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Back to this month's car of the month
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Car Of The Month :
September 2014
'A Pearl of a Car' by Mills2009
We bought our ZT-T in April 2009 after my wife decided she wanted a bigger car for commuting a greater distance.
Perfect, I thought when would I have another opportunity to add a much wanted ZT to the 75 I already had.
Of course, it had to be diesel and my preference was to have one with the automatic gearbox as well.
Whatever we bought, it also needed to be a low mileage car as at times it would be doing 100 miles a day.
After much persuasion, the hunt began. As well as meeting the above criteria, I wanted a 2005 model year,
'plus' specification car with at least the Drivers Intelligence Pack fitted from the options list.
We also decided to look for a tourer due to the greater practicality it would offer.
After a few nonstarters, we bought the car you see here, pictured whilst attending MG90 in June of this year.
I had a feeling when we bought it that it was a late build car, but as the years have gone by and more information has become available,
it turns out it's a very late example indeed. The car came off the production line at Longbridge on the 5th April 2005 and was a sold order heading for Malaysia.
It had the Drivers Intelligence Pack and a few other options that hadn't been mentioned in the original advert.
These were electric front seats with driver’s seat memory, electric sunroof, power fold door mirrors and the eleven spoke alloy wheels.
I always thought it was a slightly odd spec, as in my mind, why would you specify electric memory seats but not have them heated?
When we found out it was originally going to Malaysia, it made sense! It is also believed to be the last diesel automatic ZT-T ever built and the last ZT-T ever built in Black Pearl. It is the 437th of 437.
We bought the car with just over 26,000 miles on the clock and it is now approaching 74,000. This year has seen it enter semi-retirement with the 75 and it will only be covering about 5000 miles a year,
I can't believe I've been allowed to hang on to them both!! After five years as the main family car, it required a bit of TLC, so I've spent some money getting the cosmetic bits sorted,
mechanically it has always had everything it has required and I'm really pleased with the results.
I am a bit of a sucker for originality, so the car is pretty much factory standard apart from the front seatbelt anchor point bolt covers and I have replaced the vinyl covered sun visors with fabric items, albeit not illuminated.
I've always loved these cars and hope to hang on to them both for as long as I can.
Article written by member Mills2009
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