Top 5 Positives and Negatives ... from Jules

[shawncullen]

So, having tried to persuade my other (better?) half Jules to come on the podcast without much success, I decided to quiz her on her top 5 pros and cons given her experience of driving our MG ZS EV a lot more than me. She currently uses it c. 4 time a week to commute (50 miles roundtrip). I have probably driven around 300 miles since delivery in early November 2020 so she has a lot more experience of the vehicle than I do.

Thought it may be useful but it could also be a topic at some point for the podcast...

Good:

• Price / Cheap as chips to run (her current vehicle has an mpg of around 30 mpg if we are lucky...)
• Pull away - the 0-60 very good for the type / size of car (this is coming from Jules whose own car is a Subaru Levorg, so I take that as a MASSIVE plus! Indeed the MG ZS EV is tad faster 0-60 than the Scooby)
• Comfortable to drive and generally a nice drive
• Heating in the car is fab and fast (in Normal mode!)
• Has a decent top speed - Jules informs me the 87 mph top speed is not the top speed

Bad:

• Condensation in very cold weather - takes a while to get rid of and she has actually bought a wipe to use when needed
• A couple of times Jules has had trouble getting the car to charge on the drive - had to unlock, remove charger, refit, etc etc. Not sure if this is an issue as it has happened only twice since beginning of November and I cannot replicate but something to keep an eye on - always charges in the end
• Exceeding speed limit notifications (again !) but I have told her this can be switched off
• In this weather continually receiving notification that front camera is not in use (assume because of condensation) until car has properly cleared in the morning
• Delay in seeing HVAC coming up when you turn knobs

What do I take from that? The "bad" aren't that bad at all. Condensation is annoying - but could also have something to do with our doggie who (when we can) usually gets take to the beach. The charging issues I need to monitor to ensure it isn't an error on Jules' part. Again, can turn off speed notifications. Front camera fogging is annoying but Jules doesn't usually use ACC anyway (although would clearly affect some safety features). HVAC - is what it is.

I did ask if any of the "bad" were deal breakers. Jules replied in the negative.

Over and out.

Shawn

 

[MrG]

Very useful to know. Can you clarify what the purpose of the front camera is? I haven't picked my car up yet but I was under the impression there is only a reversing camera?

 

[ARealHuman]

@MrG - the front camera is for reading road speed signs, identifying road egdes etc. Strong sunlight and condensation can hamper its performance, but on the whole I find it good. There is a separate rear camera.

@shawncullen - as I'm sure you know, the verbal speed warning is actually found in the satnav settings and can be turned off easily. I put mine back on as I got caught speeding just before Christmas

 

[AbuG]

Top speed is about 93 mph

 

[Kithmo]

There's also an annoying (if it's set) speed limit warning on the information display that can be turned off or to a selected speed.
Condensation is almost non-existent in mine since I put a couple of dehumidifier bags in it.
As for charging, my Pod Point tethered charger plug is fine but the car end plug on my type 2 to type 2 cable seems to stick a bit when inserting and doesn't always go fully in until I wiggle it, could it be that Jules is not pushing it fully in sometimes so the cable lock doesn't engage ?
I totally agree about the HVAC, it's very distracting.

 

[2of3]

I have had a couple of "issues" with the MG pilot seeming to live it's own life.

Most of our driving is on small roads and city conditions. There is a stretch of highway with marked lines and 80km zone on the way to my wife's workplace. Due to this I have turned off all the lane assist/lane departure warning and all that....we just don't need it on a daily basis.

I was driving our MG on that very stretch a while back and the lane departure warning kept turning itself on! after stopping and confirming through the infoscreen that everything was indeed switched off, I started out again and plong, plong plong was back again! It must have tripped at least 10 times on the 15 minute drive. Next time my wife drove the car to work, it was fine and never acted up again.
Untill....
Yesterday we took the car for it's first "real" trip (142 km round trip). I decided it would be great to test the adaptive CC as I haven't had a chance to use it yet. It was really great in the start but suddenly I felt the MG pilot engage. I'm not a fan of my car steering for me and it was pretty aggressive! As far as I know, I hadn't pushed anything to engage MG pilot. It was just there suddenly!

Longwinded way of voicing a "minus" from me.

 

[ARealHuman]

As I'm sure you know @2of3, pushing the stalk below the indicator stalk all the way forward will disengage MG Pilot. The lane keeping thing comes on for me too, but seperately - a long press of the button on the end of the stalk kills it, but if memory serves just for that trip. On motorways or faster A/B roads, I quite like MG Pilot!

 

[ARealHuman]

There's also an annoying (if it's set) speed limit warning on the information display that can be turned off or to a selected speed.

On mine, the speed limit sign flashes in the info dispaly if I inadvertantly go over the speed limit - is this what you mean?

 

[Kithmo]

On mine, the speed limit sign flashes in the info dispaly if I inadvertantly go over the speed limit - is this what you mean?

Yes, the annoying bit is that it bongs and covers the real digital speed figures up. I know there's a separate analogue speedometer but I find it easier to read the digital one at a glance.
I can't see the point of setting a fixed speed limit warning because the limits change so much, if it was a sign recognition one then I'd probably use it. I turned it off and use the Nav one if I go anywhere further than my local trips.

 

[Cocijo]

My traffic speed sign alert just flashes when over the limit it doesn’t obscure the digital speedo.

 

[2of3]

As I'm sure you know @2of3, pushing the stalk below the indicator stalk all the way forward will disengage MG Pilot. The lane keeping thing comes on for me too, but seperately - a long press of the button on the end of the stalk kills it, but if memory serves just for that trip. On motorways or faster A/B roads, I quite like MG Pilot!

I know these things, yes. Problem is the car didn't seem to want the ACC without the MG pilot suddenly! It was a windy road with 70km speed limit and 2 cars ahead of me. Not optimal for MG pilot....it was steering the car and not the way I would steer it. Dunno, I'll have to do some more testing on it.

 

[Kithmo]

My traffic speed sign alert just flashes when over the limit it doesn’t obscure the digital speedo.

I think that's the other one that reads the signs, I forgot we have that one. The one I mean is the speed limit warning that you set the speed of in the info screen menu, the one on the same list as the ESC OFF etc.

 

[Cocijo]

Yes - I have mine set at 80mph. It’s a sort of one-off type warning - I think that’s why it takes over the screen. It goes up to 140mph! Not that I’ve ever seen it at 80mph of course!