Living with my new long range Zs Ev Trophy

Delboy102000

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Location
St Leonards on Sea England
Driving
MG HS PHEV
Now having had the new car 9 days overall the verdict is good.but with flaws.

Firstly Chorley Group, did me a fantastic deal And this meant that I had the car trailer delivered and my previous part ex picked up saving me a six hundred mile return drive
Car was beautifully prepared and all correct as per my order

All good but in spite of updates now being over the air onboard the car, a major software update for the infotainment system, has to be dealer installed and was missed, meaning I now have to spend a half day going to a dealer to get it done.

Things I like:
Sound system has much improved sound with nice tone and depth of sound. Command inputs are cleaner faster and smoother with less delays and jerkiness.

Better miles per K/watt currently doing about 3.4/3.5.

Improved ride with better bump damping and much quieter all round.
Steering is nicer, higher geared and has more feel.
Torque seems to come through more smoothly and in a very linear curve giving rise to a beautiful smooth drive. So quiet, it whispers along.
The Battersea Blue is fantastic.
Rear seat much improved with three headrests and Centre armrest and directable air vents.

Love the App, turning on the heating in the morning before going into the car, also monitoring what is going on.

Things I don’t like:
App is very difficult to link to the car and not straightforward by any stretch of the imagination. Once set up and mastered it is fine
Manuals for car and Infotainment amount to over 400 pages. No hard copy online only and really difficult to find and read what you want. Also could not find out how to PDF download to print. Simple print online does not allow configuration of print. This is the worst thing about the car. It is a sophisticated upgrade to the previous model and is really difficult to work with.
Mg have decided arbitrarily to remove wma and jpg support from the car unit. This means my usb’s which have played perfectly on all cars I have owned no longer play and I will need to reorganise my library converting to MP3 files. However no information re this and a backward step overall.
Perhaps more important and needing change, the heating and ventilation menu , the only place you can turn on and off the AC and the heated seats, is buried three menus deep, requiring you to stop to do it or having a passenger in the front to do it.
This I believe is a serious issue which could be dangerous. It needs rethinking and re-programming.

On a separate note , not sure whether this is car specific or general, I keep finding I have to use the emergency release to stop charging when I unlock the car. Any advice re this gratefully received.

Overall though, love the car. It’s terrific.
 
You can get to the AC controls directly by pressing the button underneath the screen.

Agree about the manual, although it's not a massive deal for me a printed copy would be nice. Or at least the ability to search in the one built into the infotainment system.

On the charging front I'm guessing you're pressing the finish charge in the battery menu? If it's not had a full charge on mine I have to finish the charge either through that or in the app before the cable releases. If not that's a bit concerning.
 
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You can get to the AC controls directly by pressing the button underneath the screen.

Agree about the manual, although it's not a massive deal for me a printed copy would be nice. Or at least the ability to search in the one built into the infotainment system.
Not on mine you can’t. You can change fan speed and temp but not air on and seat heaters. There is no direct link to full menu that I have found.
 
You can get to the AC controls directly by pressing the button underneath the screen.

Agree about the manual, although it's not a massive deal for me a printed copy would be nice. Or at least the ability to search in the one built into the infotainment system.

On the charging front I'm guessing you're pressing the finish charge in the battery menu? If it's not hot a full charge on mine I have to finish the charge either through that or in the app before the cable releases. If not that's a bit concerning.
Thanks, on previous one you only had to unlock via the handset to release. That’s another improvement which isn’t really then. Of course had I been able to read a proper manual I might have known that. Why is it that every so called improvement becomes another trap to fall into.
 
Regarding the manual: If you don't already have it, get chrome, In chrome go to the NEW MG ZS manual. You should have the manual open. Download it via the following download icon:
1644693975410.png

Use a PDF viewing software such as Adobe Acrobat DC to open the downloaded PDF
In adobe acrobat, thinks such as searching for items is better in my experience than using Ctrl + G in the chrome viewer. Printing also had a lot more options (but i hope you have a laser printer and a stupid amount of paper lying around if you do):
1644694412447.png
 
Thanks, looks like I’ve been a silly old fool then. However I have been really pissed off about the manual. Pretty stupid move in my honest opinion. When you get a new car you don’t want to spend your time working out how to access the instructions.
I think it's stingy not to include a physical copy. If you're sitting there trying to figure out operations, you should be able to have a copy in one hand whilst going through the relevant screens.

Other than that though, hope you're enjoying the car.
 
Did you experience any issues with fast charging (50kw+)?
In truth I have not yet done any fast charging. Only charged on my own 7kw wall box.

That brings me to another question. The car more or less recommends charging only to 80% to preserve battery life, except when on long distance, which obviously does away with equalisation charge. I thought not doing equalisation was as bad for the battery as too many rapid charges. Also when do you use battery heating, if ever. As I say I love the car but the lack of handbook has been an enjoyment limitation for me. Part of the fun of a new car has always been sitting in bed reading the handbook, and you cannot flip through a PDF on an iPhone like you can a book.
 
Regarding the manual: If you don't already have it, get chrome, In chrome go to the NEW MG ZS manual. You should have the manual open. Download it via the following download icon:
View attachment 6926
Use a PDF viewing software such as Adobe Acrobat DC to open the downloaded PDF
In adobe acrobat, thinks such as searching for items is better in my experience than using Ctrl + G in the chrome viewer. Printing also had a lot more options (but i hope you have a laser printer and a stupid amount of paper lying around if you do):
View attachment 6928
Thanks something to read while we all wait for our delivery's.
 
You could get it printed in to a book a qwick search I found £20 Here
View attachment 6936

May help someone?
That’s really kind of you. I may well get it done. There is also the infotainment book as well. So will probably be about £25 in total. I still cannot believe MG think this deprivation of books is a good idea on a £30k purchase
 
In truth I have not yet done any fast charging. Only charged on my own 7kw wall box.

That brings me to another question. The car more or less recommends charging only to 80% to preserve battery life, except when on long distance, which obviously does away with equalisation charge. I thought not doing equalisation was as bad for the battery as too many rapid charges. Also when do you use battery heating, if ever. As I say I love the car but the lack of handbook has been an enjoyment limitation for me. Part of the fun of a new car has always been sitting in bed reading the handbook, and you cannot flip through a PDF on an iPhone like you can a book.
Use a tablet like an iPad to ready the manual instead of a phone which is tiny. Then it would feel like a book.
 
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