Poor range on used Trophys - Problem?

I'm going to be viewing some used Trophys in the next couple of days. I noticed on Autotrader that there seems to be some crazy deviation between the ranges on cars. Some are reporting 250+ plus, but others are scraping the barrel at well under sub 200. I've popped a couple of examples below of cars showing awful range, they're all 64kWh models.

Is there a reason they'd be like this, or is it likely there's a problem with them? I'm not sure whether to avoid them or not.

There are a few things to consider here. Firstly, the state of charge indicator is not perfectly linear with respect to the mileage estimate, so you always have more range than you would expect from simply multiplying up a partially charged car.

Another is the time of year. In cold temperatures the range will go down, and although that should affect all cars in the same place more or less equally it's worth condsidering. All cars will give more range in summer.

Most important is the driving patterns the car has seen. The car is estimating future range based on the power consumption pattern over its last oh I dunno 50 to 100 miles, something like that. So if the last drive was a long cruise to the dealer on not-very-fast roads on a warm day you'll see a lot more miles showing than on a car which was recently driven on a series of short evening or night-time hops in colder temperatures with the heater running.

The dealer should be able to provide you with a certificate of the battery's state of health, and that's what you should go by when deciding. I'd take a fair old bet that if each of these cars was subjected to exactly the same drive at the same time of day by the same driver for its next 100 miles, they'd all be showing the same.

Thank you very much. If a used dealer can't or won't provide a certificate of battery health, do you think that would be a strong enough reason to walk away? I assume it involves them taking it to MG to get plugged in?

A non MG dealer can access this information.

Just need an OBD dongle then and an app?

This is a screen shot from Car Scanner app of my MG5

In the UK if you're buying from a non MG dealer be aware that the first service is due at 12 months or 15000 miles not 24 months as someone was told.

Only approved MG dealers can update the software and if you want to keep the breakdown cover and warranty then it must also be serviced at an MG dealer.

bobbarley said:

Thank you very much. If a used dealer can't or won't provide a certificate of battery health, do you think that would be a strong enough reason to walk away? I assume it involves them taking it to MG to get plugged in?

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My opinion FWIW is that the batteries on EV's are designed to last 10 years and even more. It would be extremely difficult to damage or degrade the battery to any noticable degree in a short time. The figures you are seeing are swayed by the cars being driven for very short distances and probably in a non normal way. I would be sure that if any of these cars were driven normally and for normal travel needs they would very quickly show the kind of range which would be considered normal. My opinion.

Some of the dealers will have reset the GOM and those showing a low value won't have done the reset.

In my experience the dealers don't reset the GOM intentionally - it happens automatically when software updates are done.

Ian Key said:

In the UK if you're buying from a non MG dealer be aware that the first service is due at 12 months or 15000 miles not 24 months as someone was told.

Only approved MG dealers can update the software and if you want to keep the breakdown cover and warranty then it must also be serviced at an MG dealer.

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AIUI you can have the vehicle serviced at any independent VAT registered garage and not void the warranty. The exception to this could be if you've bought an extended warranty, which may include a condition that you have the vehicle serviced at a nominated dealer.

spr97ajm said:

AIUI you can have the vehicle serviced at any independent VAT registered garage and not void the warranty. The exception to this could be if you've bought an extended warranty, which may include a condition that you have the vehicle serviced at a nominated dealer.

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But they probably won't be able to do any software updates as they don't usually have access to the MG server(s) to download them from, also if you have the car serviced at an MG dealer you should get the MG assist renewed (AA here in the UK) for another year.

Our LR Trophy is second-hand (not very old, admittedly) - and right now, we're getting around 220 miles from a 100% charge. Our driving is mostly short (sub-20 mile) trips on rural roads, with the occasional longer trip thrown in. When temperatures were a bit colder (around 4°), we were seeing 196-200 miles from a full charge, so around 2 miles per percentage point of charge, which looks to be consistent with both of the screenshots you've posted in the OP. Still more than enough for most trips we care to make without charging.

The important point to bear in mind is that this is a seasonal effect and the range will recover in the warmer weather, not battery degradation.

Carrying out the recommended 100% balance charges and the <10% to 100% charge every 3-6 months will also help ensure the range estimate is accurate.

Cheers all, it sounds like nothing to worry about then. I'm looking to buy a 2022 Trophy, they generally seem to have less than 15k on them. So will see what I end up with!

Someone is going to have to have tried really really hard to do any significant harm to a battery that's less than two years old. They seem to be a lot more resilient than they have often been given credit for. Euan McTurk is talking about a conservative 300,000 miles on a modern battery.

spr97ajm said:

AIUI you can have the vehicle serviced at any independent VAT registered garage and not void the warranty. The exception to this could be if you've bought an extended warranty, which may include a condition that you have the vehicle serviced at a nominated dealer.

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Isn't the condition that MG dealer must service it every 15k or every year to have valid MG warranty? I'm about to buy second hand ZS and pondering about it as only 30k service was recorded... What is covered after 3 years, someone said only battery and motor...?

No, it's illegal to insist on dealer service to continue the warranty. I think you need to ask in the ZS forum what is and isn't covered after 3 years on that car though.

Who are you buying the car from? Do you have some sort of warranty from them?

Rolfe said:

No, it's illegal to insist on dealer service to continue the warranty. I think you need to ask in the ZS forum what is and isn't covered after 3 years on that car though.

Who are you buying the car from? Do you have some sort of warranty from them?

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Most likely to buy from Car Giant, massive dealership, they do have their own warranty deals but pricey at about £400 per year...

p.s. and the battery is not covered !

Depends on what's covered I suppose but it seems unlikely you'd spend that.