THEGAYUK

Tag: Two Star Car Review

The latest Two Star Car Review from THEGAYUK.

  • CAR REVIEW | MG3 Exclusive

    CAR REVIEW | MG3 Exclusive

    ★★☆☆☆ | MG3 Exclusive

    What Have We Got?

    The MG3 comes in a 3 car model line up from £9495 for the base Explore to £12,795 for the Exclusive. MG has been slow and steady sellers and numbers on the road are beginning to increase. Recently the MG3 went through a facelift and it’s attractive changes that MG have made. 

    Is there any carryover from MG of old I hear you ask? The British have a thing for MG and there is no getting away from the fact that today’s MG has nothing to do with those of old except for the octagon badge. But is this a bad thing, or does it need that MG thing to make it a desirable car?

    Driving

    This is a bit of a letdown and shows that it isn’t like previous generations of MGs. For a twin cam 1.5 petrol with initials like VTI-TECH, you’d expect something a little lively. On the road, it turns out to be more leisurely than lively. You need to work the gearstick around a bit to get the best out of it.

    The ride is what you would expect it to be and it’s not that bad. Due to the lack of engine excitement you’d probably not get to exploit its handling.

    Inside

    It’s pretty simple and basic where it needs to be. You need to remember that MG is still winning fans and price is key. Door cards, for example, are plain and simple and the dashboard as normal as you can get. That hasn’t stopped MG having some fun and the silver trim with silver printed tartan is a nice touch to break up the expanses of black.

    The infotainment system is also simple to use, effective and nicely laid out. Some of the larger manufacturers could learn from this system. 

    Living With It

    One of the nicest touches the MG3 comes with is hill hold control where for a brief moment in time, it’ll hold the brakes. For this price, it’s a rare treat.

    It’s a small 5 door hatchback that does what you would expect a car to do and if that’s what you want, then you could live with this.

    The lack of engine excitement does disappoint me somewhat. I’m sure underneath there is a better car waiting to shine. A bit like MG’s of old. So perhaps there is some of that old MG magic in there, somewhere.

     

    The Verdict

    For the money, you get a car. I can’t really jazz it up in any other way. That car is attractive in Exclusive guise. Explore comes with 14” steel wheels and is a little on the basic side visually. 

    Excite and Exclusive are probably where you’d want to spend your money. 

    What will probably sell this car more than its dynamics will be the 7 years or 80,000-mile warranty.

    Love

    Price

    7-year warranty 

    Simple yet effective infotainment system

    Loathe

    Lacklustre engine

    Needs a better engine

    Base model is rather spartan on the outside

    The Lowdown

    Car –  MG3 Exclusive

    Price – £ 12,795 (as tested)

    MPG – 47.1 mpg (combined)

    Power – 106PS @ 6000rpm

    0-62mph –  10.4 seconds

    Top Speed –  108 mph

    Co2 –  140 (g/km)

  • CAR REVIEW | Mitsubishi ASX

    Launched in 2009 to high expectations, the Mitsubishi ASX failed to make an impact on the competitive Sports Utility Vehicle sector which at present is dominated by the Nissan Qashqai and Toyota Rav4.

    However according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, in 2014-2015 sales grew by as much as 20% for the ASX. This is already on top of Mitsubishi sales, in general, rising over the last 3 years. This might account as to why we are seeing more and more ASX’s on the road. Now 7-years-older and finally finding love on the forecourt, can it now start worrying the competition? I had one for a week to find out.

    Visually she’s aged well. It is still striking to look at and in a carpark full of small SUVs from the likes of VW and BMW it demonstrates a victory against the bland.

    Sadly the interior cannot be said to have impressed as much. While the seats were supportive and comfortable with an impossible to locate switch to heat them, the plastics were of the hard wearing type similar to what’s used in the man machines from Mitsubishi like in their L200 pick up. There lacked a soft touch feel about the cabin. This soft touch was further lacking in stupid imprinted signs on the door pockets and centre console saying “no cups!” Most annoying after all it’s my car and I’ll put cups where I want them. Bottles were allowed in the door pockets.

    Further annoyances were found with the lack of illuminated switches on the doors for windows and mirrors except for one flimsy light for the drivers switch. You forget how much you take for granted an illuminated switch in the dark. So instead of giving these lights, Mitsubishi added some sunshine lights into the glass roof panel and it screamed cheap electrical light tape found on a famous auction website. That said when the roof panel was open it did make the spacious cabin even more tardis like. It wasn’t an unpleasant place to be if I am honest.

    And then there was the satnav and its illumination horrors. In the day the system was like Dr Jekyll. However, come dusk and nightfall it became Mr Hyde. At night in day mode it was just too bright. Thankfully there is a switch that turns it to night mode. It then becomes too dark using blacks and blues in colour.

    So far there isn’t a lot to recommend this 7-year-old car and then you drive it. Two things stand out as negatives. Firstly there is an almighty amount of road roar in the back. At first, I thought I had the window open. Secondly, from a standing start, there is an awful delay that catches you out when pulling into traffic. This can be over come by trying to get a slight roll going before you push down hard on the accelerator. It is then that the 2.2-litre diesel engine mated to one of the smoothest 6-speed automatic boxes l have tried makes you feel like you’ve spent a million dollars. Mitsubishi gives you paddle shifts on the steering wheel too but unless you are really into spirited driving there is very little need to use them. The gearbox was always in the right gear.

    This impressive gearbox and power unit managed to further impress in its economy in 4WD where l found it at its best as a driver’s car and in road behaviour.

    In 2WD the economy according to the onboard computer was exactly the same over the same route of 31MPG. As you would expect in 4WD, traction was increased and it was also felt that the traction control system was less needed in keeping it where it was pointed. And then there are the headlights. Nothing fancy about these units, they didn’t even swivel. What they did give you though was a beautiful beam pattern and crystal clear view on even the grimmest of road conditions. Commuting through the wildness of Surrey I found there was little need to use the main beam.

    So the ASX was starting to make me appreciate it and its appeal so quickly lost on taking delivery was starting to make sense. There is bags of room inside and the cabin does have a tardis feel about it. The boot is very generous for this size of vehicle and rear seat leg room with my 6-foot frame behind the wheel was more than adequate. With this opulent amount of space must come a good heating system and it was good. And then it was bad. and then it was perfect. Call it what you like but there were times l felt like Goldilocks. Set to 19 degrees it would heat the cabin until it was as hot as the sun and then cool it down with blasts of cold. Only then would it settle to a perfect temperature. This lasted around 10 miles per journey and opening a window would only confuse it.

    Where this ASX really excels is in its price. The top end £24,899  model is £1400 more expensive that its 1.6-litre sister and that only comes in manual. You do pay more at the pumps if you go by official figures of over 10 MPG worse for the 2.2 but only 4 MPG over the extra urban. I, however, was not able to match even its lowest figure of 39.8 for the urban dash. Compare the top of the range ASX to its lowest family member and it £9,000 saving doesn’t make the 1.6 ASX 2WD look good at all unless you are after an estate looking vehicle with no functions. The ASX is already 10 years out of date, don’t do yourself a disservice and make it worse by opting for the lesser model.

    Overall all is not lost for the quite likeable ASX. According to the 14 owners on the Autotrader website, it scored 4.6 stars out of 5 and prices are set to become even more competitive with talk of a new model ASX coming in 2017. Need yourself an SUV with a 5-year warranty? Now is the time to talk to Mitsubishi.

    Pros

    Automatic gearbox

    Headlights

    Standout looks

    Cons

    Poor switch gear

    Road noise

    Throttle response from standing start

    The Lowdown

    Car – Mitsubishi ASX

    Price – £24,899 (as tested)

    MPG – 39.8 urban

    Power – 147 bhp (at 3500 rpm)

    0-62mph – 10.8 seconds

    Top Speed – 118 MPH

    Co2 – 152 g/km

    by Stuart M Bird

  • CAR REVIEW | Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV

    ★★ | Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV

    It seems the default choice for a premium hatchback these days is Teutonic in origin. Whether it has a three-pointed star, four rings or a blue and white roundel, the Germans seem to have the market all wrapped up.

    What if you want some passion with your prestige though? Step forward the Italians with the gorgeous Giulietta.

    A competitor to the Audi A3 and Mercedes A-Class, the Giulietta is a five-door hatchback pretending to be a sporty three-door. The nose is reminiscent of the 8C & 4C sportscars with subtly sculpted flanks leading to an attractive rear end with distinctive tail lights. We’re not looking at any old Giulietta however, this is the top Quadrifoglio Verde (QV for short) model. Meaning ‘cloverleaf’ in Italian, it’s been the symbol of the most athletic Alfas since 1923.

    The Giulietta QV gains a couple of big bore exhaust pipes, sporty side skirts and 18” wheels, in this instance glorious teledial items that hark back to fast Alfas past. These items and cloverleaf badges on the front wings aren’t the only things that mark out the QV though. Under the bonnet is the same 1750 TBi turbocharged four-cylinder engine and six-speed dual clutch TCT gearbox that’s found in the 4C. Like in the mid-engined two-seater it has 237bhp; enough for a 0-62 mph time of six seconds dead.

    Driving the QV up to around seven-tenths pace, all seems good. You wouldn’t ever call it soothing but it strikes a good balance between ride comfort and handling. Yes, you do feel bumps but sharp edges are rounded off nicely and the car feels pretty agile. The gearbox shuffles between ratios smoothly and the steering is nicely weighted if not dripping with feeling.

    You can calm things down further by switching from ‘Natural’ to ‘All Weather’ modes on the three-way ‘DNA’ drive mode selector. This blunts performance but does tend to be the best choice for day to day use, ‘Natural’ seemingly always in a gear lower than you want when you’re being sensible. It also puts the traction and stability modes on high alert should conditions get slippery. It’s the ‘D’ in ‘DNA’ that’s most interesting though; that stands for ‘Dynamic’.

    Not only does it make the engine even more responsive, it reduces the assistance of the power steering to add weight and gets the electronic limited slip diff working as hard as it can to improve traction. There’s even a launch control mode that (in theory) makes that 0-62 time easily achievable. Just put your left foot on the brake, give it full throttle and then step off the brake. The computers will do the rest.
    Assuming you’re on a nice flat piece of tarmac with lots of grip, there’s plenty of flashing from the traction control light in first gear before it hooks up in second and flies making a fantastic noise in the process. Try accessing the performance on rougher roads especially in the wet and things get a little crazy. The differential isn’t a true limited slip diff, instead, it works by braking the front wheels individually seriously limiting progress and causing the nose to wander too.

    Pile into a corner really hard and the QV always seems safe but never really feels like it wants to play. Only braking deep into a corner will get any movement from the tail and you can’t turn off the traction and stability control either. The upshot is that it never feels like it’s going to throw you off the road but then never is it truly exciting – not unless you’re hard on the throttle with the steering wheel writhing in your hands and trying to stop it pulling you into a ditch.

    Still, you can count on Alfa Romeo for a stylish and driver focussed interior, can’t you? Errr no, not in this case. For starters, it’s like a coal bunker inside with an all black dashboard, black seats and a black headlining too. There may be some colourful piping on the disappointingly unsupportive seats but it’s not enough to lift the interior ambience. Some cheap plastics don’t help either. In the centre of the dash is a touchscreen infotainment system which works well enough but is trumped by newer rivals. Overall it feels a couple of generations old which isn’t really acceptable in a car that was facelifted just over a year ago. At least the boot is a decent size and rear legroom adequate.

    As a fan of much of Alfa Romeo’s back catalogue, I really wanted to like the Giulietta. I’ll even go as far as to admit to being prepared to overlook a few foibles and the stiff £28,000 price tag for a bit of Italian flair and excitement. Look past the good looking exterior and fantastic engine and you’re sadly left with a car that was at best mid-pack when it was introduced around five years ago. Fast forward to now and it’s way behind the pack in almost all areas. Alfa may be looking to facelift the Giulietta again but really they need to put it out of its misery and pull the plug.

     

    LOVES

    Engine
    Looks
    Not the obvious choice

    LOATHES

    Expensive
    Dated interior
    Could be more entertaining to drive

    LOWDOWN

    Car – Alfa Romeo Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde
    Price – £28,120
    Power – 237bhp
    0-60 – 6.0 seconds
    Top Speed – 151mph
    Co2 – 162g/km

    Reviewed by Alan Taylor Jones /Sept 2015