Alfa Romeo Giulia
2.2 JTDM-2190 Speciale
Mileage 4802 List price new (2019) £37,795 Price new with options £41,765 Value now £28,000 Test economy 36.6mpg
IT MAY WEAR a fancy-pants badge and steer like a sports car, but prior to the coronavirusrelated cessation of all my non-essential motoring, the Giulia had been ful lling the role of practical family saloon rather well.
For example, on a long and hideously traf c-laden journey to Ikea on some dreary urban roads, the Giulia helped to relieve the tedium by being smooth and relaxed. My teenage daughters t in the back, too, even if taller passengers might nd it a bit of a squeeze.and the interior’s lush feel and eye-catching and comfortable red leather seats and trimmings make such journeys at least bearable.throw in a boot that’s big enough to swallow modest items of at-pack furniture and it makes such trips as painless as they can be. MP
IN SOME WAYS, the MG ZS EV reminds me of the days, nearly a decade ago, when the original Nissan Leaf was launched. As with Nissan’s pioneering electric hatchback, the ZS is perfectly at home in an urban environment, proving to be great for commuting and shorter journeys within a 50-mile radius of home. However, it also has some of the same limitations and frustrations that tended to come with early electric vehicles (EVS) but have virtually been eliminated in the best of the current crop.
The ZS’S relatively short range can make life interesting on longer, out-of-town trips – something I had to do three times during my first few weeks with the car, prior to the coronavirus lockdown. After a full recharge, the indicated range is usually somewhere between 160 and 170 miles, tallying with the official figure of 163 miles. However, the farthest I’ve been able to get on a single charge so far is 116 miles – and that was with the car running on fumes at the end, metaphorically speaking.
That means there’s a discrepancy of up to 50 miles between what the car says it can do and what I’m actually achieving. As I said, that’s based partly on motorway runs with the adaptive cruise control set to a strict 70mph; the range could and should improve with more consistent urban use and as the days get warmer. Although I now know what to expect in those situations, it’s a shame the indicated range figure isn’t a bit more trustworthy.
The process of recharging the battery isn’t quite as straightforward as I’ve come to expect from experience with other EVS, either. Open the oversized (and very flimsy) flap in the bluff front grille and it completely blocks your view of the relatively low-mounted port, while the unusually rubbery plug protecting the port doesn’t slide out all that easily. So, in order to get the charging cable plugged in, I end up having to crouch right down so that I can see what I’m doing – much to my knees’ delight. In most other EVS, whether the port is on the front or side of the car, you can see and access it much more easily.
Once the cable is plugged in, the large MG badge on the front grille glows to show that recharging is under way – clearly visible at night, less so in bright daylight. However, recharging doesn’t always start straight away; I’m getting quite used to seeing a ‘connected but not charging’ message on the instrument panel’s little information screen between the dials. This seems to depend on which type of charging point I’m using, and recharging usually begins eventually, but it’s frustrating, because I don’t want to walk away until I’m sure the battery is actually receiving electricity.
Again, most of the other EVS I’ve run have been more reliable when it comes to starting the recharging process and have had clearer ways of indicating whether the juice is flowing or not. Still, it’s early days; I’m sure it’ll be fine once I get to grips with all of the ZS’S quirks.