Gloster

Overview

The Gloster was MG Motor India’s answer to the large three-row diesel SUV. Its launch announcement, dated 8 October 2020, opened the car at ₹28,98,000 and closed the range at ₹35,38,000 ex-showroom, with the model positioned above the Hector and below nothing, because it was the most expensive car MG sold in India at that point. The powertrain across that range was one engine: a 1,996 cc four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel rated at 218 PS (printed here as 215 bhp, which is the same figure in the unit this catalogue labels its column with) and 480 Nm, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed torque-converter automatic, with an on-demand four-wheel-drive system MG named its Intelligent All Terrain System. Seven drive modes were listed at launch.

The body is large by Indian standards and the launch material gives the geometry directly: 4,985 mm long, 1,926 mm wide and 1,867 mm tall, on a 2,950 mm wheelbase, in six- and seven-seat layouts with a 75-litre tank. MG’s own figures cover the shape and the drivetrain, which is why the specification table on this page reads the way it does — and why three rows buyers expect are missing.

There is no fuel-economy figure, because MG’s launch material read for this record states none and MotoSutra holds no certified number to substitute. There is no kerb mass, because the figures in circulation for the Gloster disagree between 2,500 kg and 2,550 kg and this desk will not pick one. And there is no safety star rating, because none exists: neither Global NCAP’s India results nor Bharat NCAP’s published ratings carry a Gloster assessment, so this page says so in the safety row rather than leaving the impression that a rating was simply unavailable to MotoSutra. The catalogue lists the model as discontinued; MG’s India product page for the Gloster now serves the Majestor in its place, and no MG discontinuation notice was found.

One thing this record can add that MG’s launch material cannot: MotoSutra road-tested this car. “MG Gloster 2020 - a Big 7 Seater SUV Review” went live on www.motosutra.in on 25 September 2020, was updated on 21 October 2020 and survives in Internet Archive captures from 3 November 2020 through 2 March 2021; an earlier version of its URL was already redirecting to that address by 13 October 2020. It was written by Rahul Singh from time in the car rather than from a specification sheet, and the one measured number it published is 0-100 km/h in 11.2 seconds, set against a VBox performance logger. It is quoted here as a dated result from a 2020 test of a car MG had not yet priced, not as a current verdict and not as a manufacturer figure. What the same test says about the car’s weight — a “mammoth 2.5-ton” description — is a rounded impression rather than a homologated mass, so it does not settle the 2,500-versus-2,550 kg question above and no kerb row appears for it.

The rest of that test is worth reading for its context as much as its conclusions. It was published two weeks before MG announced prices, and it expected the top-spec Savvy to land “around 35 lakh rupees ex-showroom”; the launch release of 8 October 2020 set the top variant at ₹35,38,000. It called the twin-turbo diesel one of the quietest of its kind and praised its in-gear kick-down, while criticising the engine as flat below 2,000 rpm and the eight-speed automatic as slow to respond even on paddle command, with the three road modes — eco, auto and sport — indistinguishable from each other in the drive. It rated the third row the best in its class and concluded that the Gloster had the best ride-and-handling mix of the large ladder-frame SUVs on sale in India at the time. Its mileage note is as instructive as its performance one: the test published no fuel-economy figure at all, which is a second reason this record has none to offer. And its account of the driver-assistance suite follows MG’s own descriptions of the functions closely, so treat that paragraph as equipment reporting rather than as independent verification of how each system behaves.

• 1,996 cc twin-turbo diesel rated at 218 PS (215 bhp) and 480 Nm, with an eight-speed torque-converter automatic
• Rear-wheel drive with an on-demand four-wheel-drive system MG called its Intelligent All Terrain System, and seven drive modes at launch
• 4,985 mm of length on a 2,950 mm wheelbase, in six- and seven-seat layouts, launched from ₹28.98 lakh ex-showroom