MG HECTORsunroof, a whole load of features, plenty of
space and great low-speed ride quality. What
you do not get is great body control, good
steering or composed handling. And as for
the styling, that’s a personal thing for you to
decide what works or doesn’t. The success or
otherwise ultimately depends on MG pricing
the Hector aggressively and enticing buyers
with more features at a lower price than any
other SUV in this class. L
Sirish Chandran (@SirishChandran)drive laid out for us, from Coimbatore, up the
Nilgiri Hills to Kodanad, back down and hang
a right to Conoor and then all the way back to
Coimbatore — a solid day of driving. We didn’t
get enough time to film but we did get enough
and more time behind the wheel of both the
petrol and diesel variants.
First impressions, the ride quality is
excellent. The Hector is a softly-sprung SUV
and it delivers an excellent low speed ride that
is very cushy and comfortable. Together with
the soft seats and acres of space it makes for
a very comfortable SUV for city commutes,
ideally suited for being chauffeur driven.
The soft setup, though, is also evident in the
hills where the Hector rolls quite alarmingly
and understeers very enthusiastically. The
body control is poor and it is a handful when
throwing it around narrow mountain roads,
the tyres squealing in protest when hustled
round bends. The Hector could do with bigger
and wider tyres, not only to make it visually
more proportionate but also to deliver (much-
needed) cornering grip.
The electrically-assisted steering has poor
feel and response, the lack of precision adding
to the dynamic shortcomings. While the low-
speed ride is great, the Hector can’t take sharp
bumps or small sharp speedbreakers. Stuff
that the Compass and Harrier both just fly
over, the Hector’s rear torsion beam crashes
into it, jolting driver and passengers when the
rear wheels go over it. The high speed stability,
again courtesy the soft setup, isn’t great
and at three-digit speeds, the MG floats and
heaves over long-wave undulations. This, quite
clearly, is an SUV that prefers the lower speeds
and lesser demands of the city commute.
Both the diesel and petrol get all-round
disc brakes and the stopping power is good.
We didn’t experience any brake fade even
when coming down the hills. There is no 4x4
on offer on any variant of the Hector, it is only
front-wheel drive. The ground clearance is a
good 198mm.We estimate pricing at ` 17 lakh
ex-showroom
That’s what we are guessing, under `20 lakh
on the road after all taxes for the diesel manual
and a lakh of rupees less for the petrol hybrid
with the manual transmission. This is slightly
more than the Harrier and slightly less than the
Compass and what you do get for the price is
that massive touchscreen, an equally massiveTo p : Plenty of body roll. Above: Ample
boot and rear seat space, and the seat
back reclines. 7-seater comes next year