MGE
Standard Member
Like many on this site I have been eagerly awaiting the delivery of my MG ZS EV. I am not particularly a big social media user but have found this forum useful and hope my comments and reflections have proved equally beneficial to others.
As one of the initial 1000 MG customers I was delighted to hear my car had arrived on the slow boat from China only to be told there would be a delay due to software upgrades that were being undertaking at the holding site prior to the car being released. Dates bounced from the 12th to the 19th to the 30th of December before being told the car had arrived at my local dealership last week.
Paperwork completed and collection date arranged for January 10th I went along to the dealers - name withheld for now - to drop in my retention certificate to allow transfer of an MG-related registration number. I was surprised to see my car in the showroom, along with the plate, ready for collection tomorrow. It is the Pimlico Blue used in MG publicity photos and, although I hadn't seen the colour prior to ordering know that from my days as a motoring journalist manufacturers often select the colour which most suits the car for photography.
When I eventually saw the dealer's Excite test car in the colour of my choice I had reservations as it appeared a little lighter than I imagined from the images. I was told I could change the colour at the time and opted for the red metallic and, even though by then my original Pimlico Blue model had not been produced in the Chinese factory, was advised that the order number could not handle a colour change and if I wanted to wait for a red one then delivery would not be until after April at the earliest - and that I would lose my place in the queue as one of the first 1000 customers to benefit from a complimentary home charging unit, which MG later denied would happen.
As we were already selling the car it was replacing we decided to go with our initial choice and I am pleased to say that in the Exclusive version I opted for in the blue works much better against the trim of this model over the Excite.
So seeing a resplendent car in the showroom it was very disappointing to find that there were a number of paint blemishes on the bodywork namely on the bonnet, wing and above the rear tailgate - two minor ones on the bonnet were to bare metal and the others appear to be little 'pimples' where the paint has reacted to something which must have contaminated it prior to spraying. My wife also noticed scratches on one the roof rails which does not appear that they will polish out.
The manager said he should really reject the car or at least get a replacement bonnet from MG - good luck with that 'me old China' finding a matching replacement in the UK - and we could bring the car back for rectification work in house. I informed them I would not be taking delivery until the issues were sorted to my satisfaction which means of course if they decide to reject the car from MG then I will have a further wait one vehicle down.
There also appears to be a problem with registrations. Even mine scheduled for Friday 10th January may not happen due to some computer glitches which mean MG are unable to get all the correct data from China to register while no one can have their ZS EV registered between 12th-20th January as MG are changing over their finance system to new providers.
To add to the issues the manager also said he could not ascertain whether or not the 'Smartgate' fix had been applied to my car only commenting that it would have either have been done while awaiting despatch in the holding centre or via their own technicians in house at PDI. Now I am no techie but, as I explained, surely they can simply plug mine and any other new ZS EV into their own on site charger with the delayed timing set to confirm it is working or otherwise - or is this too much like rocket science for them?
So, just where that leave me now we will wait to see. In the meantime I would urge all those about to take delivery of their MG ZS EVs to scrutinise them carefully prior to accepting.
As one of the initial 1000 MG customers I was delighted to hear my car had arrived on the slow boat from China only to be told there would be a delay due to software upgrades that were being undertaking at the holding site prior to the car being released. Dates bounced from the 12th to the 19th to the 30th of December before being told the car had arrived at my local dealership last week.
Paperwork completed and collection date arranged for January 10th I went along to the dealers - name withheld for now - to drop in my retention certificate to allow transfer of an MG-related registration number. I was surprised to see my car in the showroom, along with the plate, ready for collection tomorrow. It is the Pimlico Blue used in MG publicity photos and, although I hadn't seen the colour prior to ordering know that from my days as a motoring journalist manufacturers often select the colour which most suits the car for photography.
When I eventually saw the dealer's Excite test car in the colour of my choice I had reservations as it appeared a little lighter than I imagined from the images. I was told I could change the colour at the time and opted for the red metallic and, even though by then my original Pimlico Blue model had not been produced in the Chinese factory, was advised that the order number could not handle a colour change and if I wanted to wait for a red one then delivery would not be until after April at the earliest - and that I would lose my place in the queue as one of the first 1000 customers to benefit from a complimentary home charging unit, which MG later denied would happen.
As we were already selling the car it was replacing we decided to go with our initial choice and I am pleased to say that in the Exclusive version I opted for in the blue works much better against the trim of this model over the Excite.
So seeing a resplendent car in the showroom it was very disappointing to find that there were a number of paint blemishes on the bodywork namely on the bonnet, wing and above the rear tailgate - two minor ones on the bonnet were to bare metal and the others appear to be little 'pimples' where the paint has reacted to something which must have contaminated it prior to spraying. My wife also noticed scratches on one the roof rails which does not appear that they will polish out.
The manager said he should really reject the car or at least get a replacement bonnet from MG - good luck with that 'me old China' finding a matching replacement in the UK - and we could bring the car back for rectification work in house. I informed them I would not be taking delivery until the issues were sorted to my satisfaction which means of course if they decide to reject the car from MG then I will have a further wait one vehicle down.
There also appears to be a problem with registrations. Even mine scheduled for Friday 10th January may not happen due to some computer glitches which mean MG are unable to get all the correct data from China to register while no one can have their ZS EV registered between 12th-20th January as MG are changing over their finance system to new providers.
To add to the issues the manager also said he could not ascertain whether or not the 'Smartgate' fix had been applied to my car only commenting that it would have either have been done while awaiting despatch in the holding centre or via their own technicians in house at PDI. Now I am no techie but, as I explained, surely they can simply plug mine and any other new ZS EV into their own on site charger with the delayed timing set to confirm it is working or otherwise - or is this too much like rocket science for them?
So, just where that leave me now we will wait to see. In the meantime I would urge all those about to take delivery of their MG ZS EVs to scrutinise them carefully prior to accepting.
