Rudeness in the Times (Friday 23rd May)

[SimonR]

My parents kept a news paper article from the Times by Kevin Eason for my attention about the auction of the BL cars due to take place at the end of June. You can find an online copy here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,588-689078,00.html).

Can you believe how rude he is about the Maestro? Reffering to it as Motoring Dross, he asks 'Anyway, if you are courageous enough to drive something like a Maestro...'

The bit that gets to me is ' The Heritage Centre could not fool anybody into thinking that a Maestro was a classic, even if it adorned it with ribbons and exhibited it in an empty room. It was horrible... ' Er, wrong Sonny Jim, Maestros are not horrible and anyway, are they not now listed in practical classics?

He seems to have entirely missed the point! - Does he not understand that there are better criteria to judge a car by than other peoples opinions of about 20 years ago?

I think I may write him a letter and express a few views of my own and then demand that by way of an apology the Times buys that last Maestro for the club!

[MaestroMatt]

He's clearly a cretin. He probably drives a Lexus.

[Austin-Rover]

Another 'follow the crowd' type - all to eager to slate a car he doesnt understand or has probably never driven...

[Dave]

Its a shame really - you can understand P.C or other car mags just writing what they think the audience 'want' to hear... but I’ve always held 'The Times' in a higher respect than that. How wrong you can be?!

Dave

[John S]

....yet if the discussion was about Fords, for example, he would highly acclaim them no matter how awful certain classics by such manufacturers look these days.:mad:

[matthewsemple]

This site is testament to how great the Maestro and Montego are. I have had four Maestros with all three engine sizes and SU carbs, Twin Webers and Fuel-injection. In fact I have never owned anything else.

Lets hope the Maestro that gets auctioned fetches a fair price.

By the way - I'd love to know a bit more about that M-reg MG Maestro Turbo - is it a replica/lookalike? What is under the bonnet?

Cheers, Matthew.

[John S]

Hi there,

About my previous comment - I was trying to outline the fact that Fords etc. are so damn popular by comparison to Austin Rover products(I personally can't stand 60% of Fords modern or old).

My car has a 2.0 turbo diesel unit as standard (for better or worse) and is very lively when warmed up. Plans in the future may include an Intercooler installation + superchips stage 1 ECU re-map if possible.

Specs:-

Fibreglass Tickford bodykit (off BRG G -reg car)
Hella Comet 450 spots
Vanden Plas bumper inserts
VDP mirrors
Rear courtesy light switches
Electric Sunroof
Power Steering
Secondary door seals with extra sound proofing to floorpans
'87 Vanden Plas Grey leather interior, headrests X4
Grey modified VDP door cards with standard Montego door pockets
Kenwood PS-979R Radio Cassette
Sony component speakers 100W x2, 6.5" in front doors
Rover 200 veneer on dashboard, VDP walnut cappings
Central locking
VDP door handles
Kenwood HQ 6.5" on parcel shelf
KDC-C603 10CD in the Glovebox
12" KFC-W3000 Sub in the boot (450W)
AM Pro 4X100w amp under passenger seat & 400W sub amp under driver's seat
Motobuild 1" suspension with polyurethane bushes all round
Front & Rear anti roll bars
Rear light clusters tinted red
Twin exhaust pipes (One dummy - O/S/R)
Montego Turbo Alloys

...badged MG Vanden Plas

[D87 SMW]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
You must have spent a FORTUNE on your Maestro!
It looks and sounds worth it though!
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[John S]

:) I know....I know....I don't get out much so take pity on me! Sounds a lot when you make it into a list. I felt the need to modify it to the maximum extent possible perhaps as a tribute to the Maestro model range. It was nice standard with metal bumpers but I kept adding things on until I decided to maximise its specification to the highest extent possible. I have only used Austin Rover parts in modifying the vehicle except the stereo equipment.

[Jonathan]

Kevin Eason... is he still working for The Times? I thought the name sounded familiar. A few years ago I foolishly agreed to do an interview with this guy and the way in which he was able to turn around everything I told him so that it would come across meaning almost the exact opposite to the casual reader was incredible.

We all know that the best use for newspapers is covering up areas of the car whilst spraying. I don't buy them and I take the news with a pinch of salt. I'm sure that a lot of reporting is fair and accurate but you just can't take anything seriously. I look on it all as a mass brainwashing and I'd rather draw my own conclusions. It's not right to be seen supporting something British, unless it's something really important like a football team of course.

By all means write and have a whinge.

I hope we'll see M170 RFA at a show later this summer :)

[John]

Don't forget the main aim of newspapers is to sell newspapers not fair or honest reporting

[J199 HHG]

Originally posted by M170 RFA

My car has a 2.0 turbo diesel unit as standard (for better or worse) and is very lively when warmed up. Plans in the future may include an Intercooler installation + superchips stage 1 ECU re-map if possible.



There's no ECU on the diesel, so you can't improve performance that way.

Intercooler is good, then just increase the boost pressure (not sure if you can just turn the wastegate linkage or need a new wastegate actuator). Finally increase fuelling on the pump until it is just black-smoking.

Much cheaper than one of these overpriced Van Aaken jobbies. Does anybody know how they work BTW?

[John S]

About there being no ECU on diesels: Mine has a black box with ROVER printed on it (being a '94 model) and below that: Electronic Control Unit under the dash and I went to Superchips and they told me that should be the ECU. More investigation will be needed on this I think. :confused:

[e692wtt]

I find the best use for newspapers is when each page is torn into 4 (or 8 for the broadsheets), a hole punched in the corner then placed on a nail on the back of the toilet door.

My best mate not only believes that newspapers are propoganda, but also that man hasn't walked on the moon and that the holocaust almost certainly never happened.

It's a free world with freedom of speech... while we may disagree with what people say or write, we should defend peoples' right to say or write it...

The other other Rich.

[Dave]

That ECU under the dash (above the glovebox) is either the windscreen wiper control box or the electric window control unit...

All the Maesty's / Monty's with engine management computers have them in the engine bay behind the battery, infront of the nearside suspension mounting. I didn't think either the Diesel or the TD had engine management computers...

Dave

[BIGLAD]

That'll be the EGR ECU that you are refering to but there is no performance to be had by "chipping" it, its only for improved emission control/ stricter regulations. Just Disconnect the multiplug off the EGR valve (the mushroom looking device connecting the Exhaust/inlet manifold toward the back of the engine) and also the EGR control solenoid located on the N/S flitch between the Fuel accumulator and glow plug relay.

[J199 HHG]

Originally posted by M170 RFA
About there being no ECU on diesels: Mine has a black box with ROVER printed on it (being a '94 model) and below that: Electronic Control Unit under the dash and I went to Superchips and they told me that should be the ECU. More investigation will be needed on this I think. :confused:

As BIGLAD says, this is the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) controller, it can be disconnected and make no difference to the engine whatsoever. Mine was.

But out of interest, you could ring superchips back and tell them you've found the ECU, how much do they want to chip it!

[mikeno monti]

Hello the writer [i yse the term loosley} obvisouly has absolutly no interest in britians motering heritage at all. I wonder if he would b as quick 2 condem a ford escort or v/hall astra.When did he last sit in drine or c a maestro?. Use his paper for all that is usefull for,masking of paint work,or cleanin up dogggy poo.U cant read that paper any way it is 2 damm big.

[peter]

I'm not sold on the Man on the Moon - When you think about how important it was for the Americans to beat the Russians to it.

[peter]

It's like Allegro bashing - fun because it's easy. The Allegro 3 was actually a very sound family car.

He's picking on the Maestro because he has a deadline, rather than spending some time coming up with something intelligent and witty.

[mikeno monti]

Intelligent and witty?. I didnt know that journilists could be or do either.They never seem to have in the past when reporting on transport related items,wether it is about cars or anything else.What they can do really well is knock anything designed and build in britian.They find that easy to do . Obviously they dont have enough imaginetion to do anything else.I guess thats why the do the job they do.

[e692wtt]

The Allegro 3 seemed to be the car that it should have been from the start. 8 years earlier and it WOULD have been a world beater, but it was 8 years of negative stories too late. Truly a shame, but equally sadly not a unique story (witness the Princess transmutating into the Ambassador [a car never built in left hand drive form]).

What did the Austin/Morris/Wolseley 1800/2200 (post-Landcrab) and the late Diana Spencer have in common? They were both Princesses that REALLY wanted to be Ambassadors...

Re the alleged space race, I saw recent programs on the equally-alleged cover up with the Moon Walk being filmed in Area 51, and found it quite convincing. At least the Americans made an effort, unlike the Russians' attempt which was obviously filmed in a swimming pool even down to the vertically ascending bubbles of exhaled air... Seriously, I believe the Space Race happened - the reported disasters couldn't ALL have been propoganda, there were so many (even down to film of dead Russian Spacemen after their craft developed an airleak and depressurised on descent)!

Sorry for the crass joke!

The other other Rich.