I’ve got Covid atm so a bit fuzzy thinking, it’s a Chinese car with an MG badge stuck on it so as much an MG as my Ford Focus and the author managed to slip in the Brexit word, do they never give up? Very shiny though!

Tony

On 21 September 2024 at 10:49 Nicholas Farr Said:

hi, I had a twin carb MG back in the early 70’s, OK, it wasn’t up to the same standard as the Wolseley model, but better than the Austin / Morris version, you may have guessed by now, that I mean the 1100 rust bucket, never was worth its weight in gold, but it was worth more to me then than any electric car is to me now.

Regards Nick.

My sentiments entirely!

Andy

My  first foray into the joys of MG ownership could have been an MGA 1600 BUT in reality became a ZA Magnette. Walnut dash with green glowing instruments (at night), leather seats and trafficators, ZB had winkers. Second helping was a loan car from Naylor Bros where wife worked, who were T series restorers and were licensed to manufacture, from original MG drawings, the last great TF (Headlamps IN the wings) hiding a 1700 lump under the lid. £15000 (at that time, NEW) of pure motoring nostalgia WITHOUT the British car disease of oil leaks.

Regards  Ian

Annoying maybe Duncan, but at least you could fix it.  Halcyon days?

Not an awful lot in common with the model TC I owned aeons ago………….

On 22 September 2024 at 04:01 pgk pgk Said:

The argument about it being Chinese is pointless since large amounts of car components are going to be sourced there now.

Just got back from a Sunday classic motorcycle club ride. Only breakdown of the day was  a freshly restored Suzuki GT750 two-stroker. The nipple pulled straight off the end of the brand new Chinese-made replica clutch cable. Not crimped on hard enough. A far from unique story.

Yes many components are made there today, and they can make good stuff. Can. But they don’t always do that. A mate bought a brand new (Chinese) Haval SUV (Great Wall rebranded after they got such a bad name) and the cruise control button fell off the steering wheel into his lap on Day 2 after he drove it off the showroom floor. A week in the workshop while they waited for and fitted a new steering wheel.

BMW was manufacturing their 650cc single cylinder GS adventure bikes completely in China a few years back. They recalled the entire year’s production and gave the owners their money back. The Chinese factory had failed to tighten the con-rod big end bolts up to spec and the engines started tossing the conrod out through the cases within a few thousand miles.

I just had to replace the gearbox in my Australian-branded but Chinese-made washing machine because the Chinese bearings did not last 5 years and the gearbox ism so flimsily made, the only way to dismantle it is to destroy it. My previous washing machine, Australian made by the same brand, lasted 10 years before having the same trouble.

Such stories are legion. Scepticism about Chinese quality is founded in such reality.

On 21 September 2024 at 13:13 Bo’sun Said:

Annoying maybe Duncan, but at least you could fix it.  Halcyon days?

I’d rather have my present car, which just works and does 40-50 mpg depending on where I am (motorway or town) than something that needed attention very regularly. Last 3 cars all did >150000 miles with just planned oil/filters/brakes/tyres, my vauxhall viva needed a new clutch every 20000. Ok it was an easy job, but shouldn’t have been necessary. Gearbox output shaft seals were another frequent job.

On 22 September 2024 at 22:16 Michael Gilligan Said:

No great surprise, and hardly likely to affect the buying-decision … but I thought I would just mention this:

The government has declared: “From April 1, 2025, drivers of electric and low-emission cars, vans and motorcycles will need to pay vehicle tax in the same way as drivers of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles do. This change will apply to both new and existing vehicles and will ensure all drivers begin to pay a fairer tax contribution.”

MichaelG.

An awful lot of electric cars will fall into the (so called) higher luxury car tax bracket because they cost more than £40k When new.

On 25 September 2024 at 07:55 Bo’sun Said:

On 24 September 2024 at 23:21 Hopper Said:

The Yanks ain’t having it. Moves afoot to ban all  Chinese cars over concerns their software will be used for spying and other malicious purposes.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/22/biden-rules-ban-chinese-made-cars-spying-fears

Why doesn’t that surprise me about the Chinese?  Maybe Europe should do likewise.

It’s got nothing at all to do with security. It’s mercantilism pure and simple on the US part. Doing their best to wreck the world’s economy.

To quote the schoolboy aphorism:- “He who smelt it dealt it.”

None of this is new.  The Romans encrypted dispatches.

From Renaissance times governments exchanged information with their ambassadors by letter, letters that others were keen to read too.  All big states had a ‘Black Chamber’ devoted to intercepting and decoding what their rivals were saying.

Since then telegrams, telephony, wireless, and now the internet have increased the scale of operations, but the principle is the same:  the best intelligence comes straight from the source.  Diplomatic, military, commercial and personal are all fair game.

Dave