jamakr4

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MG4
Just saw a similar thread on the MG3 forum and thought it was a cool idea.

I replaced a 2014 Mercedes C220. I loved the car, but it started getting quite expensive — so I did the math and came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t worth the money anymore. I sold it and bought a used MG4 Luxury instead.

Insurance is 50% cheaper, and here in Germany, there’s no yearly tax on EVs (the Mercedes cost me €300 a year). Maintenance is also a joke compared to what I was paying for the Benz towards the end.

Sure, the quality isn’t quite on the same level, but I really enjoy the actual beneficial features like the 360 cam, adaptive cruise control, and CarPlay etc..— things that make a real difference in daily driving — instead of just ambient lighting.

After 6 months, I’m quite happy and think it was the right decision.
 
Regular viewers will know that my previous car was a 2009 VW Golf GTi Mk6. It was getting a bit long in the tooth and I was thinking about replacing it anyway. But then in December 2022 an idiot in a BMW came out of a side road without looking and T-boned me. The insurance initially said they'd fix it, but then when the car was actually delivered to the repair garage (in March 2023) they decided it was uneconomical to repair and they would write it off.

I was furious, give me my car back, and so on. I went and got it too, but once it was back on my drive I calmed down a bit and started to think sensibly. The car was 14. I had been talking about changing it in 2024 anyway. It needed four new summer tyres (I'd been driving it on its winter tyres and they weren't too great either) and it had a string of MOT advisories from November 2022. The bodywork damage was an MOT fail so if I wanted to go on driving it I would have had to have that repaired and that would have cost around £2,000. The insurance were going to give me £4,000 write-off value. Go figure.

So I spent an evening watching YouTube videos about electric cars, because I didn't want to be left behind by the new technology (and I also reckoned I could save a packet on running costs). The MG4 was a no-brainer, and less than a fortnight later I was driving my new car.

Here he is when he was new, meet the late lamented Prospero.

1759873476756.webp
 
Also replaced a Mk.6 Golf with an MG4. Mine was a 2010 2.0 GT TDI with DSG gearbox and flappy paddles on the steering wheel for manual gear changes. It was getting long in the tooth, and lacquar was starting to peel from the paint (red VWs suffer from this) The Golf was fun to drive and quick because of the diesel, but Bristol was about to introduce a LEV and my car was not compliant (Euro 5) One of the sites I work at is right in the city centre, so a change was needed unless I wanted to borrow my wife's Polo (Euro 4 petrol is compliant, go figure)
 
Just saw a similar thread on the MG3 forum and thought it was a cool idea.
We had a '10 plate Seat Ibiza.

Had always got older cars before this one, not been bothered about having a shiny new car on the drive or anything like that.

Big change up for us. Whole new level of technology. But I was really keen to go electric and we found ourselves in a position financially where we could indulge.
 
I’ve always had Peugeots, the last one before the MG4 was a 308 (T9 generation). I liked it but one day we got in to go to the dentist and it flashed a warning for low oil. I said to the missus “there’s the first gremlin, there will be a thousand on the way now”. I had been wanting to go electric for a while and been following reviews of new cars online for a bit. So on the way back from the dentist we popped into an MG dealership.

Turned out they had massive discounts going ($5k off for a 2024 model, in 2024…?) plus state government incentives and a decent trade in on the 308. Combined with an orange Trophy in stock sealed the deal.

I still have a Peugeot RCZ, but it collects more dust since going electric, petrol driving just feels a little shit nowadays.

I looked at electric Peugeots as well of course, but Peugeot Australia had only a couple of models available at the time, and none had any decent EV specs. Low range, low power, high prices.
 
2018 Mercedes Benz GLC250d with all the extras. We no longer needed the larger vehicle and its upkeep costs were insane. After just 40,000 km I was up for $5k of work. Not helped by MB being one of the worst customer service organisations we have here.

My wife was driving my old 2007 Golf TDI until we replaced it with an MG ZSEV. My mechanic bought the Golf from me. Wife loves her new car.
 
For me it was a Huyndai Kona EV 64kWh of 2019 that I drove for about 97000km.
The car war really good but the MG4 outperforms it mainly on the following points :
  • Charging speed
  • Driving behavior, stability and fun
  • Connectivity
  • Infotainment
  • Price
 
2011 Mercedes E class coupe 350 CDI.
Lovely motor, but was starting to get pricey faults and just fancied a change. Never really considered an EV but started reading about um. Then the X Power was launched. And thought why not. Glad I did
wouldn't go back to ICE now. 🙂👍

20251008_074718.webp
 
My previous car was a 2012 Ford C Max 1.6 Diesel. We chose that with the goals of greater economy than the 2004 Vauxhall Meriva previous to the Ford, £30 Road Tax band, and 6 gears. It did all of that very well indeed. On one occasion I remember getting over 620 miles on a tank during a holiday to Plymouth. Then all the demonising of Diesel started, the widening of the ULEZ zone, and only being a euro 5 spec Diesel it would be subject to ULEZ expansion. That would mean charges on our weekly trips to my mother-in-law. Now I know some would say there's an answer to those charges...but I'm not going there!
So it was time to look for a replacement, the MG4 had not long been released and with a good range (272 miles in Trophy spec) it was probably the first EV to offer this at a reasonable price. I thought I can get ahead of the game with the then ban on Petrol and Diesel car sales from 2030, zero road tax, no ULEZ and by buying a yearly permit for £10 there would be no congestion charge either, what is there not to like. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and of course that has all changed now, with the weakening of the ban on ICE car sales to 2035 at one point, and the zero emissions mandate introduced instead. I've learnt over my years you can never really get ahead of the game when it comes to motoring. Now of course EV's are subject to road tax and soon congestion charge too from next year. But at least this government is bringing the ban of ICE sales back to 2030.
My test drive of the MG4 proved it to be a revelation, with so much kit and modern tech and performance compared to the C Max. I took delivery of my MG4 Trophy in March 2023. As a technical person I love the control you have over home charging and reduced pence/mile running cost over ICE cars, and for those who say I wouldn't buy an EV because of not being charge it anywhere my normal reply is, but you haven't got a petrol station on your driveway! Maybe I'm lucky because I can charge at home.
 
Currently driving a 2021 Kia Niro PHEV (company car) which isn't that bad, does around 30 miles on electric alone and another 450miles on petrol, has a few annoying quirks such as the constant 'bonging' when reversing that you cannot turn off !! Terrible sat nav that will tell you things like 'keep left' (when on a dual carriageway) and then all of a sudden will chime up 'now turn right' the GPS that loses all signal if I go anywhere near Bradford for some reason ???
But the company are pretty much trying to get people out of company cars and introduce the salary sacrifice scheme so I signed up. Price wise the MG4 was one of the best and then it came down to either being sensible and going to the Trophy extended range or have some fun and go with the Xpower (both about the same cost per month).
As I'm the big 6 'O' next year I thought sod it, I'm not getting any younger and ordered and Xpower, which has now been sitting at the dealership for 5 weeks whilst I wait for the company to sign the paperwork !!!
 
My last car was a Seat Arona FR Sport DSG .
It was a lovely car but when the time came to renew the lease cost had risen by around £150 / mth !

As I do quite a lot of miles I was spending around £250 a month on petrol so decided to go for the MG 4 .My Hive app tells me that this year I've spent around £290 on electricity charging my car at home . Add probably another £250 on public chargers and the MG4 has made massive savings for me .
 
Mine was a 67 plate Vauxhall Insignia - company car. It was supposed to be replaced by a Volve V60 PHEV but (after a few months) Volvo cancelled the order so I still had the Insignia. The only benefit I gained from this was a free home EVSE. :)

The company footered about regarding updating the company car list - this, plus my general feeling of stress prompted me to opt for early retirement, which meant the company car needed to go back so I had to find a replacement. Like @Rolfe I was interested in a full EV (after all, I already had the EVSE) and the MG4 fitted the bill perfectly ... a mid-sized hatchback (think Astra/Focus sized), rear wheel drive, decent handling, and the SE SR had enough range for pretty much any trip I was likely to do so I was sold. The rest is history, and ERO is coming up 3 years old next month. :)

(I thought about the SE LR but I reckoned the extra £2.5k would pay for a hell of a lot of rapid charger sessions when needed).
 

Are you enjoying your MG4?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1,021 77.9%
  • I'm in the middle

    Votes: 194 14.8%
  • No

    Votes: 96 7.3%
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