Looking at buying MG4 Trophy. Advice please

[SteveHi]

Hi all.

I’m new to the forum, so in advance thank you for any advice given.

Have been thinking of getting onto the EV driving after months of deliberation. I narrowed it down to the Kia Niro or MG4, and think that the MG4 is favourite.

The model I am looking at buying is the MG4 Trophy long range and getting Ohm charger fitted at home. Budget around £13.5 to 14K and 23 reg ?

I have test driven a couple of the MG4s and very impressed. I have read several posts on the forum, and from what I gather it is advised to avoid any older models (22 reg) due to early snags. I had a few things I wanted to ask:-

• I don’t really want to buy a car that has a lot of issues / problems not covered by the 7 yr warranty. Has anybody experienced this ?
• I had service costs from my local MG dealer and seem expensive (yr 4 £320) (yr 5 £360). Could I get done at independent garage and still retain warranty ? I always thought that ev car servicing was supposed to be cheaper !
• I have read that improvements are made to car through software updates. Can they be done on service or MG dealer for free, or not too important?
• Only doing approximately 6K miles a year, for local work and school runs, etc. With this, will the car be economical and heard there was a low mileage service available, but can’t find much info on this.

I just wants to buy a car that is quite cheap to run, reliable and not issue after issue. I know every car is different, but wondered if there is anything I need to be aware of before jumping in !

Thank you for any advice.

 

[gary333]

I’d recommend the Ioniq 38 over the MG4 for such low mileage personally. The Ioniq has proven a very reliable car and one of the most efficient EV’s made. It also has bigger boot, better access and an all around much airier feel inside. The driver aids are far superior too. Everything apart from charging speed and acceleration IMO is beaten by the Ioniq. The MG4 has better handling, but this comes at the expensive of having a more fidgety harder ride, so that’s personal preference.

 

[SteveHi]

Thank you for your reply. I will look into the Hyundai.

TBH, I do prefer the exterior and minimalistic interior look with the MG4 Trophy. It was just the reliably I was concerned about. Don’t know if all ev cars can have issues, or just pot luck ?
I’m just worried that I will get in the car one morning to go to work and there will be no response due to an error / malfunction / software issue, or is this something that is very unlikely to happen. Just very new to ev’s as always had petrol or diesel cars.

Prob looking into it too much, but just want to buy the right car and enjoy it.

 

[salty]

Yep, possibly overthinking it a bit. I you like the MG4 then get it. That's the trouble with asking folk there opinions of a particular car. If they've had a bad experience, they'll slate it. If they've had a good experience they'll praise it. So it's really down to you.
My personal view is, if I'd listened to the bad reports of the MG4/X Power I wouldn't have bought it. I didn't and made my own mind up, and after 18 months, it's been brilliant and still enjoying it. Good luck.

 

[slmorgan42]

I have an MG4 Trophy LR it is my second EV. I had an MG5 Trophy before.

I love the car and would recommend it for sure. I do about the same mileage as you which includes regular trips to France to visit family.

I am one of the few EV owners who live in a London flat so rely 100% on public charging. So with the millage and range of the car means I charge to 80% once a week and that covers me. I am lucky my borough has plenty of lamppost chargers for over night charging.

Software update seems to be a hit and miss depending on dealer and what you say. If you were buying from a dealer like I did I would insist on all updates being done. If not some people have had luck getting it done free by reporting multiple issues with the car that it fixes.

 

[slmorgan42]

PS as for services I signed up for a 3 year fixed plan which worked out way cheaper than pay as you go.

 

[SteveHi]

Thank you again for your replies.

I have looked into the MG4 for several months an as mentioned test driven a couple, and very impressed. When buying previous petrol and diesel cars, I haven’t even really looked them that much. Think it’s because it is an ev. It’s just the 7 year warranty (items not covered), service costs, and high cost repairs that concern me.

Would I need a specialist ev car mechanic to deal with any issues, or do most garages look at them now ? My local MG dealer is £120 per hour, so very expensive I reckon ! Just wanted to make sure car is running the best it can via software updates, but unsure if MG have to do them or if independent garage can.

Looking forward to getting on the ev journey.

 

[SteveHi]

PS as for services I signed up for a 3 year fixed plan which worked out way cheaper than pay as you go.

Where did you sign up for 3 year plan ? MG online or locally ?

 

[siteguru]

Where did you sign up for 3 year plan ? MG online or locally ?

You can do it either way - your choice. If you do it online via MG then you need to select a primary service agent anyway. (But the service plan remains active, and can be transferred to another agent, if that primary agent goes bust or leaves the MG franchise).

PS - you jumped the gun when setting up your forum profile; you don't have an MG4 yet. Or is that a sign that you've actually made up your mind and just wanted reassurance?

 

[SteveHi]

I did look at the MG online service prices and slightly cheaper having a 3 year plan. Still more expensive than I expected and might pursue local garages to see if they do plans at better price. Does seem a lot of money for what work is done.

If buying a 3 year old model (23 reg), should I request a battery health report to make sure the previous owner hasn’t overcharged and hammered the battery ? I was going to try to stick to the 20/80 changing to maintain battery health.

Yep, sorry I may have jumped the gun…! I didn’t see the option for potentially buying the MG4, just already owning one ! Think I’ve made my mind up though .

 

[siteguru]

A couple of observations:

(1) When buying your car, make sure that you get in writing that it has been serviced per the MG schedule otherwise the warranty may well be void. (Maybe not a huge issue for most cases, but if anything happened with the battery or motors you'd absolutely want that warranty intact).

(2) If you don't get the car serviced within the MG dealer network then you're risking the warranty - I know EU legislation mandated that you could get your car serviced anywhere as long as it was done according to the manufacturer's schedule, but proving this if an issue did occur could lead to a world of hurt. One bonus of getting the service done via MG is that MG Assist (basically the full bhoona AA car-level cover) gets renewed for the following year .. an equivalent value of over £100.

PS - the forum option if you don't have an MG is, unsurprisingly, Not an MG.

 

[ReintjeWA]

I bought my Essence 64 (Australian equivalent tot the Trophy LR) after visiting the dentist. My ICE car wanted oil all of a sudden and I didn’t want to wait for more gremlins to show up. MG had a cracker deal on so we left having signed up for an MG4.

If I had the chance I would’ve maybe gone for the ER, but that said the LR suits my needs just fine. And for my first EV I think I did pretty good. It is probably the best handling daily driver I’ve owned. The software is a little bleh, but first world problems to be honest. Colleagues at work all love the car, so perhaps I’m being overly critical.

In terms of buying a lemon or not, you won’t know until you own it really… the biggest downside I can see from what I read here on the forum is that you risk having to deal with a sub standard dealership, but I don’t think the MG4 suffers from breakdowns more than other cars do. Knock on wood I’ve had no issues in the 18 months I’ve owned the car, except for the under tray bulge which was remedied for free.

I think the biggest thing with coming over the EVs is get one you like, and then just enjoy it. New EVs constantly come to market and they will all have one thing or another that’s better than what you have currently, but comparison is the thief of joy.

If you have your eye on any specific cars feel free to post the link to them, we all love having a peek!

 

[SteveHi]

Ok thank you for your advice again.

I will check with the relevant dealer that it has been serviced within the required period and mileage, etc. I will also take your advice and look at getting it serviced at MG. Just guts me that they charge £120 per hour for not a lot, just to keep the warranty active.

Was told by the MG dealer when looking at the cars that evs were cheap to service, but perhaps not ! Was thinking it would be more like £200 and not £350 for years 4 and 5.

Should I change my MG4 option in the my profile, or leave it ? All being well, not too far away from buying one !

 

[SteveHi]

Great to hear that you haven’t had any major issues. Fingers crossed I drop on a similar model here in the UK. The two test drives I have had have really impressed me.

Yes, will try to share when see any I am looking at. Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated. May be a couple of months though as need to hand my current petrol car back first.

 

[MG Clive]

Should I change my MG4 option in the my profile, or leave it ? All being well, not too far away from buying one !

It only takes a couple of seconds to change it, but it's not a hanging offence if leave it as it is before you buy one. Good luck with the search for your MG4.

 

[SteveHi]

Just changed it. Easy peasy !

Will change to MG4 when I get one . Very helpful advice and much appreciated.