MG Reviews

An excellent book, detailing the entire history of the mighty MG's. Excellent information on the production of these 3 MG's, detailing VIN's, standard colours, and dates of manufacture - an ideal reference for those looking to buy, or anyone who already owns any of these wonderful vehicles.

The Haynes' assume you know too much. They leave out certain important details on occasion and don't always identify all the parts they talk about with a diagram. If I wasn't already somewhat familiar with some of the terminology, in many cases I wouldn't have (and sometimes didn't) know what in the heck they were talking about. Really what is needed is a narrower scope and more than one book on the Sprite/Midgets. If you are serious about working on your Spridget, get a more complete official manual (hint). I won't be rude and say what the book is in this review, but Amazon carries this better one too.

I have this book and despite the occasional grease stain I have found it practically invaluable. I went through a complete engine/transmission/and rear end rebuild with out troubles. This book has conversion tables, linguistic translations and orignal specifications for the Midget. The amount of information in this book is well worth the price.

The manual the other reviewer is obviously referring to is a reprint of the factory service and driver's manuals. (If that's not enough of a clue to identify it, you're out of luck...) Thus, it has all the original information. Definitely good to have.

HOWEVER, since it is the factory manual, it refers to all the dealership tools, most of which are unavailable, or are prohibitively expensive. This is where the Haynes manual shines. Since they base their manual on an actual disassembly and reassembly of the car, they can (and do) offer ways to do the job without the factory tools. I have them both, and refer to each frequently.

I don't understnd the problem with terminology. Both manuals use the same (British) terminology, and the Haynes has a "translation table". In any case, either one beats the equivalent Clymer or Chilton's.

Very fine treatment of the next level of performance for the Sprite/Midget. Not a tune up book for existing or original cars,but an excellent reference for aftermarket and upgrade for the car moving to the next level of performance.

This text provides a good overview of the MG marque across several decades and offers the reader key points on each model. Because the scope is broad, there is not a lot of information on any one model. The system for rating the models is perhaps too simplistic but does provide a very basic foundation. The reader may be best served by accessing this book for general information and then pursuing other texts for detailed information on specific models. William Sydnor

Yeah, OK, maybe it's only supposed to be a coffee table book, but that's no excuse for the poor layout, repetition, and editing errors... Surely you can find a better book than this.