MG Comet first drive review: India’s most affordable electric car driven
A few years ago the entry of MG Motors into the Indian market did create a few ripples in the Indian market, especially because of the value-for-money products. MG’s latest – the Comet EV is aimed at urban city commuters, which most of us are. So we drove the car for a few hours in peak traffic conditions to understand if this car is a perfect car for urban commuters.
The new MG Comet EV measures only 2.94 metres, which makes it the smallest passenger car in India. It attracts a lot of eyes on the roads, especially because of the way it looks and size. The Comet EV gets a boxy design and it is not designed like a hatchback. Instead, it is more like a quadricycle. While the design may look odd to many, it is a boon for people who drive in the peak hours.
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The car gets a light bar at the front and the rear. It gets projector low beam and the charging socket is located at the front. Since it is a four-seater and rear passengers use the front doors to enter the seats, the doors are really wide. The rear windows are fixed and there is a lightbar at the rear of the car as well. All the lights used in the MG Comet EV LEDs.
Overall, with the 12-inch tyres, the MG Comet EV does look the odd one out on the roads and that is why it grabs a lot of attention. But it does look funky and futuristic. Perhaps, the future will be made up of such cars crowding the roads.
As small it might look, the MG Comet EV gets a lot of space inside. The electric vehicle is a four seater and MG is based on a pure EV platform, which means it utilises the space very well. MG has extracted a lot of space in the car itself and has used smaller seats too.
While you can fit two adults in the rear, the seats are without much of a thigh support and lumbar support and will cause fatigue if you keep on sitting for a longer period of time. The same goes for the front seats. However, with both the rear seats up, there is almost no luggage space. MG says that most commuters only carry a laptop bag and there is sufficient space for that in the rear seats.
But if you really want to carry some luggage, the rear seats are 50:50 split and both the seats can fold down flat making ample space for your weekend party luggage. There is a space for big bottles in the doors as well. While there is no glove box, MG has added a slot to keep your things. There are aftermarket accessories available that you can add to the car for extra space. Also Read:MG Comet now cheaper than Tata Tiago EV: Which one for whom?
The MG Comet EV comes with two 10.25-inch screens on the dashboard. Like many other MG cars, most information is displayed on the infotainment system itself. The infotainment system comes with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There are also voice commands and there are more than 100 of these voice commands that you can use to play music and do a plethora of other things.
The driver instrument cluster is also bright and gets futuristic graphics that shows the MG Comet EV. The display shows the live status of the headlamps, tail lamps and the gate of the car. We really like how MG has integrated everything to the infotainment system.
There is a rotary dial in the middle that you can use to shift between the modes. The cabin is minimalistically designed, which means there is least use of the buttons. MG does not even provide start/stop button. Instead, you can tap the brake pedal twice to get the car started. To stop it though, you have to get out of the vehicle and press the lock button.
Similarly, if you want to change the regenerative modes, you will have to fiddle with the infotainment screen and find the setting to change the level of regeneration. Minimalistic design may make you work a little more. Also Read:MG Comet EV Prices Slashed By A Full Rs. 1 Lakh: Starting Price Now Rs. 6.99 Lakh
With only 4.2 metre of turning radius, the MG Comet EV is extremely fun to drive, especially through the crawling traffic. You can fit the Comet in the smallest of gaps and the 40 PS power also feels enough for the car to accelerate and overtake. However, there is no crawl mode in the car. Which means, you will have to use the accelerator to move forward in the crawling traffic and that can be frustrating. Also, even at the third level of regeneration, the brake feedback is not enough to use the Comet EV as a single pedal car.
Also, the driver’s seat position is quite high on the Comet. During our drive time of about 3 hours, we could not find a very comfortable position. However, since MG targets the youngsters and office commuters, sitting for long hours might not be the problem customers face.
There is also no fast charging options available. The only way to charge the MG Comet EV is through a 16A socket that takes 7 hours to charge the car from 0-100% and about 5 hours to charge it from 10-80%.
The MG Comet EV does not feel like a real car for sure and MG is also not advertising it as one. It is specifically targetted at office goers and urban commuters. MG has revealed that the base price of the MG Comet EV is Rs 7.98 lakh, while the brand is yet to announce the price of the top-end variant. MG has not revealed the feature list of the base variant and the top-end version that you see in this video is likely to get a high price tag.
In our opinion, the MG Comet EV can’t be the only car in your garage. It can be your second or even third car that you can use for going around the town. In fact, we think that the Indian government should mend rules to allow 16 year old to drive and cars like MG Comet EV and similar quadricycles. It will promote electric cars at the grassroots level. Since most Indians do not use public transport, such small cars will allow to decongest the roads. Also Read:MG Comet: A Tata Nano for the 2020s! (In a good way)