This was posted 3 years 13 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Free MG Branded Size 3 Basketball (Worth $16.95) with Completed Test Drive @ NBL & MG Motors

100
FREE NBL BALL

What an odd deal… All the pus and pain of a test drive, for a basketball with MG branding

But hey, if you're really that bored here ya go!


Conditions

Customers who book and attend a test drive at an MG Dealership, during the month of April (1 April to 30 April 2021) will receive a free size 3 MG-branded basketball

Customers can book a test drive via the link on the NBL website to

https://mgmotor.com.au/book-a-test-drive/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwo-aC…

Customers need to type “FREE NBL BALL” in the “Comments” on the MG booking portal

Alternatively, the customer can mention “FREE NBL BALL” at the dealership to redeem the ball

Ball is a size 3 rubber MG-branded basketball, retail value $16.95

Limited to one ball redemption per booking

NBL will distribute the balls to customers who have been validated by MG as attending a test drive, on Monday 3 May 2021

Related Stores

MG Australia
MG Australia
National Basketball League
National Basketball League

closed Comments

  • +1

    Slam dunk of a deal!

    • You'd have to have balls to post a deal like this

  • +1

    Would that make me a baller?

    • Freeballer?

  • @spackbace for 3. It's good! 🏀

    • +2

      Boomshakala!

  • +1

    The ZS EV is quite intriguing. If I was to test drive any car for a free ball it would be that.

    • Unless you live in Melb or Syd (with some EV infrastructure), I'd look at the PHEV version. The battery isn't big enough (and will degrade quite quickly). Based on 4 years of EV driving.

      • +3

        Unless you live in Melb or Syd (with some EV infrastructure), I'd look at the PHEV version

        Why? So you can keep paying ICE costs for servicing, keep paying for petrol, and then get the worst of both worlds whether using petrol or electricity?

        The battery isn't big enough

        This is totally dependent on the type of driving required, and not necessarily the location. In case you didn't know Qld has an electric highway now, and people in Adelaide and Perth have some options too. Not everyone is driving across the nullarbor

        and will degrade quite quickly

        Says who? This battery is liquid cooled, and therefore should last the lifetime of the car. If it tracks like the Model S (which we have the best data on) then it could be as low and 8-15% total loss over 19 years, I've not seen data for the ZS EV but that's the general expectation with liquid cooled battery EVs

        Based on 4 years of EV driving

        I expect you are driving a Leaf if you were in 4 years ago, either that or a Model S or iMiev. The 2012 Leaf battery (along with the iMeiv) as you know wasn't liquid cooled, and even the chemistry of the first ones wasn't the best (later they replaced them with the so called "lizard battery" which was better, but still not up with liquid cooled batteries. If you are expecting the ZS EV to be closer to the Leaf, it shouldn't be (pending real world data)

        • +1

          A bit aggressive, but some good points made regarding it being liquid cooled. But even so, where does the energy come from to cool the battery coolant when the ambient temperature is 30 - 47C over summer (with temps inside vehicles often 60C+). Heat and battery cycles kill batteries, and this car here will get plenty of both.

          I haven't seen any data on the Model S degradation in Australian conditions? (Most studies are the UK, or northern US). I'm working off my own experience with driving an EV (Mitsubishi), having solar batteries at home and friends with a Tesla. Their battery is around 29% degraded, couldn't tell you the KMs. My battery went to 35% degradation (so lost over 1/3 of the range). Mitsi replaced it under warranty (due to their own mistake saying lithium will never go below 80%). Any car over 80k km, it's battery has degraded past 80%. The initial decline is quite quick as well. Ie some lose 10% in the first 5000km. As for my replacement, it is just about the same now. I'm sitting on 85% capacity. Mitsi have air-conditioned battery packs, but they don't run when parked. So they just die.

          The model 3 isn't a great comparison anyway as it has a larger battery and is a lighter car. So the MG will have to do more cycles to cover the same distance. Lithium batteries have finite cycles.

          The other issue is infrastructure. I can drive (PHEV) wherever. Metro Adelaide has zero…yes…zero public charging stations now for the type 1 phev. The MG will hopefully have type 2 /CCS, which will give you some options for charging.

          But this is not what you want your driving experience to be. Needing to leave your car at dedicated charging stations (and hoping no one else is using it for hours when you get there and then either wait, or risk trying to reach another several KMs in the direction you arent going).

          With the phev I do 95% of my driving in the CBD on pure EV (charging at home with solar power, and I used to use shopping centre chargers while shopping, but they have decommissioned them!). With the PHEV, If I want to go away for a weekend, I can. If I want to tow a trailer or boat up to the river, I can. If I want to drive 650km without stopping for hours..I can.

          In SA, even Tesla has very limited charger Access in 99% of the state. Look at major hubs of Port Lincoln and Whyalla…2 tesla chargers. Absolute lotto if you are one of two who can use it when you get there. I watched a poor Leaf pull up after me at the shops and I had 4.5hrs remaining. He was still there after 2 hrs, so I let him use it as I had petrol as a backup.

          If the MG maybe triples the size of it's battery, so you can always get home to charge over night, it might work. If the charging infrastructure goes 100 fold at least here, it might work. But it's current battery for the size of the vehicle with what is available is too small, and will get even less with excessive cycling in Australia's hot climate.

          Anyway, just trying to help out and share my few years experience. I hope EVs improve soon. I love my PHEV. I'm so glad I burn 90%+ fuel than I used to. But you couldn't pay me to be stuck with the limitations of a leaf or similar.

          • @tunzafun001: Lost my response when my phone died :-( not meaning to be agressive, but there's a lot of misinformation about EVs, and good discussion helps dispel a lot of that.

            where does the energy come from

            You have solar, so from the sun of course. And yes, maybe a little gets used during the day on a hot day, it's a tiny fraction compared with what's required to drive the car

            Their battery is around 29% degraded, couldn't tell you the KMs.

            See here: https://electrek.co/2020/06/06/tesla-battery-degradation-rep…

            According to that article, the Tesla with the worst battery degredation was the X 90D, and that still had over 500,000km on it before it was replaced under warranty. The landscape for batteries is not reflected by your iMeiv, it's much better now, and it's really a non issue for 90% of people who'd sell the car before running into an issue. Check carsales.com and there's a currently 108 cars from over 100k that are currently on there that have over 500k km. While you with your iMeiv might have issues, battery concerns really should be a thing of the past.

            Lithium batteries have finite cycles

            They don't have infinite cycles, but an ICE motor also can't run infinitely. What's been shown very clearly in the data is that the primary issue is heat, and cycles are secondary. It's the heat that needs to be managed and it is being

            The other issue is infrastructure…zero public charging stations now for the type 1 phev

            Yes, we've all been laid a bit of a land mine by lazy governments here, but the MG does have a type 2/ccs, and therefore will have plenty of options. Not to mention that it's got a 263km WLTP range, even on the highway you should be able to do 170km on a full charge.

            But this is not what you want your driving experience to be.

            Absolutely not my experience. I drive to a busy shop where it's hard to find parking on the best days, and I have a destination charger that's free and the charging spots are right next to the lift and free. I've so far (5 years) never had an issue charging, chargers have always been available, and when they haven't (possibly 1 time?) other EV owners have been courteous and helpful, even unplugging early in some cases so I can get access sooner (clearly you are one of these gracious souls as are most EV owners I find)

            If I want to drive 650km without stopping…I can

            Yes, everyone should be very clear on this point, you absolutely can't do this in an EV. the last time I drove this far without stopping was… never, and I've done multiple trips up and down the east coast in my ICE vehicles over the years. For most people, that one time a year they want to go somewhere, they can borrow, rent, or maybe just cop the plugging in the car. Towing is again a completely different thing and would limit range further, if your use case is for that then a PHEV might make fiscal sense, but maybe a standard hybrid might have made just as much if that's the most common use case (there is some data to show that hybrids actually get better fuel economy than PHEVs when in hybrid mode only, so it will depend on how much you get out of running around town). Aside from that, this is a compact SUV, whereas your (I presume) Outlander is a mid size, and more of those customers might expect to tow (although I accept that the PHEV outlander is probably in the same price ball park as the EV ZS, although without some of the savings.

            Regarding tripling the battery size, that would come with lugging around a lot of extra weight, which would make the car less efficient 90% of the time. If you are in a 2 car family, probably the best all round set up is a stock battery EV for city trips and a ICE vehicle for long haul/towing, at least until the ICE vehicle can be replaced with a hydrogen powered one.

            • @Jackson: Well I think we have a consensus. These cars can work if you live on the east coast and happy to frequently stop for extended periods on a road trip, and or you still own a second ice vehicle.

              If you have a PHEV, you don't need to own the second vehicle, can still drive it as an EV most of the time, but will need to factor in ICE servicing (though at reduced needs, ie I've done 150 000km, and the ice has probably done 15 000 of that, it's basically still a new engine).

              Now if Hydrogen does become mainstream, it will be relatively easy to convert an ICE PHEV to run on Hydrogen (MythBusters ran an old 80's car on H2 just using a hose of hydrogen stuffed into the carby). So some future benefit to the ICE.. hopefully.

              In SA, a small EV battery just won't work. Unless you are CBD only, and then you might as well just use a tram. Our government is a disgrace on this front. Most people here frequently drive more than the stated range (which tests showed they couldn't actually achieve). Plus you dont want to leave it to the last km (especially if living near hills). So let's say 100km safe freeway range, or 50 km return from a home charger. My commute to work is 54km each way. Thankfully it's downhill in the home leg and I use 1.9L / 100km to get home.

              Lastly, the energy needed to heat/ cool water is significant. That's why water is still the best liquid to use in a radiator. It takes away a lot of energy. So if the lithium is to stay cool while the average Jo parks their car at work in full sun, a lot of energy is needed, or they are going to get hot.

              I assume it cools while charging, and when driving, but won't help while simply being parked up. Be interesting to see the range on 40C days. My PHEV
              runs the battery AC, plus I run the AC in the cabi. Range drops 50%. So this MG with alledged 170km freeway, might be 85Km (or 42km radius on a return trip).

              Just an FYI. My battery is a late 2019 vintage (so not old), and dieing fast. So They can't handle the heat (and I'm super protective walking long distances to park in shade). If it was my partners car…it would be dead.
              As for size. You may be surprised, my Outlander is shorter than my partner's Mazda 3.

              Anyway, what we need is the government to stop covering good farming land with solar panels, and start covering all shops, schools, hospitals, sporting venues with panels, creating shade and providing an energy source for charging.

    • +1

      The problem I have is $20,000 extra for the EV version is a chasm too wide to leap.

      • $2000 x 10 years petrol savings and you have made up the chasm. Add the servicing costs and the pay back period is probably 7 years or less, and if you are happy to keep the car longer, and it's all cream after that

        Also that's not really fair to say 20k, the ZS EV is as well equipped as a 28-29k model. If you don't care about equipement (which puts you in a statistical minority) then fair enough

        • +1

          The two models I could find were ZS Essence for $25,990 and ZSEV Essence for $43,990 and the warranty drops from 7 years to 5 years.

          I don't spend $2,000 a year on petrol (under 10,000km), plus calculate net present value (NPV) of money, charging costs, then the numbers don't add up for me. Hopefully that will change soon.

          • @mathew42: Essence is 26k right now: https://mgmotor.com.au/models/mg-zs/

            I think it might have dropped since about a month ago when I was researching it, can't be sure. Still at $26k vs $44k that's $18k

            under 10k km is low for Australia, but of course with more use the payback period is shorter. I agree they are still expensive, but it depends on how long your view is and your appetite for, despite immensly better reliability, potential issues in 10-20 years time which might be a long time to crystal ball gaze. Still, to have a car that will pay you back enough that it will be free and then potentially make you money, there's a compelling argument for it. Currently we don't know if these cars will last 20, 30, 40, or 50 years if cared for

            • @Jackson:

              Currently we don't know if these cars will last 20, 30, 40, or 50 years if cared for

              We also don't know if they'll only last 5 years, but unfortunately we won't know that for another 5 or so years. Currently MG as a brand feels like Korean cars 15 years ago: cheap and not the most reliable, which is how Japanese cars were perceived 30 years ago.

              The Mazda MX-30 with rotary range extender could be the most interesting, because rotaries are light and can be very efficient as a generator.

              • @mathew42:

                We also don't know if they'll only last 5 years

                MGs have so far a good reputation, good support in Australia and have sold in decent numbers for a new brand and reports of their commitment to owners so far have been good. If you are referring to EVs in general, in the last 8 to 10 years, Nissan has sold over 300k Leafs from 2012, only a few hundred in Australia to my knowledge which explains the general level of ignorance here (no insult intended). These cars have been absolutely bullet proof, even the batteries, while degrading due to the lack of active cooling, are still doing quite big numbers before being unusable. EVs are inherently more reliable by a large factor than ICE vehicles, this should hold true regardless of the brand.

                Agree that the range extender is interesting, but still requires periodic servicing, even more often since the issues with rotary engines are well known

                • @Jackson: The issues with rotary engines can be significantly reduced by appropriate management which is trivial to implement when the engine is used as a generator and not directly driving the wheels.The lighter engine should delivery better fuel economy. For many people the sweet spot is 50-100km battery range and a light weight range extender for longer journeys.

                  It is correct to say the engines of EVs are inherently more reliable than an ICE vehicle, but there is significantly more to reliability of a car than just the engine.

                  The other risk is that technology (e.g. batteries) is evolving rapidly. I expect that designing an EV platform from scratch will be significantly better than shoving batteries into an existing ICE design.

                  • +1

                    @mathew42: We need to be fair here, the vast amount of issues with ICE cars are mechanical related, and also the vast amount of service requirements. EVs suffer from next to none of these, even non under the hood items like brakes have much less strain and wear. There's no oil chwnge or filter, coolant systems are smaller, in the case of the leaf the factory coolant is rated for 200k km or 15 years, brakes have been known to do 360k km on a set of pads. This is unheard of with ICE vehicles

                    • @Jackson:

                      We need to be fair here, the vast amount of issues with ICE cars are mechanical related, and also the vast amount of service requirements.

                      I agree that service requirements are significantly higher on ICE cars, but the notable issues I've had with cars have been air-conditioning, electronics (e.g. power windows) and interior wear and tear. For example the rubber cover for the boot switch is split. I hoped $30 to replace, but turns out you need to replace the whole switch, so I'll just wait until the switch dies.

                      Hopefully you are correct, but I'm not ready to risk an extra $20k.

  • +1

    Balls made the same place as the cars?

  • -7

    Just a heads up MG is state owned by the CCP so if you're into supporting the same organisation that brought you the China virus then go buy one of their crappy cars.

  • Free ball or have to talk to car sales even after I've left the dealership?
    Maybe I can give fake details.

  • +1

    Out of courtesy for the MG Salesperson, I would let them know that I’m simply doing it for a free ball.

    That way they’ll probably just give you a ball, and not waste their time on a a non genuine ‘customer’

    • +1

      NBL will distribute the balls to customers who have been validated by MG as attending a test drive, on Monday 3 May 2021

      They won't give you the ball after the test drive. So better not tell them.

      • Cheers

  • +5

    size 3 is a tiny basketball size :)

    "Size 3 is a novelty-sized, or 'mini' basketball that is suitable for all ages."
    "It is recommended for kids ages 4-8 years old."

  • Just be aware that Size 3 is a mini basketball

  • +1

    The MG HS is a decent looking car despite being Chinese made.

    I cannot go test driving just for a Size 3 basketball.

    Size 7 competition level composite material maybe.

    • +2

      My God Holy Sh1t!

  • +1

    "What advantages does this motor car have say over, a train?"

    • +2

      "…which I could also afford"

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