Did a longer TD of the petrol DCT sharp variant yesterday and below are my observations. Please keep in mind that my current drive is a Ford Fiesta Petrol Automatic. I am not an enthusiast by any stretch and fall under the regular average consumer.
The Good
1. Light steering that makes you feel like you are riding a sedan. I found it very easy to maneuver in the Bangalore traffic. My TD was from 9 to 10 AM - peak traffic time and I had no problem navigating this bulky vehicle. I could not go past 60 anywhere thanks to traffic. Steering was light even at 60. That is kinda my preference as well. So I am listing it as a plus for me.
2. Once you cross the 20 kmph, the vehicle is happy to rev and made overtaking easy. Switching to manual makes it a lot more easier.
3. Suspension is definitely on the softer side. I loved the way it soaked up the completely dug up Horamavu roads like a sponge. There is a slight bouncy feel inside when you go over fly overs for example. I am assuming you will have that effect in high speed cruise as well.
4. Mom who is 66 found it very easy to get in and out of the rear seat. That is always her biggest complaint with my fiesta where we have to give her a hand in getting out. She loved the space and comfort despite me going through some bumpy roads.
5. Brother seated in the front passenger seat enjoyed the space as well. He is 6'3 and I'm 6'1. Both of us found a comfortable seating position in no time. Major brownie points here.
6. Panoramic sunroof is definitely for folks in rear seat. I had the curtains open through out my drive and did not feel any difference to when it was closed. May be I was focused on just the driving. Rest of the family enjoyed it.
7. Wow factor huge in this. Parking it in my community after TD had a small group gather around quickly.
8. Creep function does the job to keep the car moving in bumper to bumper traffic.
9. Good confident braking
10. Enormous boot space. With rear seat folded can sleep 2 adults comfortably. Will come in handy on those unplanned road trips.
11. Voice controls worked surprisingly well. No need to say hello mg for volume up / down and temp setting. Rest needs the trigger word. Annoying part is you got to wait for a couple of seconds after Hello MG.
12. Good AC and music system.
13. With the music on, I could barely hear the outside world.
14. USB on IRVM to connect dash cams.
The Meh
1. A second or so lag as the car gets rolling and moves up to 20 kmph. I did not feel it as a negative as my Fiesta has the same or worse lag. Might be for people coming from a different setup.
2. No sliding arm rest - It is apparently not to block the electronic buttons for 360 parking, AVH etc, ugh! The current armrest position and size is still much better than that in a Harrier which i found absolutely useless.
3. The boot floor in my TD had the soft top material wearing away already. If you are buying, one of the first things to do is to change it to a rubber mat or some thing else.
4. Definitely feel a slight body roll on tight cornering. Not sure if a bigger tire profile would help here. Maybe the harrier's 235/65 would be a good option here?
5. Camera quality could definitely be improved. Does the job, but could be better.
6. The horn sound is very much heard inside and that's a very unpleasant one too.
The Bad
1. Touch screen lag. In this day and age where we get super fast responses in a 5k budget smart phone i cannot see a logic behind this. This seems like they have purposely gone out of their way to make the screen slow to respond. The SA did not have an answer to this. Maybe this is done to make the screen life last longer in some weird logic?
2. Quality of plastics is definitely on the cheaper side in some areas - the sides of the seat where the seat belt buckle goes, the base of the center arm rest, below the steering unit. Essentially any plastic that is not at an eye level has been given this treatment. Very 'chalu' of MG to do some cost cutting.
3. No Automatic IRVM and the rear visibility on the poorer side. I was looking mostly at the side ORVMs while driving.
4. Using the touch screen while driving a strict no-no. I could not even find where the home button was.
Are any of these deal breakers? Not for me. But it could be for others depending on where your priority lies.
Only big features missed IMHO on comparison with its rivals are - Drive Modes and Ventilated Seats. Not big on my list. I have decided to go ahead with my booking for now. Will TD Seltos when it is available. I had canceled by Harrier booking since it did not have an automatic. Not sure if the Seltos DCT will make me cancel the Hector as well.
Few things to consider changing for folks getting the vehicle.
1. Remove the center rear red reflector and the Internet Inside badge the moment you step out of the showroom. Just yuck!
2. A very weird sounding horn - something i will probably change if i were to get it.
3. May be change tire to 235/65?
4. Explore if the camera can be swapped to a higher resolution one
I did about 20 kms in total and reset the trip 2 at the start of the drive. Halfway through I noticed trip 2 only shows KM/Hour and not KM/L. So I reset Trip 1 and drove the rest of the way. So You can see in below pics Trip 2 showing 19.6 kms in total with 27 KM/H and Trip 1 showing 8.8 kms with 12.1 KM/L. The fact that this was in usual bangalore traffic conditions is encouraging. Even if this is inflated, i would be happy if I get 10 in city driving conditions that I currently get with my fiesta. The SA who accompanied me said there is a way to change trip 2 to KM/L setting as well but even he was not able to figure it out after fiddling around for a bit.
The SA said the insurance had to be obtained from them for getting all benefits (the usual story they sell). 3 customers who got delivery in the past week went to inquire outside and eventually returned to them as they could not get a cheaper quote outside apparently (might be another story he is selling). The provider is Go Digit.
My Concerns
1. Long term reliability - although this is kind of taken care by the warranty and service packages
2. How annoying will the touch screen be? The volume is the only one i fiddle around with during my drive normally and thankfully there are buttons on the steering for it. What happens if the touch screen just stops functioning or gives up after the 3 year warranty?
3. The lower side cheap plastics are bound to get scratched easily. Is there any way I can avoid that with a kid in the car? Any suggestions for this?
4. Only 2 service centers in Bangalore - Yelahanka and Electronic City
