Exclusive 156 Electric 52.5kWh 5dr

Practical, but badly made and no support from MG Motor

I bought this car as I needed a practical car for a family of four. The car is practical, and it does its job as a boring family estate.

It looks dull, and has a very nasty, cheap dark interior full of hard and scratchy black plastics with black seats. It is not a pleasant place to sit. Nevertheless, I put up with it because it was cheap to run, had a reasonable range and did what I need of it.

Unfortunately, the car is very badly made and literally falling apart after 2 1/2 years and 23k miles. Trim has fallen off the door. The speakers rattle. The mirror glass in the sun visor has randomly cracked. The car is full of rattles and vibrations as you drive down the road. The infotainment constantly crashes and Apple CarPlay is unreliable. Auto hold frequently turns itself off and takes multiple attempts to activate. The momentary three indicator flash does not always work. The automatic headlamps come on far too late. The USB ports have fallen behind the dash. The car will regularly go into gear, but not move as the HV battery has not been engaged and you have to cycle the ignition to get it to work. The headlights appear to flash briefly to the car in front when you are following said car - apparently this is normal operation. The car will jump into park violently if you are trying to manoeuvre while the door is open.

When I mentioned the software issues to my dealer, they said that these were known faults and have no updates or fixes from MG.

I put up with this as it was a cheap car and, at the end of the day, it did its job, if to a poor standard.

Unfortunately, the final straw came when the accelerator pedal snapped in the work carpark at less than 23k miles. I have never had this happen to me in over twenty years of driving. Nor have any of my friends, family members, anyone at the MG dealer, or anyone else that I have mentioned it to.

Obviously, I was very concerned that a safety critical part would just snap. I contacted my dealer (who I bought the car from) and had the car recovered. The dealer and I were sure that it would be covered by warranty.

Unfortunately, MG Motor disagreed. They are not concerned that a safety critical part has failed and state that it has failed due to "an external influence". I have paid for the part to be repaired under duress as I require the car for work. MG Motor have sent me a deadlock letter.

I cannot recommend this car. It is badly made, under developed, and, critically, has a safety critical part that will fail without warning and MG Motor UK refuse to meet their legal obligations under warranty.

If the part had failed while I was driving at speed the results could have been catastrophic.

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