MG4, not a good car.

[Corindikev]

I reckon that's a major reason for the MG4s success winning at leat 6 Car of the Year and a number of other awards. UK design and handling prowess coupled with Chinese EV technology and manufacturing expertise.

 

[morleym2002]

I think that for the 99.9% of MG4 users who will never fit a towbar , that a manual activation of towing mode, which some find beneficial for their mental wellbeing in that it is a get around for disabling LKA plus other unwanted systems, is a stroke of genius by the MG engineers. If the losses outweigh the gains , then the option is not to use it. More electrical interfaces just for the 0.01 % is the last thing this car requires.

I use tow mode without a towbar constantly the main thing I miss is the rear distance detectors. It would be great if somebody knew how to re-enable them whilst in tow mode. Any suggestions?

 

[siteguru]

It would have to be a hack via ODB I would guess. Disabling the sensors in Towing mode makes sense, as the car is expecting something solid to be close behind the car at all times.

 

[morleym2002]

Thanks for your reply and I appreciate this is how it is meant to be but I'm looking for a hack. Something like providing 12 volts onto a connector in the boot to signal there is no tow bar installed every time car is put in reverse, identifying which connector pin is the difficulty.

 

[DavecUK]

For my part, I like the car, but would like to kick the software designer/s who felt it was fantastic not to have the car remember how it's set up and boot like that each time you turn it on. I suspect they all rode bicycles.

 

[Robf]

For my part, I like the car, but would like to kick the software designer/s who felt it was fantastic not to have the car remember how it's set up and boot like that each time you turn it on. I suspect they all rode bicycles.

Its not really the software designers that decided this issue, it is to enable the car to conform to NCAP requirements and get 5 stars. Certainly some of the software (LKA) needs to be improved, but the overall spec is not defined by them.

 

[Fluffy]

Must admit when our x-power first arrived (on a company lease) it was abysmal with overreacting ELK and LKA (and seems the supplying dealer (Glynn Hopkins) did 0 prep or updates - had to take the blue label glue off the body work, stickers off windscreen and set the emergency number for example) so, was quite upset as the lease company pretty much tried to gaslight Mrs fluffy (its her car) with 'its perfectly normal', 'read the instructions' etc. Anyway in the end we finally got through to a dealer (MG Swindon) who took the car in for updates and re-calibration (it needed quite a few) and supplied a courtesy car, and now its behaving. Will admit, I still dont totally trust it yet (neither of us can relax driving it incase it does something) but, those issues aside, and if they dont reappear then its a nice car to drive. i'll confess, I may have been a bit irate on the forum at the time but then, who wouldnt be if a new car arrived and the first thing it tried to do was to fling you in to traffic and scenery at random intervals! hopefully, all sorted now anyway

 

[Phil]

Cannot fault mine after 12 months and 1200kms.

 

[NLMGSAN]

Only 1200?

 

[Corindikev]

Probably add another zero. Possible finger problem.

 

[DLW]

So far so good for us with our MG4 Trophy ER. Only issue in first two months is a bracket that has fallen off the rear parcel shelf - bit of super glue soon sorted that! Love the car and it's a better drive than the electric Peugeot 208 we had before.

 

[DavecUK]

Its not really the software designers that decided this issue, it is to enable the car to conform to NCAP requirements and get 5 stars. Certainly some of the software (LKA) needs to be improved, but the overall spec is not defined by them.

I thought about all this long and hard and I am pretty sure this isn't correct. My reasoning is, I want my car to stay in speed limit mode but it won't. It's a legal requirement for cars in Europe to start in this mode and you have to manually disable it each time.

So that doesn't seem to fit well with your reasoning. I cannot see how a car that remembered certain modes, wouldn't still get a 5 star NCAP rating. Even so, we should have a free choice to choose the mode we wish to default to, rather than how the car comes to meet NCAP ratings.

 

[Dan C]

I had a MG4 SE from launch for a year, I thought I’m a modern thinking guy and Chinese cars seemed comparable to European ones, oh how wrong was I.

Now don’t get me wrong my MG4 was a lovely car to drive, but that was its only positive; it had so many niggles, the software just beyond bad and not fit for purpose, and there was lots of unrefinement - my AC compressor sounded awful for example.

Also the fact that MG were reluctant to rectify genuine quality issues such as the undertray warped and my taillights condensation due to manufacturing micro cracks just shows what sort of company they are.

I “downgraded” to a E-golf and although it doesn’t drive as well ( FWD, ICE chassis with EV batteries shoehorned wherever ) and has a smaller battery, those are the only disadvantages.

Everything else about the E-Golf is better and I mean everything. My software boots instantly and has no bugs at all, you ask the the air conditioning for 22 and you get 22 plus the aircon pump is whisper silent, plus lots of other things that just work on the Golf.

I would never have another MG, nor another Chinese branded car as MG have burnt that bridge, which is a shame. I’m not opposed to cars built in China though - such as the newer Tesla model 3 which will realistically be my next EV.

 

[tsedge]

I thought about all this long and hard and I am pretty sure this isn't correct. My reasoning is, I want my car to stay in speed limit mode but it won't. It's a legal requirement for cars in Europe to start in this mode and you have to manually disable it each time.

So that doesn't seem to fit well with your reasoning. I cannot see how a car that remembered certain modes, wouldn't still get a 5 star NCAP rating. Even so, we should have a free choice to choose the mode we wish to default to, rather than how the car comes to meet NCAP ratings.

Driver profiles are indeed allowed and nothing to stop the car asking who is driving on startup (after defaulting to all assistance systems on). I believe you might at most need to make it a two-step process, (eg confirm) but that would be pretty unobtrusive.

Knowing how easy this is to code, I am baffled why MG didn't include it.

 

[NLMGSAN]

Driver profiles are indeed allowed and nothing to stop the car asking who is driving on startup (after defaulting to all assistance systems on). I believe you might at most need to make it a two-step process, (eg confirm) but that would be pretty unobtrusive.

Knowing how easy this is to code, I am baffled why MG didn't include it.

Costs.

 

[tsedge]

Costs.

Outweighed by repeat business from happier customers.

 

[NLMGSAN]

Outweighed by repeat business from happier customers.

True. Short term economic gains (= current sales) are clearly more important.

On the other hand, there is a complex of business models between us and SAIC China. On the continent, there is SAIC Motor Europe. Underneath you have MG Europe, as a top level MG company,. Then you have separate companies like MG Nordic and BENELUX with their own business goals, and management. further down,you have the national dealership and finally, your local dealer. Each of them are a customer of the former. Some local dealers may be part of a network of local dealers belonging to the national dealership, some are not.

MG UK seems to operate at the level of MG Europe but with a different operational and financial relation to SAIC then MG Europe (SAIC Motor Europa is situated in Amsterdam btw..)

Here, the local dealers are subject to most likely multiple limiting sets of business agreements with the higher level organisation. Customer relations however are right there at the local dealer. If the national dealers buy services from one level up that hurts customer relations, there is nothing the local dealer can do to change this. In fact, the problem may actually be all the way up at MG Europe ...
It's like the manager of my local dealer said: "I can give you new rims and tyres. But I cannot force a fix for the software issues."

 

[Rolfe]

I keep hearing MG won't give (or indeed sell) upgrades to existing cars, like OPD or even the latest infotainment software, because they want us to buy a new car instead. I can't get my head round this as a business strategy. If someone decides to change their car, nine times out of ten they'll go off and look at all options, and maybe switch to a competitor. All the more so if the customer feels poorly treated. Whereas they have a captive market right there if they want to offer paid-for upgrades like OPD on older cars. Seems to work for Tesla.

 

[NLMGSAN]

I keep hearing MG won't give (or indeed sell) upgrades to existing cars, like OPD or even the latest infotainment software, because they want us to buy a new car instead. I can't get my head round this as a business strategy. If someone decides to change their car, nine times out of ten they'll go off and look at all options, and maybe switch to a competitor. All the more so if the customer feels poorly treated. Whereas they have a captive market right there if they want to offer paid-for upgrades like OPD on older cars. Seems to work for Tesla.

Not just Tesla. Same for KIA and Hyundai. At least here it is...
Nevertheless, baseline pricing all features considered, the MG price is low. Same set of features on a KIA will cost you when buying.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh sure, it's still good value. But I think they're missing a trick. I don't particularly want OPD, for example, but if they were to offer it as a paid-for enhancement I might well consider it. Also, it's like pulling back teeth to get an infotainment software update. The policy seem to be, think of a reason to complain about what you've got and maybe we'll give it to you, otherwise you can't have it. The option of charging for these updates in the future might be viable. For example, I want R33 free a it definitely fixes things I've been complaining about since day 1. But after that, if they produce another update that's just a nicer, more convenient layout, why not sell it to people?