New MG ZS high fuel consumption and frosty glass shattering

tifo

Hi

I've a MG ZS exclusive auto petrol bought Nov 2021 (71 reg 1 litre 3 cylinder turbo) and from the start the fuel consumption was very high, around 12-14 mpg local. The dealer said it will improve after 500 miles as the engine needs to be driven, but it didn't get much better. At that time they then said it will improve at 2,500-3,000 miles as it's the case for every new car, the manager and staff were just laughing at me when I was asking. The car was in for repairs in the first few months (electric windows actuator was faulty). I'm a low user so that mileage would take me 8 months from purchase. These discussions happened within the first month and, in hindsight, I should have rejected the car.

At around 2,500 miles I asked them to check as it was doing 18 mpg. They gave it to a staff member who drove it 200 miles in 2 days, on motorway and B roads and when collected they said, look it does 33 mpg. I said it does on motorway and above 50 mph but even that's supposed to be 46 mpg. I asked them to drive it local but they wouldn't. I wrote to MG but they weren't interested.

The car has always given 18-19 mpg local and 30-33 mpg motorway. I rarely drive on motorway.

It's now done approx 4,200 miles and last week in the frost one of the rear windows shattered for no reason. I sat in the driver's seat to start the car to warm it and when I closed the door it shattered. I don't use water only de-icer and only the front windows and windscreen. This is worrying, the glass might break again if there's passengers. I've seen several online posts of this happening to other newer MGs.

I've contacted MG again and they say glass cannot shatter like this, it must have had a chip or crack. I say it didn't as I check every day and took pictures which show no crack or chip or water used. They say if there was a fault in the glass it would have shattered before in any weather. The dealer also says same. I've not seen glass shatter in frost, ice or snow and i've been driving for decades. The dealer and MG staff say the same. They both ask to do an insurance claim, which is not a problem, but if there's a fault in the glass and it happens again why should I keep claiming from my insurance.

MG said the dealer should do a glass and mpg tests but the dealer says they can't. They don't know what I glass test is and to do a mpg test will give it to a parts delivery driver after xmas. But I need to repair the broken window first.

Generally the car is not good to drive and struggles in anything more than a straight road, even then it's under powered. The engine is too small for the body and I think that's why it might be giving such a low mpg.

The dealer has offered to buy it but the price is very low for the market as used cars are still highly priced, they say it's not and the market is now normal. But they have a 69 reg MG ZS, 2 years older than mine and with double the miles at 8,000, on for sale at £2,000 more than they're offering me.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks 

Herzlos

Fuel economy improving after a few miles is nonsense these days, car's don't really need to be broken in anymore though they do recommend going easy for the first while.

Honest John reckon a real MPG of somewhere between 29 and 40mpg (https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/mg/zs-2017/10-gdi-automatic) so you're falling short of that, but of course small journeys will be much worse for fuel economy and it's a small turbocharged engine with an automatic gearbox on a relatively heavy car so it's likely to be working pretty hard. So 18mpg isn't that unlikely.

You've had the car for a little over a year now and put 4000 miles on it, which is about 10 miles a day. What kind of driving are you doing? Lots of short journeys or a few longer ones?

I'm not sure about the glass fault; you've already had it for a year and thus a winter, albeit this one was much colder than last, so it may be a manufacturing defect but it'll be almost impossible to prove. It's also possible it's been some minor damage you couldn't see / didn't notice. So realistically your best option there is to just get that window replaced and then let them do to the mileage test on it. You should be able to do it through your insurance if you have windscreen cover, or you can try the car glass places directly.

If you're not happy with the car then after a year your options aren't great. You can trade it in for something else or just put up with the poor fuel economy given how few miles you do.

How does the price compare to somewhere like webuyanycar.com? I suspect they are offering to buy it from you at trade price if they are insisting there's nothing wrong with it.
Depreciation is always worst in nearly new cars though given the supply/demand skew at the moment they are holding their value better.

MX5huggy

Get rid, you hate the car for a number of reasons, it will cost you a bit. Get the glass fixed then with the WBAC price in your pocket take it to the dealer you’re going to buy your next car off. 

Keep_pedalling

How long are these local journies? 

Goudy

A lot of owners have been complaining about many of these small turbo petrol engines not reaching anywhere near their mpg claims. 
The manufacturers "down sized" a lot of engines to meet emission regs, but they never did achieve their claimed mpg.

A common one is Fiats Twinair, it's mpg can be terrible and around half what the claimed.

Trouble with them is the way they are driven.
Turbos can be a lot of fun on boost but peak torque from these engines is often produced quite low in the rpm range, somewhere around 1600 to 1900 rpm, (160nm at 1800rpm for the MG) which means to get the best out of it you have to shuffle about near that low rpm, stirring the gears to keep it moving at the right speed at low rpm.

Usually they pack the geaboxes with lots of gears so you can keep it in that narrow band easier but I see yours it an auto with six gears.
It would be interesting to see when in the rpm range it's actually changing up and down.
If it hangs on to gears or you're driving it so it does, that's going to ruin the mpg. 

I have a slightly bigger petrol dual clutch auto with seven gears but once warmed up it manages to shift those gears around keeping the engine in it's torque sweet spot really well and my mpg can be pretty decent.
Ok I have more torque but it's produced a bit lower at 1600rpm.

daveyjp

I agree get rid of it. Talk of mpg improving as miles stack up is nonsense.  Mid teens mpg from a modern low capacity engine doesn't stack up.  I get 25-30 mpg from a 2.5 petrol auto in heavy stop start school run traffic.

There could be a sensor or engine map issue, but if a dealer won't even bother doing basic checks imagine what they will be like with a proper warranty matter.

Also have a look on any MG forums and see if others are having similar problems and if there have been solutions.

To see if your car is 'normal' find another dealer, ask for a test drive and check the mpg.

Flight3287462

Ask the dealer to put his mpg theory in writing, then watch him go pale at the gills before lots of bluster and refusing.

It looks as if the 1.5l engine is better.

jimbo6977

I would suggest changing up a gear (or two). You'll get better mpg and your neighbours' ears will be as thankful as your wallet.

ontheroad1970

jimbo6977 said:

I would suggest changing up a gear (or two). You'll get better mpg and your neighbours' ears will be as thankful as your wallet.

Being an auto, will depend on there being a manual override on gear changes.

TimSynths

I get 22mpg from a 3.2L V6 and I only do short local journeys.

ev51

My 2021 MG ZS Auto 1.0 shows an average MPG of 33.6. I always disable Stop/Start (wish it could be turned off by default!) and my journeys are all short (up to 5 miles) mainly in 30 or 40mph built up areas. Used for longer runs an average of 40mpg should be quite possible but I've not tested this.

Your MPG does seem REALLY bad (I think 33.6 is bad enough) and as has already been suggested there be be something at fault that should be investigated.  However, the 1.0 turbo engines can suffer from GPF regen/misfire and cylinder head problems at very low mileages and I won't be buying another one when mine is due for change.