[FURY_44]

So no one feels that the front grille of the Astor is a very Aston Martinisque logo type, I simple cannot ignore it.

[hummer]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Attachment 2209690

Attachment 2209691

This Aurora Silver is just like my Nissan Terrano's Bronze Gray !!

Astor is drool worth in Black and Aurora Silver colors. Sport very rich and niche looks, waiting to see how it really looks on road.

[tsi_niks1989]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

If MG manages to price it competitively, the Kushaq and Taigun will taste death soon.

Too early to decide death of VW Twins even without waiting for the drive reviews of the MG Astor?

A car is meant to drive well first then comes the interiors and finally the not so important connected car tech with loads of gizmos. Until a car is proven mechanically sorted it should not be claimed as a success. The petrol engine in the Hector was nothing to write home about and I hope the new engines are better. So let's wait for the driving reviews of the Astor which is lower on power and torque figures when compared to VW twins.

[CrossLife]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

A clear shot of the dashboard, in daylight -

This car reminds me of the pre-facelift S-cross, both the Interior and Exterior. Looks a generation old to me but should age well!

[dh.harshal]

The sangria Red dual tone interiors seem to be copied directly from the Jaguar F pace.
The exterior frame looks like Mazda CX series.
I must say, the Chinese are good at copying

I wish, they could copy the driving dynamics as well.

[omranga98]

Originally Posted by tsi_niks1989

Too early to decide death of VW Twins even without waiting for the drive reviews of the MG Astor?

Too early to decide death of VW twins or it's time we go through the investigation report as to how they died.
Cause of death: blunt force trauma at 3 points:

Point a) VW being VW by making internal car parts a household name. Just like every chacha (Uncle) knows the name of DQ200 gearbox and how it being dry gearbox is prone to failure. Now Skoda living up to the legend by making EPC famous while also retaining DQ200. 'Key is consistence'. My father who isn't much into cars walked up to me while I was discussing our next car with my mom and said, "Let's not even consider Kushaq and the VW one because facebook is filled with the breakdowns of it."

Point b) An aspirational average Indian with 20 large ready to put down on a car would want aspirational wishes to be fulfilled. With XUV700 announcement, Kushaq/Taigun looks too much of a compromise for the sake of driving pleasure, German quality (what German quality) and safety (which I am sure Astor and XUV will deliver).

Point c) Fill in the blank: Leaving this one on the readers.


ps. Apologies for going off topic.

[Pras92003]

Originally Posted by dh.harshal

The sangria Red dual tone interiors seem to be copied directly from the Jaguar F pace.
The exterior frame looks like Mazda CX series.
I must say, the Chinese are good at copying

They have done a fabulous job indeed. The car seems to be better in many aspects than the competitors and with good pricing, would be an amazing buy. The brand new designs from VW twins are all but disappointment except for the driving dynamics. I am all for such copies if we get an amazing car like the one Astor is most probably going to be. Cheers!!

[shibulijack]

Originally Posted by tsi_niks1989

A car is meant to drive well first then comes the interiors and finally the not so important connected car tech with loads of gizmos.

This is where we enthusiasts get it completely wrong in our predictions. To an average Joe, any car that takes them safely and reliably from point A to point B, drives well. It’s not always about the driving dynamics or the thrill of driving when it comes to the mass market. Loads of gizmos and feature laden car is what most non-BHPians want these days. So yes, if priced well, Astor will eat into the sales of the German twins to the point where they become purely enthusiasts cars like the Vento and Rapid of the sedan world. Unfortunate, but that’s the hard truth.

[ranjitht87]

Originally Posted by manpreetsj

Wireless Android auto available? or thats also missed?

Subwoofer, Auto IRVM, wireless charger - hope these will be available as add-ons.

Lastly, not much has been discussed about lesser leg space in backseat. I feel the car is built in such a way that it has larger bonnet, which takes away space from inside + smaller wheelbase in segment + hump under middle seat. Seems like a 4.5 seater car.

Visited MG showroom today and had a good look at Astor.
Leg space and shoulder room looked fine.However the 5th person will find it difficult due to the the hump under the middle seat and also the slightly uncomfortable back support due to the foldable handrest in the rear seat.

Few updates from the executives at showroom although they are not confirming all of these

• Android auto is wired and not wireless
• 1.3L Turbo is a 4 cylinder engine
• ADAS may be available in 1.5L CVT too
• Sunroof is not auto rain-closing sunroof
• Expected OTR price in Bangalore to be less than 20 Lakhs
• Rear view camera will work only below 20kmph
• 4D map (navigation) will be available only in the infortainment screen and not in digital instrument cluster.
• Another prospective customer informed that base variants will have 4 airbags, this was also seen in the review video posted by car&bike in youtube.
• Booking to start only after official announcement

Few other things that were noticed

• One button near the ESC, HDC, 360 camera is not having any function assigned to it. I think it is not the case in global ZST.
• The 3 day old display car in black colour is having some swirl marks and is also attracting fingerprint smudges. This may be due to frequent and excessive sanitization of common touch points in the car.
• The sangria red interior looks much better in real than as seen in the photos.

I was at the verge of booking a Sub4m suv and then decided to wait for Astor. Eagerly waiting for the official launch as well as the drive reviews.

[CircleOfLife]

Originally Posted by shibulijack

This is where we enthusiasts get it completely wrong in our predictions. To an average Joe, any car that takes them safely and reliably from point A to point B, drives well. It’s not always about the driving dynamics or the thrill of driving when it comes to the mass market. Loads of gizmos and feature laden car is what most non-BHPians want these days. So yes, if priced well, Astor will eat into the sales of the German twins to the point where they become purely enthusiasts cars like the Vento and Rapid of the sedan world. Unfortunate, but that’s the hard truth.

With sky high fuel prices won’t the big golden question “Kitna Deti Hein” what is the mileage matters?

It’s not about 20 large or small. This is the segment where avg joe does hell lot of calculations before deciding one.

Any new product platform takes couple of years to mature.

XUV700 will have a upper hand due to Diesel engine and add to that an exhaustive features list. Do note top end will be expensive than all other players in the segment of Taigun, creta etc.

Now with 2 liter petrol engine though it may be hoot to drive for avg joe monthly running cost matters the most. The hole in the pocket is going to be big.

XUV500 was not a niggle free vehicle either for initial years. It created same buzz as current one. The day it was released I along with few colleagues stood outside showroom for nearly 2 hours to just see the vehicle. Once niggle and issues start pouring over internet few would definitely back out.

Where does VAG twins and Astor stand? Petrol only segment which is sensitive to mileage also.

I don’t know how much Astor turbo petrol mileage is, but there is enough reference points with Kushaq 1 & 1.5 liter engines. These return decent and competent mileage for city and highway runs.

Consider 1.3 turbo petrol VS 1.5 TSI with cylinder deactivation. There is advantage with 1.5 TSI cylinder deactivation, unless MG knocks the price out of the park. Considering weight of the car also matters on how much mileage will it return. MG felt very solid and will weigh more for sure.

Service cost shared on forum for Taigun is lowest in the segment. Will MG better that? Yes it also matter to avg joe.

Not everyone will need a big car. There are equally good chunk of people who will need vehicles of
Size lesser than XUV700. This where other set of competition lies and lot of cross shopping will occur MG vs VAG vs Koreans.

Chip shortage will also play its part. I was at the MG showroom a gentleman walks in and starts taking to same sales advisor as mine. He says, i am waiting for seltos for last 2 months, how soon can you deliver this ? Yes inherent frustration was evident.

There is significant chunk on avg joe who doesn’t want to invest in a Chinese owned brand. Atleast that is the sentiment on today’s date. Post pricing how many of those will revisit their decision? More than 50% ?

I have lost one vote in the family to MG Astor. No points guessing it’s my younger one. The only reason according to him for buying MG Astor is the AI robot, even panaromic sunroof doesn’t matter or those lovely tail lights of Taigun I am talking about visual appeal. Yes this is where VAG twins will face challenge. Kit on offer is not on par with competition.

As competition increases every player will loose some market share. Question is who is the most that will loose in the segment (short term vs long term)?

Will MG do better numbers than (VAG + Skoda) year on year basis for next 3 years?

Will VAG as a group achieve goal of 5% market share? It way too early to predict. 2 more products to debut in market yet.

Give VAG atleast 1 year before pronouncing the verdict.

Folks are lot unforgiving to VAG than other manufacturers. Negative perception along with conscious and unconscious bias will persist. It isn’t that they have earned such reputation due to good deeds. You can do 100 good things but it’s that one bad stuff that gets noticed and etches into the mind of public. In this case it was service and reliability of cars.

VAG has come a long way and still a long way to go. This where MG has advantage as a fairly new brand against the competition.

[AlphaPetrolhead]

Came across this quick, yet on point walkaround on YouTube from a channel called ShutterDrives

https://youtu.be/FZDcRmfcxj4

I'll agree with this guy's view that MG has indeed revolutionized the Indian automotive market with newer features & tech, forcing others to make their product better.

[shibulijack]

Originally Posted by CircleOfLife

With sky high fuel prices won’t the big golden question “Kitna Deti Hein” what is the mileage matters?

You're right about the running cost. Bear in mind, MG ZS 1.5 abroad is supposed to be quite fuel-efficient. So until the official fuel numbers are released, I'd hold my horses on this verdict.

As for the rest of your post, I don't quite understand what you're trying to say. To be clear, I don't hate VAG. I don't want them to pack their bags and leave India. In fact, I was really looking forward to buying Kushaq/Taigun but they failed to impress me the moment I sat inside those cars. Of course, this is my personal opinion.

Like many have mentioned in this thread before me, MG Astor seems to be what Kushaq/Taigun should have been (at least when it comes to perceived build quality and premium-ness). Instead of yapping about the Chinese lineage, I believe we should give credit where and when it's due.

Let's wait for the price reveal and the test drive reviews before debating further. I've said this before and I'll say again, MG Astor could be the new segment best-seller by next year around the same time if the pricing is disruptive (MG has a good track record here). May the customer be the ultimate winner.

[manpreetsj]

Originally Posted by dh.harshal

The exterior frame looks like Mazda CX series.
I must say, the Chinese are good at copying

Attachment 2210097

I wish they copy paste 19 inch alloy wheels of Mazda CX series
Car will look damn good with bigger set of wheels IMO!

[m8002?]

I really hope this will be the car that will take the Creta and Seltos heads on. Its high time they see some competition and come down to earth.

Maruti doesnt have a competitor, Nissan Kicks failed. I think the VW twins will also settle to low numbers after the initial sales given that they cant justify the costs for it. It really amazes me how Hyundai has been ruling this space for 6+ years without any manufacturer attempting and succeeding to dent Hyundai's sales.

This car has checked all the boxes for the "aam" junta just like the Creta/Seltos, maybe not for enthusiasts. Though I would have liked Nissan/Maruti/VW to have taken the fight to Hyundai, happy that someone ( though Chinese ) is able to do it.

[Avinash_R]

Checked out the Astor at the showroom yesterday.

As people have reported before, dealers were taking bookings before but then were asked to stop. They might resume after official go-ahead comes from MG in the next one week. Test Drives will also start after a week or more.

These were observations (some of them already mentioned in the forum) from my end:

1) No Wireless Charging
2) Spare tyre is 16 inch though it looks like there is space to put a 17 inch spare there.
3) Boot space is good but the loading lip is high.
4) No rear window shades
5) My 7 year old daughter managed to get the AI system to hang. SA had to restart the car for it to start responding again
6) The infotainment system response was laggy. I pressed Volume Up button and it took 2-3 seconds for it to register. Even the 360 degree cam came up after some delay.
7) No auto IRVM but MG has at least reintroduced the USB next to the IRVM for the dashcam. If I remember right, it was discontinued in the Hector later on.
8) Comes with FIVE USB ports.

The Red and Black interior definitely looks better in flesh than in the pictures. The car looks good but smaller compared to the Creta because of the cross-over stance. Saying that, the size is perfect for use in an urban environment.

SA confirmed the turbo is a 4 cylinder engine and started ridiculing 3 cylinder engines for their vibrations.

I still don't understand why it comes with ZS badging in the rear though. It has as much "Astor" badges as the "ZS".

Just waiting for the TDs to start and hopefully it is good enough for me to go ahead and book. Inching towards the Turbo instead of the NA but will TD both and then take a call.