MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Fri 20 Oct 2017 19:23

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - oldroverboy.

I saw a LHD xs this morning on my way to the shops, stopped and took a look around it, and I was invited to go for a test drive on the 2nd of November.

Liked.. the looks, finally got rid of the parrot nose of previous chinese MG's A bit jaguarish in fact, headlights looked good. front and threequarters view excellent and rear not unpleasant.

Inside looked really good too!

Way ahead of the Tivoli looks wise and better than the new hyundai/kia mini suv in my humble....

Could be tempted!

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Fri 20 Oct 2017 19:47

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - Fishermans Bend

Temptation could lead to you throwing a lot of money away. It ain't no MG.

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Fri 20 Oct 2017 21:41

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - SLO76

MG's are still hugely overpriced in the U.K. They're a budget Chinese brand which has attempted to bypass the long drawn out road to becoming a mainstream brand by buying an established badge. They should have entered the market as a true low budget offering as Hyundai, Kia and Skoda did and Dacia currently are. Then as you develop more sophisticated products you can command higher mainstream prices.

Instead MG launched into Mondeo territory with the handsome but dated MG6 and buyers suffered horrendous depreciation as a result. No one who lost £10-£12k in 2-3yrs would ever touch one again. The GS and the new XS will go down the same road plus there's the fear of using new untested turbocharged engines. The trade will murder them when they hit the used market, they'll be put firmly in their true budget brand place, much to the pain of those daft enough to buy one new.

That said the 6 is a very tempting cheap used buy with decent looks, composed handling and a finally sorted updated K series engine that I've yet to hear any problems with.

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 07:23

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - oldroverboy.

. They're a budget Chinese brand which has attempted to bypass the long drawn out road to becoming a mainstream brand by buying an established badge. They should have entered the market as a true low budget offering as Hyundai, Kia and Skoda did and Dacia currently are. Then as you develop more sophisticated products you can command higher mainstream prices. Instead MG launched into Mondeo territory with the handsome but dated MG6 and buyers suffered horrendous depreciation as a result. No one who lost £10-£12k in 2-3yrs would ever touch one again. The GS and the new XS will go down the same road The trade will murder them when they hit the used market, they'll be put firmly in their true budget brand place, much to the pain of those daft enough to buy one new. with decent looks, composed handling and a finally sorted updated K series engine that I've yet to hear any problems with.

MG's are still hugely overpriced in the U.K.

The base XS will be below £12,ooo according to the dealer 5 year warranty..

plus there's the fear of using new untested turbocharged engines.

GM 3 cyl as per corsa.

That said the 6 is a very tempting cheap used buy. Excellent use buy. Zero recorded instances of HGF. And for the diesels very few problems. (yes I know not enough sold to make a reference point)

Shoud have been £9995 ish on the road, mg3 £6995 GS £12995 but the marketing men said it would work,

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 08:15

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - SLO76

"The base XS will be below £12,ooo according to the dealer 5 year warranty.."

Still too rich and needs to be closer to the £9495 starting point of the Dacia Duster or it'll fail like the rest of the SAIC MG range to date.

"GM 3cyl as per Corsa"

Only been around for 3yrs and sells in limited numbers compared to older 4cyl models. I've yet to see one with heavy mileage and it'll take several years yet to find out if there will be any inherent design weaknesses like the older 3cyl 1.0's tendency to eat timing chains or Ford's 1.0Ecoboosts habit of cooking itself. Use in the latest Astra will really test it as many will cover heavy miles. A neighbour has also recently bought one so I'll be keeping an eye on his.

The MG6 does seem mechanically robust in general but trim quality is lacking and looking underneath I don't think it'll resist rot well with unprotected wheel arches and thin underseal. There was a local 1.9 diesel taxi but I've never managed to get in it or speak to the owner/driver but I notice it's disappeared recently despite being well off the 6yr age limit so I'm assuming it's not fared that well.

The MG3 is also poorly built and very dated inside and out, it's like a 90's supermini and should be priced inline with the Sandero, if it was it would be selling in the same numbers.

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 11:23

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - pd

Does anyone actually buy a base Duster? They seem to be there just to have a good headline price rather than expect anyone to buy one.

If MG can hit £12-13k and throw in some sort of respectable spec they might flog a few.

I'd agree with the Sandero pricing - they seem to hover about the £7-8k mark for the ones people buy and that is the target MG would need to hit with a hatch to begin to sell in numbers.

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 11:55

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - SLO76

"Does anyone actually buy a base Duster? They seem to be there just to have a good headline price rather than expect anyone to buy one."

Quite a few around these parts, but yup the bulk of them are 1.5 dci's. There is a market for basic straightforward motors but manufacturers don't encourage it, offering limited numbers of base models on very low commissions to dealers and hard selling people up the range into cars they don't really need. Always been the case I guess, certainly was when I was flogging new Mitsubishi's and Proton's. The dealers profit margin on a base model Proton Compact 1.3 L was a massive £277 and you just couldn't get the things even if you did want to sell it.

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 14:47

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - oldroverboy.

neighbour has also recently bought one so I'll be keeping an eye on his. The MG6 does seem mechanically robust

The MG3 is also poorly built and very dated inside and out, it's like a 90's supermini and should be priced inline with the Sandero, if it was it would be selling in the same numbers.

Agree with your points, BUT.. The XS is a huge step forward. Go and look at one. The base model will be with the 1.5 4cyl which has no reported problems so far and when i had an MG3 for a half day went like greased lightning, definitely perky, but they'll get there.

If you are anywhere near an MG dealer they should have one on display soon.

Remember how we used to laugh at the Japanes in the 70's then Koreans in the 80's.

My brother in law used to import cars into Iraq, and I saw a few of them on their way past in Jordan. You want cheap tat the chinese will build it. you want quality, pay more.

MG's problem in the Uk was/is the stupid marketing men! believing their own hype and thinking the rest of us will fall for it. I was offered one of the last MG6's petrol in white for £8990 on the road and at that price it was a good deal, had i wanted a new car at that time, and had the door b pillar been a bit further back.

See my comments above about pricing. The final price might be about £11,500 ish MGxs base model, and it is a damn sight prettier and better finished than a duster with a better engine than the 1.6 engine from an ancient renault. Try driving a duster 1.6 petrol, not a lot of fun.

Edited by oldroverboy. on 21/10/2017 at 14:58

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 15:18

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - SLO76

I'll certainly take a look out of pure geeky nosiness but to date I've been less than impressed by their products which are at least two generations behind the mainstream. I was amazed at the over optimistic pricing of the MG6 when it was launched and it failed as I predicted at the time. Had they waited until they had the diesel and perhaps launched a basic sub £12k model aimed at the taxi market they may have made inroads in the way Skoda did with the first gen Octavia but they were greedy.

However you can see the evolution happening with each model a step upwards and they are largely using tried and tested technology which isn't likely to land owners with any horror stories other than the financial losses from depreciation. I just don't understand why they're not learning from their mistakes though. Our local MG dealer currently has a GS in the showroom with a sticker price approaching £22k which is utter madness. Buy that and try trading it in anywhere else in a years time and you'll be looking at £14-£15k loss.

Yes we used to look down our noses at Japanese and South Korean cars but they were cheap and reliable, they paid their dues over decades before becoming accepted mainstream products worthy of mainstream pricing, SAIC think they can bypass this, well they can't. Whoever is advising them regarding marketing is not earning their keep. Wonder if it's the same people who buried Proton in the UK?

Edited by SLO76 on 21/10/2017 at 15:21

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 18:21

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - Sofa Spud

The last nice looking MG was the MGB in its original form. Still one of the best looking cars ever produced.

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 18:35

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - Manatee

Autocar:

If MG can adapt its XS to the UK with a dual-clutch automatic option and also dial out some of the car’s body roll, the car stands in very good stead. Especially if it’s priced a good margin lower than its main rivals (we're guessing from around £12,500), who will offer better depreciation and brand prowess.

Aaaaarghhh!

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 20:43

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - oldroverboy.

Autocar:

If MG can adapt its XS to the UK with a dual-clutch automatic option and also dial out some of the car’s body roll, the car stands in very good stead. Especially if it’s priced a good margin lower than its main rivals (we're guessing from around £12,500), who will offer better depreciation and brand prowess.

Aaaaarghhh!

Autocar tested a chinese market car in China (different suspension settings). and not everyone had/has probems with their DCT's... As i said before it looks a damned sight better than Anything I have seen in that price range. and next to an Fpace (or Po face as some say) it doesn't look bad at all. So £12 grandish and you expect it to handle like a porsche macan?

When I have driven it for a good bit I'll come back and tell you, and my guess is that it'll compare with the Venga, which does as I want, but is not pretty to look at.

Edited by oldroverboy. on 21/10/2017 at 20:48

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Sat 21 Oct 2017 21:06

MG XS - NICE LOOKING CAR! - daveyK_UK

I was a front seat passenger in a MG GS and I was impressed.

It was middle of the range and the chap who was driving had picked it up pre reg for £13,500 , had plenty of kit including DAB radio.

Driving position was good, as was the space inside - far better rear space than a Duster.

Interior quality and fit and finish was superior to the face lift Dacia Duster.

5 year warranty also impressive.

I would choose a MG GS over a Dacia Duster, its main rivals are the Ssangyong TIvoli and Suzuki Vitara.

Never been in a Tivoli so cant comment, but the Vitara is good value for the money and benefits from provien Japanese engine and components.

With both Tivoli's and Vitara's available pre reg at decent discounts, MG will need to be flexible on price.

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