I traded in my Toyota Corolla and this is my *only* car now. Taking a full dive headfirst into the EV space .
BHPian oakpr recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I finally received my MG ZS EV Exclusive (Candy White) after a long long wait. Having completed 1000km in 3 weeks, here are my thoughts:
Booking and Delivery
- Test of patience. Total 8 months end to end, from booking in early March (within 2 days of 2022 model launch) till delivery in early November!! I did countless searches for alternatives during this time. Almost booked a used Kia Seltos (thankfully the cars24 guy never showed up for test drive, otherwise I’d have lost on MG EV experience).
- Good dealership experience. It was frustrating radio silence from them all through waiting period with not a single update. However, once the vehicle was allotted, they were constantly in touch, providing updates and processing financials.
- Availed SBI Green Loan at fixed interest rate of 8.2% over 7 years. Dealer has good connections in one SBI branch, and overall process was hassle free. Immediate disbursement within 4 hours!
- Traded in my Toyota Corolla and this is my *only* car now. Taking a full dive headfirst into the EV space . Between Corolla offer price + SBI loan, total was surplus than car amount. Dealer issued refund within 10 days of delivery
- Bought Acko insurance from outside. Paid 60k with zero dep and return to invoice, compared to 124k quoted by dealer (policy from ICICI Lombard). No pressure from dealer to buy their insurance, they were cool with outside purchase.
- Declined MG Shield, since EV won’t require many schedule servicing costs (hopefully). Again, no hassle from dealer about this and they did not push for any unnecessary accessories.
Home Setup
- Home charger installation was very professionally done by the agency.
- My parking is in podium space and pulling a connection from meter room in the tower meant digging through a concrete road.
- I had to manage things like society NOC, labor for digging a trench, piping and closing up civil work. On their part, MG installation crew were very professional and quality of work was clean.
- Important to note – distance from my meter to parking space turned out to me 99 meters. MG covered the cost of full length high grade copper cable, no questions asked.
- Be advised that MG will *not* install 7kw charger if distance is more than 100 meters – they cite reasons related to voltage drop or something, I got lucky.
- Charger installation also required upgrading a connection from breaker box to my meter at my own cost – but in the end MG folks supplied me with the same grade cable which was surplus from another installation site.
- I’m very grateful for their guidance, quality of materials and quality of workmanship!
Driving Experience.
- Enough has been written about silent drive, soft suspension and (very) high tyre pressure. I agree with them and won’t repeat them here.
- I have reasonably adapted my driving style and can extract around 6.5km/kwh in city driving conditions (normal mode + regen level 3 + AC at 22 degrees).
- On highways, cruise control is your friend and must be used at every opportunity possible. It’s so light footed compared to a human being, efficiency easily goes up between 9 to 11 km/kwh. (normal mode + regen level 1 + AC at 22 degrees + 4 passengers onboard). Huge difference!
- 90kmph on expressway feels very slow!! Even my wife asked if I was babysitting this new car or preserving range by going slow – only to realize I was going at 100kmph at that moment!
- I’ve bought MG official sunshades at time of delivery. They’re quite effective in blocking direct sunlight and will hopefully improve efficiency of A/C cooling. They’re easily detachable and can be stored on real parcel tray without much hassle.
Major Irritants
- Lack of auto-dimming IRVM is frustrating (especially coming from Corolla which had a damn good one).
- Moreover, I’m yet to find a right setting even using manual IRVM.
- My observation is that panoramic sunroof even with sunshade closed still lets in enough light to make dimming mode quite useless.
- Happy to take guidance if someone has figured this out.
- Still haven’t managed to find a comfortable driving position! I’m 5’ 11’’ and healthy build (ahem). I face multiple issues
- Under thigh support is terrible. Back thigh hurts after ~50km drive, especially if you’re trying to use light foot
- Raising seat height improves pain in right leg, but starts blocking my vision. IRVM control box is quite big and creates this issue
- Lastly, lack of steering reach adjustment makes it worse. This car’s driving position set up reminds me of my Fiat Punto. It had exact same problems (office T-BHP review called it Designed for Long armed Italians )
Very positive experience so far in this brief period, and looking forward to munching many a miles with it. Next up – long trip planned from Pune to Bangalore.
Keyword: 3 weeks & 1,000 km with my 2022 MG ZS EV: 10 quick observations