First long distance trip. Report

[Ejaydee]

We will be on our first longer trip tomorrow in the MG4 on our annual 'Santa run", from Penzance to Swindon to my daughter's place, so I was interested to see your thread.

Well we did the trip with no real surprises. We started with 100% battery charge, then stopped at Exeter which is almost half distance for lunch (at half battery). I was very surprised that only a few of the Gridserve chargers were occupied at midday, plugged in and learnt a lesson very quickly.

When I plugged into the first charger, I got the message that the charge had failed, so moved to the next charger, which also came up with the same message! I spoke with the chap in a Kia that was alongside me, musing whether the issue was being caused by the fact that usually I have the car on scheduled charging at home (for cheap rate). He said he had done exactly the same thing the week before, so of course when I reconnected the charger and set the app to charge, the system worked flawlessly! Doh!

That is a good lesson learnt by me, to take the app off scheduled charging when charging from public chargers (not something I do very often). By the time we had visited the loos, walked the dog and grabbed a sandwich, the car was at 98% charge, so we headed off for Swindon. Traffic was much lighter than I had expected, and the journey was completed with no drama.

Sunday morning I connected with a Gridserve Charger in Swindon only a few hundred yards from where my daughter lives, for a topup to 80%, before heading off for home after a lovely roast lunch! We stopped at Exeter again on the way home for the loos and walk for the dog, plugged in and reached 79% before heading home to Penzance, reaching here with 27% still in the battery.

The cruise control was set at 70mph (although the go-go pedal was pressed on several occasions to get past concentrations of vehicles) and I think we averaged around the 3.3m per kWh which I consider to be very good, given the ambient temperature, speed etc. As the first longer journey in the MG4, I have to say I am very impressed with the comfort, quietness and easy drivability of the car. Even the LKA behaved itself, which it does not do in our local lanes and country roads. I have had two Zoe's before the MG (My wife still has a 2021 one) and although both were/are great cars for local and short journey driving, they are not the most comfortable on a longer haul.

If, or when, I was doing the trip again at the same time of year, I am confident it could be easily done from just a couple of charging sessions, i.e. charging up perhaps somewhere near Bristol on the way up, and again in Exeter or Bodmin (Cornwall Services) on the way home.

 

[MG Volcano]

I was caught out with the scheduled charging issue first time as well.
Returned yesterday to Devon, one stop at Worcester Garden Centre which has 10 brand new Mer 150 kW charging points. So quick, there’s hardly time for cake! Dangerous too as we spent £86 in the garden centre on stuff we didn’t really need…. But highly recommend the Blue Diamond chain for charging.
Car set at 70mph, hardly touched the pedals. And it even follows a full 90 degree, sweeping turn from one motorway to another. Very impressive. Did have emergency lane assist off.
3.1m/kWh for us.

 

[lsb777]

First long distance trip today from mid-Devon to Sheffield. About 250 miles, 220 of which on motorway.
Points:

• charged once at Droitwich. Pod-point 16 minute charge for £16 for 25 kWh to go from 45% to 80%.
• arrived Sheffield with 27% charge
• used tja for most of the motorway driving

Car stays wonderfully in lane, follows car in front and maintains speed. Virtually no pedal driving. Car very smooth on the bends. Very relaxing.
- only issue is that the safe distance to the vehicle in front is quite large such that other vehicles drop into it, causing the car to slow until the distance is maintained.

Overall, highly satisfactory journey, impressive technology, speedy charging and relaxed on arrival.

Sounds like a mainly successful trip. Which driving mode were you in? I did a 100 mile round-trip on 90% motorways and was in Eco with ACC set to 2 bars and it was easy enough (yes I did have the Xpower vibrate though). If in Eco, you don't get the jerky acceleration after a slow-down and also get better efficiency but still knowing you can accelerate past slow vehicles even in Eco.

Wasn't too keen on TJA personally as it seemed a little nervy and I could feel the slight twitching where it seemed it was really concentrating on staying in the lane, I guess it could help on a much longer journey, but wouldn't want to rely on it too much at this early stage.

 

[MG Volcano]

Was in Normal mode. I’ll have to try eco.
Use tja for the entire motorway section (over 200 miles).
Very relaxing. Held the steering wheel just lightly and let the car do its thing.

 

[Ejaydee]

I did a 100 mile round-trip on 90% motorways and was in Eco

I didn't think to have the car set to Eco on our trip, I just left the drive mode in normal. I wonder if anyone has done a caparison for normal/eco travel to see what savings are made? Not something I have thought about before.

 

[Ejaydee]

Use tja for the entire motorway section (over 200 miles).

I must try that for myself too, I have not used it thus far.

 

[JuziWomble]

I've done 16k basically in Eco .. - Just do - Did it in the Leaf - But then the Leaf had a button for eco and it stayed on .. So its just part of my launch control procedure lol

 

[MG Volcano]

I know i need to read the manual, but does eco mode affect the aircon?

 

[JonnyG]

I know i need to read the manual, but does eco mode affect the aircon?

I think it's the Energy Saving Mode that affects Aircon and other things the most (bottom of menu screen). ECO is more to do with the throttle response AFAIK. It certainly improves my mls/kwh on a long motorway cruise.

Quote from the manual :-

"When the energy saving mode is enabled, the vehicle will operate
on the minimal energy consumption. The power of the
air conditioner is limited. The energy regeneration level
is automatically adjusted and fixed to "strong". When the
energy saving mode is turned off, the energy regeneration
returns to the former-selected level. The energy saving
mode can be turned on and off on the infotainment display"