Driven
spinning up the front tyres and putting a big
smile on the face of the enthusiast. You have
to work the 6-speed manual gearbox to get a
proper move on, and the gearbox itself isn’t
very slick and has long throws. The gearing too
is extremely tall and going up the hills we rarely
could use third gear. The engine also gets quite
vocal post 3000rpm.
The mild-hybrid system, advertised via
a big badge on the boot, adds 20Nm of
torque to the mix and is claimed to improve
fuel efficiency by 12 per cent and reduce
CO2 emissions by 11 per cent. The claimed
efficiency for the petrol hybrid is 15.81kmpl and
without the mild hybrid it drops to 14.16kmpl
with the manual transmission and 13.96kmpl
with the twin-clutch automatic. The auto is
not available with the mild hybrid. On our drive
up the mountains, the fuel efficiency readout
showed between six to seven kmpl while on
the way back, downhill, it went up to 14kmpl.
The mild hybrid comes with automaticstart-stop and brake energy regeneration that
stores the recovered energy in a separate 48
volt Lithium-Ion battery that is then deployed
on hard acceleration. There are also two
additional displays on the screen between
the dials that shows the charge status of this
battery as well as a diagram showing when
regen is happening and when the hybrid
system is adding to the power.
This turbo-petrol motor and both the
transmissions are made by SAIC in China by a
subsidiary that makes motors for both their
GM and VW joint ventures. The mild-hybrid
comes from Bosch. What is made in India,
though, is the diesel motor.FCA sourced diesel
The diesel engine in the MG Hector feels
instantly familiar, sourced as it is from FCA.
Made in Ranjangaon, the Multijet II motor
makes 167.6bhp of power and 350Nm of
torque and instantly feels more energetic,enthusiastic, flexible and capable than the
petrol. It is, of course, more noisy, more
audible than even in the Compass and Harrier,
but the added flexibility that the additional
100Nm of torque delivers is well worth it (also
masking the increased weight of 1700kg). It is
also quicker and the gearing is better suited
to Indian driving conditions. And the running
costs will be much lower than the petrol.
What I did notice, and this came as a big
surprise to me, is the clutch action that is
super-sharp. I almost stalled it the first time
and after that I had to be careful, the bite is so
sharp and there being very little progression in
the pedal. The gearbox, also sourced from FCA,
has a better shift action though the throws are
still long and not very slick.Dashing up the Nilgiri hills
Unusually for a media drive in these days of
YouTube videos (and the associated time
required for filming) MG had a rather long- Torquey and powerful, huge boot, rear seat comfort - No automatic, sharp clutch, not very slick gearbox, noisy evo rating (^) ;;;df
Engine
1956cc, in-line 4-cyl, turbo-diesel
Power
167.6bhp @ 3750rpm
Torque
350Nm @ 1750-2500rpm
0-100kmph
NA
Top speed
NA
Transmission
6-speed manual
Price
`17 lakh (estimated)
Specification (Diesel)
The soft setup
is evident in the
hills where the
Hector rolls quite
alarmingly