[pavi]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thats Great ! People can call her behenji instead

That’s makes MG ‘Indian’ too, in addition to being ‘human’ .
I hope the car won’t call you back ‘bhaiyya’

[Batfreak]

Went to the MG South Delhi outlet in Lajpat Nagar on Sunday evening to check out the Hector 2.0 Diesel. The showroom was pretty crowded and they didn't even have time to attend to the customers. Can't blame them for sure, there was literally a stream of people flowing in at all times.

Here are brief initial impressions:

1. The exterior build quality is really solid. All metal panels have a really nice heft to them and they inspire a lot of confidence in the product. Paint quality is really good too, with very little to no orange-peel effect on the surface, even on really close examination of the deeper metallic shades like the flagship red. Shut lines are consistent for the most part, and that I believe will be further tightened up by the time the cars are ready for delivery.
2. I was not quite impressed with the design by looking at the photographs because they make the car appear pretty disproportionate. However, look at the car, particularly the face, in the flesh and you will find the design imposing and intimidating. The dynamic indicator lights (floating in MG parlay) and the LED headlamps are a big hit. It is still nowhere near as proportional and butch as the Harrier but it sure does stand its ground - the stance comes across more similar to the new Audi Q7, lying somewhere in between the typical station-wagon and SUV shapes. While this design might not necessarily be the best for us BHPians who prefer their cars a bit staider and classier; I am sure that for the masses, the shear real estate available and the liberal application of chrome would do the trick. This car definitely turns head on the road. In fact, during our test drive, at a traffic light, one Dzire owner backed his car up alongside our car to be able to get a peek inside.
3. Step inside the car and it instantly scores on the perceived premium-feel. The layered dash with soft-touch leather inlaid materials up front feels rich. It is not difficult to find scratchy hard plastics, particularly on the top of the dash but none of these surfaces feel like they will give way over time. Everything felt well screwed together and the ergonomics for the front were also rather good, with everything falling to hand quite easily. The powered seats make it easy to find a comfortable driving position. However, I did feel that the cabin was a bit narrow, perhaps due to the design of the dash and the portrait screen that exaggerate the height of the car, instead of the width.
4. The rear seat however is not a very good place to be in, particularly for my 6'1" frame. There are acres of headroom and legroom, mind. In fact, the legroom is enough to allow you to sit with your legs folded, even for people with my height with the drivers seat adjusted for my position. The last car that I remember being able to do this in was the Nissan Sunny and the Indigo XL of yore. However, the seats are severely lacking in under-thigh support for taller people. IMHO, the seat should have been placed an inch higher. Simultaneously, the armrest has been placed slightly higher up, which is good for taller people but might not be as comfortable for people with a smaller height. That been said, the back support is very comfortable with a good compound - not too soft and with good lower back support. The reclining seat back is also a very usable and good feature to have. Seating three average sized adults abreast, however, is not as breezy as I had expected, reconfirming that the cabin is indeed a bit narrow.
5. The height of the vehicle is also not very high as in traditional SUVs and getting in and out is easy. If I was to nitpick, the height of the hood up front is pretty high and although you can see the entire hood from your perch, parking could be a bit difficult because you might miss things placed lower. This is one car that really needs the 360 Camera and the Front Parking Sensors (which have been, niftily, added to lower trims as well) .
6. The infotainment system is slick and fast to respond. There is little lag to speak of and most controls are intuitive. The voice commands did not work really well for us but from what I gather here, they seem to work well for most people. However, I am a bit old school and prefer manual dials and buttons, particularly for the most used functionalities because they ensure that you can operate them on the go. To paraphrase a common automotive saying, there is no displacement for tactile feedback. But this is solely down to a personal preference and this setup would be very lucrative for a majority of our tech-savvy junta.
7. The boot, of course, is very wide and accommodating. The addition of the power tailgate functionality and the hands-free opening, make it really good and accessible. The loading lip, however, is a bit high meaning that you will have to lift luggage to be able to push it in.
8. Now comes the most important part, the drive. Sadly, owing to the heavy rush, we were only offered a very short TD. The initial impressions are positive though. Push the start button and the engine comes to life with minimal vibrations. The 2.0L Fiat sourced Diesel pulls cleanly, even in stop-go traffic. Although we didn't get much clear running space on the perpetually crowded Ring Road, the engine seems to respond well to little dabs of the accelerator as well. The transmission is slick and all gears slot in well. NVH levels too are pretty well controlled and minimal road and engine noise filters through, although I cannot comment about the wind noise just as yet. The suspension is soft for the most part but there is an underlying stiffness to the ride. However, with the top heavy design and relatively softer springs, I suspect there will be a fair amount of body roll around corners, but again, it would be unfair on my part to comment on that right now. There was a squeak coming from the front right suspension and that was a bit disconcerting but then again, some niggles are definitely to be expected, particularly in the early versions. I am hopeful that this will be sorted out by the time the car reaches the customers.

Summing up, the MG Hector does make for a very compelling buy, particularly with the peace of mind that the 60% assured resale and the MG Shield Warranty and Maintenance packages that are being offered along with the car. It helps that it has been priced really well and even if you buy the second from the bottom Super trim, it has a lot of features to keep you happy and satisfied and works out to be extremely good VFM. It seems to be a very well rounded product indeed, with it working well in most scenarios. I am sure that it will be lapped up by the masses and will be the brand builder that the company needs - the Hyundai Santro moment for MG, if you will.

Booking can be done by paying an amount of INR 50k and deliveries are expected by end-September or early-October. I would, however, definitely recommend waiting for a few months, if possible, so that MG can iron out some of the initial kinks in the product and of course, wait for the Official T-BHP review for an in-depth analysis before you take a call (eagerly waiting for that myself).

[Brishti]

Inside the fit & finish is worse than Harrier but not by a huge margin. Other than that, the clutch is different than Compass with more sensitivity, which resulted in me stalling the car twice.

[sreejinair]

I went to the local showroom here in Aurangabad which is still under construction. Its supposed to open in the next 10-14 days. They have got like 70 bookings and have a waiting list of 18 to 20 weeks (5 months), I told them they dont have a lot of booking, compared to the waiting list of 5 months in Pune where they have booked in hundreds. They said they have been told by the company to say 18-20 weeks regardless of the number of bookings they have.

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

I was trying to imagine a conversation between two normal Customers, not auto enthusiasts or BHPians. It would be something like this. (No Offense at anyone, just for fun)

GUY1: Buddy did you check out MG Hector Pricing?
GUY2: Oh yes!, What a Fantastic Debut. They just Arrived in Style.....
.......
GUY1: So what will you do for your immediate requirement?
GUY2: Well, I am going to Hyundai Showroom today to book Creta, it's the fifth one in our family. Solid, reliable and Safe.
GUY1: Wow congrats buddy. When did you test drive that? How was it?
GUY2: One doesn't need to TD Creta my friend. All my Uncles and Aunts are all very happy with it. It just cannot go wrong.
GUY1: WELL!!

This discussion is more fact than fiction. They would find some flaw (read: excuse) and hang onto it as a reason to not purchase.
Few e.g. come to mind -
Hector - "Chinese hai"
Hexa - "Arre, Tata hai! Who will spend 21 lakh on a Tata"

And then go ahead and do what you have stated above. Herd mentality at its finest.

[Ithaca]

Would be much obliged if any Mumbaikar, Thanekar, or Navi Mumbaikar could post the pricing of the Hector in Mumbai /Thane /Navi Mumbai.
Car seems competent and is priced rather well.
All that remains is the diesel Automatic variant and the ownership experience of the first lot of buyers.

[NAVREVV]

The Hector Effect?

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by ayankm

I was watching one of the reviews of MG Hector, and the reviewer says this "hello behenji" and guess what, MG responds.

I have not seen the video but i suspect that behenji was confused with MG by the car. The words are pretty rhyming / similar sounding

[sreejinair]

Quick question for everyone, does anyone know about the safety ratings of the MG Hector, Wuling Almaz, Chevrolet Captiva or Baojun 530?


By the way the Baojun 730 MPV gets 5 star rating in C-NCAP Safety Testing, link --> https://media.gm.com/media/cn/en/gm/...y-testing.html and I think even the 560 gets 5 star rating. But what about the 530?

[ArvindMaveric]

I took a TD yesterday (JP Nagar, Bengaluru) and I must say I was quite impressed by it. Below are my observations:

1. The Diesel packs a punch, but the snappy clutch might play spoiler in traffic as there is a lot of jerky movement and the release needs time to get adjusted to.

2. The Petrol AT is great as well, but there is an initial lag. When I asked the MG guys, they mentioned that it is due to them not want the Turbo to open as soon as the throttle is pressed for the sake of mileage. I did not quite understand their logic but nodded anyway.

3. Spares will not be an issue because they are manufactured by Bosch, so availability would not be an issue, even if you are stuck in a remote area with no MG service nearby (that is if you can't wait for their RSA to show up).

4. The doors are HEAVY! The wife and my mother had quite a hard time opening it and closing due to the sheer weight. And if I remember correctly, they have the 3-stop motion of closing and opening like most European cars do.

5. The waiting for AT is 5-6 months, especially if you take the Glaze Red color. They said once the deliveries start and the stock allocation is done, they would be in a better position to tell the exact wait period. For now, they have been instructed to quote a higher number. In fact, they were pushing to book a non-Glaze Red color because they claimed 70% of their bookings were for Petrol AT.

6. As mentioned by others, the car is HUGE and the space is incredibly large. Parking in Bengaluru and other metros will be interesting!

7. The Average FE in the TD car showed 3.5 kmpl! But they assured me that it would be between 8-10 in the city and it was 3.5 because the car had been on 120 TDs in a day and there was a lot of time the car was on AC while idle.

I think more information will be out in the next few days. Hope MG Hector can walk the talk!

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by aarvee

MG has kept service interval for Hector at 10k/1yr for P and 15k/1yr for diesel. Why the difference of 5k for P when most cars have 15k as standard now?

Is this confirmed? If they have 5 free services, that would mean no labor charges for the 1 month inspection and 4 annual services. That is quite good.

[dhruvwali]

Received the photo from my SA about service intervals.

Earlier reports were right.

But consumables would still be charged, like regular free services of other brands.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by ArvindMaveric

7. The Average FE in the TD car showed 3.5 kmpl! But they assured me that it would be between 8-10 in the city and it was 3.5 because the car had been on 120 TDs in a day and there was a lot of time the car was on AC while idle.

Of course they will assure, like the Hyundai guys assured me that the CVT will deliver 10-12 kmpl in city but I struggle to extract even 7 kmpl in Bangalore traffic. Keep in mind that the car will not be taking advantage of the turbo (which is supposed to improve volumetric efficiency and better FE) in the bumper to bumper city traffic and expect something like 6-7 at max.

[AGwagon]

Attaching the MG Shield Brochure that I received from MG. The part to note it the 3-60 buyback is coming from Cardekho tie-up and the costing is bundled with a AMC Plan, so I do not think you can take it separately. So they are making sure they will have access to the car at regular intervals to inspect it.

The service as someone just mentioned is only covering the labour for up to 4 years or 40k kms for Petrol, whichever comes first.

The MG Courtesy Car Programme they have no information about as of now.

Spoke to the head of my dealer (one of 2 in Delhi), the bookings have crossed well over 3000 with them. They are largely Petrol DCT and eventhough I had booked the car online within hours of the bookings being open, they are suggesting a delivery date of mid-August!!

I am sure they would not have some of these 15k bookings convert, but boy-oh-boy have they managed to get some attention in the current dismal market conditions.

[drjkonline]

I visited the Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore showroom to check the petrol automatic and I was told it will be back only after 2-3 hrs. Took another look at the display cars. Black looked awesome(heart vs mind tug of war, finally better sense prevailed, not another black car, never!!). White looked good as well(I never liked white in any car), but the small size of the tyres seemed more evident here, correct me if that's not the case. Red looked all bling, and somehow the mind leaned towards colours that downplayed the bling element.

On a lighter note, MG is doing all they can and want you to be reminded of their British heritage even when you empty your bladder.