High petrol consumption & high revs

[TJ MG]

I have the top spec MG3 hybrid and have suddenly been having issues with the engine and petrol consumption.

It revs high, the engine “sings” and the petrol consumption is twice what it used to be (close to 10L/100km). It started first by it losing power even with foot floored. They updated the software which fixed that but now the petrol consumption is ridiculously high. Might as well have a got a gas guzzling truck!

Any tips / suggestions community?

 

[Hybrid Ann]

I have one tip. TAKE IT BACK!. It should do as near as damn it close to what it says on the tin, if not, you should be kicking at MG's door.

 

[elkay62]

I've heard that it runs more on the combustion engine on start up when ambient temperature is in single figures. I put off purchasing one due to this, as average temperature where I am is less than 10°C for 6 months of the year, and I only do short trips. Any owners have any feedback on mpg in cold weather?

 

[Billy321]

I've heard that it runs more on the combustion engine on start up when ambient temperature is in single figures. I put off purchasing one due to this, as average temperature where I am is less than 10°C for 6 months of the year, and I only do short trips. Any owners have any feedback on mpg in cold weather?

Had MG3 hybrid+ since end of October, Currently getting 53mpg. All local trips average 15miles/day.
All hybrids will run on combustion engine more in cold weather. And economy will suffer, just like it will in a non-hybrid car.
The combustion engine will have to work harder to provide heat to the air conditioning.

 

[Deleted member 18108]

I've heard that it runs more on the combustion engine on start up when ambient temperature is in single figures. I put off purchasing one due to this, as average temperature where I am is less than 10°C for 6 months of the year, and I only do short trips. Any owners have any feedback on mpg in cold weather?

In this cold spell, I'm getting 45mpg with a mix of short and long runs. As Billy321 has said all hybrids will use the combustion engine more in cold weather. Indeed all cars, petrol, diesel, hybrids and BEV will be less efficient when temperatures drop. For context, I'd be interested to know, what are you driving now, and what mpg are you currently getting?

 

[KeithS]

On one short trip totalling maybe no more than 3 miles, most of which was in traffic, and in upper single figure temp, the display showed only around 18 mpg!!!
But at other times in similar short journeys, with less traffic it could show upper twenties or low thirties.
Fuel consumption is so variable depending on so many factors, that the only benchmark is how it compares to another make and model of car, such as a previous car.
In this regard my previous car was a 3door DS3 1.2 turbo 3 cylinder automatic. When compared to that car which would struggle to get into the forties mpg in ideal circumstances, the MG is an improvement.
Cold weather obviously plays a big part, and never more so than with an EV, which is my other car. With that I can see a drop in range and therefore economy of easily 25%, as soon as the temperature starts to drop.

 

[David38]

KeithS Can you tell me where the car shows the calculated mpg, please?

 

[Deleted member 18108]

KeithS Can you tell me where the car shows the calculated mpg, please?

Not sure if its similar on the ZS Hybrid, but on the MG3 Hybrid, it is as below, you can switch bewtween current and average:

 

[KeithS]

To the right of the instrument screen. You may need to press the right hand middle button on the steering wheel, this allows you to use the right hand joystick to cycle through the menu options.
There is a display both for accumulated trip data, and the second is from the start of a journey.
That right hand button has two squares on it. In one mode it controls the stereo- volume, track etc, in the other it is for the display I refer to above.
To confuse things further, if your car is set up like mine was, the right hand star button will bring up climate control temperature and fan speed on the central infotainment screen, unless you're using Apple Carplay or Android Auto, in which case you can still make the same adjustments via the righthand joystick, but it won't appear on the display!
Probably all sounds very confusing, but you quickly get the 'hang of it'!

 

[Pine]

All ICE cars suffer a drop in MPG in the winter months. I have been driving Toyota Hybrids for 5 years and always see a noticeable dip in the fuel consumption. In my experience I would say that hybrids suffer a greater drop than pure ICE cars in the winter but hybrids are still doing much better mileage than pure ICE cars. I am thinking of changing to MG for my next car.

 

[mick78]

All ICE cars suffer a drop in MPG in the winter months. I have been driving Toyota Hybrids for 5 years and always see a noticeable dip in the fuel consumption. In my experience I would say that hybrids suffer a greater drop than pure ICE cars in the winter but hybrids are still doing much better mileage than pure ICE cars. I am thinking of changing to MG for my next car.

Technically it is logical that Hybrids suffer more, because the ICE engine will run a lot more for heating purposes, even in scenarios where it would not be required for charging/performance duties and thus be off in mild temperatures. The discrepancy is even worse in plug in hybrids without electric heaters, as there the car will straight not work (much) in EV mode.

Btw.: Does anyone know whether the AC compressor is run by an electric motor (I believe that's the case at Toyota) or of an accessory belt, like in most cars, at MG?

 

[Lovemyev]

Technically it is logical that Hybrids suffer more, because the ICE engine will run a lot more for heating purposes, even in scenarios where it would not be required for charging/performance duties and thus be off in mild temperatures. The discrepancy is even worse in plug in hybrids without electric heaters, as there the car will straight not work (much) in EV mode.

Btw.: Does anyone know whether the AC compressor is run by an electric motor (I believe that's the case at Toyota) or of an accessory belt, like in most cars, at MG?

This is very true !.
Before going full BEV we had a PHEV for four years, luckily enough you could select pure EV power from the get go.
This was brilliant for making short trips in the winter time as the engine remained dormant.
Also, it was as equipped with both a electric powered cabin heater and could also be heated from the cooling system of the engine.
When comparing higher fuel consumption of a hybrid model, over the very same equivalent model powered purely by ICE, then don’t forget that the hybrid IS dragging around the additional weight of the battery pack and any items for the hybrid system.
This extra weight carried over the standard ICE model, has to be a mitigation factor in producing reduced fuel consumption.
Hybrid models used for carrying out short trips in the winter time are just not great for efficiency unfortunately.
This loss in efficiency can be recovered when taking on longer trips of course.

 

[Pine]

Btw.: Does anyone know whether the AC compressor is run by an electric motor (I believe that's the case at Toyota) or of an accessory belt, like in most cars, at MG?

The Toyota AC compressor is powered by the hybrid battery and the compressor output is variable depending on the current situation. There are 3 operating modes- Fast, Normal and Eco. Eco will reduce the fan speed and the output of the compressor to prioritise fuel consumption. Some on the Toyota forum believe the fan is powered by the 12V battery. At this time of year I run it on Auto with Eco mode, temp set to 21. As the Toyota engine is very efficient there is not a lot of waste heat so the air coming out of the vents cannot be described as hot, but it works. I would guess the MG3 system must be similar, the Chinese are very good at copying things.

 

[Freeway]

I have one tip. TAKE IT BACK!. It should do as near as damn it close to what it says on the tin, if not, you should be kicking at MG's door.

Getting 63 mpg from my July 24 MG3 Hybrid SE

 

[Haydn Parry]

I have the top spec MG3 hybrid and have suddenly been having issues with the engine and petrol consumption.

It revs high, the engine “sings” and the petrol consumption is twice what it used to be (close to 10L/100km). It started first by it losing power even with foot floored. They updated the software which fixed that but now the petrol consumption is ridiculously high. Might as well have a got a gas guzzling truck!

Any tips / suggestions community?

Try running in eco mode and high recovery. You should see your mpg go up again

 

[gian]

As others have already written,
turning off the air conditioning,
EV miraculously returns, as in summer,
a minimum of hot air still arrives.
Of course ECO and regeneration 3.
This on medium / long routes, with good fuel economy.

For short / very short routes, it is useless; as with any car.

 

[Tangoed Man]

Getting 63 mpg from my July 24 MG3 Hybrid SE

Same mpg as I get from my Mercedes E-class estate, yielding almost 1,000 miles range, and 10p/mile