Worst car I've ever had

Tuareg said:

Some people simply find basic modern technology far too complicated.

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To a certain degree, yes, I agree.
But in a lot of cases it's far too, overthought, and made more complicated than it needs to be.

@ADC1966, I sympathise with your situation and as you have probably gleaned from the responses the Forum members are a little protective of their cars, myself included. However, you have been let down by the dealer who should have explained the car's workings before they let you have it.

The phase 1 Trophy (no rear wiper) has a 3-phase AC charging capability which can charge from a 22kW AC Podpoint only if it is connected by a 3-phase cable. (Note that phase 1 Trophies can suffer failure of the Charge Control Unit). Phase 2 Trophies only have a 7kW AC capability. You are likely to have been given a single phase cable and thus can only use one of the 3 phases, 22kW/3 gives ~7kW. 3 phase cables have 3 lots of live wires and so are more expensive and heavy than a single phase cable. DC charging does not require conversion from AC to DC and thus makes it easier to give higher charge rates but requires very heavy cables which are tethered to the supplying device.

Your issues must be addressed by a dealer. As regards your radio problem have you investigated the right-hand button. This is normally set to control the media, eg radio. A tap starts/pauses the media, up/down the volume and left/right the channel/track. Note pressing the 'Folder' button or the Star button changes it's behaviour.

Please read the Trophy guide in the MG4 Wiki at the top of this Forum and other bits applicable to you; it's full of useful information.

Tuareg said:

Some people simply find basic modern technology far too complicated.

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What I find annoying is that there are so many ways to achieve the same result, especially on computers.

ADC1966 said:

I'm sorry but I really didn't understand your reply and I don't know what a DC Rap[id charger is or where I would find one. I used a charger in Tesco, a 22Kw Pod Point but it didn't charge any faster. I Googled why that might be the case, and read that my MG4 can only use up to 7Kw chargers. Is this wrong?

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The MG4 can only take 7kW on that type of charge point. The charge point could give more if the car was capable of taking it but most MG4s aren't (the ones that can take more - early Trophy LR and also the ER I believe - take no more than 11kW so would still not hit 22kW). You can still use that 22kW charge point to charge your car but you will only get 7kW.

A DC rapid charger uses its own tethered cable and has a bigger plug so you have to take the bung out of the lower part of your charge socket. They will charge your car more quickly. If you have the zap map app look for chargers that are CCS and 50kW or more. I tend to look for ones that are at least 150kW as the car will take up to 140kW when the battery is at about 30%.

I've also plunged myself into darkness a few times on country roads. It's always been my fault as I've caught the little protruding lights switch on the stalk which is not ideally placed. It's made even easier to switch them off accidentally as there is also a wheel like part of that switch on the rear of the stalk. It's just a case of flicking it to the switch to reset the lights. I'll agree that it's a bit scary but I don't do it anymore as I've trained myself to keep near the end of the main/dip stalk and away from the switch.

Had the SOS pop up this evening but just powered off and back on and went away. I only assume was some cellular change

The SOS (eCall) failure problem used to occur at least every 30 minutes for me until the garage updated one of the modules. It has only occurred a handful of times in the last 8 months. The dealer can sort this problem.

bedsev said:

Technically not wrong, it can only AC charge to 7kw. If you use a DC charger, i.e. a 50kw pod point charger (they have a big cable attached to them and you have to remove the second cap in your charge port) it will go up to 135ish kWh. Tesla are great for fast charging.

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Apologies for picking you up as what you have written is incorrect.

A 50 kW Podpoint charger will not go up to 135ish kWh - it's only capable of 50kW (NOT kWh as that's completely different)

So, the car has 2 charge modes, the AC input, from your home charger and a DC input from rapid chargers.

As has been said, the AC has to be converted to DC to charge the battery,
This is done by the car's charger, which can only handle 7kW, no matter how much power the AC input is capable of.
The DC Rapid charger on the other hand is controlled by the charger. These come in a big range of power, anything from 50kW to 350kW.

There are lots of aps you can get for your phone that tell you where these chargers are, or you could just google them.
It looks like you have a 50kW one close buy

If I was you I'd find a 10mm spanner and tighten the negative 12V battery terminal.
During transport the negative 12V battery terminal is disconnected.
There have been instances of this not being properly tightened before delivery.
An intermittent or poor battery connection could be causing all sorts of problems.

Who is the Coronation street chap lol

Kithmo said:

What I find annoying is that there are so many ways to achieve the same result, especially on computers.

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Like many things in normal life.

I found the negative terminal on my car was not tight as I could easily move it when I connected jumper leads to start another car. Luckily it hadn't caused any issues but it would seem that it wasn't tightened when the car was delivered to the dealer. Sounds like a common issue.

I've owned over 30 cars in my lifetime and without a doubt the MG4 is the best I have ever owned. The driving experience of an EV is better than any ICE vehicle. I did take the time to research EVs and read many articles both positive and negative as well as watching multiple You tube videos and road tests etc plus motoring journalists tests. I am also a retired Electrical Engineer and spent 30 years in the IT industry so electrical and computer systems are my bread and butter.

There are many EVs far better than the MG4 but at a much higher cost.

In ADC1966s case he/she probably has none of this knowledge or experience and is frustrated by the fact that there is so much to learn and try to understand. The same issues are present in modern ICE cars as well. The only thing different is the propulsion system and fuel. I am involved with Emergency Services and recently we took possession of a new ISUZU D-Max 4x4. Almost everything is horribly complex and the user interface with the software for its operation is difficult and far from intuitive. I get out of the MG & in to the D-Max & it is like going back 20 years with new software trying to make it feel like something modern. It is also really noisy.

My advice is to go back to the dealer and find out how the systems work and if the perceived faults are real or not. If you can get someone to show you how it all works and take some time to read the manual that would help enormously.

Well said that man!

Corindikev said:

I've owned over 30 cars in my lifetime and without a doubt the MG4 is the best I have ever owned. The driving experience of an EV is better than any ICE vehicle. I did take the time to research EVs and read many articles both positive and negative as well as watching multiple You tube videos and road tests etc plus motoring journalists tests.

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This is exactly my experience, whenever the Mrs and I are out for a drive, one of us will comment positively on some aspect or feature of the car.

I'm willing to forgive the MG almost anything, just for the sheer pleasure of driving it.

decrep said:

I'm willing to forgive the MG almost anything, just for the sheer pleasure of driving it.

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Where's the "Itchy Chin" emoji when you want it?

ADC1966 said:

MG 4 150Kw Trophy EV Long Range 64kWh

Lights going out while I drive.(once on a country road,..f**** terrifying)
Strange random messages about SOS not working flash up and disappear.
Other messages appearing once ( including "System Fail") and unable to find them again. Again terrifying while on Motorway
Less than 200 mile range despite being "Long Range" .
Needing to complete a three stage routine to turn off lane change detection EVERY TIME I DRIVE!!
Trying to use a fast 22KW public charger only to find our the car can only charge at a pathetically slow 7KW
No easy button to turn radio on. have to "ask" via voice control and that takes 5-6 attempts on average.

So, hate my first (and last electric car) and hate this one even more than I could have imagined.

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I’ve done 20k miles in mine and it’s been a delight. I think you need to take it back to the dealer.

Anon70 said:

It sounds like you did not get enough information when choosing the car and the lease company did the poorest hand over when they delivered the car by not explaining how things like charging the car would work.

Moving from many years of driving ICE cars to an EV is a strange new World of new terms (none of which are standard between manufactures).

You may also have some faults with the car which the lease company should fix.

EV's more than other vehicles are lots of computers all talking to each other to make things work and sometimes you will see glitches.

For example, the error you are seeing with the SOS system might be due to a poor mobile phone signal as this is what that system uses from a SIM built into the car. If there is no signal when the system boots up or checks for one then it will display an error that can be cleared once mobile signal is detected again

There is a YouTube Channel called JerryPan and cars with over 10 video manuals explaining all sorts of things about the car and you might find this helps you. Jerry Pan and CARS

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Or try Burl Solomons YouTube Channel. UK based MG4.
For the basics see www.electrifying.com

I love my MG4 and think your comments are both uninformed and unfair.

As OP doesnt understand basic charging and range i think they didnt research their purchase much.

All those charge and range issues are present on every ev.

Sounds a bit like a troll to me.

ADC1966 said:

MG 4 150Kw Trophy EV Long Range 64kWh

Lights going out while I drive.(once on a country road,..f**** terrifying)

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This is often inadvertently rotating the lights dial on the back of the headlight stalk. It seems the way some people hold or use the stalk it is prone to this.

ADC1966 said:

Strange random messages about SOS not working flash up and disappear.

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This is fixable through software updates. Since getting an update on this back in March it has never failed for me.

ADC1966 said:

Other messages appearing once ( including "System Fail") and unable to find them again.

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They can flash up and disappear before you get a chance to read them, which is indeed a poor design - but they may not be significant ones. Again, cars with more recent software updates don't do this so much and some of the messages have been changed to make them less alarming.

ADC1966 said:

Again terrifying while on Motorway
Less than 200 mile range despite being "Long Range" .

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Winter range in EVs is always around 25-30% less and is dramatically affected by how you drive. There is an ER model for those who need more.

ADC1966 said:

Needing to complete a three stage routine to turn off lane change detection EVERY TIME I DRIVE!!

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It could be simpler to turn off, but you'll find all new cars are like this now (if tested since 2022) and it needs to take at least 2 presses to disable each journey. This is down to legislation / safety rules.

ADC1966 said:

Trying to use a fast 22KW public charger only to find our the car can only charge at a pathetically slow 7KW

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This is clear when you look at the spec, you need to do your research before buying. Very very few cars can do 22kW on Type 2 and it is not very useful for most people - either you charge at home or work and 7kW is plenty or you go to a rapid charger.

ADC1966 said:

No easy button to turn radio on. have to "ask" via voice control and that takes 5-6 attempts on average.

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The main screen has an on/pause button and you can turn on/off via the right hand keypad.

ADC1966 said:

So, hate my first (and last electric car) and hate this one even more than I could have imagined.

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I think the reason you hate it is the mindset you have brought into your ownership. It really sounds like you didn't research your buy / what EVs are like and that you have then gone looking for things you don't like.

I wish you well and you have a point about some of these things but at least half of this is you somehow expecting EV ownership (and indeed new car ownership in 2024) to be the same as you've experienced before.