EP 2 The Electric Show MG 4-
The Electric Show!, all about EV and much more!
Film and edit by William Ranieri
Film and edit by William Ranieri
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00So, Harrison, we're doing the second car, what do you think?
00:30Tell me. I mean, it's hardly a demure, quiet colour.
00:35I couldn't have picked any brighter, could I?
00:37I absolutely love it. I picked it up this morning from Eastbourne, from Jeremy and Son's MG.
00:43And there's something about it that is, I can't explain it.
00:47I've driven an MG ZS EV for two years, which I love.
00:51And it was MG's first deep dive into the electric vehicle world.
00:54And they did really well out of it.
00:55I believe a year later they released the MG5, which I've also reviewed before.
01:00Lovely estate car, first ever electric estate car in the UK.
01:04Again, affordable pricing. And then there's this.
01:15We find ourselves, despite the sunny disposition of this car and this colour,
01:19we find ourselves in the great British wintertime.
01:22And this, to me, is excitement on four wheels.
01:26I love the fact that they've taken the Volkswagen policy of a car for the masses
01:33and transported it via China into something which is palatable, fast, enjoyable.
01:40It hugs the road. I'm trying to find a bad thing about it.
01:44And when I say it hugs the road, this morning when I first picked it up,
01:46I whacked it into sport mode because, you know, you've got to give it a try.
01:49And it was pouring down with rain, flying over the puddles along the A27 back to here today.
01:55And it just didn't take a blind bit of notice of them.
01:57You see the big rain droves were slowing down and I was slowing down,
02:01but I was still hitting those puddles and it felt really, really safe.
02:05And going on to safety, it has all of the safety tech.
02:08This one has 360 degree cameras.
02:13It's got, it tracks my eyes.
02:15There's a camera on the steering wheel that tracks my eyes.
02:18And if I'm looking out the window, it beeps at me and it says, you know, focus on driving.
02:24In a 26 grand car, it's tracking my eyes.
02:27I mean, we've just been in a Jaguar I-Pace.
02:28What driver assistance does it have, really?
02:31But it gives you bifocals if you need it and other varieties.
02:34And it's got your glasses holder.
02:36No, but this car is here to stay and I think it's going to do extremely well.
02:40Yeah. As it already is.
02:42So well done, MG.
02:44It's fun. And I love the fact that it shows what can be done
02:47with EVs. What we're all about at Current TV, at the London to Paris rally,
02:52is showing what is possible and getting home on the range.
02:55And I think this, what, 230 miles you'll get from this?
02:59This one, so this is the, I reckon, easy, I could get 230.
03:03I'm not sure on the actual, the WLTP range, but realistically, easy 230.
03:10I picked it up with 36% and it said it had around 90 miles range.
03:15So what's, well, more than, more than that 230.
03:18That's it. It's going to go where you need it to go.
03:21And when you do need to stop and charge it, you've got 120 kilowatt onboard
03:25rapid charging. Again, your £70,000 Jag has 70 kilowatt hour
03:30rapid charging with a double the size battery.
03:32So it'll take you ages to charge it up.
03:34Whereas this, you plug in at the services.
03:37You've got that 200 miles range back very, very quickly.
03:40Yeah. But try not to plug into the services if you can.
03:43That's it. Because you end up having to sell a kidney.
03:45Well, that's another reason to go for the longer range model,
03:47because you can do those longer journeys without charging on the motorway
03:50and charge it at home instead overnight whilst you sleep.
03:53You know what? This guy's got a fair point.
03:56I have to say I'm a bit in love with this car.
03:59I love my I-Pace.
04:00I think what it stands for and what it's done, both for Coventry
04:04and the wider world is phenomenal.
04:06However, what this is doing for the universe is just staggering.
04:11Incredible. I can see this in five years time
04:14when they're on the used market.
04:16You know, you look at the used market today.
04:18You can buy a 28,000 pound Tesla Model 3 that's two years old.
04:21Wait till this is on the used market when you can pick this up for
04:26high mileage, maybe 12 grand.
04:29It's got an eight year warranty.
04:31Eight years. What could go wrong?
04:32That's it. Why would you drive it safely?
04:35You don't change the tires too often.
04:37Keep the brakes topped up.
04:38You're going to be fine and just be sensible and enjoy this for what it is.
04:42And going on to the brakes.
04:43It has really it has three levels of regenerative braking.
04:46So if the viewers don't know what that is,
04:48when you let go of the accelerator in an electric car,
04:51the motors go into reverse to slow the car down and take the energy
04:55from the wheels spinning and put it back into the battery.
04:58So it gives you a nice chunk of extra range.
05:01But it also, more importantly, means really you never have to change
05:05your brake pads.
05:06I've got an eight year old Tesla and I've never had to change
05:08the never had to change the brake pads.
05:11Unbelievable. Only missing one thing.
05:13Vehicle to load. I would love.
05:15You're joking. It's got it.
05:16Oh, my goodness. I'm out.
05:18It has vehicle to load. Another taxi for Murray.
05:21So again, if the viewers at home don't know what vehicle
05:25vehicle to load is on the charge port, there's an adapter
05:28that you can plug into the charge port where you would normally charge the car
05:32and you can discharge so you can take energy from the battery.
05:36So whatever you have on a three pin plug, you can plug it into the car
05:39and it takes it out of the car's battery, which is a huge battery.
05:42So last year at the London to Brighton Electric Vehicle Rally,
05:46we used the other MG, the MG ZS EV, and we powered the whole event
05:50with a mix of MG ZS EVs and Hyundai's.
05:53Yeah. Meaning no, no, no generators, no grid power.
05:58We charged all of the cars up with renewable energy at EDF
06:02and discharged it into our event.
06:03It saved it saved the event organisers thousands of pounds.
06:07It saved the environment.
06:08And it's just a really cool, you know, it's a really cool marketing tool.
06:11Absolutely. It's cars powering a car event.
06:14That's it. It couldn't be more simple.
06:16That's it. But I do love it.
06:18I think it's beautiful. It's styled.
06:21It's kind of like they've got that Pininfarini kind of styling about it.
06:25Pop the boot. I just want to show the viewers the...
06:27No automatic boot on the MG, I'm afraid.
06:30You know, you can pop the zimmer frame to one side.
06:34There we go. Look at that.
06:35That is style. Look at the spoiler on that.
06:38I mean, that is an XR2 from those that remember that generation.
06:41That's a gold GTI mark one.
06:43And on the trophy model, as you can see, it's got the light bar
06:47that goes across the back of the car.
06:49Lights the Audis, light the Mercedes, all these new electric cars,
06:53luxury electric cars that are coming on the road.
06:55They all seem to have this light bar.
06:56Yeah. And the MG has it. Perfect.
06:59Nice bit of styling.
07:00Shall we have a look inside? Absolutely.
07:02As you go on the inside, you realise they've spent the money in the right places.
07:05All the bits you touch all day long in your car feel are great.
07:09They're luxury.
07:09You know, the steering wheel, I'll let you feel the steering wheel.
07:17So, Bill, what do you think?
07:20I absolutely adore this little car.
07:22I mean, look at the sports seat.
07:24You feel cocooned.
07:25I feel I'm ready to take part in the Le Mans 24 hour.
07:28It is lovely. I mean, what do you think about the wheel?
07:30When I first got in it, because it's kind of a squarish wheel.
07:33I do a lot of this when I'm driving, spinning it out of a car park,
07:37thinking I'm in Formula One.
07:38This middle bit, whilst you're driving on the motorway with MG Pilot on,
07:42which is the self-driving features of this car,
07:45you can just rest your hand on it and it feels supportive.
07:47It's a nice, it's unusual.
07:50I can't, I can't explain it.
07:51It kind of feels a bit fighter pilot-y.
07:53I feel like a bit like a fat Tom Cruise.
07:57And when you're accelerating out of the slip roads and whatnot,
08:00it really does feel like you're in a fighter pilot in a jet.
08:03Yeah, I do. I like that. I like the displays.
08:06I think that could be slightly bigger.
08:08However, that's where the costs are saved, I guess, from having a smaller display.
08:12I love the interface here.
08:14I think the CarPlay is a welcome addition.
08:16And, you know, you pay for that.
08:18I love that it's got heated seats.
08:19Heated seats, heated steering wheel.
08:21I love this screen.
08:23My only hate for it, which is a real hate,
08:27is turning the heating on and off.
08:29So you have these quick buttons.
08:31That's the heating on. Great.
08:33That's the temperature.
08:34Whilst I'm driving, I have to do this, this
08:39and this. Press these tiny little buttons.
08:42And I was driving home earlier in the wet, as I was saying.
08:44Is it not transposed on to?
08:45Nope. But I suppose once you have it set, it's not going to be a huge problem
08:50because you switch it off, you switch it on and you have the quick buttons
08:53for your front windshield and the back.
08:56So, you know, it's not too bad,
08:59but there's a lot of messing around on this screen.
09:01Let me tell you that an engine releasing a 400 horsepower version of this car.
09:05I don't know the price. Wow.
09:08But yeah, for the most, it'll be completely unnecessary.
09:11This is quick. It's got 200 and something horsepower.
09:14Wow. That's a lot for a small car.
09:16Kind of. Yeah, this is hot hatch territory.
09:18This is not 16 under seven seconds. It's quick.
09:21I believe that they've got it right.
09:23I believe that the next models they're going to look at elongating,
09:27giving families more space and support.
09:29Like you say, the MG were the first company to bring in a station wagon.
09:33First company to produce a estate car.
09:35And it's going from strength to strength and the prices you cannot get away
09:38from the great prices they're offered.
09:40I really struggle to get my head around people that will go to Volkswagen
09:44and they will pay thirty six thousand pounds for a basic ID free.
09:49So are you throwing the gauntlet down and saying we're going to get to Volkswagen
09:53and see what you get in addition to combat this car?
09:56Is that what you're doing?
09:57Yeah, I want to put them head to head because I can't see why somebody would do that.
10:00And people say, oh, it's MG, it's Chinese.
10:03Well, the device that you're currently typing that on is Chinese.
10:07The Tesla Model three, the Tesla Model Y is now built in China.
10:11BMW is now built in China for all their electric cars.
10:14Get over it. You know, it's old news.
10:17They build a good car.
10:19Well done. Good choice.
10:20Absolutely. Look forward to the next show.
10:23So we are here with the fabulous Nissan Aria.