MG Windsor CUV Reviewed: Big, Easy And Electric! [Video]

And should we add, spectacularly priced? Well, JSW-MG Motor just released prices of the Windsor EV over the weekend, and got it bang on. Business class luxury at economy class prices. At 15.5 lakh rupees ex-showroom for the top-end Essence trim of the Windsor that we drove at Gurgaon last week, the electric crossover utility vehicle represents fantastic value. And everything that you’re going to read for the next few minutes will revolve around pricing, range, the way the car drives, and more importantly, what it means for the electric vehicle ecosystem in India. Fasten your seatbelts, the business class review for the business class electric car is here.

What is it?

It’s a big car. A car that feels like a MPV on the inside with a 2,700 mm wheelbase, has the ground clearance of a SUV (a full 186 mm of it) and is yet compact enough (4.29 meters long) to pass off as a crossover – read Creta/Seltos types.

And once on the road, a lot of people stared at the MG Windsor, for it looks unlike anything seen on Indian roads. It looks retro cool, like a car that was designed in the 1970s as a car straight out of the future.

The wheels are pushed out to the extremities and there’s very little front and rear overhang. The front looks vaguely similar to the Fiat Multipla with botox surgery to look a lot prettier. It works, and the MG Windsor is quite likeable from every angle you look at it. It is going to turn heads, and most are going to stare at it, as it simply looks very different from the kind of cars we generally see on Indian roads. Novelty value? 110 %.

And it simply glides on….

Electric powertrain (136 PS-200 Nm) under the bonnet means that the MG Windsor makes literally no noise. And the sense of futurism continues on the inside of the car. The doors feel heavy, VW Jetta-heavy, and there’s a sense of real solidity as you walk, yes walk into the car, and shut the front door. Once inside, the sheer lack of buttons could be unnerving for most.

This is as unconventional as it gets, for nearly everything on the MG Windsor is controlled by the massive 15.6 inch touchscreen that’s bigger than most laptop screens. Want to toggle between drive modes? Touch screen. Want to open the roof blinds? Touch screen. Seat ventilation? Touch screen. Want to control the MID’s brightness? Touch screen.

Touch screen this, touch screen that, and it’s going to take a few days for everyone buying the MG Windsor, to get a hang of how the car works, through the touchscreen of course. Thankfully, some of the steering mounted controls can be customized, again through the touchscreen. Phew!

Now, the lack of buttons means that the center console is actually a floating armrest with acres of space underneath. To get a move on, you simply use the stalks behind the steering wheel to select the drive modes. And there’s no start-stop button as well. You simply long press the brake pedal, and the car’s electric motor comes to life. The Gen-Z crowd is going to love this. As for the rest of us, it’s just a matter of getting used to.

Taking off!

Once on the move, you can toggle between multiple drive modes: Eco+, Eco, Normal and Sport. There are 3 brake energy regeneration (regen) modes: Light, Normal and High. Eco+ is speed limited to 80 Kph, and the accelerator pedal feels dull initially but has more than adequate performance for everyday city driving.

You just have to mash the accelerator pedal to get a swift move on. Diving in Eco+ mode around town with regen set on high, you can get 300 kilometers per charge. This is a big win for everyone considering the Windsor as a chauffeur driven car as one can simply lounge on the airplane-like rear seat (reclinable to 135 degrees) and let the chauffeur do the driving. The 300 kilometer range is more than adequate for everyday city commuting – the prime purpose of this car.

Now, shifting into Eco mode makes the throttle slightly more sharper, and the Windsor gets more sprightly. Hitting the expressway between Delhi and Greater Noida, we shifted into this mode to get to speeds above 80 Kph, and also for quick overtakes.

The normal mode makes the MG Windsor feel quite quick, and there’s literally no lag between the throttle and the torque delivery to the front wheels. This is the mode where the Windsor feels like a proper electric car – the sheer seamlessness and instant torque of the electric motor makes its presence felt in this mode.

And when you finally hit Sport mode, the Windsor’s ‘beast’ mode gets activated. The throttle feels very sharp, and acceleration is near instantaneous. We even tried this for about 4-5 kilometers on the expressway, just to get a sense of how torquey the Windsor feels during roll-ons.

Hitting 140 Kmph from 60 Kmph feels effortless, and comes up within no time. Charge drops quite quickly though as hard acceleration is when the load on the battery increases dramatically and this is similar to every other electric car around. No real surprises there.

Business class comfort? Check!

 

The MG Windsor offers dimpled, sofa-like seats that have a retro feel, and are much softer than most car seats. How did they hold up on longer rides? 150 kilometers and 5 hours later, planted on the Windsor’s driver seat, I felt as fresh as a daisy after driving from Le Meridian Gurgaon, across Delhi’s rush hour, to Greater Noida through the Yamuna expressway, and back. I was surprised. I anticipated that the seat would sag with all that softness, and cause discomfort. I was wrong.

The driver’s seat, 8 way power adjustable, was supremely comfortable for the whole duration, and not once did I step out or stop. It was just continuous driving as we were putting the Windsor through a real-world range test – to simulate a typical commute that most people would use this car for.

A big highlight here was how mature the Windsor’s suspension felt from the front seat, despite the car riding on 18 inch wheels. I intentionally put it through massive potholes and drove roughshod over broken roads near Kingdom of Dreams Gurgaon, and the Windsor just took everything in its stride. Very controlled lateral movement and an absolutely supple ride meant that the Windsor was really comfortable on bad roads – and this is something that a lot of people are going to love about this car.

While the suspension was supple, did the handling suffer? Well, this is a natural follow up question, to which the answer lies in the battery. Or rather the center of gravity. The Windsor is a born-electric car, which means it sits on a Skateboard platform with the battery in the floor. The center of gravity is quite low considering the fact that the battery is the heaviest part of an electric car. So, the Windsor changes direction quite swiftly, and is holds its line on long sweepers very well.

However, the steering feels quite vague and there’s a fair bit of body roll from the Windsor’s 1.5 ton heft and soft suspension. This basically means that you don’t feel confident while making quick direction changes. In other words, this car is not meant to be driven hard, or hustled.

Rather, it’s meant to be enjoyed like the ‘Big Easy’.  The Windsor is a car that you amble along in, enjoying the quietude and airiness of the cabin, the sheer comfort even as the suspension makes short work of road imperfections, and when you occasionally want to feel the ‘take off’ – shift to sport mode and enjoy a  rapid burst of acceleration.

While I was eager to check out how comfortable the MG Windsor’s back seat felt, I really didn’t have the time to sit at the rear and be driven, as we had the range test in progress. Suffice to say, there are acres and acres of space in the back. The floor is literally flat, and one can really stretch out and enjoy the 135 degree recline angle the rear seat offers. This feels super comfortable at standstill. On how it feels on the move – especially the way the suspension behaves – is something I have to check and report back once the media fleet is made available. Basically, front seat ride comfort cannot be equated to back seat comfort, until it’s experienced first hand!

Range Check!

We put the MG Windsor equipped with a 38 kWh battery pack through a typical city commute, from Gurgaon to Greater Noida and back. The 151 kilometer round trip saw us using the Eco+, Eco, Normal and Sport modes depending on the situation. 80 % of the drive was done in Eco+ mode as this was more than sufficient for city traffic.

Eco mode (10 %) was used on the expressway, with cruise control set at 100, and also when quick overtaking was required. Normal mode (7 %) was used to just get the hang of how it feels, and the same can be said of sport mode (3 % or 4-5 Kms). AC was on, seat ventilation was on, and the stereo was off as we were having a conversation in the car.

We managed to get about 151 Kms of range after using 49 % of charge. We began from 100 % SoC (state of charge). Clearly, the Windsor can do 300 Kms on a full charge in the city when driven normally (like how most people commute). JSW-MG Motor claim 331 Kms on the MIDC2 cycle, and real world range at 300 Kms is quite impressive. On the expressway, with cruise control set to 100, the range drop was almost linear. So, we expect the Windsor to do well even at highway speeds.

We’ll do a full range test (100 % to 5 %), when we get our hands on a media car.

Minimum is maximum…

is a philosophy that JSW-MG seems to have taken too seriously with the Windsor EV. The lack of buttons for nearly everything is disconcerting, as I mentioned before, and it’s going to be a learning curve for nearly everyone who drive this car for the first time.

While the Scandinavian level of minimalism, and use of soft touch materials across the cabin, goes give the Windsor a luxurious feel, the lack of buttons means that everyday usability is compromised, at least until one figures out how everything can be controlled through the touchscreen.

Now, what happens if the touchscreen fails? Well, this is a question that we had as well. Thankfully, critical functions such as the electric parking brake, turn indicators, headlamps, cruise control, drive modes, wipers and air conditioning, have physical buttons. This comes as a relief.

The car’s extra-cleverness in not releasing the electric parking brake until the seatbelt is worn, while being a nice touch, may be inconvenient in certain occasions, but I’m just nitpicking here. Then, there’s the matter of the panel below the steering wheel feeling quite flimsy. Again, just nitpicking.

These are some of the bits that give away the fact that the Windsor is built to a price. In every other aspect, including the VW Jetta-like door heaviness, the Windsor feels like a much more pricier car. And this brings us to the value proposition this car is.

Business class luxury at economy class prices? Check!

The Windsor has a lot of features.  Six airbags, ABS, ESP, a really sturdy body, 360 camera, auto hold, electric parking brake, a massive touchscreen infotainment unit, lots and lots of storage space, a massive 604 liter boot, a versatile split rear seat for even more luggage space, lounge seats, power adjustable driver’s seat, tilt and telescopic steering, ventilated front seats, ambient lighting, a full glass roof and wireless charging is what the top-end Essence brings to the table.

And at a 15.5 lakh, a real world 300 Km range, the MG Windsor represents great value. Market leader Tata Motors will feel the heat. The Windsor comes across as a very comfortable, feature-rich city commuter that can do the occasional intercity run. The intercity run is limited mainly by battery capacity (38 kWh) than anything else, and if JSW-MG bring in the 50 kWH version that they sell internationally, the Windsor can be an outstanding highway car as well. Thank you for stopping by.