MG 4

McGiver · 02-11-2022 12:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815713#Comment_119815713

It's not teething problems, it's worrying that manufacturing / design defects passed MG QC and the dealers' tech inspection.

Yes, there's a 7 year warranty but why having to deal with issues straight away after purchasing a new car, it takes time and it's a hassle (needs replacement car etc).

Just watch the MG forum:

https://www.mgevs.com/threads/mg4-undertray-dip-bulge.7796/page-7

I guess the price comes at a cost.

The feedback on the UK MG forum has been very good in terms of UK MG dealers' approach to this. I'd be wary of Irish dealers' handling of the same though, especially in Galway where I wanted to be buying.

We could assume that Irish/EU Q1 deliveries will have had these physical defects rectified, but it's a bit of a gamble.

Now, if there's physical defects, what more is there? Battery, BMS, software etc etc. It casts doubts on the overall manufacturing quality.

Old diesel · 02-11-2022 12:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119820934#Comment_119820934

I was listening to a Uk MG owners club livestream yesterday

I thought Miles Roberts said 44 week or thereabouts lead time for ZS EV.....

Tbh listening to it has turned me off MG entirely....

ismailkho · 02-11-2022 12:38pm

I just read over on SpeakEV that later on there's also going to be an Extended range model with a 77kwh battery, capable of up to 329 miles (529 km)

Patser · 02-11-2022 12:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823192#Comment_119823192

Rumour us that ZS manufacturing is being scaled back and all priority given to MG4. They know they have a potential game changer on their hands and want to strike now, get as many MG4s on the road to generate even more interest and sales.

So people that ordered ZS are being asked to switch to MG4 because of this

McGiver · 02-11-2022 12:56pm

I've had a test drive of the Excite SR in Galway. They've a white one. Doesn't look too bad.

PXL_20221101_110916917.jpg

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It's a decent car, lot of space inside. Good visibility at the front, not too bad at the back. The seats and the seating position are alright. The displays are a bit fiddly but I was able to get it going and get used to it in 30 minutes or so, it's not great but it isn't bad either.

I experienced a heavy shower during the test drive and the lack of the rear wiper wasn't too bad, I expected much worse, I think it is workable in Irish weather. I would need to test it in persistent rain on a longer trip to be 100% sure.

The boot is OK size for a hatch and the seats fold almost fully flat which is better than I expected.

The interior quality is decent, some cheap hard plastics bit overall OK.

The hexagonal steering wheel is very decent and responsive, but nothing like e.g. the i3 which is very responsive and almost like a sport car.

The cars is very steady on the ground and the suspension is very decent, neither hard nor too soft.

The acceleration is very lukewarm in the Normal mode compared to the i3 I'm driving now. The i3 Eco has a way faster 0 to 50 acceleration than the MG4 in the Normal mode. The MG4 acceleration in the Eco mode is very sluggish. The MG4 Sport mode is somewhat comparable to the i3 Eco/Normal. I don't mind this but it means that for overtaking and/or motorway stunts one will need to use the MG4 Sport mode for sure.

Two things I found negative or disappointing were:

1. The AC produced COLD air at 22 C which I found weird. I could get a warm air coming out of it only at 23 C or higher. I get warm air even with 19 C in the i3.

2. The average consumption was too high to my liking. I got 19.6 kWh/100 km on a 7 km drive, which was a 50-50 mix of dual carriage at 80 to 100 kph and a city traffic at 30 to 50 kph, the temperature was around 9 C and there were showers on and off throughout the drive. The AC was set at 23 C at 2/5 intensity. I had either adaptive or high regen during the drive. I didn't drive aggressively.

I did check the trip computer and there were similar values around 20 kWh/100 km for 500 kms driven. The efficiency doesn't look good. The i3 in the same weather conditions in the same situation on the same day was around 17 kWh/100 km.

Wonder what numbers others got on their test drives and if it is something specific to this car and/or trim.

Could it be related to the LFP in the SR trim @unkel? The car has a battery heating setting (which is cool!), and it was turned on in the car - it says that it improves fast charging but reduces the range. Maybe this is one factor for the poor efficiency but I'd say there are others and it's not a very efficient EV overall.

Oh and it has no one pedal driving, while it has autohold, you can't get the car to a complete stop by using regen only. Not a big deal but I'd prefer one pedal, at least as a regen setting (like the Koreans).

Verdict - certainly a very decent car, nothing is really bad with it, it's great value EV but there's a cost of the price. There definitely must be some corners cut. Given the reported manufacturing defects I'm not 100% sure about the purchase, at least immediately.

tom1ie · 02-11-2022 1:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823218#Comment_119823218

Problem is the MG4 is a little on the small side if your coming from a motorway cruiser like a 520d, insignia, Passat etc or if you want something with a bit of height/ground clearance.

The zs would be great for this imo.

unkel · 02-11-2022 1:22pm

@McGiver - I heard the exact same thing from some reviewers of other Chinese cars too. I wouldn't worry about it, just turn up the heat a few degrees higher 😁

And I guess you're a bit spoilt coming from a BMW i3. Which is....a BMW. Also a very efficient EV, premium German quality and pretty quick with a 0-60 in about 6s for the ones that don't carry a dinosaur engine

The MG4 is an econobox from China. A very good one though

I had of course similar feelings as yourself when I changed my older BMW E60 straight six petrol and Jaguar S-type V6 petrol when I bought my brand new Hyundai Ioniq 28kWh nearly 6 years ago

Redfox25 · 02-11-2022 11:38pm

Has anyone come across any info on how accurate the built in route planner guessometer is in MGs?

Wife wants one but is nervous about this sort of stuff.

joebloggs32 · 03-11-2022 12:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823218#Comment_119823218

I was in with a dealer today. I really sensed he was trying to push the MG4, but Mrs Bloggs would prefer the zs.

He reckoned he could have an mg4 for us during Q2 next year but said he couldn't give me a timeline of any sort except up to 12 months on the zs

pandabat · 03-11-2022 1:15am

Lot of MG ZS EV talk here now - 8 out of last 13 posts concern it - surely it has its own thread(s)?

AMKC · 03-11-2022 9:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119826752#Comment_119826752

It has yes.

Miscreant · 03-11-2022 11:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119826752#Comment_119826752

Yep, right here: MG ZS EV - 72.6kWh Facelift - Page 12 — boards.ie - Now Ye're Talkin'

unkel · 03-11-2022 11:34am

If people are contemplating whether to buy MG4 or MG ZS EV, surely either thread is appropriate for posting that in?

Another question - not sure if it was posted before - is MG4 approved as a taxi? If so, it must cost just a 4 figure sum to put on the road with the extremely generous taxi EV subsidies in Ireland? I know that's the reason why you see so many MG ZS EV taxis. The cheaper the EV was in the first place, the even cheaper it it is as a taxi comparatively. If the Chinese ever came up with a €16k EV, the Irish government would pay the taxi driver to please take the car 😂

Miscreant · 03-11-2022 11:43am

Doesn't look like the MG4 is on the approved vehicle list for taxi use yet. Its only a matter of time though, considering the Nissan Leaf is on the list and would be a similar size.

unkel · 03-11-2022 11:59am

Even the Renault Zoe is on the list of approved taxis and it's tiny! I think it got some sort or exception for being electric.

Miscreant · 03-11-2022 12:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827671#Comment_119827671

I wonder will we see a Citroen Ami taxi. 🤣

Red Silurian · 03-11-2022 1:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827671#Comment_119827671

I can't see a renault Zoe taking me, my family and my luggage to the airport somehow

Red Silurian · 03-11-2022 1:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827564#Comment_119827564

Hopefully it (and other cheap EVs) never gets approved for the taxi grant. There's enough scarcity of EVs out there for us regular people without adding fuel to the fire

Mad_maxx · 03-11-2022 2:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827671#Comment_119827671

No , an EV ( or any car ) can fail to be eligible for taxi work for all sorts of reasons, the Kia E Soul fails on boot size despite the car being far bigger than the Renault Zoe

the Nissan Leaf since 2018 is eligible but the older Leafs weren’t

the Boot in the MG 4 might disqualify it but hopefully not

Mad_maxx · 03-11-2022 2:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827605#Comment_119827605

It wouldn’t be on it yet as the NTA only update their eligible list about once per year, shambles of an outfit

Patser · 03-11-2022 4:51pm

https://youtu.be/MEJXfng6Fqk

Irish Times video review of car. What's interesting is he mentions scheduled deliveries at end of December and early January - both fully booked up - but 1st info I've seen of possible delivery times

Mad_maxx · 03-11-2022 5:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119829194#Comment_119829194

He’s only going by what Frank Keane told him, I wouldn’t believe the Chinese if they told me today was Thursday

ted1 · 03-11-2022 8:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119747501#Comment_119747501

VW were offering list place last year.

pandabat · 03-11-2022 10:09pm

Presume you mean list price? At the time of that post (nearly 3 weeks ago) there had been many posts on here where people were surprised by delivery charges (although iirc this was further compounded by extra "dealer packs" being included by default by MG dealers). Exceptions may, of course, exist (I think it's BMW that always advertise OTR price but icbw) but, generally, the list price does not include dealer & delivery charges which will result in a higher OTR price.

baziled13 · 03-11-2022 10:23pm

I remember in the old days when you could walk into car dealer picking a car and they finding one in another dealer then collecting your car a week later.

McGiver · 04-11-2022 4:56pm

I've had a look at the bottom of the demo car in Galway and the undertray bulge issue is present there. ☹️And not only one but two of them!

This confirms the MG forum conclusion that this is going to be a very common fault.

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I'm afraid I'm not going to be a beta tester after paying 33k for a new car.

I'd like to ask everyone doing test drives to take a snap and post it here so that we understand the extent of the issue in Ireland.

The bulge occurs at the rear end in the middle of the chassis. One needs to take the photo on the right side on the right of the rear wheel facing camera towards the boot.

Redfox25 · 04-11-2022 5:22pm

Playing devils advocate for a moment, is it really that big a problem?

MG have said they will fix it, it wont cost you anything and its likely that the fix will be in place before the cars are delivered to the customers. We were told that it would be Q1, Q2 or Q3 by a dealer yesterday before it would "likely" be delivered. Therefore it will likely be fixed before you get into the car.

Its not wheels falling off the car when driving territory.

unkel · 04-11-2022 5:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119833580#Comment_119833580

Wheels falling off? No that wouldn't happen with decent quality Chinese built EVs, only with rubbish jap crap like Toyotas 😂

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2022/06/23/toyota-recalls-ev-fleet-with-warning-wheels-could-fall-off/

McGiver · 04-11-2022 6:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119833580#Comment_119833580

Maybe it will have been fixed. Maybe not.

The issue is that it casts doubt on the overall quality process.

The issues keep mounting...

Gear box oil leak

Undertray bulge

AC charging issues

Bluetooth issues

Display/SW issues

From the MG forum:

Rear Undertray bulging and warped (which we also know about)

Android Auto 'Pre Release equipment - not for resale' message (again no fix forthcoming)

Bluetooth is shonky at best - Half the time it doesnt connect to my phone so cant make calls and when it does connect, the incoming call rings for 1 ring then rejects the call.

The centre screen goes black now and again and you have to disconnect the phone and reconnect again via the cable to get it back on, or reset the screen by holding the Home Button.

Pre-heat sometimes doesnt work while still hooked up to the charger

Regular ACC error messages on starting the car up, so no ACC can be used until turned off and on again.

iSmart app refuses to connect now and again, meaning you cant pre-heat (when it does work)

And:

Lots of issues, the final straw being the inability to reliably AC charge and the lack of meaningful response from MG UK, SAIC and the dealer concerned.

pandabat · 04-11-2022 6:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119833479#Comment_119833479

Given the test cars here are all UK cars from the original shipment, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find some/most of them have a bulge. Given that Irish orders haven't even formally gone in yet, I'd also be hoping that the resolution will be in place in the factory when build-time rolls around for cars destined for these shores. That said, I'm keeping a close eye on the UK forum on this bulge issue as well as the oil leak issue. The latter looks like it might be solved with a new part to be fitted. The former, well, we'll see. However, depending on how those solutions work and if anything else serious shows up on the forums are what will dictate if I ultimately go ahead to the finish with my order.

MG 4

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