After a little break, the serene calm and peace has been shattered. May we ask you to stow away your table, return your seat to the upright position and pray silence for the return of…

Dr Ian Pogson

I realise that this may be a strange comparison to make, but it is simply here because I like reading my own words in Autobritannia and I own the former as of a very few days ago (at time of writing in April 2025) and my wife owns the latter.  Hence, I regularly drive both as she only drives when absolutely necessary and I’m a petrol-head driver (aren’t we all on here?)  As I hold a very rare PhD in Automotive Perceived Quality, I feel uniquely qualified to address this issue.

I have to admit to being very underwhelmed by many of today’s cars. I would not even consider a BMW as I used to work for them and know what is under the skin and my ego is sufficiently intact not to need extending with a spinning propeller on the bonnet, I don’t need an Audi because I’m not an outside lane-occupying superior life-form and apart from the odd French car, (New Renault 5 anyone?) style is very sanitised by the wind-tunnel, except that awful Hyundai Santa Fe and that is just UGLY.

I used to work for JLR for the last 4 years of my career and I just loved the Castle Bromwich cars, but knew too much about how they were assembled, as I spent too much time on the track finding answers to Engineering/Warranty issues and developing solutions with the assembly teams.  I especially warmed to the shape of the Sportbrake (estate version of the XF) and did quite a lot of work on its electrical grounds, of which there were/are too many (compared to a similar BMW/other European car or Korean tin).  My job revolved around a very sensitive (to three decimal places of Ohms) resistance tester, a pair of digital torque meters and my own eyes and ears: several very sensitive pieces of equipment.

The latter’s job were mainly to check for location, rigidity and clamp-load of a completed joint.  You see, most cars are assembled these days with DC-controlled and mostly cordless tools, Blue-toothed to a base station, unable to operate outside of the relevant station and give a Green light when torque is achieved, storing this for posterity in a massive database.  So, if a “Green” is achieved, to your average Manufacturing Manager, the job is right.  Wrong.  The gun may achieve torque through (rare) cross-threading, or if there is debris/paint in the threads of the mechanical fixing.  One can attempt to wiggle the connection and if movement is detected by the skilled eye/ear, declare the joint NOK and prove this by either powering it up and achieving impressive sparks if a principal starter circuit ground is wiggled, or by using said resistance tester.  It is not unknown for vehicle fires to start this way, especially when the connection is under the carpet, surrounded by wool waste NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) sound-deadening.

So, as you might have cottoned on by now, I know a little bit about the subject and one could ask then “Why buy a potentially flawed product?”  I guess I may be a sucker for punishment.  We did manage to fix the problem of dodgy grounds on LR products with aluminium bodies and M8 ground studs, so that Warranty fell of a cliff from October 2016, but as a mere Contractor I was made redundant (along with many of the people I had trained) in 2019 and failed to finish the same job on the Jaguar and Jag-floor pan based Velars.  It was too hard for some people at the plants to do the necessary work.

It took two years to just change the coating of the Jag M6 earth stud from one which would not last 50 hours of salt spray (bearing in mind  the standard was 1,000 hours!!) and was more expensive to one which did pass and was cheaper.  That is how dumb some folk were and resistant to change, a British speciality.  My earlier BM colleagues would have picked it up with all speed.  Even in the more paper-based days at Longbridge in the 90’s we would have been much quicker and more successful. Anyway, all gone now. Longbridge just a memory and CB mothballed.

So, ranting over and now for a comparison.  I have tested/owned/rented company cars since promotion in 1984, so a variety of cars and 4×4’s, including Hondas and BMWs and many, many competitors, as I was for many years the Competitor Analysis Manager at both LR and for the cars side.  By far, the best value and best presented or engineered car has been Sharon’s MG HS.  We were walking through a very wet London sometime just before Covid hit, visiting the Tutankhamen exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, when I suggested that Sharon and I take cover from the torrential rain in the Marylebone MG HQ/dealership.  I asked for her PQ (Perceived Quality) assessment (anyone can make one) of the then new HS SUV. 

The stitching of the leather (she teaches dress-making) really impressed, with its red colour,  evenness and uniformity.  The contours and resulting comfort of the seats impressed as did the driving position.  She approved of the boot space for our two dogs (a key issue!) and the quality of materials was appealing in the rear seats too.  The more she looked, the mor she liked and agreed that a test-drive might be useful.  This happened at Summit Garage, Dudley and was a resounding success – a car that appealed more than her then-current Evoque.  The latter had the edge on badge-appeal (Range Rover on the bonnet), but it was starting to creak and show signs of age, plus diesel fuel and ownership had lost its appeal, although the venerable Ford/Peugeot 2.2L diesel was quite superb, but noisy and smelly.

Sharon traded in the 2013 Evoque in July 2020 and was presented with the new MG HS by the amazing John “Three V8 MG’s” Newey, Sales Manager for Summit.  She is still very pleased with it.  We had two issues, which were duly sorted by Summit: the car needed an updated transmissions ECU to prevent stalling when rolling back on a slope whilst in a forward gear and to turn down or off all those annoying Chinese warning chimes!  It has had all its servicing done in Dudley, as the drinks are free and in decent cups and it keeps me in touch with a modern dealership, which is now no longer anMG franchise. Such a shame as MG Motor UK would not know a good dealership if they fell face forward into the shag-pile carpet in reception!

So, on to the comparisons.  External image is good on both – appropriate bright finish applied a nd all shut lines look both parallel and level (if anything, the lead panel should be very slightly proud of the trailing one).  I have yet to wash the Jaguar and that defines for me the care taken to design and assemble a car; if the wash sponge is at all torn by washing, then a rough surface or sharp detail has caught it and this is poor.  Both cars have had post-manufacturing paint treatment to protect them.

Colour and paint finish looks blemish-free on both, with no shade mis-matches.

The vehicle’s “handshake” – Jag 0, MG 1

I note that the door opening/shut quality is superior on the MG.  The door handle is known in the trade as the “handshake” of a car.  It should feel free of any sharp moulding lines and when it returns, it should not clang like an old Honda Civic.  A suitable rubber stop should prevent that.  The Jag leans a bit towards the Civic in this respect.  The MG door feels more solid in its shutting sound.

Interior Ambience – Jag 1, MG2

The MG scores on interior ambience via LED lighting effects.  Now, this really amuses me, because when I worked for JLR (2015 t0 2019), I was still writing my PhD and was keen to use a project started at the behest of my previous employers, SAIC, for the benefit of my new one.  Well predictably, the then Quality Director at JLR, Grant MacPherson, a truly proper car man and ex-Swindon Honda was full of support.  This then ran out from the levels below him and two levels later was almost non-existent.  I felt as if I was “intruding” as a mere Contractor.  I looked on the JLR Quality Intranet at the PQ pages and found that the scant entries for this vital subject were mostly about using lighting!  However, it appears to have passed my Jag by.  The MG utilises colour and varying brightness to give a pleasing effect, enhanced n low-level or night-time driving, welcoming one to the car’s interior.  The XF features a very neat illuminated Jaguar symbol centre-screen and that’s it.  Autocar said of the Jag – “Cabin sports excellent perceived quality and digital sophistication – even today

HUD-time – Jag 1, MG 0

A score for the Castle Bromwich car here, as it has a natty HUD (Head Up Display), showing “Jaguar” at ignition “On” and then the prevailing speed limit next to actual car speed.  

Driver instruments – Jag 1, MG 1

A draw then on Instruments for both.  The Jaguar features the current house-style of selectable views on the small, but wide centre screen, whereas the MG has a big tablet-sized screen to add to the normal LED tacho/speedo combination in front of the driver.  The Jaguar also has the tacho/speedo/fuel/engine temp as the MG, but the MG adds some spice with a useful (for periphery vison) set of circles which grow outwards when accelerating, disappear when steady and shrink inwards when slowing.  Gimmicky maybe, but it has its uses and does make use of LED technology to the full.

Seating is also a bit of a draw, as both are very pleasant places to be, but I do know that I can rack up 400 miles a day in the MG and have no issues, but haven’t driven the Jaguar more than 70 miles at one stint.

Performance – Jag 3, MG 2 

Well, to be expected, really.   The XF is a performance car with oodles of pedigree and 300bhp out of its 2.0L Ingenium engine.  However, the acceleration of the little 1.5L four-cylinder in the MG is very impressive.   Pressing the Red Button delivers a sprightly rush forwards for such a big car.  You know, people trade down from Porsche’s into these cars?  They do lose performance in the trade-down, but in the value for money can’t be beaten.

Price – MG 2, Jag 0.

A new XF was about £45,000 (half that of a similarly spec’ed Teutonic wagon) and the MG was £25k.  My particular XF sports many extra features, such as 360 degree cameras, a deployable tow-hitch (very sexy movement, but Mrs Pog wasn’t overly impressed.  Tom Cruises arse-cheeks in one of her favourite films – Rock of Ages – did impress her, however).  I paid just under £20k for this 2018 model, having looked around for months.  I even considered a black one and having it wrapped, as there were more black ones about!

Handling – MG 1, Jag 3.

It was always going to be a walk-over.  The MG is a family SUV, so it rolls a bit in corners and doesn’t have the same grip as did the 4×4 Evoque, not surprisingly.  Its C of G is so much higher than a regular car, so although I would have enjoyed a track day in the Evoque, not the MG.  One can hustle it along, there are flappy paddles and fun can be had, along with 42mpg on a run, so it isn’t at all disappointing, just in line with expectations for any SUV.  On my own, I can raise a grin or two in the MG.  I haven’t driven the Jaguar enough yet to know its fuel consumption.

Features – MG 1, Jag 2

Both cars have many of the expected modern features, such as heated seats and air-con, power seats and stuff, but the XF does feature a heated screen and steering wheel, the latter essential for a crash-damaged body with Reynaud’s like me.  Neither were available on the MG.  This latter car does make better use of some features, as already discussed under ambience and LED’s.  I feel that the radar cruise and stop-start is better and more intuitively engineered on the HS*, too.

* I agree, the adaptive cruise on the jaguar is a really poor system and way too nervous – MIKE

In  conclusion

Both are very good cars in their own rights, produced for different purposes, but we use both as family cars to carry stuff and two German Shepherds.  They fulfil this purpose well and its quite a privilege to be able to choose which one to take.  I used to as a Senior Manager, have access to several cars.  A colleague and I shared a (then new) Discovery and a Rover 214SLi, split the rental costs for both down the middle and then shared the two cars, three weeks about!  I realise that this has been a very random comparison, but hey, you read it!

Dr Pog.