[TheWanderer]

Originally Posted by hbkamit

Below is my experience
One good thing is that the AI Inside can be turned off as well so you wont have eyes looking at you when you are driving

Interesting! I did not see this mentioned by anyone till now. How did you do that?

[cuboid]

Originally Posted by hbkamit

Below is my experience

One good thing is that the AI Inside can be turned off as well so you wont have eyes looking at you when you are driving

If this is possible, then this will address a key concern - of an AI bot constantly listening to conversations. How did you do that?

Also, is it possible to remove the AI Bot from the dash completely?

I sincerely hope MG provides this as an option, and not push this down to everybody who otherwise would need the top-spec car.

[hummer]

I am in a huge dilemma, in fact multiples.

I drive a Duster AMT currently, it’s given me peace of mind + freedom, made me not worry about bad roads, no worry about space (seats + boot), great diesel mileage, torq etc

As a car lover, changing the car started itching looking at the new launches by some great brands:
1. Saw the price of XUV7OO (AX5 Diesel AT 5 STR) crossing 22L (no ADAS) at Bengaluru, so it’s ruled out
2. Never liked Creta as every household has one, no to Seltos due to safety issues – this ends my diesel cars list
3. VW Taigun / Skoda Kushaq – didn’t really stood by their brand names in terms of quality, issues reported in new Kushaqs, space & boot size also a concern, I guess Taigun won’t be much different
4. MG Astor – looks like an allrounder, fulfilling most of my desires, ok even as Chinese brand (boot space?), only owner’s real feedback needs to be seen and pricing ofcourse
5. Point 3 & 4 are petrol, so I will be losing that diesel torq and mileage could be a concern

As a responsible individual, I started thinking:
6. Do I really need a new “Petrol” car when Duster is doing a great service?
7. Should I buy a new car spending 16-18 lakhs when the whole world is welcoming Electric Vehicles?
8. Assuming EV boom in 2-3 years, what happens to the resale value of ICE cars we buy now?
9. Should I wait & directly buy a EV after 2-3 years?
10. Just to satisfy my itch, should I buy a pre-owned Tucson or Compass now and buy a new EV later?

I am confused

Just a reference picture of my Duster's 470ltrs boot load during our usual trips

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by cuboid

If this is possible, then this will address a key concern - of an AI bot constantly listening to conversations. How did you do that?

Also, is it possible to remove the AI Bot from the dash completely?

I sincerely hope MG provides this as an option, and not push this down to everybody who otherwise would need the top-spec car.

You can always just turn off the Internet, and Bot is useless, as if you have internet on, just not bot, head unit can also listen to your conversation in addition to your mobile which any way is listening 24X7.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by hbkamit

Below is my experience
Also if you have the 360 degree camera on, when turning the camera automatically switches on - I felt this to be nice feature.

Can you elaborate a bit on what this means? I am not sure I understood - are you saying that if you have the 360 camera feature in your Astor and signal a turn via the indicator stalk, does the 360 camera automatically turn on in the media player touchscreen?

Thanks!

[KapilD]

Originally Posted by hbkamit

Below is my experience

One good thing is that the AI Inside can be turned off as well so you wont have eyes looking at you when you are driving

Could you please elaborate a bit more on the above.

As far as the the user manual goes, its as under



Now, here it says the screen brightness, which hopefully can be dialled to 0. Please confirm

And as far as "Hello Astor" is concerned, it can be switched off as per the below screenshot

Were you referring to this off feature?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Transmission

Can you elaborate a bit on what this means? I am not sure I understood - are you saying that if you have the 360 camera feature in your Astor and signal a turn via the indicator stalk, does the 360 camera automatically turn on in the media player touchscreen?

Thanks!

I don't have a picture/video to confirm, but I think the 360 cams are active at slower speeds.

Reason I say that is I wanted to test if the Cross Traffic Alert works at the front too. It doesn't, but I did notice the blue overlay on the screen shift to the front of the car when I shifted to D, and its guidelines change adaptively with the steering.

Edit: Confirmed! Got a screenshot from one of my videos. We were pulling out of a parked spot (so crawling speeds), and the centre console clearly is in split-screen with both rear cam and 360 envelope visible, with adaptive guidelines. Notice the blue overlay at the front confirming the transmission is in D, not R.

[Naman_Ferrari]

Just went and took a TD of the car. I have to say that it's better than I thought. The car feels super premium inside. Quality is top notch (except the window switches ans rear AC vent).

The driving experience is also pretty good. I couldn't tell it's a 3 cylinder. Found it to be quite smooth except at the top end of the rev range. The car is quite punchy too and acceleration is linear. No point in revving it beyond 4k though. It's almost like a turbo-diesel in terms of power delivery, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Steering is on the lighter side but feels nice to hold. Suspension is good for Bangalore roads. Didn't get a chance to test the high speed stability but from initial impressions, think that will be pretty decent too.

We sold the EcoSport yesterday for quite a decent price and after the TD today, have decided to get the Astor. The driving experience isn't great but for regular city driving, it's more than enough.

Also, I saw questions above about the cameras. They only engage while using the indicators below 20kmph. Above that, they do NOT engage. Camera quality and screen quality IMO is better in the Kushaq. This could be slightly better but all can't be perfect.

Overall, superb package. I would pick this over the rivals any day. To me, it felt like a Volvo XC40 at 50% of the price!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Notice the blue overlay at the front confirming the transmission is in D, not R.

Blue overlay on the 360 cam shows which camera is selected. You can also press it there and the main display on the left will switch to the camera from the side which you pressed.

For example:

Front camera -



Back camera -

[tirumalavoleti]

I see many mentioning chinese car. While Hector is, Astor is a proper European car/compact SUV fom Brit.

But earlier we saw Renault Captur using the name from europe and making india spec platform not as robust as European version

Seltos has not been made on the same platform as that of its australian counter part.

Could anyone help with information if India Astor is truly Brit or its just the name and is a Indianised platform

If its the same platform, we are mis judging Astor as Chinese

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I don't have a picture/video to confirm, but I think the 360 cams are active at slower speeds.
Reason I say that is I wanted to test if the Cross Traffic Alert works at the front too. It doesn't, but I did notice the blue overlay on the screen shift to the front of the car when I shifted to D, and its guidelines change adaptively with the steering.
Edit: Confirmed! Got a screenshot from one of my videos. We were pulling out of a parked spot (so crawling speeds), and the centre console clearly is in split-screen with both rear cam and 360 envelope visible, with adaptive guidelines. Notice the blue overlay at the front confirming the transmission is in D, not R.

Thank you, that clarifies my thoughts!
I think the adaptive front guidelines is a neat touch. I can even imagine using it in some cases (I routinely see people parallel-parking like idiots on the roads here in Bangalore - not leaving enough room for the cars ahead/behind to get out easily)

Originally Posted by Naman_Ferrari

Just went and took a TD of the car. I have to say that it's better than I thought. The car feels super premium inside. Quality is top notch (except the window switches ans rear AC vent).

We sold the EcoSport yesterday for quite a decent price and after the TD today, have decided to get the Astor. The driving experience isn't great but for regular city driving, it's more than enough.

Also, I saw questions above about the cameras. They only engage while using the indicators below 20kmph. Above that, they do NOT engage.

Overall, superb package. I would pick this over the rivals any day. To me, it felt like a Volvo XC40 at 50% of the price!

@Naman_Ferrari Can you directly compare the driving dynamics of the ecosport to the Astor? I have driven/ridden the ecosport a bit so that would help me a lot to understand until I am able to go out and take a test drive in Bangalore.

To me the Ecosport has a slightly stiff suspension and noticeable - although definitely manageable - body roll through faster turns. I find that its NVH levels (petrol) are definitely acceptable to me.

[sandeepmukunda]

Originally Posted by pannags

While MG has indeed hit the sweet spot as far as engine and transmission are concerned, one thing that concerns me is the tech overload. Is MG overdoing it as a matter of differentiation? Just how much tech is too much is difficult to say but in this case, it's loaded to the brim! Have heard stories of Hectors refusing to power up due to system overrides. Also, considering the non-enthusiast buyer, I think ADAS features definitely warrant training.

I can help you ease any fears of ADAS in my TD review below

I took a TD of the 1.3 turbo petrol today.

TL; DR
Summary : Excellent city crossover with all the right bits and some nitty gritties that aren't deal breakers over the competition. I love it, gonna put my money down on this one.

All the feedback comes from someone who drives a 2012 i20 petrol manual asta variant everyday.

The TD car was Aurora Silver exterior with Sangria Red and Black interior, beyond the black version, i believe silver looks best in this car probably after the fiery red color.

I am 5' 10", i love to sit real low in any car for better driving experience, that applies the same for my i20, but adjusting the drivers seat position to lowest, makes the console disappear behind the steering wheel, so that's a negative, i had to set it in middle position to make it visible, also you can offset this by adjusting the steering, but this gets closer to your legs, not optimal, due to this, the ride height is higher, this does help shorter folks, but not me. The driver console was excellent to look at even with the factory protective sticker on, that speaks of clarity (looking at you cheap jeep compass digital cluster which has a ugly light bleed)

The engine sounds really good on startup, love the purr of the engine, frankly it doesn't feel like 3 cylinder, i have driven a 3 cylinder 1.1 lt diesel of grande i10, u can distinctly tell that's a 3 cyclinder but not in the Astor, it feels like a regular 4 cylinder, just like my i20.

Lower end power is real nice, but the gearbox gets confused when you lift off and throttle again, there is momentary pass that can be disappointing for stick drivers, the shifts are real smooth, no jerks, and the speed is very progressive and linear as expected, in comparison Jeep Compass Petrol AT sucks big time, thats the worst gearbox, so slow to react for upshifts or downshifts. This gearbox gets the job done, i never felt to the need to slot it in manual for the shifts, i drove for around 15 kms (perks of being the first person to TD it at 9
30 am).

From a NA 1.2 i drive everyday, this turbo 1.3 is superb, literally, the linear speed increments and the smooth shifts just makes the driving experience more enjoyable, what i didn't enjoy though is the vocals of the engine as the RPM grew, this gets real loud, frankly i wasn't expecting it, but its fine or probably i pushed it too much, i can a bit of an aggressive driver sometimes, my i20 has been forgiving.

Road Noise is nicely filtered, cabin NVH is excellent except when engine roars in high RPMs, the A/C cooling is excellent, as expected and it is very accurate in cooling or warming the cabin as the temperature is adjusted, i did not miss the ventilated seats due to the excellent cabin cooling. The unbranded 6 speaker setup sounds real good, no in your ear thumping bass here, good sound stage, neither feels intrusive nor excellent. Just gets the job done. I paired my phone over BT for streaming spotify on highest stream settings, given the Bluetooth codec hardware setup, the sound quality can differ over CD/drive music. Or even the built in Jio Saavn app. So its 4/5 media setup.

The car is very easy to maneuver with urban steering setting, weighted steering modes don't bother me, as i drive a thumb flicking capable steering setup in my i20, so any setup works for me. The car is not large or anything for it proportions for driving through tiny bangalore lanes ( the benchmark is Skoda superb, that car felt even easier than my i20 to maneuver in tiny lanes).

The driver seat provides excellent bolstering, feels just right, likewise the passenger seat, the second row middle seat sucks, there is no other way about it, the other two seats are just right, so this is actually a 4 + 1 kid setup than 5 adults setup, 5 can take a journey, but the middle passenger will sit almost upright and a bit awkward forward position fighting for his/her legroom with the other two folks, and broad shoulder folks will need to share their shoulder spaces when three sit abreast. So be wary of this, heck my almost 9 year old i20 had a better bench than Astor, i believe this is strictly designed as a four seater, but i am preplexed about why is the car so wide, yet so tight on the inside. (I20 - 1710 width, Astor - 1809 width). Any car pundits in here can explain this?

Sunroof gimmicks don't work for me, so didn't even bother about it.

And now the Elephant in the Room , ADAS lvl 2 setup, i didn't go into the drive thinking about these functions, there is a good reason for that, good technology should never be intrusive nor need our constant inputs, it should just work to helps us.

the car on startup had its lane assists disabled, blind spot, rear cross traffic(RCT) alert, front collision setup(FCA) were enabled.

RCT worked its charm as i was reversing the car, shows nice warnings, heck i was even more scared than the ADAS, as i freakout driving someone else car as i was reversing it.

Next up, Blind spot assist, this was really useful as i was changing lanes, it can be intrusive if amber light on your ORVM can itch your OCD. This was more useful than i thought, cos i can miss a speeding biker easily while changing lanes.

FCA is similar to my anxiety self, the systerm worked like i did, when i had to hard break when a teenage scooter rider took a hard right in front, i instinctively did hard brake, by then the FCA also took over to do the braking, i was driving less than 40KM/hr. So ADAS is a boon, not a devil here, so any apprehension among old folks that aren't ready to adopt new tech, ADAS is always aapke saath. No worries, if still it sucks, you can disable all the driving aids.

With all done and dusted, at the end, my heart fell in love with the gloss black variant, loved the design truly, so whatever it is, this car is getting my hard earned money. No going back now, anway it's been 9 long years since i bought a new car.

And folks, you guys need to stop the chinese sentiment, if those idiots want to listen to my mom arguing with me over why i should stop spending money on a useless gadgets or shiny new tech, i would be glad that they listen to the typical south indian emotional drama and die of heartache. Also privacy is a myth in this digital age, so stop fussing over it. Heck go read about the fiasco with Apple and it's employees privacy.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading my post, this has been fun writing for me too.

[ram87pune]

Hello bhpians.

Just took a TD of the Astor and here are my first impressions.

Exteriors

1. The car looks pleasing to the eyes with a "please all offend none" kind of design which is exactly opposite of the Hector.

2. It definitely feels longer than the competition but it's not too tall to give that SUV feel.

3. Paint quality was impressive and panel gaps and shutlines were pretty tight and uniform.

4. The black colored TD car had red brake calipers while the orange colored display car had them in silver. Don't know why was this difference.

Interiors

1. This is where things get really interesting as there is a sense of sheer quality and solidity to almost all the touch points and surfaces. The doors also close with a quality thud.

2. I found the interiors to be from a VW as a lot of part sharing was visible like the power window switches and the steering controls.

3. The only hard plastics are in the lower part of the dashboard and like it has been mentioned in our review, the bonnet opening switch is badly aligned.

4. You get a good view of the road ahead from the driver's seat and also some portion of the bonnet is visible.

5. The touchscreen is really sleek to operate and voice commands also work as expected.

6. Even though the speakers are not branded like in the Hector I found the sound quality to be pretty good.

7. The infotainment system in the TD car was really slow and was hanging from time to time while the one in the display car was perfectly fine.

8. The horn has a pleasant European tone and it's really loud on the outside while NVH is really well controlled on the inside.

9. Rear passengers have ample legroom but the bench is low on width so seating 3 full sized adults abreast is going to be a tight affair.

10. AC is a chiller and it cooled the cabin in no time at all.

11. The mesh type cover for the panoramic sunroof could have been made with a denser mesh as it let's in quite a bit of sunlight.

12. Boot space seemed to be in the region of 400-450 ltrs but MG has not yet officially quoted any figures for the same.

Driving impressions

1. TD car was the 1.3 turbo petrol model and the engine is fairly refined on startup.

2. While driving on the highway I missed the punch in the gut kind of acceleration you get with VW's TSI engines or even the Hyundai duo's turbo petrol but still for the average Joe this engine more than does the job.

3. The Gearbox is okayish in normal mode and really wakes up in sport mode but still this is not a DCT but being a TC this should be more reliable.

4. The 3 steering modes on offer do make a difference to the steering weight and are not just for show.

5. Ride quality is pretty supple and definitely way better than the hard riding Seltos but sharper potholes do make their presence felt.

6. NVH levels inside the cabin are pretty good and outside noises are kept outside.

All in all I am mighty impressed by the Astor and if priced well that is just undercutting the Korean duo then this has the potential to really shake up the petrol compact crossover segment as it's really a shame that MG could not source a diesel engine to power the Astor thus loosing out on a fairly large chunk of customers.

[dh.harshal]

Originally Posted by ram87pune

Just took a TD of the Astor and here are my first impressions.

Hi,
Can you please confirm which dealer in pune has started the test drives?

[neoonwheels]

Originally Posted by dh.harshal

Hi,
Can you please confirm which dealer in pune has started the test drives?

Pune has only 1 dealer - BUB MG at Wakad on Pune-Mbai highway