19 July 2001: The Z-cars are coming. No, it’s not a remake of the popular British TV police series of the 50s and 60s based around Ford Zodiacs and Zephyrs with blue lights, but a range of new MG-badged cars based on the current Rover 25, 45 and 75 platforms.

We were shown them in Wales yesterday, and in a great show of blind faith we were also given a racing circuit on which to play with them. Fun, it was. And Fun with a capital F is what MG Rover are presenting as they revive a badge which traditionally has been the icon of the ‘affordable sports car’.

When the first copies come to Ireland at the end of September, the range will start at ‘below £13,500’ for the MG ZR105, according to Dave Smith, MD of Rover Ireland. He’s hesitant to give further prices and models yet as he is ‘still discussing’ (twisting arms) with the parent company on money and specs.

The cars in question are labeled ZR, ZS and ZT, and each has its own individual characteristics in looks and performance. And, make no mistake about it, the MGs differ substantially in the performance stakes from the basic Rovers on which they are based. A lot of development has gone into the chassis and engines in each case, and though the MGs will probably represent just 25% of the total 200,000 cars to be produced by the group next year, there will be a significant selection of power options - even going all the way to a V8 version of the ZT using the 4.6-litre Ford engine used in the Mangusta sports car which MG Rover bought earlier this year.

That latter is expected to give a performance of 0-60mph in 4.2secs, true supercar figures.

“These cars will be considered to be over the top to our regular Rover buyers, and that’s OK by us,” says John Tweedy, the company’s medium car platform developer. “We feel it’s important to stress the differences that the MG treatment makes to already good cars.”

Indeed, while the 25 and 45 original cars are rather aging, and do have replacements planned for them over the next few years, they have been given seriously new leases of life with the arrival of their MG versions. The 75-based ZT series is fresh and excellent anyway.

Most visual changes extend to a new MG corporate nose, and be-winged tail treatments. Interiors are cosmetically changed only, with the traditional Rover woody inserts giving way to a more ‘techie’ brushed aluminium look.

And are they fun, or as described by group marketing director John Sanders, are they for ‘people who believe that life is not a rehearsal’? Hmm, on the racetrack, yes. And on the road too they all pretty well seem to have their own charms.

Targets are, from the bottom up, Peugeot’s 206, Seat’s Toledo and VW counterpart Bora, Ford’s Focus, Alfa’s 156 and BMW’s 3-series. I hear that BMW themselves, who sold off the company after spending £3 billion on developing it and its build quality ethos, is worried itself about how the top end cars might impact on sales of its own core products.

They might have reasons to be. BB