A year with a new MGTF
It is mid-January and we are at the local Rover dealers just finalising ordering my wife’s new car. The TF has just been announced and I have seen the publicity pictures in Autocar; very impressive it looks too. Whilst the paperwork is being completed I ask for and receive a copy of the brochure for the new MGTF. “You were thinking of getting an MGF again, weren’t you,” states my wife, smiling. True enough and how can I not do as my wife suggests?
TF 2002 with pre-production TF 0251 of 1953
We had had one of the very first MGF VVCs back in 1996 and, although it had been a great car, the ownership experience had been some way removed from painless, but in 6 years they should have sorted all the problems, I assumed. Thus, after some further discussion and bartering we ended up potential owners of a new Rover and a new MG. So it was that I then had to battle through various insurance companies who had never heard of an MGTF, MGF, yes, but TF, no. On the 1st March 2002 we took delivery of an MGTF 135 in platinum silver with options of blue hood, smokestone with leather and alcantara interior, CD and sports suspension. And it looked truly magnificent.
The first few miles driving home I noticed that the gearbox was very stiff, quite normal I guessed and the suspension unpleasantly hard. In fact, over the next three weeks, I grew increasing dissatisfied with the ride, it was exceedingly harsh and bouncy, to the point where I was considering getting rid of the car. A great disappointment, as I really did like all other aspects of the TF. Then I checked the tyre pressures and found that the rear tyres were 10psi below the pressure recommended, as they must have been from delivery. Properly pressurized, the ride was not exactly transformed, but at least became acceptable. By now the 600 miles running-in had been completed and we could start to tap the performance a little and at last I found the smile-factor returning. The turn-in of steering was a revelation by comparison with the old MGF (although the ride is still nowhere near the comfort level of the F, however much more ‘sporting’ it may be) and you can really punt it into and through bends with pin-sharp precision and ease. The exhaust note, though still rather muted by regulations, is a real audial treat, particularly beyond 4500rpm where the control flap on the second exhaust fully opens.
The start of the Kimber Run at Chatsworth House in April
The first MG Run of the new season for our new TF was the MGOC’s Kimber Run on 21 April, starting as usual from Chatsworth House. The day began a little overcast with light rain so we started with the hood up, but by Masson Mill we sat and picnicked in bright spring sunshine, roof down. Once on the move the optional windstop again proved to be a really effective accessory, which I thoroughly recommend as it dramatically reduces the buffeting. As ours was the only new TF on the Kimber Run, we had many people come over to chat and quite a few had one on order, clearly a good sign for MG. In all, we had a splendid day out.
Although the gearbox had eased I noticed, particularly on the Run, that it would still balk on attempting to go into reverse and second gear and made a mental note to call in at the garage and have them check it over. However, by the Monday after the Run the gear shift was proving quite obstructive. I came home in the evening and parked the car in the garage. Getting in to go out later, I found I could not get reverse gear at all. A call to MG Assistance brought the AA round in about 30 minutes. Next morning my car was transported back to the dealers. Now I had a problem and, potentially, so might MG Rover.
Over the years I have been fortunate to own a number of MGs, and I have this habit of once buying them, rarely selling them. So, amongst others, as well as the new TF, I also have in the garage an original MG TF, the original TF, pre-production 0251 from August 1953, which has been featured in Enjoying MG a few times (see covers, December 2000 and April 1991). Philip Raby, Editor of MG World magazine had arranged to come up on the Friday of this particular week to do an article for his magazine about my shiny new TF, in comparison with my shiny old TF. And here I was with a fully road worthy 50 year-old TF and no new TF. I pointed out my problem to the dealer and the potential embarrassment to MG. Fortunately, I had my own car back the next day, as the problem was apparently quite trivial, even if the result was pretty immobilising.
The Bramley Summer Picnic Run
The rest of that week was glorious, the sun shone but on the Friday although the sky dawned brilliant blue, by 10am when Phil and photographer Stuart Collins arrived, there were a few growing black clouds. Phil and I spent an hour or so talking about the cars and how I came to have them, whilst Stuart took a whole series of static shots. Then it was time to drive the cars. By now the sky was an angry dark mass of cumulo-nimbus, but as yet no rain. About a mile from our home there is an ideal stretch of country road which is wide and straight and, Stuart said, would be just right for the shots of the cars driving together. I jumped into the ‘real’ TF and gave Phil the keys to the new TF; Stuart led the way in his car. By now there were a few spots of rain just starting to fall, and a bitterly cold wind had developed. We did the first photo-run up the road, which was very nerve-racking. I was asked to drive at 30 mph about 3 feet from the bumper of the photographer’s car with Phil in my new TF alongside (on the wrong side of the road) whilst a remote camera in the boot took the pictures of the two cars. “Let us do it again, please” said Stuart. At that moment the heavens opened. I do not mean just rained; stair-rods of water descended. By the end of the photo-shoot both Phil and I were absolutely soaked and water was almost flowing out of the cars as we opened the doors. The excellent results of that day were spread across two pages of the October-November 2002 issue of MG World – and you would not have guessed there had been a cloud in the sky!
Our next Run was the MGCC’s Abingdon Centre’s Speckled Hen Run at the end of May. We are one of very few couples who have done all 10 of these Runs and we usually make a long weekend of it in Abingdon and Oxford. This was to be the last Speckled Hen Run and we did not want to miss it. However, we only returned from a brief holiday late on the previous Saturday evening, so it was a 5am rise and off down to Abingdon. The journey was overcast and as we arrived at the Police Headquarters Car Park for the start the heavens opened. We were the newest car on the Run which also made us the last to start, next to last was a very nice new V6 MG ZS. It was a pleasant if somewhat wet meander through the countryside and an equally wet drive home after, but very good to meet up with old friends, some of whom we only meet on this Run. At least the sun shone for the lunch break, even if the sports suspension made negotiating the grassy slope set aside for parking something of a challenge. The proximity of the bottom on a later run. Having started the year with fine sunny weather for the first few weeks after delivery of the car it seemed that now ‘summer’ had arrived there were fewer opportunities to drive roof-down. At least even in the most torrential of rain we have had no water leaks through the excellent hood, a vast improvement on the early design used on the MGF.
A wet Llandudno Prom’ and the start of the Snowdon Run in August
Indeed, with the few exceptions mentioned, the story of the first year with the new TF has been all good news. Although it is not my main car, we have used it extensively and have clocked up almost 10,000 miles in this first year. The car is comfortable, very practical, with a decent sized boot to use for holidays and shopping trips (have you tried a Toyota MR2 as a real world car?). Despite spirited use it has averaged 35.7mpg overall and gives well over 40 mpg on a longer run, burning only 500ml of oil in total. MG have really given the F a new lease of life with the TF. The options offered of different hood colours and interiors are sensible additions, even if I think ABS should be standard. As with the MGF, it could do with a few more storage places in the cockpit. No, I would not have sports suspension again. It may be magnificent around the racetrack, but much of our driving is around the appalling, pit-holed roads of Nottinghamshire, often at little more than 20 miles an hour, and under such conditions the ride is, frankly, unpleasant. Even on the open road, the ride is so hard that the car can bounce across bumps actually spoiling its adhesion, so my next TF will have standard suspension. And yes, I will have another one.