SE Owners. Do You Believe That You Have Got The Version With The Best Value.

[Buster72]

As I have previously mentioned, I have an SE SR. Having previously bought a top spec car, Ford Fiesta Vignale and felt that it was not worth the extra money, I decided to go for the base MG4 model. And having owned it for 6 months now, I am perfectly happy with it. And even as the base model, the level of equipment is exactly what I wanted. In fact the only thing it does not have that the Ford had was rear reversing camera. Unlike some others, I have not needed to change the wipers or tyres or anything else for that matter. And even the radio is ok.
So. To other SE owners, do you believe that this version represents the best value.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm absolutely with you on this one. Of course it all depends on what you want, and clearly there are people who value heated seats and a built-in satnav and all the rest of the toys, and who am I to say they're wrong. But most of that just doesn't interest me. (And - ssshhh - I think the spoilers are ugly.)

I had a Golf GTi before this car, and it had heated seats, but last winter I suddenly realised I'd forgotten I had them! While I was still working my normal winter routine was to get in the car, put heating to max and switch on the heated seats. I'd have gone about 10 miles before the car was warm enough to start turning things down. But having retired, then not driven much in 2020 because of covid, I actually forgot about them! That did influence my decision not to care about them in the MG4. But more important was the pre-heat facility. If I can heat the cabin up before I get into the car, that's more important to me.

I've never used a satnav, so I can go on doing without it. There are a number of little things where it's - oh that's only available in the Trophy! - but nothing I really care about. The SE, bar heated seats and electrically folding mirrors, has just about everything the Golf had. (Oh, the Golf had dual heating controls, which was nice, but the Trophy doesn't have these either.)

The one deliberate thing that annoys me on the SE is the lack of electrical folding wing mirrors, but in fact I can get the car in the garage fine with the mirrors unfolded, so it's hardly a deal-breaker.

Other annoyances are the lack of folders on the USB player, the inability to turn off that awful auto-locking thing, and the way the radio keeps coming on even if you just turned it off. I think these are software glitches, rather than deliberate punishment of SE owners for not spending more, and they might be fixed.

As regards the SR or LR battery, I'm very happy with the SR as it has enough range for my normal daily driving. I know I'll spend longer charging if I go on a long trip, but that wasn't worth an extra £2,500 to me. Also, the SR is easier to manage, just charge it up to 100% whenever you like, it doesn't have cobalt in it, and it's reputed to have an extremely long life.

For anyone relying on public charging using rapid chargers for their daily driving though, I think the LR has to be a no-brainer.

 

[FiferMG4]

Other annoyances are the lack of folders on the USB player and the way the radio keeps coming on even if you just turned it off.

Yes, the lack of folders is a real pain, especially if you have a large collection of music on your USB drive.

That too! I have to remember to turn down the volume before I get out, otherwise the radio will be blaring the next morning.

 

[Rolfe]

I've done a lot of music renaming, but I need to do more. Couldn't find something I wanted to listen to the other day. And it takes ages scrolling through to find anything.

I used to leave the radio on in my Golf all the time. I was all surprised when I got it back from the garage, every time, and the radio didn't come on. (It didn't come on when I collected it after getting the mud flaps fitted either, and it took me a while to find out what they'd done - they'd resorted to turning some all-media volume to zero in the infotainment screen!)

So why does it bug me when it comes on in the MG4. I don't really know, but I hit the steering wheel off button every time. Maybe it's just knowing that I didn't tell it to do that.

I think owners are just putting up with these faults when they should be complaining. They're easily fixed, but they won't do it if people don't complain.

 

[bowfer]

Satnav as OE really grips my poop these days.
Seriously, who uses it when google maps or any number of superior apps are available?
It’s not like anyone worries about phone data usage any more.
I seriously wish manufacturers would just drop satnav and give us other stuff instead.

 

[Rolfe]

Why did you originally pick the SE SR over the more expensive models in the first place, Bowfer? (I still reckon that if you'd had my car, you'd still be driving it.)

 

[bowfer]

Why did you originally pick the SE SR over the more expensive models in the first place, Bowfer? (I still reckon that if you'd had my car, you'd still be driving it.)

Cost and availability, IIRC the LR was a much longer wait and I really don’t ‘need’ the range.
Whether I’d still have 4 if it didn’t restrict my speed, who knows.
Perhaps the other annoyances, like having to constantly switch off LKA and change regen modes, would have meant I got rid by more conventional means.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

SE SR is the pick of the models in most of the reviews, it is outstanding value for money if you get a fault free one

 

[bowfer]

SE SR is the pick of the models in most of the reviews, it is outstanding value for money if you get a fault free one

I’m not sure the ‘oustanding value for money’ thing is valid any more.
Certainly in PCP and lease terms (the most popular means these days) there are other cars in the same price frame now, the MG isn’t a stand out.
Buying outright, no idea, I don’t bother filling brain space with that info.

 

[Rolfe]

Cost and availability, IIRC the LR was a much longer wait and I really don’t ‘need’ the range.
Whether I’d still have 4 if it didn’t restrict my speed, who knows.
Perhaps the other annoyances, like having to constantly switch off LKA and change regen modes, would have meant I got rid by more conventional means.

I suppose you don't tend to keep cars long anyway. I find that it's very little trouble to set the car up how I want at the start of the journey. It takes seconds once you're used to it. And it drives like a dream.

 

[Tight Git]

As it was going to be my first foray into buying an EV I didn't want to spend any more than necessary in case it didn't work out for any reason and it would have meant a smaller financial hit if it didn't work.

I wasn't that bothered about the extras on the Trophy which I didn't think worth the £6k premium and if it meant an extra 20 minutes charging on a long journey I can live with it.

9 months and 14k miles and no issues. Every couple of months do a 250 trip each way on consecutive days and I've had no problems charging yet, the cheap Elli subscription 27p/kWh on Ionity certainly helps. Just need to get a proper home charger installed so I can stop using the granny!

I wouldn't go back to an ICE car now, Taycan beckons .

 

[bowfer]

I suppose you don't tend to keep cars long anyway. I find that it's very little trouble to set the car up how I want at the start of the journey. It takes seconds once you're used to it. And it drives like a dream.

Or you get a car that you don’t have to set these things up every journey.
It’s perfectly possible.

 

[Rolfe]

Sure. It's just not something I'm prepared to pay £10,000 extra for.

And it still drives like a dream.

 

[NickHeynes]

Yes, I'm extremely happy with my SE SR.
It's one of the early ones with the privacy glass in the rear windows.
I do a daily commute round trip of 54 miles into and out of east london.
My longest regular trip is approx 190 miles there and back . So no range issues so far for me.
I don't have a home charger ,I just granny charge and top up at tesla at lakeside very occasionally.
Yes there are software niggles but I can live with those.
Yes it has an undertray bulge but my dealer has promised to sort that for me at it's first service.
No other faults or issues other than the widely reported speed restriction occurring twice which has disappeared now.(Believe me I've attempted to recreate it to no avail)
For me, it has represented superb vfm.

 

[Kithmo]

Maybe you SE SR owners should start a support group
Seriously though, the SE SR represents seriously excellent VFM and the main thing that I would miss is the reversing camera.
The other useful things on the Trophy that made me go for it are the rear cross traffic alert and the Nav, everything else I could go without.

 

[Gilbotron]

Agree, it's great value - we felt we needed the LR and heated seats was deemed a must have (cold blooded wife) though so we ended up with a Trophy, and ended up getting a good deal with affinity and some other negotiation (and leveraging family contacts...). I'd say having owned it though, I do question if we really needed the extra stuff, but if we have cold winter this might change.

I think whichever spec, it still represents great value - even with the software gripes

 

[Rolfe]

I actually don't get on with reversing cameras, so I was pleased it didn't have it. I really like the reversing sensors. I think the pre-heating facility should compensate for heated seats rather a lot.

Stuff like speakers in the back seats and so on - frankly, if my car didn't even have back seats it wouldn't be much of a problem except occasionally giving people lifts. (Right at the moment it doesn't actually have back seats because I've got them out to fit the seat covers!)

I can see that people who need the range have to go for one of the LR battery specs though, and also I think if you're relying on public charging and don't have a type 2 you can rely on that's close enough to walk home from, the NMC battery is the one to go for.

I may have said all this already. Nevermind!

 

[Deleted member 10041]

The biggest benefit of heated seats is that they use far less power from the battery than the HVAC, if all people are doing is the odd short journey then it's not a Biggie.
Hypothetically if you pre heat your car every day, and it's not plugged in, then you would lose about 14% of your battery, going on SR owners getting about 130- 140 miles last winter (when it was really cold) that means you would lose 20 miles of range in a week.
It just means you have to charge your car more often

 

[Rolfe]

Doesn't worry me. I really really like the way, in the MG4, the whole cabin is brought to a comfortable temperature, rather than my bum being toasted while hot air blasts at me in an attempt to get the car vaguely bearable.

 

[Hmmstocker]

In Sweden at the moment they have reduced price for SE SR, so its way more value than luxary or Trophy.
In I convert SEK to UK pounds for lease its like 220 a month for SE SR and 370 for luxary/trophy.