A couple of months ago, it was arranged that the latest MK2 MG6 would be at our disposal for a long weekend, so that we could review the car, for The Motoring World, we have already reviewed the MK1 and the MG3 also, both of which faired very well indeed, so we were really looking forward to see how the new MK2 had been improved.
Well, to say that it was a massive disappointment would be a huge understatement, I arrived to collect the car from MG in Cambridge, and firstly the car was not the cleanest, if i were a prospective customer, this may well have put me off, if the dealership seems as though they cant be bothered to keep the cars clean, then how will they treat someones new pride and joy.
There was NO handover, no attempt to show the latest changes to the car, and a distinct air of "couldn't be bothered", which was something that this dealership never showed on previous visits, i was just given the keys and left there, as i got in the car the key fob fell to bits, so a quick fumble put that to rights, and after the unusual starting procedure, off i went.
The first day was one for the taking of pictures, and having a good look around the car, getting some info together and getting ready to have a proper drive over the weekend.
Our weekend consisted of 170 mile round trip to the East coast, however, on route, the issues began to manifest themselves, firstly the Sat-Nav failed to work at all, just an error message, then it was error message after error message.
Each time we pulled over and restarted the car and the messages cleared themselves, however, the Sat Nav never worked all weekend, neither did the Cruise Control, not a great start considering this was the expensive model in the range, and therefore lots of toys, most of which seemed to not work properly.
Putting aside the computer niggles, the interior of the car, has improved a little, some of the hard scratch plastics remain, as do some of the fake metal effect plastics, the seating position to steering wheel position is slightly to one side and on longer journeys can cause a some aching in the arms, however, the driving style is easy, with well weighted power steering, and brakes that do work extremely well.
The leather upholstery is nice, firm and boring, just adding a coloured contrasting stitching, or a coloured bolster panel, similar to the old MG's before the 2005 collapse would give the MG6 a more sporting look inside, something that it lacks, the interior needs something to give it the wow factor, but then a lot of cars these days are very similar, and they too could do with a little something.
The Exterior too could do with something, to make it stand out from the crowd, MG has slashed the available colours, wheel options, petrol engine and Magnette model, so all you get now is just one car, one engine and three trim levels, but by doing this, they have at long last placed the car in a price point that should at last make it a more viable proposition, maybe another grand off each level, more advertising and options to boost income, and it should sell even better.
The rear passenger had a lot to say about the car too, which in this case is unusual, from their point of view the back of the car was very enclosed, very dark, and the seats were not very supportive, something the front seats could do with a little more.
The new Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) is a welcome addition, as that dreadful plastic thing they had before was not the prettiest or easiest hand brake to deal with, but along with a few other changes they have not gotten rid of the daft starting procedure.
Put the key fob in a hole, put your foot on the brake, press the key fob and off you go, if you stall the car the procedure is remove fob, replace fob, foot on brake, press fob, what on earth if so wrong in putting a key in a hole and turning it to start the car, or heaven forbid, a key-less start system, this way is so fiddly and if you do stall in an odd or dangerous place, it is not the quickest way to get the car going again.
Our car painted in a Gen Metal Grey is the only metallic colour option, the 'S' Model gets one colour only and that's Solid White, The 'TS' Model gets three colours, Solid White, Solid Black and the Metallic Grey, and the top of the range 'TL' gets Solid Red on top of the 'TS' colours.
These choices are not the best, where are the Blue's or greens, a BRG would be nice with a decent set of alloys and a spoiler, and you have an instant sportier car, personally, the white is the best colour as the interior is so dark anyway, having a dark exterior makes it look very plain, however, MG have played a blinder with the exterior revisions.
They are very minor, and not that many, but like Rover before them, they have achieved a significant change with very little, the new bumper and light arrangement freshens the front, but the all new lights and bumper at the rear are totally fresh, and up to date, the over all look of the car has not changed, but with new bumpers and lights, they can carry on with this model for a couple more years, at the most.
The DTi-TECH 1.9 Litre diesel engine, might not be the best on the market, by some distance, but it has a load of pulling power from low down right up to the red line, and with a six speed manual only available you can shimmy along at a pace, but once up to legal speeds, the use of the gears are required to over take, sometimes taking it to 4th just to get it moving, but it ain't no slouch, and with a limited 120mph top speed, which helps keep the insurance level down, the MG is not a bad motorway cruiser.
The boot space is voluminous, but with a large lip requiring a higher lift of luggage or shopping into it, this can be a bit awkward for those that either are not that strong, or elderly, but if this does not bother you, then the boot, is sufficiently good enough to take most things easily, and with the seats down, the boot capacity goes from 498 litre to a huge 1379 litres.
The 'TL' model comes with a host of toys, as standard, these include :-
- Auto-dipping rear view mirror
- Automatic rain sensing wipers
- Automatic dusk sensing headlamps
- Bluetooth
- Bi-Xenon High Intensity Discharge headlamps with bending lamp
- Cruise control - When it works
- Drive away locking
- Dual zone climate control
- Electronic parking brake (EPB) with auto release
- Front and rear electric windows
- Hill hold control - When it works
- Rear parking camera with guidelines
- Rear parking sensors
- Tyre pressure monitoring
- Leather seats with electric adjustments
- Heated seats
- Leather steering wheel with multifunction controls
- “MG” design kick plates
- Front LED daytime running lamps
- 16” "Contour" design alloy wheels, Silver - ONLY WHEEL CHOICE
The MG6 was in our hands for four days, and during those four days it covered bother around town driving as well as dual carriage way driving, and one thing that MG has always managed to do, is actually provide the buyer, or tester, with truthful fuel consumption figures, we managed 60.1mpg over our drive, where they state 61.4, so very close, shame then that others do not manage to be this honest.
The Co2 levels the 1.9 litre engine produces is quite high in comparison to other brands at 119g/km, however, this is far less than when the MK1 was launched, and there was another drop with the launch of this second generation model.
With the changes that MG in China and the UK have undertaken, it makes this car a far better bet than ever before, but that's mainly down to the price cuts across the board, but the slashing of availability of models, colours, and removal of some standard options on the previous model, seriously limits it's market, how have they not learnt from the launch of the MG3, and the options packages available there, that gets extra income, for very little outlay.
The reversing camera with rear sensors are a great "toy" to have, but why have they removed the front sensors, in an era when cars are getting bigger and bigger, it is these options that must be fitted to cars to assist the owner keep their new car in fine fettle, it was on the MK1 but gone on MK2, and thats a shame, the one thing that they needed to keep has been taken away.
When the car was taken back to the dealership, a detailed, and concise conversation was had with the MG Specialist, who promised that they would look at the car, fix the issues and let me have the car back, so that a full proper test could be done, I thought i would wait and see what happened, and as expected, nothing, i never heard back from them, which is a shame, as i could have been in the market for a new car, and the issues encountered from the very first minute up to awaiting for a non existent response from the MG dealer, does not bode well for the customer.
The car it's self, looks better, handles very very well, goes well, stops well, and with a host of interior upgrades, it has improved, as long as you like Solid colours, or Grey metallic you will be fine, or your not fussed that there is only one engine option, again, you will be ideally placed to have one of these, but with the myriad of computer glitches, that were never explained, even though it was clearly expressed that i would like to know what happened, would you want a car that could possibly spend far more time in the dealership getting fixed than on the road being enjoyed, and from a dealership that wouldn't even explain the issues, or even get back to us with an option of a second bite of the cherry, at least now, the facts can be put forward, and maybe now, the many issues might be explained.
The MG6 can be a great car, it has everything at hand, lots of toys, decent looks, plenty of room inside, a good engine that continues to be upgraded and improved, but it is spoilt by a dealership that seems that it does not care, and fails to even respond to requests of the issues that plagued this car, the MK1 was a good car, let down by a number of things, most of which are sorted on this, but with different problems apparent, why waste your hard earned money on something that you can not 100% trust in.
The MG3 and the new SUV that's coming sometime in the future, whenever that may be, will be the cars that MG needs to sell here, the MG6 in our opinion needs to go, it has had a chequered history and for a "new" old, brand they need to have cars they can rely on.
I would have liked to have had the opportunity to drive a fault free car, rather than base the report on it's failings, it does deserve far more than that, but with the dealership not bothered, after promise after promise, the true nature of the test has had to be completed, which is a real shame.
Out of 10, we can only give it a 3, it had too many problems to give anymore.
