I was lucky enough to be invited to a private viewing and presentation on the
new MGF at Brooklands. Unlike the viewings at Knebworth and Silverstone we had
a
chance to go over the car in detail and talk to staff from MG including the
cars
designers.
DELIVERY and ROAD TESTS
Recent gossip seemed to suggest that the press would get cars to test in
July/Aug and the first customer deliveries would be at end of August.
Apparently the press will not get cars until Sept 15th and the rest of us two
weeks later. Rather than presenting this as a delay MG announced that delivery
has now been 'brought forward from next spring (1996) to this Autumn' this was
the first any of us had heard of a 1996 launch, though to be fair to MG most of
the delivery dates appear to have been invented by the press. Who else but
Rover/MG could launch a convertible just in time for the Winter?
It is an open secret that the car was announced in March in the hope that
customers who were considering buying an MX5 this spring/summer would wait for
the MGF instead. This seems to have worked, but they now have the problem of
keeping interest in the car alive for seven months, I cant help but wonder
whether people will be bored with reading about the car by September and when
it
goes on sale it may be difficult to create the same level of interest that they
had in Geneva.
MGF in the USA ?
Unfortunately it seems like bad news for all of you stateside. There are
currently no plans to sell the car in the states. Apparently the car 'nearly'
meets US emissions and crash test standards and would not need a lot of work to
comply, the problems are cost and production capacity. MG feel that the car
would have to be sold at around $22,000 to compete with the Mazda MX5, at this
price there is not enough margin to make a profit. How do you feel about this?
Would US customers be willing to pay more for the car? Let me know and I will
pass on any comments to the powers that be.
The second problem is one of production, there are already 800 customers who
have already put a deposit down on the car (before anyone outside rover has
actually driven the thing) and production at Longbridge and Mayflower body
panels will not be able to keep up with the UK/German/Japanese demand. They
seem unwilling to consider the investment required to increase production.
INTERIOR and BODYWORK
Compared to my other MGs the interior seems very luxurious, and is certainly
very comfortable to sit in. There were no height problems with either the hood
or hard top on (I am 6ft3) and all the controls fall nicely to hand (unlike
some
modern sports cars). There are two boxes to store bits and bobs (a problem
with
midgets and Bs), a nice stereo and all the usual toys that you get in a modern
car such as electric windows, central locking etc.
The hood is very easy to put up, just the two clips at the front (the same
clips
as the MX5!), poppers and lift the dots are a thing of the past. I do have a
few negative comments about the hood however, although to be fair they have
only
changed the hood design from vinyl to a 'double duck' looking material in the
last week or so and may make further changes. The first problem is rear
visibility, there are no quarter windows as with the spridget & MGB, I like to
look over my shoulder before changing lanes and this will be a blind spot.
Secondly it seems difficult to fold the hood flat without creasing the rear
window, the current instructions are to release the two front clips then UNZIP
the rear window before folding flat, I sure hope they sort this out before
launch.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
I wont go into any details here, just a few things that I have not noticed
printed before.
The tyres have now been changed to 185s at the front and 205s at the back,
according to Martin Brundle (F1 driver to those of you brought up on an Indy
diet) this increases the maximum cornering speed by 20%. Apparently all 4
wheels break away at exactly the same time (he found this out at 115MPH on a
corner!). The spare type however is a 175 on a steel wheel rather than the
alloy of the others. I hope I dont have to drive the car with a mix of
175/185/205 tyres for any distance!
Most normal service items are easy to get to except the spark plugs, to even
see
these you need be a contortionist with a dental mirror. To get around this
problem they have fitted some new 'double platinum' plugs that require no
adjusting and only need to be replaced every 60,000 miles.
OVERALL
One trend I am please to see carried forward from the older cars is a
commitment
to making the cars cheap to own. Long service intervals (12,000) and neat
ideas
such as cheap replaceable covers on the headlamps (only 10 compared with the
normal 100 if you get hit by a stone). The car should be fairly cheap to
insure UK ratings are group 12 for the 1.8i and group 14 for the VVC.
I love the look of the car, although all the display models seem to have
revolting choices of interior / exterior colour (eg Purple exterior and red
interior!) apparently they are concerned that all the dealers are ordering BRG
and Flame Red cars and want to give us a chance to see some of the others (such
as the tasteful burnt orange - volcano I think they call it - that was on
display at Knebworth).
If the cars drives as well as it looks then it looks as if MG will have a
winner
on their hands. As soon as I get a chance for a road test (or hopefully track
test) I will let you know.
--
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Alan Tong
_____________________________________________________
"Who's General Failure & why's he reading my disk?"
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