Bloody Mazda, but MG?

[xtriple]

Went out to the car today and the key went.... 'Futtttt!' Couldn't open the doors remotely and then, once in, couldn't turn the alarm off or start it 'cos the immobiliser had kicked in. Of course, I'd put the spare key somewhere safe and I couldn't find it for love nor money.

 

Anyway, got it to the main dealers and they very kindly fixed my key (it was dodgy internally and the switches had packed up) by resoldering a couple of bits and fitting a new battery, then had new wipers fitted and a 'safety check' which included topping up all the fluids (washers etc) and blowing the tyres up. They would have washed it as well but as it was peeing down outside, couldn't really see the point.

 

Anyway, noted the showroom was looking a bit empty with only three new cars in there, asked the guy behind the counter and he said they had lost the Mazda franchise to the 'Big Boys'. What are you going to do now?

 

Be an MG dealer!

 

MG for Gods sake! I have never seen one round here ever ( I mean the new, Chinese MGs not the good old British ones) and don't want a chuffing Chineses car EVER!

 

They are going to carry on as Mazda service and spares which is good, but I'm a bit gutted for them as they are one of the few decent garages around, family owned since God was a lad and always been really decent to deal with.

 

Anyway, how much do you reckon they charged me for all the above?

[Six-cylinder]

Sounds like at least £150 at most dealer rates?

 

I believe MG are trying to increase there dealers from 45 to 80 in the next couple of years. 17 miles from me there is an MG service agent but they do not sell cars so when I wanted to test drive a MG 3 it had to come from 45 miles away. 

[dollywobbler]

From what I've read, the MG3 seems a decent motor. It's certainly no shitty Rover. I welcome the Chinese MG, but then I do always champion the underdog.

[Ratdat]

In the late 60's, I'm sure a significant number of British car buyers would have said "I don't want a Japanese car EVER!"  before pointing and laughing. They probably repeated this process in the late 80's with Korean cars and then Malaysian ones after that. In less than 10 years the Chinese will be building cars to rival any car manufacturer in the world and they'll be selling them everywhere. 

[xtriple]

My comments about Chinese cars was a bit 'tongue in cheek'. I do have a bit of a problem with their attitude to others copyright and their blatent copying of anything they fancy copying, and I don't believe the Chinese give a stuff about infringment of others intellectual property. I don't think they will do anything about it... ever. But it would be nice if they would.

 

Everything I've read about the new MG has been positive(ish) and I shall go and have a butchers when they get them in. Don't think I'll get one, still want a Bentley!

 

Oh, £150, miles out!

[D-Dubya]

I've driven the new MG3 and was quite pleasantly surprised by it, and we nearly got one. Its just the other half liked the fiat 500 sport better, so we got that

[saucedoctor]

Wee family dealer, eh? I'm gonna stick my neck out and say they didn't charge you anything, other than the price of the wipers.

[xtriple]

Wee family dealer, eh? I'm gonna stick my neck out and say they didn't charge you anything, other than the price of the wipers.

They are the main Mazda dealers for Torbay so a bit bigger than the average family run affair. Two sites in two seperate towns and always been known for their honesty and straight dealing. One of the two brothers who owns it is a real petrolhead and got quite a collection of old shite, Metro's (I bought one from him once, straight out of his showroom he uses to house his bangers) old Triumphs all sorts. He's also got an ASTON MARTIN, a Morgan a Porsche....

 

They were Rover/MG dealers until the crash in 2005 (was it?) and then Mazda.

 

They charged me the grand sum of £20.16 for all that. I was well impressed.

[Six-cylinder]

I have test driven the MG 3 there were 3 things that put me off

 

Claimed 106 bhp felt more like 70 bhp.

Emissions high for type of car

Dash board materials, hard plain plastic seemed rather poor.

 

In many other ways I liked the car, handling, ride, space, equipment on higher spec and am sure I will buy one a few years down the line. Because while Ã‚£10,000 may be cheap compared to other new cars it's still a lot of money when I can buy used cars I like that started out as much more expensive.

 

I did buy a nearly new Fiat 500 which I owned for 14 months and 2000 miles before I was asked if I was ever going to use that drive ornament! Mind was a black sport with red leather and chrome but it had the diesel engine and I just did not like the power delivery. Add 46mpg when the book said 67 mpg and my own self inflicted error was 17 inch alloy wheels gave it a ride that hurt me. I will think hard and long before repeating that disappointment and buying new.  

[saucedoctor]

Someone on MacDroitwich has bought an MG 3, and it's a bit of a lemon. The DRLs have issues, and it seems that the dealers have no clue and no interest. The paint seems patchy, and from what I can make out he had to make his own door seals, and modify the clutch pedal to correctly operate a switch on/behind it to stop the engine over-revving during gearchanges.

 

Seriously, I'd stay well away.

[D-Dubya]

ours doesn't have 17s and is a 1.2 which isn't all that powerful, I had a Stilo 1.2 which was surprisingly quick when it come to the size of the car but the 500 is strangled for emissions. managed to get well over 45mpg pottering up to and around the lakes the other week.

 

i'll agree the the MG3 doesn't feel like a 106bhp engine, but its power seemed higher up the revs, which was a little weird. don't regret not buying it

[dugong]

Colleague of mine had an MG3 for the weekend, and raved about it. 

I'd buy one as a dreggy run-around if it was cheap enough. 

[TRW]

They had paint issues when they brought the F back and that's almost 7 years ago. You'd have thought that painting a car couldn't be that difficult for a machine.

 

Obviously not.

[CortinaDave]

I'll have one of the new MGs.. But I'm a 500 quid kind of a car buyer, so i doubt I'll be getting one just yet.

 

'Mon the current epic depreciation to speed that day up!

[Vince70]

Give it 5 years and we will all be driving the MG3 on autoshite to me it's like a mk2 version of the city rover and will be regarded as such and worth about the price of a pack of fun size mars bars.

But it's quite cool that it shares it's name with a machine gun.

[Junkman]

Colleague of mine had an MG3 for the weekend, and raved about it. 

 

I'd buy one as a dreggy run-around if it was cheap enough. 

 

No you wouldn't.

[rml2345]

Keep meaning to have a look at the MG3/MG6 as I'd like to know if they're actually any good or not. However, as far as I know the nearest dealer is in Stirling and I can't be arsed going all that way just to blag a free spin.

[dugong]

No you wouldn't.

Yes, I would. 

 

If it were £500 or less, and I needed a dreggy run around.

[Junkman]

Yes, I would. 

 

If it were £500 or less, and I needed a dreggy run around.

 

No.

[gtd2000]

I've seen more Chinese cars over here in Saudi than anywhere else to date, and there's not really that many of them if I'm honest.

 

The most popular vehicle is the Isuzu pickup clone. The most popular car appears to be the Emgrand (EFA: NotGrandAtAllReally)

 

I did see one MG and it did in fact look much better quality than any of the others mentioned.

 

I have now put my money where my mouth is and bought a Chinese built, Honda Super Cub clone and it is fairly cheaply built and the longevity factor is, as yet, completely unknown.

 

I'd suspect I'd be buying cars from Korea over China for some time to come but wouldn't write them off as viable products in the years to come. It would be nice to get back to the old day (80's & 90's) when you would turn up and look at a lovely Japanese car that was well looked after, then say how nice it looked but then suck some air through your teeth and say. "pity, it's Japanese though eh?"

 

Then drive off with a complete and utter bargain and the old owner felt bloody lucky to have offloaded onto you! Ha!

 

[Cavcraft]

I'll have one of the new MGs.. But I'm a 500 quid kind of a car buyer, so i doubt I'll be getting one until next week

 

 

 

EFA.

 

There's a dealer near me, he never really seems to sell any to be honest, but I don't stand outside all day counting them. I went in for a brochure once on the pretence my dad was interested in buying a car, and they nearly fell over with shock.

 

Said it before, will say it again, and it's been alluded to further up: we (nearly) all scoffed at The Japs in the early-mid seventies, countless people said their cars were shit and they'd never own one. It's not like that now, and it won't be like that in a couple of short years when the Chinese get their act together. This years YingYong Machete is next years Yamaha R1.

[xtriple]

I was an 'early adopter' of Japanese stuff.  Never had a bike that wasn't Japanese until I bought a Triumph in 2003 (unless you count my Puch GrandPrix moped?) and had a Toyota Crown as my third or fourth car. I loved Japanese stuff and still do (I've got a Mazda for Gods sake!) They were a bit quirky looking and often uninspiring to drive back then, but they just carried on motoring around regardless of the neglect lavished upon them. I had a Datsun 260 C that I ran from about 20.000 miles up to just about a 100.000 and NEVER had it looked at, serviced, changed the oil or nuffin'! I was a bit of an arse back then and so long as it went, that was good enough...

 

We bought a KIA RIO 1.5 SE the day they were released and waited until the 1st for it to be a '51' reg. We spent a load on extras for it (towbar, load liner, wood dash, nice wheels even though it came with alloys). My wife really liked it (though I wanted to buy a Skoda, the aircon on the Rio swung it for her) and after her having a (new) Daewoo Matiz she liked Korean cars. It wasn't a 'bad' car, it just wasn't a very 'good' car. It never let us down in 20.000 miles but I wasn't impressed.

 

After another few Matiz (Chevrolet versions - rubbish!) I made her go Japanese. Even as a basic car, the Mitsubishi Colt we bought new was brilliant compared to the Koreans.

 

A mate of mine has got a Hyundia X35 (I think - big SUV thing) and it's quite a pleasant place to be - satnav, leather, quiet, frugal. He's had it since new in 2011 and done 40.000 miles with few problems. To me, it looks and feels, cheap. If you open the back door with the front door closed, it pulls the door seal off the back door, the satnav makes you go through a menu of warnings before it will let the car start (every time it's started!) and various other bits that would drive me insane. Get in, start engine, choose a gear, go.

 

Now, on to the Chinese. I bought my Missus a CCM230. CCM are British and I had faith in them.... misplaced it seems. The bike is actually some Chinese piece of poop with CCM badges all over it. It fell apart! This in spite of the fact that I am fastideous in cleaning/maintaining bikes. It was made of cheese and then covered in the thinnest paint I've ever seen. At 3000 miles, it really needed rebuilding. We flogged it instead.

[Hendry]

I was an 'early adopter' of Japanese stuff.  Never had a bike that wasn't Japanese until I bought a Triumph in 2003 (unless you count my Puch GrandPrix moped?) and had a Toyota Crown as my third or fourth car. I loved Japanese stuff and still do (I've got a Mazda for Gods sake!) They were a bit quirky looking and often uninspiring to drive back then, but they just carried on motoring around regardless of the neglect lavished upon them. I had a Datsun 260 C that I ran from about 20.000 miles up to just about a 100.000 and NEVER had it looked at, serviced, changed the oil or nuffin'! I was a bit of an arse back then and so long as it went, that was good enough...

 

We bought a KIA RIO 1.5 SE the day they were released and waited until the 1st for it to be a '51' reg. We spent a load on extras for it (towbar, load liner, wood dash, nice wheels even though it came with alloys). My wife really liked it (though I wanted to buy a Skoda, the aircon on the Rio swung it for her) and after her having a (new) Daewoo Matiz she liked Korean cars. It wasn't a 'bad' car, it just wasn't a very 'good' car. It never let us down in 20.000 miles but I wasn't impressed.

 

After another few Matiz (Chevrolet versions - rubbish!) I made her go Japanese. Even as a basic car, the Mitsubishi Colt we bought new was brilliant compared to the Koreans.

 

A mate of mine has got a Hyundia X35 (I think - big SUV thing) and it's quite a pleasant place to be - satnav, leather, quiet, frugal. He's had it since new in 2011 and done 40.000 miles with few problems. To me, it looks and feels, cheap. If you open the back door with the front door closed, it pulls the door seal off the back door, the satnav makes you go through a menu of warnings before it will let the car start (every time it's started!) and various other bits that would drive me insane. Get in, start engine, choose a gear, go.

 

Now, on to the Chinese. I bought my Missus a CCM230. CCM are British and I had faith in them.... misplaced it seems. The bike is actually some Chinese piece of poop with CCM badges all over it. It fell apart! This in spite of the fact that I am fastideous in cleaning/maintaining bikes. It was made of cheese and then covered in the thinnest paint I've ever seen. At 3000 miles, it really needed rebuilding. We flogged it instead.

I can appreciate what you're saying, I've driven the latest Hyundai i30 (63 plate) and the just recently replaced Kia C'eed (12 plate) both Focus/Golf sized cars and both look quite nice outside IMO, stylish interiors, nice and comfy/refined to drive, good standard kit levels, good on fuel (both 1.6 diesels) decent bit of oomph for the engine size, visibility is better than othrt cars of the size, basically I like everything about them except what you mentioned on your mates ix35, they still feel cheap, tinny, not solidly built interiors, don't feel as solid as a Golf/Focus and yet these days they are probably just as expensive, not like back in the day when the Mentor/Lantra were oodles cheaper because they were so inferior, but that's all they need to improve on and if MG even get to that standard they'll sell as much as Kia/Hyundai.

 

That said I don't rate the i10, ok so they are cheap but they don't last at all, interiors look fucked by 10K miles, suspension components can't handle UK roads and wear out quickly.

[xtriple]

I'd love MG to succeed, I really would. They are built n Britain (?) and so that's jobs for the boys. But, I just can't see it happening. I still know quite a few people in 'the trade' and they just treat them like a joke, residuals are APPALLING! Sales I believe are few and far between, they just aren't shifting the metal.

 

I hope the dealer concerned reconsider, they would be better off remaining a Mazda sales and service centre (which they are doing) alone, rather than take on a franchise which will hurt their credibility.

[New POD]

 

 

Anyway, got it to the main dealers and they very kindly fixed my key (it was dodgy internally and the switches had packed up) by resoldering a couple of bits and fitting a new battery,

 

Anyway, how much do you reckon they charged me for all the above?

 

Now, I foolishly bought the wife a 2001 oxford build MINI cooper, but didn't realise the significance of only having one key.

 

Now BMW are twats, and MINI dealers, are trained in the same "Suck the customer dry, and then some" school of customer "service" .

 

So if you want a key with buttons, which unlock the car from 20 paces, they want £165, plus an hours labour to "re-programme" the car or both the keys, and that will come to in Excess of £230.  As told to me by Service Manager on phone.  

 

Now, I wanted a paint chip pen in the correct yellow (£18) and once you get past the service 'manager', who is clearly on commission, you get to the parts man, who isn't, and clearly hates the bastards in suits.  He came out to look at said car "cos I prefer the generation one's and I want to check the computer has the colour right" and in conversation I mentioned the keys.  Turns out they do a key with no buttons and it can be had for £46 with the Vat (just bring ID and V5), and we'll order it and it'll be programmed to the car already. Now I asked for a new customer discount, and he managed to provide me the paint chip pen dented, so discounted for only £10.

[xtriple]

I'm glad they are staying as spares and service for Mazda as they are very good and don't try and rip you off. Paint touch up stick was £3.95 and that was for base and clear and quite big bottles of each at that! Not like it was old stock either as they had to order it in specially.