MG6 killed.

[unclecalzone]

Development on the castings was done here if memory serves.

 

Pez MG6s used a development of a development of the K called the Kavachi.

If I remember correctly the kavachi engine was a developed k using a head equipped with dual vvti. I'm pretty sure this was an MGR developed variant as, if you look at the pictures all those urban explorers captured of longbridge in 2006/7 or so you can see engines with the exact same setup in the factory all being labelled up for shipment to China just after Nac/saic had acquired mg rover.

Quite interesting what was planned but never saw the light of day due to all the issues with the company we all know of too well

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Bear]

Petrol was a modified K-series built with new tooling.  The 1.5 engine in the MG3 is a K-series relation. There is no known Head gasket issue stemming from a design fault that I'm aware of.

 

 

The 3's engine is related to the K-series? I thought it was a "from the wider pool of GM stuff accessible to SAIC through their JV agreements" and was closest to a Chinese-built version of the 1.5 in the Suzuki Ignis Sport.

 

Which made sense given how it drove (I quite like the MG3 as a 'warm hatch' thing. Oddly also like the Ignis Sport).

 

The MG6 in petrol turbo form wasn't a bad thing chassis/dynamics wise - and IIRC it didn't have that stop-start nonsense either, though it did have the Key Of Shame and plastics that would make Alan Sugar cringe. The car wasn't a failure because it was a bad car per se - people would have had to have heard of it for it to fail for those reasons - it failed because modern cars are so fucking good, you can't get away with making an "okay" one; if you've got a tarnished brand, shit dealer presence, and so forth, you need to deliver something absolutely incredible.

[Guest Lord Sward]

Bear in mind the last time I went there, we'd returned an MG3 we'd lent for the week and none of the staff had realised it had gone.

 

 

 

 

I ended-up with a Tata Safari when Phoenix went bust.  Foolishly, I returned it.

[Lacquer Peel]

Thinking man's Discovery.

[Guest Lord Sward]

The 3's engine is related to the K-series? I thought it was a "from the wider pool of GM stuff accessible to SAIC through their JV agreements" and was closest to a Chinese-built version of the 1.5 in the Suzuki Ignis Sport.

 

Which made sense given how it drove (I quite like the MG3 as a 'warm hatch' thing. Oddly also like the Ignis Sport).

 

 

Its nothing to do with a GM power plant, nor Suzuki.  Its a toned-down K-series.  Remember, SAIC invested heavily in tooling for the K-series when they won the design rights in a drinking competition with the Phoenix 4/5.  The head design can still trace its lineage to the Dolly Sprint engine.

[HH-R]

Since SAIC let a company making cars that sold reasonably well go the wall and so many people lose their jobs so they could pick the pieces up for pennies, fuck 'em. I hope they have lost loads of money. Since they're in bed with GM now, can we please let MG die instead of dragging the poor corpse into that shite?

 

It takes a seriously incompetent company to make Phoenix era MG Rover look like the height of professionalism in comparison.

[dugong]

Since SAIC let a company making cars that sold reasonably well go the wall and so many people lose their jobs so they could pick the pieces up for pennies, fuck 'em. I hope they have lost loads of money. Since they're in bed with GM now, can we please let MG die instead of dragging the poor corpse into that shite?

 

It takes a seriously incompetent company to make Phoenix era MG Rover look like the height of professionalism in comparison.

SAIC was never interested in the UK market, though. Ever. Chances are there won't be another sports car with an MG badge either because the Chinese don't see the point in roadsters when air con does a better job of keeping you cool in city smog.

 

It made a few MGTFs in China in the 'Noughties but they were hellishly dear and sold poorly.

[captain_70s]

I've never seen an MG6, or an MG3 for that matter. Strong sellers, clearly.

[dugong]

I've never seen an MG6, or an MG3 for that matter. Strong sellers, clearly.

Someone driving a white MG6 flipped me the bird once. I don't know why, though.

[SiC]

Someone driving a white MG6 flipped me the bird once. I don't know why, though.

Maybe they got confused and thought you were Clarkson? Being a lookalike and all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

All this talk of massive depreciation may be quite far from being accurate.

As a tight fisted bastard I often look at things that should be worth feck all; new shape Saab9-5, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C6 etc and find they're actually worth more than the mainstream completion ie 5 Series, XF, E Class etc because of their rarity.

If you do a search on Autotrader of under 5 year old 1.8 saloon/ hatches and there will probably be cheaper Insignia,Astra and Mondeos than 6s or Magnettes.

[Lacquer Peel]

I've never seen an MG6, or an MG3 for that matter. Strong sellers, clearly.

The nearest dealership is Stirling, I haven't seen any SAIC MGs in the north except a hire car.

[CortinaDave]

In 2005 SAIC were in talks with MG Rover on a partnership. At that point it was still a volume manufacturer albeit in decline.

 

They opted to wait until MGR went bust to get a cheaper deal.

 

For my money, if they'd come in that bit earlier before the company's collapse ruined the brand, they might have been able to make a go of it. The 75 and MG Zeds could've probably kept selling in reasonable numbers for another 2 years, despite ageing designs - then launch the 3 and 6.

 

By the time they got round to bringing anything out MG was tarnished and a dead brand in the eyes of the public. A real shame.

[dugong]

They know about you, that's why. All the MG6 owners know about you and what you've done. One day they'll come to get you.

 

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the day after, and maybe not ever if they need a model-specific part.

They're knackered if I can get to a car - most of mine start due an irregularly shaped piece of metal called a 'key'.

[Sheefag]

They're knackered if I can get to a car - most of mine start due an irregularly shaped piece of metal called a 'key'.

 

 

That won't help you if you're in one of Cavcraft's motors however.

[brownnova]

 A local Ford dealer here has started selling MGs recently, I've seen a couple of 3's around (one of which is the dealer demonstrator) but they don't seem to be flying out of the door.

 

About 2 years ago a local Ford dealer had some on their forecourt.  I went in to look at something else, but found myself drawn to the 6.  The salesman's sales pitch was something like "Honestly, I wouldn't they're crap.  Dunno why the manager even has them here. Think we've got them on some kind of sale or return, and we'll be returning the lot of them!"

 

Funnily enough I didn't buy one... (Or a Ford for that matter)

[Ecosse RM]

I didn't think MG would come back to be honest but when they started racing I thought it may work out, pity... Wonder what's next.

[Bear]

Its nothing to do with a GM power plant, nor Suzuki.  Its a toned-down K-series.  Remember, SAIC invested heavily in tooling for the K-series when they won the design rights in a drinking competition with the Phoenix 4/5.  The head design can still trace its lineage to the Dolly Sprint engine.

 

 

it didn't look like a toned down K-series. The timing chain really threw me, for example. And the documented reports of the NGE engine being a joint development with GM. And the capacities of 1.3 and 1.5 matching Suzuki/Daihatsu/Toyota derived units currently made under licence in China via GM.

 

The old MG3, aka Rover Streetwise, sure, that used an N-series revised K like the TF. The 1.8 Turbo in the MG6, yes, that owes a lot to the ZT's pressure cooker.

 

But the current, UK market MG3 has pretty much fuck all MGR in it. IIRC, the platform is a Grande Punto derivative, which is related to I think the last-generation Corsa via GM/Fiat platform sharing (like wot gave us the 3.2 not-Busso V6 and the Alfa 159 that showed that journalists can be convinced an Insignia can be made to handle, but punters are still wary) - certainly the trail goes vague but in 2010, it was reported the new MG3/Roewe 350 was going to be based on GM SCCS - like the early LandWind, I think GM gets a little spooked by their china budget operations tainting (Ha!) their Western marques, so are quick to shout "COPYRIGHT THEFT/CLONE!" when it's revealed a licensed platform made in a country with less rigorous safety standards, making cars a decade out of date, gives pretty shit crash protection (yes. The LandWind Isuzu Rodeo/Frontera clone has shit crash performance. So does an actual Frontera).

 

That, and of course, SAIC isn't some pocket-money, sticking fake Subaru bodies on old Maestro platforms in a shed in the provinces operation. It's more than capable of developing anything it wants to, if there's a business case for it.

[17-Coffees]

I've always considered one second hand(Just off the first finance) , partly because I like my MG's and partly because you see next to none on the road. (I like to be somewhat different)

Even with the naff reviews and such, still tempted as it can surely have been no worse than a sub-£1k car. 

But the fact the nearest dealer is over 100 miles away put me off most, and I was still an apprentice at the time.

One day, I'll own one though!

 

It'll no doubt be a pick between an MG6 or a Proton Gen-2...

[Partridge]

The Talbot Tagora of its day...We will be foaming at the mouth to own one in 25 years time.

[sierraman]

I had a sit in one last week, awful inside, so cheap and nasty. When they are completely worthless then I shall seek one out.

[Richard]

I'm sure I read on here that the only reason they bothered trying to sell them in the UK was to make them more attractive in the home market. Were they not hideously expensive?

[Guest Lord Sward]

@Richard-K.  Honestly, you're giving SAIC too much/too little credit.  The FIAT Grande Punto has stripped and costed and a large inspiration for the MG3.  I saw a whole Punto nailed to a series of boards in Longbridge several times.

 

Likewise the GM/Suzuki engine, but the car was a massive bit of Longbridge brain drain.  It'll have more in common with the Rover 25 than the Punto given the final production line used.

 

Theres no way GM were letting SAIC use their designs to toolings for their own venture.  Besides, if it'd been a direct copy rather than a Rover-based clone, it wouldn't have had the issues it did..

[Keymaster]

I had the joy of using an Avis example for a few days when they were first launched. It had MG's website slapped across the back bumper in foot high letters which I felt was a classy* touch and sure to impress the people I was meeting with when they saw it in the car park. It really wasn't that bad to drive but the fit & finish was worse than anything else of the era and probably the era before. And it was very thirsty.

 

They always have them on display at BTCC races etc. The one at Oulton a couple of weeks back had a whacking great dent in the back door & they didn't seem to have refined the interior in any meaningful way since I tried that early example. If the show car is that grim... how bad are the normal ones!?

 

The crossover they've just launched seemed no better either.

 

Verdict: You'd have to be a special kind of masochist to spend actual money on one

 

Edited to add: The Chevrolet Cruze hire car experience was possibly even more miserable so at least that's one car the MG is better than

[oldcars]

I like sandwiches. And toasted sandwiches. Or whatever's going really if I'm not paying for it.

 

I didn't pay anything for work's MG6, either. There was a mis-spelling in the Owners' Manual which said 'Ket Features' instead of 'Key Features'.

Ketamine might have made our tenure of it bearable.

 

Some highlights:

 

1. It was delivered with polish down one side, a loose negative battery terminal and no tax disc (pre October 2014).

2. It broke down after two days and stranded me in Beaulieu.

3. When MG Assistance were told the reg, they were adamant it belonged to an MG Maestro.

4. It needed a new clutch and gearbox after 5000 miles.

5. I put a box in the boot and it fell through the floor.

6. The engine management light was on all the time.

7. It had chronically bad torque steer and an on/off clutch.

8. MG made us pay for a service even though we had a pre paid service plan contract.

9. We sent it back, cancelled the finance agreement and MG didn't collect it.

10. It was then written off by a member of our staff. No-one cared.

 

This was a car delivered to the press. Stellar.

I dread to think what the customer cars were like.

Wish my 75 had feature number 5. Might fixed the water feature i currently have.

[Bear]

@Richard-K.  Honestly, you're giving SAIC too much/too little credit.  The FIAT Grande Punto has stripped and costed and a large inspiration for the MG3.  I saw a whole Punto nailed to a series of boards in Longbridge several times.

 

Likewise the GM/Suzuki engine, but the car was a massive bit of Longbridge brain drain.  It'll have more in common with the Rover 25 than the Punto given the final production line used.

 

Theres no way GM were letting SAIC use their designs to toolings for their own venture.  Besides, if it'd been a direct copy rather than a Rover-based clone, it wouldn't have had the issues it did..

 

 

SAIC are GM's manufacturing partner in China and were so long before MGR folded - they've been making cars for, and with, GM since the end of the '90s.

 

There are nuances and costings and market factors and all sorts of other shit to consider, but it's really, really tedious, this constant assumption that "the Chinese can't make good things" or "invent stuff" or "innovate". Maybe a Punto stripped and nailed to boards was as much about teaching production methodology, component design and so forth to facilitate new workflows, maybe it was just working around whichever hardpoints they had to adhere to to make a new body for the platform. See a car stripped in China-owned factory, instantly go for "they're working out how to copy it".

 

They don't need to. SAIC makes cars for GM. Current, modern, popular cars. They already have all the tooling and info they need.

[dugong]

All this talk of massive depreciation may be quite far from being accurate.

As a tight fisted bastard I often look at things that should be worth feck all; new shape Saab9-5, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C6 etc and find they're actually worth more than the mainstream completion ie 5 Series, XF, E Class etc because of their rarity.

If you do a search on Autotrader of under 5 year old 1.8 saloon/ hatches and there will probably be cheaper Insignia,Astra and Mondeos than 6s or Magnettes.

Aye, I'm sure all those poor sods trading 3s and 6s are coining it in.

 

Edited to add: The Chevrolet Cruze hire car experience was possibly even more miserable so at least that's one car the MG is better than

Our local MG dealer used them as courtesy cars. I've driven poorly repaired 300k MKIII Cavaliers that were nicer behind the wheel.

[inconsistant]

This might sound like one for the bullshit thread but honestly, Scalextric are about to bring out the MG6:

 

 

http://www.scalextric.com/uk-en/shop/themes/british-touring-car-championship/btcc-mg6.html

[chaseracer]

I've got meetings in Longbridge tomorrow - pretty much where the North Works used to be.  I could pop round the corner and see if they've got any brochures left.

 

 

I did so.

 

There were no brochures.  There were no people.

[dugong]

I did so.

 

There were no brochures.  There were no people.

I like your new MG3. Cheap, was it?