Car of the Month : June 2009

After some time on the dark side owning a Citroën Xantia Activa, and then over eighteen months with a 200 VI, AROnline‘s very own technical guru, Brian Gunn, felt the need to move to something slightly more exotic…

And in keeping with his very particular tastes, it’s rear wheel drive, and cobbled together from bits of Rover Metros and 200/400s. He’s never been happier…

Words and pictures: Brian Gunn


Safety, Fast, Fun…


Back home…

I don’t know what it was that clicked in my mind seven or eight months ago, and made me consider an MGF, but as soon as I test drove one, I never looked back. The first car I had the pleasure of driving was somewhat of a knackered example, though – I knew that there had to be something better out there; and now I’ve found it, I reckon that’s the car you see here!

I paid £1575 for my MGF VVC in January after seeing the car on ebay. The seller was confident that the car was 100 per cent mechanically, but as we shall see in the upcoming running reports, that was obviously not completely true, even if he thought it was. I was, though, satisfied that despite the niggles, there was a good, low mileage, base to build upon… so the deal was done.

Take the F out on a twisty country lane, and you realise that, although the car maybe cobbled together from a collection of R6 and R8 parts, they hang together really well, and underline just what was so good about Rover’s Design and Engineering guys. The F’s a car with some pretty advanced design features which you can really live with on day-to-day basis. Forget what the naysayers talk about, yes the K-Series engine can fail but then so many other modern engines do too. Look after it, service it, but most importantly; drive it hard and it’ll be fine – that’s worked on all four of the K-Series cars I’ve owned so far..


Gallery


The original interior, definitely “of it’s time”..


Steve Harper’s design still looks well in profile..


MGF 75 LE seats – a later add on.

Brian Gunn
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