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Is the MG 6 really a honda - I think so

3K views 35 replies 20 participants last post by  northend 
#1 ·
In my opinion the MG6 was penned still under Uk ownership, and as the factory still had ties to chassis from Honda (ZS ZR) it seems very strange that when you look at the current Civic (not the euro dross we have but the real civic / integra) it still uses the same chassis as the ZS which is a honda.

At MG live a hybrid civic was parked and looks almost identical to the MG 6. Ok the chinese have had copy bmw parts made for the running gear which is ZT wheels/ brakes suspension. But then again a BMW have invested in cars being made in China they are probably made under license.


 
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#3 ·
The MG6 as with most of these supposed new MG's were designed at longbridge and all the chineese are doing is showing no respect for the orininal employees of MG Rover. The interior on the MG 6 is a miss match of parts from various cars the ones that stand out for me are the corsa heater vents and astra steering wheel. Also nice to see they still can't get the V6 engine rite yet that's because they ain't got a clue, my father had numerious calls from china asking him about trouble they were having with the engine and his responce was either re employ me or stop ringing. I am sorry but in my opinion I hope it falls on it's face after what these people did to the original work force. Ran over and sorry if I have offended any true MG supporters but MG would never get my support again when it comes to the new cars.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Pretty much, Amen.

I won't buy one so I can't say I'm a support of the new cars. If people ask me about them I say "They're ugly". The MG6 priced any higher than 16K will just be a crap buy I'm affraid. It doens't know what it is. MG in my mind make fun sporty cars. The MG6 is just a low budget rep mobile and for a company car I'd rather have the new ford mondeo.

I actually think BMW were closer to the mark with their intentions of what MG was in the 90s - a sports Marque. I'm glad the Pheonix group saw that also and made the Zeds fun. The Chinese versions are just crap cars for people with no souls. "Let's stick a British sporting badge on it, and it'll sell!!!!" is all it comes down to really. None of us would be talking about this car if it had a kia badge on it, and that you have to think about.
 
#4 ·
im not being funny here, but china never had anything to do with rover going under, and i can see why they wouldnt initialy want to start making the mg's here, they still dont know if they are going to sell here so why set up the factory ready, as i said before if you could make a product cheaply yourself at home, or pay someone else to make it far away for more money, then your going to make it yourself arent you. maybe if the mg becomes big enough again then they maybe would make it here at some point in the future if it sells well enough

as to the car i think most modern cars are starting to look the same now so maybe it isnt stolen
 
#5 ·
Firstly there would be no MG if it was not for China. The whole world had the chance to take MG but only the Chinese put ther money where their mouth is. If you want to blame anyone. Blame the Labour goverment who just let all our industry go you could also blame the British public and the MG workers who would not buy the product that paid their wages. I was always shocked to see all the forign cars owned by the workers. MG's new owners have put a lot of money into Longbridge and MG. They bought out Recardo in Coventry and moved all the staff to the new Design and Engineering facility at Longbridge (now called MG Birmingham) The car is NOT a Honda but a new car designed by MG here and in China. The new track built at Brimingham which has just this week had the first MG6 built on it shows the Chinese intention to produce cars in Britain. I have a picture in my office of the first car off the line. Why do the British have to knock any attempt to make our industry work. In these hard times for many, including a lot of MG staff who lost their jobs is it not time to support our own fragile industry.
 
#6 ·
you know what, if it was identicle mechanically to a korean car thats brilliant, new hyundai's, kia's ect are brilliant, all they have to do for me is add a bit of the old MG flare to them to make them a bit different n i would buy one over a Kia anyday, its still early days for them, after a few have come out theyll modify it slightly for the brittish market to make it a bit more mean
 
#7 · (Edited)
Its just hideous I'm afraid, people say "wait til you see it in the flesh" - what are you supposed to do, never take a picture of it then?
Cover the badge up and it could be anything, most likely something Korean & cheap tbh.
You'd have to buy one in a bright colour or be resigned to constantly walking home then coming back for it later when the car park was empty and so easier to spot.
Great car for the bank robber though, witness: "well it was a sort of er, erm, well, car type thing, maybe a Hyundai?"
Can see Jason Statham driving one in next Transporter film - won't need fancy number plate changing mechanism or anything.
"The new track built at Brimingham which has just this week had the first MG6 built on it" Is this where they bolt the front bumper on and top up the screen wash?
Chinese: saviours of MG, don't make me laugh! Had they had the chance to buy another well known name as cheaply do you seriously think we'd still be looking at MGs? The whole world would now be swooning over the new Ford6, Vauxhall6, Citroen6 or whatever.
Think there has to be an "emporers new clothes" thing going on which I haven't been told about - elsewhere people are saying it looks sporty - beyond me, looks as sporty and agile as a blindfolded walrus riding a unicycle.
Before anyone says it, if MGR were still going I'd still be saying "wtf?" regarding this thing.
Whats all this "fastback" rubbish I see everywhere too? Its a hatchback ffs...
Not my cup of tea at all - maybe if I were about 3 decades older.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Can see Jason Statham driving one in next Transporter film - won't need fancy number plate changing mechanism or anything.

well it a possibility previous films feature Bimmers an Audis also pretty faceless



Think there has to be an "emporers new clothes" thing going on which I haven't been told about - elsewhere people are saying it looks sporty - beyond me, looks as sporty and agile as a blindfolded walrus riding a unicycle.
Its a hatchback ffs...
Like last gen Rovers you mean?? :)

Not my cup of tea at all - maybe if I were about 3 decades older.
So thats why you got a zs over a 45 i take it??
Honestly some folk are startin to almost sound like theybelong in the same group that believe Jeremy Clarkson ate our car company~:D
 
#8 ·
I agree 100% with Brian (Scooter) China as NAC/SAIC have saved MG Marque and have the investment capacity to develop a modern and complete range and they have shown solid intention to build as well as engineer cars in UK.

It does look good in reality, some cars do not photo well and thats quite common especially with well structured designs, its hard to get the complete picture until its seen in 3D.

New cars need to appeal to a much wider audience than the old MG/Rover line up ever did.

MG Rover went bust because they could not sell enough cars to stay in business, thats the long and short of it. All the surrounding politics and comment can't escape that basic fact.

Ever since the first mass produced cars apperead they all had similar looks.

Why?

Because they had to serve a common function, with similar constraints and materials etc. Tastes and fashion have the effect of steering designers in the same general direction too. Result is that the most popular cars look similar.

When someone tries to break the design mould they fail, unless they can create a small (often loss making) nieche. Mass market odd balls are usually quietly dropped, eg Renault Vel Satis (massive flop) Renault Avantime, (both were envisaged as mass market leaders with big volumes, despite what Reggie says now)
 
#9 ·
If it doesn't look good in pictures what are they going to do about brochures? Just fill pages with flowery descriptive terms?
The big thing in my mind is they haven't saved the marque, what they have done is made their own car and stuck an MG badge on the front.
OK so a few ex MGR people had a hand in designing it, would it then be a Rolls Royce if some of their ex designers did it, would it be a Bentley it it was some of theirs?
Its going to be made (couple of bits bolted on?) on the 10% that remains of Longbridge' is that enough to make it MG?
What if they had bought a plant down the road, would that have made them Rootes, Hillman, Peugeot?
Would people be interested in buying a "Ling Po Freedom Of The Road 1.8" had they not got the MG name?
They're trying to claim the Britishness angle but if someone states it looks too oriental then the old "gotta cater for the world stage" argument comes out, wheres the Britishness then?
Theres just no appeal in it to me, don't know about designed by exMGR staff, looks, from the side at least, as if it was the 4 year old daughter of one of the staff.
From the front it looks like its already been crashed, is it a damaged repairable Pug or an MG6:
 
#10 ·
Don't be so negative mate. Have you even seen an MG6 yet in the flesh?

I went to MG Live and have not only seen one "live", I also sat in it and had a poke round.
It looks like a good quality car which may well sell very well to folk who don't have scales over their eyes and are blinkered about what happened 5 years ago at Longbridge. If WE didn't buy enough new MG's and Rovers is that the Chinese' fault?

I have seen quite a few cars which have similar shapes, this is something to do with EU car accident rules and "pedestrian friendly" cars.
 
#11 ·
I'm not blinkered but theres a lot of facts people are either blind to or choosing to ignore.
The main one being its a mass market Chinese car with no known history, just that its got MG on the front and this for some reason makes it "wonderful".
As I said if it was a Lung Po 1.8 Sedan would you be interested?
If you have to "see it in the flesh" doesn't this simply mean they haven't made a pretty enough car, rather than relying on people going to Silverstone / local dealer about 100 miles away?
The Zeds IMO were stunning cars which made you want to go and see them, can they not manage that anymore?
 
#12 ·
As I said if it was a Lung Po 1.8 Sedan would you be interested?
What do you mean if ? It is a Lung Po 1.8 Sedan . . . OK, SAIC 1.8 Sedan.

Lets not lose sight of what it actually is just because of the octagonal bit of plastic on the front and back . . .

When they have built an engine plant in the UK, have a proper factory and line at Longbridge where they press panels and weld them together, then, maybe, I will change my mind . . . then, maybe, I won't feel so vitriolic about a Chinese company plastering the Union Jack over their cars . . .

I hope SAIC succeed in the UK and Europe, why ? for the sake of the workers in the Longbridge area, no other reason.
 
#13 ·
I prescribe bluezs and RaptorUK the following




PS it's nothing like the Honda.
 
#18 ·
This whole subject will be disputed day after day, year after year until MG finally sell high volumes of cars wether it's the MG6, 3 or even the Zero. I was a huge MGR fan, i've been involved with the MGR brand since i left school 20 years ago and with my company it's still ongoing and my take on it is that why they're building and designing at Longbridge then it's all good news. It's a shame we lost the Powertrain division but apart from the Engine and Trans being made over the road there's no major difference to pre2005. When the TF build was started in 2008 it was reported everywhere that it was a kit being assembled at Longbridge, this is pretty much how it's always been apart from the Engines coming from 100yards down the road and the Bodys coming in via a Train.
The MG6 isn't a bad looking car but i must agree that it's not striking like the Zed range was but i'm sure when production starts the process of giving us an extreme version will follow on. And as for Kia's and Hyundai's being great cars, i think you're off your trolley! They're awful. And before i saw a MG6 in the flesh i thought the interior materials will be as bad as the Koreans but it's not, the MG6 has great materials and is on par with the best around and this i believe was a Chinese built LHD version so would expect the RHD UK spec to be as good if not better.
I had a new ZT in 2001 and loved it but sold it to buy a ZS because of its involvement in the BTCC, and i'm sure that if the MG6 enters it in 2011 that it'll change a lot of peoples minds about it.
 
#19 ·
. And as for Kia's and Hyundai's being great cars, i think you're off your trolley! They're awful.

well i have to disagree, for the money theyre brilliant, i30 compared to a focus, for the same money as a base focus your getting half leather seats good interior and a 5 year warrenty, nd the 3 door ceed actually looks great, id consider having one over a focus anyway and has a seven year warrenty

but yeah i agree give MG six months of production n there will be a bodykitted one out
 
#26 ·
Heard about this anybody ?

Kia Motors is to recall some cee’d and Picanto models after it emerged there may be some safety issues with the brakes.

Kia has identified that up to 468 cee’d models could suffer from insufficient brake force from the master cylinder on vehicles featuring Electronic Stability Programme systems.

The car maker is contacting the owners of the 468 cee’d five-door, SW and three-door vehicles built between April 1, 2008 and March 30, 2009 to arrange for no-cost work to be carried out to replace the brake master cylinder.

The company is not aware of any accidents having occurred in the UK because of this issue.

In the case of Picanto, the harsh 2009-2010 weather conditions have revealed that where high levels of de-icing materials have been used there is a possibility that material in the fuel filter neck seal could be damaged and a fuel leak could occur.

The owners of 6,585 Picantos built between November 2009 and February 2010 are being contacted to arrange for the fuel-filler neck to be replaced free of charge.

The company is aware of a small number of instances of a leak occurring.

Hamish McCowan, Kia’s director of after-sales and logistics said: “Safety is always our top priority and our on-going product assessment and research has revealed these two potential problems.

“We have immediately put in place a process to contact owners and the work will be conducted by Kia dealers at a convenient time for customers. I would apologise to any owner whose vehicle may be affected
 
#20 ·
OK, we'll have to agree to disagree. I can see what you say about value but the MG dealer i worked for turned into a Hyundai dealer so i saw the unreliability and poor handling and comfort that they have and seeing a Rover dealer turned overnight into a different maufacturer was horrid so i'm a bit biased! They drive ok for the money but it's the blandness and the cheapy interior trim that sticks in my mind when people talk about them.

ooh, on the Kia thing though, the 'Soul' looks quite trendy. (still would buy one though!)
 
#21 ·
we went Mg into Ford Mazda, i think the new hyundais kia's(last year or two) have really picked up theyre game up a lot. i like going back to working on the rovers ect after working on modern fords mazda's so easy to go back to, nice and simple the way it should be
 
#25 · (Edited)
I make no secret that I dont like the MG6, and I'm certainly a member of the anti Clarkson brigade. Clarkson I do concede did not single handedly bring down MGR, but what he and other motoring journalists did over a number of years was to condition the British public in to loose faith in the British product.

When the MG Xpower brand was launched, the motoring press, overall, were impressed but, sadly the British public still failed to be impressed as they were already brainwashed into believeing anything from Longbridge was crap!

Now I come to the Chinese, as I recall it they were going to come to Longbridge as partners and inject cash into the company to keep them going, but they strung out the process for so long MGR just ran out of money, and I believe strongly that this was a deliberate policy of the Chinese.
 
#28 · (Edited)
these threads crack me up

of all the people you could blame from mg's collapse the chinese would be right at the bottom of the list, who can blame them for not wanting to buy the company outright with there huge debts and no tangible assets, along with a militant expensive workforce? no new cars, huge investment needed etc etc it was a no brainer. look at the gov, bmw, phoenix, the pubic for being so blinkered and stupid.

and this rubbish about chinese mg's not being mg's LOL so whats the ZS again? oh yes a japanese honda, what about those american made bmw's or polish made vw's or french merc's the list goes on.

how much of a car has to be made in the uk for people to class it as british? eg lotus, jap engines, bodies made in holland (iirc) chassis made somewhere else etc so not british then, even there coach trimming dept is shutting down.

get a grip, the chinese own the name, so they are mg's, no wonder people didn't buy the cars when you have old mg owners saying the zs's etc where not mg's, now we'll have 90's mg owners saying 2010 mg's are not mg's and mgb gt drivers hating eveyone.
 
#29 ·
Its MG-Rs fault they went under and no one elses, lets face it the MK2 ZS is still a 400 underneath so you can fault journalists for picking up on that point and the not so good build quality.

Its ture there would be no MG brand if it wasnt for china, but for me its not the brand of MG but what they do with the name and on current form it dosent look good. Firstly they released a facelift of a facelift with a few tweeks that didnt even sell 500 models in the UK. And this is where the brand started so realistically should be the most passionate place for the MG. The British public arent stupid, there are simply better options availabe for the same price. As for the new MG6 im not a fan, its not inspiring my in any way what so ever, and some people seem to think because it has an MG badge on its brilliant. Sorry it just mundane and bland, the Mk2 ZS looks 10 times better IMO.

Rob
 
#31 ·
Video link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/birmingham/10317764.stm
New £5m MG design studio unveiled at Longbridge site
A £5m design studio and technical centre for MG models has opened at the former Longbridge site in Birmingham.
The MG Motor UK complex will become the company's global design headquarters and employ 300 designers and engineers.
The firm said it is a "very significant day and a major new investment in UK automotive engineering and design".
Cars designed there will be sold in the UK and in China. It is the biggest investment at the former plant since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005.
MG Motor UK is a subsidiary of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), China's largest automotive business, which owns the MG brand.
'Heart of MG'

In November, the firm said production of the MG6 fastback would move to Longbridge in 2010 after starting in China.
The MGTF sports car is already built there.
The technical centre at Longbridge has been set up by SAIC.
Of the 300 staff at the two facilities, there are 30 designers working on MG models as well as the Roewe brand, which is built in China.
"These two centres of excellence sit at the heart of the MG Birmingham plant where a new family of MG models are currently being designed and engineered," a spokesman said.
"The designing of new cars and the engineering and technical aspects of the cars is all happening here in the UK.
"It's a very significant day.
"SAIC could have gone anywhere in the world for this but they chose Birmingham and Longbridge.
"It's an important endorsement.
"The MG6 fastback will be built here later in 2010 and it will be followed by a saloon version next year.
"They will be both be sold here and in China."
MG Rover went into administration in April 2005 with the loss of 6,000 jobs.
SAIC bought much of the company's intellectual property after its collapse and Chinese rival Nanjing Automobile Group acquired what was left of the MG Rover group.
The two companies merged in 2007.
 
#33 ·
right cant be asked quoting ect lol, ehm about the recall, every manufacturer has recalls, we have recalls all the time for fords and mazda's, the new mondeo had one not long ago on the diesels the one way valve on the vaccum pump giving no assistance, mazda 3 has one just now for chaffage of the powersteering pipes could rhyme them off but cba lol.

anyways back on topic..saw today on bbc midlands (i dont know why midlands was on in a scottish takeaway) MG made the first story with its comeback, they metioned that over 300 people currenty working at longbridge helped design the new car and that they are hoping to move production back there!

also showed the new 3 and zero, and tanya said she wanted a zero "aww thats so cool" so they are definatly getting somewhere
 
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