Topic

As said before lovely car......great photo by the water..... ....

its near Oulton Park Race Track in Cheshire.

Hi , nice MG collection. Just wondering what you think of the MG3 ? I had a good look at them at the Harrogate MG car show this summer and they look ok . It's just that they are now just a Chinese import with no UK input whatsoever and I have my doubts as to the reliability factor . If they had a bit more in the way of engine options I might take a punt on one . I loved my ZR and to be honest I think I might be disappointed by the MG3 . John ( Pudsey)

They were designed over here and despite what you may read have never been fully built here. Final assembly only I believe. Ours has been faultless so far and they are great to drive and very well specced.
I'm not sure the quality of materials is up there with the class leaders. I drive a brand new mid-range Corsa as a company car which is much better quality inside. That said it is 2k dearer and isn't as well equipped.
Reliability I expect to match anything that came out of Longbridge. I own a ZR too and haven't been disappointed by the 3 although a ZS it isn't.
Engine choice is a sore point really. I feel a 1.0 turbo should be available.
Overall I would say they are a good buy.

Yes , I have followed the rather sorry saga of MG UK since MG Rover folded. I do realise that they are designed in the UK at Longbridge but with out any actual asembly done there now I don't know if I would feel confident with buying one . Thanks for your views though. John .

sworkscooper wrote: wrote:

Yes , I have followed the rather sorry saga of MG UK since MG Rover folded. I do realise that they are designed in the UK at Longbridge but with out any actual asembly done there now I don't know if I would feel confident with buying one . Thanks for your views though. John .

I don't honestly understand the comment about confidence in the product given some of the rubbish that came out of Longbridge over the years.

It is better built than any ZR and I expect reliability to be better. The ZR/25 is a great car but it has many design flaws and reliability issues.......we all know about head gaskets. I've had 6 r3's and they've all been great cars but I can't say that they were exactly the most reliable/solid cars I have ever owned.

I don't understand the problem people have with buying Chinese cars but then have a house full of Chinese electrical appliances.

I like a Chinese now and again..beef curry,fried rice a portion of chips and some spare ribs oh and dont forget the bag of prawn crackers

As I have just had my annual Boxing Day walk through Fulneck valley ( outside Leeds ) to a pub (Greyhound in Tong village ) I don't want this to reply to sound as though it's a rant as it is not intended to be but , my comment about confidence in the product is perhaps due to the fact I have first hand experience in Chinese manufacturing . I used to work for London Taxis International who manufacture the famous black cab. A decision was taken by the company back in 2005-6 to have a Chinese joint venture in an effort to make the end product more profitable and to safeguard the factory in Coventry . During the following years the component content was gradually sourced from the far east . Geely was the Chinese company that LTI chose . As the components ( interior trim to begin with ) started to come through it was blinding obvious to all but the chiefs in charge of the UK end that the quality was poor in comparison. I believe Sir Alan Sugar would refer to it as 'Tut' As more and more component content was shifted to China it did not improve . When it came to the heavier engineered parts like rear axles and steering boxes the problems really hit home . The steering boxes were the reason that the company ( now renamed The London Taxi Company ) went into administration . The joint venture partner would not stump up the cash for the repair /recall for the affected cabs and so allowed the company enter administration allowing it to pick up the remainder of the company for peanuts. Quite a lot of very skilled people lost their jobs and dealerships were closed also the poor cabbies that stuck faithfully to the product found their vehicles off the road until the fix for the affected steering box was put in place. That fix by the way was to remove the crappy Chinese box and replace it with the British steering box that was far superior. Cabs that were just days old were left with no warranty whatsoever , and we are talking vehicles costing upwards of £30,000 in some cases..As for MG / Rover , and the quality well may be I was lucky . In the 'K' engine cars I have owned , only one HGF and that is out of 6 cars and many thousands of miles . There , rant / point put across . Sorry but I still would hesitate buying a current MG and judging by the woefull sales figures of MG/UK the British car buyer is also hesitating. Happy New Year to all ....John

sworkscooper wrote: wrote:

As I have just had my annual Boxing Day walk through Fulneck valley ( outside Leeds ) to a pub (Greyhound in Tong village ) I don't want this to reply to sound as though it's a rant as it is not intended to be but , my comment about confidence in the product is perhaps due to the fact I have first hand experience in Chinese manufacturing . I used to work for London Taxis International who manufacture the famous black cab. A decision was taken by the company back in 2005-6 to have a Chinese joint venture in an effort to make the end product more profitable and to safeguard the factory in Coventry . During the following years the component content was gradually sourced from the far east . Geely was the Chinese company that LTI chose . As the components ( interior trim to begin with ) started to come through it was blinding obvious to all but the chiefs in charge of the UK end that the quality was poor in comparison. I believe Sir Alan Sugar would refer to it as 'Tut' As more and more component content was shifted to China it did not improve . When it came to the heavier engineered parts like rear axles and steering boxes the problems really hit home . The steering boxes were the reason that the company ( now renamed The London Taxi Company ) went into administration . The joint venture partner would not stump up the cash for the repair /recall for the affected cabs and so allowed the company enter administration allowing it to pick up the remainder of the company for peanuts. Quite a lot of very skilled people lost their jobs and dealerships were closed also the poor cabbies that stuck faithfully to the product found their vehicles off the road until the fix for the affected steering box was put in place. That fix by the way was to remove the crappy Chinese box and replace it with the British steering box that was far superior. Cabs that were just days old were left with no warranty whatsoever , and we are talking vehicles costing upwards of £30,000 in some cases..As for MG / Rover , and the quality well may be I was lucky . In the 'K' engine cars I have owned , only one HGF and that is out of 6 cars and many thousands of miles . There , rant / point put across . Sorry but I still would hesitate buying a current MG and judging by the woefull sales figures of MG/UK the British car buyer is also hesitating. Happy New Year to all ....John

That's kind of like saying you wouldn't buy a BMW cos you once had a Merc and it was crap.

Its a completely different product from a different manufacturer.

I too have only suffered one HGF but there are many other components that fail all too often. The sad fact is that the quality of MG-Rover era cars got gradually worse as the money ran out. You only have to look at the rusty mk2 cars to see that. The TF perhaps less so but then the TF wasn't exactly screwed together that well in the first place.

Low sales of modern MG's doesn't imply lack of faith in the product. It is far more likely to be due to a lack of dealers, marketing and the fact that you have one engine choice.

As I say mine has been faultless in 18 months and 12k miles and I would buy another. It is far from perfect in design but for a first attempt its pretty good.

Shall we just agree to disagree ?

I wont knock the chinese mg because i know nothing about them....yet..........tempted by the mg6 ...i picked up some brochures from hopton a while back....i can see johns point about losing confidence in the chinese........yes im guilty of buying cheap chinese goods...I rebuild/recondition engines .....over the years ive built thousands of mercedes,scania,man,iveco,daf and mainly cummins diesel engines from ground up......never had material failure and faults until the components were branded china..parts supplied for the cummins have been the problem....thrust bearings for the crankshaft tight ...sent back on a regular basis until the supplier was ditched.....china was written on the back of the bearing.........camshafts premature wear and the camshaft themselves have grooves cut at the gear end to accept a thrust plate.....these have often come faulty...where the thrust plate will not fit in.........oil seals in the gasket sets again made in china....the seal guide to fit it on the crank were the wrong size......these and other problems have only occurd when the word made in china is written on them......parts from cummins saying,india,brazil,usa,uk have not been a problem........for this reason i have not looked at chinese cars any closer......interestingly the components arrive with genuine cummins written on them.......and some chinese writing.........now i always check before lowering cranks into blocks that the thrust bearings are not made in china....oh and the chinese curry i had the last time could of injured my throat has i found a metal paper staple in the last 2 mouthfuls..........for these reasons ive lost my faith in the chinks..... like said on the dragons den..............IM OUT !

mgtfbluestreak wrote: wrote:

I wont knock the chinese mg because i know nothing about them....yet..........tempted by the mg6 ...i picked up some brochures from hopton a while back....i can see johns point about losing confidence in the chinese........yes im guilty of buying cheap chinese goods...I rebuild/recondition engines .....over the years ive built thousands of mercedes,scania,man,iveco,daf and mainly cummins diesel engines from ground up......never had material failure and faults until the components were branded china..parts supplied for the cummins have been the problem....thrust bearings for the crankshaft tight ...sent back on a regular basis until the supplier was ditched.....china was written on the back of the bearing.........camshafts premature wear and the camshaft themselves have grooves cut at the gear end to accept a thrust plate.....these have often come faulty...where the thrust plate will not fit in.........oil seals in the gasket sets again made in china....the seal guide to fit it on the crank were the wrong size......these and other problems have only occurd when the word made in china is written on them......parts from cummins saying,india,brazil,usa,uk have not been a problem........for this reason i have not looked at chinese cars any closer......interestingly the components arrive with genuine cummins written on them.......and some chinese writing.........now i always check before lowering cranks into blocks that the thrust bearings are not made in china....oh and the chinese curry i had the last time could of injured my throat has i found a metal paper staple in the last 2 mouthfuls..........for these reasons ive lost my faith in the chinks..... like said on the dragons den..............IM OUT !

the mg6 makes a cracking second hand buy as sadly residuals are poor.

as I have said mine has been faultless and many others will say the same.

problem is if the enthusiasts won't buy them because they're Chinese then why expect anyone else to.

sadly this seems to be a continuing theme across the forums and I can see MG just giving up on the UK which is a shame because each car is better than the last one. they're learning quickly and we have to remember it is a new company starting almost from scratch.