Just had the first service on my GS at 15,000 miles, these are my impressions of the vehicle so far.
The vehicle is a manual Exclusive in white and I’ve covered 15,000 miles since 11/11/16.
I ordered the car with a couple of options:-
Full size spare wheel. I don’t like space saver spares, the thought of driving several hundred miles at 50 mph isn’t my idea of fun and a tyre sealant kit won’t do you any good what so ever when you get a blowout on stormy night on a motorway. There are however issues with the full sized wheel, you don’t get a jack or wheel brace and although I’ve now got the correct jack (£35) I had to get a generic wheel brace, and because you don’t get the foam carrier for it I’ve had to wrap them in cloth to stop them rattling. The standard wheel retaining clamp isn’t long enough but a TF one is. You can’t stow the tonneau cover as it fouls the wheel and you can’t fit the optional oddment tray.
Tow hook. It works well and there’s nothing visible when it’s not fitted, this is my first detachable tow hook and it does require a leap of faith that it won’t drop out while driving.
Rubber boot mat. It fits well is strong and does a good job.
As fitted equipment:-
All the automatic systems work well including the interior mirror, lights and wipers, the rain sensing wipers sometimes do strange things but generally work.
Other likes:-
The satnav works well with only the occasional blip like taking me off a motorway junction only to tell me to go straight back on.
The DAB radio (my first in a car) works well and I’ve now got used to it repeating the last 5 seconds when it switches to a different transmitter, is this normal?
The cruise control works well and is a boon on motorways, it would be nice if it was adaptive but I’m not complaining.
The seats are good with plenty of adjustment in all directions and combined with the reach and rake adjustable steering I defy anyone not to find a comfortable position.
The dashboard info screen is great providing all the info you’ll ever need.
The chilled glovebox keeps my lunch nice and cool.
The ability to configure a number of the cars functions, auto lock, follow me home lights etc
The range of the remote. This has the longest range remote of any car I’ve ever had, I can unlock the car from so far away that I can’t walk to it before it self locks its self.
Dislikes (more niggles than dislikes):-
Auto stop/start. It would be nice to permanently switch this off and enable it when required. I do a lot of driving in quite heavy traffic, if I don’t disable it the engine keeps stopping for the 3 seconds I’m stationary, I could keep my foot on the clutch but I’d rather not.
Traffic reports. If you disable traffic reports by selecting disable (as opposed to cancel) during a report you have to go into setup to re-enable them. Not difficult but a pain when you’re driving.
Other comments:-
The average mpg is showing 36.5 currently, which given the mix of driving I do I think is reasonable. I have seen the current journey average as high as 45mpg at a steady 70mph but not often. I’m getting 400 miles per tank if I fill up when it says I’m down to 0 range, with a highest of 440 miles having gone a bit past the zero range. I know someone will tell me they’re getting a zillion mpg but I live in the real world and am happy with the figures albeit a bigger tank would be nice, I used to get 600 miles/tank from my last car.
I’ve grown used to the looks of the car. From the A post back it’s fine, the front falls into the category of could do better. I wouldn’t say it’s as bad as only a mother could love it but it’s definitely in the French bulldog category (yes I know some people like them).
I did struggle to find the interior fuse panel, not because I’d blown a fuse but I was looking for a good place to get a supply for my dashcam. I don’t like wires trailing over the dash and being plugged into the 12V socket, once I’d located the fuse panel it was simple to run the cable with all the wire hidden.
I like the car, it’s quiet, comfortable, reasonable economy, 5 year warranty and a reasonable price, if it had a German badge it would cost 50% more. Would I buy it again or recommend it to others? Undoubtedly.
Things I think would improve the vehicle:-
Front parking sensors
Adaptive cruise control
Cornering lights as fitted to the MG6
A re-design of the front end
I understand these would bump the price up of what I think is a very competitively priced vehicle but you have to have a wish list and I’d have paid the extra if they’d been on the options list.
The vehicle is a manual Exclusive in white and I’ve covered 15,000 miles since 11/11/16.
I ordered the car with a couple of options:-
Full size spare wheel. I don’t like space saver spares, the thought of driving several hundred miles at 50 mph isn’t my idea of fun and a tyre sealant kit won’t do you any good what so ever when you get a blowout on stormy night on a motorway. There are however issues with the full sized wheel, you don’t get a jack or wheel brace and although I’ve now got the correct jack (£35) I had to get a generic wheel brace, and because you don’t get the foam carrier for it I’ve had to wrap them in cloth to stop them rattling. The standard wheel retaining clamp isn’t long enough but a TF one is. You can’t stow the tonneau cover as it fouls the wheel and you can’t fit the optional oddment tray.
Tow hook. It works well and there’s nothing visible when it’s not fitted, this is my first detachable tow hook and it does require a leap of faith that it won’t drop out while driving.
Rubber boot mat. It fits well is strong and does a good job.
As fitted equipment:-
All the automatic systems work well including the interior mirror, lights and wipers, the rain sensing wipers sometimes do strange things but generally work.
Other likes:-
The satnav works well with only the occasional blip like taking me off a motorway junction only to tell me to go straight back on.
The DAB radio (my first in a car) works well and I’ve now got used to it repeating the last 5 seconds when it switches to a different transmitter, is this normal?
The cruise control works well and is a boon on motorways, it would be nice if it was adaptive but I’m not complaining.
The seats are good with plenty of adjustment in all directions and combined with the reach and rake adjustable steering I defy anyone not to find a comfortable position.
The dashboard info screen is great providing all the info you’ll ever need.
The chilled glovebox keeps my lunch nice and cool.
The ability to configure a number of the cars functions, auto lock, follow me home lights etc
The range of the remote. This has the longest range remote of any car I’ve ever had, I can unlock the car from so far away that I can’t walk to it before it self locks its self.
Dislikes (more niggles than dislikes):-
Auto stop/start. It would be nice to permanently switch this off and enable it when required. I do a lot of driving in quite heavy traffic, if I don’t disable it the engine keeps stopping for the 3 seconds I’m stationary, I could keep my foot on the clutch but I’d rather not.
Traffic reports. If you disable traffic reports by selecting disable (as opposed to cancel) during a report you have to go into setup to re-enable them. Not difficult but a pain when you’re driving.
Other comments:-
The average mpg is showing 36.5 currently, which given the mix of driving I do I think is reasonable. I have seen the current journey average as high as 45mpg at a steady 70mph but not often. I’m getting 400 miles per tank if I fill up when it says I’m down to 0 range, with a highest of 440 miles having gone a bit past the zero range. I know someone will tell me they’re getting a zillion mpg but I live in the real world and am happy with the figures albeit a bigger tank would be nice, I used to get 600 miles/tank from my last car.
I’ve grown used to the looks of the car. From the A post back it’s fine, the front falls into the category of could do better. I wouldn’t say it’s as bad as only a mother could love it but it’s definitely in the French bulldog category (yes I know some people like them).
I did struggle to find the interior fuse panel, not because I’d blown a fuse but I was looking for a good place to get a supply for my dashcam. I don’t like wires trailing over the dash and being plugged into the 12V socket, once I’d located the fuse panel it was simple to run the cable with all the wire hidden.
I like the car, it’s quiet, comfortable, reasonable economy, 5 year warranty and a reasonable price, if it had a German badge it would cost 50% more. Would I buy it again or recommend it to others? Undoubtedly.
Things I think would improve the vehicle:-
Front parking sensors
Adaptive cruise control
Cornering lights as fitted to the MG6
A re-design of the front end
I understand these would bump the price up of what I think is a very competitively priced vehicle but you have to have a wish list and I’d have paid the extra if they’d been on the options list.
