XPower - is it nickable?

Freeagain21

Freeagain21

Established Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2023
Messages
58
Reaction score
139
Points
40
Location
Leeds
Driving
MG4 XPOWER
Had a couple of balaclava-wearing scroats on a motorbike follow me home tonight.

1000019193.jpg
Only spotted them behind me as I pulled into the garage.

I've reported it to the police, put my car and garage remotes in a working Faraday box, locked her up for the night with our other car firmly reversed up against the garage door. CCTV is working, etc.

But it got me thinking..... is the XPower so "hot" it's nickable? And what else can I do to minimise the chances of theft?
 
Totally agree about Faraday pouches, these have been brilliant,inexpensive & convenient:

On our ZS EV, the spare key is in a downstairs office near the garage & the personal key & keyring when not in use is usually upstairs above the garage.There have been a spate of kids breaking into or fiddling with cars in our area & so we qucikly realised that that can can simply opened with the door button & start button, & driven away given the proximity of the keys. Doh ...

The pouches work very, very well & for little money. Convenient too beauce the key can simply be moved from the back compartment (shielded) to the front (unshielded) and kept on its belt hook or in a pocket or purse.

Aside from this, perhaps look into engine immobilisers /alarms etc,eg:
www.whichcar.com.au

Best anti-theft options

How to beat car thieves and make sure your new car remains yours
www.whichcar.com.au www.whichcar.com.au
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Had that happen a couple of times with a Golf R, but was aware and didnt go directly home. I have definately got into that mode again of being observant, perhaps a bit paranoid but I dont care 😂 Also the reason why I removed the orange caliper covers in order to make it less obvious, I realise that someone who knows what they are looking at will recognise its an X Power rather than Trophy.
 
Last edited:
Freeagain21 said:
But it got me thinking..... is the XPower so "hot" it's nickable? And what else can I do to minimise the chances of theft?
Click to expand...

Scary ... and glad it went no further. I'm guessing the Xpower could defintely become nickable if they catch on .... being fast, AWD & five doors make a perfect getaway car ala Golf R / Audi S3. Not sure how good the keyless security is and how easy they are to start and drive away though. If they can replicate the Digital Key somehow then who knows ?

I had three scrotes try our back door early one morning to break in a few years ago - most likely for my Golf R keys which was parked in the drive. They went on to steal an Audi nearby, that same night so the police were round straight away to me for CCTV footage etc.

In addition to the advice on Faraday boxes/pouches I assume all your house locks are / have been upgraded to decent anti-snap ones (depending on your doors / patio doors of course ?) After reading this is advised by the police and on the Golf forums I bought some Avocet replacement ones - quite easy to do once you have measured the existing barrel size.

Fortunatley it saved me that night. Good lighting and CCTV may also deter but not in my case and some people have also erected removable/foldable drive bollards too to block the car in.

Return to Invoice GAP insurance is also a good idea on a performance car IMHO - it gives you peace of mind and is great value if you compare quotes online and use someone like ALA. My policies have usually been less than £150 for three years cover. So in the event of a total loss I'd get my full invoice price back from current Insurance value plus the GAP top up.
 

Attachments

  • Scrotes.jpg
    Scrotes.jpg
    193.9 KB · Views: 140
Last edited:
You could get a remote control 12v battery disconnector fitted. It will lose stored info and perform a reset with turning the battery back on but maybe give some piece of mind. Also perhaps useful when leaving at airports etc and you are worried about the battery running down.
 
JonnyG said:
Return to Invoice GAP insurance is also a good idea on a performance car IMHO - it gives you peace of mind and is great value if you compare quotes online and use someone like ALA. My policies have usually been less than £150 for three years cover. So in the event of a total loss I'd get my full invoice price back from Insurance plus the GAP top up.
Click to expand...

First thing I did.
Softens the blow a little bit if it does get nicked.

Definitely nickable IMO.

I dont think the EV will become a getaway car of choice though.

Too much hassle charging and too much faffing about turning off LKA etc for your average scrote. 🤣

Bilking will eventually become a thing of the past!!!

"If someone dispenses fuel and deliberately leaves without paying this is a type of theft. It is known as 'making off without payment' or 'bilking."
 
Last edited:
Hope linking this thread is OK with the mods, if not please just delete it and my post.

I got a few ideas from here and found it helpful.

www.vwroc.com

Home & Car Security

There's some really good home security information in various threads around the forum. I thought it might be useful to try to keep it all in one place. Admins/mods: if you think this is a waste of time or it's already been done feel free to delete this. 😄 I'll start with a question based on the ...
www.vwroc.com
 
Freeagain21 said:
Had a couple of balaclava-wearing scroats on a motorbike follow me home tonight.

View attachment 22773Only spotted them behind me as I pulled into the garage.

I've reported it to the police, put my car and garage remotes in a working Faraday box, locked her up for the night with our other car firmly reversed up against the garage door. CCTV is working, etc.

But it got me thinking..... is the XPower so "hot" it's nickable? And what else can I do to minimise the chances of theft?
Click to expand...

On a serious note m8, just give yourself a moment to do a full 360 of your environment before you exit the vehicle.

If you do see yourself being tailed, drive to your nearest police station (if available or possible)

If you do get caught unawares, just let it go.
Your car can easily be replaced.
You cannot.

Edit : The above assumes they are carrying a weapon of some sort.
Too many scenarios to even begin to give you a gameplan, but I doubt they would try and relieve you of your vehicle with just kind words.
 
Last edited:
I'm assuming that those kind of people know if they can get into Range Rovers easily then a "cheap Chinese car" (other people's opinion, not mine) should be simple. I use a faraday pouch from Amazon which when tested on day 1 wouldn't unlock using the door handle button when keys were in pouch, so I'm happy with that. Failing that if I did see anyone near car, press the lock button and it starts the horn and hazard lights, so that will hopefully send them running.
 
lsb777 said:
I'm assuming that those kind of people know if they can get into Range Rovers easily then a "cheap Chinese car" (other people's opinion, not mine) should be simple. I use a faraday pouch from Amazon which when tested on day 1 wouldn't unlock using the door handle button when keys were in pouch, so I'm happy with that. Failing that if I did see anyone near car, press the lock button and it starts the horn and hazard lights, so that will hopefully send them running.
Click to expand...
Didn't know that (about the lock button). Thanks!

JonnyG said:
Scary ... and glad it went no further. I'm guessing the Xpower could defintely become nickable if they catch on .... being fast, AWD & five doors make a perfect getaway car ala Golf R / Audi S3. Not sure how good the keyless security is and how easy they are to start and drive away though. If they can replicate the Digital Key somehow then who knows ?

I had three scrotes try our back door early one morning to break in a few years ago - most likely for my Golf R keys which was parked in the drive. They went on to steal an Audi nearby, that same night so the police were round straight away to me for CCTV footage etc.

In addition to the advice on Faraday boxes/pouches I assume all your house locks are / have been upgraded to decent anti-snap ones (depending on your doors / patio doors of course ?) After reading this is advised by the police and on the Golf forums I bought some Avocet replacement ones - quite easy to do once you have measured the existing barrel size.

Fortunatley it saved me that night. Good lighting and CCTV may also deter but not in my case and some people have also erected removable/foldable drive bollards too to block the car in.

Return to Invoice GAP insurance is also a good idea on a performance car IMHO - it gives you peace of mind and is great value if you compare quotes online and use someone like ALA. My policies have usually been less than £150 for three years cover. So in the event of a total loss I'd get my full invoice price back from current Insurance value plus the GAP top up.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. Yes, all Avocet locks. Will look into GAP insurance, especially as we bought the car outright and will be paying it off into the next century.
 
For GAP insurance I have used gapinsurance.co.uk they cover for both bought and leased vehicles. I have used twice now, they were best in price for me, they are very knowledgeable and dont push unwanted extras on you.
 
The worry is although they didn't try anything that night they might try later. A lot of cars nowadays are being stolen to order so if they get a customer of an XPower they know where one is.
 
Support us by becoming a Premium Member

Latest MG EVs video

MG3 Hybrid+ & Cyberster Configurator News + hot topics from the MG EVs forums
Published
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom