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The Freelander was at Mylchreests today for some warranty work (track rod ends) and the courtesy car I got this time was the MG ZS (Rover 45 with boy racer mods). First off, let me say this is perhaps the worst excuse for a sports hatch I have ever driven!

Now I’ve got that out of my system, let’s see what exactly is wrong with it. In simple terms Handling and Interior.

Handling: (Note: handling does not mean “grip” nor “cornering speed”, it means how the car “feels” to the driver.) The MG ZS is a Rover 45 with various suspension tweaks to try and transform this 1995 design into a modern sports hatch. Well, it goes quite quickly both on the straights and corners. But: There is no weight to the steering at speed and it’s too heavy at low speed. This is the exact opposite to what is required. It also suffers from bump steering and (for a small engine) unacceptable amounts of torque steer. The suspension is woeful with any minor bump unsettling the whole vehicle, especially in the town. It feels like the spring rates and dampers are not properly matched. On the open road the suspension is jittery, and the steering feels like it has too little caster. Even with the small power output (I’d estimate this was about 110 bhp, but didn’t look under the bonnet to check), the suspension seemed unable to cope with putting the power on the road – wheel spin and understeer. Ugh.

Incredibly, the consensus on the web forums is that the ZS is the better of the three Rover MG versions, and lots of people compliment the handling. If you’re reading this and you fit into that category – please! – go and test drive a Ford Focus, or Alfa Romeo’s 156 and see what handling really means. For front wheel drive, they’re the best around. Don’t even think about mentioning track days either – nobody buys a front wheel drive saloon for track days. Get a Westfield or Caterham, or even an old 3 series BMW…

Interior: Seriously, who styled that! A total mis-match of styles and materials with no quality in anything, and an ergonomic nightmare. A 1990s Radio/CD with tiny buttons and has the display angled down from the driver (??!?) Electric window switches from the 1960s. Five settings on the heater blower switch, but the blower only knows mouse fart and hurricane. Even the markings on the wiper stalk don’t match what the stalk does (someone confused the symbols for front and rear wash wipe). Cheap, Nasty, Horrible. In fact, it’s only marginally better than an Impreza…

So I’m left wondering if MG Rover didn’t seal their own fate. If we assume the ZS is the best of the bunch, they were doomed for years. This 2005 model couldn’t compete with a 1999 Focus. Fact. It’s for sale for about £6500 – Nobody with any sense would spend their own money on it.

The fans that told their friends, and journalists that tried to help out the failing company by telling everybody how good it was only contributed to the problem: Let’s face it, if someone you trusted told you “This is their best one”, then you sat in it and absorbed the ambiance (!), you wouldn’t consider getting the cheaper one you could afford. You’d head straight to the second hand Focus, you’d even head for the second hand Astra…

Sorry MG, I approached it with an open mind, looking forward to the excellent handling, the MG experience. But in reality, it’s just awful.