We've ordered the lot!

[JohnInFrance]

Following the disappointing news we recieved this week from our MG dealer that our ZS is STILL at least 8 months away (giving us nearly a year's lead time) we decided to look at what other EVs were in stock in France that we 'somewhere near' our budget but available for immediate delivery. The list was, sadly, pretty dismal consisting of:

• Varying Skoda Enyaq IVs in peasant spec
• A quite nice, but very expensive Enyaq IV is RS Sportline spec (this is still on the 'sod it, let's just buy it and hang the cash list')
• Varying specs of Kia e-Niro (boot too small to justify the €11k uplift over the ZS)
• Some insanely expensive (> €113,000.00) Audi e-Trons
• A few disgustingly ugly and insanely expensive big BMWs (and a couple of fugy i3s)
• 18 overpriced and under-specc'd Opel (Vauxhall) Mokkas
• A couple of Peugeot e-2008s
• Lots of over-priced Renault Zöes
• and some Peugeot/Citroen vans of varying flavours

We did look at the Tesla Model 3 with the same 'hang the cash, just do it' mentality that we have applied to the Enyaq Sportline, but earliest delivery is showing as November, so that got benched too.

The bottom line is, unless one is willing to spend upwards of 80k euros there is virtually nothing available that can meet the specs of the varying MG products - they truly are great value for money, especially with the warranty. So, although we're still undecided on the expensive Enyaq, we've decided that really there is little option other than to wait, so to cover our bases we've ordered the lot! We popped up to the MG dealer and amended our order for the ZS to also include an MG5 and a Marvel R with the premise that we'll accept whichever one will arrive first and cancel the remaining two - if nothing else it'll make the next eight month wait a little more interesting .......

 

[Lovemyev]

Following the disappointing news we recieved this week from our MG dealer that our ZS is STILL at least 8 months away (giving us nearly a year's lead time) we decided to look at what other EVs were in stock in France that we 'somewhere near' our budget but available for immediate delivery. The list was, sadly, pretty dismal consisting of:

• Varying Skoda Enyaq IVs in peasant spec
• A quite nice, but very expensive Enyaq IV is RS Sportline spec (this is still on the 'sod it, let's just buy it and hang the cash list')
• Varying specs of Kia e-Niro (boot too small to justify the €11k uplift over the ZS)
• Some insanely expensive (> €113,000.00) Audi e-Trons
• A few disgustingly ugly and insanely expensive big BMWs (and a couple of fugy i3s)
• 18 overpriced and under-specc'd Opel (Vauxhall) Mokkas
• A couple of Peugeot e-2008s
• Lots of over-priced Renault Zöes
• and some Peugeot/Citroen vans of varying flavours

We did look at the Tesla Model 3 with the same 'hang the cash, just do it' mentality that we have applied to the Enyaq Sportline, but earliest delivery is showing as November, so that got benched too.

The bottom line is, unless one is willing to spend upwards of 80k euros there is virtually nothing available that can meet the specs of the varying MG products - they truly are great value for money, especially with the warranty. So, although we're still undecided on the expensive Enyaq, we've decided that really there is little option other than to wait, so to cover our bases we've ordered the lot! We popped up to the MG dealer and amended our order for the ZS to also include an MG5 and a Marcel R with the premise that we'll accept whichever one will arrive first and cancel the remaining two - if nothing else it'll make the next eight month wait a little more interesting .......

Going for it ??

 

[Les burrows]

Hi JohninFrance, just read your post and what a very good idea to order the way you have and give yourself the best chance of getting what you want.
Much the same here in the UK with lots of dealers guessing in my opinion as to when the can deliver all most anything that’s at a reasonable price point with nothing certain.
Just one point as your in France LHD country of course, there is to be quite a few new makes and models to be coming to Europe in the foreseeable future. One of which is BYD and some of thier models are on sale now in Norway with others manufacturers to come to Norway very soon they to are LHD so a good outlook for Europe and LHD vehicles or I don’t know import from Norway perhaps.
Take a look at a video I have just posted from the Electric Viking about this I have titled this video ( going on said today in Australia $44995=£2400) give it a watch
Les.

 

[JohnInFrance]

.... import from Norway perhaps.

This is all reliant on the French government's version of the plug-in grant and it's well worth having (currently €6k for all EVs under €45k, per car, not per person), but it's only available for cars purchased in France from a French main dealer, so the import option is not viable (also, there is no dealer/service infrastructure yet, so in the event of any issues taking it back to Norway is not really an option).

 

[Les burrows]

Hi yeh I understand best you can hope for is BYD and others start to import into France as well as Norway also what a great great plug in grant you have there, the UK had something similar for a couple of years but it is slowly being removed year on year now only £1500 next drop could be zero for us I think.
Les

 

[JohnInFrance]

So the situation moved on a little again yesterday.

We test drove the Enyaq IV is RS Sportline spec for the day and it is a very, very good car. The finish in the cabin really is quite premium but it is lacking some things that I feel really should be included on a car that price (for example, electric seats, automatic tailgate). It's also very slow - reminds me of a 1970's Cadillac with its stately type of progress. It did have wireless Android Auto though which very, very nearly swayed my decision ;-)

That said, despite the fact that it's in stock (we saw the actual vehicle, still covered in shipping plastic and protection) and could be on our drive by my birthday (next Monday), it really is too much money for not enough other than dealing with our impatience, so the Skoda now been benched also.

So we stopped at our MG dealer on the way back to give them the good news and ended up ordering yet another option, a ZS LR Luxury as their system is showing 4 month delivery dates for them (our original ZS was the SR and they are still showing 8 months). So we now have on order a:

ZS Luxury SR Black
ZS Luxury LR Black
MG5 Luxury LR Black
Marvel R Luxury (2wd) Black

All with the premise that we'll accept whichever turns up first and cancel the rest.

However, just to throw the cat among the pigeons, we also walked away with first refusal on their two current demonstrator cars, a red ZS Luxury LR and a grey Marvel R Luxury 2wd. Both of which will be sub 6 months old/5,000 kms so still applicable for the government EV grant. Likely as not both will be available in the next 2 months. We get the Marvel R for the weekend next Friday, so looking forward to giving that a proper test.

I feel that we have come away with a great set of options and am now happier to wait a little longer to see what we end up with.

 

[Shrink Proof]

Following the disappointing news we recieved this week from our MG dealer that our ZS is STILL at least 8 months away (giving us nearly a year's lead time) we decided to look at what other EVs were in stock in France that we 'somewhere near' our budget but available for immediate delivery. The list was, sadly, pretty dismal consisting of:

• Varying Skoda Enyaq IVs in peasant spec

When you are considering the price of a Skoda, remember to factor in the extra cost of a psychiatrist too...

 

[Tall Paul]

were i buying something in the 45 k price range , id go for one of the koreans ahead of the Enyaq , found the Enyaq quite dull though perfectly functional on every level

 

[JohnInFrance]

were i buying something in the 45 k price range , id go for one of the koreans ahead of the Enyaq , found the Enyaq quite dull though perfectly functional on every level

The Korean options were all too small, the trunk has to be big enough to get our dog into and they were not big enough for her to stand up in - it was simple to discount them simply on that.

Additionally, this was a search purely on 'in stock' vehicles, ready to be registered and on my drive next week - there is little choice with such criteria.