MG4 Electric

[Toaster Pilot]

James6112 said:

Or is it like buying a £50 tablet. Looks ok, but always a bit rubbish compared to an ipad or a Samsung!

Definitely summed up the infotainment in the mk1 MG ZS EV I had

Using CarPlay removed most of the annoyances though.

[kambites]

James6112 said:

I wonder if they’ll be fixed.

MG were surprisingly good at retrospectively fixing the various niggling user-interface complaints their customers had with the early MG ZS EVs.

I get the feeling that with Android Auto and Apple Carplay becoming so mainstream, the built in infotainment functions are pretty much an afterthought these days because no-one uses them. Hence cars increasingly not coming with sat-nav as standard anymore - why bother when no-one uses it?

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th October 10:12

[Mikebentley]

kambites said:

James6112 said:

I wonder if they’ll be fixed.

MG were surprisingly good at retrospectively fixing the various niggling user-interface complaints their customers had with the early MG ZS EVs.

I get the feeling that with Android Auto and Apple Carplay becoming so mainstream, the built in infotainment functions are pretty much an afterthought these days because no-one uses them. Hence cars increasingly not coming with sat-nav as standard anymore - why bother when no-one uses it?

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th October 10:12

I’m a Luddite and do use it. Never used Apple car play. I like to have the radio on and just use the Sat Nav constantly about 40 destinations a day.

[Merry]

Mikebentley said:

I’m a Luddite and do use it. Never used Apple car play. I like to have the radio on and just use the Sat Nav constantly about 40 destinations a day.

I'd urge you to try it. If anything it's easier to use than the onboard stuff if you're not technically inclined.

[Paul_M3]

Mikebentley said:

I’m a Luddite and do use it. Never used Apple car play. I like to have the radio on and just use the Sat Nav constantly about 40 destinations a day.

40 destinations a day and you’re using inbuilt sat nav? I’d be using Google Maps or Waze for that no matter good the cars built in system was.

[clockworks]

Merry said:

I'd urge you to try it. If anything it's easier to use than the onboard stuff if you're not technically inclined.

Maybe I'm a luddite too? I'm generally pretty keen on tech (AV, computers, smart home gear, etc.), but I've never tried carplay. I use the car's satnav, and my music is on a USB drive.

How is using a phone for navigation easier? I have a recent iPhone, and both my cars have Carplay. Wired only though I think. I can't be bothered to plug it in each time I drive.
The car satnav just works, gets TomTom traffic and speed camera alerts.

I'm genuinely interested to know what, if anything, I'm missing out on.

[Mikebentley]

clockworks said:

Merry said:

I'd urge you to try it. If anything it's easier to use than the onboard stuff if you're not technically inclined.

Maybe I'm a luddite too? I'm generally pretty keen on tech (AV, computers, smart home gear, etc.), but I've never tried carplay. I use the car's satnav, and my music is on a USB drive.

How is using a phone for navigation easier? I have a recent iPhone, and both my cars have Carplay. Wired only though I think. I can't be bothered to plug it in each time I drive.
The car satnav just works, gets TomTom traffic and speed camera alerts.

I'm genuinely interested to know what, if anything, I'm missing out on.

This ^^ Isn’t the CarPlay interface used by having the phone plugged in. 40 destinations a day and having to plug it in each time would be a ballache for me.

[otolith]

I've never come across a car satnav as good as the options I have on my phone. But if the car has good enough satnav built in and the media integration with the phone is good enough without it, no point bothering I guess.

[Penny Whistle]

kambites said:

MG were surprisingly good at retrospectively fixing the various niggling user-interface complaints their customers had with the early MG ZS EVs.

I get the feeling that with Android Auto and Apple Carplay becoming so mainstream, the built in infotainment functions are pretty much an afterthought these days because no-one uses them. Hence cars increasingly not coming with sat-nav as standard anymore - why bother when no-one uses it?

Hmm, not the case in my experience with my MG5 (pre-facelift, long range). Android Auto is very flakey, but my biggest bugbear is the absence of any app to let me see how much charge the car has, particularly when charging from solar. Having said that, I don't know what would be involved in enabling MG iSmart at the car end.

[dmsims]

You can get wireless Carplay dongles

Mikebentley said:

This ^^ Isn’t the CarPlay interface used by having the phone plugged in. 40 destinations a day and having to plug it in each time would be a ballache for me.

[dmsims]

MG4 app

Penny Whistle said:

Hmm, not the case in my experience with my MG5 (pre-facelift, long range). Android Auto is very flakey, but my biggest bugbear is the absence of any app to let me see how much charge the car has, particularly when charging from solar. Having said that, I don't know what would be involved in enabling MG iSmart at the car end.

[Penny Whistle]

dmsims said:

Yes, I know it's available on other models, and indeed on the facelifted MG5. But has not been made available on the pre-facelift.

[kambites]

Mikebentley said:

This ^^ Isn’t the CarPlay interface used by having the phone plugged in. 40 destinations a day and having to plug it in each time would be a ballache for me.

Early Carplay/Android Auto implementations and even some of the cheaper modern ones needed the phone to be plugged in but these days most work by bluetooth so you just get into the car, press one button on your car's touch screen and it starts mirroring your phone. It makes little difference compared to the very latest in-built sat navs but the real advantage is that whatever mapping app you choose to use is constantly being updated and if it goes out of support or you want a feature it doesn't have, you can just switch to a different one by installing it on your phone. I guess another advantage is that you can preprogram the sat nav before you get in the car; including programming an entire day's worth of stops before you leave the house in the morning.

Of course it also means you can access the latest music streaming apps, etc. if you prefer to stream your music rather than downloading it.

ETA: Even for more primitive cars which only support wired Android Auto (and possibly Car Play, not sure) you can buy dongles you plug into the car which then allow your phone to connect over bluetooth.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th October 22:28

[gangzoom]

Durzel said:

I bought my Model 3 outright in March 2020. Crunched the numbers the other day and based on the last trade in values I got I think it has lost ~£685 a month.

Length of ownership matters though.

Our X was bought outright in Feb 2017 for £71k cash. Px value is now £30k, that works out as £40k deprecation in 80 months of ownership or £512/months. From memory lease/PCP cost of a X was around £1000/month + decent deposit. So outright ownership has been far cheaper for us.

We have no plans to sell, so that figure will continue to get cheaper. £500/month to waste on depreciation is still alot though, so the car needs to keep going for a while longer. I genuinely cannot see how anyone can afford new cars every 2-3 years.

[TheRainMaker]

gangzoom said:

I genuinely cannot see how anyone can afford new cars every 2-3 years.

We have been looking this week funnily enough, we have been to MG and Kia, the other half likes the Niro.

For the Niro EV3, it works out at £22141.00 for the 48 months, £461.00 per month
For the MG ZS, it works out at £20417.00 for the 48 months. £425.00 per month

Those are lease deals the PCP were even worse

For the Niro EV3, it works out at £24296 for 36 months, £656.00 per month.
For the MG they still haven't got back to us with the figures...

We are having a rethink

[C G]

Thinking about getting one of these on a salary sacrifice as I need something cheap and cheerful for family transport. I do make a few longer trips to see family which is 100 miles each way and always stay overnight. There's been a few posts on here that the cheaper, smaller battery version might still be okay for this. Has anyone got any real world experience?

[Toaster Pilot]

C G said:

Thinking about getting one of these on a salary sacrifice as I need something cheap and cheerful for family transport. I do make a few longer trips to see family which is 100 miles each way and always stay overnight. There's been a few posts on here that the cheaper, smaller battery version might still be okay for this. Has anyone got any real world experience?

Sounds perfect to me - the LFP battery on the cheaper version is a real selling point.

[3anascooter]

C G said:

Thinking about getting one of these on a salary sacrifice as I need something cheap and cheerful for family transport. I do make a few longer trips to see family which is 100 miles each way and always stay overnight. There's been a few posts on here that the cheaper, smaller battery version might still be okay for this. Has anyone got any real world experience?

If you are planning to do it on one charge (eg 200 miles) then I think you may be lucky. I don't know the specifics of the smaller battery but my Trophy should manage 210-220 miles this time of year...but I wouldn't risk it. And think this has a bigger battery ? I did 120 miles today up/down the A12 (so 60+70 mph) and averaged 3.1 miles per kw

Edited by 3anascooter on Sunday 22 October 21:14

[Vimes]

Took delivery of our xpower last week.

Wanted an EV for town work to replace our 2015 diesel (on ULEZ boundary) and reduce running costs (10p/kw is much cheaper per mile than £1.65 a litre of diesel).

Looked at used E-2008, DS3 etc but the cost to buy and run a 2nd hand EV was higher than a new MG4 on salary sacrifice. The xpower was only £10/month more than the LR trophy, so it was a no brainier.

Really pleased with it. Yes it’s bloody fast when you want it to be but the throttle is well calibrated and it’s easy to just drive normally. The extras that come with the xpower (alcantara seats and door cards, actual 18” alloys and not covers, 4wd traction for wet/snow etc) made it worth the upgrade and the extra power is a bonus.

Really well screwed together too, no squeaks/rattles, all solidly built. Biggest disappointment is the lack of any rear seat lighting, but it’s a minor point given everything else.

Our first EV and the first thing we did was a 450 mile round trip to see family. It’s not what we bought it for (have a diesel Caravelle for that) but wanted to test it out and it did a grand job. Comfy and quiet on the motorway, navigated muddy verges in Cheshire getting round flooded roads and charged at 120kw/h at Watford gap which meant we barely had time for a loo break and grab a coffee before we’d charged back to 95% battery and were on our way.

[C G]

3anascooter said:

C G said:

Thinking about getting one of these on a salary sacrifice as I need something cheap and cheerful for family transport. I do make a few longer trips to see family which is 100 miles each way and always stay overnight. There's been a few posts on here that the cheaper, smaller battery version might still be okay for this. Has anyone got any real world experience?

If you are planning to do it on one charge (eg 200 miles) then I think you may be lucky. I don't know the specifics of the smaller battery but my Trophy should manage 210-220 miles this time of year...but I wouldn't risk it. And think this has a bigger battery ? I did 120 miles today up/down the A12 (so 60+70 mph) and averaged 3.1 miles per kw

Edited by 3anascooter on Sunday 22 October 21:14

I was thinking I'd have to charge somewhere even with the bigger battery so it might negate the point of spending an extra £20 a month on that model. I'd need to have confidence I could go 100 ish miles in winter with leeway for diversions and finding a charger before doing the return trip, with the smaller battery. As apparently the smaller battery model can be charged fully more often, although not sure how important this is on a lease vehicle.

Zenith quotes £312pcm for the smaller battery SE model with 7k pa mileage allowed.

Edited by C G on Thursday 26th October 18:02