MG Maestro 2.0i advice needed?

[darrenzs]

I'm thinking about buying an MG Maestro EFI or 2.0i.

I've always liked the Maestro, (my family had a 1.3 for over 20 years) and I now need a tow-car, currently I'm using the 214 but it lacks punch and I don't want to put a tow-bar on the ZS.

Specifically, what points should I check on a prospective purchase?

thanks,
Darren.

[Captain Slow]

There's been a buying guide recently in MG Enthusiast-I'll have a look tonight and see if I can see which issue. If you're coming to a meet soon I could bring it along for you?

[daved]

Darren

Good choice mate. I had the bigger Montego but absolutley loved it. Rust appears to be the main problem with Maestro's whatever the model

There is a dedicated Maestro Register with a very good buyers guide on this website http://www.maestroturbo.org.uk/

Cheers

[Rich]

Well as the founder of the MG 'M' Group and having owned 6 of these wonderful cars, I feel I should reply here!

As Dave has already said, the biggest problem with the old Cowley FWD MGs was/is rust. The main areas to check are the wheel arches, sills and the bottom of all the doors. The Maestro bodyshell had many seams that were always prone to the 'tin worm'. The wheel arches never had any protection from chips received from kicked up stuff off the road, so immediate water ingress was common on even quite new cars at the time. The sills tended to be an extension of the seam problem. I bought one for spares which had a hole in the nearside sill big enough to get my fist through! As for the doors, that was down to terrible drainage when the rain when down the windows.

The next thing to watch is the brake system. After driving your ZS, you'd think the Maestro hasn't got any! Even the limited edition turbo used the same single pot calipers on vented discs which although worked eventually were rather spongy and nothing like today's set up.

Apart from that, they are pretty robust. Along with the Maestros, I also owned 4 Montegos, 1 of which was a Turbo and one was a custom built Estate, recently seen in the MG Owners' Club magazine.

I dig out some pics and post them here later...

Rich



P.S. I had to laugh when you said about the Maestro 1.3. That was probably the worst looking one of the range IMO!

[darrenzs]

Not quite Rich

Ours was a 1.3 HLE, so it did have the rear strakes (or to put it another way 1/2 an MG spolier )
Dunno why I keep writing in the past tense because it still sits at the back of the yard!
Sills are perforated, as are most of the panels now!
So I know a bit about Maestro rust
and brakes!

But, I don't know anything about the MG Maestro 2.0 engine, are there any great issues here that need looking for?

I'm thinking of buying one for preservation, summer use only, that I can take to shows and that will easily pull my caravan!

[Rich]

The grand old 'O' Series 8-Valve 2-Litre engine was the successor to the 'B' Series engine as found in the MGB and was actually intended for the shelved MGB replacement. What can I say about it? Well, it's rock solid! I never heard of anyone having a head gasket failure for start although they did have a habit of weeping a little oil from one corner, but never of a fatal nature. The standard spec was 116bhp and torque was low down in the revs which meant the cars pulled very well in their fuel injected guise. The turbos were a funny bunch as they stuck with a single SU carburettor which meant that until the turbo cut in at around 3,700 revs, the cars were rather gutless. This led to many turbo owners swapping the engine to the twin-cam fuel injected 'M' series and the later, lighter, 'T' series which were all variants on the good old 'O' series.

So, in answer to your question, the 2.0i cars were true workhorses and the MG Maestro will be fine pulling a caravan. In fact, I used to pull a small caravan with my 2.0i Montego and regularly forgot it was there. I could have sworn that was a tailgating transit van when I was doing 85 on the way to Cornwall...

Now, as we're talking FWD 80s classics, here are a few 'nostalgic' pics. Apologies for the quality, but this shows how compact cameras have improved over the years!

My first MG - A Maestro 1600 'S' Series with twin Webber Carbs!


My favourite Maestro - MG 2.0i in Strata Grey (a limited edition colour) with mods



My first Monty - A 2.0i


My Turbo - Slightly modded



And lastly my project Montego - 2.0i with genuine Tickford bodykit. This car, famously known as 'Jox' in the MG world and featured in several magazines including the front cover of 'Safety Fast' was bought by my dad from a Cowley Rover employee who had every extra available fitted to it. It was orginally British Racing Green but a combination of rust breaking through and the fact that there was a brand new tahiti blue Rover coupe sat in our local Rover dealer teasing me led to it being resprayed in my favourite colour. And you all know where that led after!!!!



And here's a blast from the past. Ther original MG 'M' Group committee posing under the trees at the first gathering of the club in 1993 at Rockingham Castle...


Rich



P.S. The 5-spokes were on the white one when I bought it and stayed with me for the rest of my MG 'M' days. I'd moved on to other things by the time MGF wheels were starting to appear on Maestros and Montegos!

[daved]

Brilliant picks Rich. Is that your secret son standing beside the Strata Grey Maestro

[darrenzs]

and here is my secret son in '89

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