Knowing When to Quit: This is the Car I Had to Give Up On... 

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The thing that struck me most is how normal James's shirt is!!

Thanks for the mention, James! Now, I love me a car that’s not economically viable, but even I would have to turn my back on that MG 😬

I love that James, a man who has it all, still carries the torch for dear old MG Rover. It shows he's a true car enthusiast and not just a prestige fanboy. Not to mention an all round decent guy. The car community will forever owe him a debt of gratitude for all that he does.

James, I’ve just watched your video on the MG ZT-T. I’d like to share with you a little story to accompany my offer of purchase! When I was in school, the dinner lady had one of these. Specifically, a ZT-T, in “Trophy Blue” with those alloys. She wasn’t your typical dinner lady. She was… hot. However, things got altogether more complicated when one day I saw her turn up in her Trophy Blue MG ZT-T, and park it up next to the school playground. That lunch time, I was conflicted. I was a child, I had no concept of women being attractive - girls were “ew!”. But still, as a young male, there was that part of me stirring subconsciously. Usually this manifested in the usual awkward staring and confusion as to why my eyes were drawn to her. I vividly remember walking outside of the school doors to where my friends were playing football, seeing her, and then… seeing that. The MG. It was bright. It was blue. It was looooong. It was cool. I had always been into cars, but as any child, I was into Bond’s Vanquish or whatever Ferrari was on Top Gear. That day, I realised that my love of cars wasn’t an unattainable pipe dream love, it was real. There were cars I could lust for that I could genuinely and realistically own. That lunchtime, my eyes were not drawn to her at all. They were drawn to the ZT-T. And from that day, I started to notice other “normal” cars and take an interest in them, too. However… the ZT-T stuck with me. It was then shortly after that my dad brought a new car home. It was a pre-facelift Rover 75 estate. God, how I wished he’d bought the ZT-T instead. I pleaded with him to reconsider. Then, because he’s a Yorkshireman, rather than replace the tyres when they needed to be, he got into the habit of simply buying a full set of wheels off a breaker or similar. My eyes lit up. He’d replaced the small “high profile” Rover issue wheels/tyres with 18” MG ZT “straights” - exactly as you’ve got. God, was I happy. His grandad-spec 75 was nearly a “cool” spec ZT-T! That was the car I learned to drive in. My dad loved it. He had it for well over a decade until unfortunately it was written off in a crash. He mourned it. I mourned it. We both still regularly speak about it and how we both miss it. We have the seats from it in his folly, and they’re every bit as comfortable as the day he came home with it. I’ve always promised him I’ll have an MG ZT-T one day and show him what he was missing by choosing the Rover instead all those years ago. Well… now is the right time. I’ve been running an old Merc 190E for the last few years, and it’s finally conked out on me. Suspected gearbox issues, and thus uneconomical to repair. So, I’ve been scouring the internet trying to find your EXACT spec of ZT-T to replace it. I would be overjoyed to welcome yours into mine and my dad’s life, and I’ll gladly pay your asking price of £1,000.00. I’ll bite your hand off, in fact. Please - help me become the cool man, with his blue ZT-T, that my child self hoped he would be one day. PS - I’m 28, so not quite 21. But not far off! Thanks for reading and for your consideration! Tom

Hello, James! Thank you very much for your nice words and support to my channel. The ZS will be having a progress video tomorrow, and i am feeling very positive about it. Hope to see you again soon.

Yep used to have a wonderful blue ZR diesel and it had a wonderful way of undressing itself on the way to work, wing mirror dropped off, grill fell out and even the spoiler fell off, used to make me laugh, as always turned up looking like I’d been banger racing….not always the best look at serious events, still got me there and home 😊

Another shout out for Nino at Not Economically Viable. Great channel, and you've got to admire him for how he takes on projects and finishes them. It'd be great to see a collaboration.

Its always sad to see these cars get scrapped. Glad you are trying to prevent it

RU-vid being a right proper platform with these _definitely_ real comments.

First thing you do is look underneath a car, preferably BEFORE you buy an older car, but definitely (cross fingers) after you have bought it!

I'm glad the ZS180 found a good home. I remember being a trade plater delivering Rover demonstration fleet. It was a hoot to drive. The other channel that would help you is Tasty Classics. Meanwhile, I hope you can track down at ZT 190 or 260. My late father worked for MG/Rover for 38 years. It's a brand I know a lot about and will always have a special place in my heart.

"Not economically viable" Nice, a Falling Down reference!... My FAVOURITE film. Not the best film I've ever seen, but it is my favourite. It's a lonely old Saturday night down here in Australia and I've been looking for something to cheer me up. Gonna break out the DVD and kick back with that classic.

The heater will be the thermosat stuck open. The renault 5 thermostat mod is quick and easy to do, and brings the engine temp up quicker and warms the cabin nicely.

Great video. I love an MG or Rover vid. ❤ The ZT-T should be a good car for a younger viewer. I bought my ZT 190 when I was 22 and it was only something like £650 to insure which was a relative bargain compared to the Rover 416 and Peugeot 306 DTurbo which came before it but were much smaller and about half the power. I still have the ZT, it's in Nocturne blue, but it's been sat on my drive for 9 years as when I needed something more economical for work, nobody wanted to buy the ZT despite having full service history, LPG, new tyres, brakes, suspension, etc so rather than it go to the scrap man, it sits, hopefully to be restored one day.

What exactly did you think the underside of a £400 MG would be like?

You are a good gambler James, know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run. Well played sir

No shame in walking away from a lost cause. It's pointless throwing good money after bad.

I'd love to see a collab between you and Matt from High Peak Autos

Good call James, I've been watching Paul and he seems optimistic about the rust. Looking forward to progress on that. Perhaps it will turn out like Nino's Jag S type.

This was the day Jay went full Hoovie's Garage.

You are a very likeable chap one would assume being big headed look down on others just for owning a Ferrari! But your none of those! Totally Down too earth lovely guy! And it made my weekend you showing a interest in my Rover Vitesse at Rustival. Respect 🤝

I always wanted the ZT but was never brave enough to buy one. These cars should have been world beaters and still look modern today. I love cars with double headlights and when they changed to the single headlight it lost it's appeal. Never thought about a ZTT although, like you say, it could be practical. That blue colour is lovely although my preferred colour is British Racing Green.😁

Great Video James 🎥 and a fantastic MG ZT-T🔷️🤗

There's a couple of these at Anglia classic car auctions in April. One with a reputed 19000 miles only. And a Celica gt4.

I’m currently in a similar predicament with my 2002 Ford Ranger. It cost me £1800 to buy in 2020, I’ve probably spent £5000 on repairs and another £1500 on modifications (tyres, snorkels, lift) and I was taking it off-road regularly for a while. But then once I realised that going offroad just meant fixing it more often, I stopped doing it. Then the I realised the chasis was getting pretty rough, I can weld but it feels like I’m constantly welding patches on it now. It’s got sentimental value, it’s practical for me to own a pickup for taking garden waste to the tip, carrying large items for decorating my house. I hate that I’ve lost the motivation to fix or repair it recently. It’s at the point where it needs a new front bumper and I don’t know whether I should commit to keeping it on the road or not anymore. If I could get myself back into greenlaning every now and again, I’d be happy to do the work

Good afternoon I just want yo say I've been watching your channel for over a year and really enjoy the content the different cars and especially the older or rare ones myself living in the US. Sometimes you rarely see or hear of some of them BUT I'm wanted to reach out to you because I just watched your latest video on your MG's and i think your a really honest down to earth guy offering your MG for a 1,000 is awesome not taking advantage of anyone that's great you are a good person that's one reason I watch tour channel you give honest reviews honest opinion s hope you have a good evening take care !

Im just looking forward to seeing the finished BX on the channel

Great video again as always. These MG’s are lovely looking cars. Tasty Classics is an interesting one to watch.

Will you be taking the ZR to Pride of Longbridge if it's ready in time? As you're truly part of the Rover brigade now going to that car show is practically a pilgrimage!

I wish i was from the UK because i would definitely buy that MG off of you.

Interesting to see the latest version of the 70MAI dash cam, I bought one of the original versions, which I still have, which was under the name of Xiaomi, a very top notch Chinese manufacturer, I now own about 12-13 pieces of Xiaomi products, all are well designed, work very well and are easy to use.

Gosh! If I hadn’t bought my Golf estate and sunk around 4K into it I would have been bashing you front door down with a wedge of cash for this! This is SO up my street and I love it.

Paul is brilliant isn't he. We love his livestreams.

Im glad the ZS is potentially gettting saved from the scrap heap, I had to let the scarp man have my beloved Mk1 octavia after some drink driver idiot smashed into it outside my house and wrote it off, while totally unremarkable to most, I loved that thing and between me and my dad (its only previous owner) it had put in the best part of 20 years and 250,000 miles of absolutely fault free service and was still going strong, if I could have saved that car from the scrap heap, I absolutely would have done

From experience cheap to buy cars are rarely good or bargain buys. Which usually cost an arm and a leg to sort out. The only thing is if you do this and keep the car it might not need excess expenditure for a few years. Believe me I know as I've been doing this for 50 years. As my neighbours keep telling me 'it keeps me busy/out of trouble.

Hopefully when Paul makes some progress with the ZS you'll pay him a visit, maybe another dinner with Boaty 🤣 it was a good watch 👍👍

I have a Peugeot 206 that I bought for £80 I can tell you I'm way deeper into it than that now even though it really didnt have much wrong with it.

I'm not sure if you're aware but DMGRS are making new front jacking panels for the ZS, should be available soon. That's usually the worst area of corrosion on them so it should make repairs much easier.

Good god the bots in the comments section are out of hand...

I mean, I realise these guys have just about as many subscribers as this channel but I have to shout out 'salvage rebuilds uk' any chance I can, two of the most genuine, funny and downright wizard-like on their car knowledge and skills.

Thanks J! 🙏🙏 You did try, & sometimes circumstances mean you just have to let go. Hope everything works out for cars with their new owners!

Its ok to spend more on a car than its worth. Cars depreciate, so you have to factor that in when comparing to buying newer vehicles that will depreciate more. Great to not scrap cars if you can.

I keep seeing members only car reviews pop up in my feed. I thought you said car reviews would never be behind a wall? And it would be used for other bits of content.

the Rover 45 and ZS do love to rust i cant lie, Them front Arches and Jacking point sections on the floor love to go, and its uncommon to see one thats clean these days. My Honda Civic Which is the exact same car has the same issues which i am slowly getting round to fixing. just need the weather to brighten up!

Great gesture to project paul

"patron saint of lost causes". That should be mustards tagline 😂

Damn you sir 😂 I literally just got rid of my MG 6 and got a Swift Sport. If I hadn't done that I would have made an offer for the ZT-T. Think I almost eluded to wanting to buy it on the original video. Mind you, I'm at bit too old at 40 for your target sales audience 😜. I hope whoever buys it enjoys it as much as you have.

the ulimate colab, Jay and his MGs and Whistin Diesel and his kill dozer ❤

Im currently facing a "not economical to repair" situation myself. Quite sad, but its encouraged me to move on a couple cars and ill put my money into having a better single car.

@JayEmmOnCars I need your advice for once. I bought my first ever car in 2020... It was an stock silver MX-5 NB 1.6, which I gave to my mum for her 60th birthday. Fast forward 4 years and now I've inherited the car back and have had my driving licence for 2 years... I love the car and I couldn't give the car away. Fortunately, the underbody and the longitudinal beams (most vulnerable part on the NB) are good, but the sills are starting to go and now to my question: Would you just do the bare minimum for MoT or take the money and have the car done properly? To have the complete sills done would cost £1,283 (1.500 €) and I need a new soft top in the next few years.

If I needed a car I would buy it, damn it!!! Its such a special car! It is a shame you couldn't save all the MGs yourself, tho, but makes so much sense when it gets 'out of hand'

My favourite car RU-vidr is Sarah-n-tuned. She works super hard and does basically everything herself.

I reckon you should do some collaborations with that Alex Twinspark channel, I hear they're pretty good 😅

" ... to find where you left the car in the car park... " Thank God it's not just me .. 😅

I'm 17! I have a Rover 25 already and love MG Rover, I'm very very tempted i must say

Sorry, if the shop you left the car with threw away your spare parts- the roof lining and door card, shouldn’t they be paying for the expenses of getting new parts? Is not that standard practice in the UK?

Thats good quality daytime images from the dashcam.

11:50 ZT-T starts here.

Hiya I got recommended this video as I have been looking for a ZTT and this will match my Trophy Blue TF and also am a big fan of the ZR as I had one I am 21 and also have a few videos on tik tok off me restoring and working on both. (My RU-vid Channel is just old stuff from years ago 🤣)

Couldn't think of a better person for the ZS to go too.

I love a good MG, and a cool looking estate, so I think I'd really enjoy having a ZT-T. Unfortunately my Dacia Logan MCV is adequate enough (I don't need two estates!) and I can't drop £1000 on another car while I'm still a student, so to whoever ends up with it: enjoy it!

So sweet, I didn't know MG was still making cars, diesels at that, we don't see them here in the US, If you were here I'd grab it for sure.

Hope you can get a good owner to sell it to. Plus an update on it if possible.

James Top tip from me⚠️ Take a powerful torch and a carry mat to view the underside of any car you're buying before even opening any doors or test driving it. I might get some strange looks but I've had the last laugh over the 40 years of buying and selling cars by not buying a total lemon/basket case.😅 The underside is a total giveaway where corrosion & accident repairs are concerned.

WIsh I had the money to buy it. Love the tourers.

Lesson for life here is don't buy an old car without first looking at it from underneath at bare minimum with an inspection mirror, borescope or similar. I don't however have a lot of time for those who say "you should have got a pre-purchase inspection" because have you ever actually tried calling a mechanic and getting them to take time out of their day to do that with you? And persuaded a seller to let you? But nonetheless... don't start getting excited buying parts until you are sure the car is worth it. A look inside the cylinders with the aforementioned borescope is worth doing first too.

How can cars made in the UK one of the rainiest countries in the world, be so prone to rusting away.

There's an MG ZS v6 on FB marketplace in Harlow. Not sure if any good or not. I'd go and have a look (used to work on them when they were new) but too far away from me.

I'd be very interested in the ZTT I've had 4 on the past 3x190 saloons and one MK2 cdti estate. I am 33 so abit older then you would like. Great cars and I miss my old ones haha

That brake calliper seize on ZR and James' response is very much TopGear comedy material... Scary, though, that brake calliper can seize to that extent. Also, I kinda want the MG ZT but not being in UK (or Europe. for that matter) would be a big problem for me...

First Clement, and now the ZS…Ohh the humanity!!!

Have you thought about hanging out with GeoffBuysCars and his friends? Man is running a small fleet of cheap, old vehicles and seems like he's a blast to be around from his videos.

Lol you addressed why I clicked on your video within a few seconds 😂

Go and sort out car throttle or get Ethan and jack on here for a guest spot

I could definitely see a collaboration with Auto Alex and Drivetribe

Great shout out to NEV.

The field of view of that 70MAI dashcam seems really narrow. Specs say 150 degree, when 170 degree is the standard. The other features may be nice, but that's... not great.

As much as I’d love another BMW diesel, sadly I can’t afford another car. My 530d E39 already costs me enough to run, especially with 21 year old insurance!

Mike Fernie's jaw has hit the floor; how dare someone abandon an MG 🤬🤬🤬

I would buy if I was living in the UK. Sadly, to get it imported to Ireland would cost a very pretty penny

I've always found it difficult to decide when to let a car go. Too long might cost a lot? These days I'm finding that decision a lot easier, because I can't afford a new car, or even nearly new. So I'm running two older vws until they go bang. 9 years old and 17 years old.....wish me luck!

As the song says, know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

do a collab with GEOFF BUYS CARS please.

I would love to see a mg montego or a Nissan bluebird zx turbo on the channel 😁 two very rare cars

And here I am, the last child, feeling envy for the middle one.

He's a good bloke that paul 😀

Odd Autos! Excellent small channel similar to NEV!

Get in touch with High Peak Autos!

Those MG estate cars are very handsome cars.

A bad example is never a good idea, except if you have the knowledge to fix everything. Still, better economical way to buy a good example.

Methinks the plates were dropping a subtle hint. WTF indeed.

Hi! Are you going to review Renault megane IV GT with 1.6T engine? Cheers!

Make the ZS a track car for track days with MGs-on-Track!!

I don’t know your situation both financially and logistically, but might it not be a consideration to find and rent a dry unit close to your house which could take all your present fleet. You could then outfit it with some basic garage equipment which would allow you to get some specialists in to do the work required. As they wouldn’t be charging you for both their premises and tools and equipment you could then, perhaps, get quality work done at a reasonable price. Also, by experience, you’d then find reliable, high quality workmanship which could be employed on a regular basis. I know it sounds like an expensive undertaking, but you seem to be into this for the long haul and second hand garage equipment seems to be obtainable at reasonable expense. Anyway, just an idea.

I would have bought it but I’m broke, plus my mg zr is just sitting there but that’s also broke and never actually had a chance to drive it because of the insurance despite, I have almost 3 no clames, ridiculous 🤦🏾 Also have 1.8 turbo to go in as well, it’s just life I guess, at the moment I’m just driving Citroen C8 as my daily

When are you gonna get the V8 ZT (or is that the ZT dash T ?) 260? you have to complete the package you know

The ZR and ZS were made on exactly the same production line at exactly the same time.

I've always used nextbase dashcams but first thing I do is remove the speed

The undercarriage looked kind of avrage rover. Just a bit of surface rust. LOL