How is the MG Majestor experience when not riding shotgun? We find out all that as well as undertake in some roughhousing activities around Aamby Valley
Words: Gaurav Davare
Photography: Siddharth Dadhe
The experience of riding shotgun can be considered fun depending on the car, but of course, nothing beats the experience of being in control at the driver’s seat. Not too long ago, we had a co-passenger experience with JSW MG Motor India’s newest flagship full-size SUV, the Majestor and now we finally get to experience it for ourselves around Aamby Valley to see whether it is worth the hype, especially its off-road credentials.
Before we get to our driving impressions, let’s first have a refresher on what exactly is the MG Majestor. It is essentially a facelifted Gloster but with a different name and higher positioning. At a glance, it is clearly more butch than the Gloster right from the large and prominent front grille and faux silver skid plates, complemented by sleek LED DRLs and vertically stacked tri-beam LED headlights. The overall silhouette remains familiar but the tough personality is amped up with a different design for the 19-inch dual-tone alloy wheels, black cladding, and connected LED tail lights. If I had to nitpick around this area, the fake exhaust tips don’t really hide the real exhaust tail pipe that well.
In a stark contrast to its butch exterior, the cabin looks and feels nicely premium with a smoked ebony theme, a fair amount of boxy elements, especially the AC vents, and plenty of soft-touch materials around the dashboard and door pads. More importantly, the fit and finish, including the plastic bits don’t feel cheap and seem built to last.
The MG Majestor also has some key gains over the Gloster in the feature package with a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display with a crisp resolution and easily accessible information, as well as a ventilation and massaging function for the front seats. Now with the gear selector being mounted to the steering column, that has freed up space for two wireless charging pads, cupholders and dials for the fun off-road stuff. Interestingly, with the USB Type-A charging port placed on the lower portion of the centre console, JSW MG Motor India have nicely added a small hole on the upper part of the centre console to allow the charging wire to pass through, mitigating unnecessary tangles. These additions nicely complement a vast suite of features such as an airy panoramic sunroof, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless smartphone connectivity, three zone climate control, a 12-speaker JBL audio system, and level 2 ADAS. It’s not all sunshine and roses though as it could’ve benefitted with things like rear sunshades, rear ventilated seats or more airbags.
Being a full-size SUV, does the MG Majestor feel like a spacious enough SUV to be seated in? As far as the front row is concerned, it ticks off that box easily, with enough room to adjust your seating position, and the seats themselves may have a stiffer than needed bolstering, but it’s comfortable to be seated for long hours. Moving on to the second row, the Majestor can be had as a six or seven-seater SUV, and we got the six-seater version to experience, with two captain seats. While headroom, legroom and underthigh support is plenty, it would’ve been nice if the floor was a little bit lower for a better posture. There are some interesting amenities too as the cupholders are smartly placed around the sides of the captain seats and there is a dedicated socket to charge your laptop or operate an electrical appliance.
The third row is certainly one of the better experiences I’ve had in terms of full-size SUVs as there’s more than adequate space, the floor isn’t too high and even after sliding the captain seats forward, there is enough space for people in both rows to be seated comfortably. Has this come at a cost in boot capacity? Fortunately, no, as at 343 litres with all rows up, there’s more than adequate space to squeeze in moderately sized backpacks and you get a healthy 1,350 litres with the last row folded down.
Under the hood, JSW MG Motor India have left no stone unturned for the Majestor as there’s exclusively a 215-hp 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, with the option for 2WD and 4WD. A key edge over the Gloster is the fact that it comes with up to 10 auto-adaptive off-road modes and a segment-first triple differential locking system. We got a small experience of it a while back while riding shotgun, and now we finally get to experience it ourselves.
Since this is the same powertrain as the Gloster, unfortunately it retains the quirk of taking its sweet time to get off the line especially when you’re below 2,000 rpm. But once it goes past that point the Majestor really comes into its own, with that classic mid-range diesel punch. The eight-speed automatic gearbox complements this with smooth shifts particularly in calm driving scenarios. That being said, if you’re asking for more aggressive inputs or overtakes, the gearbox can remain in a particular gear for longer than necessary. This is particularly apparent while going down sharp declines. Interestingly, despite the thrum of the diesel, the NVH levels are decent enough to keep the background noise largely controlled.
We didn’t just get to drive the MG Majestor around normal conditions as at Aamby Valley, we had the opportunity to test out its off-road chops ourselves around a curated zone. It had plenty of interesting challenges such as rocky terrains, rumblers, big articulation zones, positive and negative side inclines as well as pretty steep uphill and downhill sections. Here, the MG Majestor’s 10 off-road modes as well as the triple differential locking system were put in full use and fared rather impressively, while keeping things relatively stable inside. The 219-mm ground clearance as well as the 360-degree camera was much appreciated in navigating tight spots.
A particular feature I was most impressed by was the M-Crawl or CCO feature which essentially was a Crawl Control feature, that has the system automatically adjust throttle inputs and you only needed to manage steering inputs. Crucially, on steep inclines, the throttle inputs were consistent, making it a lot easier to focus on other navigational challenges. Overall, the MG Majestor not only allows some degree of control in your hand amongst the many off-road modes and assists available, but can also act as a guiding hand if you’re a novice in the art of roughhousing, essentially being a gateway to letting loose.
Taking the Majestor on more normal roads, it can take a fair amount of punishment, easily tackling the stereotypical challenges in our country. That being said, I wouldn’t consider this a corner carver as the high stance and ladder frame chassis mean body roll is very much present if you’re attempting some spirited cornering. But then again, SUVs like these aren’t really meant for this kind of cornering so it’s not really a dealbreaker. If I did have one particular wish for the Majestor is that it would’ve benefitted against the competition in its segment if it had an option of a manual gearbox or a petrol powertrain.
To sum things up, the MG Majestor brings plenty to the table, with premium interior quality, plenty of space, and a powerful 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel engine with potent off-road capability that allows certain freedoms and can be a good guiding hand for a novice off-roader. Yes, it does have some feature misses and you don’t get a petrol or a manual option, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker.
If you like something bold, powerful, capable and packed with plenty of tech, the Majestor is a worthy pick, albeit one should expect a price premium over the Gloster. That being said, the Gloster can be considered if you want much of the tech package at a lower price point and can live without the extra off-road trickery. What will decide the MG Majestor’s fate as a full-sized SUV however is how it’ll be priced, which should surface soon.
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