MG MG4 (2022 - ) Electric review

You’ll know the script for electric cars by now: more expensive to buy but cheaper to run, assuming you can charge at home on a suitable off-peak tariff or can run it as a company car to reap the huge Benefit In Kind savings currently incentivising take-up. The MG4 has all those running cost advantages but is also incredible value to buy, be that outright or on monthly finance. Credit strong demand for that, MG’s number crunching revealing it costs far less per month on PCP than an equivalently sized VW ID.3 thanks to strong resale values. The upfront price also looks very competitive, given the entry-level MG4 undercuts popular mainstream options like the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and Peugeot e-208 by a healthy margin. The Extended Range version costs more to buy and to charge because of its bigger battery, but if you really need to go the extra miles between plugging in it’s a welcome addition to the line-up.

While the MG name is as old as the hills the company’s modern incarnation remains a relatively fresh face and, to many people, an unknown quantity in reliability terms. For some buyers the ‘made in China’ provenance may count against it as well but, in fact, MG’s parent company brings with it huge resources and technical clout to match any European brand. The fact it stands by its products with a seven-year warranty should help overcome any fears on this score as well, given it will likely more than cover most initial ownership periods or (perhaps more pertinently) finance terms.

Even the entry-level SE version of the MG4 comes packed with the kind of driver aids modern car buyers expect, built around the MG Pilot assistance technology. This includes the usual lane-keeping interventions, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control to maintain a fixed distance to the car ahead no matter how much its speed fluctuates and more besides. Go up a grade to Trophy and you also get blindspot warnings and rear cross traffic alerts to warn when you’re backing out of a tight space into possibly unseen traffic. But a couple of concerns mean we have to dock a point here, one being the lack of a headrest on the centre rear seat that MG says has been deleted on the basis adults who could benefit from one rarely sit in this position. We’re calling it a cost-cutting measure too far. The other worry is the fiddly nature of the screen-based ventilation controls, which are tiny and require far too much time with your eyes off the road to operate safely – MG is simply following industry trends here but in our book there’s still a place for physical controls you can use by feel alone for basic functions like this.

Other than that missing rear headrest the MG4 looks after its driver and passengers very well indeed. True, you can feel where some of the money has been saved over more premium rivals in some of the materials, with some flimsy plastics and sharp edges in various bits of the cabin. But the fundamentals are all there, with plenty of adjustment in the driving position to suit all physiques and an impressive amount of leg- and headroom in the back. For this you can thank the fact the MG4 is built on all-new, electric specific foundations rather than adapted from a petrol or diesel model like others in the range, or, indeed, many rivals. Like the VW ID.3 MG has benchmarked, this means more space between the front and rear axles for the occupants and improved stability on the road. Indeed, ride comfort on the MG4 is very impressive, with no rattles, clunks or squeaks over even the bumpy country roads we drove it on, while the steering is nicely weighted so it feels positive and responsive without being a burden in town driving. If there’s one criticism with the MG4’s layout it’s that legroom in the back comes at the expense of boot space behind, the luggage area proving rather shallow and narrow. Even if you can fit a pushchair in there you’ll not have much space left for your shopping.

For better and for worse MG’s value for money credentials really show, with all versions based around the same set-up of a digital instrument cluster in front of the driver and a large central touch-screen through which you control everything from media through to climate control and driver modes. On the base model you can navigate via your phone apps in CarPlay or Android Auto while the Trophy version gets increased functionality, including navigation, 360-degree camera and increased scope for the iSmart app to check your MG4’s status from your phone. You also get leather upholstery for a more upmarket feel. While the dashboard arrangement mimics that of the ID.3 there’s no escaping the MG’s operating system isn’t as slick as VW’s, with tiny graphics that are difficult to operate by touch while on the move. The bigger icons and menus within phone apps are easier to use, but the fact you need to navigate out of these and into the MG operating system to adjust something as basic as the fan speed or temperature is a pain. On the outside of the vehicle upgrading to Trophy spec brings some significant physical changes to set it apart, including a two-tone roof, funky looking double rear spoiler and a distinctive full-width light bar at the rear. Pair this with some of the distinctive colours like the orange seen here and the MG4 really stands out, and for the right reasons.

Like many all-electric cars the MG4 puts its battery under the floor and is driven by a motor powering the rear wheels, the XPower version getting an additional motor for more performance and a form of all-wheel drive. For the regular models you have the option of the SE with 170 horsepower and a choice of standard or long-range batteries or the Trophy, which has 203 horsepower and comes as standard with the bigger battery. With the latter the range increases from the standard 218 miles to as much as 281 miles by official test figures, the car showing impressive levels of efficiency on our test drive to suggest those numbers should be achievable. Still not enough? The Extended Range has an even bigger battery, does an official 323 miles and gets a small power increase to offset the extra weight it’s carrying. Efficiency in our hands suggested the reality will be a little shy of 300 miles but still plenty to be getting on with. Like many electric cars you can adjust how much regenerative braking you get when you lift off the throttle, ranging from minimum for cruising to maximum for city driving and putting as much energy back into the battery as possible in stop-start traffic. A pity this is all buried in the fiddly menus, though we figured out it was possible to configure one of the steering wheel ‘hot keys’ as a shortcut and toggle the settings as driving conditions required. If you want to blitz everything from hot hatches to supercars away from the lights the XPower version remains the pick, the standard MG4s in all the available power outputs meanwhile feeling more than sprightly enough for most everyday driving situations.