover P5B, that is one fantastic looking car.....
@@branon6565 yes the p5 is nice too 👍
Steve dudson, yep lada drivers always needed something to remind them that things could be worse.
Great video...some mixed memories of the F. I was the first in the country to PDI a VVC variant. Mark Blundell helped with chassis dynamics. The driveshafts were Montego, both subframes were Metro front, the first bodies had a 5mm height difference side-to-side. This meant a PDI would take 2 days, the majority of the time being spent adjusting the roof to fix to the skewed body. The gearbox was the Honda derived unit PG1 and I think the MG-F used the Freelander casings, to test the plastic tank design, designers strapped in into a Montego and drove it down the motorway to check how fuel would ‘slosh’ side to side to avoid using a second fuel pump, the engine and rear subframe assembly was bolted into a beige Metro mule for testing, the body was very strong and MG rested a BMW Z3 on the windscreen ‘A’pillars to show that strength off, headgaskets blew on all K series more so when they went from dry to damp liners. The F was no worse than any other Rover, but when they did go, the cooling system was harder to flush. Workers on the line would often drop nuts/bolts into the centre strengthening section under the centre console so during braking and acceleration, they would rattle about. The only cure was to squirt under seal in to catch them. I spent too many hours with acoustic headphones on tracking down squeaks, creaks, rattles and vibrations.
Fascinating :)
I've just acquired one from a salvage auction and I'm hoping it will be half decent but I'm thinking not now lol , however I'm glad it held up a bloody bmw z3 !! Top read
When I worked in automotive engineering, I worked with one of the lead chassis engineers who worked on the MGF and the Metro. He was more proud of the Metro, he said the MGF was just too compromised, it was just done on the cheap and the priority was to use existing parts as much as possible. My mother had one and it was ok to drive but my Escort XR3i I had at the time cornered better (that's not good) and the steering was really heavy and the rust was horrific. It was replaced with an MX5 which was much better in every way
That beige metro is in the museum at gaydon. They should have built an mx5 clone.
Most fun car I've ever owned, the TF. It's one of the last 'simple' cars.
The trouble with modern cars is that they're too delicate because of the all-connecting on-board electronics. Mechanically such a car could be perfectly fine, but a sudden faulty sensor reading could still shut down the car as if the engine had just blown up.
Tell me about it, had a top spec volvo c30 absolutely gorgeous, nimble and fast, but safety features made it almost undriveable at times any sensor and it goes into 'limp mode' but great car I must say.
They managed to create the classic MG experience...
Including sitting on the side of the road wondering why it stopped!
MG Missery Garanteed
Why nobody imagined to just build a good relaible car to get rid of the bad tainted BL past baffeles me.
Probably that bloody SU fuel pump, AGAIN.
@k halliday i could also write in my countries language and then you could not read annything !
@@obelic71 It is alright, they are just being an asshole, ignore them.
My 1996 MGF has broken down so many times I was invited to the tow truck drivers wedding 😃
I have a 1997 MGF VVC and I absolutely love it! I went to the Brisbane Motor Show the year they were launched in Australia to take photos and get a brochure and it was love at first site. Took me 20 years to get one and it is everything I hoped it would be. A cracking little car and heaps of fun. You just have to know how to look after it.
My 1996 MG F still puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. And it's never let me down
try an MX 5 ND with manual gearbox , front 4 pot calipers and Nankang semi slick tires ...
@@heikopanzlaff3789 why? I'm happy with what I have
@@bluetonic9538 yep. MX5’s are more reliable but they look no where near as good and it’s still a Japanese car. Also I had a MGF for 3 years never let me down once. One year me & my girlfriend drove all the way to Nice in south of France and back again, never missed a beat, not a blip!
@@bluetonic9538 You clearly don't drive it that often if it's "never let you down". Let me guess....mileage still under 80k? lol
@@matty6848 " I had a MGF for 3 years never let me down once"
That's the difference between an MGF and an MX5.
You can drive an MX5 for 13 years and it won't let you down once.
You were *very* lucky to not have an issue on an MGF for even 3 years.
15:39 can you imagine working today smoking a pipe …. lol
Great documentary as an MGF owner I found this highly enjoyable.
Great to hear!
As a ex MGF owner I did. Lots of people mainly British slag these beautiful little cars off, purely because their British. But I had one for 3 years and she never let me down once. Drove all the way to the south of France & back in 2011 just me and the then girlfriend now wife & mother and it never made a blip. The K series engine are bulletproof apart from head gasket issues, but apart from that they are brilliant power plant. Great to drive handle brilliantly, rear wheel drive, mid engined they are a proper sports car with that old school British sports car feel. In France loads of people were asking me about because you don’t see many over there, just boring Citroen & Peugeot’s. And they all drive diesels?!?
@@matty6848 `The K series engine are bulletproof apart from head gasket issues' .... well the head gasket is of course a crucial part of any engine ! Nice that you're so prejudiced for the car though. I also have heard of the 1.4 version of the k series losing the crank oil seal and pumping all of the oil on to the road.
@@Martindyna well that’s your opinion mate, but from my experience it was a good engine that never gave me any grief.
@@matty6848 Don't get me wrong, nothing would have given me greater pleasure than if the K Series had been a total success and as reliable as the A Series or indeed, the B Series have been. In fact it annoyed me a bit when `Big Car' inferred that the MGB was always breaking down, I can only imagine that perhaps some models had the SU electric fuel pump that could stop working without warning & require to be tapped to get it going again (like on my Dad's early Austin 1100).
I wonder if you were just very lucky or perhaps a different head gasket had already been fitted before you got the car (you don't say if you had the car from new).
My views were based on the experience of my work colleague (who had his Rover 214 loose it's oil on the road, luckily without engine damage since he pulled over immediately the oil light came on) and on my cousin's husband, whose MGF had suspected head gasket problems with overheating and loosing coolant (he hurriedly sold the car on advice).
I owned both an F and a TF in my time. I can tell you both were the single most fun you could have when fully clothed. The whole idea of these cars was better than sliced bread. Of course, Rover had the correct idea to give a fun idea to the masses, but as usual, faith had been lost in the brand. However, if you got a good one and they were bloody good, it was a great, all-time driving experience.
Just think how much more fun you could have driving them naked!
@@BigCar2 This is one of my favorite comments :-D
Excellent as always. I'd love to see more videos on 1990s roadsters, including the S2000, BMW Z3 (my car) and Mazda MX5.
MR2 would be interesting.
@@lostgps3005 definitely, I love the MR2, especially the mk1.
Yes the 90s was the best for sports cars. Ford, Vauxhall, Rover all made their sports spec cars stand out with big stripes, big spoilers, big alloy wheels. Now the sports specs look just the same as basic spec. Modern cars are just boring now!
Fiat Barchetta deserves a mention too.
I still remember when i first saw an MGF in the flesh I was a little kid in my grandma's camper van. I literally squealed with excitement as it came past us on a country road in the lake district. Grandma who was driving the camper told me off for making her jump.
It really is sad that we have hardly any fun, affordable roadsters left on the market
The market has changed from fun to practical cars
Just look at the type of models manufacturers offer today.
anything sporty costs alot more now
the Mazda MX5/Fiat 124 spider are very good but also expensive.
The Ford Fiesta ST is a hardcore expensive rallycar / hothatch.
The best affordable alternative is an used Toyota MR2, Mazda MX5. MGF.
a classic Fiat 124 Spider and Alfa Spider are also way to expensive.
Most cars on the road today are oversized, have automatic transmissions and power steering. All too often you will see people behind the wheel with their left hand on the wheel, allowing the automatic to "control" the vehicle and using their right hand to hold their SillyPhone up in front of their faces. They are not looking where they are going. That is why I no longer ride a motorcycle, and probably will never again by a small roadster.
I've had an 03 TF over 10 years (summer usage) and its pretty reliable, no roadside events. The head gasket issue is overstated and easy to fix permanently, plus the thermostat design was changed which sorted the thermal shock. Apart from that a hoot to drive with 40+ mpg. Still no rust after 17 years, which the MX5 is known for.
Its strange how people are blind to how unreliable other cars can be such as the Boxster's IMS bearings, which is a shocking piece of design and costs a fortune to fix.
totally agree Simon - The MGF foibles are overstated and easily addressed (affordably) - I've got a boxster too and the MGF is much more fun to drive - so much so thinking about importing one to the USA
The issue of the IMS bearing problem is featured on an episode of Wheeler Dealers , for any company it’s a shocking engineering mistake, but from a company like Porsche it’s absolutely shocking and ridiculously expensive to fix !
I do believe the rover 143,160 vvc engine is the only engine ever made with true variable valve timing as the the cam Profile actually changes where as the vtec and vvt all use a second cam. It's pretty impressive really.
These are actually pretty good looking cars imo!
They are. That’s the thing with British car designers. We’re brilliant at making beautiful looking sports cars and drive even better, but it’s just the reliability issues😂
@@matty6848 😂 True, but for most it's worth it!
@@kyle_vr yep I agree. I had original MGF think it was a 1996 model. I drove all the way and back to Nice in the south of France. Didn’t give me any trouble, not a blip🇬🇧👍
The TF looks better imo
I didn't know Tears for Fears was a part of the Rover Special Products team.
well it's nice that at least three people got that joke
Shout shout, let it all out, these are the jokes I can do without 😂
Only problem is the car in the video is a green Austin Healey...
Despite their issues, I feel like they're really underappreciated, fun and nimble, mid engined and rear wheel drive with 180bhp for sometimes as low as £500, what's not to love?
180 bhp? More like 120 up to 160
With shit Suspension you’re gonna feel every bump in the road lol
I felt the same until I bought one lol, never again
err maybe Head Gasket Failure, leaky hydra gas cylinders, plastic interior and metro subframes?
@@oo0024 Wrong - the suspension is not shit and your comment shows your ignorance. My MGF had many faults, especially with the engine and cooling, but having driven nearly one million miles in 42 years all over Britain, much of western Europe and some of eastern Europe in many different types of cars I can tell you with authority that my MGF (when it wasn't in the garage being repaired) was very comfortable on long journeys, short journeys and when being hustled along a twisty road at speed. Don't express ignorant and foolish opinions on anything, far less on things you know absolutely nothing about.
sometimes I wonder if I'm lucky I had a TF, bought in the UK in 2009 , drove it all the way from Malta and owned it for 4 years, only the bosch alternator failed in that time, sold it on to a friend drove it ever since as his daily, not a single probem , so exactly why are these unreliable?
MGBs , owned one for 2 years , bought it running rough, rfurbished the carbs and had 2 years of fun, sold it to a friend , only issue was some rust which we knew about and a condensor which was fixed for €3 for why exactly are these unreliable again?
parts are cheap as chips and available and for the MGB a very basic knowledge of cars is sufficient if something goes wrong
They're not. The days of cars being a regular sight broken down by the side of the road are long gone. Cars you see there now, are so infrequent, I can't remember the last time I saw one. All cars are fine, especially if they're not thrashed. Speaking of thrashed now I recall, it was a Golf.
Because they really are unreliable... and with Mazda mx quality... they were destined to fail
@@stevenjoy3537 - I seem to recall an infamous misquote of John 3:16 which said "For the British so love to work on their cars, they designed in the requirement for it." That made sense to me, since I have owned three MG's.
Four Rover P6's for me.
Three were absolute garbage. One was, and still is as reliable as the day is long.
There's a lot of truth in the fabled unreliability of of vehicles from a nation that thinks everything can be improved by the addition of a few more "O" rings in places where any other nations automobile makers would consider them an unnecessary engineering hazard.
😁
My cars alternator failed whilst doing 70 at 11pm at night, managed to limp off the m-way near Brum and had to sleep overnight in the car till next day.
I have owned a 2003 TF 160 for a couple of years. They are great little cars which respond well to a few little upgrades. With some good quality tyres they handle very well too. I hate it when (ill informed) people say they are just a head gasket failure waiting to happen. I've driven my car on 40 degree days here in Australia and it has been fine. Rover used some poor quality head gaskets but later replacement types are much more reliable. The best advice I've heard is to drive them gently until the oil temperature needle starts to move and always keep an eye on the coolant level. Better still, fit a coolant level alarm.
Or, better still, buy an MX-5 and not worry about any of those things.
I agree, my '96 F is on it's original head gasket. My mates 96 MX5 is a pile of rust
@@saddoncarrs6963 I find the MX-5 a bit boring and my TF 160 is quicker than most of them. The MG F/TF consistently outsold the Mazda in the UK right up until MG Rover's demise.
@@saddoncarrs6963 if there is anything left of it when its rotted away, the mx5
Had mine 9 months before the gasket blew. Once repaired 2 weeks later it blew the bottom coolant hose. On both occasions lucky as i had just arrived at work to see steam rising in the rear mirror. If you replace gasket then also replace the bottom branch hoses. And fit new expansion tank cap.
Rebuilt a MGB many years ago, and loved it. To me the MX5 is just a modern take on the B, and to me a bit boring. Had a vvc F and it was great. Yes build quality and reliability was a bit suspect but worth it once its been sorted
MX5 IS LEGENDARY…
Interesting video, lots of things I didn't know in here.
I own a '92 Metro GTi and aside from general wear and tear, it's been pretty damn reliable. It also appears to be one of the highest milage GTi's that I know of, at 174 000 ks. So yea, as long as you wait for that K series to warm up before you thrash it, its damn near bulletproof.
Always really enjoy these videos, very informative with little pieces of interesting information I never knew about. These videos sum up British car manufacturing, basically accountants and blind management made the final decisions and the talented stylists and engineers always appear to have the rug pulled out from under them. They were never given enough money, time and resources to develop anything properly. To me from what I can take from the UK car industry, is that R&D into mass produced components such as electrical switches, motors and relays was poor as was sheet metal quality. Its as if Lucas and other suppliers were pressurised into producing cheaper and nastier components to satisfy Austin Rover management and investors etc. They could design a good looking car and engineer a great handling one, its just at the final production stages cost cutting destroyed any attempt at a world beater. The original Austin Allegro design was stunning for the time, until BL management started getting the cost cutting chainsaw out and ended up destroying it with the end result an upside down bathtub on wheels???!!! Who the Hel were these plonkers running the show from the late 60's untill the end, its like the British motor industry was sabotaged on purpose from within by pissed off militant production line workers, dumb as shit management and Dilbert in accounts. The LR Discovery series 1 is a prime example, it was excellent for the time but with a lack of R&D and investment and parts bin raiding to the extreme it could not compete with the tech and build qaulity of a Land Cruiser or Shogun. It was just very attractive in design and had great off road ability so it did sell. The LR Discovery series 1 used Sherpa van front lights, Morris Marina door handles, Maestro van rear lights and old dated diesel engines. The engineers and designers did a brilliant job with what they had, which was litteraly nothing but old dated parts. Sad. It takes political will to allow these industries to survive. How do you think the French still have a motor industry, they were going through the exact same difficulties BL/Austin Rover were at the same time. The right people in charge at the right time just seemed to evade the British motor industry.
Head gaskets failed because the purchasing department decided to go Cheap Charlie and buy super thin ones, instead of what the design team had in mind. Oh and BTW, the Global Recession was 2008, not 2009... And some of the new (Chinese) made models are proving to be both reliable and desirable - certainly in South East Asia.
Great video! We used to own one and loved it!
The head gasket failure was down to a poor gasket design and was a failing in most Rover cars that had the K series engine, not just the mid engined MGF. If you ever had a k series engined car that had a replacement steel sandwich construction gasket fitted that eliminated the issue. Trouble is that particular gasket replacement was only available years later - what was a shame!
I'm not sure the steel gasket totally eliminated the problem. I believe part of the issue was the coolant not being changed properly resulting in air bubbles.
@@taotoo2 a number of issues with the head combined to create the myth, mainly its 1.8 engine cars, 1.4's in metros, zr's 200's etc, have a much lower hgf rate, however mgfs were all 1.6 and 1.8 and the increased bore and stroke put greater stain on them, so there is a higher failure rate in the MGF/TF. Also at one time they were using plastic dowels to locate the head. A combination of these things leads to the myth. However, it really isnt that big a deal to srt these days you can have a new head gasket head skimmed/replacement cambelt and water pump doen for £375 inc vat for non vvc version. there are plenty of so called reliable cars that have worse issues, BMW recalls anyone ?
If you drive one with the roof down for a fun little cheap sports car you cant do much better, they have issues but so does any car that is 20+ years old, i see more mgfs and tfs than i do 20 year old hondas and mx5s
@@DanWillars mines running superbly still. I just keep an eye on things.
Unlike earlier engine designs it looks to use wet liners, as in motorbike. There is very little for a gasket to seat on. Any faults in the cyl. heads, like porosity will cause a blow through. A Rover employee told me they were made with rubbish alloy.
@@DanWillars im not sure how true this is as im no mechanic but i knew a chap who had his own garage & he told that fitting a Land Rover head gasket aleviated the issues with the head gasket problem ....
Could you do a video about the Mira proving ground? Also I love your videos!
I ran an MG/ TF for two years. It was a brilliant car . But I ran a MX5 NB for two years before and ran an MX5 NC for five years and now run a MX5 ND for two years and still have her. The MG was a good car. The Mazdas are great cars. Thats the difference
Holy S**t! I literally thought about you doing a story on this a few days ago and here you are with it! Spooky 😂
I'm a mind reader. Think of a number. It was 6. I just blew your mind!
@@BigCar2 Wow! Now I'm impressed 😂
@Florence Upton Shhhh 😂
You 'literally thought'? No one who forces the word literally into a sentence like that is guilty of thought.
@@markfox1545 I'm always guilty of my thoughts. It's a hard life...literally! 🤣
The v8 rwd version would have really been a hit here in the USA. V8 power and rumble in a car the size of a Miata would have been awesome!
Wade Guidry Like a Shelby Cobra
Damco Entertainment .....at half the price!
Wade glad to hear it!! Although how could you fit a v8 into an mgf?!! (And
btw what's a miata??)
Great video, very informative. It has left me wanting a 160 now. Too many ads though, I know it helps fund the channel but there must have been more that ten ads played which seems a bit excessive.
Unfortunately I don't control the adverts, but I hear you. I do offer Patron where you can get early ad free access.
To be fair, the new MG cars have the best quality among other chinese cars. (Excluding Volvo)
But they NEED to make a new sports car, and create an MG...-G?
Yes!
I have owned MG's for a long time, starting with my 1958 MGA. I was a British car fan for a long time, but have also been a fan of the value of Chinese made items. For example, my metal lathe, milling machinne, wood lathe, drill press, table saw, etc. were all made in China because those items made anywhere else would not be affordable. However, regardless of how low the price may be, I am not currently interested in anything that comes equipped with the Corona Virus.
@@bobsradio6025 I suppose you won't be buying American then...
The electric MG suv has had some good reviews.
I’ve had several F’s and one TF over 25 years. Of those every F blew the head gasket at just under 30k miles but never again over a further 40k + miles. Current example is now fantastic, but the effort getting it there ! HGF as always, refurbished hydragas spheres, gearshift cables, re~silvered headlamp reflectors & high output bulbs, Trophy spec front brakes. But most stunning, correction of castor and camber settings by fitting adjustable lower arms to correct typically ropey alignment issues of the front sub frame. A beautifully handling car - a 25 year old keeper !
Another great story from Big Car! MG F will always have a dear place on my heart, a red one appeared in a pop song video in late 90’s in my home country Turkey, where the singer also had that exact same car in the real life... He was an outspoken Rover fan (he also had a “Tomcat” 200 Coupe) Thanks to him Rover was the quite “premium” marque to get back in they day... Some good memories!
Glad you enjoyed it
That’s why the Japanese loved them. Because they had that British regal design. Something princess Margret or James Bond would drive🇬🇧😁
informative! it a shame this MG was never brought to the states
Blame BMW and their Z3
@@sutherlandA1
Just as BMW destroyed the sales of Rover 75 at its very launch ?????
And wouldnt allow Lotus to take over the development of Rovers K series engine and make is as successful as the Lotus cortina.
All just coincidence?
Anybody who thinks a coupe is the way to crack the American market for roadsters really should get out more.
I worked in the service department at a Rover dealer in the late 1990s. On my first day touring the workshop I remember the lead technician taking the cylinder head off an MGF engine and the almighty mess of coolant it made, wondering at the skill it would take for him to reassemble it. I learnt this was a pretty common occurrence and he had plenty of practice - blown head gaskets were par for the course, often within a couple of years which is disgraceful when you think about it - but they were really fun cars to drive. You’d get a call from a customer complaining of their car overheating and you would know it would be the head gasket before they even came in on any car with a K series but MGFs were especially notorious. You’d just hope for the customers sake it was under warranty. Rover were very good and generally paid at least some of the repair costs even if they were out of guarantee, as the head gasket as it was a massive repair, hundreds of pounds in labour. The dealer employed a person whose full time job was to submit warranty claims to Rover - that tells you quite a lot.
I’m curious have you owned an MGB? ... I have and the four MGB’s out of the 300 plus cars that I have owned, not one of them ever failed me. So what in the hell are you talking about with this supposedly common failure of MGB’s having starting troubles. Because that is simply not true
It's a shame we never got the MG TF coupe. I think less people would be praising used MX 5s, if it had a rival as pretty as that coupe......
The mx-5 is praised not because of looks but because it can handle being driven everyday with little to no hick ups for the life of the car unlike an mg that is always stranded on the side of the road
@@sakou1237 People will forgive a lot if something is good looking. It's why women always get back together with cheaters....
@@sakou1237 Except this MG actually wasn't of poor quality. The Rover K engine, for one thing, was solid as a rock. Case in point: Hyundai bought a licence to build their own copy.
Jake Kaywell solid as a rock?
I used to do two to three head gaskets a week on those, along with snapped bbt camshafts, seizes water pumps or idlers destroying the valve train, oil leaks, etc. etc. I later worked at a Honda dealership and saw how an engine should be built, sad really as I loved MGs of old but, these things were just too unreliable
The MX-5 had the overwhelming advanntage: reliability. Can't beat that.
I have always loved these little cars. Never had one but hope to one day. Enjoyed my MG ZS back in 2004
My advice ,get one they are brilliant and hark back to old english cars .
Dave just bite the bullet and go and buy one. I had one for 3 years never let me down once. 2011 me and my missus drove all the way to Nice in the South of France and she never let me down once, not a blip and back again. All the through the pyrenees Mountains. Roof down, mid engined real wheel drive I felt like James Bond😂 that’s where I rally tested her (the car, not the now wife) plus where ever I went the car got some serious looks🇬🇧👍
I had one of the first ones, a 1995 car in red with the black roof. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember that the heater was powerful enough to almost melt the soles of one's shoes, which was rather handy in the winter with the top down.
@@qtronicqilt8898 Not at all. The heater was electric.
@@qtronicqilt8898 You are right. 'Known for their prodigeous heat output', I have just read. Or maybe they were always overheating and always have faulty temperature gauges?
Even now, I'm still amazed how British car manufacturers consistently rolled out 'new' cars made from Boxing Day turkey sandwich leftovers
Never have so many done so little so badly!
Yes, funny how British owned car manufacturers are now as rare as hens' teeth.
@@saddoncarrs6963 THey never invested in development-Building cars with old 1920s-designed engines didn't help.The Japanese did the opposite-they made excellent I4 engines, and they lasted.
None of you have the faintest f******* idea what you are talking about.😡
@@genekelly8467 You're full of it.
Please do a citroen 2cv story
You get Ian from HubNut to do that. He’s a 2CV enthusiast!
Despite not having a suitable front-engined RWD platform, would Rover have been better off choosing the front-engined RWD proposal by Reliant?
Not sure what having a V8 in a lightweight car would do for economy and insurance costs but it might have made export to the USA more attractive. Ironically with the 25 year rule there is now a market for exporting early MGF's to the US.
Sadly for mg the K series engined lotus Elise didn’t have head gasket failures by changing the head gasket, locating dowels and replacing the thermostat system.
I can 100% tell you that Elise certainly do suffer head gasket failure too!
They did which is why they in 2005 they switched to the Toyota power plant
@@richardrichard5409 early ones had standard gaskets later ones had a special multi layer stainless steel gasket with a stainless steel shin glued to the block and slower thermostat. This was purely a lotus addition they were still a chance. Subaru’s have taken over the mantle of head gasket failures
I liked my MGTF, but had to replace my cars gasket and friends earlier MGF was on it's second supposedly 3 part gasket.. Just became untrustworthy, i sold mine.
Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party and Gretas FFF movement gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Now these green heroes want to slow down all the gas station fuel pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions- and smoke crime :-(
I wish MG can revive this car again with supply from Chinese money!!
President Trump is talking about suing the Chinese over releasing the Corona Virus. If Queen Lizzy did the same thing, maybe there could be funds available to restart the REAL Morris Garage.
Chinese? No thanks
@@bobsradio6025
Bye Trump!
What might have been. But fear not for you're not alone! Here in the US GM is notorious for teasing beautiful concept cars which like all good ideas are either taken down a dark alley and strangled or so worked over for mass production that they end up looking like grotesque parodies of the original concept. For reference check out the original concept for the Pontiac Transport/Montana and the resulting final product that looked like nothing so much as a Dust Buster.
The time, effort, skill and sheer bloody hard graft that goes into crafting each episode of BigCar must be immense.... However all this means nothing until it has passed the critical eye of Mrs Bigcar. Her seal of approval is our guarantee of excellence.
Thanks Mrs Bigcar. 😊
It was an unfortunate decision not to allow sales in the US. Many of us former MG and Triumph owners still wanted to buy a real English roadster that was updated for the 90's. Even though I had an MX-5, I still would have bought an MG, since it was my first sports car in 1966. The head gasket issues was mostly solved with a change to the thermostat material and thermostat location. By all reports, it was a very reliable car other that that, and an MG owner expected something to crop up that needed fixing. Hundreds of thousands were sold here previously, and their lack of reliability is legend. My guess is the US would have been MG's largest market if only BMW didn't get in the way.
To my experience the K16 engines didn't really suffer from HGFs that much to require a thermostat modification. In Poland it's quite a famous engine that can take a lot of punishment without failing or losing on power. The only things that kill it is turning it off when it's very heated up, revving too much when it's cold. Another problem was that a faulty thermostat would disable the cooling system, which was unusual. So it requires just a minimum of attention from the owner, and then it's okay.
@@piotrmalewski8178 The head gaskets with plastic inserts were a big problem. The later multi layer types seem more far more reliable.
F - Best MG ever,... after the MG RV8 and the V8 powered MGB COUPÉ... A shame that this brand got almost lost and didn't survive at the BMW Group, like ROLLS, MINI or the RILEY rights! D/A/G
Austin, Triumph, MG, all great brands that have all but disappeared when it comes to small, tossable, roasters and GTs. The new MG? A hatchback EV with no relationship to the company that owns the name. Every manufacturer needs mainstream cars (read Saloons and SUVs) in vast quantities if they even want to think about a small sports car. How many CX-5s does Mazda have to sell in order to make 1 Miata? I would love to see British-like roasters and GTs back on the road again (albeit with better reliability and electronics), but those days may be gone forever. If a company can have sales success making more popular models, cars made mostly for driving fun and adventure could have a resurgence. I love the MX-5, I just wish there were more choices on the road for less than 35k. It would be even better if we didn't have tor rely on the brutality (and human-rights violations) of a Communist regime for the privilege.
As a TF owner, I've been looking forward to this for a while! Your videos are always very well researched and put together. Keep up the excellent work.
Glad you like them!
I haven't looked at British cars for quite some time, so I must say I was quite shocked to see a modern looking car called the TF. To me, the TF will always appear to show why the British refer to fenders as "wings."
I do have one, just like the little Flame Red example, have I had problems? well yes, I have now owed the MGF for some ten years, but do I love the Car? yes, when it's running properly, I paid some £3000,00 for it when I bought it, but over the ten years, I have probably spent as much in repairs, Gear change Cables, Clutch Master and Slave Cylinder Replacement, Brake Disks, Suspension Bushes, New Hood, New Engine And Clutch, and its currently got a misfire which I hope is just a need for new Sparking Plugs. Have I had fun and enjoyed owning an MGF? Yes, it has been a great little car, and if you own a Twenty Year old Car you must expect repairs as they come along. I am a lover of all the great Sports Cars the British Motor industry produced, and am sorry they are not available today except in Second-Hand form. I have owned a Triumph TR 2, love the Austin Healey 100, The MG A Sports, and how about the most beautiful Sports Car ever made, and its British, The Jaguar XK 120. The Famous Morgan Plus series is still available and you have to wait a long time to get a New one ! that says something. So Happy Motoring.
I love this story and is very insightful. I myself have the MG TF and it is a star amongst them all keeping it's manufactured gasket and has driven around Europe and has stayed keeping up with Audis on the autobahn in Germany. Still around and driving. I love it. Thank you for sharing.
That guy towards the end comparing cars was annoying. I had a FIAT X19, and it certainly wasn't breaking down all the time. It was one of my favourite cars I ever had.
I always wondered as none made it to the states. Poor representation to the drop dead beautiful Brit roadsters of the distant past. Oh how I loved those!!!
Smog laws are the biggest reason. Especially in California.
Ah those pesky BMW managers. Much better looking car compared to the Z3. Now if VAG had owned The Rover Group there might still be a car built in the UK,
The MGB was my first car in 82 It was a nice 78 burgundy with tan interior but the top was black! It was in a prestine condition when i sold it in the mid 90s! I dont know why i sold it i always regret it! Few years later bought a Miata 94 BRG with Tan interior and top as well! A beauty now i prefer the miata because so reliable compare to MGB that you needed to carry a mecanic man in the trunk! lol But the MGB had it own soul a special one!
Nanjing will return with automotive corona :(
A and B roads are just screaming for a roadster, It is sad than you can not afford it.
They should have taken a lesson from the VW beetle ... and just carried on making the MGA - with minor changes. along the way.
getting Gran Turismo 4 vibes from that thumbnail
I used to work on restoring and servicing classic British cars such as the MG and MG BGT and that old clichés of them braking down all the time is undeserving. .
Just like MG, Škoda got bought, milked for well-established model names and left making cheap crappy and uninspiring cars for masses.
Are you joking?
Apple_Marty_CZ no
MG is Chinese now. jags are Indian. Rollers minis and range rovers are German. Rovers have gone to oblivion via China. makes you feel proud to be British
I’ve always wanted you to make this video! Thank you so much!
I've always wanted to make it! Then it grew, and grew, as I wanted to include every path to the MGF. I thought it would be short, but it grew into a monster!
23:04 - I think you meant SAIC not Nanjing. One reason why the MGTF was canned is that it bombed in China once production shifted there - they couldn't find enough Chinese customers for it. Also the MGRV8 was "popular" in Japan because they only shifted 200 of the 2000 in the UK and effectively flogged the other 1800 off to Rover Japan. Loving the period/1980's Gerry McGovern hairstyle...
It is complicated. Initially it was Nanjing Automobiles but the central government ordered them to merge with SAIC.
Absolutely LOVED my MGF! It would be perfect for this weather! Fortunately the head gasket only went (twice) under warranty, but no way in hell I was keeping it after the warranty ended!
Had a TF about 10 years ago, I was in my early 40's at the time and alot of people told me it was my mid life crisis car but for the duration of the time I owned it, had alot of fun!!
Was thinking about asking you last week for a video on the MGF/TF! How strange! Currently got a solar red 135 TF in the garage waiting for me to pass my test!
I could read you mind!
@@BigCar2 So glad you did make it though! I've fallen in love with the car since day one and the urge to drive it is unreal, especially with this lockdown, hopefully Boris will let me drive again soon 😂 thank you for the fantastic video!
I am at aloss to understand why he thinks that the MGB was unreliable!!!
I been thinking about importing an MGF now the early ones are now 25 years old.
Do it, It's a fantastic car.
If you get one that has had the cooling issues solved, they are a nice drive. Be careful on corners as they can give you a fright(mid engine/rear wheel drive) the F differs from the B in the driving position. The B surrounded you whereas the F feels more open’ more like sitting « on » than « in »
me too.....
They will become rare i imagine so im hanging on to mine in australia with full service history, brilliant to drive.
Wait for the VVC ones to be available. I think they were introduced in 1997. Such a cool engine.
The MG A, B &C were all I knew from days in JAMAICA BWI, the C, I think was a straightn6 cyl, but those I saw when in USA had 3 windshield wipers , not sure why ., but those were the ONLY MGs I knew , just a thought MOST PEOPLE did not know MG stood for MORRIS GARAGE, nor the octagon shape around the MG logo, was the SHAPE OF HIS DINING ROOM TABLE ! Cheers 🏴🇬🇧🇺🇸
Back in my heyday when I was a young lad I used to make the fuel tanks for the early MGF .
I still think Rover should never have been sold to BMW and should have gone to VW instead. VW have a good record of investing in their brands while still allowing high degrees of autonomy and if Rover had gone to VW they might still have been with us.
I was rewatching my Rover 75 video yesterday (adding subtitles), and it seems clear that BMW started out with the best intentions, giving autonomy, but they quickly lost confidence. I'm sure VW would have handled it better. BMW did make a success of the MINI brand though.
@@BigCar2 That's kind of strange. I don't know about other places, but the old Rover 75 is still quite popular in Poland, people love its styling, even the infamous K16 doesn't seem to scare them off. Personally I own a FSO Polonez factory-equipped with Rover K16 engine, and I think it's a great engine, only it isn't as idiotproof as other motors.
It would be great to see a video on the MG SV-R.
My 1999 VVC with 92000 miles on the clock, is my daily driver. Love it.
Can we have a TVR story?
I had the distinction of having the very first MGF as a VVI with full leather interior ordered from the dealer in Sheffield. A proper head turner and a fantastic car to drive. Got a vanity plate - K555MGF to complete the package, haha!
That was one SAD story...
I owned a Tahiti blue mgf 120 hp..
In France there were only 5 from this color.
What a fantastic cabrio.!
You produce very interesting and well thought out videos!
Glad you like them!
Enjoyed the video. They never did get it; why would somebody choose that car when they have an MX5 as an alternative? The Mazda was everything the British car was not; reliable, durable, comfortable, and the roof didn't leak. As an American; I never did understand why a British car, not exactly a desert land, could never make a convertible top that didn't leak
Leaking convertible tops was the least of British build quality problems. Hence the present day non-existence of British owned volume car manufacturers.
I own a 1980 Triumph TR7 convertible and have driven it in some strong rain storms. Never leaked from the top. It somehow will take in water whenever I wash and rinse it with a garden hose though.
The romance of British cars. They are like that girl everyone says to stay away from, but you just had to have her.
Can't say I ever had a problem with a leaking roof in our ageing MGF - and I used it as a daily driver all year round, in Scotland! I don't want a two seater like the MGF to be roomy - in my opinion the F cockpit is the perfect size, assuming one is a normal healthy shape, and feels just like that - a fighter jet cockpit which fits like a glove.
That's because the MX-5 worked TOO well. It became boring.
Everytime I see an MGF the first thing comes to mind is head gasket.
Good video, do like the F/TF shame I'm too tall at 6'4 to get comfortable in one. The one little mistake is Nanjing Automotive aren't the owners of MG anymore, they got taken over by SAIC before the launch of the MG6 (it's based on their China only Roewe 550 which owes atlot to the 75/ZT) and they have been teasing of a new electric roadster for a while now. Most recently with the MG Cyberster concept images.
Favorite MG joke. Lucas electric: Inventor of darkness.
I used to work with a guy that drove a Jaguar. He would pull into a service station and tell the attendant to "Check the gas and fill the oil."
I always heard the joke as Lucas, prince of darkness! Also heard that the Brits drink warm beer because they use Lucas refrigerators.
@@terrygoyan 😜
But why was the british problem with build reliability impossible to shake off?
Who ever thought moving production to China would be a good idea for such an iconic brand?
The Chinese
The new owner.
The PR-2 protoype design was clearly stolen by BMW and used for the Z1 !
Ha ha!! Yes copycats!!
As was the new Rover 25 - that became the BMW 1 Series with very little change.
I spoke to ex Longbridge employee, he said BMW said to Leyland/Austin Rover why not lift the quality of the MGTF and charge more. No was the reply, just bang em out with with rubbish alloy porosity cylinder heads. I had the MGTF lovely car, just the grille area a bit odd, until it became untrustworthy after the gasket got replaced. JLR employee told me the hydraolastic suspension had to be fitted due some licensing agreement.
And economical, 37 urban and 50 on the mway. I was told they got 60 on the test track.
MGTF with hydrolastic suspension rare car then, no TF's had hydrolastic suspension only F's did
@@DanWillars Correct TF didn't have it, only earlier version.
@@flybobbie1449 actually give a better ride if its maintained properly and if you lower the f by about 10mm by cutting the trumpets and knuckles reduces body roll better stance and handling
The Union, culture and red tape killed MG.
No. Those things might have been a factor for BL, but MG Rover were not BL, and 2005 wasn't 1975.
Remember that by 1993, BL was long gone, and the Rover 200,400,600 had all been popular. Rover were starting to pick themselves back up because they had some competitive cars for once, even if they owed a lot of that to Honda.
Once BMW bought them out the any cash dried up and the models all got dated. BMW purchasing Rover also meant they had to pay heavy royalities to Honda which they didn't before, and BMW were unwilling to provide Rover with technology either. This meant facelifts here and there but the underpinnings all stayed very much the same.
Had Rover been able to have kept it's models up to date and desirable, then they would probably still be here. It was certainly possible, think of how popular the BMW 1 series is. That was originally a Rover design for a next gen 25. The 2000s Mini was also a Rover design. BMW took those for themselves (and have done very well since, they are still making cars that look just like them) and left Rover with the ancient old underpinnings.
The Gear Knob my mistake... i was thinking about the Thatcher era and so forth...yes, i concur with your comment.
My grandfather owns a blue 2002 MG TF which he stores in his garage. He bought it straight from the factory for £20,000. I live in the United States so I never got to experience it as much but it was awesome seeing an MG.
Please do an upload explaining why Rover failed. There was so much good will towards Rover at the end and they were making interesting cars. If other nations could make car manufacturing work why couldn't we?
I think the final nail in the coffin was being sold to the Towers shower.
They had a rye old time developing ridiculously overpriced cars like the SV and SVR and spending way too much on willy waving projects like competing in the btcc and Le Mans instead of spending that money on developing new models which were so desperately needed.
To be fair it wasn't all on them, MG Rover came with a lot of damage already and the asset stripping done by BMW really hamstrung the company.
But with dedication and careful spending Rover could have come back from the brink of failure.
The fact that the four horsemen of the apocalypse got laughable 'punishments' and waltzed off with millions grave robbed from the carcass of Rover. About nine million each as I recall. Meanwhile their disgraceful actions led to over 6500 people losing their jobs and not even sure if they'd get a pension after years of service to a once loved manufacturer.
But I digress, I'd love to see this channel do a video on it!
Agree with Skylined - certain directors didn't have much of a clue - more interested in vanity projects. The bread and butter range (25 and 45) was too old/unprofitable as volumes went down. The City Rover could have been a useful model/strategic precedent but they cocked up the pricing and development. Too much time wasted on trying partnerships with Proton and Brilliance, cocked up deal with Fiat on the wrong model (Stilo) questionable work on Matra MPV and Polish Daewoo factory.
They decided to design a car that leaked water like a sieve and had reliability issues, they nailed it.Lost count of how many MG-F roofs and interiors we replaced due to water ingress. We did our best to straighten roof mechanisms, we replaced trim and seals, and yet they still leaked, I’m sure if we’d dipped them in silicone they still leak 😂 Always told owners to buy an MX5 😀
Amazing a country with so much rain produced so many sport cars