Conditions for my first 140 mile round trip commute in my MG4 Long Range Trophy have been below freezing temperatures. With range notoriously affected in cold weather, how does the EV fare and is range anxiety a thing? #mg4 #ev #range
I drive my mg4 trophy for over a year, it's a great car with a few things you need to get used to. For the money you just can't beat it, charging at home with a EV tariff works out about 2p per mile. I hope you will have loads of safe journeys. Regards Walter
Thank you Walter. I certainly am enjoying it so far. I am waiting to get onto a cheaper tariff but right now I'm paying 30p per kWh, which is a bit eye watering but will get there in the end. But I'm really enjoying it so far
Hi. Enjoying your videos. Quick suggestion. Can you please put Part Numbers on your videos so I/everyone can watch them in order? Many thanks. Ps. I also have a MG4 Long Range Trophy, (had it for just under a year now) I love it, (after a few items that needed sorting after delivery).... I have been interested in EV's for many years and happy to answer any questions you may have. Cheers and happy motoring! Kev
The new mg4 claim 322 miles at a full charge. Do you think it can go that far ? It would be lovely to know for sure . Great videos. Keep up the good work
Hello, and thank for posting your views on new EV ownership. I'm pleased with your honest opinions, thoughts so far. Glad that you chose a car that fits your driving need, unlike some others have done. We have had a Niro 4 since August, and it's been perfect and faultless so far, and fits all our needs perfectly. Looking forward to watching your EV adventures unfold in the months to come.👍
Thank you very much! I wanted to review it as honestly as I can, and obviously the first couple of days I was buzzing with excitement and often see the world through rose tinted glasses, but so far, I'm very much enjoying it. As I say, I'd have loved an ID Buzz, but the range just wasn't there reliably for my commute, so I'd have ended up resenting it. The MG4 does me fine and it's something I can review when the time comes to change it.
Its perfectly fine to slow charge to 100% if you are going to use it, in fact its good practice every month or so to ensure the cells are properly balanced. It just leaving it sittiaround that is bad for the battery. It is the heating and cooling that uses up the energy but once it is at the required temp it is longer a heavy draw. We forget that we draw on a hundred year of ICE motoring knowledge and it takes time to get used to the nuances of the EV. Glad to hear you are settling in with an open mind.
It’s an excellent cruiser with cruise control and the regen set to auto. A little tip is just slipstream behind a large truck. Watch that efficiency increase 😊
That is a good tip. Love a bit of hypermiling. Is it just me who finds the ACC not particularly smart in spotting the car in front, therefore having to make a more pronounced brake than I'm used to?
@@OfficialMacMotors yes it gets closer than I’d like definitely set it at the biggest gap. Our other car Megane can set and maintain a much better gap..
Always set the acc to the middle 2 bar setting to minimise that effect. Word on the mg4 forum is that there is a softening fix available, but you have to request it from the dealer
@logant6490 good to know. I'll try that. I expect to invite the BMW and Audi drivers to fill that gap created 😅 but got to be better than the slightly aggressive braking that the car does currently. I'll ask for the softening when it goes in for a service or if it has to visit the dealer for any reason. Until now, notnreally an issue, just something I picked up on going from my Skoda to this.
The HVAC tends to need the temperature target 4 or 5C higher than the actual temperature you want ... Bjorn Nyland has found that the MG4 target is based on the temperature of the air leaving the vents rather than the cabin temperature.
It's a very bizarre setup. I'm finding I'm having to have the temperature set to 25°C to maintain an environment that's comfortable. So long as it's relative and I'm not using extra power by falsely setting that temp then it's all good.
The cruise control has always been that way sadly, If yours is anything like mine its a case of turning most things off for a good journey. Auto high Beam - Off, Lane Keep Assist - Off, MG Pilot - No way! Due to the lack of insulation as well the car loses heat quickly so it will always use quite a bit of power to heat the cabin, luckily thats only for 3 months where its really needed. Soon it will be much warmer. Although unless you like following lorries as a few owners do (you'll spot them on the motorways...) then its hard to get over 240mile range on the motorway and thats sub 70mph. Well within your commute range.
Yeah I've found the ACC a bit aggressive, so need to adjust my driving style for that to be fully effective. As for the other driver 'aids' I do agree unfortunately. But from reading other reviews that seems to be the case on most other new cars. The range seems fine for what I need, and no, I'm not keen on hanging behind trucks. Stone chips! 😬
Brilliant, this is exactly the information I've been looking for! So, were you actually doing the motorway speed or bring out a bit more sensible? When I drive my diesel, an Octavia, I rarely max out the speed limit on the motorway, just to achieve a decent economy. And I'm also prone to slipstreaming an arctic or two... it's like the nerdiest game ever. Lastly, I'm now curious to see how your electricity bill is affected. Thanks.
Thank you. I'll try and be as accurate as possible. This was recorded just prior to the real cold snap we had, but it got me to and from work (140 miles in total) fine. My journey consists of 90% motorway, so I set to 65mph and just relax. In my Skoda I was a keen hypermiler, so knee the tricks on the diesel to get the best economy, but EV driving is somewhat different. So practice is required to get the best economy. If there's a fun B road I'll chuck it into corners for a giggle, but generally I'm pretty sensible, especially when commuting. My lairy Mk2 Golf is the fun wagon where I morph into a hooligan. 😅 As for my electricity bill, I'm fearing the worst, as I've yet to switch to an EV tariff (waiting on a smart meter) so yeah, I shall await my fate with that one 😬
Get an EV Tariff ASAP if you are commuting everyday! Its then peanuts compared to an ICE car to run. I only charge once a week (or sometimes two) at the moment and thats usually on a cheap or negatively priced Agile slots. Paid to charge is always a win! Tonight as its windy its predicted to be 2p/kwh.
Fingers crossed soon then, its quite a saving. Our electricity bills are lower with a smart meter and running an EV than before both of them. The tariffs are just so much cheaper. At least you arent paying extortionate public charging.
I test drove one of the Trophy standard 64kwh, I thought it was really nice, but I have to do 300 mile journeys once a month and lack of charge points put me off for now. You can pick those up slightly used for about £23k now which is an absolute bargain for anyone sticking to under 150 miles a day/journey.
I think for anyone in a similar circumstance to me then it's ideal, as it still has the range buffer for it. Not sure what EV can comfortably do 300+ miles in harsh winter conditions. Maybe a Merc EQS? Otherwise, yeah, may be worth waiting a short while until a charge point is placed en route.
@@OfficialMacMotors Merc EQS get bad reviews, especially in value for money. Tesla would be my only consideration at the moment due to supercharger network. Did you get 64 or 77kwh battery, auto trader is giving their range as 270 / 323 miles?
@mjcamp01 mine is the Long Range, therefore 64kWh. The Extended Range is the 77kWh battery and 300+ mile range. I think you may struggle to achieve that in winter though. The Tesla supercharger network I've heard great things about, and also have seen folk in MGs using it, so must be local rules perhaps?
@@OfficialMacMotorsYou are probably right with the extended range, our Enyaq 80 has a 77kw battery and summer official range of 333 miles. We have frequently seen 320 miles on the GOM and treat that as the real range. In winter however, the real range is about 260 ( we are cautious so probably it’s 275) , still pretty good though because it’s a big old bus.
How are you doing for range now, with the warmer weather weve had today specifically i managed to get 4.1 m/kwh. For the acc if you push the left stick to the left it reduces the distance between you and the car infront which makes it a bit better for slowing down as it has a better idea as to where the car in front is
I love the MG4 but what I like about watching your videos is the constant smile on your face. It shows how content and excited you are with your life. And I just love seeing that in people. cheers
This was my first winter in my MG4 and I was getting 20kw/100km which is kind of terrible. But my tyre pressure was down at 2.3bar with occasional warnings about pressure. So I pumped it up to 2.5 and the efficiency went to 16kw/100km. So pressure *really* matters. I live in a hilly area so I expect in less hilly drives you'd get better efficiency compared to me. I'm still wondering what settings work best for demisting which is a PITA this time of year but I'm thinking leaving aircon on might help since it should remove some of the moisture from the air.
It does yes, but two issues: no-one knows how to work them, as they were installed recently and just left for us to figure out. And when you scan the QR code it takes you to LinkedIn 🤷♂️ Also, they're very expensive at 75p/kWh for a 7kWh charger!
Well I doubt very much that I'd be driving the whole stint from Essex in one go. So whilst I'm at a service station for a toilet/coffee break the car would be on charge for 20mins and I'd be off on my merry way with another 200 miles range. The fact I have two kids with thimbles for bladders means my stops are likely to be even more frequent, therefore the charge times could be 10 minute top ups.
@@OfficialMacMotorsIt's quite fascinating what people's perception of time is. ICE always takes "just two minutes" to fill up, yet while that may be trigger pull and flow time, the overall stop is more. Last time I looked at my charging stats on a trip to London, although I didn't need charge, pulled into the services and plugged in and walked away to the services building for a loo stop. Returned and unplugged and drove off. 9 mins charge time. On the return journey, the process but added coffee purchase. Stop and charge time was 16 minutes. Thus a total of 25 minutes of charging time on a normal journey, that we had to stop at and with absolutely zero impact due to using an EV. It's really hard to get through to some people who can't comprehend this as they're still adamant that their fuel fill only takes two minutes, even though that's on top of the loo stops I've just illustrated. I have a classic car which needs premium fuel. That's a 12 minute each way trip to Costco and typically a 30 minute queue round the car park for fuel. Last time I did that, I said to my wife that local fuel stop took as long as the amount of charging time we used on a trip between Calais and Switzerland. The difference being that we were having breakfast and lunch at the time instead of just sitting in a queue! We just use our ICE vehicles for local trips to the shops, the EV for long trips. That totally spins heads. 😅
Why couldn't he drive to Glasgow? I've driven from Glasgow to Cambridge. 180 Miles stop for coffee and sandwich, loo etc. while doing a 29 minute charge. Another 186 miles and we are there - easy.
They really don't like to be at 100%, can I suggest you try 95% and see if you are comfortable with that, then reduce a bit each more until you find a happy place, preferably 80%
Yeah I'm only at 100% whilst the weather is Arctic. My intentions, once temperatures have warmed a bit, is to reduce the max charge incrementally down to 80% for battery health.
@OfficialMacMotors If you can do the final 20% of charging to 100% just before you drive that will go a long way to reducing the effect on the battery
@brendansheehan7714 it probably works out about that anyway I leave the house very early and it shows as having finished charged not long before I am due to set off.
Well time, it takes me less than 30 seconds to plug in and I set the charge level from the app on my sofa. Then when I've woken up, it's charged to the level I need, so that's all good. Electricity, I'll be moving onto an EV tariff of 7.5p per kWh, so each charge will cost in the region of £2. Not bad at all.