Who buys modern day MGs?

[kambites]

Justin Case said:

cheddar said:

Car Magazine on MG:

Stone dead last in a seriously competitive sector and still last if it wasn't so competitive.

I would think that there is little crossover (dreadful pun unintended) between people who buy MGs and people who read Car Magazine, based on knowing one ZS owner who is well pleased with it.

This is the problem with getting a handle on these budget brands. People slate them but then when you dig deeper 90% of the complaints are "it doesn't handle like my Porsche" or "the dashboard isn't as cuddly as my Audi" or simply "it wont impress my neighbour as much as a BMW". And even with those complaints, most people stating them haven't actually even driven the things or cuddled the dashboard to know.

[Mr lestat]

kambites said:

Mr lestat said:

I wouldn’t buy one with what’s happened with China. We give them far too much business and things need to change in light of the current situation. I now actively look for things not made in China and accept I will pay slightly more.

Be that as it may, it's nothing to do with my question.

Practically speaking, avoiding buying which which are made in China is very difficult these days. The Macbook I'm using to post this is, so are the (Apple) external keyboard, (Logitech) mouse and (Philips) monitor connected to it. Even if you go out and buy a BMW, I'd bet 80% of the component parts are made in the far east, probably mostly in China.

I can't say I like what China are doing but then I don't like the current administration in the states much either; or the one in the UK come to that.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 7th July 08:44

Not getting into a political debate but wherever possible I won’t buy Chinese. Fully accept that some component parts of items are likely to be made there but there is little can be done about that.

[kambites]

Mr lestat said:

Not getting into a political debate but wherever possible I won’t buy Chinese. Fully accept that some component parts of items are likely to be made there but there is little can be done about that.

Each to their own.

Anyway as you say this is more suitable for NP&E. The thread is about the cars.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 7th July 09:28

[Earthdweller]

stickleback123 said:

As others have suggested they seem to exist in hot spots around dealers who are pushing them hard.

This does rather suggest that a certain number of people buy cars based on almost nothing other than what the closest car selling place is shifting, and if it hadn't been an MG it would have been a Nissan, or a Chevrolet, or a Dacia, or whoever else was friendly and flogged them something for an appealing price. I bet these small independent dealers are a joy to deal with compared to the big franchises who don't give a st about you though; "Nigel has sold me a new car every 3 years since I bought an Ital in 1980 and he's never steered me wrong".

There’s a garage in the next village from us that sells mainly Isuzu but also sells LDV vans consequently there are loads of them round here .. hateful things, but a good well respected local garage that will sort anything for you

I suppose at a push I can see why some people who just want a van, for tipping about locally, buy them. They seem to be mainly local traders that don’t live in the vehicles that have them

The Chimney sweep came round the other day in his brand spanking new one .. I did, with gritted teeth, complement his new van.

He said he was delighted with it, but then it replaced a 20 year old hiace

[bqf]

Krikkit said:

Like Saab before them they should've been confined to the history books really.

Thats the language of the snooker hall! Saab were excellent.

[BigMon]

Our local dealer conforms to the stereotypes above.

Going since 1954, was a Rover dealer originally and up until Rover vanished, then Mazda (where they won awards for service excellence but had the franchise taken off them by Mazda as they were 'too small' apparently and idiotically) and now MG.

I think the 3 looks ok. If I was in the market for a cheap new car I'd take a look at it.

[sociopath]

Let's be honest, the MGs aren't built for people who frequent a petrol head forum. They're for people like your mum who need a car to go to the shops, see their friends, and with a warranty that means they don't have to worry about it until they die.

My mum had a fiesta but it did the same job (and it was cheap as my wife was a ford engineer at the time)

[Evercross]

caffeine said:

Made by a random Chinese company no-one has heard of...

SAIC Motor

What you mean is you haven't heard of them.

Wikipedia said:

A Fortune Global 100 company and one of the "Big Four" state-owned Chinese automakers, the company had the largest production volume of any Chinese automaker in 2014 making more than 4.5 million vehicles.

That makes them way bigger than probably most of the manufacturers you have heard of. VAG made 10.21 million vehicles in 2014 and have been bumbling around that number ever since. SAIC have been increasing year-on-year.



MG as a brand will IMO be responsible for making electric vehicles affordable for millions more people than Tesla ever will be.

Edited by Evercross on Tuesday 7th July 10:01

[kambites]

sociopath said:

Let's be honest, the MGs aren't built for people who frequent a petrol head forum. They're for people like your mum who need a car to go to the shops, see their friends, and with a warranty that means they don't have to worry about it until they die.

My mum had a fiesta but it did the same job (and it was cheap as my wife was a ford engineer at the time)

Yup, precisely the reason we're looking at getting one for my wife. Aanything comparable to the model we're considering from another manufacturer would be at least £5k more and for what she wants it for wouldn't actually be any better. She doesn't need the last word in handling, she'd far rather just have a decent ride quality; she likes a bit of straight line speed but the 0-60 in 8.5ish seconds that the MG does is enough and more than that would mean nothing to her in practice. She doesn't need clever automated driving, or huge charging speeds, or a massive range. Just a decent capable family car.

The market for people who don't care about cars beyond their ability to transport people and/or things cheaply is pretty big! Even many petrolheads have one car which was bought just to be a car.


Our local MG dealer doesn't fit the stereotype above. It's part of a chain which handles Mazda, Hyundai, Skoda and Citroen amongst others. All budget brands of one sort of another I guess, but by no means a small, friendly back-streat type garage.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 7th July 10:13

[donkmeister]

Venisonpie said:

Surely the real question is who buys old MG's? They really are crap.

Oooh, you take that back, Mr Nogarage!
(Or find someone to take you for a spin in a TC MGA, then take it back )

[Evercross]

My next-door neighbour has a ZS in a very attractive shade of dark blue and IMO the paint finish at least puts some so-called quality German brands to shame. I'll upset the BMW fanbois by saying this but dark paint colours on BMW 1s, 2s, 3s and some lower 4 and 5 models always look to me to be verging on orange-peel. In particular BMW cannot seem to do a decent factory black finish.

The texture on the little MG is like glass in comparison. Whether that is because the Chinese have not yet succumbed to the cost environmental benefits of water based paints complete with their slower drying (hence crackly finish) and propensity to be ruined by the first drop of bird poo is anyone's guess....

Edited by Evercross on Tuesday 7th July 10:17

[anonymous-user]

kambites said:

Yup, precisely the reason we're looking at getting one for my wife. Aanything comparable to the model we're considering from another manufacturer would be at least £5k more and for what she wants it for wouldn't actually be any better. She doesn't need the last word in handling, she'd far rather just have a decent ride quality; she likes a bit of straight line speed but the 0-60 in 8.5ish seconds that the MG does is enough and more than that would mean nothing to her in practice. She doesn't need clever automated driving, or huge charging speeds, or a massive range. Just a decent capable family car.

The market for people who don't care about cars beyond their ability to transport people and/or things cheaply is pretty big! Even many petrolheads have one car which was bought just to be a car.


Our local MG dealer doesn't fit the stereotype above. It's part of a chain which handles Mazda, Hyundai, Skoda and Citroen amongst others. All budget brands of one sort of another I guess, but by no means a small, friendly back-streat type garage.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 7th July 10:13

For context, the V6 Vectra/Mondeo of 1999 was not much better than 8.5 seconds to 60 and everyone thought that was a road going missile at the time

[Pupbelly]

Lets face it the MG brand is no different to a lot of car brands out there having links back to major Chinese manufacturers. Mercedes and Volvo for example both seen as posh brands but their current ranges all hark back to Chinese companies. There are very few pure brands left now with all of the various platform sharing and co-development. The brand of car you buy today is more likely to by a mishmash of all sorts of input and sold under a brand name that seems familiar to the marketplace rather than a Chinese sounding name which most folk would run a mile from because they don't recognise it.

Edited by Pupbelly on Tuesday 7th July 11:03

[A205GTI]

by me it is because the small dealer was rover, then suzuki and now has mg back, oldies like them as they appear trustworthy, staff been there ages and they are loyal to the locals who use them.

[kambites]

A trustworthy dealer is not to be sniffed at, especially if you don't know much about cars.

[J4CKO]

Evercross said:

My next-door neighbour has a ZS in a very attractive shade of dark blue and IMO the paint finish at least puts some so-called quality German brands to shame. I'll upset the BMW fanbois by saying this but dark paint colours on BMW 1s, 2s, 3s and some lower 4 and 5 models always look to me to be verging on orange-peel. In particular BMW cannot seem to do a decent factory black finish.

The texture on the little MG is like glass in comparison. Whether that is because the Chinese have not yet succumbed to the cost environmental benefits of water based paints complete with their slower drying (hence crackly finish) and propensity to be ruined by the first drop of bird poo is anyone's guess....

Edited by Evercross on Tuesday 7th July 10:17

Blue BMW owner and I take issue with that and will have you know BMW use only the best rollers to put their paint on !

Mine is pretty poor for "Premium" car, my old boss had a 5 series which was disgraceful, our Fords are way better paint finishes.


My parents MG6 seemed to last ok, think it was a 2011 and they got rid last year, still looked the same but my dad is a bit fussy with his cars.

[anonymous-user]

I had a Rover 220 Coupe back in 1997 (I made the classic mistake of buying the first car I test drove, made even worse in that I had gone to look at another car at the dealers and saw the Rover)

Anyway, it was generally OK but at around ten years old the head gasket went and it was getting rusty on the arches it just didn't feel like it was very well put together at all.

Are modern MGs that cheap in reality compared to a Kia or Hyundai?

[TooLateForAName]

I know a couple of people with the zs ev and they are uniformly delighted with them - especially after a software update to turn off the warning beeps the early cars apparently had.

[Venisonpie]

donkmeister said:

Oooh, you take that back, Mr Nogarage!
(Or find someone to take you for a spin in a TC MGA, then take it back )

Glad you took that in the humour intended. A TC MGA is a lovely thing!

[kambites]

Joey Deacon said:

Are modern MGs that cheap in reality compared to a Kia or Hyundai?

They're a fair bit cheaper. For example the ZS 1.0 turbo automatic starts at £16500. The slightly smaller Kia STonic 1.0 turbo automatic starts at £20100.