Undecided on the XPOWER

[blueman671]

Hi all. Been lurking for a while but just joined as I’m close to purchasing an xpower.

Long story short - have v expensive jap cars at the moment, absolutely bullet proof and pure luxury. Want a cheap EV purely for cost (fuel) saving and to stick some money into investments when I sell existing cars - like the idea of an MG4. Very very concerned about the poor (last place) reliability surveys of the MG4.

Considering a Trophy for the Mrs OR, an xpower to replace my car - having driven the xpower, I want one. But it’s an extra £10k or £100pcm on a used pcp.

I’m aware of various software bugs that I think have mostly been fixed, and the other issues like the undertray, but I haven’t seen anything that says these cars are as unreliable as the reviewers say.

Can get a 3k mile Green Xpower on this deal: £2.5k deposit, £270pcm, 10k miles, 48months.

Is 48 months too long for these cars? Will I likely run into a nightmare after the first 24 months or so?
Is that a good deal? Looks to be considering current pcp/lease deals.
Is it worth it?
Worth the extra money over a Trophy?
Worth swapping a perfectly good and reliable ICE car?

Are there any horror stories I should know about? Niggles and complaints are different to total car failures which renders you without a car for weeks on end.

Talk me out of it / talk me into it please.

TIA

 

[EvilSeagull]

Hello and welcome.

It's all about expectations. You've mentioned that you're used to bulletproof and luxury Japanese cars - this is not.

I like to compare the Xpower to Poco devices in smartphone world. If you're used to having £1k+ Samsung or iPhones and you expect such phone you will be disappointed. But if you're like me and want excellent battery life and great performance for 300 quid - you'll love it.

Same with this Xpower - the car is heavily compromised, my 24 plate I got 3 months ago is far from perfect. Some things are even worse than our last 66 plate Vauxhall Astra.

Do I regret buying it? No, because I wanted a cheap to run hot-hatch that can smoke any BMW or Golf R, I knew this car was going to be quite basic, so I'm not disappointed in the slightest. But if you want great kit, high quality interior and amazing range - go somewhere else

 

[Cabansail]

I have just bough a '23 Xpower which has been well looked after.

Having had two Polestar 2's as a hire cars I decided that to replace my Mazda I would get an AWD EV. Was not looking at Tesla at all due to the Elon factor (but there were some cheap ones available). The three I was searching were the Polestar 2 Performance, BYD Seal Performance and the XPower. All had pros and cons. TBH the Seal looked very nice but was a lot more to buy. The Polestars annoyed me a bit, they have kit in the cars turned off and charge big money to switch on. A local seller had a good deal on the XPower, so that is what I have. It is not perfect but the good things are very good.

 

[salty]

I've had my X Power for nearly a year now,
and it's been flawless, and I've loved every minute of it. Others will say different.
You've already said, you've driven one, and you want one. Nuff said. Doesn't matter what we say, if you want one, get one, simple's.

 

[Tuareg]

Just get it, brilliant car and best value/performance by a long way. Get in, power the car on and drive away towards endless fun. Mine has also been flawless. Defintely have MG at the top of my list when it comes for a change in a few years, of course will see what else is available then that can match MG for price/performance. Not interested in huge screens/pivoting screens and the many other gimmicks other manufacturers are using to lure buyers. I want a small screen, no bigger than in the MG4, a nice clean minimalist dash and a simple interior.

 

[jamherber]

Yep, great value car for the money. Peanuts to run for the performance on offer.

Essential - make sure you get a test drive of the actual car first though and ensure that test drive includes a good stretch of 70mph road

 

[MG Clive]

There are no real 'horror stories' with these @blueman671, there may be a few little niggles, some of the MG systems may not be exactly to your liking, and a few seem to have a slight vibration at 60-70 mph. But I'd still say get it it regret it.

 

[Chrisdriving]

Same from me, had mine a year, no problems, i do get a bit of resonance sometimes at the problem speed zone but it does not bother me overly, car is great and performance is mental.

 

[Anon70]

XPower was first sold in 2023 and if maintained correctly will have warranty until 2030 (but not on all parts) as well as breakdown cover included.

Software niggles are mostly about lane keeping assist and once updated or the system is disabled this is not an issue.

Early cars will have a noticeable vibration between 65-75mph that varies in intensity depending on tyre pressures and wear.

XPower is NOT an efficient EV so expect to get between 2.5 and 3 miles per kW/h over a 12 month average. If you can charge at home for single digit pennies then this might not be an issue and if oyu have been feeding your ICE cars higher octane or premium fuels this also might not be an issue.

If you are of a certain age and grew up being told any car with a sub 4s 0-60 time was a supercar then XPower is the most cost effective supercar in the World. Party piece is off the line acceleration and straight line speed, ok in the bends but there are better set up cars.

Had mine for just over 18 months on a 3 year company lease and it is fun when you want it to be and practical when required, also pretty good looking compared to some of the boxes and blobs out there

 

[blueman671]

Thanks all. I’m aware of the issues, vibrations etc. it’s just that it’s last in class in all reliability surveys which is worrying.

Good to know that the issues are frequent but fixable. Quite a lot different to VWs dsg failures and fords wet belt issues which render a car undriveable.

As long as there aren’t any catastrophic issues.

On a 7.9p kWh ev tarriff doing 10k miles a year I work it out to be anywhere between £18-£32 a month to charge (2mi per kWh up to 3.5 mi per kWh).
That’s about £150-£180 a month less than my petrol costs so despite it not being very efficient as an EV, should be sensible overall.

That said, does a £5k deposit, £208pcm seem good or bad value based on your pcp / lease deals and what you’ve seen over the last 2 years? 10k miles, 36months.

TIA

 

[Chrisdriving]

I assume that is PCP as leases are high at moment if you can even get one.

 

[blueman671]

I assume that is PCP as leases are high at moment if you can even get one.

Yep pcp on a 23 reg with 3k miles

 

[Chrisdriving]

I suppose it depends how much the car is overall, nice low milage on that one.

For reference Your 5k deposit gets you a 25
Plate one for £280 pcm, not a good finance deal so easy to beat.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202508295858994?advertising-location=at_cars&calc-deposit=5000&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=PCP&calc-term=48&make=MG&model=MG4&page=1&postcode=Bh152bb&revisit=true&searchId=7e3baf5f-bcef-4d93-b6fb-8784cd24a7f6&sort=price-asc&zero-to-60=TO_4&selectedDid=10011841#deal-builder

Here is a green 23 plate low miles( might be the one) 5k down £246 a month but high interest rate, total amount payable 28k .

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202412277563420?advertising-location=at_cars&calc-deposit=5000&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=PCP&calc-term=48&make=MG&model=MG4&page=1&postcode=Bh152bb&revisit=true&searchId=7e3baf5f-bcef-4d93-b6fb-8784cd24a7f6&sort=price-asc&twcs=true&zero-to-60=TO_4&selectedDid=10043642#deal-builder

 

[Chrisdriving]

Here is a brand new one, finance is a bit better, it is one of the cheaper ones listed.

£320 a month with a £2700 deposit,
Your 5k deposit should drop the monthly a good bit.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501288479401?sort=price-asc&searchId=1696d247-50d5-431b-bb2a-f8996b1271bb&advertising-location=at_cars&make=MG&model=MG4&page=1&postcode=Bh152bb&year-from=new&zero-to-60=TO_4&fromsra&backLinkQueryParams=advertising-location%3Dat_cars%26flrfc%3D1%26make%3DMG%26model%3DMG4%26postcode%3DBh152bb%26revisit%3Dtrue%26selectedDid%3D10043642%26sort%3Dprice-asc%26year-from%3Dnew%26zero-to-60%3DTO_4

 

[steves87]

Can you link the reliability surveys? Vibrations aside, and software glitches (workaround-able) aside, I haven't heard any other reliability issues for xpower. At least not in concernable numbers?