It’s hard to believe the ZT 260 happened, really. Just two years from going into administration, Britain’s last domestically owned car maker swapped the driven axles around on its unassuming executive saloon and shoehorned a 4.6-litre Ford Mustang V8 into the engine bay.
Cue raucousness on a par with even the rortiest super-saloons to leave Munich and Affalterbach. It wasn’t so much the 252bhp output of the V8 that set hearts racing as the tyre-destroying 410lb ft of torque – 26lb ft more than the V10-powered E60-generation BMW M5 produced. The 260 could crack 0-62mph in a hair over six seconds and surge noisily onwards to 155mph, but it would put a grin on its driver’s face at any speed. Fire up YouTube on your next tea break and watch some videos. That intimidating grumble hasn’t been added in the edit: it really does sound like that.
It’s one of the most unassuming Q-cars of its era, looking for all the world like a subtly tricked-out Rover saloon but packing a hefty Yankee punch. The heart transplant was carried out by slick automotive surgeons Prodrive and was complemented by the installation of a Dana limited-slip differential, Tremec five-speed manual gearbox (a slightly less lively auto option was available) and a quad-exit exhaust.
Levels of polish and refinement were left wanting somewhat and you could spend the £11,950 asked for this (extremely late) 56-plate car on a newer and better-appointed Audi RS4, but there are plenty of them around. Do your bit for an endangered model and have some fun while doing so.
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This car is a remarkable testament to the ingenuity of the MG Rover engineers. I enjoy driving the car as well as updating my blog MGZT info
The ZT260 had 410NM of torque (302lb/ft)..... Anyway I'd take the X-type - never liked the saloon but the estate was always a good looking car and with a nice V6, a very nice drive. So what if it's based on a Mondeo (or vice versa if jonboy's story below is correct).
`When i took out a pre production XJ in 2008 i owned one of the last XT's and whilst i was talking with the Press guy, we were talking about oh, so many things, and stuff that, at the time i was not able to report, but one of the things that was said, and was believeable as i have heard it from a couple of other guys too (from the XF design team and a Director when I had an SF Owners briefing with the design team (and before anyone tells me i am lying, i have pictures of ALL the team, and the XJ prototype as well as full pictorial access to Castle Bromwich), anyway, we were told that the XT was under the design process FIRST, and Ford saw that the Chassis/platform was so good that they insisted that it was utilised for the Mundeo, and then proceeded to push the launch to get that out first.... I drove both at the time, and the Mundeo was a less appealing car than the Jaguar, and even today, some decades later, how many Mondeo's do you see around from that era, compared to Jags, i see XT's every day i am on the roads, and Mundeo's from that time, nearly zero, shows which car was the better built, and considering they most probably built 1000 to 1 of the Fords, thats a surprise.