Rolling the electrified dice. 2020 MG ZS EV Exclusive

[Mikebentley]

Toaster Pilot said:

Mikebentley said:

Good video TP, Enjoyed that and I like your honest appraisal and your delivery. I will let you know how the next 48 hrs of EV life pan out for me and hopefully I’m as open minded as Ibelieve myself to be. One last thing, if I said Kingsway, Gloucester I wouldn’t be far off would I?

Keen eye - I don't live in that part of Gloucester but I drove that way in the video when heading towards the M5

Good luck with the test drive - keen to hear more about the Corsa E!

Update: Had the Corsa e Elite Nav today.
A very nice shade of metallic darkish blue. Black roof tinted rear windows and EV black alloys. Interior has some lesser quality plastics but this might be down to weight shavings. The binnacle that normally has the clocks has a small screen in it and I feel this could be a better fitted TFT display for £30k. Overall though a really nice place to be and every toy I could have wanted.

Driving:
Never having driven an EV I was blown away by it. Responsive, quiet and very relaxing. I put the car in “B” mode and really enjoyed using the regen braking, anticipating my next move and driving with just the accelerator. It was great fun and I enjoyed driving within all the speed limits in a mix of motorway, country and urban roads. The statistic display suggested I managed 5.6 miles per KWh over one 3 hour section.overall though 3.6 was achieved.

Verdict: Much want and man maths required to now justify a £30k Corsa.

PS after driving all day I discovered Sport Mode. Wow the sense of instant acceleration with very little corresponding extra noise as per ICE was quite shocking.

I think the interior niggles with the dash etc and the look overall would be remedied with the e -208 GT spec car. I am officially an EV fanboy. Just don’t tell that bloke from NZ initials RD....

[Otispunkmeyer]

Toaster....

You don’t happen to have rear facing child seats do you? Would love to know if you can fit one in the back and still have a 6ft + person sit comfortably in the passenger seat. Very few cars seem to be capable of this!

[Toaster Pilot]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Toaster....

You don’t happen to have rear facing child seats do you? Would love to know if you can fit one in the back and still have a 6ft + person sit comfortably in the passenger seat. Very few cars seem to be capable of this!

I don’t, but if I can borrow one I’ll give it a go for you!

It’s not a huge car but there does seem to be a decent amount of interior space.

[Toaster Pilot]

Mikebentley said:

Driving:
Never having driven an EV I was blown away by it.


Much want

Told you

[rjg48]

carlove said:

ElectricSoup said:

Do you forget to charge your mobile phone? I bet not.

Normally wake up with it on about 3% because I forgot to charge it. I then charge it in the car.

Not sure you can recharge an EV using your Mobile Phone.

[Otispunkmeyer]

BrettMRC said:

Can you precondidtion the car remotely before setting off?

Following with interest

I don’t think you can.

Here we won’t even get the app, but I believe even if you lived somewhere that does have the app, there is still a bit of messing about to get it to pre cool or pre-heat. I believe the issue is because it doesn’t have a climate control system, it just has basic fan control and left-cold, right-hot heater knob.

Maybe this has been updated, but I don’t know.

[Toaster Pilot]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I don’t think you can.

Here we won’t even get the app, but I believe even if you lived somewhere that does have the app, there is still a bit of messing about to get it to pre cool or pre-heat. I believe the issue is because it doesn’t have a climate control system, it just has basic fan control and left-cold, right-hot heater knob.

Maybe this has been updated, but I don’t know.

No change here. I see a lot of owners moaning about this but it’s not as if they were ever told it could or would have this!

[Toaster Pilot]

Thought it'd be a good idea to show the good, bad and ugly of public charging, network by network.

InstaVolt's up first... which is definitely in the top tier.

[Mikebentley]

Thanks TP another useful vid for EV newbies. I must admit I stood looking at BP? charger at Malvern Spa the other day with a view to topping up the loaned Corsa e. I couldn’t work it out. Something about minimum card charge of £15.00 or something so instead decided to not bother. As it happened I took it back after another 50 miles of blasting it with 36 miles left. The salesman was genuinely chuffed I’d properly enjoyed it. Arranged for him to call me mid Jan as reckons maybe some ex demo deals to be had then.

[Toaster Pilot]

Mikebentley said:

Thanks TP another useful vid for EV newbies. I must admit I stood looking at BP? charger at Malvern Spa the other day with a view to topping up the loaned Corsa e. I couldn’t work it out. Something about minimum card charge of £15.00 or something so instead decided to not bother. As it happened I took it back after another 50 miles of blasting it with 36 miles left. The salesman was genuinely chuffed I’d properly enjoyed it. Arranged for him to call me mid Jan as reckons maybe some ex demo deals to be had then.

That probably indicates that they’ll pre-authorise £15 on your card to make sure you have enough money to pay for your charge. Same as pay at pump does.

InstaVolt does that too but it’s £5.

[Nickbrapp]

Interesting to see the cost of charging for 80 miles at £9, about comparable to getting 80 miles from a standard petrol car at 50mpg I guess

But as you said mainly for the connivence if you where stuck. You can’t fill a car up with petrol at home cheaper than you can at the pump like you can with a electric car.

[Toaster Pilot]

The cost of cheap home charging massively offsets the more expensive rapids, too

[NewUsername]

I have to say these are the most compelling case for an EV in our household to replace my wifes car. Ive seen a few about and they dont look any worse than the majority of mini suv's knocking around.

I'd have to do some careful maths between one of these and a 2nd hand Duster

Personally I think MG are on to something decent with their EV's, not everyone wants soft touch plastics, plenty of Badge and Knob-Line as a trim option. Just an honest, decent, dependable car.

Keep the updates coming

[ElectricSoup]

I've been running a much lower range EV than this MG under discussion for over 3 years. Well, I had a 24kwh Leaf for 3 years and I've just traded it in for a 30kwh version, which is still an inferior and lower range car than the ZS. Mileage in those years? 28k so far. Number of times I've used a public, paid for charger? 3.

[Toaster Pilot]

NewUsername said:

one of these and a 2nd hand Duster

Why would you compare to a 2nd hand ICE and not a new one? Always going to be heavily weighted one way surely.

[Mikebentley]

Now the cheaper cars have WLTP range of 200milles they make lots more sense. My use is 110- 130 a day and I’m realising that the once every 3 months that I do more I can factor in a rapid public charge using the time to do paperwork and listen to the radio so really a non issue.

The other advantage is the other 361 days a yr I’m not lugging around batteries and weight to give me +200 mile range. I think the answer is knowing which cars fit your usage model.

As I said on the Corsa e thread it’s now not if but when for me.

[NewUsername]

Toaster Pilot said:

NewUsername said:

one of these and a 2nd hand Duster

Why would you compare to a 2nd hand ICE and not a new one? Always going to be heavily weighted one way surely.

Duster would be ICE

I'd compare them because they would be the two cars i'm interested in, mainly looking at cost of ownership over three years.

HTH

[Toaster Pilot]

NewUsername said:

Duster would be ICE

I'd compare them because they would be the two cars i'm interested in, mainly looking at cost of ownership over three years.

HTH

But why a second hand Duster and not a new one? It's not a fair comparison - the depreciated car is going to win pretty much every time.

Just like you can make a £1000 7 series more (financially) appealing than a brand new Sandero if you try hard enough.

[Smiljan]

Maybe because that’s the car he has in mind? The MG will probably depreciate similarly from new which had to be factored in as well.

Can’t see what’s wrong with comparing cars like that when you’re looking to purchase. Nice shiny new EV to blow the budget or 2nd hand Duster to be super sensible

[NewUsername]

Toaster Pilot said:

NewUsername said:

Duster would be ICE

I'd compare them because they would be the two cars i'm interested in, mainly looking at cost of ownership over three years.

HTH

But why a second hand Duster and not a new one? It's not a fair comparison - the depreciated car is going to win pretty much every time.

Just like you can make a £1000 7 series more (financially) appealing than a brand new Sandero if you try hard enough.

Because i'd buy a second hand Duster outright but probably pcp a ZS as the deals are so good.


If i'm honest I think the numbers would be very close and if they are then ill take a new ZS thank you very much