THE name Cecil Kimber probably means nothing to most of today's drivers.

But without him, some of the best-known sports cars in British motoring history would never have hit the road.

Kimber is the man who enthusiastically took the workaday saloons produced by the old Morris car company and turned them into sports cars.

Kimber and his fellow enthusiasts took the name Morris Garages, turned it into MG and began producing happy little sports cars which put fun into the lives of pre-war motorists.

They made their mark and were very popular.

Nevertheless MG was a minority name amid the old collection of English marques Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolseley which in time became the British Motor Corporation and later, after decades of problems, the Rover Group.

Today, it is Britain's only remaining car maker (Jaguar is owned by Ford, Rolls-Royce by BMW, and Bentley by Volkswagen) and Rover has decided to call itself MG Rover.

Whatever doubts we may have had, this seems to have been a good idea. By drawing attention to the sporting heritage and reviving memories of a happy and carefree era when motoring was fun, it has given the somewhat po-faced Rover image a fresh and enthusiastic charisma.

The traditional open-top two-seater MG is still alive in the MGF which has just become the TF, reviving a model name from the Fifties (we will be reporting on this car soon).

More importantly, the company has caught on to the sporting dimension, given MG the slogan 'driven to extremes', and produced a clutch of models which not only look sporty but perform very well.

There's a handful of Rover-based MG saloons or estates, but £9,995 gets you into MG territory with the entry-level ZR hatchback.

Echoing the old down-to-earth MG ethos of affordable fun, MG say the ZR 160 is the most powerful small car for the money in its market.

Precisely which mainstream Rover product is the basis for it is not immediately clear. At times the ZR 160 is reminiscent of the Rover 25 but as a five-door car it looks bigger and you might wonder if it is built on the booted 45 saloon.

Well, it isn't. The little MG is in fact precisely the same length as the 25 3990mm or around 12ft 9 inches (if it's not illegal to use measurements which we all understand).

You might suppose that '160' is derived from an engine size of 1.6 litres. Wrong. It's a 1.8-litre, so that's not the answer.

It is powered by a 1796cc four-cylinder engine. Those figures are very close to those of the old MGB, but the ZR 160 is much, much faster. You should be in no doubt that this is a true performer, with a top speed of 131mph and a 0-60mph time of 7.4 seconds.

Those statistics come as a surprise, because the car never really felt so fast to drive (small sports cars have usually been strong on giving an impression of sportiness, often through the combined effects of discomfort and noise from engine and wind, rather than offering true performance).

I can compare it with the MG Maestro EFi which I owned in the late 1980s. Other drivers were tempted to ridicule it simply for being a Maestro but they soon found out that this was a real driver's car to be admired. (That didn't stop some yobbos stealing it and then torching it and dumping the remains on an inner-city housing estate).

Although slightly slower than this ZR 160 (the Maestro offered 0-60 in 8.6 seconds) it felt much faster and, though I'm certainly not trying to condemn the ZR, I never quite found the same level of response or sense of fun in my week with this latest model.

Perhaps this is simply because so many of today's cars can perform well. MG insist that their car offers "outrageous fun for all" in "a pedigree brand with raw and bold personality".

I don't deny all that.

My test car appeared black, though the official name was anthracite metallic and inside the grey leather sports seats were highlighted by red 'bolsters' (as MG call the seat edges).

All this is important; apart from marking out the car as a bit special, it constantly reminds the driver of this fact.

The gearshift for the close-ratio 'box is quick and slick and comfort is fine, though I never noticed any of those clever touch-of-a-button adjustments for seat height and angle, and there's no push button to open the hatch from inside (the push-button on the hatch is also somewhat eccentric).

Bearing in mind the ethos of a small sports car, it's no shame to note that the boot space isn't really enough for full-size families.

But you do get air-con, electric front windows and mirrors, and leather steering wheel.

And fun.

MG ZR 160

1.8 5-door

Body: 3390mm by 1690mm five-door five-seat hatch

Power train: 1796cc, 4-cylinder 16-valve 160Ps engine driving front wheels through five-speed gearbox

Performance: 0-60mph in 7.4 seconds, top speed 131 mph.

MPG: 27 urban, 48 extra urban; 37 combined.

Fuel tank: 11 gallons.

Price: £15,115

Servicing: 12 months or 15,000 miles

Insurance: Group 16 D

Warranty: 3 years, 60,000 miles, roadside assistance

Dealers: MRG, Methuen Park, Bath Road, Chippenham. (01249) 443300