View from abroad

I haven't posted for 2 years because I have emigrated from the UK. I have come back as a lurker here for a while. The thread on sticky decoration things on the MG3 subforum seems to sum up MG-Rover org currently. There are very few regular posters, and they are either the diehards who have spent their money on the new MGs and so come onto the forum to defend the MG3 and MG6 at all costs...those who have reasonable questions about the current and potential future products...and those who have nothing but disdain for the current MG products. I made the mistake of looking at the MacD site, and really wish I hadn't.



It may be a difficult balance, but the forum needs discussion about what the current products are, how they compare to alternative brands, whether they have problems with parts availability, whether the current sale prices are reasonable, when new products are going to be introduced, quality of dealerships with MG logo out the front, whether cars can be chipped, what faults cars may have...etc...without either extreme-pro/anti shutting down discussion with namecalling.



My MGR history ended 3 years ago (after a >20 year history of only MGR products, many bought from new) with a clutch/slave cylinder failure on my ZTT and a repeated head gasket failure on my ZR (despite a repair by a forum recommended repairer). It's interesting that there now seems to be an acceptance that there was a problem with the K series gasket...because until a few years ago there were lots of people here stating that MG gasket failure was no worse than competitors when any reasonable person knew there was an issue. My cars were always serviced and had fluid levels checked weekly.



I have always bought MGR(and predecessors) products until moving abroad...and now run a Jaguar...which where I am is a labour of love because of how far I am from any Jag dealership.



I would love to buy an MG...and they are on sale here where I now live, so I have looked at them. At the moment, the MG3 is not specced with the right engines, and the MG6 is a bit like the 400 series Rover...it doesn't know whether it is meant to be sporty, luxurious, cheap, or middle of the road....and so fails on all counts...pitched wrongly and priced too high.



The MG3 has the most potential as a car if built cheaply with decent engines. I have looked out of interest at the MG3, and it is cheap and cheery...but it has lots of potential to turn into an equivalent of the ZR as well as a run around city car if built in different specs...but desperately needs a selection of engines to give a range from highly efficient city car all the way upto boy racer sporty engine.



I am a potential new car buyer who would always chose to buy a UK made car if possible. MG currently is loosing at least some buyers like me because I don't want to buy what is essentially a Chinese made car. MG have been awful at making decisions about what is going to be produced where...and the stalling of announcing what products even are going to on sale in the UK, let alone built in the UK, has been spectacularly bad PR.



What really upsets me is that I have for a variety of reasons enjoyed all the cars I have owned despite their failings (the ZR h-gasket failure the most disappointing). I just wish there was any real prospect of genuine manufacture in the UK of an MG car I would want to buy.



I may now go back to lurking for the next couple of years...!



Duncan

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