Ordered an MG4, due in 2 weeks

[Dodgemdriver]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. I've had a Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid for 6 months. It's a great car, but I wanted to get a fully electric car instead. I had a test drive in an MG4 and liked it, so I placed an order for an SE standard range. I spoke to the dealer today and he says it will be around 2 weeks before I get the car.
My brother has had an MG ZS EV for 3 years and it has been reliable and trouble free, so I wasn't worried about getting an MG myself.
But I'm starting to wonder whether I've made a mistake in ordering this car, because it seems from posts on this forum that there are a lot of issues with the MG4 and that MG Motor are apparently indifferent to customer's problems with their cars. It's all quite concerning. I'm wondering if I should cancel my order to be honest. My Toyota Hybrid is reliable and has had no issues whatsoever in the 6 months I've had it. I work as a coach driver with a commute to work of 26 miles and I absolutely have to be at work on time to run the services as scheduled. I can't afford to be late or be without a car because of problems and failures on the vehicle.
Should I be this concerned? Or am I worrying unnecessarily?

 

[Ian Key]

You are worrying unnecessarily. People with a problem shout the loudest and most often.
Most of the problems were on the first batch of cars and they seem to have been sorted now apart from a couple of software glitches with Bluetooth connectivity and radio reception but that seems to have been sorted with the latest update.
The biggest problem is with some dealers who take your money and offer poor after sales service so make sure you find a good one which your brother seems to have done.

 

[Dodgemdriver]

Thanks for the reassurance. I really do like the MG4 and hopefully you are right and all should be well with it. Possibly I focused too much on the negative posts here.
I think the local dealer should be okay, they have very good, positive reviews on Google.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. I've had a Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid for 6 months. It's a great car, but I wanted to get a fully electric car instead. I had a test drive in an MG4 and liked it, so I placed an order for an SE standard range. I spoke to the dealer today and he says it will be around 2 weeks before I get the car.
My brother has had an MG ZS EV for 3 years and it has been reliable and trouble free, so I wasn't worried about getting an MG myself.
But I'm starting to wonder whether I've made a mistake in ordering this car, because it seems from posts on this forum that there are a lot of issues with the MG4 and that MG Motor are apparently indifferent to customer's problems with their cars. It's all quite concerning. I'm wondering if I should cancel my order to be honest. My Toyota Hybrid is reliable and has had no issues whatsoever in the 6 months I've had it. I work as a coach driver with a commute to work of 26 miles and I absolutely have to be at work on time to run the services as scheduled. I can't afford to be late or be without a car because of problems and failures on the vehicle.
Should I be this concerned? Or am I worrying unnecessarily?

I am more critical than most of MG but most of the problems now are related to software (AC apart) and quality, don't think you will need to worry from a your car getting you from A to B point of view

 

[tsedge]

I am more critical than most of MG but most of the problems now are related to software (AC apart) and quality, don't think you will need to worry fron your car getting you from A to B point of view

I agree, we are in the main complaining about bugs these days.

It would be very helpful if manufacturers had to disclose figures on parts replacements and we could actually compare across makes what does go wrong.

All makes can suffer bad hardware from suppliers and factory errors, would love to see where MG truly fit. Have heard some horror stories from big name makes too - eg ICE engine replacements after only a few thousand miles.

My guess is MG electric vehicles are bottom half but not bottom.

 

[Tight Git]

I've done 15,000 miles since November in mine and no problems.

Yesterday I stopped at Stafford Ionity to charge and there were 2 chargers blocked by completely dead/bricked cars - a 4 hour old Peugeot and a Porsche Taycan 4s that looked about a week old, both were waiting to be recovered.

Any car has the potential to cause problems.

 

[Rolfe]

I had trouble at Stafford Ionity last month, twice. But I got charged and the car did not brick.

Hi, I'm a newbie here. I've had a Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid for 6 months. It's a great car, but I wanted to get a fully electric car instead. I had a test drive in an MG4 and liked it, so I placed an order for an SE standard range. I spoke to the dealer today and he says it will be around 2 weeks before I get the car.
My brother has had an MG ZS EV for 3 years and it has been reliable and trouble free, so I wasn't worried about getting an MG myself.
But I'm starting to wonder whether I've made a mistake in ordering this car, because it seems from posts on this forum that there are a lot of issues with the MG4 and that MG Motor are apparently indifferent to customer's problems with their cars. It's all quite concerning. I'm wondering if I should cancel my order to be honest. My Toyota Hybrid is reliable and has had no issues whatsoever in the 6 months I've had it. I work as a coach driver with a commute to work of 26 miles and I absolutely have to be at work on time to run the services as scheduled. I can't afford to be late or be without a car because of problems and failures on the vehicle.
Should I be this concerned? Or am I worrying unnecessarily?

I can be heard bitching about software issues that are pretty peripheral but I've had my SE SR since April and I've done 4,000 miles and I love it. All the way from central Scotland to Brighton and back last month and didn't put a foot wrong.

I think the SE SR is the sweet spot in terms of value for money and the LFP battery is a bonus. Just get a good checklist (several on the forum) in case of issues at collection. Take a good look at the undertray!

 

[Dodgemdriver]

I had trouble at Stafford Ionity last month, twice. But I got charged and the car did not brick.



I can be heard bitching about software issues that are pretty peripheral but I've had my SE SR since April and I've done 4,000 miles and I love it. All the way from central Scotland to Brighton and back last month and didn't put a foot wrong.

I think the SE SR is the sweet spot in terms of value for money and the LFP battery is a bonus. Just get a good checklist (several on the forum) in case of issues at collection. Take a good look at the undertray!

Thanks for all the comments, really appreciate hearing from those that have had good experiences with their cars. Hopefully MG will get the software bugs and the 12v battery issues sorted soon. I know Tesla have problems with build quality and other issues too, so it's not just MG.
I think I'll go ahead as planned with my MG4 order, do the checks on delivery and hope and pray I've got a good one.

 

[BrianHere6]

Thanks for all the comments, really appreciate hearing from those that have had good experiences with their cars. Hopefully MG will get the software bugs and the 12v battery issues sorted soon. I know Tesla have problems with build quality and other issues too, so it's not just MG.
I think I'll go ahead as planned with my MG4 order, do the checks on delivery and hope and pray I've got a good one.

Seriously you won't regret it. I've had "nice" cars my whole life and was sceptical as well, albeit the MG4 won't be my primary drive as it is for my wife. Put the MG4 in sports mode and you won't wish for more... leave the lights and look back in the mirror and you're already 50m down the road. For general town/city use it's pretty unbeatable. Turning circle is a delight. I'm one of the rare ones whose had the AirCon Compressor changed. Done quickly and efficiently. Not a big deal.

Just hope you made the right decision and got RED

 

[Stuart Wright]

My guess is MG electric vehicles are bottom half but not bottom.

If you’re talking about price, you’re right. Bottom half of all EVs, certainly when it comes to how low the cost is.
And so when it come to value for money, it’s easily in the top half.
Like if your budget is about £27k, there are very few 250+ mile EVs available.
Obviously if you have a bigger budget you can get a better car. I read that someone got a Tesla Model 3 instead of their MG4. Good idea if you have an extra £16k to spend (M3 standard range being £43k in the UK right now). But if your budget is £30k, for me the MG4 is a no brained.

 

[Abe]

Outstanding customer service by any dealerships seems to be mostly a thing of the past. I don’t get the impression the MG4 has more problems than any other new car. And at least the problems are generally annoying rather than life threatening or turning your car into a worthless pile of stationary metal that no one will touch with a bargepole.

I’ve never seen anything discussed about class action lawsuits like with Ford. And how Nissan escaped serious consequences for their once-terrible CVT gearboxes I don’t know.

I think dealership problems are at least as much with an individual dealership than the brand. Definitely look how others have fared with individual dealers, you may want to go a bit further afield to get one with a good reputation.

 

[bowfer]

I’m going to be more realistic than those blindly saying “go for it you won’t regret it” and then skulking off blamelessly into the distance if it all goes pear shaped.
I’d say your chances of getting a problematic car are ‘more likely’ with an MG than others.
I don’t think that’s an unfair statement at all, there are still quite a few endemic faults a year after a launch that shows a very casual approach from MG.
There are some serious new and nearly new EV deals going around just now, especially when September is fresh and there will be pre-registered cars sitting around.
Your 27k might get you into something that may not prove to be faultless, no car is guaranteed that, but the ‘chance of fault’ ( I can’t think of a better term) is far less.
Purely as an example, nothing else, the Cupra born forum I’ve been on for 6 months now has people moaning about issues but they are honestly, I promise you, so trivial in comparison to the issues I see on here it amuses me.
But their relatively trivial moans are as it should be, car forums shouldn’t be listing repeated serious faults.
Just saying, it’s an exciting time for any new EV buyer and there are alternatives for your money out there like never before.

 

[Kithmo]

Most of the problems reported won't immobilise the car anyway so it is reliable in terms of being able to use it.

 

[bowfer]

Most of the problems reported won't immobilise the car anyway so it is reliable in terms of being able to use it.

If that’s a yardstick for reliability, you’ll be pleased enough with pretty much any car.
I class unreliability as anything that annoys me enough to need time off work to visit the dealer.

 

[Kithmo]

If that’s a yardstick for reliability, you’ll be pleased enough with pretty much any car.
I class unreliability as anything that annoys me enough to need time off work to visit the dealer.

If you read what I said, I said in terms of being able to use it.
A car is basically to get me from A to B and if it does that every time I want it to then it's fine, the rest is gravy.
I don't live in my car, I don't need to be connected to the rest of the world by bluetooth or anything else. I don't need the car to drive for me, brake for me, steer for me, put the lights on for me or change to high beam for me, I learned to do those when I learned to drive, I don't need to hear the London symphony orchestra in perfect harmony or any of the other crap they put in modern cars, I just need to get from A to B reliably.

 

[bowfer]

If you read what I said, I said in term of being able to use it.
A car is basically to get me from A to B and if it does that every time I want it to then it's fine, the rest is gravy.
I don't live in my car, I don't need to be connected to the rest of the world by bluetooth or anything else. I don't need the car to drive for me, brake for me, steer for me, put the lights on for me or change to high beam for me, I learned to do those when I learned to drive, I don't need to hear the London symphony orchestra in perfect harmony or any of the other crap they put in modern cars, I just need to get form A to B reliably.

Yes and I said that if that’s your yardstick then you’ll probably be happy.
My measurement of reliability is days at the dealer, pure and simple.

 

[NickHeynes]

Yes and I said that if that’s your yardstick then you’ll probably be happy.
My measurement of reliability is days at the dealer, pure and simple.

My MG4 has spent zero days in the dealer . It is booked in for its first service in October and I will be asking them to rectify the following issues:

Noisy A/C.
No Under bonnet soundproofing.
Undertray bulge.
Software updates.

None of these have stopped me enjoying the car immensely

Is it perfect? absolutely not. Does it represent GVFM? absolutely yes.

Let's see how good the servicing dealer is !

 

[tsedge]

If you’re talking about price, you’re right. Bottom half of all EVs, certainly when it comes to how low the cost is.
And so when it come to value for money, it’s easily in the top half.
Like if your budget is about £27k, there are very few 250+ mile EVs available.
Obviously if you have a bigger budget you can get a better car. I read that someone got a Tesla Model 3 instead of their MG4. Good idea if you have an extra £16k to spend (M3 standard range being £43k in the UK right now). But if your budget is £30k, for me the MG4 is a no brained.

I was trying to say that MGs are probably in the bottom half for reliability / need to replace parts, but not right at the bottom. In time we'll get some stats in this but it would be really helpful if manufacturers had to disclose repairs from the day they launch a vehicle.

Agree re: value for money, it is an excellent buy and that's why I bought one.

 

[bowfer]

I was trying to say that MGs are probably in the bottom half for reliability / need to replace parts, but not right at the bottom. In time we'll get some stats in this but it would be really helpful if manufacturers had to disclose repairs from the day they launch a vehicle.

Agree re: value for money, it is an excellent buy and that's why I bought one.

‘Was’ excellent value at the time you bought it.
Not so clear cut now.

 

[tsedge]

‘Was’ excellent value at the time you bought it.
Not so clear cut now.

I'd buy it again at today's prices. Not seen anything yet that would shift my decision, though there's plenty in the pipeline that might.