Well at least Clarksons given the diesel a good review*

[Gary Gee]

*Actually, sorry, no he doesn't.



TBH not a single good thing to say

I've actually booked to borrow one for an afternoon in a few weeks time too, hope I have more luck!

The way 2nd hand prices are plummeting a 2nd hand early one, possibly next year WAS almost appealing. Some of the items in the article take the edge off this appeal though...

[aldon]

All I can say Garry is that over the last year and half I have hired an Audi a4, passat coupe, passat estate and last week an octavia diesel. I can honestly say that my mg6 is better than all of them.

Audi a4 was difficult to drive due to position of pedals
Passat coupe - stunning to look at nice to drive but had annoying interior rattles
Passat estate - same rattles as coupe
Skoda, well built, over complicated satnav/stereo, extremely boring and painful to dive.

[Gary Gee]

Have you seen the above article (its been posted up on .org), worrying thing to me is the crash protection - apparently the airbag doesn't inflate enough to stop you smashing your head on the wheel and there's a fair chance of hip / gentlemen's undercarriage (ahem!) damage in a crash!

Its all the stuff you can't see like this that bothers me tbh, along with the adverts trying to pass it off as British - I'd like mg a lot more if they actually admitted its Chinese.

I suspect a ZS given the same sort of test wouldn't fair much better, but then its a 15 - 20 years older design.

Gotta love the "stop / stop" technology fitted to the one JC had.

I don't doubt that you are having a great experience with yours, however I saw somewhere the other day the suggestion that the good ones will be good and the bad (Fri afternoon, as they used to be called) ones will be terrible.

From what I saw, "he who shall not be named" bought a crashed one to put back on the road but then actually gave up when it came to getting running right as mg were the wrong side of useless.

[Gary Gee]

Just had a look on .org and I see the usual suspects are all saying the test is a completely put up job and total BS on JCs part.

Mmmm, I wonder how likely it is that the Sunday Times would print a complete fabrication?

Also they ask if he was briefed on using the stop / start - any cars we've had with it haven't required a night class to use it correctly, is mg any different?

I may have to allow a full day for my trial - AM to have a crash course in use of handbrake, key and stop / start, possibly over running into part of PM, then PM (or remainder of) to actually drive it. Maybe I should have asked for a seven day trial?

[aldon]

NCAp test here......http://www.euroncap.com/files/467_datasheet.pdf

Similar to a Honda civic, only reason it's not 5* is because of pedestrian safety.

He who shall not be named certainly did not give up, and it was the dealer who couldn't help. Because it was a write off it has no warranty so mg wont touch it. He has now modified it, and even been to pod with it.

A guy in South Africa has just had his remapped to 190bhp without losing his warranty, we are waiting for further info on this.

If you do stall it you have to press the key in and remove it and put it back in, I suspect this is what jc didn't do.

Enjoy your test drive and make sure you get it on a mixture of roads.

[The Express Valeter]

Apparently a few years ago JC was asked by Roache Bentley from the MG Owners Club to write an article for Enjoying MG for which he did then a while after he was asked to write another only the second time he copied someone elses text & submitted it to MGOC. Mr Bentley I understand was less than impressed & they fell out & JC didn't get paid. Ever since then he never had a good thing to say about MG or as we know MG-Rover.
Now I don't know if this is 100% correct but I was told it by an MGOC Member who is not of the mentality to make up rubbish.

I havn't read the article yet but I have seen the front cover where it said it broke down & he had to push it & i have to say the minute I read that I had/have strong doubts as to the truth TBH.
Any press will print rubbish if they think it will sell thus making money.

If there is little or no truth in it then it is up to MG to sue for damages, if they don't.....................

[Gary Gee]

"If there is little or no truth in it then it is up to MG to sue for damages, if they don't....................."

No smoke without fire.
Not sure that JC or the Sunday Times would risk the wrath of one of the largest car manufacturers on the planet*
JC has really upset some over on .org but tbh a lot of what he says is bang on IMO.
£21k for top of range, unknown Chinese car is just ridiculous - hence why they "try" and push it as British in "all" the advertising.
If you were to change his review from the 6 to, say, the Titanic, the .org guys would just want him to mention accommodation and food, simply mentioning he arrived in the US "a little wet"! Just brushing over the slight sinking / loss of life issue totally. LOL

I'm hoping that test drive will go well, as a £5K, couple of year old runabout, the 6 is almost appealing. As a £18k (petrol TSE) its simply not.


*Windy, 2011

[Gary Gee]

Got to admit, the front cover made me LOL - didn't see it for a bit as the Times comes in about 37 sections and didn't realise I was looking at a part inside a part! :

[smilerbaker]

he does have some valid points, new its very expensive for what it is, and you shouldn't need to read a manual for stop / start to work!!

[Gary Gee]

Genius, pure genius!!! PMSL

JoCoLo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFpjdpJxr8I

[LozMachine]

Originally Posted by Gary Gee

Genius, pure genius!!! PMSL

JoCoLo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFpjdpJxr8I

Haha pmsl that gave me a chuckle lol

[ian zs180]

Lol that did make me laugh

[Dave V6]

quote
"He who shall not be named certainly did not give up, and it was the dealer who couldn't help. Because it was a write off it has no warranty so mg wont touch it. He has now modified it, and even been to pod with it."

was that the one last month when some of us went, it was a smart looking car tbh but it was painfully slow, i find it hard to believe it was modified , at least in the engine department?!?!?!

[aldon]

Originally Posted by Dave V6

quote
"He who shall not be named certainly did not give up, and it was the dealer who couldn't help. Because it was a write off it has no warranty so mg wont touch it. He has now modified it, and even been to pod with it."

was that the one last month when some of us went, it was a smart looking car tbh but it was painfully slow, i find it hard to believe it was modified , at least in the engine department?!?!?!

Yes dave, I believe it was the same day. Only modification was the exhaust and a slightly larger inter cooler.


He is looking at getting it remapped before mg live, reckons he should be able to get 200bhp out of it. I think he went to pod to do reference runs.

It might be slow in comparison, but I've gone 100 plus on the twisties keeping a 911 at bay. And I'm more than happy with it.

Edit: happy with mine, not his!

[Dave V6]

oh i meant slow in a straight line, i hear they handle ok.

[jasons]

Originally Posted by aldon

Yes dave, I believe it was the same day. Only modification was the exhaust and a slightly larger inter cooler.


He is looking at getting it remapped before mg live, reckons he should be able to get 200bhp out of it. I think he went to pod to do reference runs.

It might be slow in comparison, but I've gone 100 plus on the twisties keeping a 911 at bay. And I'm more than happy with it.

Edit: happy with mine, not his!

its not an easy ecu to talk to or crack, it is likely it will need removing from the car and have to go direct onto the pinouts in ecu to read file.

they are (the 1.8t) quite underpowered for the size of car with only 150bhp, even with 200bhp, it will not be fast, but will be a big improvement on standard.

The dealers and mg-uk wouldn't touch teh car because the airbags had blown - although if they are as bad as the post above says, you wonder if its worth having them?
The running issue was a faulty fuel pump in the end.

There are a lot of R75/ZT similarities, I don't know what floor pan the 6 was built on, but it seems many R75 running gear parts fit.

[Windy]

Originally Posted by jasons

its not an easy ecu to talk to or crack, it is likely it will need removing from the car and have to go direct onto the pinouts in ecu to read file.

I thought you could just plug the file into the dash using a USB memory stick, you can certainly reprogram the screen displays that way, if you know how.

[Gary Gee]

Originally Posted by aldon

It might be slow in comparison, but I've gone 100 plus on the twisties keeping a 911 at bay. And I'm more than happy with it.

Seriously?
I'd think the 911 was ill or not trying tbh

[aldon]

Originally Posted by Gary Gee

Seriously?
I'd think the 911 was ill or not trying tbh

Seriously!

[Gary Gee]

I think for "keeping at bay" read "holding up".
Sorry but even Windy wouldn't put a 6 and a 911 in the same category.
Just because someone isn't stoopid enough to overtake on the "twisties" doesn't make their car slower or inferior.

[aldon]

Originally Posted by Gary Gee

I think for "keeping at bay" read "holding up".
Sorry but even Windy wouldn't put a 6 and a 911 in the same category.
Just because someone isn't stoopid enough to overtake on the "twisties" doesn't make their car slower or inferior.

Well, I did write a scathing response but then thought hay-ho, I don't really care what you think, I'm happy with the purchase, got a good deal and not regretted it one bit. Also thinking about buying a 3 when that's released.

People thought I was mad to buy two zs180's, tarted up 45, but we all know better, now if I had bought a 120 then that would have been bonkers!

[Gary Gee]

Originally Posted by aldon

Well, I did write a scathing response but then thought hay-ho, I don't really care what you think, I'm happy with the purchase, got a good deal and not regretted it one bit. Also thinking about buying a 3 when that's released.

People thought I was mad to buy two zs180's, tarted up 45, but we all know better, now if I had bought a 120 then that would have been bonkers!

Why scathing?

Not having a go at all, just that there's no way a 6 and a 911 are in the same league and you're seriously deluding yourself if you do think that.
Pretty much everyday I have a Bentley behind me - does that make my £5k Suzuki a better car than a £150k+ GT?

No need for the insults re the 120 though, besides, aren't you now just driving round in a cheap (well, not so cheap), Chinese, 120 knock off?
In 10 years the only major problem was hgf (despite the protestations of MGJohn elsewhere, yes, they do all do that!), please do report back in 2022 to let us know how your Roewe is doing.

[smilerbaker]

these kind of debates are pointless, firstly we have no idea what 911 it was, if it was an air cooled one from the 60's / 70's then I'd believe it, if it was a turbo from the 80's and the roads where damp then I'd believe it. If it was one from the 90's onwards then sorry, he wasn't trying or it was a covin beetle based kit.

I've had a spirited days driving the mountain passes here with a mate and his 911 gt3, on the twisties I destroyed him in the 180, why? because his car was so low his splitter hit the ground and he didn't want to rip it off (again), a carbon fibre front splitter for a gt3 is a serious amount of money. of course on the flats and on the autobahns he left me for dead, seriously, it felt like I was in reverse.

[Windy]

Originally Posted by smilerbaker

these kind of debates are pointless, firstly we have no idea what 911 it was, if it was an air cooled one from the 60's / 70's then I'd believe it, if it was a turbo from the 80's and the roads where damp then I'd believe it. If it was one from the 90's onwards then sorry, he wasn't trying or it was a covin beetle based kit.

I've had a spirited days driving the mountain passes here with a mate and his 911 gt3, on the twisties I destroyed him in the 180, why? because his car was so low his splitter hit the ground and he didn't want to rip it off (again), a carbon fibre front splitter for a gt3 is a serious amount of money. of course on the flats and on the autobahns he left me for dead, seriously, it felt like I was in reverse.

You might of done better with an MG6 than your 180 despite the extra weight, NASP cars don't do so well in the low air pressure of your high mountain passes, a turbo can make a big difference up there.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by Gary Gee

Seriously?
I'd think the 911 was ill or not trying tbh

Yes. Or maybe the 911 driver valued his license more seeing as it was a public road.

That youtube link made me laugh, I like a good Downfall video

I cannot believe you have to remove the key and re-insert it to restart from a stall. If I understand that right, that's really dumb. We have a 1-series with the same sort of fob, and you just press the start button which is how it should be.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by The Express Valeter

Apparently a few years ago JC was asked by Roache Bentley from the MG Owners Club to write an article for Enjoying MG for which he did then a while after he was asked to write another only the second time he copied someone elses text & submitted it to MGOC. Mr Bentley I understand was less than impressed & they fell out & JC didn't get paid. Ever since then he never had a good thing to say about MG or as we know MG-Rover.
Now I don't know if this is 100% correct but I was told it by an MGOC Member who is not of the mentality to make up rubbish.

But he just wouldn't be petty enough to start taking it out on a manufacturer and their cars because of a fallout with an owners club.

On the stalling issue, read here:
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars...-30-months-on/
It clearly says (in a positive article):

Additionally, Ian Pogson spent another hour updating the ECU with a recently improved map to eliminate the stalling on setting off in first gear that many experience with the drive-by-wire throttle and also cleaned up the earth points that seem to have plagued a few cars causing sat-nav and cruise-control problems.

So he probably started driving the car, and would have given it an average rating except it stalled on him a few times and it wasn't obvious how to restart it, so he ended up looking a major idiot in the street. And for that it got a bad review, which seems reasonable to me.

[Jerry]

Kripes just read the review - http://www.driving.co.uk/clarkson/mg...magnette/11796

That's a few nails in the coffin.

[Windy]

Originally Posted by Jerry

Kripes just read the review - http://www.driving.co.uk/clarkson/mg...magnette/11796

That's a few nails in the coffin.

I'm still trying to work out how he got his drink into the cup holder while it was folded away so that it could "when you push the button your drink leaps out onto your passenger’s leg"

And he still hasn't realised that it had a stop start system and was supposed to stall at the traffic lights, or that to use the key to start the car you first have to take it out of gear instead of just pressing the clutch...

[Gary Gee]

Gotta agree with him on lack of headroom - stopped me buying a nice 2nd hand blue one from pinkstones

[aldon]

Originally Posted by Gary Gee

Gotta agree with him on lack of headroom - stopped me buying a nice 2nd hand blue one from pinkstones

Heard this one before, but is it just on the s and se models?

I am 6'1" and miles away from the roof, although in the passenger seat I do feel like I'm perched up high.

[Gary Gee]

Originally Posted by aldon

Heard this one before, but is it just on the s and se models?

I am 6'1" and miles away from the roof, although in the passenger seat I do feel like I'm perched up high.

It is worse on Se but I didnt think it was hugely better in the TSE TBH.I am 6'2" and it felt like I had to duck to see out. Shame as in all other ways the interior of the 6 feels a lot bigger than the ZS