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Anyone on here running an MG4? what's the opinion?
one or two second hand coming up at under £20k, which I might be able to afford. I like the idea of V2L
Yup, I’d have had an i4 estate r
Same here. I went with the i4, but would have had an estate version if it was offered. Maybe an i5 estate if it’s affordable would be even better.
The SUV style car just doesn’t work for me. A bit bigger boot (but vertically rather than horizontally) but range suffers. I had an ETron for 9 months and struggled with the 179-200 mile range.
Maybe an i5 estate if it’s affordable would be even better.
Looking at the price of i5 saloons on my company scheme, I don’t think ‘affordable’ is anywhere in the product brief. I don’t mind EVs being a bit more expensive than petrol equivalents because the running costs are so much lower, but either BMW or Arval are royally taking the piss.
There is going to be a VW iD7 estate, apparently - think Passat with iD5 styling.
BMW i5s are lovely but insanely expensive. Sure, batteries cost a lot, but not that much. It's nearly £20k more than a 520i.
Have had an i4 for a few months, which replaced a diesel Q5. I don’t miss the Audi at all, probably will miss the 4WD on a few days through the winter but I tend to work from home more than I used to so commuting in snow and ice not really required.
It a bit of a nuisance to have to take front wheel off road and gravel bike to get in the back, but very much a 1st world grumble, and I do have towbar and rack for when it’s MTB or passengers in car.
fuel now costs me £2.10 per 100 miles though 😁
Not strictly EV related, but Dogger Bank produced its first power this week.
Seen nothing in the news about it 🤷♂️ The scale of this project is incredible.
I wonder if we'll see a change in the renewable percentage as it comes online?
Each rotation of the first turbine’s 107m long Haliade-X blades can produce enough clean energy to power an average home for two days.
Strewth.
So as predicted, I've just had my renewal letter through from John Lewis and despite covering my Leaf for the last 3 years (with no claims) they are no longer able to provide me with cover as I'm driving an EV. Hilariously they will happily cover my hybrid which also has a battery.....
This despite their trumpeted green credentials including:
I've had my Leaf for almost 8 years and insurance has ranged from £175 to £200 fully comp, protected no claims. Cheapest quote I just got on meerkat was £300. What a scam. Now loads of people have EV's I'm sure we'll see prices for insurance skyrocket. When it comes time to replace it as our local runaround car, I'll probably go for a small efficient ULEZ 3cyl petrol like a Polo.
ooh..this is interesting and worrying...
DrP
Anyone on here running an MG4? what’s the opinion?
Only had mine a week, my first EV, and so far I'm really enjoying the experience. There are some small niggly things that could be improved - the auto lights thing seems to imagine it's always night, the Bluetooth keeps disconnecting, the rear visibility is not great if you don't remove the rear headrests, some people find the lane assist intrusive, but I test drove an iD3 and an eCorsa and I'm happy I made the right choice.
Headlights coming on and lane assist are the two little things most people with an MG4 mention (myself included), been driving it for 10 months now and pretty happy with it. Mines the SE SR spec so the smaller battery but having come from EVs that do much less miles per charge having 200+ (nearer 250 in summer) means I'm planning trips like an ICE car. I've a few rattles starting but nothing like the ZS EV or Renault Zoe I had before and mine was pretty much the second shipment of cars thanks to lucking into a cancellation.
the Bluetooth keeps disconnecting
Bugger, that's the one thing I hoped wouldn't be said.
The lights and lane assist I could cope with as my ID3 is the same (altho you can adjust the lights sensitivity on the ID3).
Anyone on here running an MG4? what’s the opinion?
one or two second hand coming up at under £20k, which I might be able to afford. I like the idea of V2L
We've put 8k miles on ours since April so given it a fair run in now.
It's a decent car- it's had no issues in this time and drives well. It's just a perfectly normal mid sized hatch that stacks up favourably to anything else.
What version are you looking at? Mine is the LR version and the efficiency is not industry leading IME, especially for motorway driving. The nameplate range is 283miles but in reality for us that's more 190 - 250miles depending on conditions and route. I expect nearer to 200miles if it's motorway driving.
We’ve got an mg4 - it’s great. Easy to drive, pleasant to drive and more acceleration than a golf gti.
A
Now loads of people have EV’s I’m sure we’ll see prices for insurance skyrocket.
I dunno what’s going on with insurance but I just renewed my EV and ICE insurance and both have doubled. So from my perspective it’s not a problem peculiar to EVs despite the headlines I’ve seen.
and ICE
Strange, it seems all over the place - my renewal a fortnight back on a PHEV was maybe £30 more (£530) and then shopping around went down to £350 like for like
I'm still EV curious but pretty sure my next purchase will not be ICE range and battery degradation have been worries the latter because it'd be an outright purchase not a lease. (I think).
Seems that battery degradation isn't the worry I was making it out to be, see below. So in the real world is there noticeable issues with battery?
"Most modern, liquid-cooled EV batteries being made today should last at least 300,000 miles, with Elon Musk claiming in 2019 that Tesla’s long-range Model 3 and Y batteries should cover 500,000, the whitepaper says. This lifespan is set to continue to increase, with academics who are close to Tesla unveiling one million and four million-mile batteries."
https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/electric-vehicle-battery-degradation-and-impact-on-residual-values-revealed
Our MG4 (smaller battery) has 3000 miles on it now. Had it since May.
- Lane assist is annoying. We turn it off when we get in the car.
- Had no issues with bluetooth. Rock solid on car play as well (which my Skoda definitely is NOT)
- We get around 4.4 m/kwh locally - a bit less when I'm driving 🙂 Expect it'll go down in winter. Agree with comment re Motorway, when we go up to Brum to see our daughter, it's down in the mid to high 3s
- No rattles or squeeks. Get the odd random warning on startup, but best just to ignore those!
– Lane assist is annoying. We turn it off when we get in the car.
I think this is standard in all/most new cars now, agree rather annoying, though once you get into the habit of switching it off every time it's ok. Same in my i4, a 3 click shortcut puts it off, until engine is stopped and car locked.
Corsa e colder weather efficiency results are in: 100 miles - around 3.3miles/KW.
Lights, wipers, heaters including seat and steering wheel, motorway speeds (0-70) and some hills.
Summer was around 4.2 so down around 25%.
Day trip range has been adjusted to nearer 140 miles and cost per mile is up to around 3p.
All figures and scenarios subject to change.
Headlights are way better than the other car and it is still very much cheaper per mile. So I'm happy.
Home to Northumberland yesterday, here for a few days midterm break. £2 of Octopus Energy to get us here, £16 to top up on arrival !
3.9 miles/kW, cruise on at 70 and 60 on motorway/dual and single carriageway respectively. Air on throughout. BMW i4 40.
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I did a trip to Blackpool and back, around 90 miles to come up with my conclusions!
The commute in the Corsa e which my partner does was producing similar results 10 mile round trip using around 25 miles of range but that was using the pre heat of the cabin option and sitting in traffic.
I advised her to cycle to work but that got a resounding no!
I went to my parents again yesterday in the Leaf. It was 10C outside and I had the heating set to 18C at first. The message in the energy usage page said "turn climate control off for an extra 0 miles". When I put it up to 21 it offwrent me an extra 1 mile. So when you have a heat pump it seems that warm vs chilly seems to make little difference. The most difference I saw was 5 miles in hot weather.
I tested the motorway efficiency on the A449/A40 from Newport to Monmouth, constant 70mph, undulating.average speed 68mph, 4.0 m/kWh
So long as you're within battery range, it seems to me that the reduced efficiency just isn't that big a deal. Sure, it might be more like 4p/mile than 3. Shrug.
If you suddenly find you can't do your journey without an extra stop and 80p/unit penalty charge, that's another matter.
The M25 charging infrastructure is getting a big upgrade - Cobham IONITY is adding 26 (!!!) new 350kw chargers and clacked lane is building a new charger bank too.
Apparently the Cobham IONITY is their busiest one on the network.
Cobham was impressive when I went there a couple of years ago. Hydrogen filling station too!
The last services I went to, I forget which in M42 was essentially filling a whole section of car park with chargers.
Driving up the A1 to Durham a few weeks ago I was pretty impressed by the options popping up. Fingers crossed!
A lot of my local petrol stations on the main roads are adding chargers too, mainly Shell and BP.
This was spotted in Ashby de la Zouche. Not seen it before - awesome!
A lot of my local petrol stations on the main roads are adding chargers too, mainly Shell and BP.
There are key petrol stations on the routes I drive regularly, out in the countryside so they're relatively large with amenities and a mini supermarket etc. The main one where I wished for a charging station installed some 6 months ago (BP) but none of the others have yet. I suspect it's harder to get the supply out in the countryside.
Wandering off the charger topic here. I was just near a Taycan on a quiet road. I find it weird that Porsche engineers spent time designing the (optional) fake ICE engine noises.
I guess many of us pegged cards to the chain stays of our BMXs back in the day for the sound. Thinking of the Taycan noise maybe it makes things more fun? Like the Tesla emissions test?
🤷🏻♂️
Wandering off the charger topic here. I was just near a Taycan on a quiet road. I find it weird that Porsche engineers spent time designing the (optional) fake ICE engine noises.
If it was at low (“walking”) speeds, it may well have been the AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System).
The last services I went to, I forget which in M42 was essentially filling a whole section of car park with chargers.
And
I suspect it’s harder to get the supply out in the countryside.
There has been one motorway services that hit the news for having to put diesel generators in to service the chargers iirc. As the grid infrastructure wasn't up to the job.
That's not to say that's not an acceptable short term solution (single point generation emissions vs. Lower ICE efficiency of direct propulsion) but it does seem to highlight that we are a long way off getting national coverage of fast charging away from the larger routes and centres and that some very large infrastructure investment is needed in the mid term to achieve more electrification on the scale needed for the longer term (or a total change in transport attitudes).
If any grid engineers know better please do set me straight.
Yeah the noise is there to alert pedestrians at low speeds. I wish it were customisable though as on both EVs I've had it's quite an unpleasant whine. The sound on my neighbour's Tesla is equally unpleasant and also pretty loud. The whole street can hear it, including me on the other side of the house.
Re rural chargers - it might well be a better solution to fit a battery and a load of solar panels in an adjacent field. I'm sure any rural petrol station would jump at the chance to do this if there were a subsidy available.
That said, it mightn't be sustainable if every car stopped there to fill up needed a full charge.
If any grid engineers know better please do set me straight.
I'm not a grid engineer but my company is installing large batteries at motorway services so they can cope with peak demand.
If it was at low (“walking”) speeds, it may well have been the AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System).
Sounded more like a revving and roar as it zipped away from the road crossing.
A Google and it turns out there is an AVAS noise but unclear whether that works with forward motion and reverse. But there’s also a ‘playing card in the spokes’ option of ‘electric sport sound’. Reminded me of Tony Stark roaring towards the Avengers in his Audi eTron.
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/how-to-turn-off-fake-engine-sounds.10718/
Figured I’d check out the source. Seems the sound was specially engineered to be authentic for an EV https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2022/innovation/porsche-sound-of-the-taycan-christophorus-402-27794.html
AVAS only works on my Tesla when reversing - a weird, spaceship whine/hum that changes pitch with speed. Not unpleasant. Just weird.
My i4 has a weird (Hans Zimmer style) acceleration soundtrack when in sport mode, plays through the speakers, so internal only. Thankfully it can be switched off !
A nice man delivered my ID3 this morning, just in time to drive it to work.
Tbh I didn’t really know what I’d ordered so nice to find that it’s got electric memory seats and a funky heads up display.
First impressions are very positive, feels reassuringly Volkswagen. Yeah the touch screen gets bad press but with CarPlay running (wirelessly with a wireless charging slot) I’ll hardly be having to touch it.
Need to turn off the driver assist that tugs at the wheel when you get close to the white lines, that’s a bit annoying.
Need to turn off the driver assist that tugs at the wheel when you get close to the white lines, that’s a bit annoying.
Get used to it if you can, it might save your life one day. Ok so on narrow B roads it's a bit much, but otherwise might be useful.
There has been one motorway services that hit the news for having to put diesel generators in to service the chargers iirc. As the grid infrastructure wasn’t up to the job.
Not exactly.
“Gridserve is using second-life batteries and biofuel to help speed up electric vehicle charger activation.
The business introduced this interim microgrid solution at Moto Ferrybridge, months ahead of when the grid connection was otherwise available.
The trial test case with this microgrid solution features a 150kW/150kWh battery pack, sourced from second-life car batteries, that controls the supply of power to the EV chargers and is supplied by vegetable oil generators.”
They are doing that at the Exeter services site at the moment. It’s taking up a number of the stalls , and it says on the hoarding that it is temporary
I used the new Ionity chargers at Carlisle last Saturday. Well located, 2 mins off the M6, with a Starbucks on site and all the usual retail park offerings within a 200m walk. If nothing else, it should alleviate the pressure on Gretna Green services, which has become increasingly busy.
Get used to it if you can, it might save your life one day. Ok so on narrow B roads it’s a bit much, but otherwise might be useful.
My commute is cross country A / B roads, and yep it is a bit much. Not an issue on motorway or around town but on a bend at 60mph getting tugged back away from the white line isn’t a good feeling.
Looks like it can’t be set off permanently, always defaults to on so I’ll persevere with it and learn how to switch it off quickly!
Yeah, there are roads that just aren't wide enough - so I'll give you that one :). Hyundai had a button by the driver's knee to turn it off. The Leaf doesn't, but it you can leave the menu on the page where you can quick turn it off, and it will stay on that page across restarts.
In other news - £22k for a 200-mile EV, anyone?
You're quite right it was biofuel. I don't think it's necessarily a bad short term fix (even if it was diesel) for grid issues if it gets a greater spread of fast charger availability. More highlighting the challenges we have ahead as demand grows if infrastructure isn't prioritised.
Looks like it can’t be set off permanently, always defaults to on so I’ll persevere with it and learn how to switch it off quickly
Touch the ‘assist’ button. Touch the road in front of the car in the picture. Knock the toggle to off.
Do this before you drive the car. It’s the worst thing about our id3 and it is never on. Horrendous and dangerous.