A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Lao Tzu
To Paraphrase,
A journey of a hundred thousand Kilometers begins with the first few Kilometers – CBRSPN
Getting Ares was the first time where I have full control of a car’s well-being, diet, tire pressure, cleaning schedules, etc. My dad is a firm believer that a car’s job is simply to take from Point A to Point B, everything else is secondary. Me, on the other hand, can’t stand any little dust accumulation, a slight drop in FE, or even the thought of “normal” levels of fuel adulteration.
I made a point to ensure that she only gets XP95 as fuel, always has the right tire pressure and that Ares is cleaned before going out on a drive. Here are my observations and thoughts during the first 1000km. Ares is the Top-end 1.3L Turbo Savvy variant, so it comes with all the bells and whistles. So I’ll be skipping over most of the stuff which is already covered under the Official Preview and BIC Test Drives (MG Astor Review) [Unless there’s something I can add to].
Driving Dynamics, Engine and Gearshifts
The Brit Dynamic 220 Engine belongs to the GM SGE Family, which was co-developed by GM and SAIC (The only thing brit about it is the name 
). It is quite a competent engine and handles most drives very nicely. I am still waiting for the right opportunity to take Ares on a long trip and stretch her legs. Hopefully, I can get some time off work soon!
In the city, the car crawls at 7km/hr as you release the brake pedal. This is great when trying tight parking, but a little more kick is necessary for the bumper-to-bumper traffic, where the VIP in the next lane will try to swoop in your lane if you have more than 3 meters of space from the vehicle in front of you. The Accelerator and Auto-hold come in handy in these situations. For quick overtakes, I’ve felt even fully flooring the pedal is not necessary when driving in S-mode. The Manual mode is good, but the AT will upshift if you redline it. Gearshifts are a bit slow though (I’ve only owned Manuals before, so this opinion could be partially due to that). I feel that Pedal Shifters would have been a good addition to the car.
In the city, the car handles well, the turning radius, is a bit high, as expected in the segment, but once you get used to it, it’s easy to take u-turns on a 2-lane road without any reverse maneuvers. Steering is nice and firm in Normal and Dynamic Mode. I rarely set mine in Urban mode, but the additional lightness in Urban can definitely be felt.
Here’s a quick look at the engine bay
Maintaining the exterior
The Astor’s Starry Black color is just a beauty to look at. This however also means that extra care is required to handle her. Not only is every little scratch visible, but a single layer of dust can make you go nuts. To me with my limited space and the need to save water, Washing every day is definitely not an option. Add to this, in just the initial couple of weeks of ownership, I saw paint being chipped on the passenger door. They say the first one hurts the most, but I never knew how much till that day.
So after a bunch of research and conflicting opinions, I chose to go ahead with Ceramic Coating on the vehicle to 1) add some extra thickness to the paint, 2) Get a hydrophobic coat to make cleaning a bit easier.
I chose to go ahead with Detailing Devils Mohali, who gave me a 5 years package with annual top-ups for almost Rs. 25k. They were quite thorough and have a bunch of complimentary additionals, like Clear Glass Coating, Tyre coating, etc. It did make everything quite hydrophobic. Now I simply wipe the car with a Jopasu duster and wash it with the Nano coating Shampoo they gave me once a week. Here’s a picture of the car courtesy of DD.
Interior Quality
Lots have been said about the interior of the car on the Official review thread. It’s absolutely lovely! The Sangria Red looks a lot better in person as compared to pictures. For some reason, it’s just not photogenic, I’ve tried a few different cameras, no luck. In-person though, sit in the car and it feels a lot more premium than the rest of the segment. The front seats are highly adjustable, so visibility and comfort aren’t a challenge. Seats aren’t as soft as the Honda City, which feels like you’re sitting on a Sofa, but ergonomically, they’re a lot better.
The ICE command center, coupled with physical buttons is a delight to use and buttons are quite tactile. Although there’s a slight, noticeable lag on the ICE.
The only thing crazy in this great car is the stupid Astor Bot. I have come to hate that thing. It’s such a non-sensical gimmick, It doesn’t serve any real purpose. Voice assistant works even when the bot is not connected, and if you turn on the Wifi in the car, the Bot disconnects! Why you’d connect the bot wirelessly when it’s fixed in position and anyway has a power cable running is beyond me! On top of that, The bot rattles a LOT. Our road conditions are such that even the smoothest city roads are slightly uneven. The entire car is silent, and we certainly can’t feel the unevenness ourselves. This bot however seems to have its own sense of vibrations, and it rattles more than a rattlesnake! I normally am alone when driving and the roads of the city are always full, so haven’t had a chance to capture this issue without risking safety. 
I’m due for service this Saturday, and I will definitely check with the Service Advisor about removing this stupid thing or at least do something about the rattle.
Fuel Efficiency
So far, I’m getting the average fuel efficiency of 9kmpl according to the car’s FE meter, where 90% of the driving has been in the city, as the cold Winters and new Car smell made us give some rest to the Motorcycle, and the remaining 10% on the city-ish highways connecting to nearby satellite towns to the primary city. (Fun fact about Chandigarh, the City is essentially a cluster of 5 “towns” in less than 15km range of the city center across 2 states and a UT, namely Chandigarh, Mohali, Zirakpur, Kharar, and Panchkula).
Interestingly, I get more efficiency in S-mode as opposed to D-mode. In a 75km day around the city, I made it a point to use S mode exclusively. I clocked in 11kmpl that day. Average speeds and time of travel would tell you that I wasn’t being very “Sporty” unless the S secretly means Saving-mode. This was also the only time I have allowed the yelLOW fuel light to come up since delivery.
I have been using the Fuelio app since day 1 and going tank to tank for calculations. I normally try to get refueling done at a 15% level. According to Fuelio, I am getting an efficiency of 8.6kmpl, however, as I only fill up till the auto-cut on the pump, I am not 100% sure if I am actually going tank to tank. Once I got the tank full, drove 3km from the pump to reach home, and MG App showed 93% fuel level, as opposed to the expected 100%/99%. So there may be a 5-10% difference in volume and by extension, efficiency calculation.
Last edited by cbrspn : 18th February 2022 at 01:54.
