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MG Hector Plus petrol CVT: 16000 km review with its good & bad points

11th April 2024, 15:30 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

For many of us, the most important thing is the fuel efficiency. Well, it's one of Hector's biggest flaws, its Achilles heel if you will.

BHPian BrakHorseBarhat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

2022 MG Hector Plus: Petrol CVT - 16,000 KM Review

Hello BHPians,

I have been daily driving my MG Hector Plus, Petrol CVT (Glaze Red with Starry Black) for around one and a half years. So I wanted to share my experience with all of you in hopes that it might help someone make up their mind regarding the car.

I took delivery of my Hector Plus on 8th December 2022 and have since driven it a total of 16,000 kilometers.

While a facelift was expected not too long after that, after inquiring with multiple dealerships we came to the conclusion that we didn't need to wait since most of the changes coming to the 2023 Hector were coming to the regular Hector and not the plus.

Let me first take you all through our selection process and options:

The other cars we were considering were the Mahindra XUV 700, Hyundai Alcazar & Creta, Skoda Kushaq/Volkswagen Taigun, Tata Harrier, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara/Toyota Hyryder and Kia Carens & Seltos.

How we eliminated the other options:

1st elimination: My father and I found the headroom and leg space in Maruti and Toyota to be inadequate so they were out straight away. (For reference I am 6'2 and my father is 6 feet tall).

Side note: My mother and I didn't like the look of the Vitara or Hyryder either.

2nd elimination

While we liked the features present on the Kias and Hyundais, they were out since we wanted a good safety rating.

3rd Elimination

We had just come from a Tata Safari Dicor (2007) which had served us well which is why we had a favorable opinion of the company, however, the boot space on the Harrier (445L) was inadequate in comparison to our Safari (981L) and all of us didn't like the new Safari at all so the Tatas were out as well.

Similarly, while we loved the performances of Skoda and Volkswagen, however, the dearth of features and small boots caused us to eliminate them. (Although to be fair, no car compared to our old companion in terms of boot space)

Side note: The driving experience of the Kushaq and Taigun left a really deep impression on both my father and me. So much so that I ended up buying the Taigun just a couple of days ago since we required a second car for our house.

4th (final) elimination

We really liked the XUV, it had both looks and features and initially, we were willing to compromise on the boot space but after careful consideration, we felt that the fit and finish of the car were a little lacking in comparison to the hector and that along with the fact that there was a 10 lakh rupee price difference between the top models of the two made us decide on the Hector Plus Petrol CVT.

Cut to a week later and it was already time to take delivery of our car.

(Didn't know my camera was dirty so the photo came out blurry.)

PPF

We got PPF applied on our Hector but unfortunately, the studio that did our car did a sub-par job because of this the Morris Garages Badging and some other accessories on our Hector were damaged and developed cracks. (One of the letters in Morris Garages also came off during a road trip from Delhi to Gujarat which was a little over 3000 KM)

Note: It cost us around 80k.

Our learnings: Firstly, we should be more careful while choosing the detailers to whom we hand our car. Secondly, one should get the PPF done before getting the accessories for the car to avoid any damage to them during the removal process for the application of PPF.

Coming to the main review of the car and our overall experience with it.

The good

Love the interior of the car, it is very luxurious and the materials used make the car feel very premium. The overall fit and finish of the car is great.

The car is very spacious and comfortable: My father (6 foot) is able to sit behind my (6 foot 2 inches) driving position with ample legroom and the headroom is great throughout the car. In fact, I can even sit in the third row for a short journey (albeit uncomfortably).

The car feels very open and airy due to the captain seats and panoramic sunroof which is high(biggest in the class).

The cabin is very well isolated so very little noise is able to travel inside the car which along with the quiet petrol engine makes for a smooth ride.
The suspension is very soft which makes it feel like you are driving a cloud simply floating through the city. (It is definitely made for laid-back city driving) Since the acceleration is gradual you don't even realise that you are cruising at over 80 kmph.
The 5-star GNCAP rating along with disc breaks in all 4 tyres give me peace of mind when driving on highways. (In fact, the brakes have proven their worth and saved us from being involved in a crash around 5 times)
The music system is great and crisp. (I especially love the bass)
The boot space is adequate(with the third row down) and we are able to get everything we want comfortably.

Here the car is carrying around 320-350 odd kgs of mangoes along with our luggage of 3 suitcases (2 large and 1 medium) underneath.

[Although 5 boxes(50 kgs) had to be kept in and around the second row]

The 'not bad'

The car is not built to be agile, there is a considerable lag between the time you push the accelerator and the acceleration itself. And this rubber band effect increases even more if you drive the car in Eco mode. And finally, sports mode isn't that sporty and the difference is very minimal so I don't really find myself ever using it. Note: I don't like the way the car drives in Eco mode at low speeds like 10 - 20 kmph since the car always seems to want to stop and sometimes feels like it needs to downshift(Almost as if it's about to stall).
When cornering at higher speeds there is significant body roll(not so much that it's alarming but enough to not be completely confident).

The bad

The most important thing to many of us is the mileage... it's one of Hector's biggest flaws, its Achilles heel if you will:

In a city like Delhi, the car can give anywhere between 6.5 - 7 kmpl (in normal mode), and around 7 - 8 (in eco mode) and I haven't really tried sports mode while being stuck in traffic.

On highways, the car gives around 7 in sports mode, 8 - 9 kmpl in normal mode, and 9 - 9.5 kmpl in eco-mode.

Note: I drive semi-aggressively. (Not so aggressive that I cut everyone off to reach one second faster but if I see an opportunity to overtake and the other driver doesn't seem to be going for it then I do overtake without fail)

There are some other things that annoy me but aren't really deal-breakers like:

The fact that Android Auto and Apple Carplay are wired and the integration of navigation apps isn't good with the display on the speedometer. (It shows no direction information with Android Auto and shows some information with Apple Carplay but that is also inconsistent)
The car's software glitched continuously for a month and it kept on detecting low tire pressure in the rear left wheel despite there not being any real issue. There was another continuous glitch simultaneously which caused the car to say things repeatedly three times. (like it repeated welcome and the rear left tire has abnormally low pressure three times in a row as soon as you start the car and the infotainment system boots up) Note: These glitches suddenly vanished after annoying me for a little over a month.
The engine light has come on randomly on three separate occasions and stays for anywhere between 1 to 3 days before vanishing.

Overall experience: It is an amazing car overall, with a great price-to-feature ratio along with great safety, and has served us very well so far. It's perfect for my parents who want an easy-going and very comfortable car. (I love it too but I like a bit more thrill in the driving department)