Vali, dear readers, greetings from sunny (from time to time, and more often than not) Bristol, UK!
Four years have passed since the start of my car “electrification” experience with a Tesla Model3 Performance, which I talked about on the blog here.
It has been an extraordinary four years – both for me and my family, but also for the electric model car market. With good and bad, with fanatics, sectarians and detractors – the situation is still “playing” and we do not have a definitive answer. But I fell hopelessly in love with electrics – the calmness and quietness behind the wheel, the low operating costs, the idea that maybe we could still save the planet (or not?) if we all went electric or “hydrogen”.. who knows.
In any case, the Tesla has been the best car I’ve ever owned – no exaggeration, I feel, far beyond anything before – and I was very sorry to give it back when the four year lease was up ( here it is called PCP or BCP, Business Contract Purchase, I don’t know the term in Romanian – operational leasing I think).
I had two options. The first was to pay a residual value “balloon payment” and to remain in the property of my company. But I didn’t feel like dropping that much cash all at once (almost £23,000). The second option was to refinance for another 3 years with another residual at the end (about 13k). But after paying 13k I was left with a 7 year old Tesla with about 70k miles and a year until the end of the battery and motor warranty. Kind of unpleasant idea.
So I decided to sell it, with great regret, and move on to something else. After long searches (in the soul and in the EV market) enter the stage MG4 EV Trophy – the top of the range (at that time, beginning of September 2023) to the 4 series from MG. Concept is English (design team in London, people from Jaguar and Aston Martin), implementation (manufacturing) Chinese – MG is owned by SAIC Motor. In the meantime, some other models appeared, an X-Power (with 2 engines and acceleration 0-100 3.2 seconds – the Performance equivalent from Tesla) plus some more basic variants.
As far as I know, it is not available in Romania, but it will probably come in 2024. On the official European website, they mention that they want to enter Europe strongly. a autolatest article indicates a possible starting price of 18,490 euros, if the model goes on sale in Romania as well – so it’s too good a proposal not to be analyzed. And that’s what I decided to do – although not everything is comparable between UK and RO, let’s see how it compares with a 60,000 euro Model3 Performance.
1. Cost, order and delivery: totally different experiences but both very pleasant. Winner: MG 4
At Tesla, everything was online. At MG it was a combination of email, online and phone calls. Both very fast – within 2-3 weeks I had both cars.
At MG 4 we used a government scheme (EV Salary Sacrifice scheme). Any cost of an EV (leasing, insurance, maintenance, consumables and roadside assistance) is paid by the employing company and then deducted from the basic salary (thus earning by not paying income tax on that amount).
As an idea, I was paying around £650 a month – lease rate, about £80 insurance, about £1,000 every 2 years for the tires – that’s after a £10,000 down payment, plus I had the balance of £23,000. I have now paid no down payment, the installment is £390 (all costs included) and no residual. Without this scheme, the MG website cost of my model is £32,500 compared to £60,000 for a Tesla Model 3 Performance. I don’t expect service and maintenance expenses, being again a new model under warranty 7 years / 80,000 miles.
2. Exterior: The MG 4 EV is a winner
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” say the Greeks. I like the MG better. It’s a more modern design, more adapted to the European market (compared to the rounded egg or “duck” – specifically American – look of Tesla). Corners, edges, sharp headlights, aggressiveness, sometimes strange (what’s with those cut ailerons?). But beautiful overall, especially from the back with the LED taillights. And the available colors are great, this blue won me over instantly (prettier than Tesla’s dark blue) and it was very hard for me not to go for the orange version, it looks great too.
Now there are some satin colors available, I saw a satin green X-Power with orange calipers.. a treat!
The wheels have covers, maybe that’s a good thing (less expensive in the long run). At Tesla I paid 3-400 pounds to restore them after 2 years; the rim was sticking out of the tire and exposed to the merciless curbs.
3. Interior: Tesla wins
“Less is more” – no buttons, the tablet on wheels (as I saw it called) is to my liking. Although this minimalist style has its well-known flaws – nothing is out of place, it’s hard to operate any setting without taking your eyes off the road. But it was quite different from anything until the Model 3, a revolution in design.
On the other hand, the MG is somewhere in the middle – the big touchscreen, but also the screen behind the steering wheel. Buttons for common functions. The speed selector “tray” is still too big. The glossy black plastic invites fingerprints and scratches over time. And the quality.. is somewhere at the level of Peugeot/Fiat, Tesla was a bit better (perhaps similar to Hyundai) but both do not reach the “luxury” level of Audi/BMW/Mercedes.
4. Motorization and “battery”: Tesla wins, but it’s in a different league, it depends on what your needs are
Comparing apples to pears, MG 4 Trophy is “Long Range” and Tesla is “Performance”. The battery is 64.0 kWh (61.7 usable) vs 78.1 kWh (75.0 usable) kWh. Power 201 hp versus 527 hp. Acceleration 7.9 vs 3.3 seconds. Top speed 160 km/h vs 260 km/h. Autonomy 160-260 miles (freeway in winter vs combined cycle) vs 205-330 miles. Other features here:
It is clearly a very big difference, but the price paid is also commensurate. It depends on what needs and desires you have, and what financial capacity. For me an acceptable “backward” step because I have saved a considerable amount, monthly, which I can invest in other personal projects.
It should be mentioned that I have already gone on 3-4 long journeys with adaptive Cruise Control set to 65mph (104km/h), relaxing, with air conditioning and all possible comfort on board, and I managed to do 360+ km without charging the battery ( I loaded it in the evening at the destination hotel). But like the 2019 Model 3, it doesn’t have a heat pump, so the range decreases considerably in winter.
As with the Tesla: the computer tells very accurately how many miles you have left “in the tank” (as long as the road conditions/temperature/speed equation does not change). I came to rely on this prediction. If the forecast goes down, I also reduce the cruise speed a bit. And vice versa. I am happiest when I get home with only 2-3% battery – it means I have optimized the charging time/cost on the route to the maximum. Because at home I recharge from the solar panels or from the house battery (which is charged at a low night rate, or from the panels).
The average consumption after 3,200 km is 3.3 miles/kilowatt, that is 303 watt hours / mile (or 188 watt hours / kilometer), compared to my average of 4 years and 40,000 miles in the Tesla.
I no longer benefit from the Tesla supercharger network – but in the last 4 years there has been massive investment in infrastructure in the UK (and I suspect just as much in most of Europe, and proportionally in Romania as well). I went on 3-4 long drives and I didn’t feel like I was spending too much time charging. I avoid smaller/dubious networks as much as possible because of the problematic stations. I’m looking at app reviews to see if what ABRP (router) has chosen has been flagged as having problems.
I don’t have the data to prove it, but this is what most service bays on highways look like (or will look like). I’ve seen many like this, or in the process of being upgraded:
Gridserve, Ionity and other large networks are investing massively and it shows. MG can charge with a maximum of 140 kW DC (compared to 250 kW Tesla) but the maximum speeds are difficult to achieve in practice. 100 kW is more than enough for a satisfactory charge.
In the picture below: Is the computer wrong?? Not!! It was 2 miles of easy downhill walking into town – making 11.6 miles!! Per kWh
I declare myself satisfied with the consumption, charging speed and autonomy. I am, on the other hand, totally unsatisfied with the dynamic performance!!
5. Life on board: with a bigger trunk and better software, Tesla wins
There’s only 363 liters (vs. 561) in the boot and no ‘frunk’ – but it’s a hatchback, not a saloon, so when I put the back seat down it’s a taller and more manageable volume.
The software leaves a lot to be desired – here you can see for the first time that the car is “Chinese” compared to Tesla’s polished and frequently updated software. It seems that there will be updates “over the air”, I look forward to them.
At the moment the software is beautiful and full of capabilities (navigation, adaptive cruise control, lane assist, online / application, battery charging and programmable battery / interior heating, remote control, etc.) but it is heavy and not very optimized – “user friendly” . I’m sure it will improve over time.
What saves it is the CarPlay / Android Auto connection, which Mr. Musk completely refuses to allow in his cars. They are OK interfaces, optimized and easy to understand. Too bad they don’t have a physical start button – again, you have to stop looking at the road and press “Home” then a virtual button to launch.
When it comes to safety, again Tesla is slightly ahead. But the MG 4 achieved 5 NCAP stars in 2022 with 83% / 80% / 78% / 75% ratings (adult/child/safety assist/vulnerable road users) – compared to the Tesla Model 3 with 5 stars and 96% / 86% / 94% / 74%
As with most electrics, the lack of a massive piece of metal at the front (the motor) allows the optimization of “crumple zone” spaces, and this makes any EV clearly superior in safety to “classics”. Except for a battery fire.
Verdict final
3 vs 2 – As expected, Tesla beats the home-made “comparative test”. But my opinion (and that of many reviewers on youtube) is that the MG 4 is worth much more than the sum of the features taken individually or measured against other models.
It beats the competition on its beach (thousands and thousands of pounds cheaper than direct competitors, VW ID3 / Renault Zoe / Nissan Leaf / Peugeot, Opel etc). And personally, with half the costs I chose what I think is 80% (for me) of the Tesla.
No wonder they popped up like mushrooms after the rain in the UK, this is just a normal school car park in the UK:
And if there’s still any confusion with SAIC/MG, here’s what they’re cooking up at a similar price to Tesla – around £50-60,000, available from May/June 2024!
2023-10-13 05:30:05
#MG4 #Long #Range #Trophy #test #drive #comparison #Tesla #Model3 #Performance #zoso #blog
