Failed EDU (Electronic Drive Unit)

[Tim]

With 340 miles on the clock, we broke down with a failed drive until back in September. Luckily with the petrol engine, we got to safety and a local dealer. But it turns out the local dealer in Surrey was a complete waste of time! Great at selling cars I'm sure, but no or very little technical backup. They had the car six weeks messing me about until Summit Garages (supplied the car) came and picked it up for me and sorted the issue out in a short time. There was one spare EDU in the country so was very lucky it only took a couple of months from start to finish!

I'd make sure if you are buying from a dealer to investigate their support structure if you are using them for servicing as well. Unfortunately, I don't live near Summit in Dudley so will need to use my other favorite MG dealer on the Isle of Wight.

 

[Alb]

What I've seen so far leads me to believe that MG's support infrastructure is weak at both dealer and national level.

 

[EVGeezer]

With 340 miles on the clock, we broke down with a failed drive until back in September. Luckily with the petrol engine, we got to safety and a local dealer. But it turns out the local dealer in Surrey was a complete waste of time! Great at selling cars I'm sure, but no or very little technical backup. They had the car six weeks messing me about until Summit Garages (supplied the car) came and picked it up for me and sorted the issue out in a short time. There was one spare EDU in the country so was very lucky it only took a couple of months from start to finish!

I'd make sure if you are buying from a dealer to investigate their support structure if you are using them for servicing as well. Unfortunately, I don't live near Summit in Dudley so will need to use my other favorite MG dealer on the Isle of Wight.


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Do you have more details what exactly broke? Kudos to your patience.......I would go ballistic if the repair would take this long.

 

[Tim]

Do you have more details what exactly broke? Kudos to your patience.......I would go ballistic if the repair would take this long.

Not yet, the duff unit is going off to MG UK to find out what happened. It's a sealed unit so nothing could be done by the technician.
There were a few times, especially while it was with Richmond Motors at Guildford. There was always a reason they could not look at it. Even suggested that they only have one MG trained technician between their three sites!!! That was the low point.

 

[Stormgrey]

With 340 miles on the clock, we broke down with a failed drive until back in September. Luckily with the petrol engine, we got to safety and a local dealer. But it turns out the local dealer in Surrey was a complete waste of time! Great at selling cars I'm sure, but no or very little technical backup. They had the car six weeks messing me about until Summit Garages (supplied the car) came and picked it up for me and sorted the issue out in a short time. There was one spare EDU in the country so was very lucky it only took a couple of months from start to finish!

I'd make sure if you are buying from a dealer to investigate their support structure if you are using them for servicing as well. Unfortunately, I don't live near Summit in Dudley so will need to use my other favorite MG dealer on the Isle of Wight.


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Heard a lot of good reports about Summit garage they are true enthusiasts who care about their customers.

 

[Alb]

The more I look into this, the more I conclude that MG EV trained technicians are rare and ones that are trained and have significant EV experience are like Gold dust.

 

[Tim]

The more I look into this, the more I conclude that MG EV trained technicians are rare and ones that are trained and have significant EV experience are like Gold dust.

Yep, agree. Was reading something on an MG forum and it's common that people are having to wait to get any issues resolved. A result of high sales demand and support catching up! It didn't take Matt too long at Summit to find the issue with support from MG Technical, so that side of things was acceptable. It was Richmond Motors lack of staff able to deal with the issue and just keeping me waiting for so so so long!!!!

 

[MickH]

Before I retired from the motor trade I was a trained high voltage technician and I had received specific training on Volvo, Renault and VW. However one of the biggest problems with trying to repair EV’s was the reluctance of the manufacturers to give dealerships authority to carry out the more complicated repairs, preferring the dealership to return major units to the factory for repair. The result of this was firstly the customer was denied a quick repair and secondly it prevented the technical staff to gain a better knowledge and much needed experience on the product. I don’t know for sure, but I doubt this has changed very much and I would suspect there could have been an easier fix than changing the entire unit but the factory have possibly dictated this course of action. We are still very early days of EV ownership, and the manufacturers are still very nervous of who they allow to work on their cars so it’s going to be a while before we see the kind of technical support we should have. Thank heavens for the likes of Cleevley Motors!

 

[Alb]

Problem is, you won't be told any of this when you are looking to buy the car in the first place.
I foresaw the potential for this type of difficulty so I asked some very pointed questions during purchase negotiations. Of course I was assured that the dealership had all the parts, people, training and equipment needed to look after my purchase as well as any other car but the reality has been somewhat different.
My MG5 has now been with the dealer for 17 days primarily because the (broken) Infotainment Unit had to be sent back to MG for reprogramming. The dealerships have neither the knowledge nor the equipment to do this for themselves.

 

[MickH]

Problem is, you won't be told any of this when you are looking to buy the car in the first place.
I foresaw the potential for this type of difficulty so I asked some very pointed questions during purchase negotiations. Of course I was assured that the dealership had all the parts, people, training and equipment needed to look after my purchase as well as any other car but the reality has been somewhat different.
My MG5 has now been with the dealer for 17 days primarily because the (broken) Infotainment Unit had to be sent back to MG for reprogramming. The dealerships have neither the knowledge nor the equipment to do this for themselves.

Very true, but I don’t think it’s unique to MG.

 

[TWbm]

Bought mine from Richmond MG Southampton. Their repairs are done by Richmond Hyundai next door, who seem to have one guy that looks after the EV's.