Sometimes, I tend to get a little bit carried away with MG and Rover cars (a particular weakness of mine for well over ten years), and upon the launch of the MG6 in 2011, I got particularly carried away. Here was the first all-new car launched under the MG name since the bankruptcy of the old MG Rover Group six years previously, and it looked rather nice as well. So nice, in fact, that my friend Richard Jackson, who worked for Tesco at the time as their Petrol Station Operations Manager, decided that he wanted one as his personal car, and bought one direct from the factory at Longbridge near Birmingham.
It wasn't so unusual a choice as it first appears, as Tesco Momentum 99 Fuel were sponsoring the MG racing team in the British Touring Car Championship, and MG6s were their team cars. In March 2012, his top spec TSE model arrived, resplendent in its Trophy Blue paintwork. It had almost literally every conceivable extra, and was very, very tasty indeed. Under the bonnet lurked a 1.8 turbocharged engine which was a modified version of the old favourite Rover K-series unit (originally launched in 1989, but since massively upgraded). Supposedly, this N-series had been redesigned to completely eliminate the old K-series head gasket failure issue which had plagued so many Caterhams, Lotuses, Land Rovers, Rovers and MGs over the years, and had a big turbo to boot. Certainly, it was an impressive performer with excellent specification and a temptingly low price tag.
This price was even better after around two and a half years of depreciation, and in November 2015, I found myself at a car supermarket in Slough (the famous Trade Sales, which I think has now closed), looking at an almost identical car. This one was black, but it was also the top spec TSE, and was in lovely condition. The plastic cover on the engine bay did its best to hide the MG Rover heritage beneath. but the good old K-Series oil filler cap, also used on the MG3, completely gave the game away.
Upon commenting on the extremely flimsy key and the fact that the AUX and USB ports were hidden in the coin tray on the right side of the steering wheel (an absolutely bizarre choice), I went out for a little drive. The tacky interior of the early MG6s, which see some very dodgy plastics coupled with poor quality buttons and a sat nav with no post code entry on the top models, was somewhat of a distraction, but the way she drove was incredible. The N-series turbo engine pulled incredibly well, and the acceleration, steering and handling were second to none. I have yet to drive another family car with this amount of poise!
Once back at the showroom, I remarked that the car was on the so-called "factory plates", which for an MG start with a B or V, so it looked like a press car (important for me), and that the reversing camera worked just fine. This was just one of myriad pieces of standard equipment on a TSE, which also included heated leather seats, Bluetooth, front and rear parking sensors, tyre pressure monitoring, automatic lights and automatic wipers. Whilst working for Tesco Fuel, my friend Richard had a company fuel card (unsurprisingly), so he wasn't that worried about fuel consumption, which is just as well: the petrol MG6 was not renowned for economy.
A diesel variant was launched soon after the petrol in 2012, but the N-series powered cars are still cheaper. As one of the fastest depreciating cars in the country, a secondhand MG6 makes a lot of sense, provided it has been well-looked after, and the top spec cars are the best. The cabin doesn't exactly age well, though...
Richard eventually sold his MG6 after having moved away from the job at Tesco (those fuel bills were a bit high) and decided to buy an electric car instead. I ended up not buying an MG6 due to the high fuel consumption and tax figures. and bought a diesel Chevy Cruze instead. I only kept that for about 18 months and lost a lot of money on it. Maybe I should have bought the MG instead, despite that flimsy key! They are certainly a car for the enthusiastic driver, although only if he can live with the poor cabin quality and colossal depreciation.
