[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by ram87pune

...

...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...

MG product mgmt. team did say they might use color and highlight (caliper paint, alloy design etc.) combinations to differentiate models, so it's possible that eventually only some variants in certain colors have red calipers and the turbine-design alloys.

We'll have to wait and see a larger sample of production cars to verify if they did indeed go that way.

[shibulijack]

Took a test drive of the 1.3 turbo today. I couldn’t spend a lot of time since there were quite a few folks lined up. Looks like a lot of people are interested in Astor.

Engine
First of all, I could not recognise the 3 cylinder thrum. I tried switching off and on again to check the vibrations but it was barely noticeable (unless one goes searching for). If the spec sheet had mentioned 4 cylinders, I would have believed it. Thumbs up here.

Coming from 1.5 NA in my Verna, this engine seemed to be a bit more torquey and there was adequate power lower down the rpm. The gear shifts were predictable and felt very similar to my Verna TC auto unit. If you are a sedate driver like me, you’d have no complaints whatsoever.

Ride
The ride felt softer than competitors and it’s been setup for comfort. Comparing it to Verna (not fair though), the car was gliding over the roads and for once, I wasn’t worried about bottoming out.

Steering
The steering felt light at city speeds. Coming from Verna, I felt nostalgic. Changing the steering modes didn’t drastically change the steering feel though. That said, the steering wheel with thumb contours felt premium to hold and just the right size. Personally, I didn’t miss the reach adjustability.

Transmission
I was really happy to see the TC paired with the turbo. For a sedate driver, this is a match made in heaven for we don’t have to worry about the reliability too. The gear lever looked really nice with the MG logo engraving but didn’t feel as sturdy as the ones in the competition. The gear shifts were super smooth with a light foot. NVH levels were so good that I had to listen very closely to identify the shifts. I tried pedal to the metal on a vacant stretch and the gearbox was slow to downshift. This is no DSG. That said, this gearbox is perfect for bumper to bumper traffic.

Observations:
- Interior: All the reviewers were right when they said the red interiors look better in person. It definitely feels better than VAG and the Korean twins, and is close to Compass 2021 quality. The digital instrument cluster is crisp and uncluttered. The 10.1 inch touchscreen is pretty decent too and was responsive until I fiddled with the maps which made it a little slower.
- Exterior: Astor looks stunning in Black. The grill is tastefully done and gives a nice 3D look. If I purchase the car, debadging is the first thing I’d do. Paint quality is top notch (definitely better than the black colour in the Korean twins). Personally, I love the understated design of the Astor. Its an elegant design that looks bigger in person.

I couldn’t check the ADAS features but I was sold already. If the MG prices it on par with the competition, I’ll shut up and give my money.

[Sidban85]

Took a test drive in JP Nagar Bangalore dealer.

Coming from Skoda Rapid, the rear seat felt less spacious. Steering was scarily light in City mode. Driver side window had auto up /down. There was another layer below the glass sunroof so parking in sun will still not be totally exposed inside.

Rest of the experience was great.

Any reason why the rear seat feels so less spacious when you compare to other cars? My wife felt it was less spacious than Ecosport in the back.

[hbkamit]

Originally Posted by TheWanderer

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

There is a small button right below the eyes and by pressing that you can switch it off

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.

No unfortunately - we cannot remove the BOT

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!

Yes - when i took a u-turn and the 360 degree feature was switched on. The 360 degree camera automatically turn on to aid us to make the turn

[shibulijack]

Originally Posted by Sidban85

Any reason why the rear seat feels so less spacious when you compare to other cars? My wife felt it was less spacious than Ecosport in the back.

For starters, Astor has the shortest wheelbase when compared with the competition. Also, space management is not Kia's forte (it is no Honda).

[neoonwheels]

Had a nice 50-10 KMs TD of the Astor today:

1. The NVH is super good and the cabin feels very upmarket
2. As many have said, it does not feel like a 3 pot engine. No vibrations on steering of any sort
3. The GB in D mode is finely tuned and you never feel its underpowered for city use
4. The gear shifts in D are so refined, you absolutely don't feel the shifts if you are not very aggressive
5. Slot it into S and the rpms are hold for longer duration and it gives you decent acceleration
6. This is no 1.5 TSI and DSG so please don't expect lightening fast shifts and explosive performance
7. NVH levels are superb. You don't hear engine note and outside noise if you are keeping it under 4K rpm
8. Steering even though pretty direct feels lifeless. The Dynamic mode is good if you are used to some weight in the steering. Urban mode makes it feel like a joystick
9. The audio sound system, even though it does not get a subwoofer, sounds good for average India buyer. Keep the sound at mid level and you won't feel the system out of place
10. The MID is very very crisp and most of the info is available. It was showing 10.5kmpl average but given it's a TD car, I guess you can expect 10-12KMPL in city-highway mix
11. The horn is loud and sounds good
12. The ADAS features are working pretty well. I could feel the steering making small adjustments if I went to the edge of the lines
13. Did not get a chance to check out the emergency braking
14. Car was detecting front car pretty accurately and showing it on the MID
15. Brakes are fantastic and very confidence inspiring
16. The MG logo I guess works as opening level for the boot

Overall, loved the experience and I feel MG really has a very competent car. If they can undercut the Seltos-Creta a bit, this will see good numbers for sure. My choice of colour would be Silver-Black-White.

[dh.harshal]

Astor all black interiors video. It has long AI bot emoticons shots, but still covers the black interior well.
I think, this looks more premium/rich while Sangria Red looks more sporty. Both are more premium & sporty than other cars in the segment, just that they trump eachother slightly.

https://youtu.be/RHQ5_iA0JGo

Tomorrow I'm taking the test drive of Astor and XUV700 both. I'll take baby car seat along to see if Astor can manage the rear space or I'll be left no other option than to shell 6-7 lakhs more for XUV700.

[ranjitht87]

Took TD of Astor 1.3L turbo yesterday.
Astor is bringing crowd to MG showroom. We had to wait for almost an hour as the queue for TD was long.

Although we could do only a 5km ride,the driving experience was excellent.

The 3pot 1.3L Turbo engine is pretty good in doing what is expected. I couldnt feel any vibrations and the NVH was good.
Overall I felt the engine, suspension and driving dynamics to be better than that of 3cylinder 1L turbo of smaller Korean siblings Venue and Sonet.(size and space wise sonet was fitting my needs and so never considered Seltos and Creta)

The reason I wanted to consider Astor over a sub4 suv was ADAS and better build quality and safety.

ADAS for sure was an exciting experience. Adaptive cruise control was working like a charm. It detected a 2 wheeler that jumped the lane, slowed down and then picked the speed as the bus ahead started moving from the bus stop and then smoothly came to a halt as the car ahead came to a halt at a signal.

Blind spot indicator in orvm(is pretty bright even in sunny afternoon), auto hold, 360 camera, reverse drive assist and all makes the driving experience even more better and safer.

What might take sometime to get used to in astor
- The turn indicator stalk is on the left
- The ACC stalk is also very near to turn indicator stalk, couple of times pulled the wrong one while driving.
- The petrol inlet is on the right side(does this gives an indication that astor is built on the global platform and there is no localization?)

Originally Posted by ram87pune

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.

The 1.3L car (black colour) was having the red brake caliper and the 1.5L (white colour) one was having the normal one in the showroom that i visited.
The alloy wheel design was also different for 1.5L.
Also noticed that 1.3L was having continental tyres and it was goodyear in 1.5L.

[Nester]

I have recently joined the forum so my sincere apologies if this post is on the wrong thread.
A very newbie question , can anyone give some insight on the VTi-Tech CVT and the 220 Turbo ( 6 AT ). To give more of a background , I am currently looking at the Astor for my wife ( she currently drives a Honda City CVT - Nov 2014 model).
The usage is not much - however the day to day traffic is extremely bad ( suburban Mumbai ). We also go for limited drives ( Pune/Daman at max ) once a month. We are extremely slow, cautious drivers so power, pickup is really not the point here.
She was comfortable with the Magnite CVT but seemed to have some issues with the Sonet automatic. With this background , and considering say Ease of Use/Comfort ( Very Important ) , fuel economy ( Not So Important ) , Vehicle Price ( Important ) , can anyone give feedback with respect to the Astor .
P.S : I am awaiting the Astor pricing before I do the test drive and such. Till then, I am trying to sponge off other peoples knowledge and experience.
Appreciate any thoughts on this. Again apologies , if on the wrong thread.

[KapilD]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

MG product mgmt. team did say they might use color and highlight (caliper paint, alloy design etc.) combinations to differentiate models, so it's possible that eventually only some variants in certain colors have red calipers and the turbine-design alloys.

Originally Posted by ram87pune

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.

Originally Posted by ranjitht87

Took TD of Astor 1.3L turbo yesterday....

The 1.3L car (black colour) was having the red brake caliper and the 1.5L (white colour) one was having the normal one in the showroom that i visited.
The alloy wheel design was also different for 1.5L.
Also noticed that 1.3L was having continental tyres and it was goodyear in 1.5L.

My observation on the above is that "only" the 1.3 turbo petrol model is going to have the red brake callipers with continental tyres because it has the "brit dynamic" badge as well to denote the so called "sporty" and powerful engine of all the variants.

The above is based on having drawn parlance from the products in the market with red accents and badging such as on the GT (Taigun), GT Line (Seltos), N Line (i20).

However, a little unsure about the turbine dual tone alloys.

Also, my take on the 1.5 L models is that they should all have the silver/steel brake callipers with may be the Good Year tyres () - which, if I looked at, from a different point of view would be a bummer as I perceive Conti tyres to be superior performer even in day to day driving (I ride on a set of MC5 )

[911CarerraS]

Guys when can we expect the prices to be revealed? It's been far too long. Price is the final piece in the jigsaw. I hope it's priced competitively! After the Xuv700 AX5 fiasco! All my hopes lie on the Astor

[Torque_Curve]

Originally Posted by 911CarerraS

Guys when can we expect the prices to be revealed? It's been far too long. Price is the final piece in the jigsaw. I hope it's priced competitively! After the Xuv700 AX5 fiasco! All my hopes lie on the Astor

The launch is expected to take place later this week.

[911CarerraS]

Has anyone here driven the new city and Astor ? I'm confused between the two i.e City Zx CVT and Astor 1.3 TC, can anyone give an insight as to which one feels more engaging and peppier to drive?

[rpmmachine]

I like the MG Astor but I want Diesel Automatic and there is no way MG is going to release a Diesel engine with an automatic combination anytime in the next 2 years. Even Hector is offered only in the Manual diesel variant. Hope MG will reconsider their decision on going all Petrol. upcoming E20 Fuel norms are also a point of concern for the Petrol vehicles.

[neeraj0272]

I have TD both. As you know I have finalized City. But I also want to know what is the correct way to drive turbo engines. When I pressed race pedal hard, Astor started moving a full 3 to 5 seconds later from standstill. After it picked up speed of 30 km/h or more then it accelerated beautifully. Is this lag normal or is there a correct way to start the car from standstill?
In Kushaq this lag was about two seconds. I found this lag to be unacceptable in stop and go traffic of Delhi. Or maybe I am driving these turbo engines wrong!
Also both Kushaq and Astor gave me motion sickness just by TD. Was it the new paint smell or was it the higher sitting stance of these SUVs?
I think exterior of City is more good looking than Astor. Only USP of Astor is it's front grill.
No doubt Astor's interior is far more premium than City.
I TD city with 10k on odometer and there was no body noise. While Astor at MG Moti Nagar was only run 200km and there was some kind of noise from right hand side. I couldn't judge Astor more as MG guy rushed us to end the TD! Air conditioner of Astor was top class. Astor's brakes was better than city.
Driving wise I found Kushaq to be best with good engine and brakes and steering. But being old school I find best value/comfort/class in a sedan rather than these so called SUVs especially as 99% of my driving would be in peak Delhi traffic. Only advantage these SUVs can offer is their length is relatively smaller than sedans.