Test Drive Smart #1 and MG4

[Daveion]

For those of us that have been in a Born or an ID3 for a while I thought I would just write a post about my recent test drive experiences of the Smart #1 and MG4 and initial comparisons to the Born.
I drove the #1 this morning and although only had half an hour (dealer had double booked the test drive) it was long enough for me to know that my preference was still the Born.
Although you could feel the extra motor power on acceleration the car was full of trim noises and creaks so not what I was expecting. The infotainment screen was blank for the first 45 seconds so thought VAG are not the only ones with that particular issue. The steering felt vague and ride not as assured as the Born especially around the lanes and in and out of roundabouts where the Born feels quite sporty. My main issue though was the regenerative braking. I could only see a choice of Standard and Strong and no option at all for SAILING in D like a Born or an ID3. The regen was unpredictable in the short drive I had. In Strong at higher speeds it didn't seem to be as strong as B mode in the Born and then at slower speeds and coming to a halt braking was too strong with no feel for braking on the pedal.
The cabin is well appointed and you feel like you are in a premium car although its cheaper than a Born V2. It's bigger in the flesh than its appearance in 2D but it is no looker in my opinion like the Born is.
Little to say about the MG4. Overall if there was only a choice between an MG4 and a #1 I would go with an MG4 because the drive was not dissimilar to the Born and an ID3. Its much more affordable than either an ID3 or Born but just doesn't cut it in the same way for me.
I'll be changing my Born hopefully late Spring and have two more test drives planned which will be the new Mini EV Cooper S in March and if Ford get their finger out a Puma EV or Explorer EV.
As a Ford Pensioner I will get a Privilege Voucher for the Ford but don't expect any heavy discounts on either of them.
Bottom line is top of my list so far will be a Born V2 eboost 58kW in Red. Could get another White car but that would be for me 7 new cars in a row in White.

[TheBornIDentity]

Funnily enough I’ve given up on my Born as Heritage Gloucester is beyond hopeless and I’m fed up taking it back for faults that don’t get fixed and or waiting months for parts. I have just lost faith in the car and don’t want it when the warranty runs out even though I’d planned to keep it. Not that they are seemingly capable of fixing it while it’s under warranty.

Gone for a bog standard MG4. It’s £11k cheaper but certainly not £11k cheaper to drive and hopefully as it’s so cheap to start with won’t devalue like a rock as the Born has.

I prefer the Born but not enough to justify to price difference. And given how my Born has had most about every fault they are known for I quite keen on the 7 year warranty if I decide to keep it.

Decided on the 51kWh because the LFP batteries don’t mind being charged to 100% all the time, in fact it’s recommended so for normal use the battery is effectively 10% more than the Born. On the long trips I do, the 64kWh battery isn’t big enough to not need to stop for a charge away, so no reason to get the bigger one. I’d need a battery that can do 340 miles real world without charging to make it worth having.

[monkeyhanger]

Funnily enough I’ve given up on my Born as Heritage Gloucester is beyond hopeless and I’m fed up taking it back for faults that don’t get fixed and or waiting months for parts. I have just lost faith in the car and don’t want it when the warranty runs out even though I’d planned to keep it. Not that they are seemingly capable of fixing it while it’s under warranty.

Gone for a bog standard MG4. It’s £11k cheaper but certainly not £11k cheaper to drive and hopefully as it’s so cheap to start with won’t devalue like a rock as the Born has.

I prefer the Born but not enough to justify to price difference. And given how my Born has had most about every fault they are known for I quite keen on the 7 year warranty if I decide to keep it.

Decided on the 51kWh because the LFP batteries don’t mind being charged to 100% all the time, in fact it’s recommended so for normal use the battery is effectively 10% more than the Born. On the long trips I do, the 64kWh battery isn’t big enough to not need to stop for a charge away, so no reason to get the bigger one. I’d need a battery that can do 340 miles real world without charging to make it worth having.

If you care about residuals, you'll avoid buying another new BEV altogether. Residuals are tanking so much across the board, most BEV cars on PCP won't even be worth the GFV. I don't think the Born will be the except there either. Just did a motorway valuation on our V2 E-Boost and at 19 months old, Motorway say its worth £22900. At 36 months old, unless the appetite for used privately owned BEVs increases, £19k is probably optimistic for p/x or motorway/Cazoo prices.

The MG4 will fare far worse as a % of RRP.

If I were buying a BEV right now, I'd be buying used.

[Daveion]

Funnily enough I’ve given up on my Born as Heritage Gloucester is beyond hopeless and I’m fed up taking it back for faults that don’t get fixed and or waiting months for parts. I have just lost faith in the car and don’t want it when the warranty runs out even though I’d planned to keep it. Not that they are seemingly capable of fixing it while it’s under warranty.

Gone for a bog standard MG4. It’s £11k cheaper but certainly not £11k cheaper to drive and hopefully as it’s so cheap to start with won’t devalue like a rock as the Born has.

I prefer the Born but not enough to justify to price difference. And given how my Born has had most about every fault they are known for I quite keen on the 7 year warranty if I decide to keep it.

Decided on the 51kWh because the LFP batteries don’t mind being charged to 100% all the time, in fact it’s recommended so for normal use the battery is effectively 10% more than the Born. On the long trips I do, the 64kWh battery isn’t big enough to not need to stop for a charge away, so no reason to get the bigger one. I’d need a battery that can do 340 miles real world without charging to make it worth having.

If you care about residuals, you'll avoid buying another new BEV altogether. Residuals are tanking so much across the board, most BEV cars on PCP won't even be worth the GFV. I don't think the Born will be the except there either. Just did a motorway valuation on our V2 E-Boost and at 19 months old, Motorway say its worth £22900. At 36 months old, unless the appetite for used privately owned BEVs increases, £19k is probably optimistic for p/x or motorway/Cazoo prices.

The MG4 will fare far worse as a % of RRP.

If I were buying a BEV right now, I'd be buying used.

I'm still optimistic it will change. Either new prices will fall significantly or used prices will increase, or of course a bit of both. The gulf between new and 2 year old used is ridiculous. I agree with what you said about vehicle value at 3 years old but on PCP you have the option to drive it back and start again as you say with a used car. The only reason I'm able to change at 2 years is like many others I made a killing on the car I traded in. I made close to £12,000 on my 2020 ID3.
I'm going to get a PCP price from Mercedes and see how much I can push them. If I have this right there is potentially a requirement for Manufactures to achieve 22% of new sales to be zero emissions or face a significant penalty/car.
Think it's the ZEV Mandate and this will lead to discounts as dealerships need to make sales quotas.
Think there will be a lot of change in 2024. If I can't get the price I'm looking for to change I will keep my current Born. The one WITHOUT eboost as I'm sure you will recall .

[TheBornIDentity]

The MG4 doesn’t seem to fair too badly, I did have a look first. I guess it’s a bit like, Dacia in that is so low priced it not got as far to fall.

The one I’m getting is cheaper than a base spec automatic Golf.

If it does fall like a rock I can hand it back or as it’s got a long warranty, pay it off. The Born was £36k with. GFV of £18k which it’s not much over now and if I got the same now it would have a GFV of £16k. The MG4 is £25k after discount with a GFV of £12k. So unless the Born bounced back sharply I stand to lose a lot less on the MG4. It 0% PCP too, if it wasn’t I’d hang on the Born until the warranty ended and hope it didn’t go down much more.

Used would be more sensible but in 3 years I’d expect this epic depreciation trend to end. Most of which has been driven by negative media coverage.

[monkeyhanger]

The MG4 doesn’t seem to fair too badly, I did have a look first. I guess it’s a bit like, Dacia in that is so low priced it not got as far to fall.

The one I’m getting is cheaper than a base spec automatic Golf.

If it does fall like a rock I can hand it back or as it’s got a long warranty, pay it off. The Born was £36k with. GFV of £18k which it’s not much over now and if I got the same now it would have a GFV of £16k. The MG4 is £25k after discount with a GFV of £12k. So unless the Born bounced back sharply I stand to lose a lot less on the MG4. It 0% PCP too, if it wasn’t I’d hang on the Born until the warranty ended and hope it didn’t go down much more.

Used would be more sensible but in 3 years I’d expect this epic depreciation trend to end. Most of which has been driven by negative media coverage.

If you're PCPing, that 0% APR will make a big difference to your monthlies.

I do think that poor residuals for BEVs are here stay for a good few years yet. It really does feel like every private buyer who wants a BEV already has one, there's a lot that don't want one, and with diminishing incentives, there's even less reason for those people to change their minds.

That does mean that there are bargains to be had in the used market if you want a BEV. About £4k pa is about all I'm willing to lose in depreciation currently. My S3 should lose me no more than £12k over 3 years. It's a £43k RRP car that I ended up paying £38k for, and it has a £26k GFV on PCP terms (I bought it outright, but still pay attention to the GFV, which should be beaten for ICEVs currently, and historically always has).

I've always bought cars with strong residuals at a reasonable discount. The Born was the first car I've ever bought that's bucked the trend, although I expected it to hold its value better than it is.

I don't feel too bad about the Born as I was £10k in profit on the ID3 that preceded it, but I wouldn't knowingly go back for another hefty dose of depreciation.

[Elea4]

I'll be changing my Born hopefully late Spring and have two more test drives planned which will be the new Mini EV Cooper S in March and if Ford get their finger out a Puma EV or Explorer EV.

Make sure to wait until the Born gets a refresh which will bring the ICAS3 with software version 4. Take a test drive of an ID.7 and you'll see why it's so an improvement.

Here's more info:

"The hardware adaptation of ICAS1/ICAS3 and ABT for the "normal" models will models will come as early as 4/2024 so that the vehicles fully support UNECE2 and remain eligible for initial registration from 7/2024.

This will run parallel to ID.3."

(by "normal" he means pre-autumn facelift)

https://www.born-forum.de/forum/thread/ ... #post61062

[JurassicBorn]

I'll be changing my Born hopefully late Spring and have two more test drives planned which will be the new Mini EV Cooper S in March and if Ford get their finger out a Puma EV or Explorer EV.

Make sure to wait until the Born gets a refresh which will bring the ICAS3 with software version 4. Take a test drive of an ID.7 and you'll see why it's so an improvement.

Here's more info:

"The hardware adaptation of ICAS1/ICAS3 and ABT for the "normal" models will models will come as early as 4/2024 so that the vehicles fully support UNECE2 and remain eligible for initial registration from 7/2024.

This will run parallel to ID.3."

(by "normal" he means pre-autumn facelift)

https://www.born-forum.de/forum/thread/ ... #post61062

Will this be an update a 10/23 manufactured car will be eligible for?

[Daveion]

I'll be changing my Born hopefully late Spring and have two more test drives planned which will be the new Mini EV Cooper S in March and if Ford get their finger out a Puma EV or Explorer EV.

Make sure to wait until the Born gets a refresh which will bring the ICAS3 with software version 4. Take a test drive of an ID.7 and you'll see why it's so an improvement.

Here's more info:

"The hardware adaptation of ICAS1/ICAS3 and ABT for the "normal" models will models will come as early as 4/2024 so that the vehicles fully support UNECE2 and remain eligible for initial registration from 7/2024.

This will run parallel to ID.3."

(by "normal" he means pre-autumn facelift)

https://www.born-forum.de/forum/thread/ ... #post61062

Thank Elea4. I looked for an emoji indicating its gone way over my head but I do trust what you recommend.

[Roborn]

I test drove the Trophy MG4 in the summer and it was the cheapest feeling car I’ve driven in a long time - and I recently drove my sons VW Up!
The interior felt incredibly cheap and plasticky- and at 6 feet 2 and 16 stone I was hanging through the back of the seat. The screens in front of me were tiny, and the centre console banged constantly against my knee. The seats were very clearly a plasticky vinyl with the worst stitching I’ve seen in a car since my granddads Morris Marina. The cladding on the body and rear light strip felt like they were made of recycled takeaway containers. I appreciate they are cheap but I was astonished just how cheaply made it felt. And I’m not a car snob, I have pretty conservative Ford/VW/mazda tastes!