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How we bought an MG Gloster a year ago: Detailed ownership report

14th June 2024, 15:28 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The other cars which we considered include the Kia Carnival, Mahindra XUV700, Skoda Kodiaq and Superb, Jeep Meridian and Toyota Fortuner.

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Introduction:

This is about our advanced MG Gloster. The car has been a part of our family for a year and more (we took delivery on 10/3/2023). A lot of hoops and obstacles were dodged for this car. The car buying process was extremely tiresome due to MG and its weird antics.

General points:

The good part:

The ride quality is first class. It glides at highway speeds, giving the feeling of riding a cloud.
The seats are fantastic. They are comfortable, have a wide range of adjustments. Third-row space is amazing and adults can sit for an hour or two with no problem.
The car doesn't feel claustrophobic like its rivals. The Fortuner felt extremely cramped and the Kodiaq's interior space didn't complement its external size.
Loaded to the gills. L1 ADAS, heated/ventilated seats with massage functionality, 360-degree cam, huge panoramic sunroof, etc.
ADAS features work really well. They are:

Adaptive cruise control: It keeps you at a distance (selected by you) from the car ahead of you. It is camera-based. It functions as advertised, no sudden braking issues were found.
Lane departure warning: Warns you from swerving from your lane and works really well.
Emergency braking: Decreases the speed of the car to 40 km/h when it detects a pedestrian or cyclist. I can't attest to its performance as it has been switched off in our car, but it shows a warning on the dash when it does detect something.
Auto park: The car parks in the spot you choose. It can detect the space by using its sensors. We have used it to show it to our guests and nothing much. It worked well and didn't hit anything. The only problem was that it was 'too quick'. It accelerates like there is no tomorrow.

The sound system is simply put sublime. It is crisp. Doesn't ring while playing bass-heavy music, vocals are clear with melodies. It can be tuned to your liking with its extensive options. (I am not an audiophile)
The car received a 5-star rating from ANCAP (Australia)
Interior quality is absolutely amazing, it is sturdy and well-built.
The ambience. Road noise is low, engine is loud but the sound barely gets into the cabin. A very pleasant experience overall.

The ugly part:

Ergonomics are not well thought out. The volume controls, mode selection are located on the left side, wireless charger is a thin slot where most phones don't fit. It makes sense as it is a left-hand drive car converted to right-hand drive.
Bottle holders are useless. They are too small to fit even 500ML bottles, our i20 has better cup holders. Piano black can get scratched easily.
Fuel efficiency is non-existent, and you shouldn't be surprised if the car returns 4-5kmpl in the city.
Weird bugs in the infotainment system, Apple CarPlay used to get disconnected out of nowhere, and the navigation interrupts randomly with "speed breaker ahead" and "left curve ahead" regardless of how many times you mute it. SatNav is bad and you shouldn't depend on it (maps are provided by mapmyindia).
MG's horrible after-sales. The car is damaged every time it is sent to repair, representatives are lazy and you have to be on their tail for them to get anything done.
Connected car tech lacks features. Has no remote start (our i20 which costs 14L has it). It is slow to respond and the app is pure garbage, weirdly enough the Apple Watch app is really good.
The crash bar (official MG accessory) blocks the swipe sensor used to open the boot. you can still use it, that is if you don't like your shins
The key is incredibly cheap. It has a blank button, weighs nothing. The MG Astor that we got as a loaner had better keys. This car commands a better key.
Lack of paint options. only 3 colours were offered (the website has 4 but the dealer said only 3 are available). The ones offered are lacklustre (pun intended). Black was the best option for us between gold and white.

The process:

The process started in early 2022. We were getting our car through my father's company leasing scheme.

The limit was 40L showroom price. We could have gotten it through an external loan and upgraded to a "nicer" car but there are other benefits associated with the scheme that my father didn't want to leave.

Choosing and buying a car was a tiresome ordeal. Multiple cars regardless of the segment were test driven, visited multiple dealers of the same make, and most of the discussions at home were about the new car. What made it particularly challenging, was that our XUV500 W11 was an excellent car, it never felt outdated, looked amazing, had all of the bells and whistles (except for ADAS), was extremely capable and never failed us once in its 40000 KM lifespan with us (would have done more if it weren't for covid). The new car had big shoes to fill in.

We considered selling our old trusty Santro Xing, and keeping the XUV500. We went to a TATA showroom to check out the Punch (as a replacement to the Santro), it was pretty meh but the salesman bought our Santro from us for 1L. My father then decided that he would sell the XUV500 and buy 2 new cars.

We didn't have a MUST BE THIS criteria. But, we did not want a downgrade from our XUV500.

Cars that were considered:

Ford Endeavour:

My father has always loved this car and he would buy it immediately if it were to go on sale again. Unfortunately, Ford pulled out of India in 2021, so we were unable to buy it.

Kia Carnival LIMOUSINE+:

This was a car that my father liked a lot. But the service at KIA was bad, almost as if they didn't want to sell us a car. They couldn't provide a test drive car, with the excuse that it was at another showroom. Sales representative showed us a mid-variant Carens, saying it was the same but a different size. When we finally checked it out, it felt cheap. It lacked features that the competition had. Overall it was disappointing and we dropped it. My father thought of waiting for the new model (which was launched in the USA) but KIA said the car wouldn't come to India until late 2024/early 2025.

XUV700 AX7L:

They bought a manual AX7L (that was dirty) for a test drive, when my father specifically asked for an automatic. I wasn't there for this test drive but my parents said it felt too similar to our XUV500. To top it off, the long waiting periods didn't help this car. A lot of my father's colleagues had one which put him off even more.

Skoda Kodiaq:

The car was liked by everyone in the family. However, the dealer said the waiting period was 1 year for the L&K variant. One car was available (the customer cancelled it) but we didn't like it. The low ground clearance would have been a problem if we took it to our village. The second-row space was abysmal for a car of its size, felt like descending into a cave. It wouldn't make sense to have the XUV500 and Kodiaq at the same time, so it was rejected.

Skoda Superb:

The Superb is my all-time favourite car. I love everything about it. I have consumed every piece of media put out on this car. Everything from videos, newspaper articles, and TBHP reviews. I have read the 2016 Superb and GForceEnjoyer multiple times. I was extremely eager to have this car. I suggested to my father that we could keep the XUV500 and this car, he considered it but it got dropped

Jeep Meridian:

We saw this car while returning home from the MG showroom, and decided to check it out as the showroom was on the way home. The car was fine The interiors were cramped, we liked it but decided against it and went back to MG. We didn't think much about this car apart from going to the showroom once.

MG ZS EV:

We decided to keep the XUV500 and bring home an EV. This car was quickly ruled out as spending 27L on an EV didn't seem fit. (Our impression of MG was still decent up until this point)

Tata Nexon EV:

Waiting period was too high, test drive car was not available and me not wanting a TATA product (due to the niggles and problems I have read about the car on TBHP) led to this car getting the axe.

Toyota Fortuner:

We were reluctant to even consider this car. This car gave us a feeling that I don't want to mention. When we did check it out (for fun) we didn't like it. Interiors were cramped and the car lacked features that our XUV500 had. Also, the Toyota showroom didn't give us a vehicle for a test drive, and just said 1 year waiting time for every question we asked.

MG Gloster:

I told my parents about this car at the start of the car hunt, but my father didn't care much. A few months later he saw a Gloster and that impressed him quite a lot. We went to the showroom (RAAM MG, Jubilee Hills). We test drove the car and we were absolutely in awe. Everyone in the house liked it. Everything was perfect about this car (for us) the way it looked, the driving experience, features it provided. I can't put into words how much we wanted the car. The only other car-buying experience I remember was our XUV500, and in comparison, we were absolutely obsessed with the Gloster before we even purchased it.

We thought of looking at a few other cars but didn't. So, I don't think they are worth mentioning. (Virtus, Tiguan, Tucson, City)

The Buying experience

The buying experience of this car was bad. It is probably the worst we have seen in our 17 years of car buying (Santro, City, Duster, XUV500).

The only thing I can say is the experience disappointed us significantly.

Picture from delivery day:

PPF (Paint Protection Film)

The plan to PPF first occurred when we gave the advance itself. Premium car + black paint is what pushed us and we are grateful that we did it.

PPF was done by detailing mafia and they did a decent job, there were a lot of air bubbles in the initial days but some of them have disappeared now. My only complaint is finishing about the edges.

MG Official Accessories

We got a screen guard for the infotainment system. Screen guards in cars make no sense to me y'know. Not that it is going fall out one day (please tell me why they are given)

Doormats, boot-mat. They are of high quality but the adhesive is horrible. They started sliding in their place only after a few days.

Crash guard. Useful when someone rams you from behind but is not executed properly. The crash guard blocks the swipe sensor which opens the boot. Prevents us from using one of the coolest features of the car.