Austin Montego
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| Missing image Austinmontego.jpg Austin Montego 1.6L | |
| Austin Montego | |
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| Manufacturer: | Austin Rover Group |
| Production: | 1984–1995 546,000 produced |
| Predecessor: | Morris Ital |
| Successor: | Rover 400 |
| Related: | Austin Maestro |
| Class: | FF midsize car |
| Body Styles: | 4-door saloon 5-door estate |
| Engines: | 1.3 L A-Plus I4 1.6 L I4 2.0 L I4 |
| MG Montego | |
| Production: | 1985–1991 23,000 produced |
| Predecessor: | MG Magnette |
| Successor: | MG ZS |
| Engines: | 2.0 L O-Series I4 |
The Austin Montego is an automobile produced by the Austin Rover Group (formerly British Leyland), from 1984 to 1994.
The car was replacement for the much maligned Morris Ital, and was essentially a lengthened version of the Maestro model, which was developed at the same time. The Montego only differed in its frontal styling, and the obvious fact that it was a 4-door sedan. A station wagon derivative, styled by Austin Rover's Roy Axe, shortly followed.
Like its Maestro brother, the Montego suffered from its overly long development phase, which had been ongoing since 1975 amidst the industrial turmoil that had plagued both BL and ARG. As a result, the car fell short of modern rivals such as the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier. Atrocious build quality and reliability problems did the Montego no favours either, although it offered many improvements (which were later incorporated into the Maestro), such as a new overhead camshaft engine (the S-Series), and a more robust dashboard. As with the Maestro, there was a high-performance MG version which again used the quirky digital instruments and trip computer, although without the voice of Nicolette MacKenzie featured on the Maestro, which by then had become an embarrassment.
However, despite all this the Montego matured into a good (but not great) car. A minor facelift for 1989 enhanced its appeal, which was buoyed up by both the Perkins-engined diesel version, and the seven-seater version of the "Countryman" station wagon.
The facelift also saw the phasing out of the Austin name. These late-1980s models had a badge resembling the Rover Viking longship, but it was not identical, nor did the word 'Rover' ever appear on the cars.
In New Zealand, these cars—saloons and estates—were known as the MG 2.0 range, and wore the official MG badge. This was the first MG estate car or station wagon.
By the early 1990s, the car was terminally aged, and production effectively ceased when the replacement car, the Rover 600-series was launched in 1993.
Montegos continued to be built in small numbers in kit form at the Cowley plant until 1994, when production finally ended. The last car was signed by all those that worked on it, and is now on display at the British Motor Heritage Museum in Gaydon.
An attempt was made to have the Montego assembled under licence in India, but this was later abandoned.
A version of the Austin Maestro with a Montego front end is built in Communist China.
Engines: