Description
My MG ZT-T260 V8 is for sale. One of only around 120 V8 Estates (Tourers) ever made it is a pretty rare car. It is Pearl Black Metallic with a Black Half Cloth Interior and has covered just 45, 756 miles so is in excellent condition. I have owned it from new but unusually it was not registered until 2011 and therefore has seen 6 or 7 years less weather than other V8’s and been mostly garaged in my ownership.
For the uninitiated these cars are basically a factory built hot-rod and are great to drive. The 4. 6 Litre Ford Mustang V8 drives the rear wheels through a Tremec 5-speed gearbox and Dana Hydratrak viscous-locking differential as fitted to TVR’s. BMW/ AP brakes and Bilstein suspension complete the picture and the MG/ Prodrive chassis engineers did a great job as the handling is excellent and married to a satisfying engine which allows you to rumble about on a wave of torque or gets more aggressive when extended. It sounds glorious all of the time, particularly as mine has the rare Xpower exhausts fitted.
I am very fussy about my vehicles so it has been well cared for throughout my ownership with frequent 6, 000 mile services by my local MG Rover specialist. I have only ever hand-washed it and kept the underside and arches clean and the interior still looks and smells as new with an original load area mat. It has hardly ever taken passengers as I only used it for commuting over the past few years, apart from a brief interlude when I sold it to a very nice chap who honoured our agreement that I could buy it back! If you search ZT260 on YouTube you can see a couple of great videos he made that demonstrate how it drives and sounds (look for the driving gloves...).
This a Non-SE model, so please don’t apply if you like lots of kit. I prefer the simplicity as to me a 260 is first and foremost a driver’s car and even sports wind-up rear windows. This saves weight and complication as things don’t constantly fail, leak, or whatever and also the Tourer does have a slightly nicer handling balance. So no sunroof, no heated seats, no sticky creased-up leather, no auto lights, no loud stereo (just a perfectly adequate Blaupunkt CD/ Bluetooth) and most importantly, no nannying traction control, but it does have air-conditioning which works very nicely.
I had owned other ZT260’s before so have taken care of the few small foibles they have – the “red clip” on the fuel module, bonnet cable mod, “Black Olive” improved heater valve and stronger top heater hose from the owners club. I have also fitted a K&N air filter, BBK throttle body/ plenum and Accel high-energy coil packs. Small things but they all make the engine more responsive to the point where I would say this is the best-performing 260 I have owned (I've had 4). It also has Black Diamond front discs and pads and recent correct Continental SportContact M3 tyres all round, plus I have wax-injected the rear subframe.
The 260 does 18-22mpg around town and 26-30-ish on the open road, depending on driving style. It is a very engaging and practical “driver’s car” which is a pleasure to operate at any speed and I shall definitely miss it as 260’s get under your skin. However my needs have changed and having done only 900 miles last year, here is your opportunity to own what must be one of the nicest and lowest mileage examples in existence. There is a great owners club/ forum (The Two Sixties) which is very sociable and helpful should the need arise although there are very few unique parts on these vehicles. The club do a brilliant job of supplying everything so I foresee no future problems and overall they are a low maintenance design.
I have priced it very sensibly at £10, 950ono. It is hard to buy any sort of useable V8 for less than £10K nowadays as all such cars are becoming collectible. I am located in Amersham, Bucks, but can send more photos or answer any questions you may have. Thanks for looking.
