MGF FAQ Part I
v2.5
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GAPS! Need info on MGF clubs, 2nd hand values
People have found that it helps to centralise the hood before closing the clips, do this by holding the center of the hood front rail and give it a good pull down for the last few inches, making sure that the fastening clips are fully open first. Then, keeping hold of the rail with one hand fasten the clips. On uneven ground where there is likely to be a slight degree of body twist it helps to locate and half fasten each clip before finally closing the clips into their locking position.
Be sure it is dry before putting it down, and if the car is new, take care to be sure the fabric folds correctly. Some people use Convertible top treatments, and some swear by Armor All. Any mild cleaner or protectorate should be safe to use. Test an inconspicuous spot to be sure!
F heated wing mirrors are 'on whenever the engine is running
Contributed by Graeme Bishko.
The manual also states that you should allow the brakes time to bed in before any heavy braking.
If the temperature drops *well below* freezing and you drive, the nozzles will freeze. If you have enough alcohol in your screen wash (you need >50% in some cases) the pipes and bottle shouldn't freeze up but the pump is not strong enough to remove the plug of ice from the jets. The jets will not defrost on their own because there is no hot engine part within 1 meter of them.
The problem is that the action of the air flow over the jets evaporates the antifreeze from the screen wash in the jets themselves. This happens in other cars, but the heat from the engine quickly thaws the plug of ice. With the engine in the back obviously this will not happen in the F. The solution is heated wash jets. These are available and you should consider them far ahead of cosmetic (if rather nice) accessories such as high level stop lights or leather trim. It helps that they are around � 80.00 including fitting.
If your dealer denies knowledge tell him to look on the MGF or Rover 200 accessory list under
H for Heated Washer Jets
part number VUB100220.
Contributed by Graeme Bishko.
The MGF will not be sold in the USA within 6 years. 6 years is the expected life of the model so the MGF will never be sold in its present configuration in the USA. There are two main reasons for this.
It was known from the start of the project that the car would not be sold in the US. The market is very tough and MG did not want to do what they did with the MGB and lose money on every car sold. Production was set at 16,000 units per year and it was recognised that it would take twice that number to satisfy the US in addition to the rest of the world. At this stage (1 year into sales) it would cost a huge amount to double production and doubling production would be the minimum step up in production. MG will not even consider this.
The second reason (which is a supporting reason for the original decision not to go into the US) is one of legal problems with a dealer network left over from the Rover Sterling sales attempt in the 80's. This problem is not insurmountable but contributed to making the US market even less attractive.
BMW's Z3 had absolutely nothing to do with the original decision. BMW had no connection with Rover back when the production levels were set and any information that MG might have had on the Z3 back then would have been very sketchy. In fact, in the UK, MG feels that they are picking up sales from the Z3 waiting list. There were a number of serious enquiries at the motor show from both prospective Z3 and Merk SLK customers. They even consider it likely that after driving the superior J F, some of these people may cancel their Z3 orders and stick with the F.
Currently the only MGFs in the US belong to Ford and are kept in Detroit. MGFs were climate tested in the US but those ones are no longer there. The car is pretty much US spec already but there would need to be some reworking of bumpers and re-testing of materials. MG don't consider that it would cost very much to make the necessary changes.
The long term plans are for MG to return to the US. This would be on the back of a concerted movement of a number of Rover models and will not be within the lifetime of the F.
Obviously Stephen wouldn't say any more about future plans for MG but it was satisfying to hear that there are some!
Disclaimer: The above constitutes the gist of what was said to me (and others). I was given permission to repeat all of this and to attach Stephen Cox's name to it. If any of this is untrue (or I misunderstood Stephen) I will withdraw it as soon as I am made aware of this.
Contributed by Graeme Bishko.
I have so far completed roughly 12,000 miles in a 1.8i, and 4,500 miles in a VVC. I can say fairly easily that the sort of driving I performed in both cars has been roughly similar. In order to put the figures in to context I'll describe the types of driving I usually do.
During weeks I drive daily to and from work. It is only 3 miles across Leeds so the car barely heats up. If I've done nothing else but this journey on a tank then my fuel figures are very poor.
Another common journey is a 60 mile round trip to York. This is usually a B road blast and this seems to give better figures than the town driving but is highly dependent on the "right foot factor" :-). The VVC especially encourages one to stray into the 5500+ RPM zone which does have a noticeable effect on fuel consumption.
The figures also include a few motorway runs and here the car gives its best figures. About 30% of the miles in both samples are motorway miles with the rest being split between daily commutes and fun runs.
The best figures obviously come from motorway trips. The figures suggest that the VVC achieves a slightly better figure on the motorway than the 1.8i and I feel this is the case. The VVC, however, definitely uses more fuel when burbling around town before it warms up. I feel that if I were to restrict myself to around 6000 RPM then the VVC would deliver almost identical figures as the 1.8i on the back roads. Excursions up to the rev limitter are much more common in the VVC and I think this explains the slightly lower average figure.
| Miles completed | 11,340 |
4,476 |
Best |
39.21 |
42.75 |
Worst |
26.89 |
25.52 |
Average |
33.73 |
32.49 |
Contributed by Graeme Bishko.
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