6 months with an MG Comet EV: Why I would choose a Tata EV over this

I default to my Alcazar when I have to drive into the heart of Bangalore and this one is just for the office and nearby shopping runs.

BHPian herculesksp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It's been about 6 months since I took the handover of my MG Comet car. We have been using it consistently for the last 6 months and I can't recall now as I am typing this, but probably close to 2000kms driven.

The car is very convenient to use and drive in the city and at speeds under 50kmph has very good road manners and good braking capability. Pick-up is fine, but not electrically exciting. I have had wheel-spin-worthy pick-up off traffic lights in my Mahindra E2O, but Comet always has a slight lag in getting started.

This is sometimes a pain when I have to suddenly move on after a complete stop due to some bad driver in front taking a turn without indicators or a vehicle cutting across. The car takes 1-2 seconds to start moving even when I jam down the accelerator, and the car behind who also had to stop unplanned typically starts honking.

Brakes also bite hard and one has to learn how to keep the regen and braking in sync. Btw, I feel that when we brake, the regen cuts off. So regen works only while coasting. Of course, it's difficult (dangerous) to pay close attention to the dash while driving and esp while braking in traffic, so I can't confirm this though I feel strongly that I have noticed this.

About the ride quality - on the moon-surface-like Bangalore roads, the car is very bumpy and bouncy, and whenever I ride a shotgun with my wife, I can feel my head moving to an imaginary rock tune. Not the most comfortable of cars, and even small bumps (or cuts on the road to lay pipes) are very jarring and the tyres crash down with a thud. However, I have never had a scraped underbelly and once we even drove into a massive pothole (filled with water during rains) and thankfully the body panels weren't touched. I'm sure the entire tyre went in and back out.

The seating is not very comfortable as I've always been saying, but for about 30-45 mins drive, and within 10-15 kms, it is fine. Just as you start getting uncomfortable, it's time to get out. I default to my Alcazar when I have to drive into the heart of Bangalore and this one is just for the office and nearby shopping/mall/doctor runs.

The fun part - I have parked in 2-wheeler parking many times much to the surprise of shop owners and onlookers.

Other than this, I have been hearing some periodic squeaking from the car. I have a feeling that it might be the seatbelt buckle or the rear seat, and (hopefully) not the body of the car or the mechanicals (suspension etc). I'll be very disappointed if the car develops squeaks just 4-5 months in.

About the entertainment system, this is super super buggy and a pain. Many times, the display just switches to the stock phone dialler in the middle of a drive. Sometimes, it has switched to the radio too for no reason. A few times the wireless Apple CarPlay doesn't connect and I have to manually connect via the Device Management section. Just today I updated to the latest update and I hope that fixed some of these niggles. The update didn't have any details of what was fixed, so there is no way to know or check for the fixes.

Even the HVAC is buggy. Firstly, I would like a setting between L2 and L3. L2 is too cold once the cabin has sufficiently cooled down, and L3 starts getting too warm. So many times, I have to keep it at L2 and keep turning the A/C on and off. It would be great to have a smoother gradient for the A/C temperature setting.

Talking about the A/C, there is something wrong with the dials. There have been so many times where I have turned off the A/C, but suddenly I see that it is back on. Either there is something wrong with the electronics, or the dial shakes the A/C back on when I go over a bump or something. I haven't observed what causes it, but it has happened more than a dozen times - not a one-off.

Finally, regarding MG itself and this is a reflection of the Dealership (Mahadevapura Bangalore) - I still don't have my iSmart set up on my phone app. As you know the car has only one keyfob and the only way to bypass this is via digital keys via the MG app. Now unfortunately, the car is company-leased and hence in the booking form, they had the company's contact numbers stored (or maybe it's the dealer's number - I don't know). To activate the app on my phone, I need to confirm my phone number and receive an OTP - neither of which I can do. The dealer lady promised that they would set this right and link the correct mobile number within 2-3 weeks. I have been following up frequently with them too, and it's now 6 months, and no app activated for my car.

This is super irritating and I've got fed up with MG and the Dealer. Hence I cannot check anything like battery %age, kms driven, lock / unlock state etc unless I physically go to the car. This is like the stone age for electric cars.

So, in summary

• Positives: Super compact, easy to drive in city, spacious for 4.
• Negatives: Bumpy ride, bad ergonomics, terrible after-sales and no support, major software and some hardware quality issues, dismal battery range, poor HVAC temperature setting and buggy HVAC dials.

Given a choice, I would probably go for a Tata EV, but truly there is nothing else in this size and convenience and I don't have an alternative for my requirements. Whether it's worth paying Rs 10 lakhs for this car? - I don't think so!

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