Australian MG4 Excite 51, real owners review after 1 month - the good and the bad!

After 1 month of ownership of the MG4 Excite 51, here's 5 good things and 5 bad things. Please comment if I missed anything, or if there's any other content you would find helpful.
The Good
00:00 Intro
00:13 Exterior Design
01:39 Interior design
3:15 Price
4:52 Driving dynamics
5:33 7 Year Warranty
The Bad
6:42 No frunk
7:25 The Cave
8:41 No OTA and settings don't save
10:25 Base model missing some safety features
11:25 High servicing costs
12:52 Conclusion

[@brendacheers]

I've been driving mine for nearly three weeks and thoroughly agree with your review.

[@corindikevcorindikev]

All of your points are valid. I've owned my Essence 64 for just under 2 months & 3000km of driving. The extra 10k is well worth it in my opinion as there are many extra features as well as more power, bigger battery, & tyres, 2 level boot, active grill shutter, aero spoilers, privacy glass, better & heated seats, power drivers seat, 360 camera, folding mirrors, auto dimming mirror, & a bunch of other things including the upgraded 6 speaker audio. It laso has voice control that actually works well. A simple software update to save your settings say in custom mode would be great. LKA can be a bit of a pain but it does train you to drive accurately. OPD is great, I use it all the time. OTA updates should be possible & may happen in the future. Trip planning & charger routing is apparently coming shortly & is supposed to be an OTA ugrade to the Satnav. I replaced the incandescent bulbs in the interior light with 2 x 200 lumen LEDs & they cost only $7.00. Now I can see everything at night, even in the back. I don't have a problem with the headrests. Mine are all there & sit right down on the backrest. They impede the view a bit but I can still see everything out the back fine. On mine there are 2 small pockets and a large map pocket on the rear of each front seat. I don't care about the lack of armrest or bottle holder as there will hardly ever be anyone in the back anyway. I assume it is all to do with keeping costs down to meet the sale price. Overall it is avery good car with one of the best dynamic driving experiences I have encountered. 8/10 is about right. I might even go .5 higher but fix the niggles and it would be a great car, 9.5. 😀

[@bozugarage]

agreed, the overall package is good and wouldn't take much for it to be great. Personally not sold on the value of the extra features for $10,000. I think if this was our one and only car then yes it would make sense, but as our city/short trip EV the LFP battery in the 51 and value for money made the base spec our sensible choice (as I make plenty of not sensible car decisions every few months otherwise!)

[@Airbag888]

Link to the 200 lumen LEDs if you don't mind?

[@AMLagonda]

This is a great review, cheers, glad you like the MG as well :)

[@billzuber4042]

Great review! Really helpful, thanks 🙏

[@fredfrond6148]

Nice review from the owner and drivers standpoint . Looking forward to another one after 12 months.

[@deltajohnny]

Great review! 👏👏👏

[@isaacplans4778]

Very good review. I have an MG4 and agree on all the points

[@peterengland6153]

100% agree with your good and bad points.

[@bazz52]

Good & fair balanced review. Ta.

[@leeebbrell9]

I have i4, love it, my wife is looking at mg 4, this video is really useful, thanks... im trying to convince her EVs are ok not as problematic as media says

[@bozugarage]

The golden rule here is: Do not take advice about EVs, from people who don't own EVs. And particularly some media (especially sky news, daily mail, murdoch papers etc and other illegitimate "media") who we all know are rabidly anti-EV, anti truth and just love spreading biased news/lies.

[@fishingwiththomas]

Good review. I've done about 1300kms in my 64 Essence now and love it. Just this morning I have discovered I can select the custom drive mode and turn opd on and, fingerscrossed it keeps staying on.

[@bozugarage]

wow, OPD stays on when you do it in custom drive mode? Will have to test that myself!

[@fishingwiththomas]

@bozugarage it did once and now it doesn't :-(

[@sectokia1909]

Everyone keeps hoping for an update to save settings, its never going to happen. The regulations require 'profiles' save settings like this, and a profile requires at least 2 'measurements' to differentiate the person who saved the settings from other drivers. Usually this is done with a crude seat weight sensor, and crude infrared face/height sensor. The MG4 has neither, so it cannot do profiles at all. It has to reset all 'safety' systems every drive just in case someone else drives the car.... If you want to change the defaults you can do it with a ODBC programmer.

[@bozugarage]

Not asking for any settings to save seat positions, not interested in that - just saving driving settings like one pedal driving and other driver assists which would be easily doable in software. My tesla doesn't reset its "safety" systems when me or my wife switch driving (and of course teslas save far more driving settings than the MG4 ever has available). *sigh* one day MG might improve their car, can only hope.

[@supergeek0177]

Any chance they could tie to a user's phone? You unlock your phone when you get in and it asks you if you/who is / are driving, then loads your profile?

[@user-ec7dc7hh9o]

We have the Essence 64. I wonder which firmware version you have? Our firmware seems to have smoothed out some of the concerns you mention. I gather the update for the Excite is different in some ways. We do not use one pedal driving often as the custom setting for drive mode we have set up is good enough. The resetting of other features is definitely something we would love to see changed too. We have decided to store the centre rear headrest in the boot. We are most unlikely to carry 5 people in the car but when we do we will put it back for that trip. While we have a lot of likes our Essence top 5 dislikes are: 1. The radio is Digital and we are just close enough to the edge of coverage that the digital stations often serve up missing words in a so you hear part of the . This means using Apple car play (or Android) This is wired so you need to get this going before you leave the driveway. It often takes 2 goes to connect. Once done it works great even if you get out and go shopping etc. It would be nice if it was not a plug in. It only works on the USB A plug side which seems strange. 2. The missing Frunk. Even a small one as a place to store the supplied trickle charge cable bag. 3. Electric seat adjustment is only on the drivers seat. 4. No automatic wipers even at this price point seems a bit of an oversight. The area behind the rear vision mirror is used for driving safety features I believe, so it may not be easy to set up another sensor there. 5. The limited set of shortcut buttons, including an ON/OFF button. Even just an OFF button would be nice. If you arrive somewhere and are sitting there and need to wait for a bit, getting it to turn off is fiddly. I don’t think I agree about servicing costs but I am a little curious. It is after all a vehicle with a huge lithium battery. If they believe they need to replace some battery cells or completely replace battery cooling stuff every 2 years, then the cost may be reasonable. It seems most unlikely that they are simply seeing it as an opportunity to charge for unnecessary stuff. If that were true why would the 2 year service not be higher?

[@marcjost509]

Nice, I finally got to sit in the MG4, huge leg room for a tall person like me, was stunned how great and lux the interior felt, going to test drive one soon

[@steveinoz8188]

Which version?

[@marcjost509]

@@steveinoz8188 the base model Excite 51, I test drove a Tesla model y, then the MG4, now I have owned a MG4 for 2 weeks now, best car, loving it 😁✅👍

[@johncrispin2118]

Thanks Stuart, a perfect summation and agree on all the point a you made. Interesting was your first service bill . Mine was £62 ?? This was after making the appointment For the service and being told it was £162. When queried as to what was done for that price the very polite lady on the phone said oil change and filters and as soon as she said that I Mentioned that the MG4 is an ev . Not sure she got that at first but then the price came down as above. Good enough but oh dear … staff don’t know much sadly along with the rest of the world In regard to evs! Could I ask again what device is necessary to play music and from which storage media you recommended a while ago, thanks

[@passivehouseaustralia4406]

In Australia Law, any qualified mechanic can do a ""BOOK SERVICE" and it is not allowed to invalidate your warrantee... I think there might be an opening here for someone! Also in the Australia Constitution you are not allowed to "Bill for no service" ACCC should get involved on the $900+ service because I would argue its clearly not in line with the actual work... and seeing Telsa have no requirement for servicing at all it will probably get traction...

[@user-fr5pl1zf5f]

I agree with you regarding the servicing costs. The only thing of note is it does include free onsite raodside support. This is worth about $80 /year . So worth $180 offset per service

[@bozugarage]

yes there is some value in roadside assist - however on a new EV which has little to go wrong I'm not valuing it that highly. (however with no spare tyre I wonder how roadside assist would work in the event of a flat tyre?) I have top level roadside assist for my old european cars which constantly end up on towtrucks!

[@JohnoEx]

Thanks for this review, I test drove the MG4 last week and enjoyed it, it was my first ever EV drive. One pedal worked great.. agree about the servicing cost $907 every 4 yrs is too much, I don't mind the $290 odd every 2 yrs that's much more reasonable. Also I wish they add OTA like you said and ability to save settings. Just wondering if you have called MG about the phantom breaking? Would be good to know if they are aware of the issue and are working on an update. Are you planning to do the LED bulb swap? I saw some videos about how the cabin lights are halogens and many people from UK are swapping them for LED. Interested if there is an aftermarket rear seat light that we can add too.

[@bozugarage]

Maybe LEDs, but I'm not that keen on the cold white light that they produce - makes everyone look a bit sickly in the car!

[@jamesbishop6397]

Just drove queencliff to Bendigo. Close to 80% soc was not even close. It's only 200 and a bit Km! Oddly on the way back I have 100km range left. Agree re the settings not saving. Cruise control given energy back via regenerative braking is much better than the MG XS ev I traded in for this

[@glennmoloney7460]

Yes I agree with your points as well. Looking for a car for my wife and really like the MG4 for the handling but she wants the extra safety features with the LFP battery which you can't get... In Thailand they do have the 51 essence which would have been ideal.

[@MrVolodus]

Issue with LFP is 80kW charging ... new Tesla SR has LFP, but charging speed is 150kW (or 170?). But yeah, MG is 12 000€ (31k vs 43k) cheaper :D

[@rachelbailey966]

If you want LFP you can’t go past BYD blade batteries 😊

[@BMA967]

The base model in Australia is LFP

[@glennmoloney7460]

​@@BMA967Yes I know. That's the problem. LFP is only offered on the base model... In Thailand LFP is offered on the up spec model as well.

[@BMA967]

@@glennmoloney7460 I did not know that! To me this is the only bad thing about the MG as opposed to the BYD: you can buy an upper spec BYD with LFP.

[@davow8]

Thanks for the down to earth practical review. Modern EV dilemma - how to get manufacturers backed by fossil fuel companies and dealers interested in selling a vehicle they cannot make money out of. We should have had this vehicle and many more like them driving in our cities years ago but it was only going to happen with Government intervention. Thumbs up to Elon for forcing change.

[@bozugarage]

The problem also lies with media companies who are only interested in feeding misinformation to a wide majority of the population who have some inherent bias against EVs. Just like all politicians (who will only say exactly what they think the majority of voters like, rather than what is needed). To be honest I was ambivalent about EVs for years, until I drove one.

[@selgeaus]

Another minor negative is the max charging power it can take

[@yenoh729]

Does digital key work for your mg4 excite 51? I am considering one to buy,.

[@mobilegames1861]

have you found a way to remove the scratches from the spoiler and the rear sides? I have an excite 51 and got the same issue from my dealer.

[@bozugarage]

Topica for another vid - I'm completing a vid about ceramic coating which will upload soon. It won't cover scratch removal which will come in a later vid again

[@petequinn3511]

I have the MG4 Trophy edition and in the two months i've been driving it, i love it. Got to say your downsides are mostly minor niggles. Never had a front trunk, so not missing anything. Rarely have rear passengers so the cave light aint an issue. The Trophy has all the bells and whistles, safety-wise so no dramas there. However the lack of personal presets for driving is a pain in the dick. I do about 80 miles per day as a work commute and it holds up well. My biggest pain is the fact that the damn home charger isn't getting fitted til at least February. so it's trickle charge every evening for me. As for your last point, the costs? mine is an all inclusive lease so i don't worry about that. This thing saves me about £300 a month in fuel as well. Winner winner. and i'm an adult so i can put up with the jokes about a big bloke driving an EV. I just chuckle as my standard of living goes up a wee bit.

[@bozugarage]

Wall charger will make things easier with the amount of driving you're doing. No complaints with the car overall still happy with it - would be happier with OTA updates - it make fix the preset problem you've mentioned.

[@okbilly1]

still deciding if i should buy the MG4, can you charge on a regular power point, how long would it take from empty? as i am trying to decide if i should save & buy a 2nd hand prius (hybrid)?

[@bozugarage]

Well you can charge any EV from a powerpoint, it's just a matter of how long it'll take. With the slow MG charger provided, from 0% to 100% it'll take you something like 30 hours. Install a wall charger (or use a 32A connector, see my other videos on how to do this) it'll be way faster. Wouldn't buy any hybrid as they're the worst of both worlds.

[@jackysing9027]

Would love to know if you can source a wing from somewhere for a reasonable price.

[@steveinoz8188]

Ali Express

[@Mububban23]

Did you buy the base 51 purely to save money, or because it was the only one with LFP battery? Any regrets not getting a higher spec? I figure blind spot and rear cross traffic are very helpful but I also survived the first 25 years of driving without them so I can probably cope now too.

[@bozugarage]

Both reasons (cheaper price and LFP) played into it. This is my wife's city car and not driven long distances (will do around 5000km a year). Money not the main object though, more that value for money is a driving factor and the base model is outstanding value for money and the pick of the MG4s in my opinion. LFP battery is a better bet than the NMC, plus less thinking about charging management. The "extra" range in the 64 and 77 not really needed for most people (especially if you do something ridiculous like ONLY ever charging it 80% and wondering why you only get 80% of estimated max range!), and for the price for a 77 you might as well just go buy a Tesla model 3 RWD which is a much better car overall. And regarding blind spot+cross traffic safety - as discussed I think it would've been nice to have, but have also driven 20+ years without it.

[@PNH750]

Cars with lengthy warranties sometimes have catches within the smallprint. I found out the hard way that after year one had passed, that only the engine and drive train, of my new car, were still under warranty. The promotion and attraction of seven years of peace of mind disappeared during year two when the A/C failed. That was quickly followed by the battery, clutch and then the exhaust system. All 'consumer' items the garage informed me and therefore not covered. Brake pads and tyres I could understand with perhaps the clutch dying due to overuse in London traffic. But not the exhaust system.

[@bozugarage]

yes, for example BYD in Australia have a famously confusing and multilevel warranty on every different piece of their cars. But in your case, having ONLY the engine/drivetrain in warranty after one year sounds ridiculous - what brand/model of car was that?

[@jonathankapoor2389]

Apparently ota updates are coming according to my dealer.

[@bozugarage]

Apparently in some overseas markets, OTA updates work for the MG4 - really hoping we get it too.

[@paulstack2431]

Your comment about the delivery condition of your vehicle doesn't surprise me ' most new cars are not detailed properly as the staff are simply not given the time to do the job well.

[@bozugarage]

Would've been better if they'd never touched the car at all. However have had this problem with other new car deliveries in the past, where they get the year 10 work experience kid to go over the car with a $15 bunnings polisher. If I was buying an expensive car, I'd specify NO pre delivery detailing and do it all myself.

[@paulstack2431]

@bozugarage The real problem is time and money ' I was a detailer for a new car dealership for 17 years and I've done my 10 thousand hour's 4 times over ' having had experience with all kinds of detail work' including all types of paint correction issues and rectifying them. I never had a non qualified worker do a job like you just explained. Know your facts before making an ill-informed blanket comment like that In the future . The real issue comes from being asked to do a 10-hour task in less than an hour ' just giving you an informed answer 😉

[@bozugarage]

@@paulstack2431 no offense intended. Of course dealerships want to send out as many cars as quickly as possible, any other alternative is not profitable for them. I think another problem here is the gloss black plastic trims which show up any faults immediately and probably no other MG model has them externally

[@honestjohn6222]

Hi , is it as well made as your Tesla

[@bozugarage]

Ooo.... I think expectations play a huge part of quality perceptions. For $40k and one of the cheapest EVs in Australia, I'm super impressed at how good it is. It's not as plush, solid or as good as my Tesla but it's $20,000 cheaper. Will do a review of both back to back

[@tv175s3]

Ridiculous that user settings like one pedal and drive mode are not saved. Looks indeed they like to recover some margin on maintenance.

[@bozugarage]

Yep, could be solved with a software update. Potentially still fixable

[@dennismhk3921]

hi if u wanted to buy a 2nd EV car again would you buy the MG4 again

[@bozugarage]

Good question - at the moment (November 2023) there's not much competition for a $40k city EV (MG4, Dolphin, Ora) so yes right now would buy it again. However in future when there's more choice this answer mnight change. If the Tesla (model 2? small EV hatch) was available now under $50k I would've bought that.

[@BMA967]

If the services are overpriced, any mechanic could do the job for less and you still keep your warranty.

[@bozugarage]

yep there's been lots of discussion in the last few years about non dealership servicing and warranties - if the car is serviced by a suitably qualified mechanic, then it should not affect the warranty. With the large numbers of EVs being sold into the Australian market, I wonder what enterprising mechanic franchise store will tailor well-priced service plans outside of dealerships? Mycar is one obvious example as they are the service partner for BYD. Imagine them offering a service plan for 20-25% less than an MG dealership?

[@SNORKYMEDIA]

that first servicing list is farcical

[@bozugarage]

yup *rolleyes*

[@Neil2022]

No one buying this car new is going to keep it 80000km. The second hand market will adjust the price accordingly

[@paulmardle8901]

I bet the worst thing about this car , is the ammount of value you have lost since you bought it lol, anyone who doesn't want to throw money down the drain should never buy an EV, try being honest and tell your subscribers that

[@bozugarage]

Yeah I can see you're trying to either have a go at me or EVs for whatever reason, but you're actually right. My Model 3 is now selling for about $7000 less than what I paid a year ago. The Mini EV has a $20,000 discount compared to a few weeks ago and the Ioniq 6s are having up to $9000 slashed from their prices. This might be problem for anyone who bought an EV with the intention of selling it within a few months of buying it, but most people aren't doing that. Might be a topic for a future vid. Why don't you suggest a few new cars that have shot up in value since purchasing (except for stupid toyotas that some people continue to pay ridiculous money for) and I can use that as a comparison.

[@paulmardle8901]

I am not having a go at all , but you also did not mention that the MG is now a Chinese manufactured car owned by a chinese company@@bozugarage