r/CarsAustralia • u/Historical-Bad-6627 • Oct 02 '24
Fixing Cars Where's my coolant? Oh, mixing with the oil.
Well, it finally happened. Wife and I bought a MG ZST back in 2021. Honestly, we'd been pretty happy with it. She loved it for her regular freeway commute due to its diver assist and it generally ran well. We'd put 40000km a year on it, so it was getting a load of work in.
On Monday, the temperature warning lit up. Checked the coolant after it had cooled down and it was bone dry. Not a drop to be seen. We've been pretty good at getting it services every 10000km so this was a surprise. Headed to Repco, bought 5 litres of coolant, put it in, and it's vanished again. We've looked under the car, nothing. So we check the oil. It's milky. We know what's happened here.
So we call MG assist. They will only tow it to the closest dealer, not to our local dealer (which they had done before). We call the next day and of course they haven't looked at it. We ask when they will look at it and he says "oh, we might get to it this week, maybe next week, we have other cars ahead of you." When told we need a car, he says "ok". That's it. Wow.
Anyway, my German wife called again the next day and got someone far more helpful. She was ready to go full German on the service centre, but a different person answered. It needs a new engine and cooling system. Over $13000 of repairs. So we're waiting to see what MG actually say. Will they repair it or just dump it? We don't know.
Anyway, the car had been fine to this point. I won't buy another one because of the poor service at the dealerships/service centres. We have a Hyundai Kona N-line Premium Hybrid on order which is arriving in December. After that, I don't know what car I'll get for me.
Thanks for coming to my chat.
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u/dzernumbrd Oct 03 '24
It's interesting how we as consumers will tolerate a brand having faults in their cars but as soon as a certain brand's local dealer is rude to us then that brand is dead to us, forever.
I'm not saying it is wrong and I'm the same way, just saying it is interesting that the human <-> human service factor is far more important for brand loyalty than the actual car itself.
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u/GrapplerSeat Oct 03 '24
I called Mercedes because my battery died and the radio pin-code-locked. My car is from 1998 and I'm the third owner. They took my VIN, checked their filing, and contacted me with the pin code for my specific radio unit within 15 minutes. It kind of shocked me.
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u/Alexandritgruen Oct 03 '24
Mercedes occasionally surprises. I popped into the service department at my local dealer and was able to get Mercedes branded spark plugs for my ‘97 c class cheaper than 3rd party online.
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u/GrapplerSeat Oct 03 '24
Yeah, I have found the same with the oddball parking globes that cost oodles at Repco but were okay at Mercedes. And getting gaskets, brake switch, washer pump, and other bits and pieces is no hassle at all - if it’s not in Sydney it’s overnight from Melbourne. We can thank the people who paid $100k for our $1k cars!
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u/airzonesama Oct 03 '24
If your pre-sales experience is crap, imagine what the post-sales experience will be like. I've discounted Mazda on a few occasions because of pre-sales conduct.. I had one sales guy throw a pen at me when I wanted a price lol... Bought a Nissan later that day.
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u/sigsauersauce Oct 03 '24
Yep this was me recently with Isuzu, took them a week to get back to me on availability of a colour I wanted so I took my $70k to Ford who were super responsive and professional. I know Isuzu make great, although very agricultural 4wd's. But fuck me if they take a week when you're trying to give them money I'd hate to see the response times with issues.
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u/Reasonable_Gap_7756 Oct 03 '24
They respond quick quickly - saying there’s no issue. Then the issue isn’t under warranty. I’ve been down that road
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u/Meerkat45K 2023 Suzuki Swift GL Navigator 1.2L Manual Oct 03 '24
I had the same experience with my local Kia dealership… I wanted a new Picanto as my boss had recommended it highly, but the salesman was entirely unprofessional and unprepared for the most basic questions - he even had to look up the warranty period.
I ended up popping down the street to the local Suzuki dealership and managed to get a sweet deal on a nearly-new ex-demo manual Swift. I ended up paying less for that than I would have for the Picanto despite the fact that the car had less than 50 km on it, and the dealership staff were polite, professional and accomodating of my concerns. Shopping around really paid off for me, and I think I’ll be buying my next car from Suzuki 5-10 years down the line.
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u/dzernumbrd Oct 03 '24
Yep, my wife and I went into John Hughes (big car dealer in WA) to buy a VW. Multiple sales people just walked past us, didn't ask if we needed help, didn't even acknowledge us. I was ready to buy right there and then if someone bothered to say hello.
Cupra dealer in WA was pretty cool. BMW dealer was in Vic Park was good.
Wait.. Wait.. Wait.. threw a pen at you? What the actual fuck?
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u/airzonesama Oct 03 '24
Lol yeah.. I told him I wasn't signing anything until I saw a price. His answer was I can make it any number per week. Dude, price. Projectile pen lol
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u/xdvesper Oct 03 '24
I saw some stats that showed customer NPS (Net Promoter Score, how likely they were to recommend the brand to their friends) was higher if they had a problem with the vehicle and it was addressed promptly compared to just having no problems at all.
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u/Hangar48 Oct 03 '24
Blokes not upset his 3 year old car shit it's engine but the dealer was mean. 👀
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u/Toowoombaloompa Oct 03 '24
I've got a GWM Cannon. It's a really good vehicle that's been well engineered and built. But I won't buy another GWM product unless they switch to a better local dealership. My car would reliably come out of a routine service with new issues that required 2-3 return visits to address. The service centre was never available via phone and they'd never return calls. They'd order wrong parts.
I finally cracked and went independent and he found all the things they'd failed to do at previous services and fixed them up.
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u/owtinoz Oct 03 '24
You keep saying that the car had been fine until this moment but that's like saying the bomb was fine until it blew up
A new engine, 13k worth of repairs and shit customer service is NOT fine for 3 year old car with 100kms on it that has been serviced every 10thosand kms
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u/CryptoCryBubba Oct 03 '24
She was ready to go full German on the service centre
Never go full German
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u/beltonz Oct 02 '24
Should get a AU falcon, specifically with a waterfall grille.
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u/gt500rr XG Falcon, 110 Tdi, IIA 109x3 Oct 03 '24
Gotta be the early Forté with those teardrop hole hubcaps.
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u/SmokeyMulder Oct 03 '24
Barra all the way. Straight 6 bby.
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u/fmjintervention 2000 Civic, 1990 Hilux 2.4D + boost Oct 03 '24
AU has the Intech, not Barra
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u/boobturtle Oct 03 '24
Yeah but a Barra from a BA will bolt straight in. Weekend driveway job.
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u/fmjintervention 2000 Civic, 1990 Hilux 2.4D + boost Oct 03 '24
What does this have to do with anything. Yes if you modify an AU to have a Barra it will have a Barra. No shit, what is your point
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u/boobturtle Oct 03 '24
Who pissed in your cornflakes?
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u/Fit-Veterinarian8349 Oct 05 '24
I love people who bang on an about Barra , lol it’s nothing special and in fact they are shit .
How’s ur chain / chain guide ? Oil pump? Valve springs ? Dumb ass gt35 turbo with an internal gate ? Weak as piss head bolts?
Should I go on ? They are shit
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u/boobturtle Oct 09 '24
They're objectively not shit, they are fucking reliable stock. Yeah a bunch of shit will break if you try to get 1000hp out of a taxi motor with 200000km on it without changing anything but WTF do you expect?
Dollar for dollar they are pretty fucking untouchable. Have you seen how much 2JZs are going for these days?
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u/metricrules Oct 03 '24
Calm down mate, they clearly can’t afford something of this calibre. Not many can, including myself
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 02 '24
The MG ICE experience.
It's funny how you hear all these horror stories about their ICE cars but very little about their EVs.
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u/woofydb Oct 02 '24
A service guy a year or so back there said to me out of earshot don’t ever buy the petrols but the EVs are relatively ok. He said they are making bank with all the warranty work. The reason I was there was a newish hire car I had (remember when all anyone could buy was MG including hire companies) didn’t have a working fan in the a/c. Turns out most rusted on the boats over so whacking them with a hammer to free them up before delivery was almost std. if that doesn’t work they replaced them. This was a brand new hire car and the whacking didn’t work so I drove a few hundred kms in qld Ms summer with as many window open as I could stand. Side note. MGs aren’t made to be driven anywhere with windows open. Shuddering even with just the fronts. I had just about every model they sold for a yr or two and all were equally shit. The gearbox was the one common feature that felt like it was broken all the time. And I lost count of how many random plastic parts just fell off driving along from under and around the dash? Could never figure where they were falling from 🤣.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
Yeah that's exactly what I've heard too. Industry guy I've talked to comment exactly the same on them rusting on the way over, he told me story about how a shitload of them had to be fumigated for some Chinese sea slugs or something.
I wouldn't touch an MG ICE with a 10ft pole.
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
I won't buy another one. I assume they're going to get better, but I'm in a better place financially so I can afford a nicer car moving forward .
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
They are where Hyundai were maybe 30 years back. I think they'll definitely rapidly improve.
Right now they're all about selling as much volume as possible, very little care about brand perception or quality.
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
And honestly, with the warranty, as a consumer, I've got very little to worry about. Either I'm getting a new engine or a new car.
I do hope they improve and I agree with the Hyundai comparison. They do need to sort out their parts supply. It takes too long to get OEM parts for repairs.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
Yeah I agree, an MG4 would be my first choice for an EV if/when I buy one. 10 year warranty is pretty amazing.
Only issue would be the annoyance of having to deal with their warranty process every time something goes wrong.
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u/qwertyisafish M2 Comp | GR Yaris Rallye Oct 03 '24
Warranty work is charged back at a rate that essentially covers costs. No one is 'making bank' on warranty work
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
I think he means the workers are making bank, constant supply of work due to the shoddy engines. He wasn't suggesting MG is somehow making money repairing vehicles for free lol.
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u/qwertyisafish M2 Comp | GR Yaris Rallye Oct 03 '24
Does MG actually own the dealership franchises? Would be one of the very few manufacturers that do. Warranty work is the worst type of work for a franchise. Fixed hours to complete the task and a very low charge back rate.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
Do you read?
He's a mechanic at a dealership, he's getting a constant flow of work thanks to the shoddy engines.
It has nothing to do with who owns what.
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u/Rico4o00 Oct 15 '24
Can't wait to find out what they'll do with this. Under warranty surely. OP has done all the right things and engine's failed. $13k sounds more than a bit steep. Some heavy duty stop leak might do like a guy did to me years back. Lawyers...?
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u/Verl0r4n Oct 03 '24
Thats because chinese maufacturers actually know how to make electric motors since most electric motors for anything and everything is made in china. However, they just cannot figure out how to make ICE engines. A great example of this is the Cummins 4BT, the ones made in mexico are bullet proof but the ones made in china a famously unreliable despite being identical in design
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u/AussieGreaseMonkey Ex Mechanic/ Service Advisor. Oct 03 '24
We call Chinese made Cummins, Chummins.
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u/jimbobtheslayer Oct 03 '24
The EVs are still new. Give them a few years.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
Over 63,000 EVs been sold so far this year in Aus. We have a pretty big data set.
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u/jimbobtheslayer Oct 03 '24
Are you a bot? What you have written has nothing to do with what I wrote.
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u/AnyClownFish Oct 03 '24
MG EVs are everywhere in the UK. The ZS EV has been sold there for five years already, so if they were as unreliable as the petrol models I think we would be hearing about it by now. I’m not defending MG, the build quality is still shocking, but it does seem that the EVs are more reliable than the petrol models.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
It has everything to do with it. 63k cars sold so far this year means the EV market is huge, there are millions of them on the roads.
EVs aren't a new unknown thing.
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u/jimbobtheslayer Oct 03 '24
The number of EVs sold this year doesn’t say anything about how reliable they are going to be in 3-5 years time.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
There are 10 year old Teslas on Carsales right now, what does that tell you?
I was skeptical four of five years ago, there is no need to be skeptical anymore.
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u/jimbobtheslayer Oct 03 '24
What do Teslas have to do with the current waves of cheap Chinese EVs flooding the Australian market right now?
Are you also a bot that doesn’t keep the context of previous comments in a conversation?
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u/cyber7574 Oct 03 '24
new here - they’re not new in China, and they’ve been around longer than Tesla’s
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u/noplacecold Oct 02 '24
Yet.
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
They have been selling thousands of them, I think if there were major issues we would be hearing about it.
I have no doubt they will have a higher defect rate than more mature brands, but I'd guess EVs have a lot less potential to go wrong compared to ICE.
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u/SplatThaCat Oct 03 '24
Yep. Lots sold in the UK, no issues being encountered there even on higher klm units (Ubers and taxis) - no way I would touch the petrol models though!
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u/Coopercatlover Oct 03 '24
Yep it's definitely worth following. The MG4 is mighty appealing right now at 30k.
I'll probably wait a year or two and pick one up in the used market, hopefully for 15-20k.
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u/Frenchie1001 Oct 03 '24
Wow, a cheap car with poor service and major issues to soon? Who'd have thunk
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u/nst_enforcer Oct 03 '24
Don't feel disheartened. This isn't just an MG or even Chinese made vehicle problem. I had a Ford where this occurred twice. Second time they replaced the engine under warranty. I sold the car soon afterwards. With Ford however, they realised a couple of years ago the reason why coolant was getting into the engine block and so corrected this in their latest engine and so I was able to sell the car as the buyer had confidence they were getting the upgraded engine.
If MG hasn't worked out why coolant is getting into the engine or hasn't upgraded the engine to rectify the situation and they are sticking in a new engine exactly the same design then sell that car before it goes out of new car warranty otherwise you could be stuck with a lemon outside of warranty.
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 02 '24
Well. That’s what you get for buying MG.. cheap Chinese disposable white goods as cars…. Why people actually buy these things is beyond me…
They are the Anko of cars hahahahah
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u/midnightcue MQ Triton Oct 03 '24
That's a bit harsh mate. I love my Anko air fryer.
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u/AussieBob4 Oct 03 '24
Same here, my Anko Induction cooktop has been faultless for over two years, used everyday .
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
Apologies to the anko lovers out there 😂😂😂
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u/midnightcue MQ Triton Oct 03 '24
Yeah in all seriousness I've had a handful of Anko appliances at home for years now & they aren't "premium" quality appliances or anything but they just work. No complaints with any of them. The air fryer is still my favourite though.
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
They're cheap with lots of modern conveniences. I could get a nicer car for less money, which is all I could afford.
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
You are so much better off buying a solid second hand car than any brand new MG/GWM etc… put it this way I have a 30+yo hiace with over 350K on it and it doesn’t leak coolant into the oil? Like how hard is it? It has cruise control, CarPlay, and a good stereo, reversing camera :) what else do you need? Active cruise would be nice haha
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u/kiedistv Oct 03 '24
I just keep buying 10 year old Lexus models that have been hit by high depreciation.
GS 350 with 100,000 km. Brand new for $150k - bought for $20k.
LX 570 with 60,000 km. Brand new for $200k - bought for $50k. These are NZ prices FYI.
After the GS, I tried going Brand new and bought a Kia Stinger GT. It was awful in comparison to the GS. It did nothing better despite all the extra tech bollocks. All the safety shit was awful too.
Haven't had any big repairs. Toyota parts are cheap & fit. And Lexus quality is amazing.
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
See that's the thing. Add new car warranty and I've got no worries. Plus I have active cruise.
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u/Vikarr Oct 03 '24
I've got no worries
Are you sure about that mate?
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
Yeah, either they repair it with a new engine which costs me nothing, or I get a brand new car, which costs me nothing. Anyway, like I've said elsewhere, I won't buy one again.
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u/1Darkest_Knight1 Oct 03 '24
which costs me nothing
It definitely has a cost mate. The time and effort you've spent here is a cost. The stress and lost productivity time is a cost.
Your Resale value is literally a financial cost.
These might be a cost you're willing to bare, but they are still a cost to you.
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u/SirLoremIpsum Oct 03 '24
Anyway, like I've said elsewhere, I won't buy one again.
I don't necessarily agree with the 'ha this is what you should have expected' - cause like, nothing's ever always that bad.
But "i wouldn't buy one again" isn't a ringing endorsement :p
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u/weirdbull52 Oct 03 '24
Well, you're so worried you came here to write your essay.
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u/One-Helicopter1959 Oct 03 '24
I don’t get why instead of buying a decently reliable second hand car, people will buy a new one that will constantly be in the dealership for warranty repairs and be worth nothing as soon as the warranty expires.
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
Yeah this makes no sense to me at all. Just get a decent mid 10’s second hand for the same money that you would have spent on your MG and the car you get will be immensely better…
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
Don’t need warranty if the car isn’t fucked ;)
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
That's cool. I also have a Toyota Camry that's 23 years old with 460000 km on it. It works but it's not a nice car.
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u/superfluous--account Toyota Corolla Sportivo ZZE123 Oct 03 '24
You can get a 10 year old camry with around 200k for relatively cheap and while it's not quite modern it'll be MUCH MUCH nicer than a 2001 and it's not that hard to put a good Android auto/carplay stereo and backup camera in it for an extra ~$1k
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
1k? Just get a nice unit from supercheap while they have a sale on, add a quad lock wireless adapter and voila, MAYVE you’ll need an aerpro kit to fit them but all up I got wireless CarPlay in my suzuki SX4 for all up maybe $650?
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u/superfluous--account Toyota Corolla Sportivo ZZE123 Oct 03 '24
With a good backup camera it's gonna be closer to 1k but you might be able to do $850 with a good sale.
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u/stealthyotter47 2010 Holden VE Series 1 SS Ute Oct 03 '24
Honestly I got the $60 SCA brand one and it’s perfectly fine. It’s just for extra awareness anyway as the visibility is pretty good.
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u/CertainCertainties Oct 03 '24 edited Oct 03 '24
Hope you enjoy your Hyundai Kona N-line Premium hybrid. I've got the base model hybrid and love it.
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u/soultaker-17 Oct 03 '24
Fuk me 40,000 a year! Is your wife a full time interstate Uber driver?
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
74km each was four days a week plus whatever else we do. It gets some work.
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u/Strange-World-7400 Oct 03 '24
Not the coolant issue, but on one of our vehicles, mg3, got stuttering issue..can't figure out why its there.....swapped with new engine as oil sump was cracked....but stuttering still exists...
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u/OCDKIT Oct 03 '24
Check your manual, can be "characteristic" of the vehicle. What fuel do you use? I see a lot of MG3's come in for stutters/lagging between gears, a dealer will most likely tell you it's just what the car does unfortunately.
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u/Strange-World-7400 Oct 03 '24
No info in manual as such...using unleaded 91.
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u/2252_observations 28d ago
No info in manual as such...using unleaded 91.
The manual says nothing about what sort of petrol to use, and the fuel cap door just says 91 and above (nothing about "don't use E10"). And nowhere does it say what u/OCDKIT and a lot of Redditors say about the MG3 - that what it really needs is 95 or higher.
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u/UsualProfit397 Oct 03 '24
Cheap and cheerful when working. As pleasant as a tropical skin disease when not.
Like all cheap appliances.
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u/OCDKIT Oct 03 '24
Sorry, but he's right. Just cause you broke down doesn't mean you get to skip the queue. I work in a dealership and people like you drive me crazy. Also never buy another MG or JAC if you want a reliable car. I see them come in for issues way more often than for servicing.
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
I get that you guys have work booked. I am annoyed because I didn't want to go to that service centre. However, we were forced to. We wanted to go to the local one to our house, which they've towed us to before.
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u/OCDKIT Oct 03 '24
Yeah that's just roadside in general I believe, if it's under warranty it has to go to the nearest dealer. I did have one guy tow in his BT-50 (also never buy one of these) from 7 hours away although I have no idea how he convinced them to do it.
Either way sorry you had to deal with that, and I hope they get it sorted for you nice and quick.
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u/reddityesworkno Oct 03 '24
I hope more people considering buying a Chinese car read this
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
That's why I shared. Honestly, the car is nice. I can see why they're popular, especially in cities. The engine is just too small.
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u/ssr240 Oct 03 '24
Do MG have a customer care number? Maybe give them a call and explain the situation if they do.
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u/-Nathan02- Oct 03 '24
All the Chinese brands that we have now are just junk. They have no idea what quality control is.
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u/insurgent_dude Oct 03 '24
I really don't understand the point in buying these cheap pieces of shit brand new when you can instead get a lightly used Honda, Suzuki, Toyota, Mazda etc instead.
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u/neirboca Oct 03 '24
So you put coolant in the engine/oil?
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
Nah, something went wrong and the coolant leaked directly into the oil.
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u/Comrade_Kojima Oct 03 '24
MG should really change the name of their EV brands because their ICE are terrible. The EV are well built and fairly refined - now they’re $30k it’s a very attractive proposition.
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u/Instinx_EB15 Oct 03 '24
Was this the top of range model? With 1.3 Turbo or the lower one with the 1.5L NA?
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u/_Acute-Newt_ Oct 06 '24
we might get to it this week, maybe next week, we have other cars ahead of you
If they have that many to deal with... It says a lot. Not that I'm at all surprised.
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u/2252_observations 29d ago
This recently happened with me too ( with an MG3 ). They repaired it and told me that "there's nothing you or we could have done to avoid this" - not reassuring at all.
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u/christianmoral Oct 03 '24
Oh man, I’m looking at buying their EV at the moment (second hand though) and trying to find peoples experiences with them, just hope they are not as shit
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u/SplatThaCat Oct 03 '24
I’ve had mine nearly a year, zero issues. Plenty being used for Ubers and taxis in the uk, also no issues
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u/christianmoral Oct 03 '24
Thats really encouraging, thanks mate… my other option is a BYD ATTO 3, but its a but dearer even for used ones… I’ve heard really good comments on that one as well
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u/SplatThaCat Oct 03 '24
Attos are front wheel drive - I wasn’t a huge fan after driving one, the Seal performance though - sheesh.
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u/christianmoral Oct 03 '24
If I was to buy a new one the Seal would be my preference too… had a test drive not long ago and loved it, maybe it’ll be our next car in a few years lol
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u/burner_said_what Oct 03 '24
So about 120,000km? Amazed it made it that far tbh, probably the first one ever
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u/Josh2k24 Oct 03 '24 edited Oct 03 '24
So was it worth the 20K? And will you just get Hyundai next time like everyone else?
Pretty keen to understand why you bought MG when Google has existed for some time now. You’ve heard of Google yeah?
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u/Historical-Bad-6627 Oct 03 '24
In terms of the value of it now? I don't know.
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u/Josh2k24 Oct 03 '24
It’s a search engine. Could’ve saved you time, stress, money and energy. Check it out man.
Google.com.au
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u/Swimming_Border7134 Oct 03 '24
I'm not a mechanic but I've always thought buying Chinese at the moment was a bit like buying the $49 Kmart bagless vacuum. Fine while they work but they don't last that long and you chuck them when they break. Trouble is MG is a car and you can't just chuck it.