Recent content by Gary Bainbridge

Same here, I was a BMC Kid, first inheriting my father's Morris Minor whilst most of my friends, after learning to drive, had Ford Anglias, mainly with burnt-out clutches. I then had an Austin 1100, which survived a crash (not my fault), which I drove for years with the rear bashed in. That was...

Well, yes and no. On my last long drive, I charged the car whilst we were having our dinner. The previous holiday, I simply charged the car overnight at the AC charger in the hotel car park. Apart from that, it just takes seconds to plug in and unplug in my front drive.

The point is that ICE drivers only need a 600-mile range to save them from going to the petrol station every other day. That is not a problem for EVs. If I have a long drive, then the range matters, but my XPower can do 230 miles on a full battery, which compares to my old VW Scirocco years ago...

I've made the decision that I am never going to leave the car at less than 50%, so if I arrive home from a journey with less than about 30% I will charge at the local hub (Sainsbury's) to 50% before going home. That way if an unexpected journey crops up, I feel that I'm safe. On the MG4 Xpower...

Yes it does. You don't, it's a 20 mph limit anyway, but I think you'll find that the limit is less than 10 mph. It is almost as soon as you move so probably about 5 mph (perhaps 10 km/h).

That's fine if you don't have a passenger who wants to sit inside the car whilst you get out. You can turn the car off on the screen, but it turns on again as soon as you get out. The only way around that is to lock the car as you get out then unlock it again. The other problem which I...

Rather than adding a start/stop switch just add the ability to override the seat switch and simply turn the car on by pressing the brake pedal, then turn off again via a short cut on the 'down-swipe' menu rather than going through four presses (car, safety, off, confirm). Exactly, that's the...

Ability to retain settings during a short break (say less than one hour). It's really annoying to have to reset all your preferences after just stopping for a couple of minutes to enter a shop. Ability to draw in the door mirrors whilst moving (useful in very narrow roads to prevent mirror...

MG4 Xpower user here, after 8 years with a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. I've had the MG4 since September and love it. There are a few things about the software that I don't like, but the car is superb with the effortless acceleration.

A serious question, though: If only driving the rear wheels, does the front motor contribute to regeneration? Surely, you need more braking at the front than the rear.