[cbrspn]

Hello Everyone,

This is Aditya, a Software Engineer based out of Mohali! I'm in my mid-twenties now and have had a love for cars ever since I can remember. This thread is currently my second post on TeamBHP, where I've been a silent observer for over 5 years. I recently fulfilled a childhood dream of having a great car of my own. In this thread, I present to you, my Ownership Review and Experience of Ares, my MG Astor 1.3AT Savvy variant.

Likes and Dislikes

This is the one section I believe I'll keep updating as I spend more time with the car.
Likes:

• 1.3L Turbo AT, while not as good as the 1.5Tsi is sporty and fun to drive in Sports Mode or Manual Mode. In my 1000km with the car so far, it has only missed the right gear once.
• Design strikes as classy from a distance, the black color had me drooling!
• Kit is full to the brim, barring some small misses!
• ICE is high tech, Car as a Platform service, while sorta gimmicky, are good to have.
• Very Upmarket and high-quality interior with soft-touch elements, perforated leather steering.
• Front seats are very comfortable to sit on.
• High ground clearance
• Good Driving Dynamics, multiple steering modes and separate Sports mode on GB help make the drive a lot of fun.
• Beautiful Panoramic Sunroof is a hit with my family.
• ADAS is a great addition to the car. Speed Warning/Control, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keep assist come in handy even in city lanes. Works surprisingly well considering your normal Indian road conditions.
• Little functional features here and there such as automatic side cam view when you switch on the indicator at parking/u-turn speeds, blind-spot detection, Auto wipers, etc can really change

Dislikes:

• Silly Omissions like Auto-dimming IRVM, no backseat dome light are silly.
• The stupid robot is a gimmick and serves no real purpose. Voice works without it too. It just sits there and rattles like an idiot on slightly bad roads. Only rattle from an otherwise solid car.
• No reach adjustment on the steering wheel.
• Some ADAS functions, such as Speed Assist Warning reset at every start. It's annoying to set it every time, as there doesn't seem like a good shortcut except 5 taps on the ICE.
• The car shuts down entirely if we press the start/stop button when the engine is running, including the ICE. It's annoying if one thinks of shutting off the engine on a long traffic signal. An easy Stop&Start shortcut would've been nice to have.
• On the connected car variants, the "*" button on the steering wheel directly requests a call from MG Assist. It's easy to make accidental calls sometimes. I would have appreciated a way to assign a function instead. We can use the ICE screen to request a call from MG anyway.
• Back seats are comfortable bucket seats but could do with more thigh support.
• Paint quality probably could have been better. I've been very careful with Ares and make sure my passengers are careful when near Ares, but I noticed a few paint chips near the passenger door in the first 2 weeks of ownership itself. Maybe it's the black color where the chipping is more prominent, or maybe it's the open public parking space where Ares spends her nights.

Here's a quick picture of Ares right after her first wash.

[cbrspn]

Backstory

Coming from your average Indian middle-class, I spent most of my childhood in entry-level hatches which my father changed every few years, but never changed his buying segment.

We went through the Maruti 800, then "experimented" with the Hyundai Santro, and went on to an Alto and then an Alto K10. This was the first time we were told about getting a new car before it came home. Me and my brother were super excited about this car, reading everything about it on the internet, Actually going on to brag about it to my best friend whose family's beater car was a 2005 Baleno. Looking back, it's funny how hormone-heavy and dumb teenagers can be.

Finally when me and brother attained full 6ft heights and could no longer fit in the back seats, we upgraded to a Suzuki Ritz, and then after much deliberation and debates, a Suzuki Ciaz. After graduation, I got a good job out of college directly, I made up my mind that after a year's saving, I will buy myself a car I desire. This was in 2018, when the heart was very young and the 1.0Tsi Polo ruled every (budget) enthusiast's heart. For one reason or the other, the moment to get the Polo kept getting further away. First, it was parking hassles, then financial senses disallowed the purchase, COVID, etc. In March 2021, my father decided to bid farewell to the Ciaz as it's reliability was going down. Before he could zero down on his next choice, I made up my mind to do something nice for him and asked him to choose any car and I would get it for him. WFH had me saving a ton of money, so this was easy, but it also meant postponing the Polo further. We did our research and did some test drives, zero-ing down on the Hyundai Venue 1.0 SX (dubbed Athena) for my Dad. Here is Athena at a rest stop on one of our road trips.



Athena is my Dad's favorite car yet, and finally experiencing higher ground clearance coming from the Ciaz sold me to Cross/SUVs forever. On the flip side, with Athena in our garage, I had to tell myself to wait a little more for my own set of wheels. WFH meant I didn't really need a car everyday anyway

Desire is half of life; indifference is half of death - Kahlil Gibran

Fast forward a few more months, I got a promotion and hike at work, which left me with more than enough cash to spend on myself. Add to that my recent enchantment for Road trips, I had more reasons to fulfill my childhood wish and have a car of my own, so I decided to bite the bullet and get myself a car.

The Selection Process

This was the time when the Korean twins were ruling the Crossover/SUV markets, and the VAG twins were showcasing their niggles like a boss, Mahindra took the entire market to storm with the XUV700 and MG shook the 5-seater compact SUV segment with the Fully Loaded Astor. I have had a crush on the Polo (and the Rapid) ever since they came in the market, but now in my mid-twenties, my priorities have shifted from getting a revv happy engine which fuels my heart towards putting comfort first and (to ensure my FOMO doesn't get the better of me in 2-3 years) having a butt-load of features! I wanted to ensure that whatever car I buy, I can keep it for a long time, at least 10 years. The family garage has the sub-4m Athena and a Bike for day-to-day. So my selection criteria were limited to SUVs/Crossovers now, to allow happy cruises on highways, and exploring some not so developed roads during Road Trips without worrying too much about the underbody.

Here are the cars I looked at:

1. The Skoda Kushaq
Pros:

1. The 1.5Tsi with a great MT is just a hoot to drive!
2. Amazing mileage for a petrol car this size, thanks to active cylinder deactivation
3. Skoda's latest design language strikes a good balance between modern and classy

Cons:

1. Even the top-end Style seems to be missing a lot in terms of kit. Come on Skoda, for almost 20 big ones OTR, there's not even 360 cams or electric seat adjustment?!
2. Sole Skoda dealer in Chandigarh was a huge disappointment. I asked for TD online, no callbacks. Then I went for a TD to the showroom, sales guy straight away said, "TD car is not here, you can look at the display car if you want to buy" and went away.
3. Interiors felt a bit downmarket when compared to the Koreans and the Astor
4. Too many horror stories on Team bhp about niggles and service issues.

2. Volkswagen Taigun
Pros:

1. Again, the 1.5Tsi with a great MT is just beautiful!
2. Amazing mileage for a petrol car this size, thanks to active cylinder deactivation
3. Much better interior feel than the Kushaq

Cons:

1. The top-end GT seems to be missing a lot in terms of kit if we go for the Manual. And I want to stay away from the DSG as much as possible!
2. Exterior is a bit tricky. For so long I wanted a Polo, but now it felt that this car feels a bit Polo-ish, typical VW design, just didn't strike the right cord
3. Too many horror stories on Team bhp about niggles and service issues.

Having drooled over the Polo TSI for years, it was hard to say no to the 1.5TSi, it's a dream in this segment, but that's no excuse for the kit. I want this car to last me a long time and kit & comfort are necessary, but it still felt like a bitter breakup. Quite frankly, more than anything else it was the bad experience with the Skoda dealership, along with a plethora of online complaints (both on team-bhp and elsewhere) which made me think twice about getting anything from VAG stable. I've come to thank the universe for the bad experience at the dealership, the 1.5TSI would've been hard to say no to, and the recent report of omitting auto-folding ORVMs would've driven me nuts! High waiting periods had me eliminate the Koreans and the XUV. The Harrier's super-butch looks don't match my now premium-ness-loving brain. That left me looking at the Astor, and my tech-loving self booked a TD at the first chance I had.

The MG Astor TD and booking experience

Unlike Skoda, one button on the MyMG App and I got a call from the MG Chandigarh showroom for a test drive. The SA, Raghav, and Sumit were extremely prompt, and transparent. Raghav came to my house for the Test Drive in 6AT Savvy and we drove around while I kept complaining about the engine not being as good as the 1.5TSi. Raghav smiled and agreed with me that the TSI is the best engine in the segment, and said, the Astor beats VAG twins on literally everything else. If memory serves, the white TD car had close to 8,000 km on its ODO and was a tight car, with no rattle of any kind, the first time I sat in the driver's seat, the comfort level offered by the 6-way adjustable seat was similar to a German, if not better.

In the pre-Christmas holiday TD we did, the entire city had a ton of traffic, and we drove around on some highway sections, some city sections, and even in bumper to bumper for 15 minutes. After the TD, we went to the showroom and discussed pricing, insurance, etc. They had no issues with me getting outside insurance too. At the showroom, i also got a chance to look at one Astor Smart in the beautiful Starry Black color awaiting delivery. It looked a lot I made up my mind then and there, that if I get an Astor, I'll get it in black!

After a little more thought, having eliminated most of my options, I booked the 1.3T Savvy variant in the last week of December, with delivery promised for Q1 2022.When trying to book through the MG app/website, I kept getting errors and I did not want to visit the showroom again with the advent of new COVID cases. Again, Raghav came through here, one message and he quickly arranged payment options, and as soon as the payment was done, he gave me a booking reference, which started reflecting on the app the next day.

[cbrspn]

Dealership experience: Getting Ares from Factory to Home

With the car booked and set, I sat back and expected delivery only in late Feb or March. Few weeks later, I got a call from my SA, explaining that Black Turbo Savvy has become available as people were canceling bookings due to a third lockdown's expectation. Ironically, I too was COVID positive when he called me the first time and I didn't take the call. When I was healthy again, I enquired about the car and he said if I'm up for it, he will invoice it the same day and make it available in a week. I asked for the latest numbers, with the expected Jan '22 price increase.

Raghav quickly sent me the updated numbers, as below:
Ex-Showroom (Chandigarh): Rs. 1772800
RTO charges (Chandigarh): Rs. 76000
"Essential" Accessories: Rs. 7027
Insurance quoted originally as Rs. 84800 but after third-party assessment, we brought it down to Rs. 63,000 with all the possible covers in the world.

In the "Essentials" accessories kit, they offered the following:
- 3d rubber Mats
- Mudflaps
- Hood Branding for "MORRIS GARAGES" (not a fan!)
- Perfume, Keyring, etc.

Raghav clearly mentioned that the accessories are optional, without me having to ask. I then went on to choose the following accessories as per my need:
1. 3d Rubber mats, so easy to clean and flush well in the interiors!
2. Mudflaps
3. Weather Deflectors (No chrome)
4. Door Edge guards
5. Door Sill Plates

Now all I had to do was to wait for the car to reach the stockyard, do a PDI, and then get my papers in order for a loan. The next day itself, I received a confirmation that the car has left the stockyard, and as it is coming via train, it'll reach even sooner! Parallelly, I started the process for the loan and as usual with Kotak, I had a quick in-principal loan approval! Now A couple more days wait and I was told it was there for me to check out! I quickly planned out a trip to the stockyard and did a PDI.

Here we have Ares waiting, after being sprinkled on by mother nature as a Welcome to the city.



The ODO read 26. I checked everything in the car according to the Team-BHP. Engine, VIN, and the 5 Tyres all had Jan 22 manufacturing. I planned on waiting a few days to take delivery of the vehicle. But the next day, my mom asked if we can bring the car today itself, as she'll be out of town afterward and won't be there when Ares comes home. I was doubtful if the SA could arrange it on such short notice. But Sumit really came through on this. At 11:30 in the morning, I requested him to arrange delivery the same day, and he confirmed that we can get it if we're okay with a late 5:30-6 pm delivery. Mom was elated, and we reached the showroom at 4:30 itself, to get a handle on the paperwork. The car was sitting right there, wax applied on it from top to bottom, with 2 guys preparing it for final delivery. While I completed paperwork, and mom admired Ares and other bigger MG cars like Gloster, my brother did one more level of Inspection to ensure everything is up to the mark. The entire dealership staff was courteous and welcoming. Quickly completing paperwork, we took delivery with my mom in the spotlight, and we left the showroom with Ares and big smiles on our faces, first stop was an IOCL pump to get Ares some fuel. The showroom gave scarily little fuel, as the empty light came up right as turned on the car.

Warranty and Service Schedule

The car comes with a standard 3 years/unlimited km warranty and the first 3 services/inspections (1k, 5k & 10k). I am still contemplating if I should get the extended warranty/service packages(MG Shield). I will decide on this soon, but if you are reading this, do let me know your thoughts! According to MG's website, Current pricing for MG Shield is as follows:
Till 999km and < 30days since delivery:
4years/100k km: Rs 12.6k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
4years/Unlimited km: Rs 16.1k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
5years/100k km: Rs 17.6k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA
5years/Unlimited km: Rs 21k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA

1000-4999km or 31-180days since delivery:
4years/100k km: Rs 13.7k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
4years/Unlimited km: Rs 17.2k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
5years/100k km: Rs 18.7k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA
5years/Unlimited km: Rs 22.1k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA

5000-9999km or 181-366days since delivery:
4years/100k km: Rs 17.2k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
4years/Unlimited km: Rs 21.2k warranty + Rs. 1900 RSA
5years/100k km: Rs 22.2k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA
5years/Unlimited km: Rs 26.1k warranty + Rs. 2900 RSA

Need to confirm from the Service Advisor if it is possible to get this Shield after the first year. Personally, I don't see a reason for this pricing other than to make people get it ASAP!

Here's the official Service Schedule as mentioned on the Astor's Owners Manual. The First 3 services are free, out of which two are basic inspections, all in the first year itself.

[cbrspn]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu
To Paraphrase,
A journey of a hundred thousand Kilometers begins with the first few Kilometers - CBRSPN

Getting Ares was the first time where I have full control of a car's well-being, diet, tire pressure, cleaning schedules, etc. My dad is a firm believer that a car's job is simply to take from Point A to Point B, everything else is secondary. Me, on the other hand, can't stand any little dust accumulation, a slight drop in FE, or even the thought of "normal" levels of fuel adulteration.

I made a point to ensure that she only gets XP95 as fuel, always has the right tire pressure and that Ares is cleaned before going out on a drive. Here are my observations and thoughts during the first 1000km. Ares is the Top-end 1.3L Turbo Savvy variant, so it comes with all the bells and whistles. So I'll be skipping over most of the stuff which is already covered under the Official Preview and BIC Test Drives (MG Astor Review) [Unless there's something I can add to].

Driving Dynamics, Engine and Gearshifts

The Brit Dynamic 220 Engine belongs to the GM SGE Family, which was co-developed by GM and SAIC (The only thing brit about it is the name ). It is quite a competent engine and handles most drives very nicely. I am still waiting for the right opportunity to take Ares on a long trip and stretch her legs. Hopefully, I can get some time off work soon!

In the city, the car crawls at 7km/hr as you release the brake pedal. This is great when trying tight parking, but a little more kick is necessary for the bumper-to-bumper traffic, where the VIP in the next lane will try to swoop in your lane if you have more than 3 meters of space from the vehicle in front of you. The Accelerator and Auto-hold come in handy in these situations. For quick overtakes, I've felt even fully flooring the pedal is not necessary when driving in S-mode. The Manual mode is good, but the AT will upshift if you redline it. Gearshifts are a bit slow though (I've only owned Manuals before, so this opinion could be partially due to that). I feel that Pedal Shifters would have been a good addition to the car.

In the city, the car handles well, the turning radius, is a bit high, as expected in the segment, but once you get used to it, it's easy to take u-turns on a 2-lane road without any reverse maneuvers. Steering is nice and firm in Normal and Dynamic Mode. I rarely set mine in Urban mode, but the additional lightness in Urban can definitely be felt.

Here's a quick look at the engine bay

Maintaining the exterior

The Astor's Starry Black color is just a beauty to look at. This however also means that extra care is required to handle her. Not only is every little scratch visible, but a single layer of dust can make you go nuts. To me with my limited space and the need to save water, Washing every day is definitely not an option. Add to this, in just the initial couple of weeks of ownership, I saw paint being chipped on the passenger door. They say the first one hurts the most, but I never knew how much till that day.
So after a bunch of research and conflicting opinions, I chose to go ahead with Ceramic Coating on the vehicle to 1) add some extra thickness to the paint, 2) Get a hydrophobic coat to make cleaning a bit easier.
I chose to go ahead with Detailing Devils Mohali, who gave me a 5 years package with annual top-ups for almost Rs. 25k. They were quite thorough and have a bunch of complimentary additionals, like Clear Glass Coating, Tyre coating, etc. It did make everything quite hydrophobic. Now I simply wipe the car with a Jopasu duster and wash it with the Nano coating Shampoo they gave me once a week. Here's a picture of the car courtesy of DD.

Interior Quality

Lots have been said about the interior of the car on the Official review thread. It's absolutely lovely! The Sangria Red looks a lot better in person as compared to pictures. For some reason, it's just not photogenic, I've tried a few different cameras, no luck. In-person though, sit in the car and it feels a lot more premium than the rest of the segment. The front seats are highly adjustable, so visibility and comfort aren't a challenge. Seats aren't as soft as the Honda City, which feels like you're sitting on a Sofa, but ergonomically, they're a lot better.
The ICE command center, coupled with physical buttons is a delight to use and buttons are quite tactile. Although there's a slight, noticeable lag on the ICE.

The only thing crazy in this great car is the stupid Astor Bot. I have come to hate that thing. It's such a non-sensical gimmick, It doesn't serve any real purpose. Voice assistant works even when the bot is not connected, and if you turn on the Wifi in the car, the Bot disconnects! Why you'd connect the bot wirelessly when it's fixed in position and anyway has a power cable running is beyond me! On top of that, The bot rattles a LOT. Our road conditions are such that even the smoothest city roads are slightly uneven. The entire car is silent, and we certainly can't feel the unevenness ourselves. This bot however seems to have its own sense of vibrations, and it rattles more than a rattlesnake! I normally am alone when driving and the roads of the city are always full, so haven't had a chance to capture this issue without risking safety.

I'm due for service this Saturday, and I will definitely check with the Service Advisor about removing this stupid thing or at least do something about the rattle.

Fuel Efficiency

So far, I'm getting the average fuel efficiency of 9kmpl according to the car's FE meter, where 90% of the driving has been in the city, as the cold Winters and new Car smell made us give some rest to the Motorcycle, and the remaining 10% on the city-ish highways connecting to nearby satellite towns to the primary city. (Fun fact about Chandigarh, the City is essentially a cluster of 5 "towns" in less than 15km range of the city center across 2 states and a UT, namely Chandigarh, Mohali, Zirakpur, Kharar, and Panchkula).

Interestingly, I get more efficiency in S-mode as opposed to D-mode. In a 75km day around the city, I made it a point to use S mode exclusively. I clocked in 11kmpl that day. Average speeds and time of travel would tell you that I wasn't being very "Sporty" unless the S secretly means Saving-mode. This was also the only time I have allowed the yelLOW fuel light to come up since delivery.



I have been using the Fuelio app since day 1 and going tank to tank for calculations. I normally try to get refueling done at a 15% level. According to Fuelio, I am getting an efficiency of 8.6kmpl, however, as I only fill up till the auto-cut on the pump, I am not 100% sure if I am actually going tank to tank. Once I got the tank full, drove 3km from the pump to reach home, and MG App showed 93% fuel level, as opposed to the expected 100%/99%. So there may be a 5-10% difference in volume and by extension, efficiency calculation.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[TSEA]

Congrats Aditya. The car looks stunning in black.

You should cross check if the 5years/100k km MG Shield plant (minus the RSA) includes regular consumables and labour charges (and the details of what it covers and what it does not cover). Accordingly you can take a call.

[achyutaghosh]

Congratulations!

This is the first Astor ownership thread,and i am surprised why there are'nt more, because to me, this is MG's most competent package- fabulous design (both exteriors and interiors), great feature set and also hits the sweetspot for the brand regarding pricing. I know many who will baulk at forking 40 lakhs for the Gloster but Astor is right in the zone for a brand like MG. And i also think that as a premium mid-size crossover, the Astor (unike Hector- which has a lot of competition) does not have any true competitor. The S-Cross is probably closest, but it looks downright dowdy in front of the Astor. Even the extended warranty rates are reasonable too. For reference, in the Fortuner, the 2 years EW costs 47k

Wish you many lakh kilometers of smiles with the beauty. Keep updating the thread!

[rajk15]

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Hello Everyone,

This is Aditya, a Software Engineer based out of Mohali! I'm in my mid-twenties now and have had a love for cars ever since I can remember. This thread is currently my second post on TeamBHP, where I've been a silent observer for over 5 years. I recently fulfilled a childhood dream of having a great car of my own. In this thread, I present to you, my Ownership Review and Experience of Ares, my MG Astor 1.3AT Savvy variant.

This just made me go

After all, it's not every day you find BHPians who are engineers in their mid 20's that too from Chandigarh. Exactly the same for me although I'm a few years behind (whoops used two emojis in one para).

Congratulations on getting this black beauty though.

Tbh, While I loved the interior of the Astor from the beginning, I myself couldn't decide whether or not I liked the outer styling... Now it has me drooling over it.

My only concern now is its Chinese link (sorry, I and my family are fans of Japanese engineering)

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Sole Skoda dealer in Chandigarh was a huge disappointment. I asked for TD online, no callbacks. Then I went for a TD to the showroom, sales guy straight away said, "TD car is not here, you can look at the display car if you want to buy" and went away.

Well, that's disappointing. Such attitude that too in a city like Chandigarh is what is making Skoda and VW lose customers and the reason Maruti keeps on gaining customers.

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Dealership experience: Getting Ares from Factory to Home

The entire dealership staff was courteous and welcoming. Quickly completing paperwork, we took delivery with my mom in the spotlight, and we left the showroom with Ares and big smiles on our faces, first stop was an IOCL pump to get Ares some fuel. The showroom gave scarily little fuel, as the empty light came up right as turned on the car.

Attachment 2271111

Well, that's confidence-inspiring; a few knowns didn't have a great experience with the dealership and this was when MG had just hit the Indian shores (they ended up canceling their Hector booking and getting an XUV500).

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Warranty and Service Schedule

The car comes with a standard 3 years/unlimited km warranty and the first 3 services/inspections (1k, 5k & 10k). I am still contemplating if I should get the extended warranty/service packages(MG Shield). I will decide on this soon, but if you are reading this, do let me know your thoughts!

Need to confirm from the Service Advisor if it is possible to get this Shield after the first year. Personally, I don't see a reason for this pricing other than to make people get it ASAP!

Here's the official Service Schedule as mentioned on the Astor's Owners Manual. The First 3 services are free, out of which two are basic inspections, all in the first year itself.
Attachment 2273890

No harm in getting the extended warranty for extra peace of mind.

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Getting Ares was the first time where I have full control of a car's well-being, diet, tire pressure, cleaning schedules, etc. My dad is a firm believer that a car's job is simply to take from Point A to Point B, everything else is secondary. Me, on the other hand, can't stand any little dust accumulation, a slight drop in FE, or even the thought of "normal" levels of fuel adulteration.

I made a point to ensure that she only gets XP95 as fuel, always has the right tire pressure and that Ares is cleaned before going out on a drive.

You and your family are an exact replica of me and my family (with the exception of having a brother) moving 5 years ahead of us. Same thoughts in the house. Same plans (in my mind for when I get my own car- btw an Esteem restoration might be coming up soon, stay tuned).

Originally Posted by cbrspn

The only thing crazy in this great car is the stupid Astor Bot. I have come to hate that thing. It's such a non-sensical gimmick, It doesn't serve any real purpose. Voice assistant works even when the bot is not connected, and if you turn on the Wifi in the car, the Bot disconnects! Why you'd connect the bot wirelessly when it's fixed in position and anyway has a power cable running is beyond me! On top of that, The bot rattles a LOT. Our road conditions are such that even the smoothest city roads are slightly uneven. The entire car is silent, and we certainly can't feel the unevenness ourselves. This bot however seems to have its own sense of vibrations, and it rattles more than a rattlesnake! I normally am alone when driving and the roads of the city are always full, so haven't had a chance to capture this issue without risking safety.

Exactly! The first thing that came to my mind on seeing the bot was "This thing is gonna rattle!" followed by kind of a creepy feeling about the bot sticking out in an otherwise classy dash.

Originally Posted by cbrspn

So far, I'm getting the average fuel efficiency of 9kmpl according to the car's FE meter, where 90% of the driving has been in the city

That's a little less for a car of this size, although I believe it should increase with time(should expect around 13-14 at least?). Please do share your 1st service experience and if the FE increases.

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Interestingly, I get more efficiency in S-mode as opposed to D-mode. In a 75km day around the city, I made it a point to use S mode exclusively. I clocked in 11kmpl that day. Average speeds and time of travel would tell you that I wasn't being very "Sporty" unless the S secretly means Saving-mode. This was also the only time I have allowed the yelLOW fuel light to come up since delivery.

That's interesting. Looks like MG is giving some major easter eggs like S meaning Saving ;-).

It's been great reading your review and (virtually) meeting you. Wishing you lakhs of kilometers of joy with this beauty.

[cbrspn]

Originally Posted by TSEA

Congrats Aditya. The car looks stunning in black.

You should cross check if the 5years/100k km MG Shield plant (minus the RSA) includes regular consumables and labour charges (and the details of what it covers and what it does not cover). Accordingly you can take a call.

Thank you @TSEA! Here I'm only talking of the Service Package, just the extended warranty. I feel if we get a service package, the SAs will then try to upsell more stuff during services. Rather go with bare minimum and take good care of stuff going in and out according to the manual.

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Congratulations!

This is the first Astor ownership thread,and i am surprised why there are'nt more, because to me, this is MG's most competent package- fabulous design (both exteriors and interiors), great feature set and also hits the sweetspot for the brand regarding pricing. I know many who will baulk at forking 40 lakhs for the Gloster but Astor is right in the zone for a brand like MG. And i also think that as a premium mid-size crossover, the Astor (unike Hector- which has a lot of competition) does not have any true competitor. The S-Cross is probably closest, but it looks downright dowdy in front of the Astor. Even the extended warranty rates are reasonable too. For reference, in the Fortuner, the 2 years EW costs 47k

Wish you many lakh kilometers of smiles with the beauty. Keep updating the thread!

Thanks @achyutaghosh! Yes, the car is the best of MG. There's more competition from the Korean Siblings (Seltos/Creta) and the VAG twins compared to the S-cross Looking at the fortuner, EW is defintely reasonable!
I'm getting Ares serviced tomorrow. Will be posting an update soon!

[cbrspn]

Adding a second post for @rajk15's extensive comments! Lovely to e-meet you Raj!

Originally Posted by rajk15

This just made me go

After all, it's not every day you find BHPians who are engineers in their mid 20's that too from Chandigarh. Exactly the same for me although I'm a few years behind (whoops used two emojis in one para).

Congratulations on getting this black beauty though.

This is true! I hope you catch up soon

Originally Posted by rajk15

Tbh, While I loved the interior of the Astor from the beginning, I myself couldn't decide whether or not I liked the outer styling... Now it has me drooling over it.

My only concern now is its Chinese link (sorry, I and my family are fans of Japanese engineering)

I'm not too concerned about the Chinese link, to be frank. I feel it's being blown out of proportion a bit too much. SAIC/MG may never match the Germans in driving dynamics, or the Japanese in reliability, but why not give them a chance. We get a good package for a competitive price, and from my research, most of the parts are jointly developed with Americans or Germans (SAIC-GM engine, and lots of parts from the VAG China bin).

Originally Posted by rajk15

Well, that's confidence-inspiring; a few knowns didn't have a great experience with the dealership and this was when MG had just hit the Indian shores (they ended up canceling their Hector booking and getting an XUV500).

Not sure what happened here. My experience was quite good. My sales advisors, Raghav and Sumit were amazing and prompt. They also ensured I face zero issues at every step. Raghav has left MG since, but Sumit is still there and today too he specially called to recommend the right service Advisor for my booked service.

Originally Posted by rajk15

You and your family are an exact replica of me and my family (with the exception of having a brother) moving 5 years ahead of us. Same thoughts in the house. Same plans (in my mind for when I get my own car- btw an Esteem restoration might be coming up soon, stay tuned).

LOL, looks like it's a Chandigarh thing! Looking forward to the esteem restoration, and I will definitely love to even help you if you're still WIP! It's my bucket list to restore an old classic sometime, maybe someday in the future!

Will share more updates as they happen!

[TSEA]

[quote=cbrspn;5261375]Thank you @TSEA! Here I'm only talking of the Service Package, just the extended warranty. I feel if we get a service package, the SAs will then try to upsell more stuff during services. Rather go with bare minimum and take good care of stuff going in and out according to the manual.

Yes the service advisor will try and up-sell. However, the cost of consumables is going up year on year.

[immortalmechano]

Congrats on the new ride cbrspn! She's a beauty in Black. I've picked up a Red Savvy AT in Jan and has about 850km on the odo. It's due for its first service next week post which I was thinking about writing about my ownership. It's a great car but the AT box definitely has a lazy mind of its own that takes some getting used to on the highway. It's perfect for city crusing though hands down.

Mileage wise I'm seeing an avg 10 so far in a mix of city and highway(50/50).

I found a solution for the missing rear interior lamp on amazon. A slightly pricey 500rs solution that has a built in USB rechargeable 200mah battery. It's called Qawaach 6 led touch light. Works well so far. Try it out if you really want a fix.

[cbrspn]

Originally Posted by TSEA

Yes the service advisor will try and up-sell. However, the cost of consumables is going up year on year.

That's true. I'll consider this during the next Service/Inspection (5k/6months).

Originally Posted by immortalmechano

Congrats on the new ride cbrspn! She's a beauty in Black.
It's a great car but the AT box definitely has a lazy mind of its own that takes some getting used to on the highway.

Mileage wise I'm seeing an avg 10 so far in a mix of city and highway(50/50).

Thanks! Congrats on your Red beauty! Mine has been running in city only so far. The average is going up slowly, I started from 8.3 and am now at 9.5 in the fourth tankful, let's see how it goes as the engine matures. During first service, I asked the SA to change the engine oil and I'll pay for it voluntarily, but he flat out refused to do it, saying it's not needed. Will add a separate post about First Service, glitches, and Accessories experience soon.

Originally Posted by immortalmechano

I found a solution for the missing rear interior lamp on amazon. A slightly pricey 500rs solution that has a built-in USB rechargeable 200mah battery. It's called Qawaach 6 led touch light. Works well so far. Try it out if you really want a fix.

This is nice, thanks for the tip! From the product description, I couldn't figure out if it has a magnet and easily detaches for charging, or is it stuck permanently. Can you share this?

[immortalmechano]

Originally Posted by cbrspn

This is nice, thanks for the tip! From the product description, I couldn't figure out if it has a magnet and easily detaches for charging, or is it stuck permanently. Can you share this?

Basically you have to nudge open the unit, and take the internals out and connect to a usb cable. I believe it will last several months on a single charge assuming we don't turn it on a lot being a back seat light the way I have placed it.

[cbrspn]

Engine Immobilized and No manual release!

Current Running: 1800km

Prologue
Under the MG i-Smart app, MG Offers a "beta" option called "Anti Theft Immobilization". As I have to park outside my house and there are often cases of theft, I always enable this before turning in for the night. This mode basically disables the car in a way that no doors can be unlocked, the car can't be turned "on" and the engine can't be started if it's enabled, even with the physical key. It's as if the system forgets the key exists while immobilization mode is on.

What's happening
So, here I was, drafting a new post about the experience since the 1k service. I went to the car to take some pictures of the accessories etc, and I couldn't unlock the car. I had enabled the Anti-Theft mode 2 days ago when I last went out. When trying to disable the Anti-theft mode on the phone, I kept getting an error saying "unable to contact the car", so I thought it was possible that the MG service is down. I was in no hurry, so thought to try after some time. Sometime later too, I got the same issue, this time I dialed in MG's pulsehub to request for RSA and get the car checked. RSA deduced that it could be due to a discharged battery. (Very surprising since the car is barely months old)

The RSA guy came quickly enough (on a two-wheeler) and had a battery + jumper cables for a jumpstart. When we unlocked the car with the manual key release, it came to life and the theft alarm started, horn ablaze and lights blinking like crazy. This clearly means that it's not the battery that is dead, considering a dead battery would definitely have some issues with the horn sounding in its full glory!
We tried putting the car key in the emergency placement slot and started the engine, but that did not work, the Information cluster showed a message "Smart key not detected". This prevents us from entering either the ACC mode or starting the engine. Not only that, the theft alarm kept ringing!.

As it was around 8:30 pm in the evening, the neighbors started complaining about the horn, and we relented thinking the tow truck would arrive even later and the horn will definitely be a problem for everyone around at that time. We removed the negative terminal from the battery to disable all electronics for the time being.

Since the family garage has other vehicles for emergencies already, I figured it's fine to call for the tow truck in the morning itself, and requested the same from MG. The truck is now scheduled for 11 am tomorrow.

Now, coming to the issues:
1. As the horn, the lights and the MID display were working, I suspect the issue is coming due to some software issue on the Engine Immobilizer feature on i-Smart, but the RSA helpline and the RSA technician both did not have any information about it.
2. The transmission is in "P-mode" and EPB is engaged, changing both of which will need us to be able to at least put the car in ACC mode. The P mode has an emergency release we can use, but I can't find any info on disengaging the EPB. With EPB running, how can we get the car on the Tow-truck without damaging it?
3. I have asked the RSA to send in an MG technician familiar with the car with the tow truck to handle this, but from my last service experience, I feel even the technicians aren't 100% trained to handle all scenarios.(More on this later) Not sure if someone would even be open to paying a visit. Can someone suggest possible options here?

Will add more here after getting the car looked at by the service center.