MG4 collection day

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Took delivery of my Mum's new MG4 today, some 5 months after ordering. We actually got impatient and threatened to cancel after waiting so long, and being told in March (our initial delivery date) that they still didn't have a build date for us. They said they have two red top spec (trophy) models in stock, so we agreed to take one of those instead of waiting for an orange one to eventually arrive.

It was probably the nicest day of the year so far, perfect for collecting a new car. What can I say, the MG4 is just so impressive to drive, it's glides across the road in almost perfect silence, and feels like a mini rolls Royce, smooth, quiet, refined, powerful. It's so easy, comfortable and relaxing to drive, with regen set to 3, you don't even need to use the brakes. Nice weight distribution thanks to the central battery placement, RWD gives it that sporty edge. Handles well on the twisty stuff.

Averaged 3.3 MPKWH on the way home as was putting the car through it's paces on the Welsh A roads, but a shorter journey later on yielded 4.1 which is pretty impressive. Already looking forward to the next drive and learning more about this awesome little EV.

[luv2spd]

Congratulations! Looks very nice, too bad you didn't get the orange color but it's understandable that you don't want to wait forever especially with current prices. Unique colors have started going up again in price on the used car market since they are so rare. How much does the car weigh? The Volt is 3,500lbs and gets about 3.2 miles/kWh in electric mode.

[JockoT]

Lovely car. Personally, I prefer the red. I had been looking at the old MG 5 in red before everything went pear-shaped.

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I think it weighs around 3714 lbs unladen, if I converted that correctly. You can feel the weight in the bends for sure, but it does give a reassuring sense of sturdiness and feeling planted on the road. The battery is only 110MM thick so it's pretty compact and pretty energy dense.

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Originally Posted by JockoT

Lovely car. Personally, I prefer the red. I had been looking at the old MG 5 in red before everything went pear-shaped.

I'd recommend sitting in one, they had the new shape in the showroom, you feel like you're sitting on the battery, it's such an odd driving position and it's very uncomfortable and rear legroom is non existent. The boot is tiny for an estate too, I wouldn't recommend the 5 if I'm honest.

[LDB]

That's a good looking car. It has some interesting looking angles at the back. Looking forward to updates as it becomes more familiar.

[JockoT]

Yes, the back looks very much like a Range Rover.

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Originally Posted by LDB

That's a good looking car. It has some interesting looking angles at the back. Looking forward to updates as it becomes more familiar.

Yea I like the design a lot. Got my first long trip (284 miles) on Friday, will charge half way as meeting friends for lunch. The chargers are 50/120 KW so will take way less than an hour. Mum charged on her slow charger that comes with the car last night, it added 53% or 120-130 miles, around 8 miles per hour, for most people, they won't even need a home charger, I almost cancelled ours but will be more efficient anyway.

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Over 1200 miles into ownership now, my Mum adores this car, as do I if I'm honest. Just had the home charger installed which makes life easier, rather than using the granny charger which takes about a day and a half to fully charge. With a full charge, she's showing just over 300 miles on a battery now it's warmed up a little. No issues public charging, it's pricey for sure, works out way more than fossil fuels, but it's super rare to ever have to do that as everything we ever need is within a 100 mile radius. Each time we've charged publicly, it's been so quick and efficient, the car was on 97-99% before I even finished my lunch.

The best part for me personally is the regen, I know everyone with an EV bangs on about it. But on the kind of roads where I live, there are so many bends, sharp corners and hills, the accelerator is the brake pedal. The more speed you need to bleed before or during a bend is determined by how high you lift off the accelerator. On level 3 you can do several hundred miles without ever touching the brakes. It's very intuitive. You can have a lot of control on bends and steep declines by just using regen, and of course you're actually charging the battery too. Biggest surprise for me? The build quality, I was worried with an EV you'd notice more cabin creaks without an engine hum to drown them out. But the MG4 is built like a tank, even on the worst broken tarmac, you just glide over it, the supple ride absorbs the bumps and there's not a single sound, it's like driving with noise cancelling headphones on. Superb car, I'm very much leaning towards an EV for my next car, they are way more enjoyable and convenient to own than I had anticipated. Being a petrol head, I thought I'd struggle, but I think I'm ready now.

[LDB]

Depending on what sources you believe, if you charge the battery as slowly as you conveniently can and keep it in the 20%-80% charged range it will significantly prolong battery life. Not sure if that's true but if I had gotten the EV I was considering I planned to test the theory.