MG4 Trophy - a week of ownership

[siteguru]

The specs on the original cars (not the MY26 cars) said ~7.9s 0-62 for the SE/Trophy LR, 7.7s for the SE SR, and 6.5s for the Trophy ER.

SE SR was faster than the SE/Trophy LR because of the gearing .. it was noticeably faster 0-30 whereas the LR was faster 30-62, but the difference wasn't recovered completely hence the 0.2s advantage for the SR.

 

[johncolescarr]

The specs on the original cars (not the MY26 cars) said ~7.9s 0-62 for the SE/Trophy LR, 7.7s for the SE SR, and 6.5s for the Trophy ER.

SE SR was faster than the SE/Trophy LR because of the gearing .. it was noticeably faster 0-30 whereas the LR was faster 30-62, but the difference wasn't recovered completely hence the 0.2s advantage for the SR.

This makes a lot of sense. My trophy LR feel slightly slugging on initial launch off (I mean, it’s faster than my previous ICE!) but mid range shove when on motorway is where it’s go it’s real poke.

I think I’d always want just a tad more power, I’m totally happy with the way o keep up with traffic - I frigging love the car!

I did put some new all season conti’s on and they fee a little less precise than the OEM summer tyres but still I love love love this car

 

[siteguru]

This makes a lot of sense. My trophy LR feel slightly slugging on initial launch off (I mean, it’s faster than my previous ICE!) but mid range shove when on motorway is where it’s go it’s real poke.

It was this phenomenon that made Bobby Llewellyn of Fully Charged/Everything Electric think the MG4 had a 2-speed diff gearbox when he first reviewed the car in 2022.

 

[NLMGSAN]

Well, my ER is a rocket if I want it.
I've got this two-lane road with a traffic light. In the outer lane one fat BMW EV (lots of IX3's here), I'm in the other. After the traffic lights, about 300 mtrs, the outer lane is squeezed into the inner lane. Imagine who wants to be first...
At first, I was surprized I 'outqualified' them. But now I pick them out Just for the fun of it. They simply have no idea who they are messing with...

 

[gary333]

Well, my ER is a rocket if I want it.
I've got this two-lane road with a traffic light. In the outer lane one fat BMW EV (lots of IX3's here), I'm in the other. After the traffic lights, about 300 mtrs, the outer lane is squeezed into the inner lane. Imagine who wants to be first...
At first, I was surprized I 'outqualified' them. But now I pick them out Just for the fun of it. They simply have no idea who they are messing with...

Does the ER set off with vigour from
0mph? My Trophy feels like it’s got the handbrake on for first few mph, which is a shame as the car is fast enough once it moves, just feels like it doesn’t want to go.

 

[ReintjeWA]

Does the ER set off with vigour from
0mph? My Trophy feels like it’s got the handbrake on for first few mph, which is a shame as the car is fast enough once it moves, just feels like it doesn’t want to go.

I think they all do this by design, some people like the neck snapping on take off but my guess is most people do not and would call the car uncomfortable for doing that, so I think MG designed the takeoff to be gentle even when you mash the throttle. It would be nice if it changed that behaviour in sports mode so you could choose.

Come to think it, does the car still “lag” when the ESC is turned off? And does the XPower do the same?

 

[salty]

Can't say I've noticed it in the, X Power.

 

[gary333]

I think they all do this by design, some people like the neck snapping on take off but my guess is most people do not and would call the car uncomfortable for doing that, so I think MG designed the takeoff to be gentle even when you mash the throttle. It would be nice if it changed that behaviour in sports mode so you could choose.

Come to think it, does the car still “lag” when the ESC is turned off? And does the XPower do the same?

Well it’s a simple solution for the dumb dumbs, don’t floor it. The accelerator is a way of modulating.

 

[Macadoodle]

I think they all do this by design, some people like the neck snapping on take off but my guess is most people do not and would call the car uncomfortable for doing that, so I think MG designed the takeoff to be gentle even when you mash the throttle. It would be nice if it changed that behaviour in sports mode so you could choose.

Come to think it, does the car still “lag” when the ESC is turned off? And does the XPower do the same?

Could be partly for customer experience but I think it's mostly to save them from having to build a stronger reduction 'box.
First gen Hyundai Kona / Kia e niro allowed around 300 lbft of torque from the off IIRC, great tyre spinning fun but the tranny fell apart within a couple of years in many cases.

So you either beef it up with wider gears and bigger bearings or reduce the torque from standstill by a third, one costs nothing so that's what they chose of course. Although I think they made some gearbox and motor improvements too.

If you watch one of the many youtube vids where someone has taken apart a Tesla large drive unit the difference in gear width and bearing size when compared with an 'average' EV is comical.

 

[johncolescarr]

Seems like my comment on power has sparked a conversation on the power or lack of, on the LR models. I just wanted to clarify that there is plenty of power and acceleration for all practical purposes. I am far more confident nipping into spaces that I would never attempted in my old ICE cars. That ER motor output I’m sure is super fun but I wouldn’t want potential buyers to think the LR or SR models are underpowered as they’re really not! I have never driven an ER but I know they command a price premium.

The thing about flooring it is that it eats range too, if I’m driving hard I can easily pull the consumption down to 2mi/kw so I tend to drive sensibly, especially when on a run

 

[salty]

The accelerator is a way of modulating.

So that's what it's, for.

 

[Macadoodle]

Seems like my comment on power has sparked a conversation on the power or lack of, on the LR models. I just wanted to clarify that there is plenty of power and acceleration for all practical purposes. I am far more confident nipping into spaces that I would never attempted in my old ICE cars.

True, even my lowly SE is peppy enough in most circumstances. It's really just when an overtaking opportunity presents itself on a 2 lane road that I sometimes wish I was pedalling an x power instead, the time exposed to danger can turn out to be longer than anticipated.
Never really an issue on 4 lane roads but there's few of them in these parts, only around Inverness.

The VW APP550 motor as fitted to their hotter models would be ideal IMO, 320 horses and 400 lb ft, yum yum. Probably need wider tyres mind

 

[Joules]

Well, my ER is a rocket if I want it.
I've got this two-lane road with a traffic light. In the outer lane one fat BMW EV (lots of IX3's here), I'm in the other. After the traffic lights, about 300 mtrs, the outer lane is squeezed into the inner lane. Imagine who wants to be first...
At first, I was surprized I 'outqualified' them. But now I pick them out Just for the fun of it. They simply have no idea who they are messing with...

There is a similar set up in Dumfries, two lanes at the traffic lights merging to one on the other side of the lights, outside lane joining the inside lane. I 'smoked' an Audi A3 that was revving his engine next to me in the outside lane as I was at the front of the queue on the inside, he was determined to get in front of me...no chance. Lights turned to green and he was still fiddling with his gears as I shot across the junction, he was alongside but had to fall back as the lanes merged. He was not happy and kept revving his engine loudly behind me. We parted company at the Morrisons roundabout...still got it. I was in ECO mode, but I suspect it jumps to SPORT if you floor it, as I did. I probably exceeded the 20MPH limit but just for a moment or two

 

[NLMGSAN]

Does the ER set off with vigour from
0mph? My Trophy feels like it’s got the handbrake on for first few mph, which is a shame as the car is fast enough once it moves, just feels like it doesn’t want to go.

Yes. And in sports mode my wive wants to get out ASAP.

 

[Joules]

Does the ER set off with vigour from
0mph? My Trophy feels like it’s got the handbrake on for first few mph, which is a shame as the car is fast enough once it moves, just feels like it doesn’t want to go.

Certainly does

 

[Roger001]

Anyone appreciate the difference between the ~200ph SE/std Trophy and the Trophy extended range at ~245hp?
Trying to talk myself into more range and less power (than the Xpower)... being that I'm not 21 any more...)

I can not comment on the advantages of the HP as my other 'fun' car is an MGB at 88hp which after 34 years I drive via engine noise, so everything I get into my MG4 I switch to a 'custom' setting that configures everything to as slow as bloody possible to limit the chance of me looking down and find that i'm doing 100+

The real advantage of the extended range for most people is the range. You have a car that you have more battery capacity, and so you think about the battery less. Which means you can drive at 70mph if that is what you want and you can take the long route at night via the motorways with the heater on without range anxiety kicking in.

 

[Rolfe]

That traffic lights situation sounds extremely like the one I was involved in in Dorking in about 1996. The problem was that the car that thought I had "smoked" him in my XR2 was a police car. (I hadn't, actually, I just thought the space in front of him was better to merge into than the space behind.) The trouble was, I hadn't done anything wrong. The police driver, and his mate in another identical white (unmarked) Vauxhall Senator, then proceeded to carve me up separately and together for the next couple of miles, goading me to do something rash.

I didn't realise they were police cars, I was just baffled by what was going on and thought there was a driver who had taken leave of his senses. I didn't rise to the goading and didn't exceed the 40 mph speed limit. In Leatherhead they pulled me over on the pretext that I had overtaken on the inside. Their problem was that I hadn't, I had merely been in the inside lane when the traffic in that lane was moving a bit faster than the traffic in the outside lane, approaching a roundabout.

I didn't say any of that though, I merely let them tick me off and apologised with apparent sincerity, until in the end they had to let me go. So be careful who you try to smoke, that's all I'm saying.

But my God, if I'd had a dashcam, that footage would have been with their Chief Constable the next day.