[deehunk]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

There is an extension with a Velcro that you can stick to the rear of the rear seats. However not sure if there anything that can extend till the hatch.

The velcro can be locked in position by two lift pins. There are slots for the pins on left and right side plastic panels inside the boot.

[Ithaca]

Every channel worth its salt has now uploaded their first driving impressions on YouTube.
All find the suspensions soft, unresponsive engine till turbo kicks in at 3000 rpm after spooling around 2500 rpm and a light steering.
But on the whole, they are very positive about the vehicle.

I hope MG Hector takes a very bold calculated risk and prices this vehicle deliciously and gains a toehold in this very competitive market.
Hope they can overcome the negative impressions we have about "Chinese" products.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

MG Hector Understands These 90+ Voice Commands

80) 10086(phone number)
81) Dial 10086(phone number)


Source: https://gaadiwaadi.com/mg-hector-und...s-details/amp/

Wonder why that number is given as an example? Because it's the customer service number of China Telecom. Have a look at their website 10086.cn

@MG please change it to 100 or 112 in the next press release would be more apt for India

[GrammarNazi]

A car with soft suspension (viz good for city driving conditions) having a significant amount of turbo lag (viz bad for city driving conditions) is an odd way to tune the product. Wish it came with switchable ECU maps wherein one can opt for the turbo to spool much earlier through "City Mode".

Anyway, Fit and finish seems better than XUV5OO but dimensions internally and externally are a full size smaller.

During the Harrier price-unveil, the often repeated concern was that it's priced too close to the new XUV5OO. So, again that aspect remains to be seen. Let's see.

The reversed tachometer is counter intuitive.

I haven't seen any MG advts lately on television. Wonder how their marketing division plans to raise brand awareness.

P.S. : Hope MG brings in the car with long warranty periods. This aspect adds great value to the product since people are relieved of reliability concerns for a "new brand" & also frankly they'd appreciate that this "Chinese company" is confident about the product.

[Sebring]

They are going by the book. Awareness is already created (and in an astounding way), so the next thing of concern is Brand Rejection, i.e. after launch. So they will work on it. Post that is Brand Acceptance, where advertising is in 'cruise-control' mode. Then, brand loyalty.

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Wonder how their marketing division plans to raise brand awareness.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by Sebring

They are going by the book. Awareness is already created (and in an astounding way), so the next thing of concern is Brand Rejection, i.e. after launch. So they will work on it. Post that is Brand Acceptance, where advertising is in 'cruise-control' mode. Then, brand loyalty.

I may be wrong, but is this the badge under which Tata's Indica used to be sold in some countries? IIRC, it was "MG Rover". And Rover had some connection with British Leyland which was taken over by the Hindujas. That was a rather fluid web.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Leyland


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...se-indica.html (Why MG Rover chose Indica ??)

[Dr.Naren]

Video Review:

https://youtu.be/wv1k9fDVUOE

[deehunk]

I think this is the most comprehensive review of the interiors and features inside Hector available on youtube. This person deserves lots of appreciation for his 'bayankaramaana' efforts.

https://youtu.be/glCZIfAKjss

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

I may be wrong, but is this the badge under which Tata's Indica used to be sold in some countries? IIRC, it was "MG Rover". And Rover had some connection with British Leyland which was taken over by the Hindujas. That was a rather fluid web.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Leyland


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...se-indica.html (Why MG Rover chose Indica ??)

MG was an offshoot of Morris. It later got acquired as part of BMC later British Leyland when the UK government nationalised it. Jaguar was spun off and British Aerospace acquired the rest and later sold the entity on to BMW.

BMW stripped Mini out. Sold Land Rover to Ford and the unprofitable, unviable black hole consisting of Rover and MG (only brands in existence) were sold to a group of partners - the Phoenix Group who ravaged the company and tried selling 3000 puns Indicas at twice the price. The Rover name was owned by Land Rover and licensed to Phoenix. After the asset stripping, Phoenix went bust and sold the MG brand name and the plant making the last MG saloon to Nanjing Auto which was acquired by SAIC. (The Rover 75 upon which the MG was based on was licensed to SAIC and sold as the "Roewe". SAIC were peeved at Nanjing not just having the rights but also the plant hence acquired Nanjing).

[diwa]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

....Anyway, Fit and finish seems better than XUV5OO but dimensions internally and externally are a full size smaller.

During the Harrier price-unveil, the often repeated concern was that it's priced too close to the new XUV5OO. So, again that aspect remains to be seen. Let's see......

So when you are comparing to XUV500, are you inferring that the interior room space is less than XUV500?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Haven't seen so much of crowd, customer enthusiasm, TD waiting queues and bookings for any recent launch.

And it's not a small budget car either! Definitely answers the - Will Indians accept this British cum Chinese brand question for me. :control

If the price is right - Harrier and XUV 5OO will both get the fight of their lives!

Took a short test drive after waiting for about 45 minutes (Was 8th in the waiting list when I gave name for TD).

[AYP]

The Hector diesel driven by Faisal Khan. It is the engine to go for if you want the 'kick in the pants' feeling .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM1QoORoviU

Gearshifts have been described as slightly notchy. The motor indeed does sound quite vocal.

Looks like drivability is not going to be a strong point for the Hector.

[84.monsoon]

Had a look at the MG Hector today at Chennai OMR showroom. The showroom is still going through the finishing touches. I am not sure how they got the two huge Hectors in, since the showroom floor is on the first floor and there did not seem to be any obvious ramps to bring them in!

There were about a dozen people cheking out the Hector, there was a paucity of sales people to attend to the crowd. The profile of interested prospects in the showroom seem to be young familes with a couple of chilldren, who are not living with parents and so don't need seven seats. The Hector seems to be aimed at people who have owned a couple of cars in their 20s and early 30s, maybe already own a compact SUV or Sedan and want more specace for the growing family and outstation trips, are very feature-concious but don't sense/mind a lower level of driving pleasure.

The vehicle is massive and it looks bigger than a VW Tiguan, BMW X3, Benz GLC and even a Honda CRV. It is near-about the size of a Skoda Kodiaq visually although a bit narrower. Considering the speculated launch price of 20 lakhs or so, which is almost half the price of the Kodiaq, this one for sure brings unmistakable value to the table, at least in terms of sheer size per rupee. The quality of finishing and paint on the outside looks nearly as good as the Kodiaq though inferior to the Tiguan. There were two variants on display, the Smart and the Sharp both in Diesel (top two variants). They are nearly identical and it was hard to tell one from the other - the alloy wheels, door handles, deacls, headlights all look the same. The main difference is the sunroof and bit of extra chrome on the front of the Sharp. The "internet inside" logo would be the first thing I would remove if I were to buy the car. It is massive, crass, ugly and far too prominent

The driver seat is pretty comfortable and not too soft as some reviewers point out. The steering has both tilt and telescoping adjustments and it is easy to find a comfortable driving position. No fouling of the knee with the dash as observed in the Harrier. The clutch pedal is fairly soft but tad bit long in travel. The gear throws at standstill are not too long or notchy. I don't think this one is going to be very hard to dive in traffic, although I did not get an actual test drive. The steering wheel looks nice and feels good to hold. The space is cavernous although the driver's seat itself is not too wide. The range of electric seat adjustments is genrally adequate, although I would have prefered a bit more upward movement of the seat to get a proper SUV driving position.

The armrest is fine, not too far back like the Harrier, The level of cushioing on the elbow rest of the door leaves room begs to be improved, it is a less than adequate for comfort during long travels. The blind spot from the ORVM and A-pillar is much less than the Harrier. All in all, this vehicle seems to have far fewer ergonomic flaws than the Harrier.

The massive touchscreen is visually stunning but a little laggy in operation. I do think the essential controls such as volume, airconditioner temperature etc. shold have been physical knobs. The roof fabric is very light colored, almost white and highly likely to get soiled very soon after purchase, especially if the car is not owner driven.

Space in the rear is masive as well. MG did provide 60:40 reclining rear seats and the range of recline adjustment is superb, essentially you can lock the seat back at any position on its way when it is being folded forward to create a flat loading area, as well as fold it to a very good angle backwards. You can essentially go all the way from sittling almost bent forwards to reclining at an angle of nearly 25-30 degree back from vertical. The near-flat floor is also a huge advantgae. However, there are a couple of big misses in the way MG has set up the back seats. I just don't understand why MG did not provide better under-thigh support. The cushioning in the back is also way too soft and this combined with such poor under-thigh support will mean the back seat will not be easy on the backs or legs of passengers on long journeys. Such a pity, MG missed a great opportunity to make the Hector the SUV with the best back seats in business. They shopuld have provided better countouring, wider seat bench, slightly firmer cushioning, a "boss button" to move the front seat forward and maybe even a way to get an "ailrline business class" like seat - similar to the "Magic Seat" in the earlier Honda Jazz, which allowed the front passenger seat-back to recline almost flat and connect with the rear bench providing a full length footrest for the rear passenger. Together with the serious level of recline possible on the backreast, this would have created the perfect vehicle for the Chauffer-driven!

The boot is massive but the retractable boot cover looks flimsy and cheap. The burgundy color looks very nice, better than the cherry-red shade of the Innova. The red looks too much "in your face". I think MG's take of the silver color will be quite classy and I would pick that if I were buying this car. The sales person claims there are 300 booking, 50% on-line and 50% from the showroom, just in Chennai. Deliveries are promised from August. The SA thinks it is now all down to the price and hinted that people may change the variants they booked and possibly "downgrade to lower variants" once prices are announced, rather than cancel their bookings. It seems to me that we may be in for a bit of sticker-shock once prices are announced.

[knrn]

I visited the the MG showroom today to see the hector. Right after that I visited the TATA showroom to have a look at the Harrier also in order to have a comparison. I am no expert and whatever knowledge I have is acquired from this forum and YouTube. So I can only add my layman's perspective.

Disclaimer- I presently own a santro. So everything in short was big and soft and comfortable for me. I was impressed HUGELY by both but here is my point of view.

The Hector first.

The showroom was spacious and nice. Full of people(around 20). The staff was well knowledgeable about the product and with aggressive marketing skills. Intrusive I would say. More on this later.

Exterior- it looks quite imposing. Big big vehicle. Very long but it looks short on height and narrow so it appeared rather disproportionate. The exterior is all bling bling chrome and white LEDs. That front grill is huge and so is the MG badge on it- said to contain a tracker device. The internet inside badge is crass. I will take it off the first thing if I buy it. MG badges in chrome on both sides. Excessive indulgence I would say. Wheels look smallish and secondly they are 225 section Goodyear's. Alloy design is ok. Hector could have had bigger tyres. Overall a biggish but rather narrowish car.

Interior- as soon as you enter you are blown away by the panoramic sunroof. It is big, imposing and rather looks nice. But with outside temperatures touching 47 in summers I doubt its overall usability. The seats are rather soft. But the seat base length was short. Driving seat was comfortable. I adjusted quickly. But then I am only 5'8". How much effort would it take? The CO passenger seat was rather close by. The dash and inside had nice materials. The inside is dominated by the large touchscreen. It is supposed to control everything inside the car. I find the absence of physical buttons for essential features as a miss. The sales executive was hell bent on telling me its features. Rather than the vehicle and overall driving experience he was hell bent on telling me the features of the infotainment system. I jokingly said that you are trying to sell a Multi purpose stereo infotainment system with the car and engine as freebies. And surprisingly this was my overall impression also. The rear seat legroom though being spacious but the rear seat I found to be small. 3 abreast would be rather touchy and intimate as I found out with people trying to sit and squeeze in. So I got out.

The boot has an auto open function which was nice.

My final impression- I think of a vehicle as a piece of mechanical engineering. How it drives it feels it rides. How is it on road.
I would rather buy a home theatre system and attach it with Alexa rather than the Hector.

Not wanting to hijack this thread but the Harrier was more spacious, comfortable and physically re-assuring. The sales guy had no idea and gave me free time to spend with the car. His words- " sir gaadi bahut acchi hai. Baaki aap dekh lo". Just the way I like.

These are my personal opinions. I was not impressed by the Hector. Would rather wait for Harrier to iron out its niggles.

[hydraulicsteer]

Said to be a breakdown during a customer test drive. Source FB post.