The Joys of Restoring an MG Rover SD1

In my day, we didn't need much to unwind after a long day's work - a beer or two would do the trick. However, times have changed, and now we're nerds who enjoy tinkering with cars. I still remember the first car I ever saw was a Rover, which is part of the same family as the MG, my dad's favorite car.

My dad's Rover SD1 is a rear-wheel drive car that has decent power and a manual transmission. He uses the handbrake quite often when leaving the driveway, which he's mastered over the years. I must have picked up some of his skills when I got behind the wheel, as I was able to execute a smooth overtaking maneuver.

The Rover SD1 has been in our family for a while, and we've had it since August. It was bought from a production line and has become a reliable companion for our adventures. The car is not perfect, but its condition is impressive considering its age - there's no rust anywhere on the body, which is a testament to the previous owner's care.

I was curious about the smallest call guy's opinion on this particular Rover SD1. They were impressed with the car and noted that it has been well-maintained over the years. The car's history is remarkable, as it shows no signs of damage or neglect - a truly rare find in these parts.

One thing I liked about the Rover SD1 is its chassis, which isn't overly rigid. This makes it more forgiving for drivers who aren't used to driving cars with stiff suspensions like many modern models. Additionally, the low-profile tires give it a relaxed driving experience, making it perfect for long road trips without worrying about excessive wear and tear.

Another aspect of the Rover SD1 that sets it apart is its center console - it's incredibly basic. This simplicity adds to the car's charm and makes it more enjoyable to drive. The lack of distractions also allows drivers to focus on the road ahead, which can be a welcome change from the complexity found in modern cars.

The Rover SD1 has one notable feature that sets it apart: its tendency to roll when cornering too aggressively. This is often misinterpreted as being slow or lacking power - but trust me, it's just the car's way of reminding you not to overdo it.

I was intrigued to learn about how this car handled with fresh rubber. The owner reported that upgrading from old tires to new ones significantly improved its handling - a testament to the benefits of modern technology in maintaining our beloved classic cars.

In conclusion, restoring an MG Rover SD1 is no easy feat. From polishing the damaged parts to finding the right replacement for specific components, it's a journey worth taking. And with its smooth ride and relaxed driving experience, this car has won over the hearts of many enthusiasts - including yours truly.

What's Next?

The next step in our journey was completing the drivetrain of the MG Rover SD1. Neil, an expert mechanic, took on the challenge of getting it running smoothly again. With his expertise and dedication, we were able to transform this classic car into a reliable companion for our adventures.

A Special Thank You

We'd like to extend a special thank you to eBay for sponsoring this project and providing us with the opportunity to share it with all of you. If you're as passionate about cars as we are, be sure to check out their latest offerings - you might just find your next classic car project!

Up for Sale on eBay

And now that our MG Rover SD1 is complete, we're putting it up for sale on eBay! Click the link in the description below and bid on this incredible opportunity to own a piece of automotive history. Not only will you be getting an amazing deal on a drivetrain project car, but also the chance to pick it up from us personally.

A Final Word

If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs-up and subscribe to our channel for more exciting projects like this one! We'd love to have you along on our journey through the world of classic cars.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is Mike's mg of which he is deathly proud which makes it very annoying that somebody in a car park has scuffed it with another car down here it's got a bit of a scrape on it there it was me I did it with my Tesla I thought I'll show these young people how to park in a complicated tight space in a big car which I did I just hit Mike's car on the way sorry Mike so that happened and I'm not quite sure how he managed to do it because a Tesla is covered in sensors so it will have been going nuts when it got anywhere near the mg but it happened and there's some fairly decent gouges out of it although I do have the footage from the day and his Tesla front bumper has come off way worse than that so maybe I've got away with one and actually it's the perfect excuse to finish off a hold of other jobs on the car we had a few things left over from last time so the fact that the car is now damaged means we can just crack on and make this as mint as it can be I've got my list here so a couple of things from last time we've got a new exhaust back box for the car because it really blares on the motorway we've got some new drop links Anthony noticed that one of the robbers on them had torrents we've got a couple of those to put on we're going to fix the heater which is really needed in this area of the country in February we've got a new window switch panel because currently it's all a bit Snappy and plasticky and horrible we've got some brand new windscreen cream wipers and then we're going to put on some fresh tires because they're super bold and those fresh white Wheels definitely deserve some Pro for rubber then we're going to hand the car over to Neil and he's going to give it the full polish making sure he can tackle all of those James May scratches now there's a lot of noise in the workshop today we've got some building work upstairs we've got the guys working on a Morris just over there so apologies for any nasty aggressive noises this video is sponsored by a friend at eBay and that's where all of the parts for our jobs today have been ordered from eBay isn't just great for second-hand Bargains there is an enormous group of trusted suppliers selling brand new parts on there too everything going on the mg today was bought brand spanking new Straight from eBay which was all helped by using my garage click the link in the description to check out the wonderful world of eBay for it's super easy to find all the parts for your car also if you're watching this video less than a week from when it's gone live the car behind me the drivetrip mg is for sale on eBay if you fancy a drivetrave project car that's been worked on in the smallest Cog on your driveway click the link in the description below and get bidding foreign it was a bit of a bugger to get off but Anthony got there in the end and this is absolutely horrible I think it's supposed to be stock but then you've got these tips that are screwed and bolted onto the end of it they're all rusting and clearly made of incredibly thin metal and can't hear anything but I think that's giving us absolutely no baffling whatsoever which has led to it droning on the motorway so very glad to be getting rid of this with a bit of mocking around we've got the back boxing and it looks like it's a hell of a lot better than the thing that came out of it should be much much quieter onto the droplets Anthony you mentioned the drop links last time so I got a new pair what exactly is wrong with them as you can see there look the splits and the boot and there are Nest was let's dirt in which only wear it quicker and then that's your anti-roll bar so when you go Barrel it into a corner the steering's not as good as it should be so we'll swap them now and put new ones on okay so I see a bolt here and then another one there's one hidden right around the back of there you'll enjoy in doing that won't you no the only thing I'm worried about is though you've actually got dirt on it once you've got dirt on his I kept walking into the body wheel when we're doing the exhaust I have got a backup plan but it will mean I'm Gonna Fill Up My drivetrap overall so if you're prepared to be that embarrassed then I'll go do it but yeah you're wearing them not me so I'm fine with that probably two seconds what do you reckon Drive trade Mike I was thinking maybe smallest cognite I was gonna say I want someone's coggling and Hammond's Heroes on the back yeah I'm moving a bit far Heroes hero dude boxer Heroes be nice what's going on here then yeah so if I do the nasty one or would you like to do the nasty one no no I think you tackle that one that one looks nice that was that nice easy one there's a Stumpy Spano there yeah also I'm trying to undo that which is very tight let's see you then that's proper Rover engineering that is the tires on the mg are pretty knackered they weren't the best when I first got the car and then I took on a couple of track days and they are goosed especially on The Ridges they're almost down to the cards so I think some fresh tires for all four wheels is what this car deserves it's a small job to do but this has been very frustrating over the last few months the electric window switch has gone very dodgy especially drivers one if I fiddle with this enough it does just completely pop out like that so sometimes you're in a rush you want to get the window down and this ends up tumbling down into the footwell and you're absolutely screwed so I think it's just screwdriver in there pry this up and then I've got a brand new fresh one from eBay to just plop straight in and today's given me a frown as if it's not going to be that easy but new window switches in will it work three two one oh yeah and that feels very very nice empty Rover quality guys so Neil that's was the damage that James did and I have thought we should potentially keep it because it might be worth more to someone because the person that buys this car can say James May did that so how bad is this robot just polish out or is that about deep I can tell you James's Tesla came off a lot worse oh right British engineering yeah yeah a good old solid old tank and she well there's a rule of thumb which scratches so you can feel it with your nail yeah it's usually too deep to cut out I mean there's definitely some in there yeah those ones you can't feel your nails yeah that's okay that one there the one's quite deep most of that will come out but we can you never know depends how much lack is on there maybe that's it maybe we get rid of most of them but there's just a one little scratch or something like James that's it yeah a famous scratch again I don't know how he did it the amount of sensors on a Tesla it will have been absolutely going mental when he got close to this yeah well the problem is always a trapped in way he's a repair car bumpers day in day eight and when they brought all these singing and dancing centers out if I was going to be me out of a job but I could tell you now and most garages will tell you this you repair more card bumpers with sensors on them without they rely on them too much they rely on sensors and if that sensor doesn't pick that up bang because they're reliable they don't use their eyes and their ears and just look and just they just rely on sense of telling them but yeah I've repaired no Ender cards and people always say this oh it was a low wall or skips were the best one because the Skip's angled and people used to reverse back and the sensors wouldn't pick the skipper until this bit was through the back tailgate oh loads of Skips yeah yeah okay well I'm not saying you're rude to skip mine well I know the audience loves a Neil Montage so I'll leave this to you and let's see how it comes out foreign that's much better a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S it's a lot of tire for the amount of power this car produces but it should handle beautifully now let's get them on the car I really enjoyed that did you enjoy those are actually a few niggly bits but we've got there in the end the car looks great we should really take it for a test drive if only we're the world famous test driver somewhere in the vicinity I'm sure there's one in the Bog so Ben you drove these back in the day yeah you're the V8 One on Top Gear so sadly this is only the V6 yep but I thought you'd be the perfect man to give it a bit of a go and see if our handy workers actually have decent well thank you for letting me have the privilege of taking this out for its first you know post workspin so you say V6 V6 twin turbo no naturally aspirated so we're only talking about 180 horsepowers all right yep five-speed manual although fresh Mitchell and Robert literally today so it should feel pretty decent in the turns so possibly the most valuable part of the car is the tires uh not far off it actually looking at the receipt how was it back in the day driving mundane stuff like this when they had it on test well I loved it because I had them on track so there's nothing mundane you'd always find out what were the foibles you know when you push the thing to the Limit whether it was a sketchy ABS system or you know something that broke free you know maybe the rear oh that's nice when you don't expect it um I don't know the cars really revealed themselves when you're pushing them yeah you get that feedback through the steering wheel especially before electric power steering came in you felt so much through this divining Rod um so I love that part and in some way you could say what's the relevance of track traffic to the road but you know like I say it it's really sort of exaggerates only handling issues and it was always interesting we had to compare notes so Clarkson and Co would take the cars out on the road more often than I did yeah um and quite often through these totally different ends of the spectrum we come to a similar conclusion okay and I am slowly following in love with performance Estates and that's not to give away the next car we're going to have on the channel but where do you stand on Big Comfy estate cars with a bit f up front I love it I did a lot of research on Aston Martin so I'm just getting that book 100 Year 100 or so year of history and learning about the shooting break right which you know is a smart word for an estate car well that's it are they different shooting brake two-ring estate are they all the same thing or basically balls between each one yeah I mean shooting break meaning you could fit a shooting party in this car so you know you've got space in the back you know even your this machine you've got that dog barrier back yeah so is this your dog or uh we do have a dog but yes previous order for that one okay so previous owner had a dog and also like tinted windows yes that's a slightly dodgy in that one I don't know what that was all about so I think yeah they have got that same Heritage haven't they it's about space getting a gang together going on a road trip for an adventure whatever you need and um I think this fits that mold I noticed the wheels are quite a bright color you've got this lovely sort of racing green yeah touring car white I call it yeah it's a bit of a clash well it's slightly jarring so you've got this really lovely sort of vintage feel not that vintage because we're talking about mid-2000s aren't we yep yeah and then you've got the max power white Wheels it's a bit of a contrast what if I was to tell you that beforehand they were at a horrific Halford spree job horrible black so it was black and British racing green which was okay but I thought no let's make a statements on it very eye-catching but my eye did penetrate the white rims through to the brake calipers yeah well the uprated ones so they're technically V8 calipers on it um so when you call them V8 calipers does you mean that they are the original mg calipers from the VA model exactly so they're designed to stop the car from higher speeds exactly I wanted to check that before I went you know at any great speed into a roundabouts that I would be able to stop and there's a little bit of yellow in there what was that about yes that is just by chance we've put operated pads on it so they're yellow stuff pads there's different green stuff yellow stuff red stuff so these are like midway between track day and simple Road pads they're kind of in between so you can give it some and they'll they'll hold up somewhat because I have taken this on track I've had this around Blyton Park and the understeer was like Park famous race track yeah I absolutely loved it power is quite tame isn't it we got I think do you know what I think that's because modern cars now are so overpowered did you say what this is 160 uh 180 180. that back in the day though 200 was a lot yeah now you've got sports cars with 800 horsepower you've got hyper cars with 1600 horsepower yes T and again that was around 200 horsepower and that was totally enough backhand that was a lot but no you have to have 400 to even compete it's very gentle I mean you're not going to find yourself on acceleration with this are you front-wheel drive pretty gentle pull aways but it's very smooth I mean you haven't got a huge amount of power you're not going to feel big gobs of torque steer but there's not a hint of any pull in any direction so mechanically feels very sound I will try the brake pedal in a little bit just to see if there is um actually some stopping power with these track edition special yellow compounds right do you remember driving the V8 back in the day do you know what vaguely um I was a little bit of a shimmy but all right that's probably because they're still bedding in yeah the V8 was pretty awesome because you had that rear wheel drive that's right which is unusual for an estate car and I think quite a luxury so perhaps that could be your next model I mean you might you know this is very fun easy going car maybe you can take the power up rear wheel drive and now you won't be the next step a VA to stay we would be very very cool it's got that Mustang engine in it but I kind of want to go a bit more than that we'll chat about this afterwards yeah we've got something pretty special for the channel in the coming coming months and which I'm sure you drove back in the day as well exciting uh very exciting engine so this might seem a bit lackluster I can guarantee you what we'll be replacing this will not be like yeah I'm gonna get around again I'm enjoying myself testing out that those brand new michelins oh it's like glue yeah it's got enough doesn't it yeah and you've got space I had a look around the in the trunk there right there's some eclectic little collection of stuff you carry with you it is an insight into my life that I must say it's a bit of a worry I mean there's a mix there's some oil cans and things like that and then there's a whole magazine I don't know and a few other things sort of I want to emphasize that Hornby not potentially something else like what there's a bee in there okay yeah oh yeah I noticed as well you've got a risk strategy game in the back now is that because the potential for these things to break down and whilst you're waiting for Recovery you you play a game of strategy or read a bit of horn below it's something it's something much nicer than that it just so happens that our production crew and actually games that you film with as well they love a gamer risk deal of an evening we've had a very successful shoot like this one yeah and we will play a game of rest just to wind down back in my day they used to like having a beer or two but I guess things have changed we are nerds I I will it's exciting for that if only if my my dad the first color I ever remember was a Rover it's the same sort of family as the mg okay the sd1 nice which is my dad's car so what was it like you know rear wheel drive yep decent power manual proper handbrake which my dad used to use quite regularly on the right way out of the driveway it was a bit so I think I picked it up honestly that's all right is there a little nice little overtaking move I'm not sure about the next one not sure we've got the Poke there to really see that one through but yeah super smooth so how long have you had this for uh we've had it since August and it was bought as a drivetrain production car hence the boot throwing all camera kit and stuff um and basically yeah it's been great but I do want to take a step so hang on sorry you did tell me this but how much was this this was 1500 pounds which I think for the condition of it fair enough it's not the greatest new one but there's not a speck of rust on it right which for an MG Rover of this era is amazing and have you really looked for that Ross they look in different places different cars they have different places they hide absolutely I mean the smallest called guys do not miss anything and they've been very impressed with it actually what do you think of the smallest pretty cool very impressive I I was expecting well honestly I was expecting you know that Richard Hammond built so yeah made of wood with oil on the floor yeah and actually there's a pretty sophisticated patch in there so um yeah you're not going to frighten away any customers well if you do need anything worked on yeah I tend to break everything I get in so might be good that's Lovely isn't it really is super smooth and there's not quite enough power to get any torched here so yeah you're not going to get in trouble with it for sure what I like about these is the chassis is not overly rigid so a lot of the really modern cars now are so stiff because they've probably put too much power in them and they have to yeah really give them an also low profile tires ruins everything this has got that sort of uh a bit more of a relaxing drive you feel like you could take a long journey with it and it's you're not going to be knacking at the end of it or have your teeth shaking out of your head absolutely and limited distractions on the center console because incredibly basic oh yeah it's got good grip yeah yeah despite it's got a little bit of roll that's probably the fastest ending's been around that right about it's funny you should mention that because a lot of these old cars of you know you you pretend to buy them on old tires and actually when you upgrade them to something that's grippier than anything they ever ran on when they were brand new it transforms the handling absolutely so um there's a lot to be said for that and actually reviewing these scars again with fresh rubber I really like this I think this is good it's a great and glad you've done well I mean and someone's going to take this from you and love it well we're selling it you want it I'm good I'll I'll be interested to see what you get next though yes we are going to get you definitely on the channel to check out that because you're gonna like it thank you Ben thanks for the drive yeah thank you so that's it the drivetrain mgzt is now finished Neil's done a very good job of polishing the gameplay damage but there is a slight bit that was slightly too deep for him to tackle but I guess it's going to be a happy medium the car is not really meant but there is that tiny little scratch who if you buy the car you can point out and see James May did that thank you so much to eBay for sponsoring this video and if you want to transform your car just like we've done here click the link in the description below and say about buying parts for your car it could not be simpler also the car is now for sale on eBay so click the other Link in the description and head through and bid on this car if you fancy it and you will have a drivetray project car of your own you'll also be able to pick up from here I'll hand it over along with the smallest call guys and maybe Richard Hammond will even make you a cup of tea I can't promise that though anyway if you like this video give it a thumbs up I'd be Mike and don't forget to subscribe to drivetribethis is Mike's mg of which he is deathly proud which makes it very annoying that somebody in a car park has scuffed it with another car down here it's got a bit of a scrape on it there it was me I did it with my Tesla I thought I'll show these young people how to park in a complicated tight space in a big car which I did I just hit Mike's car on the way sorry Mike so that happened and I'm not quite sure how he managed to do it because a Tesla is covered in sensors so it will have been going nuts when it got anywhere near the mg but it happened and there's some fairly decent gouges out of it although I do have the footage from the day and his Tesla front bumper has come off way worse than that so maybe I've got away with one and actually it's the perfect excuse to finish off a hold of other jobs on the car we had a few things left over from last time so the fact that the car is now damaged means we can just crack on and make this as mint as it can be I've got my list here so a couple of things from last time we've got a new exhaust back box for the car because it really blares on the motorway we've got some new drop links Anthony noticed that one of the robbers on them had torrents we've got a couple of those to put on we're going to fix the heater which is really needed in this area of the country in February we've got a new window switch panel because currently it's all a bit Snappy and plasticky and horrible we've got some brand new windscreen cream wipers and then we're going to put on some fresh tires because they're super bold and those fresh white Wheels definitely deserve some Pro for rubber then we're going to hand the car over to Neil and he's going to give it the full polish making sure he can tackle all of those James May scratches now there's a lot of noise in the workshop today we've got some building work upstairs we've got the guys working on a Morris just over there so apologies for any nasty aggressive noises this video is sponsored by a friend at eBay and that's where all of the parts for our jobs today have been ordered from eBay isn't just great for second-hand Bargains there is an enormous group of trusted suppliers selling brand new parts on there too everything going on the mg today was bought brand spanking new Straight from eBay which was all helped by using my garage click the link in the description to check out the wonderful world of eBay for it's super easy to find all the parts for your car also if you're watching this video less than a week from when it's gone live the car behind me the drivetrip mg is for sale on eBay if you fancy a drivetrave project car that's been worked on in the smallest Cog on your driveway click the link in the description below and get bidding foreign it was a bit of a bugger to get off but Anthony got there in the end and this is absolutely horrible I think it's supposed to be stock but then you've got these tips that are screwed and bolted onto the end of it they're all rusting and clearly made of incredibly thin metal and can't hear anything but I think that's giving us absolutely no baffling whatsoever which has led to it droning on the motorway so very glad to be getting rid of this with a bit of mocking around we've got the back boxing and it looks like it's a hell of a lot better than the thing that came out of it should be much much quieter onto the droplets Anthony you mentioned the drop links last time so I got a new pair what exactly is wrong with them as you can see there look the splits and the boot and there are Nest was let's dirt in which only wear it quicker and then that's your anti-roll bar so when you go Barrel it into a corner the steering's not as good as it should be so we'll swap them now and put new ones on okay so I see a bolt here and then another one there's one hidden right around the back of there you'll enjoy in doing that won't you no the only thing I'm worried about is though you've actually got dirt on it once you've got dirt on his I kept walking into the body wheel when we're doing the exhaust I have got a backup plan but it will mean I'm Gonna Fill Up My drivetrap overall so if you're prepared to be that embarrassed then I'll go do it but yeah you're wearing them not me so I'm fine with that probably two seconds what do you reckon Drive trade Mike I was thinking maybe smallest cognite I was gonna say I want someone's coggling and Hammond's Heroes on the back yeah I'm moving a bit far Heroes hero dude boxer Heroes be nice what's going on here then yeah so if I do the nasty one or would you like to do the nasty one no no I think you tackle that one that one looks nice that was that nice easy one there's a Stumpy Spano there yeah also I'm trying to undo that which is very tight let's see you then that's proper Rover engineering that is the tires on the mg are pretty knackered they weren't the best when I first got the car and then I took on a couple of track days and they are goosed especially on The Ridges they're almost down to the cards so I think some fresh tires for all four wheels is what this car deserves it's a small job to do but this has been very frustrating over the last few months the electric window switch has gone very dodgy especially drivers one if I fiddle with this enough it does just completely pop out like that so sometimes you're in a rush you want to get the window down and this ends up tumbling down into the footwell and you're absolutely screwed so I think it's just screwdriver in there pry this up and then I've got a brand new fresh one from eBay to just plop straight in and today's given me a frown as if it's not going to be that easy but new window switches in will it work three two one oh yeah and that feels very very nice empty Rover quality guys so Neil that's was the damage that James did and I have thought we should potentially keep it because it might be worth more to someone because the person that buys this car can say James May did that so how bad is this robot just polish out or is that about deep I can tell you James's Tesla came off a lot worse oh right British engineering yeah yeah a good old solid old tank and she well there's a rule of thumb which scratches so you can feel it with your nail yeah it's usually too deep to cut out I mean there's definitely some in there yeah those ones you can't feel your nails yeah that's okay that one there the one's quite deep most of that will come out but we can you never know depends how much lack is on there maybe that's it maybe we get rid of most of them but there's just a one little scratch or something like James that's it yeah a famous scratch again I don't know how he did it the amount of sensors on a Tesla it will have been absolutely going mental when he got close to this yeah well the problem is always a trapped in way he's a repair car bumpers day in day eight and when they brought all these singing and dancing centers out if I was going to be me out of a job but I could tell you now and most garages will tell you this you repair more card bumpers with sensors on them without they rely on them too much they rely on sensors and if that sensor doesn't pick that up bang because they're reliable they don't use their eyes and their ears and just look and just they just rely on sense of telling them but yeah I've repaired no Ender cards and people always say this oh it was a low wall or skips were the best one because the Skip's angled and people used to reverse back and the sensors wouldn't pick the skipper until this bit was through the back tailgate oh loads of Skips yeah yeah okay well I'm not saying you're rude to skip mine well I know the audience loves a Neil Montage so I'll leave this to you and let's see how it comes out foreign that's much better a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S it's a lot of tire for the amount of power this car produces but it should handle beautifully now let's get them on the car I really enjoyed that did you enjoy those are actually a few niggly bits but we've got there in the end the car looks great we should really take it for a test drive if only we're the world famous test driver somewhere in the vicinity I'm sure there's one in the Bog so Ben you drove these back in the day yeah you're the V8 One on Top Gear so sadly this is only the V6 yep but I thought you'd be the perfect man to give it a bit of a go and see if our handy workers actually have decent well thank you for letting me have the privilege of taking this out for its first you know post workspin so you say V6 V6 twin turbo no naturally aspirated so we're only talking about 180 horsepowers all right yep five-speed manual although fresh Mitchell and Robert literally today so it should feel pretty decent in the turns so possibly the most valuable part of the car is the tires uh not far off it actually looking at the receipt how was it back in the day driving mundane stuff like this when they had it on test well I loved it because I had them on track so there's nothing mundane you'd always find out what were the foibles you know when you push the thing to the Limit whether it was a sketchy ABS system or you know something that broke free you know maybe the rear oh that's nice when you don't expect it um I don't know the cars really revealed themselves when you're pushing them yeah you get that feedback through the steering wheel especially before electric power steering came in you felt so much through this divining Rod um so I love that part and in some way you could say what's the relevance of track traffic to the road but you know like I say it it's really sort of exaggerates only handling issues and it was always interesting we had to compare notes so Clarkson and Co would take the cars out on the road more often than I did yeah um and quite often through these totally different ends of the spectrum we come to a similar conclusion okay and I am slowly following in love with performance Estates and that's not to give away the next car we're going to have on the channel but where do you stand on Big Comfy estate cars with a bit f up front I love it I did a lot of research on Aston Martin so I'm just getting that book 100 Year 100 or so year of history and learning about the shooting break right which you know is a smart word for an estate car well that's it are they different shooting brake two-ring estate are they all the same thing or basically balls between each one yeah I mean shooting break meaning you could fit a shooting party in this car so you know you've got space in the back you know even your this machine you've got that dog barrier back yeah so is this your dog or uh we do have a dog but yes previous order for that one okay so previous owner had a dog and also like tinted windows yes that's a slightly dodgy in that one I don't know what that was all about so I think yeah they have got that same Heritage haven't they it's about space getting a gang together going on a road trip for an adventure whatever you need and um I think this fits that mold I noticed the wheels are quite a bright color you've got this lovely sort of racing green yeah touring car white I call it yeah it's a bit of a clash well it's slightly jarring so you've got this really lovely sort of vintage feel not that vintage because we're talking about mid-2000s aren't we yep yeah and then you've got the max power white Wheels it's a bit of a contrast what if I was to tell you that beforehand they were at a horrific Halford spree job horrible black so it was black and British racing green which was okay but I thought no let's make a statements on it very eye-catching but my eye did penetrate the white rims through to the brake calipers yeah well the uprated ones so they're technically V8 calipers on it um so when you call them V8 calipers does you mean that they are the original mg calipers from the VA model exactly so they're designed to stop the car from higher speeds exactly I wanted to check that before I went you know at any great speed into a roundabouts that I would be able to stop and there's a little bit of yellow in there what was that about yes that is just by chance we've put operated pads on it so they're yellow stuff pads there's different green stuff yellow stuff red stuff so these are like midway between track day and simple Road pads they're kind of in between so you can give it some and they'll they'll hold up somewhat because I have taken this on track I've had this around Blyton Park and the understeer was like Park famous race track yeah I absolutely loved it power is quite tame isn't it we got I think do you know what I think that's because modern cars now are so overpowered did you say what this is 160 uh 180 180. that back in the day though 200 was a lot yeah now you've got sports cars with 800 horsepower you've got hyper cars with 1600 horsepower yes T and again that was around 200 horsepower and that was totally enough backhand that was a lot but no you have to have 400 to even compete it's very gentle I mean you're not going to find yourself on acceleration with this are you front-wheel drive pretty gentle pull aways but it's very smooth I mean you haven't got a huge amount of power you're not going to feel big gobs of torque steer but there's not a hint of any pull in any direction so mechanically feels very sound I will try the brake pedal in a little bit just to see if there is um actually some stopping power with these track edition special yellow compounds right do you remember driving the V8 back in the day do you know what vaguely um I was a little bit of a shimmy but all right that's probably because they're still bedding in yeah the V8 was pretty awesome because you had that rear wheel drive that's right which is unusual for an estate car and I think quite a luxury so perhaps that could be your next model I mean you might you know this is very fun easy going car maybe you can take the power up rear wheel drive and now you won't be the next step a VA to stay we would be very very cool it's got that Mustang engine in it but I kind of want to go a bit more than that we'll chat about this afterwards yeah we've got something pretty special for the channel in the coming coming months and which I'm sure you drove back in the day as well exciting uh very exciting engine so this might seem a bit lackluster I can guarantee you what we'll be replacing this will not be like yeah I'm gonna get around again I'm enjoying myself testing out that those brand new michelins oh it's like glue yeah it's got enough doesn't it yeah and you've got space I had a look around the in the trunk there right there's some eclectic little collection of stuff you carry with you it is an insight into my life that I must say it's a bit of a worry I mean there's a mix there's some oil cans and things like that and then there's a whole magazine I don't know and a few other things sort of I want to emphasize that Hornby not potentially something else like what there's a bee in there okay yeah oh yeah I noticed as well you've got a risk strategy game in the back now is that because the potential for these things to break down and whilst you're waiting for Recovery you you play a game of strategy or read a bit of horn below it's something it's something much nicer than that it just so happens that our production crew and actually games that you film with as well they love a gamer risk deal of an evening we've had a very successful shoot like this one yeah and we will play a game of rest just to wind down back in my day they used to like having a beer or two but I guess things have changed we are nerds I I will it's exciting for that if only if my my dad the first color I ever remember was a Rover it's the same sort of family as the mg okay the sd1 nice which is my dad's car so what was it like you know rear wheel drive yep decent power manual proper handbrake which my dad used to use quite regularly on the right way out of the driveway it was a bit so I think I picked it up honestly that's all right is there a little nice little overtaking move I'm not sure about the next one not sure we've got the Poke there to really see that one through but yeah super smooth so how long have you had this for uh we've had it since August and it was bought as a drivetrain production car hence the boot throwing all camera kit and stuff um and basically yeah it's been great but I do want to take a step so hang on sorry you did tell me this but how much was this this was 1500 pounds which I think for the condition of it fair enough it's not the greatest new one but there's not a speck of rust on it right which for an MG Rover of this era is amazing and have you really looked for that Ross they look in different places different cars they have different places they hide absolutely I mean the smallest called guys do not miss anything and they've been very impressed with it actually what do you think of the smallest pretty cool very impressive I I was expecting well honestly I was expecting you know that Richard Hammond built so yeah made of wood with oil on the floor yeah and actually there's a pretty sophisticated patch in there so um yeah you're not going to frighten away any customers well if you do need anything worked on yeah I tend to break everything I get in so might be good that's Lovely isn't it really is super smooth and there's not quite enough power to get any torched here so yeah you're not going to get in trouble with it for sure what I like about these is the chassis is not overly rigid so a lot of the really modern cars now are so stiff because they've probably put too much power in them and they have to yeah really give them an also low profile tires ruins everything this has got that sort of uh a bit more of a relaxing drive you feel like you could take a long journey with it and it's you're not going to be knacking at the end of it or have your teeth shaking out of your head absolutely and limited distractions on the center console because incredibly basic oh yeah it's got good grip yeah yeah despite it's got a little bit of roll that's probably the fastest ending's been around that right about it's funny you should mention that because a lot of these old cars of you know you you pretend to buy them on old tires and actually when you upgrade them to something that's grippier than anything they ever ran on when they were brand new it transforms the handling absolutely so um there's a lot to be said for that and actually reviewing these scars again with fresh rubber I really like this I think this is good it's a great and glad you've done well I mean and someone's going to take this from you and love it well we're selling it you want it I'm good I'll I'll be interested to see what you get next though yes we are going to get you definitely on the channel to check out that because you're gonna like it thank you Ben thanks for the drive yeah thank you so that's it the drivetrain mgzt is now finished Neil's done a very good job of polishing the gameplay damage but there is a slight bit that was slightly too deep for him to tackle but I guess it's going to be a happy medium the car is not really meant but there is that tiny little scratch who if you buy the car you can point out and see James May did that thank you so much to eBay for sponsoring this video and if you want to transform your car just like we've done here click the link in the description below and say about buying parts for your car it could not be simpler also the car is now for sale on eBay so click the other Link in the description and head through and bid on this car if you fancy it and you will have a drivetray project car of your own you'll also be able to pick up from here I'll hand it over along with the smallest call guys and maybe Richard Hammond will even make you a cup of tea I can't promise that though anyway if you like this video give it a thumbs up I'd be Mike and don't forget to subscribe to drivetribe\n"