Top spec MG6 petrol/maunauls which lists around the £20,000
Motorpoint have lots @ around £11,000 with a niminal mileages
or
£7,500 - £9000 with several thousnad miles on the clock - ex-day rental??
Would you buy one?
£11,000 for a new 1.8 well specced - a good a price to be a good buy or a good-bye
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Sales volumes are low, very low indeed. Dealers are rare and well scattered, parts spares and support is limited, and with high CO2 and poor MPG the answer has to be no.
Which is a pity, because its a very attractive looking (in and out) motor car.
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The engine is a modified version of one which was notorious, while I am sure the head gasket problem has been fixed I would still be a bit worried about the general lack of support and lack of parts.
I would expect high running costs, high tax, high insurance, high fuel, expensive parts the lot. It is a shame but while the MG6 gets a lot of things right, it just shows the Chinese still cannot compete with the best European and Korean/Japanese stuff.
The MG6 made the mistake of having poor build quality (e.g loose switch gear) and engines which belonged in the early to mid 2000s. It is a shame because the MG6 is a good car, it is just the rest do it a lot better.
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They just brought out a new smaller car which doesn't look very pleasing and will have the same small dealership network and other problems. Less than £10K but is that a fair price and what will depreciation be like? news.images.itv.com/image/file/217737/image_update_ebea64ab72a8d684_1371022457_9j-4aaqsk.jpeg
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Report with link to road test over on HJ:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mg/mg3-2012/
3 stars
+ Low list price, generous kit and perforance* for the money, tidy handling, roomy interior, extensive personalisation options
- Petrol-only, average interior quality, and refinement
* typo, tsk
EDIT: actually I think I prefer the (admittedly a bit odd) looks of that one to the 6
Last edited by: Focusless on Fri 13 Sep 13 at 12:01
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There's a dealer in Twyford, only about 15 minutes from the Wannabe Designer Hellhole (henceforth WDH). In spite of this, I can't remember ever seeing one of these things on the road. And no, I won't be buying one either.
But we've been here before. We scoffed at the first Japanese imports, then at the 'primitive' early efforts of Hyundai and Daewoo. (OK, we still scoff at Daewoo and its descendants, but that's because they're now in GM's range to make Vauxhalls look desirable.) My point is that Chinese motors may be rubbish now, but if China wants a significant slice of the world car market, it now has the industrial and economic muscle to get it.
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The difference this time is I am not sure if there is any more room in the market. When the Japs and Koreans came, our own products were pretty dire. They did have to learn things like rust protection is very important in northern Europe but they it wasn't that hard to find an opening.
The problem the Chinese now have is it will be very hard to find a new market that doesn't exist. They seem to be trying this with MG, e.g marketing towards the youth. It might work but they need more dealers and more advertising. They need to make MG into a brand at present the brand just means Chineese parts bolting together by brummies planning their next strike.
Now if this new car was discounted from £7500 then that puts in the league with the Fiat Panda but you get more car for your money.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Fri 13 Sep 13 at 13:46
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>> The difference this time is I am not sure if there is any more room
>> in the market. When the Japs and Koreans came, our own products were pretty dire.
>>
Low pricing would create their space in the market - like Dacia have done in Europe.
I don't agree that our products were 'dire' when the Japs and Koreans came. Their products were more likely to be dire, but low prices and plenty of extras (in the case of the early Japs) helped get the sales.
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>> I don't agree that our products were 'dire' when the Japs and Koreans came.
I can say only one thing - British Leyland.
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If they are rubbish "Now" that is a good reason for not buying one "Now" Checking Autotrader I find a new 1.8T at £16K and the same on a 61 plate at £6.5k. Who needs falling off a cliff depreciation of that order?
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IIRC when they couldn't shift any Avis took some ( about 100)
From what I can piece together there have been around 700 registered to date of which a fair few look to be SORN (sat at Motorpoint)
With high Co2 on launch, old tec, and a brand with virtually no value / loyalty they were stuffed.
They needed to enter the market with something that would wow the buyers, decent modern tec, long warranty and cheap.
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The problem is that there are just far too many new cars out there chasing not enough buyers. I happened to drive past Enterprise car rental in Worthing this afternoon and they had a row of '63 plate BMW 3 and 5 series cars outside. It's not even the end of September yet; they'll be available used in the new year I expect. While that's the case I just can't see how MG are going to make any headway in the UK market without them being even cheaper than that unfortunately.
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Yes, they have shortcomings, but at a certain price point people will forgive them.
Bit like early 2000's citroens. The products were OK, but far from class leaders so they bought market share with heavy discounting and cheap finance deals
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>> Yes, they have shortcomings, but at a certain price point people will forgive them.
No they wont. The shortcomings are High Insurance, High Road Tax, and High Fuel Consumption.
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>> >> Yes, they have shortcomings, but at a certain price point people will forgive them.
>>
>> No they wont. The shortcomings are High Insurance, High Road Tax, and High Fuel Consumption.
>>
>>
They will forgive them at the point of purchase as people can be blinded by a new car, and many will fail to look at the overall cost of acquisition.
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>> They will forgive them at the point of purchase as people can be blinded by
>> a new car, and many will fail to look at the overall cost of acquisition.
Well clearly thats not the case, you cant give the things away.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 16 Sep 13 at 01:08
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Five years ago you could get away with it, but I am sure most people now are too careful about the overall running costs, and there are better more modern (in terms of engines) cheap new cars out there like Dacia.
Very difficult to create a market by offering a 'budget' car with high running costs. The last example I can think of was Lada, but then they were stupidly cheap. Pensioners who do low mileage could forgive the high MPG, and back then with fuel around 60p a litre it wasn't an issue for a lot of people.
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Just tried to navigate the MG site - its awful.
I may have got this wrong, but it looks like its 17K for a focus sized entry level diesel hatch with the possibility of cheap finance?
When I said cheap I was kind of thinking 20 - 25% less than credible competition.
I think the nail in the coffin is the Quentin Wilson video telling us how its class leading......
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 16 Sep 13 at 01:08
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>> They will forgive them at the point of purchase as people can be blinded by
>> a new car, and many will fail to look at the overall cost of acquisition.
>>
What they will struggle to get away from is that MG Rover has folded once and the people who might buy one remember that even if they don't recognition the ongoing running costs.
What reaction would you get at work if you said "we are getting a new MG" . . . . I would expect derision from my colleagues
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About 1 month ago motorpoint had roughly 80 x MG6
Today 53!
6/7 sales per week is not fast but a new/newish car for under £10k appeals to some.
Not iJWS above and his work colleagues however.
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Why would anyone be remotely bothered what their colleagues thought of their choice of car, nor anyone else for that matter.
If i was in the market for a standard car i'd give serious consideration to one.
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>>Why would anyone be remotely bothered what their colleagues thought of their choice of car
For exactly the same reason that advertising works, and for the same reason that many people buy Golfs.
Its not necessarily that they would only buy a car that their colleagues approved of, its that the image of the car contributes to the perceived quality of it.
And the opinion of people contributes to the image of the car.
I would not seek approval from anybody for my car. I would not be bothered by negative opinions.
However, if I have an image of the car or something about it, then that has probably been contributed to by opinions, discussions and reactions of people I have come into contact with. Good or bad.
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I certainly wouldnt buy one and there are few obscure cars I would dismiss out of hand, but this is one of them.
I just cant see the point of it, you can buy a still cheap Hyundai/Kia which has the backup and is a known quantity.
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Interesting to ponder, FoR. So, which car? Car A or car B:
Car A: www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201303155794426/
Car B: www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201310019053052/
Car A for me please. There isn't a comparable bigger petrol engined KIA/Hyundai, so I had to choose the 1.4. And that's one of the bases for my decision. I bet the MG is a more inspiring drive.
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>>Interesting to ponder, FoR. So, which car? Car A or car B:<<
Neither, you can get a 2010 Kia Magentis for less than £7k, a diesel one at that.
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Or a choice of 2011 Astras with low miles and 1.4-1.8 litre petrol engines for around £7k.
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>> Neither, you can get a 2010 Kia Magentis for less than £7k, a diesel one
>> at that.
Which isn't apples with apples, as I was trying to set up. That's a large saloon, people looking for a mid size petrol engined hatchback won't want one, diesel or not.
I was trying to hypothesize as to which of the two would make the more tempting buy, and I can see a case for a the MG 6 if you want a petrol, mid sized hatchback aged about 2 years for about 7k. The case is that it's a higher powered car and probably a nicer drive than a 1.4 litre KIA/Hyundai/Astra (as it's been suggested also). 1.4 litre engines in cars that size have always been too small in my ever so terribly humble.
So, of the 2, MG and Hyundai, which would be your choice? Hyundai for the warranty/peace of mind/running costs or MG for the better power and driving experience? As I said, I'd go for the MG.
FoR has already plumped for the Hyundai, any MG takers with me?
Last edited by: Alanović on Tue 8 Oct 13 at 09:32
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>> FoR has already plumped for the Hyundai, any MG takers with me?
No, its has poor consumption, high road tax which is not offset by better than average performance. It has terrible resale prospects, worse than average build quality, completely unknown but probably terrible support, and high insurance costs.
Now apart from that, its a cracker. (its a good looker tho, I have to admit)
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New models of MG6 available shortly with better CO2/BIK
tinyurl.com/plmfyzz
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which will really kill the residual value of the old ones.
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Those are diesel models. The real cheapies are the petrols.
People often comment on here that too much attention is paid to VED bands and MPG, if the car is cheap to buy then the VED cost becomes irrelevant to the total cost of ownership goes the argument - why are people buying expensive, 20,30k+ German diesels to get a low VED band and high MPG is the question so often asked. Save your money and buy a petrol engined car with higher VED and lower MPG - it'll cost you less in the long run! No DPF, no DMF, no modern rubbish etc etc etc...............
And yet that argument seems to be ignored when discussing these cars. Why is everyone here (Brits, most of us) so determined to dislike and dismiss a British made vehicle? It really isn't that bad and it is a bit of a bargain second hand.
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>> And yet that argument seems to be ignored when discussing these cars. Why is everyone
>> here (Brits, most of us) so determined to dislike and dismiss a British made vehicle?
>> It really isn't that bad and it is a bit of a bargain second hand.
So mr"wonderful british car" two questions for you
1/ why isnt one on your drive
2/ why did you buy French.
You can postulate and prance all you like, at the end of the day the great British public disagree with you profoundly and have shunned this car, even tho its such wonderful value for money for all the good reason you claim do not exist.
Buy the MG and put it on your drive. IE Put up or shut up
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 8 Oct 13 at 18:03
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>> 1/ why isnt one on your drive
I need an estate. Show me an estate version. The wife drives automatics. Show me one with an automatic gearbox.
>> 2/ why did you buy French.
Similar reasons that the MG is a good buy - unfashionable and therefore good value if you can see through the bullshine.
>> Buy the MG and put it on your drive. IE Put up or shut up
Now you shut up.
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Blah blah all talk no action
No MG on drive no bottle.
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Oh stop the wumming you silly old tart. If we all had to buy every car we said we liked on here we'd all need a garage the size of Beaulieu.
It's a conversation about the pros and cons of a particular model of car on a car enthusiasts' website. Not a car collectors' website. I like loads of cars, doesn't mean I need to buy them all to justify my opinion. Get over yourself.
No bottle, eh? I thought your received opinion was that buying a Laguna was a brave decision? :-)
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The Hyundai has no appeal for a car enthusiast, it's a washing machine. Instinct says take the "MG". I like the fact that at least some UK labour has gone into it, albeit a bit token.
You'd be nuts to buy one new, but depreciation from £7,000 on a car kept a few years is going to be fairly similar whatever it is. The MG is said to be dynamically very good and the K series was a great engine marred by the cooling problem, allegedly fixed.
That said I am possibly not being rational - if it was sold as a Yuejin I probably wouldn't look past the badge.
In reality of course my choice wouldn't be restricted to those two, and I'd buy something else.
A different question would be "would anybody attracted to the i30 consider the MG6 instead at the same price?". I doubt it.
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>>Which isn't apples with apples, as I was trying to set up. That's a large saloon, people looking for a mid size petrol engined hatchback won't want one, diesel or not.<<
The Hyundai is much smaller than the MG, the Kia being only a few inches longer than the MG is closer in size. Apples with apples the Hyundai aint.
Judging by the sales figures, few people agree with your idea that the MG is worth a punt.
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Jesus, it's hard work with you sometimes. The MG6 and the Hyundai i30 are both in the same sector which the car industry uses to classify comparable cars. Mid sized hatchback, C sector. A Kia Magentis is a D-sector saloon. People buying cars are usually interested in models within a specific sector and that is comparing apples with apples. So a petrol engined MG6 hatchback is comparable to a petrol engined i30 hatchback, both C sector hatchbacks, not a diesel engined Magentis saloon.
If few people agree the MG's worth a punt brand new, I'm with them. But second hand, it appeals to me in a way that most Hyundais and KIAs don't. A diesel Magentis really does appeal to me, but it wouldn't if I were in the market for a smaller, petrol engined hatchback.
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>>The MG6 and the Hyundai i30 are both in the same sector which the car industry uses to classify comparable cars <<
In all the years I have worked with cars I have never heard someone refuse a car because it doesnt fall in C or D sector, most people wouldnt even know what sector it was supposed to be in. You are really quite a nerd arent you?
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Average Joe may not refer to it as class C/D whatever, but generally wouldn't go looking at a Passat if they are after a Focus size car
Last edited by: ToMoCo on Tue 8 Oct 13 at 13:24
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Exactly my point ToMoCo. Well put.
I thought I was talking to fellow "enthusiasts", FoR. Nerds if you like.
When I ask the missus what sort of car she wants, all she says is "hatchback, Golf size".
Coming home with a KIA Magentis would be like that geezer in the Fast Show - wife: "Did you get the bread and milk, dear?" Geezer: "No - even better than that - a full set of adjustable spanners, a first edition copy of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings and a little plastic toilet filled with blue putty which farts when you shove your fingers in it."
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2012/61 plate, 15k miles. 160bhp. Price? £6895. Yes indeedy.
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201310019060258/
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If I was forced to buy with this silly criteria I would go for a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6. Far better backup and just as cheap.
Last edited by: FoR on Tue 8 Oct 13 at 17:28
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The MGs are a reasonably frequent sight around here. They look quite good, and from peering in the window they seem quite nicely put together.
The only thing that would bother me about one would be the risk of a low resale value caused by historical perception of the brand. And that's not really an issue outside Europe.
Secondhand I can see no reason to be concerned. And a car doesn't have to be a huge bargain to outweigh annual taxation costs, or even fuel consumption for the vast majority.
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For those who like these little details, a silver taxi used in Doc Martin in the current series is an MG6.
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Well spotted (I didn't) I'll have to look out for it next time I'm in Port Wenn ;)
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>> If I was forced to buy with this silly criteria I would go for a
>> Chevrolet Cruze 1.6. Far better backup and just as cheap.
>>
That's a reasonable alternative and a good suggestion. I still think I'd get the MG though. There's that ineffable "I want one" quality about it for me, which I can't really explain. The others don't have that.
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Maybe not but the Cruze looks to me like a cheap Astra, even the interior looks like most of it came from a Vauxhall of some description and I would argue that an Astra on the cheap is better than an iffy unknown quantity which will disappear from the UK market wthin a couple of years - they just arent selling and that spells the end of UK sales - Ssangyong sells more cars than they do and most people havent heard of them.
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>> Ssangyong sells more cars than
>> they do and most people havent heard of them.
Surprised to hear that. Loads of Chevvies round here, but there is a big GM dealership in town covering both brands. I see more Ssangyongs round my mum's place in rural Wales, they're probably a countryside thing then.
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>>Surprised to hear that. Loads of Chevvies round here, but there is a big GM dealership in town covering both brands. I see more Ssangyongs round my mum's place in rural Wales, they're probably a countryside thing then.<<
They have only sold 350 cars so far this year, but that is more than the 240 that MG have sold.
Ssangyong have a pretty up to date range and the importer is well backed - they are selling alongside Isuzu at many locations, my local ex-Subaru dealer is hoping to convert the existing Subaru customers into Ssangyong.
My sister is loving her Rodius and it gets alot of interested people at the nursery car park, it is a very decent motor - the just launched Rodius replacement looks like great value too.
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Ah, I read your post as saying that SS sold more than Chevrolet. Now I see you meant SS sells more than MG, not Chevrolet.
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>> My sister is loving her Rodius and it gets alot of interested people at the
>> nursery car park, it is a very decent motor -
Such a shame these look like they do, as otherwise I reckon they'd sell in big numbers. Vast, cheap, well specced, and with a Mercedes engine and autobox. Lots to like.
They are properly hideous to look at though.
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Just put your finger slightly above the sloping boot line and block out the extension and you have a nice looking car.
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I'm pretty sure they are offered as company cars in a large company very close to where I work. I believe a few people have taken them up, also they have a avis hire centre on site due to the large amount of hire cars they use, they have them there as well. They look pretty good close up, not sat in one but the interior looks fine to me.
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>>Such a shame these look like they do, as otherwise I reckon they'd sell in big numbers. Vast, cheap, well specced, and with a Mercedes engine and autobox. Lots to like.
They are properly hideous to look at though <<
My sister has a rare manual and she rates it as a car to drive - obviously big but pretty quick and quiet, the Merc engineering is really worth its weight - it even does 35 mpg which aint bad for a 2 ton monster.
My sister's car is dark grey with tinted rear windows so you dont nice the styling as much, just that it blocks the sun when parked anywhere, it really is blooming huge. She was really bothered by the styling when she first looked at it but she said she doesnt really notice anymore.
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>>
>> Ssangyong have a pretty up to date range and the importer is well backed -
>> they are selling alongside Isuzu at many locations, my local ex-Subaru dealer is hoping to
>> convert the existing Subaru customers into Ssangyong.
>>
Over the past decade my local garage has sold Rover, Subaru, Daihatsu and now Ssangyong! That's quite some record of backing the wrong horse :-/.
SSangyong registered (as opposed to sold....) 890 vehicles in the UK in 2012, so difficult to see how any franchise (presumably) could make money selling them, at less than 3 "sales" a day nationwide.
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>>SSangyong registered (as opposed to sold....) 890 vehicles in the UK in 2012, so difficult to see how any franchise (presumably) could make money selling them, at less than 3 "sales" a day nationwide. <<
That is why they put Ssangyong at multi franchise sites. My sister bought her Rodius from a site which sold Mitsubishi, Great Wall and Ssangyong.
Ssangyong also dont charge the franchise costs that other companies do - I was told by one dealer that ditched Subaru for Ssangyong that even selling the decent volume they sold in Subaru they just couldnt turn a profit on them due to the costs.
Apparently Ssangyong are 75% cheaper, so you need to sell alot fewer cars. there are also less Ssangyong dealers so the sales are spread about through less dealers.
The franchise is a gloss finish, most are selling used Ssangyong under the used scheme which is where the real money is.
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I couldn't be tempted by a new MG at any price. I don't think they look good and they don't reming me of proper MGs.
If you want a Korean type car just buy a Kia or Hyundai.
If you want something interesting in proper makes around £10k used the choice is massive.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 10 Oct 13 at 09:14
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The less popular brands are probably easier to get a franchise for. While the big main stream brands will insist on the franchise having a large glass palace the lesser brands won't have the same strict standards.
As a kid I used to visit my local Lada and Ford dealer a lot, the Lada dealer was really just a shed where the Ford dealer was a glass palace
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MG - MG6 - - Zero
