Setting up MG4

[KH11]

Is it just the MG4 that you have to set up every time you get in the car for a journey or are other electric car brands the same? I just jump in my current car start it up off we go.

 

[FiferMG4]

Is it just the MG4 that you have to set up every time you get in the car for a journey or are other electric car brands the same? I just jump in my current car start it up off we go.

In my MG4, I just sit down, press my foot on the brake which puts it into Ready mode, twist the rotary dial to the Drive position and then go. No setting up as I just leave it in Normal with maximum regen.

 

[KH11]

Does the maximum regen stay set or do you have to set it for every journey?

 

[FiferMG4]

Does the maximum regen stay set or do you have to set it for every journey?

That’s the default setting along with the normal drive mode, which I’m comfortable using. I think for longer journeys with mixed roads and motorways, I’ll set it to adaptive regen.

 

[IanMK]

I am used to driving automatics with little engine braking so find the normal (i.e default 'Strong') setting too strong for a comfortable ride.

 

[KH11]

Thank you. A lot to learn regarding the settings a lot of threads seem to have people saying that they are turning things off and then the next journey they’re back on again. So I was wondering if you have to set the car up for every journey.

I take it then that there are default settings and it is only if you want to change the default settings that you would have to set up for every journey.

 

[siteguru]

Correct. Many of us will turn off Lane Keep Assist as part of our "pre-flight checklist"

 

[IanMK]

I think the aircon may remember your preferred cabin temperature, but I'd have to check

 

[siteguru]

It does ... mine is set to 23C / Auto and it remains like that.

 

[KH11]

Thank you all, just getting my home charger organised currently but it’s good to know things up front. When I do proceed it will be my first electric car and first automatic. So I guess everything will be a bit strange to start with. I know a few people who have gone from manual to automatic and they say they wouldn’t go back.

I am finding this site very helpful and hoping by the time I take the plunge that a lot of the initial issues have been resolved with the later cars. Can’t make my mind up as to go for a 73 plate or wait till the 24 plate yet. I’m keeping a close eye on things in the meantime.

 

[siteguru]

I'd driven automatics before, but the MG4 is my first EV (and the first I'd ever driven). What I like about it is that it reacts like a classic automatic in that it creeps on "idle", whereas some other EVs are 1-pedal driving so lifting off the throttle brings you to a complete stop.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Correct. Many of us will turn off Lane Keep Assist as part of our "pre-flight checklist"

Or at least dial it back from "Actively trying to kill you" mode (or "Emergency Lane Keeping" as MG call it).

 

[KH11]

Is there a list on the threads of the default settings and which ones that people are altering depending on the journey being made. I have picked up the lane assist one.

 

[richlove]

It would mostly be from the following, if you have a different preference from the default (LKA: On, Driving: Normal, Regen: 3)

• MG Pilot / Lane Keep Assist (LKA) --> Alert or Off
• Driving / Mode --> Eco / Normal / Sport / Custom
• Driving / Regen Level --> 1 / 2 / 3 / Adaptive

Sure there may be some others to add to this

 

[Rolfe]

That's all very interesting as it was on my list of questions for my dealer when I pick my car up tomorrow.

I'm moving from a DSG automatic so driving the MG4 seemed very natural indeed. I remember my test drive on the DSG though! I hadn't intended to buy an automatic but the demo car was a DSG so off I went. It was embarrassing. I kept grabbing for the selector stick doing daft things with it as I tried to change gear unnecessarily. But I liked the car. It took me about three days to realise I wanted the DSG and change the specs I was intending to order. (Maybe the dealer was very shrewd in making his demo car the automatic.) I found it absolutely fantastic and indeed I'd never go back.

I found if I was in a manual gear-shift car my long-ingrained instincts kicked in again and I changed gear without thinking about it. The problem came when I got back in my automatic and realised I as back to grabbing at that selector stick!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

That's all very interesting as it was on my list of questions for my dealer when I pick my car up tomorrow.

I'm moving from a DSG automatic so driving the MG4 seemed very natural indeed. I remember my test drive on the DSG though! I hadn't intended to buy an automatic but the demo car was a DSG so off I went. It was embarrassing. I kept grabbing for the selector stick doing daft things with it as I tried to change gear unnecessarily. But I liked the car. It took me about three days to realise I wanted the DSG and change the specs I was intending to order. (Maybe the dealer was very shrewd in making his demo car the automatic.) I found it absolutely fantastic and indeed I'd never go back.

I found if I was in a manual gear-shift car my long-ingrained instincts kicked in again and I changed gear without thinking about it. The problem came when I got back in my automatic and realised I as back to grabbing at that selector stick!

No such problems in the MG. Instead of a selector stick, we get a dial.

 

[bowfer]

I'd driven automatics before, but the MG4 is my first EV (and the first I'd ever driven). What I like about it is that it reacts like a classic automatic in that it creeps on "idle", whereas some other EVs are 1-pedal driving so lifting off the throttle brings you to a complete stop.

I’ve yet to come across an EV that defaults to one-pedal driving, it has to be selected.
TBH the MG seems to be the opposite of other EVs I’ve owned or driven in that it defaults to the heaviest regen setting.
Leaf doesn’t do that, Born doesn’t do that, they default to D and you have to select B ( heaviest regen setting) from there.
And both modes allow creep, you have to select e-pedal (Leaf) or auto-hold (Born) to cancel creep.
IMO the MG default setting is wrong, it should default to the lightest regen setting or ‘adaptive’.
You should have to choose heaviest, bizarre that they default to it.

That's all very interesting as it was on my list of questions for my dealer when I pick my car up tomorrow.

I'm moving from a DSG automatic so driving the MG4 seemed very natural indeed. I remember my test drive on the DSG though! I hadn't intended to buy an automatic but the demo car was a DSG so off I went. It was embarrassing. I kept grabbing for the selector stick doing daft things with it as I tried to change gear unnecessarily. But I liked the car. It took me about three days to realise I wanted the DSG and change the specs I was intending to order. (Maybe the dealer was very shrewd in making his demo car the automatic.) I found it absolutely fantastic and indeed I'd never go back.

I found if I was in a manual gear-shift car my long-ingrained instincts kicked in again and I changed gear without thinking about it. The problem came when I got back in my automatic and realised I as back to grabbing at that selector stick!

God I hated DSG…
‘Distinctly S**t Gearbox’.
Had it on my 2005 S-line Audi A3 because S-line and DSG were a package, had it again in my 2019 Polo GTi as it was what they had in stock.
I hated what became known as ‘DSG delay’ (easily googled) and I hated the auto-change up at high revs (even in manual mode)
Ended up selling the polo back to the dealer after 5 months.
An EV will be a joy after that jerky pile of rubbish.

 

[turntoport]

Bowfer; each to their own, but i disagree on the regen setting: Once you get used to a near-one-pedal driving style, having maximum regen saves energy and, perhaps more importantly, may save a life; while the human shoe-shuffle is going from accelerator to brake, the car is already 'braking' regeneratively, so shaving a metre or few off the total stopping distance; that metre may be an errant three-year-olds head-to-bonnet contact.
Driving 1-p on our honda e on single-carriageway/b/c roads was delightful, why the hell anyone would want to not do that is beyond me. Big roads; yes turn it off. One of the issues many implementations may have, though, is the accelerator response algorithm: a non-linear response with a dead-zone around zero acceleration demand provides a non- kangaroo response and is easy to implement, but it's still early days for ev's yet - and the human element is the hardest bit to satisfy (lol, eh!?)

KH11: of no importance whatsoever, but remember the (current (sorry)) ev's don't have a 'gearbox' in the trad sense, just a single permanently (hopefully) fixed gear and an electric motor that just spins faster for more speed. Hope you enjoy your car; after a million miles stick-shifting, i find nothing enjoyable about the occasional step backwards to the agricultural feel of ice.

 

[tsedge]

AEB is there for life saving, I don't buy the argument that 1-pedal is safer because for maximum braking you still have to shift pedals AND bring your foot significantly up to hit the brakes.

People can get used to 1-pedal but there's nothing intrinsically better about it. With the MG4, it is basically like 1-pedal by default just with a light application of the brakes to stop.

Using a manual gearbox and a clutch is also a perfectly fine option because we have two feet and two hands. Yes EVs are simpler and easier but once used to them, manual transmissions are fine.

 

[KH11]

Bowfer; each to their own, but i disagree on the regen setting: Once you get used to a near-one-pedal driving style, having maximum regen saves energy and, perhaps more importantly, may save a life; while the human shoe-shuffle is going from accelerator to brake, the car is already 'braking' regeneratively, so shaving a metre or few off the total stopping distance; that metre may be an errant three-year-olds head-to-bonnet contact.
Driving 1-p on our honda e on single-carriageway/b/c roads was delightful, why the hell anyone would want to not do that is beyond me. Big roads; yes turn it off. One of the issues many implementations may have, though, is the accelerator response algorithm: a non-linear response with a dead-zone around zero acceleration demand provides a non- kangaroo response and is easy to implement, but it's still early days for ev's yet - and the human element is the hardest bit to satisfy (lol, eh!?)

KH11: of no importance whatsoever, but remember the (current (sorry)) ev's don't have a 'gearbox' in the trad sense, just a single permanently (hopefully) fixed gear and an electric motor that just spins faster for more speed. Hope you enjoy your car; after a million miles stick-shifting, i find nothing enjoyable about the occasional step backwards to the agricultural feel of ice.

Thanks turntoport,

Got an install date on my Zappi charger so getting a step closer.