[Vid6639]

MG Gloster Review

The MG Gloster is on sale in India at a price of between Rs. 29.98 - 35.58 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

MG Gloster Pros:

• Huge & imposing size! Bigger than even the likes of the Fortuner and Endeavour
• Splendid long-distance mile muncher. The Gloster is built for expressway cruising. Just set the adaptive cruise control and let the Gloster waft along
• ADAS safety features such as autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitor and lane change assist are cool & work well
• Suspension is tuned for comfort. Gloster owners will enjoy its ride quality
• Spacious cabin with captain seats at the back and a usable third row too!
• Interior ambience is nicer vs the competitors which are utilitarian in comparison
• Loaded with features - panoramic sunroof, 12.3" touchscreen ICE, driver seat with massage function, 360 degree camera, three zone climate control, PM 2.5 air filter etc.
• 343 liter boot even with the 3rd-row seat being used

MG Gloster Cons:

• Engine and gearbox tuning are shockingly terrible inside town. Turbo lag and the gearbox's reluctance to downshift make things awful in city traffic
• Massive size can be a handicap in urban India. Quite cumbersome in tight areas
• While the interior looks premium, you know it is not as well-built as a Toyota or Ford
• Top-end Savvy variant is optimistically priced at par with the well-established Fortuner & Endeavour
• Savvy variant doesn't get the 3-seater bench option for the middle row. Captain seats = 2 occupants
• 4,000 rpm redline is too early. Engine has a very narrow powerband
• Urban fuel economy is mediocre due to the power & fat kerb weight
• Twin-turbo diesel, 8-speed AT & gizmos bring a lot of complexity. Long-term reliability is unknown (unlike the Fortuner & Endeavour)

[Vid6639]

MG has been selling the Hector in India for more than a year now and it has been a pretty successful model. They got the recipe right in distinguishing well from the Creta & Seltos, by offering a larger car with a lot of features at a similar price point. Their second launch was the MG ZS EV and even there, the execution was satisfactory. The ZS EV consistently outsells the Hyundai Kona.

MG now thinks they can go even higher and against the big T with a full-sized SUV. Enter the MG Gloster. The Gloster follows the same recipe and in comparison with the Fortuner and Endeavour, is massive in size and has some extra features. However, this segment is a different ball game altogether with the Fortuner ruling for more than a decade. Many have come and gone, but the Fortuner remains. The closest anyone has come to the Toyota is the Ford Endeavour, and it's lying in a distant yet strong second place.

The Gloster is essentially a rebadged SUV from MG's parent firm, SAIC, which sells it under its sub brand Maxus as the D90 in countries like China and Australia. It was first introduced in 2017, based on a pickup truck chassis also sold by Maxus. India is the first country to get it with an MG badge as well as a diesel engine. MG's strategy with the Gloster is to load it with features and tech that differentiate it from the Toyota and Ford. The biggest USP that MG is banking on, as can be seen from their marketing campaign, is the ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance systems) tech. The Gloster is classified as an autonomous Level-1 SUV which means that it has some driver assist systems that can help when needed but the car doesn't drive itself.

The ADAS includes the following:

- Adaptive cruise control : This applies the brakes and accelerates the car according to the speed of the vehicle in front. You can set a speed and distance to be maintained to the vehicle in front and the car will maintain the set speed or slow down and maintain the same speed as the vehicle in front.
- Forward collision warning : This warns you if you are too close to a vehicle, object or pedestrian in the front.
- Automatic Emergency Braking : If the driver doesn't take any action based on the collision alert, the system will apply the brakes on its own.
- Blind Spot Detection : The cameras and sensors monitor the blind spots on both sides and keep giving you a notification when there's a vehicle in your blind spot.
- Lane Departure Warning : When changing lanes without using the turn-indicators, it warns you that you are moving between lanes.

The Gloster is available in 4 trims: Super, Smart, Sharp and Savvy (quite silly variant names IMHO). The lower 2 trims are available only in 2WD and get a 2.0L diesel engine with a single turbocharger and an output of 161 BHP and 375 Nm. The Sharp and Savvy get a 4WD system from Borg Warner with 7 terrain modes. They also gets an additional turbocharger increasing the output to 215 BHP and 480 Nm. Only the top-end Savvy variant gets the ADAS autonomous features. Looking at the price, the lower 3 trims are priced below the Fortuner and Endeavour, but the top end Savvy trim with the autonomous driving aids is close to a lakh more than the Fortuner and Rs. 30,000 more than the Endeavour. Of course, neither of the two are as well equipped as the Gloster.



The Gloster comes with a standard warranty of 3 years / 1 lakh km and 3 years roadside assistance. Extended warranty is available upto the 5th year. As with all cars, we strongly recommend this warranty extension.

Exterior

Viewed from the front, the styling doesn't really stand out, even with the large grill and slim headlights on either side. The front is imposing, but nowhere as butch as the Endeavour with its chiseled beefy grille and lights:


Rear styling has a hint of BMW to it. Tail-lights look almost exactly like those on the X1:


Viewed from the side, the Gloster has a typical old school SUV design. In fact, it looks a lot like the old Mercedes GLS. You can see the sheer length of the car in this picture. The security guard in my apartment got a mini heart attack when I went in the Kodiaq and came back in this. His reaction was, "this car is even bigger than the first one, how is it going to fit?"


The Gloster is massive in terms of overall dimensions and overshadows its 2 biggest rivals - the Fortuner and Endeavour when it comes to length, width and height. Get this, it's 190 mm longer, 71 mm wider, 32 mm taller and has a 205 mm longer wheelbase than the Fortuner which is already a big SUV:


Build quality is good, but not Ford-solid. Paint quality is average, but not special:


Rear bumper has the faux diffuser as well as the fake dual exhausts. 4 exhausts is really overdoing it, as is the big GLOSTER badging:


Dual projector LED headlights offer good illumination at night:


"Full LED Tech" lettering on the sides of the lights is cheesy:


Imposing front grill finished in a mix of satin silver as well as chrome. Notice the regular halogen fog lamps below with air ducts on the sides:


Below the MG logo, you can see the front camera for the 360 degree camera system. The Gloster also gets front, rear and side sensors for parking assistance:


ORVMs have a silver insert and integrated turn-indicators:


They also house the side cameras for the 360 degree camera system and the puddle lamps underneath:


This badge will not go down well with many. A badge that says "Brit Dynamic" is trying too hard. By now, everyone has figured out that MG is owned by SAIC and the Gloster has nothing to do with British engineering:


Massive 19" wheels shod with 255/55 Continental tyres. They don't fill up the big wheel arches fully:


Disc brakes at the rear. Notice the sensor on the wheel arch for the automatic parking system:


Chrome beltline swoops up and almost merges with the roof rails:


Nobody will ever forget the Gloster name after following one on the road. Massive, spaced out lettering dominates the rear of the Gloster:


Badges galore! The top-end variant also gets an ADAS badge, and a 4WD badge above it:


Just like the Hector, there is the "Internet Inside" badge. Looks out of place on a 40 lakh SUV:


Peek underneath and you'll see the exhaust pipes on both sides are actually single units:


The quad exhausts that are actually visible, are fake as you can clearly see a single pipe ending in the middle of the dual exhaust tips on both sides. Another unnecessary add on:


Fellow Moderator Aditya was reviewing the Thar diesel. We ended up driving and reviewing both cars parallelly. It was like the Gloster was the bodyguard for a celebrity. Not one person looked at the gargantuan SUV which was brand new in the market standing next to or behind the Thar. Everyone on the road was just following the Thar to look at it, take photos and speak to the driver. There were people cutting off the Gloster just to follow the Thar closely. Of course, leave the Thar aside and the Gloster has massive street presence:




A few parting shots:

[Vid6639]

Interior - Front

The Gloster impresses when it comes to the interiors. MG have done well when it comes to conveying a feeling of luxury when you sit inside. The overall interior design bears resemblance to BMW cabins with the large trapezoidal screen on top and the slim vents below, as well as other elements. The interior has a mix of black and tan leather which looks very nice. There are quite a lot of soft touch materials used and everything feels premium, with diamond stitching on the door pads as well as the seats. Even the fit and finish of the interior is pretty good. However, it's not all positive. When you look closely and start poking around, you find that, while the materials feel good and the design is attractive, the quality is not the best. The buttons feel plasticky, hard plastics lower down feel cheap and the dials feel cheap and out of place in a 40 lakh rupee SUV. You get the feeling that things are good, but may not weather abuse over time. The Fortuner may have cheaper materials and feels nowhere as plush as the Gloster, but you know that the way it is screwed together, it would look and feel the same even after 10 years of abuse:


Very BMW'ish dual-tone interiors. Anyone who has sat in a BMW will see the resemblance:


Flat bottom steering looks good and is also nice to hold. It gets tilt and telescopic adjustments. The buttons on either side feel fidgety and don't have a positive click to them when operating. The cruise control buttons including the adaptive distance adjust are on the left. The right spoke gets the media and voice command buttons:


Behind the steering are the paddle shifters - among the largest in size I have seen in any car:


Instrument cluster has a massive 8" MID in the center with digital temperature and fuel gauges. The tacho and speedo are analogue and you guessed it, very similar to the ones in the new BMW 3-Series. Rev counter running the opposite way is really hard to understand. The needles, dials and font don't look great and appear cheap:


MID tells you when the electronic differential is switched on / off by using the button next to the gear lever:


A useful TPMS has been provided:


MID also shows you the battery voltage - nifty (again, like the BMWs)! You can see the icon at the bottom showing that the lane keep function is active:


Massive dead pedal, but what's strange is that the brake pedal is not as wide as in many ATs. It is like an MT's narrow brake pedal. You can tell that SAIC-MG are "learning" how to build cars, and not quite there yet:


Front doorpads have soft great-looking materials on the top, but hard plastics down below:


Power window controls on the doors are angled towards the driver. Note the fuel flap release below. Check out the lovely design pattern on the doors. This is also seen on the dashboard and around the center console:


Front seats are comfortable and provide good support. The driver seat is 12-way adjustable with 2 memory presets. The passenger seat is 8 way adjustable. The driver seat also gets a unique massage function, which basically keeps the lumbar support motors running. The seats move back when exiting or entering the car, which is nice. However, one bug I found was that the lumbar support had a mind of its own. Every time I got into the car, I would need to adjust the lumbar support as it would be too excessive:


The left-most button, next to the memory presets, is for the massage function. Down below, you can see the buttons for the 12-way adjustment:


12.3" touchscreen head-unit is massive and has a host of features including Android Auto and Apple Carplay. It has smart connectivity via a mobile app and Apple watch as well. Music is played through a 12-speaker system with an amplifier and subwoofer in the boot. Sound quality is very good, but I remember the Hector having a better sounding system? I didn't see any branding here:


A 360 degree camera system has been provided, but the screen resolution is terrible:


The 360 degree view also gives a perspective view with an animated Gloster:


You can see the screen for ADAS settings that lets you turn on or off any of the features. It's best to set them once as per your preferences and not keep changing them, as you may end up forgetting if they are off in the event that you actually need any of them!!


Settings for the lane departure warning and lane keep assist:


Center console gets a slew of buttons on either side of the gear selector as well as 2 cup holders that have spring loaded inserts to hold the drink securely:


Smart gear lever resembles an airplane's thrust lever. It is electronic. To move it out of P, you need to press the small black unlock button on the side:


The drive mode selector doesn't hide its BMW iDrive inspired design. Electronic parking brake and auto hold buttons are placed ahead of the drive mode selector knob, while the terrain modes are all around it:


Driver assist buttons are actually blocked by the gear lever and it is difficult to see which is what when driving. You get buttons for hill descent control, ESP, Auto start/stop, Automatic parking assist, electronic differential lock and lane departure mode:


On the left, you have buttons for operating the driver and passenger seat heating function (useless in India) as well as a single button for the driver seat ventilation function (useful in India). This means the passenger seat is only heated, but the driver seat is heated as well as cooled. Your spouse will be displeased:


You can see how the gear lever blocks 2 or 3 buttons completely. Ahead, is a small storage space which houses a 12V DC port as well as the USB port:


Glovebox has width, but no depth, thereby limiting its useability:


Roof bezel consists of map lights as well as sunroof controls. It also houses the boot opening and closing functions:

[Vid6639]

Interior - Rear

The Gloster is a very high SUV. So ingress & egress are very challenging, particularly for elder folks. Even with the side steps, it is a 2-step climb to get in.

Rear door pads are similar to the front ones in terms of design. Notice the height of the seats and the floor in this pic:


The Gloster is the only SUV in its segment that's available with rear captain seats for the top 3 variants. You can get a bench seat in the Super (base) and Sharp (one below the top) variants. The seats are comfortable, but as with all ladder frame SUVs, they are low set and offer less under-thigh support. The seats slide back and forth, providing decent legroom. You also get a foldaway armrest for each seat:


The headrests are like the business class seats of an airplane with adjustable side support which you pull towards yourself:


There's a place to keep your phone as well as 2 foldaway cupholders in the middle:


Since the Gloster gets three zone climate control, rear passengers have their own AC controls:


There's a 12V DC port as well as another USB port at the back:


Massive panoramic sunroof helps give an airy feel to the cabin. Will win many deals in the showroom. Wonder why Toyota is still adamant on not adding such a sunroof:


Thanks to its massive dimensions, the Gloster has a usable third row bench that is not bad at all for adults, if you slide the middle row seats forward a couple of notches:


Boot space is 343 liters with all 3 rows up and can easily hold three hand baggage strolleys. Tail-gate is powered:

[Vid6639]

Driving the Gloster 2.0L Twin Turbo Diesel AT 4WD

When you read the specs of the 2.0L diesel, you might think this is a reworked Fiat 2.0L MJD engine which is used in the Hector. However, it is actually a motor developed by SAIC's in-house diesel engine division SDEC (Shanghai Diesel Engine Corporation). In terms of performance, the 4WD variant has a healthy power output of 215 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and an impressive 480 Nm @ 1,500 - 2,400 rpm, courtesy of the twin turbo chargers. The 2WD variants get a detuned engine with a single turbo putting out 161 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and 375 Nm @ 1,500 - 2,400 rpm. The gearbox is an 8-speed AT, but we don't know where it is sourced from.

It is fairly refined at idle with very little vibrations entering the cabin. Slot the airplane-like gear selector into D, lift off the brake pedal and the vehicle moves off smoothly. If you are a calm & sedate driver who just wants to commute from point A -> B, you should be okay. But if you are an informed enthusiast, things go downhill very soon. The 2.0L engine is not a high revving motor and has a narrow power band. It redlines at a very low 4,000 rpm. Once you start driving, within the first few minutes, you feel there is something amiss. The Gloster feels nothing like a 200 BHP SUV with 480 Nm. It seems to have 2 different personalities in town and on the highway, much like a "good cop - bad cop" thing!

The city driving personality is the "bad cop" version. The Gloster's engine has nothing low down and the tuning of the gearbox further exacerbates the lack of low-end grunt. If you're driving at 40 km/h and slow down at an intersection or for a speed breaker to 20 km/h, after which you want to again get going and press the throttle, there is just no power!! And when I say no power, I mean nada / zilch / zero. The SUV simply refuses to pick up speed again. You can floor the A pedal, make yourself a cup of coffee and come back before the engine + gearbox have figured out what you need. Only then does the Gloster surge forward. Overall, it seems to be a combination of bad gearbox tuning as well as turbo lag. What I noticed was that in these situations, the gearbox will most likely be in 3rd or 4th, but will absolutely refuse to shift down to 2nd. That said, if you are at a standstill and accelerate normally, the lag is not frustrating and the car moves up through the gears swiftly and smoothly. It's only when you slow down and get up to speed again that this behaviour rears its ugly head. In the city this happens often, so it's not something you can drive around or tolerate easily. I found that small cars were accelerating faster, out of an intersection or after a speed breaker. At the time we had the Gloster for our review, Aditya was reviewing the Thar diesel and we went on a drive together. Each time both cars slowed down for a speed breaker, the Thar would leave the Gloster for dead. The Thar's reaction to the throttle was instant and it left the Gloster in its dust every single time. I tried all the driving modes and thought it would be better in Sport, but it was always the same.

Out on the highway, you see the "good cop" version of the Gloster. Once you reach highway speeds, the Gloster is an excellent mile muncher. The gearbox is quicker to shift up and the vehicle cruises effortlessly at triple digit speeds. Downshifts are still slow, yet nowhere as bad as at city speeds. The advantage here is the mid-range torque at higher speeds, which comes into play once the revs are above 1,500 rpm. Even when hustling the Gloster up the Khandala ghat, it was easy to maintain higher speeds & momentum. I was following Aditya in the Thar and was right behind him as against in town, where I was struggling to keep up. The only drawback is the lowly 4,000 rpm redline, which is way too conservative and results in a very narrow power band. The 8 ratios help keep the Gloster in its powerband, although it's tuned conservatively and won't downshift when you need it to. In Sport mode, it doesn't go into the 8th gear and will remain in 7th. However, in normal mode, you will see 8th even below 100 km/h.

NVH levels are decent overall. At high rpm, the engine is audible inside the cabin and there is a faint clatter, but it's not intrusive at any point of time. Wind and road noise are controlled as well.

The 8-speed gearbox is a mixed bag. It is quick to upshift, but very slow on downshifts. That said, the issue is not so much the gearbox itself which feels mechanically capable. It appears that the software and tuning of the gearbox are just not up to the mark. This is the reason the gearbox keeps getting confused and many times does not give the right gear that is needed for a particular speed, especially in town where the speeds are lower and there's a lot more shifting (due to constant slowing down and accelerating).

Ride and Handling

The Gloster gets an independent suspension at the front and a 5-link at the rear. For a gargantuan SUV, the car is surprisingly easy to manoeuver inside town with a light steering. You are still aware that you are driving a long SUV, but it's not daunting to drive. The ride quality is brilliant. I was shifting between my Kodiaq <-> Gloster and found that Mumbai's monsoon ravaged roads were a breeze in the MG. The Kodiaq was firm and if you weren't careful, you could get caught out by one of those massive expansion joints. However, the Gloster would simply steamroll most of the bad roads Mumbai had to throw at it. The Fortuner in comparison is firm & bumpy. The Gloster is clearly set up on the softer side and that's not a bad thing for India.

Out on the highway, things remain positive as well. On the expressway, the Gloster is effortless. As mentioned earlier, it is a terrific mile muncher with great straight line stability. This - along with the ADAS tech like adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and blind spot assist - makes the Gloster a relaxed and comfortable car for long distance highway drives.

Coming to handling, of course, with a vehicle of this weight + size + height, there is ample body roll, but I was pleasantly surprised at how I could hustle it through the ghats and the old Mumbai - Pune highway. It is very easy to drive. While the steering is vague and there is lots of body roll, you can drive it reasonably quick once you get the hang of it.

The steering is light in the city and weighs up well as speed builds up, though it is quite vague and when driving enthusiastically, you do need to apply corrections mid-corner as you are not always sure about the steering input. The braking is good with disc brakes all round. The brakes are a bit soft initially and need a firmer press of the pedal at slow speeds, but as speeds build up, they are quick to shed speed.

The Gloster's ground clearance is 210 mm with a water wading depth of 550 mm.

MG has used a 4WD transfer case from Borg Warner in the Gloster. It has 7 drive modes - Auto, Eco, Sport, Snow, Mud, Sand and Rock. The SUV also gets an electronic differential lock for getting out of difficult situations, and hill descent control.

Not much to see of the 2.0L twin turbo motor as everything is covered up in plastic. It's got a plastic underbody protection plate. The bonnet has gas struts:


As with all large BS6 motors, AdBlue (DEF) is needed:


The MID gives you ample warning to fill up; here, we still have 2400 km to go:

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Official Reviews. Thanks for sharing!

[CEF_Beasts]

The much awaited review is finally here! Kudos for the excellent detailed review.

As a product the MG Gloster is no doubt a wonderful and VFM product with oodles of space but spending 40L on a relatively new brand and new car with so much tech is a bit scary at the moment! For now it will be the Endeavour and Fortuner for me even though the Fortuner feels a whole segment below the Gloster.

5 years down the line with MG properly settled in the market I may consider it.

[gadadhar]

Thanks for the wonderful review. Heard some horrible reviews on the off road capability of Gloster in another channel and would love to hear comments from our experts.

Like others, I feel it is too early to consider buying at this stage

[sv97]

A great review with so many great pictures!!! And all this while, when I was reading the review the only thing that I could think of were how this car was a combination of so many cars Mercedes GLS from the sides, BMW like interior, Audi like gear lever, Marazzo like side mirrors, and so many more

If MG would have worked on the quality more and offered less blingy features it would have been a better package I think.

[Darkviper]

It looks like the MG design team just went through some pictures of the interior of a BMW X7 and copy pasted the design onto the Gloster. Then they replaced the BMW badges with MG badges and added that tacky ‘GLOSTER’ badging at the back.

All said and done, I’m still going to pick up a pre owned 3.2 Ford Endevour instead of this.

[lemedico]

It seems like the gearbox isn't really doing well, received this on social media. The upper bit had a China related bash so I've cropped it out.

[shivs2003]

So, I had the privilege of Test Driving the Gloster (top model) 2 weeks back. It was a fairly long TD, first my father drove, with me in the front passenger seat, for about 15 min. Followed by me driving with my father in the rear passenger seat. We have been using a Gen 1 Fortuner for 11 years with over 2.8L KM on the odo.

A few points we noticed:

1. The engine/gearbox is not tuned at all for city and low speed driving. Slow or jerked pick ups. Gearbox refuses to get out of 4th gear even at 30-50km/hr.

2. Does not take speed breakers and potholes well. The car sways a lot! The suspension is a bit TOO soft.

3. Tyre/suspension set up is not adequate for the size of the vehicle. My family fortuner is 11 years old, even with regular maintenance, my father found the ride to be worse in the Gloster.

4. It is a nice/comfortable vehicle to be inside.

We seriously considered purchasing the Gloster. But, the mechanics/engineering has let down the car, now we are planning to wait for the new Fortuner, to be released in Jan - March 2021.

[GTsunny]

Originally Posted by Darkviper

I’m still going to pick up a pre owned 3.2 Ford Endevour instead of this.

Second that!

Someday when my finances are in order

Awesome review and stunning pics @ Vid6639 specially with the Thar side by side

A friend of mine is planning for the Gloster, his XUV500 just about fits in the car park lift right now, so I’ve told him to check real life situations when taking test drive, as in try to bring the car into his narrow lane and then try to manoeuvre this thing between his building side wall and the lift, then try to fit the Gloster in the car lift and then finally try to park the SUV in the parking slot, and then again in reverse order

Also, GTO had mentioned the 2019 Endeavour facelift had a slightly softened suspension and ride quality had improved, so would like Vid6639 and GTO and, others who have driven both the Gloster and the Endeavour to share here their ride quality comparison on normal and broken roads pl

[yd_gli]

Thanks for the review. At 40L, this has "buyers remorse" written all over it.

The Thar next to it looks so much more appealing. There is nothing that stands out for the Gloster. It looks bland, design feels at least a decade old and all those badges and branding look like some aftermarket crap. The rear is hideous and has China written all over it.

If the finances are in order next year then I'll go and get an Endeavor Sport with no hesitation. If Covid continues to give problems then the Thar it is.

On a side note: A year ago, I got one of the last Hexa XTAs produced (19in rims, captain seats) for less than half of what the Gloster costs. What a steal the Hexa is when I now see the stuff that one gets for 40L. I would bet my money that the Gloster isn't a patch on the ride and powertrain that the Hexa offered. Shame that Indians have a poor choice in cars.

[Schnitzer]

1) What does BRIT dynamic even mean? Has any BRIT ever laid their hands on one of these?

2) INTERNET INSIDE and the huge GLOSTER rear badge is cheesy and hideous.

3) A recent video by a vlogger (million+ followers) in Kerala resulted in a PR disaster for MG (and was reported by one of the biggest publications in the state). The car was evidently struggling to climb uphill and later had "gearbox faulty" message popup on the screen. A new car, mind you.

The same car is sold in Dubai as MAXUS D90 with a petrol 2.0 litre Turbo (225HP), with a starting price of around 84000 AED (~17 Lakhs INR).

Don't see any reason why anyone would want to buy this for 40+ big ones.