Bought the MG Comet as a replacement to my Activa: My experience so far

I didn't like the MG Comet when it launched. Its design is subjective; the car felt cramped, and the price felt a little high for the entire package.

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We were in the market to buy a car to complement our VW Taigun for the city runabout. My mom would majorly use this car to replace her trusty Activa, and it needed to be a small city car as she feels uncomfortable parking the Taigun in tight parking spots and taking it on busy streets. We were also looking for an electric car over an ICE one.

Why EV?

Like many people I have talked to, I had reservations regarding using an EV due to range anxiety and lack of a good charger network across India. But many of these concerns vaporise away if the car only has to be used within city limits and can be easily charged at home.

My second reservation regarding EVs is that even though they reduce the tailpipe emissions in the city, the majority of the electricity available in India is produced using coal, which defeats the entire ‘Going Green’ psyche around EVs. That’s where the solar panels on top of our house came into the picture. We just shifted to our new independent house with solar panels installed on its roof. To my surprise, these panels are really efficient, and since we moved there, we haven't paid the electricity bill.

Close inspection of the meter readings showed that we had produced ~2500 units of electricity in the last four months while consuming close to 500 units. Even considering we'll be using ACs in extremely hot Nagpur during the summer, our household's annual net consumption would still be negative. In such a case, having an EV would drastically reduce our petrol bills for city commutes while going entirely carbon neutral while operating the car.

What we were looking for

• Small City Car
• Good visibility all around
• Should seat two comfortably with space for 4
• The car had to be narrow as our house only has one parking spot and the second new car would need to be parked in a comparatively narrow area beside the parking space

The Search:

Tata Tiago: The apparent choice for a cheap EV in India. We were impressed with how airy the cabin felt with the white upholstery. The car also had good city manners, and keeping up and overtaking traffic was a breeze. Unfortunately, with our budget, we could only get the XE Medium Range Variant, which had a lot of safety features one would want but lacked by not having other things which we've come to expect, such as a flip key, no music system, power windows, electrically adjustable ORVMs to name a few. Plus, the car would fit in our additional parking space, but getting in and out was a hassle with the Tiago’s width, and we would always be scared of hitting the door on the wall.

MG Comet: I didn't like the MG Comet when it launched. Its design is subjective; the car felt cramped, and the price felt a little high for the entire package. Since then, the design has grown on me, and it looks different from any other car on the road and grabs a lot of attention on the streets of Nagpur. When I went for a test drive, I was surprised at how peppy the car felt due to its low weight. The rear seat was also surprisingly comfortable, and the long doors provided a good passage for people to enter the second row. Also, with the dealer discount, we got the base variant (Pace) for INR 7.9L on-road with a free reverse camera included. I was also surprised by how well-equipped the variant was. The car has a lot of chrome bits and pieces around; it has a hill hold assist, a flip key with boot unlock, one-touch power windows, electrically adjustable ORVMs, etc. My mom also liked driving the car with a good view around owing to the enormous windows. And the icing on the cake was the car was a breeze to park in our limited space, and getting in and out wasn’t a hassle either.

After much deliberation and the offers given by MG, we brought home a White MG Comet Pace, delivered to us within two days of booking the car.

Some Pictures Detailing the Pace Variant

The glowing MG logo attracts a lot of insects while charging overnight

Range and Charging

I am mentioning these for the sake of completing the post. You'll probably find better numbers from people who have owned the car for longer. Throwing caution to the wind and driving with heavy acceleration in ‘Sports Mode', we were able to get around 180kms of range in a single charge. 190-200 km definitely feels doable easily with a bit of thought and regen braking.

A disadvantage of the Comet is its slow charging, which takes in the neighbourhood of 7 hours to get fully charged, but I think it’s alright as the car is never going to leave the city and should always have enough juice left to reach back home for a sip of charge.

The car came with an MG-branded Legrand box, which consists of overcurrent and overvoltage protection with a 15A plug socket and a switch where you can plug in the portable charger, which also comes included with the car. The installation was free and done professionally.

Waiting for some 3D printed parts to be delivered so that I can tidy up the loose cables and the plug.

The Not So Good

The Comet is precisely what we were looking for, but there are some drawbacks to the car that I'd like to point out.

• High-speed manners are lacking due to the skinny tyres and tall boy design
• Normal bumps and holes are alright, but you feel the bigger ones due to the dinky wheel size
• The car comes with a music system with Bluetooth, but the only display is the instrument cluster, and the controls are steering mounted, which makes it difficult for the passengers to control the audio
• The same goes for the AC controls. The dials have no markings around them showing the fan speed, etc; instead, one has to look at the instrument cluster to see the fan speed and other controls.

• The interior lacks enclosed storage spaces, so you must manage around that.

So that you know – that's it for now. Our Chotu Comet has already done 200+ km with zero emissions within a week of purchase, and I plan on updating my findings and experience regarding the car over here.

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