What do we think of the new MG6?

[Alexg]

The residuals are likely to be crippling

 

Santander Finance look to agree. The 3 year PCP finance quote on the MG site show the £15495 'S' model with an optional final payment of just £3791 with 36000 miles.

[Autoplas]

The option i wanted to click on isn't on the poll, so I thought I would write it here.

 

It's shit.

[tonedepear]

Honcho of the Proton Owner's Club UK has a Perdana IIRC. Surely the holy grail far eastern modern shite?

[ProgRocker]

Not too fond of the MG6. If I was in the market for an OK priced brand new family sized car then it would have to be a Kia C'eed.

[Guest]

I'd love to be upbeat about the re-entry of MG cars to this country, but I doubt it'll do very well.

[Station]

I dont see it doing well over here but should do well in Asia I think. They should do their homework better, that 'zero' looks much nicer in a market filled with 100 saloons that look like each other. They should've gone the quirky route the mini and beetle are sitting in. How many half arsed, failed attempts is this brand allowed ffs.

[Guest Len H]

It'll do fine when it has a diesel option and if the pricing is competitive.

[garethj]

With thanks to the teenagers of today, I can give my reaction to this car as "meh"

 

It’s a strange thing to bring the MG name back. This is the mistake made by marketing chaps who work in the automotive industry, because I think it’ll only work if the brand was special to start with, and that wasn’t too long ago.

 

BMW show that they really understand what makes a customer part with money by doing the MINI. A strong brand, not because of what the car represented over the last 25 years (rusty subframes, marigold glove over the distributor cap) but because of all the retrospective stuff on TV. A Mini is swinging London in the ‘60s, Michael Caine and the Monte Carlo Rally. Now they can make almost anything, call it a MINI and it'll sell.

 

Where does MG sit in most people’s imagination? Warmed over Metros and Maestros? An MGB which some saddo down your street spent 10 years restoring? The best days have gone, long gone, and there’s nothing on TV to bring them back.

 

In America they sometimes understand this too; that’s why some manufacturers have brought back new versions of their 1969 range. If you type “car chase†into youtube, you won’t go far without seeing a Camaro, Mustang or Charger bouncing around the place, shrugging off dents and avoiding the cops. Films like this, watched late at night when we were all impressionable teenagers, sink in and stay there. If I bought a brand new Dodge Charger today, knowing everything an adult knows about physics, forces of gravity etc, I’d still be 90% sure that I could jump it across a ravine shouting yeeeeee-haaaaa and drive away.

 

I’ve no idea what’s on TV in the rest of Europe, but if you’ve ever strayed onto ITV4 Bodie and Doyle will be hammering along in an RS2000 or Capri. If I was Ford, I’d be sending footage of that Tour of Britain from the late ‘70s where James Hunt, Roger Clark and other real men were drifting them around every race circuit in the country. Get ITV4 to keep churning out The Professionals and in 6 months release to the motoring press a 2 door car with 4 headlights in a kind of droop snoot. They’ll be beating the punters off with a shitty stick whilst MG dealers are watching tumbleweeds go past.

 

If you’ve got no strong brand, you’d better have the full set of other things; NCAP stars, 10 year warranty and iPod connectivity. The top players don’t need to worry about them too much but if you’re brand is weak you’d better be able to score everywhere else.

 

MG don’t have a strong brand, and as I’ve been working in UK engineering for almost 20 years, that makes me sad.

[triang1]

Where does MG sit in most people’s imagination? Warmed over Metros and Maestros? An MGB which some saddo down your street spent 10 years restoring? The best days have gone, long gone, and there’s nothing on TV to bring them back.

 

Spot On !

 

MG ''brand' was getting dog eared by 1969 IMHO. The seventies MGB was getting to be a joke with it's rubber bumpers and tractor ride height - since then it's been pure nostalgia for the '50s and tweed caps that's kept it going. The red-seatbelt and red-piping on seats Metros and Montegos etc was a further nail in the coffin and the MG badge on a 75 or similar just meant 'GT version'

 

Iconic brands are the ones to revive - and MGs window of iconic-ness has long closed ( Anyone remember a single staring role for the MG on TV or film?...okay purdey had one in the New Avengers - not a touch on Emma Peel's Lotus though)

 

Might as well revive Riley or Singer or Bean...

[RedSparrow]

I agree they should have looked at the new Mini and Beetle and gone for a small, quirky but pretty drop to sports car. Cheap and cheerful, like. None of this saloon business - if they think they can rival BMW etc they must be mental. The fact that BMW didn't hold on to the MG brand speaks volumes.

 

Still, again, I hope it creates a few jobs.

[garethj]

I agree they should have looked at the new Mini and Beetle and gone for a small, quirky but pretty drop to sports car. Cheap and cheerful, like. None of this saloon business - if they think they can rival BMW etc they must be mental. The fact that BMW didn't hold on to the MG brand speaks volumes.

You think that would have worked? It’s what the MG-F was, and whilst it sold alright in the UK I don’t imagine it took many sales in Europe, Japan or America.

 

Having said that, MG had the problem you mention as far back as the BL days; trying to compete with the major manufacturers when their R&D team was much smaller than the competitions. I can’t see it being easier to crack nowadays.

 

Developing a car nowadays is a different game to back in the ‘50s when Barrett and I would drool over a manufacturer that had a bucketful of fibreglass resin and some angle iron for the chassis. There’s so much legislation, testing and sheer number of parts and suppliers to handle that you need a sizeable staff to run it before actually designing anything let alone developing it into a profitable product.

 

Ginetta are having a go with the G40, but it’s as simple as can be (in terms of component count, it’s one step up from a quad bike), looks great and they’re still struggling to get a list price of less than £30k. Should MG go down this road? Will Ginetta be a successful business model?

 

All the answers make me a bit glum

[dollywobbler]

I think the MG boys have totally lost it now. The saloon version is called the Magnette. As if the Farina-badged one wasn't insult enough (sorry Farina fans, but it was lunacy to replace the gorgeous Magnette Z with a Farina. Lost the looks and the handling!).

 

It's almost as idiotic as Citroen claiming their funky small hatchback is anti-retro, then calling it the DS3.

[Guest Len H]

Apart from old car enthusiasts, does anybody know what a Magnette was?

 

If dealer support is good, (it's the what killed the majority of European makers in North America) they can sort out a diesel and they make a name for themselves as purveyors of good value, fun to drive cars they deserve success.

[dollywobbler]

Yes but the point is that it'll just piss off those who would have bought one no matter how crap it is just because they like MG's heritage.

[Formula Autos]

 

BMW show that they really understand what makes a customer part with money by doing the MINI. A strong brand, not because of what the car represented over the last 25 years (rusty subframes, marigold glove over the distributor cap) but because of all the retrospective stuff on TV. A Mini is swinging London in the ‘60s, Michael Caine and the Monte Carlo Rally. Now they can make almost anything, call it a MINI and it'll sell.

 

I’ve no idea what’s on TV in the rest of Europe, but if you’ve ever strayed onto ITV4 Bodie and Doyle will be hammering along in an RS2000 or Capri. If I was Ford, I’d be sending footage of that Tour of Britain from the late ‘70s where James Hunt, Roger Clark and other real men were drifting them around every race circuit in the country. Get ITV4 to keep churning out The Professionals and in 6 months release to the motoring press a 2 door car with 4 headlights in a kind of droop snoot. They’ll be beating the punters off with a shitty stick whilst MG dealers are watching tumbleweeds go past.

 

That succinctly sums up why Ford should be producing the new Capri they've been teasing us, on and off, with for the past few years.

 

Don't forget the effect Minder had on the British psyche either - thanks to that and The Professionals, Capris are seen as real geezers' cars. A bit cheesy, perhaps, but I bet a new one would sell well.

[Station]

I even thought MGZR/ZS/ZT's had the right identity to have the MG badge, having followed the MG Montego/Maestro, etc which I thought were cute and were in the right place and the right time in the 80's. I think the era of MGB's and post-war stuff is well behind us now, but I think just lobbing a badge with MG's 'pedigree' (sports car, badge engineered hot hatches, etc) on a crappy run of the mill, Chinese motor is a bit desperate. I don't understand how anyone would have the desire to buy one because it's an MG, when it's the complete opposite of what an MG is or was.

[Guest Len H]

That's not very fair, it's far from something like a BYD or Geely with an MG badge glued on.

[chaseracer]

Not that far, Len...

[tonedepear]

Don't Geely own Volvo now?

[RedSparrow]

Thought I would dig this thread up in an attempt to quell the tide of shitposting (yes I know I'm not innocent of this).

 

So, has anyone had a test drive of one of these? Tempted to myself, nearest dealer to me is Eastbourne I think.

[Lord Sterling]

A good friend of mine told me the local MG centre were holding a Macmillan Coffee morning late last month where they were holding test drives and so on. I was going to go but alas things happend, nearly getting kicked out, not havoing a car, money etc... didnt help.

 

When I've got time I might drop down by Longbridge to see what the deal is, I'd like to test drive one of them.

[Father Ted]

Not been in one, but was sat behind it late last year as they were being test driven round the North West.

 

First glance I actually thought it was a Mondeo it was only the MG badge that made me go "Oh".

 

It'll probably sell depending on the pricing of it but I cant say it lights my fire in the same way a Nissan Tilda does.