Development
The model was rapidly created from the Rover 45 after BMW sold off Rover in 2000. Development of the model was greatly accelerated by the fact that Rover had already created 400-series prototypes of the car using V6 engines and sporting suspension setups. In fact, MG-Rover developed MG versions of all three Rover cars on sale at the time. The Rover 25 became the MG ZR, the 45 the ZS and the 75 the ZT.
The Rover 45 donor car did not have a reputation for being a driver's car but in fact it was the most suitable car in the Rover range for transformation into an MG, its Honda heritage providing double-wishbone front suspension and fully independent multi-link rear suspension.
As a Rover, the 45 was optimised for comfort rather than handling — however, as an MG the opposite was the case. The ZS 180, offering 175 bhp (130 kW; 177 PS) from a 2.5 L V6 engine and acceleration to 60 mph in 7.3 seconds, received favourable reviews in the press, with particular praise for its steering, handling and suspension.
Read more about this topic: MG ZS
Famous quotes containing the word development:
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—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
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—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)
“This was the Eastham famous of late years for its camp- meetings, held in a grove near by, to which thousands flock from all parts of the Bay. We conjectured that the reason for the perhaps unusual, if not unhealthful development of the religious sentiment here, was the fact that a large portion of the population are women whose husbands and sons are either abroad on the sea, or else drowned, and there is nobody but they and the ministers left behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)