YANO (Yet Another New Owner)

[QLeo]

We have just returned home (a two hour journey) from Inverness, where we collected our new MG4 SE Long Range.

The car coped with our roads here in the north west Highlands with ease, an inkling of which we gained during our test drive the other day. It was good on the single track that is the last 7 miles too, and the steep hills here, previously needing a lot of waggling of gear sticks, were a dream.

We stopped in Ullapool, around half way, to do Our First Charge. All went according to plan, and we were comfortable enough to leave it to its own devices. On our return, a Tesla driver was waiting for us to finish so that he could recharge, and it was rather satisfying to to see him casting what must have been envious eyes at our new car. He was very complimentary when we got chatting.

We would very much like to thank everyone on this forum, which we have been studying for the past couple of weeks. All your input, answers and questions have been extremely helpful, and has meant we are not having to learn lessons from scratch. And the near-universal enthusiasm for your MG4s has meant we could be much more reassured that we have made the right decision.

 

[tsedge]

We have just returned home (a two hour journey) from Inverness, where we collected our new MG4 SE Long Range.

The car coped with our roads here in the north west Highlands with ease, an inkling of which we gained during our test drive the other day. It was good on the single track that is the last 7 miles too, and the steep hills here, previously needing a lot of waggling of gear sticks, were a dream.

We stopped in Ullapool, around half way, to do Our First Charge. All went according to plan, and we were comfortable enough to leave it to its own devices. On our return, a Tesla driver was waiting for us to finish so that he could recharge, and it was rather satisfying to to see him casting what must have been envious eyes at our new car. He was very complimentary when we got chatting.

We would very much like to thank everyone on this forum, which we have been studying for the past couple of weeks. All your input, answers and questions have been extremely helpful, and has meant we are not having to learn lessons from scratch. And the near-universal enthusiasm for your MG4s has meant we could be much more reassured that we have made the right decision.

Thanks for sharing your experience, the feedback and welcome to the forums.

 

[Rolfe]

Isn't it just amazing how well it copes with narrow, steep, winding roads! I've never felt so safe.

The Scottish Highlands is a hell of a big area. You don't feel like giving us a bit more of a clue?

 

[AidanTM]

Nice!
Getting mine at 8am tomorrow. Feel like I'm a 5 year old on Christmas Eve right now!

 

[QLeo]

Isn't it just amazing how well it copes with narrow, steep, winding roads! I've never felt so safe.

The Scottish Highlands is a hell of a big area. You don't feel like giving us a bit more of a clue?

I'm usually quite cautious about too much personal detail on open forums, but is the north west Highlands OK?
Let's put it this way. We don't have recharging facilities at home, as we are off grid. Our nearest charger is 7 miles away, the next nearest 25 miles away and the next 45 miles away. Oh grief, I'm scaring myself now...

 

[Rolfe]

I was just thinking you were somewhere near the route I rode on a long trail riding holiday in the summer of 2018. We came down from Durness to Lochinver, mostly on deer tracks and so on, then turned inland, riding between Suliven and Canisp to follow the Oykel eastwards. Amazing scenery.

You're brave getting an EV in these circumstances. Is there any opportunity to make use of solar for the car?

 

[QLeo]

I was just thinking you were somewhere near the route I rode on a long trail riding holiday in the summer of 2018. We came down from Durness to Lochinver, mostly on deer tracks and so on, then turned inland, riding between Suliven and Canisp to follow the Oykel eastwards. Amazing scenery.

You're brave getting an EV in these circumstances. Is there any opportunity to make use of solar for the car?

Oh yes, we see those horse riders from time to time, and indeed, some horses are put up on a neighbour's croft when they are in our area. We are on the NC500 driving route, and if people come the coast road to Lochinver, they would drive past the road to our house.

It is possible that we are being a little brave, but we have good neighbours who have offered emergency charging facilities if we need them. In addition, we believe this is the future, and some inconvenience is not really significant in the grand scheme of things.

Our house supply is sized for the needs of the house rather than any excess (in fact, I'm eyeing vehicle to load rather to voraciously) but yes, at a later stage we should be able to supply some power for the car, at least in summer. In winter, when the day length is just 6 hours, and the sun is only high enough to hit the panels for 2 hours, there's no chance, and our small wind turbine is hopelessly too small to charge a car.

 

[RayReliable]

Nice!
Getting mine at 8am tomorrow. Feel like I'm a 5 year old on Christmas Eve right now!

I couldn’t sleep last Tuesday the day before my delivery

 

[Rolfe]

Oh yes, we see those horse riders from time to time, and indeed, some horses are put up on a neighbour's croft when they are in our area. We are on the NC500 driving route, and if people come the coast road to Lochinver, they would drive past the road to our house.

It is possible that we are being a little brave, but we have good neighbours who have offered emergency charging facilities if we need them. In addition, we believe this is the future, and some inconvenience is not really significant in the grand scheme of things.

Our house supply is sized for the needs of the house rather than any excess (in fact, I'm eyeing vehicle to load rather to voraciously) but yes, at a later stage we should be able to supply some power for the car, at least in summer. In winter, when the day length is just 6 hours, and the sun is only high enough to hit the panels for 2 hours, there's no chance, and our small wind turbine is hopelessly too small to charge a car.

Yes, we came down that road, and our horses were put up at Clachtoll.

I'm sure you'll get by, and things will improve - both as regards the availability of charge-points and what it will be possible to capture at home. One thing that has struck me even here is that there are actually far more charge-points than there are petrol stations. My nearest petrol station is nine miles away but my nearest charge-point is 400 yards away. If I'm coming back from Glasgow the last petrol is 25 miles before I get home, and that closes about ten. In contrast the rapid charger in the same town is 24 hours, and there is another that's more than 10 miles closer to home which is also 24 hours. I should be less concerned about running out of charge than I was about running out of petrol - although the latter concern was addressed by carrying a can of the stuff.

I can't see them putting in new petrol stations anywhere up your way, but I can certainly see them putting in more charge-points, maybe even a lot of them. Assynt as a whole seems like a bit of a desert, and if they don't want to have to be rescuing tourists in EVs every other week, it's surely a no-brainer.

Having a good neighbour is a great thing. I don't have a wall box, I work on a granny lead supplemented by the village charger 400 yards away if I need the juice faster, but I have a neighbour with a wall box who has offered me the use of it if need be. Do keep us posted on how all this goes. (If anyone is justified in choosing the LR, you are!)

 

[QLeo]

Yes, we came down that road, and our horses were put up at Clachtoll.

I'm sure you'll get by, and things will improve - both as regards the availability of charge-points and what it will be possible to capture at home. One thing that has struck me even here is that there are actually far more charge-points than there are petrol stations. My nearest petrol station is nine miles away but my nearest charge-point is 400 yards away. If I'm coming back from Glasgow the last petrol is 25 miles before I get home, and that closes about ten. In contrast the rapid charger in the same town is 24 hours, and there is another that's more than 10 miles closer to home which is also 24 hours. I should be less concerned about running out of charge than I was about running out of petrol - although the latter concern was addressed by carrying a can of the stuff.

I can't see them putting in new petrol stations anywhere up your way, but I can certainly see them putting in more charge-points, maybe even a lot of them. Assynt as a whole seems like a bit of a desert, and if they don't want to have to be rescuing tourists in EVs every other week, it's surely a no-brainer.

Having a good neighbour is a great thing. I don't have a wall box, I work on a granny lead supplemented by the village charger 400 yards away if I need the juice faster, but I have a neighbour with a wall box who has offered me the use of it if need be. Do keep us posted on how all this goes. (If anyone is justified in choosing the LR, you are!)

Thanks so much for all that encouragement. We do love it when folk have experience of our area, though it's usually folk who have stayed at the camp site and have happy memories.

We think you are absolutely right in your assessment of the increase in chargers in our area. In fact, there is at least one community group looking at putting in some chargers - smaller ones, rather than 50kW+, locally and we are hoping at least one other will follow suit.

 

[Rolfe]

I was left to my own devices in Lochinver for a day and a half while some logistics took place - moving horses and bringing in new riders - and I walked the path to Achmelvich and went in for a swim. It was bracing. I think I spent longer getting dry and dressed than I did in the water! The next day I bought some Highland Stoneware pottery, which actually made it home intact. Six months later at Bluff Cove on the Falkland Islands I saw a plate on sale which I had actually photographed on its way into the kiln at Lochinver (knowing I was going to be in the Falklands on the cruise, it caught my eye). Some people at our church go to Achmelvich a lot, to the caravan site, and actually logged into a Zoom service from there during the covid restrictions.

I suppose your problem will be waiting till your car is charged, but if the charge-point you're going to use is near shops or a tea room or something it's not so bad. Our village charge-point is a three-connectors-one-car thing that does CCS, CHAdeMo and type 2, but only one at a time. I can walk home while it does its thing, and walk back before the fine starts to kick in at 55 minutes. The CCS will take me from 20% to 85% in that time. (There is a tea-room there, although it closes at four.)

Using a type 2 connector to get to 100% and let the battery's cells balance will maybe be a more tedious process, but you probably don't need to do that too often - I don't know how often the LR likes to have that done. You'll work it out, maybe after a few mistakes, and it will all become quite routine I suppose.

Talking of mistakes, I went somewhere this week that had free type 2 charging, and I could have stayed on the charger for hours. I showed up with over 92% charge in the car. Silly me, I should have thought ahead.

 

[JDMB]

We have just returned home (a two hour journey) from Inverness, where we collected our new MG4 SE Long Range.

The car coped with our roads here in the north west Highlands with ease, an inkling of which we gained during our test drive the other day. It was good on the single track that is the last 7 miles too, and the steep hills here, previously needing a lot of waggling of gear sticks, were a dream.

We stopped in Ullapool, around half way, to do Our First Charge. All went according to plan, and we were comfortable enough to leave it to its own devices. On our return, a Tesla driver was waiting for us to finish so that he could recharge, and it was rather satisfying to to see him casting what must have been envious eyes at our new car. He was very complimentary when we got chatting.

We would very much like to thank everyone on this forum, which we have been studying for the past couple of weeks. All your input, answers and questions have been extremely helpful, and has meant we are not having to learn lessons from scratch. And the near-universal enthusiasm for your MG4s has meant we could be much more reassured that we have made the right decision.

Welcome. I’m a newbie here too.

It’s a great forum. Lively sometimes, but always informative.

 

[QLeo]

I was left to my own devices in Lochinver for a day and a half while some logistics took place - moving horses and bringing in new riders - and I walked the path to Achmelvich and went in for a swim. It was bracing. I think I spent longer getting dry and dressed than I did in the water! The next day I bought some Highland Stoneware pottery, which actually made it home intact. Six months later at Bluff Cove on the Falkland Islands I saw a plate on sale which I had actually photographed on its way into the kiln at Lochinver (knowing I was going to be in the Falklands on the cruise, it caught my eye). Some people at our church go to Achmelvich a lot, to the caravan site, and actually logged into a Zoom service from there during the covid restrictions.

I suppose your problem will be waiting till your car is charged, but if the charge-point you're going to use is near shops or a tea room or something it's not so bad. Our village charge-point is a three-connectors-one-car thing that does CCS, CHAdeMo and type 2, but only one at a time. I can walk home while it does its thing, and walk back before the fine starts to kick in at 55 minutes. The CCS will take me from 20% to 85% in that time. (There is a tea-room there, although it closes at four.)

Using a type 2 connector to get to 100% and let the battery's cells balance will maybe be a more tedious process, but you probably don't need to do that too often - I don't know how often the LR likes to have that done. You'll work it out, maybe after a few mistakes, and it will all become quite routine I suppose.

Talking of mistakes, I went somewhere this week that had free type 2 charging, and I could have stayed on the charger for hours. I showed up with over 92% charge in the car. Silly me, I should have thought ahead.

Lovely memories of our area. You will understand why we call it the very Centre of the (known) Universe. Thanks for the tips too. Yes, we are looking forward to a change in how we approach "refueling", taking it as opportunities to notice our world.

Your mistake not as impressive as ours - we filled our little trade-in Panda with diesel last week - someone will be getting 3/4 of tank.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh, I did that too.

My Golf was taken off to a car repair garage by the insurance company in March, with the intention of repairing bodywork damage that had happened in December (a BMW came out of a side street and hit me). Nine days later I got an email saying they'd decided to write the car off after all and would be paying me £4,000, please hand back your courtesy car.

I panicked and demanded my car back. They had basically stranded me. I think the repair garage did something to the petrol, maybe drained the tank, because when I got the car back the range on it wasn't what it should have been. Even weirder, its usual warning about low fuel was way out of kilter, resulting in me running out of petrol outside my music teacher's house, as I was about to head for the petrol station a couple of miles away. I'll skip the resulting rescue plan, that involved a bus, my fellow pupil's car, and a can of petrol, but when I got it to the petrol station I filled it right up, and refilled the can. At that point the MG4 was a gleam in my eye and an appointment for a test drive, and I was imagining I'd be driving the Golf all summer waiting for a new car.

That was a Thursday afternoon. On the Saturday the MG dealer told me he had a Holborn Blue SE SR sitting waiting to be registered and prepped for collection, would next Monday suit? I arranged for the insurance people to have the Golf as a write-off after all, and next Monday turned into the coming Thursday. Five days after the test drive. I drove the GTi everywhere I could for these few days, then on the Wednesday evening I took it for a last joyride over the Meldons and Spylaw to scare a few sheep (what else could I do?), but I still just got it barely below the half-full mark. Fortunately a neighbour found herself very low in petrol and concerned about that nine-mile trip to the petrol station, so she got the can-ful.

 

[CarlMG4]

We have just returned home (a two hour journey) from Inverness, where we collected our new MG4 SE Long Range.

The car coped with our roads here in the north west Highlands with ease, an inkling of which we gained during our test drive the other day. It was good on the single track that is the last 7 miles too, and the steep hills here, previously needing a lot of waggling of gear sticks, were a dream.

We stopped in Ullapool, around half way, to do Our First Charge. All went according to plan, and we were comfortable enough to leave it to its own devices. On our return, a Tesla driver was waiting for us to finish so that he could recharge, and it was rather satisfying to to see him casting what must have been envious eyes at our new car. He was very complimentary when we got chatting.

We would very much like to thank everyone on this forum, which we have been studying for the past couple of weeks. All your input, answers and questions have been extremely helpful, and has meant we are not having to learn lessons from scratch. And the near-universal enthusiasm for your MG4s has meant we could be much more reassured that we have made the right decision.

Welcome friend, and nice choice of car

Hopefully it's continually smooth sailing for you and your 4.

I must add, I found that it is a pleasure to drive on twisty roads and takes corners accurately and without much trouble at all, even when rather pushing it. I'm much more confident in my cars (and mine) abilities now that I've had it 6 weeks, 1300 trouble free miles. Usually though I'm driving it like a limousine chocked full of royalty, steady and smooth.

It is a good car all round.

 

[QLeo]

Welcome friend, and nice choice of car

Hopefully it's continually smooth sailing for you and your 4.

I must add, I found that it is a pleasure to drive on twisty roads and takes corners accurately and without much trouble at all, even when rather pushing it. I'm much more confident in my cars (and mine) abilities now that I've had it 6 weeks, 1300 trouble free miles. Usually though I'm driving it like a limousine chocked full of royalty, steady and smooth.

It is a good car all round.

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement.

I've just ordered sloucher's manuals. Is that a rite of passage?

 

[Rolfe]

It's an extremely sensible move and well worth the money. (Mine arrived the morning after I brought the car home. I left them at my friend's house in Halifax last week, but she posted them back, thankfully.)

 

[CarlMG4]

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement.

I've just ordered sloucher's manuals. Is that a rite of passage?

It could well be, I haven't personally but then I've never read through a manual in my life, for anything though I did I find the ones in MG iSmart usable for the few things I've needed to check.

Having a paper manual is definitely handy to have though.

 

[stevegus]

Talking of mistakes, I went somewhere this week that had free type 2 charging, and I could have stayed on the charger for hours. I showed up with over 92% charge in the car. Silly me, I should have thought ahead.

In middle England, i have 16 FREE chargers, of which 4 are 22kw, rest 7kw, 25 mins walk away.

We park there and walk back, collecting car later. 1400 miles and i think ive only paid for about 40kw of electricity.

Helps as im still waiting for BG to complete my EV rate switch

 

[Rolfe]

I've only found these two, on the same day.

Charged the car fully to go away for a couple of days, even though I wasn't going far. Arranged to meet friend at a Botanic Garden. I had seen that there was a free charger there, but ZapMaps had placed it at the road-end, a long walk up the drive from the entrance, and I thought, not worth it. Got there, it's right by the entrance. So I used it anyway, got 3.87 KWh, be still my heart.

Got to our hotel, about 2 miles down the road, and I'm on 99%. The damn hotel has a free charger for guests to use. Not on any maps. We were there two days. Hell's teeth.