MG Maestro 2.0 EFI

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Launched by British Leyland in 1983 and remaining in production for another six years after Rover Group took over the ailing firm in 1988, the Maestro was never quite the success it was meant to be but it did get better as time went on.

The cooking Austin versions were initially beset with quality issues but the sporty MG variants were rather better received. The earliest MG Maestro was fitted with a 1.6-litre R-Series engine derived from the Austin Maxi and proved troublesome thanks to a hastily conceived twin-Weber carburettor set-up. The short-lived 1600 S-Series engine of 1984 was replaced by the 115bhp 2.0-litre O-Series fuel-injection engine from the Montego at the end of that year.

In one fell swoop, the MG Maestro was transformed. Capable and good to drive, the 2.0 EFi was one of the best hot hatches of its era, giving Austin Rover its first serious rival to the Golf GTi and the Escort XR3i. It could also run on unleaded fuel, unlike the earlier versions.

First registered in August 1989 this Maestro has the favoured 2.0 injection engine and was acquired for a private collection in 2013.

It came into the hands of its current owner last year and is now reluctantly being offered for sale. The book pack shows that it was supplied through Austin Rover themselves, although subsequent services took place at Hartwells in Oxford who had serviced it no fewer than 11 times by July 1996, at which point it had covered 46,601 miles. It has recently been fitted with a new battery and four new tyres, along with a complete brake overhaul. It comes with a V5C, many old MOTs and invoices, a handwritten log of mileages and service dates from past owners and also the current MOT which runs until July this year.

It is now indicating some 65,717 miles on the clock which is more than likely correct given the overall condition of the car and accompanying paperwork. One of only 170 such cars still UK registered, it is sure to turn heads wherever it goes.