NEW MG 4 review – the CHEAPEST and BEST electric car you can buy? | What Car?

But is it any good thats what were going to find out in this review, but before we get into that, if you want to see lots more new car reviews and first looks like this, then make sure you subscribe to our channel and go to whatcar.com for A great deal on your next car mg has been busy reinventing itself as something of a budget focused electric car specialist, its still been releasing fuel powered cars, but the mg products that have really caught the eye recently have been the mg zs ev and the mg5. Both are fully electric cars, which offer lots of space and a good range between charges, all for a very low price, at least by new ev standards, and now we have the mg4. Now. This has a similar brief to the electric mgs that have come before it, but it sits on all new mechanical underpinnings for mg. So the platform that this car sits on is going to be what you find underneath lots of electric mg models over the next few years. It can fit different battery sizes, different body shapes, but this mg4 is the first one that were trying now size wise. The mg4 is similar, but a little bit smaller than the vw id3 and the cooper born. But if youre looking at this electric car, then you are probably also considering some other smaller electric cars, like the renault zoe, the peugeot e208 and the corsa e and thats, because the mg4 is incredibly cheap by new electric car standards.

So, just like other electric mg products that weve tried, this is clearly very competitively priced and puts value first and foremost, so the lineup starts at 25 995 pounds which undercuts every other new electric car rival that you can name here in the uk. If you want to go for a bigger battery version of this car, then its two and a half thousand pounds on top of that and then its another three thousand pounds to go for the range topping version of the mg4. But even then, at about 31 500 pounds, that is where most other electric car rival prices start. There are two batteries you can choose from in the mg4. The standard range model gets a 51 kilowatt hour battery and that has a 218 mile official wltp claimed range. But you can go for a 64 kilowatt hour version of this car and that has a 281 mile claimed wltp range, so thats, a big chunk of extra range that you get for around about two and a half thousand pounds. So it seems very likely that that will be the pick of this lineup theres. Also two trim levels, theres se, which you can have with either battery and then theres trophy, which you can only have with the bigger battery now whats it like inside. Well. At a glance, youd have to say that it has a reasonable amount of showroom appeal. So its got this minimalist layout, which is quite similar to the id3, and it looks reasonably good, but the problem comes when you actually get in, and you start realizing that.

Yes, you have got some soft touch materials up here on the dashboard and on bits of the doors as well, but theres also quite a lot of hard, cheaper feeling nasty plastics around as well like up here on the doors this whole section on the center console. As well just doesnt look that nice doesnt feel that nice either another sign of potential cost cutting, is here with these 17 inch alloys that you get as standard now, you might like how they look but theyre, actually just a plastic covering which is a bit naf. The build quality isnt bad though so it all feels really sturdy decently put together, but the actual quality of materials is pretty patchy at best. You can, though, say the same of the id3 and dont forget theres, a massive difference in price between those two cars. In a similar way to the id3, youve got a digital drive display up here, although in the id3, its actually connected to the steering column, it isnt the mg4, but no matter where you want to have the wheel or set your seat up. It does seem like youve, always got a good chance of seeing pretty much everything on that screen, which is good. Not a lot of manufacturers. Get that right. The 10.25 inch touchscreen infotainment system that comes as standard is similar to what weve seen before in their other products. So that means there are a lot of menus a lot of sub menus.

The screen is reasonably quick to respond, but the text is quite small. Its a bit difficult to see things on it and you do have some physical shortcut buttons down here, but they feel a bit cheap and plasticky and theres no quick, easy way to get to the climate controls which is really annoying. So that means anytime. You want to adjust the temperature youve got to do it through the infotainment system here that is very annoying below the infotainment system. Youve got this tray here, which has your wireless phone charging if youre on a top spec model. But you also have these two weird holes that look quite odd when your phone isnt in use, but actually are pretty handy to just keep the cables neat while youre driving along and charging your phone up or running apple carplay and android, auto and theres. Also, no start or stop button in the mg4 as well. So all you do is get in the car. With the key put your foot on the brake, select, the drive mode and away you go just like the id3 storage seems pretty good in the mg4. To be honest, so youve got an armrest here with a cubby underneath it youve got this handy tray down here. For your valuables, with a cover over it theres two cup holders, glove box is a reasonable size, as are the door bins. So all in all, this interior is not going to win.

Any beauty contest its not going to win any quality contest, but for the money, its pretty good youve got a little bit less leg room than you do in an id3 a little bit less headroom as well, but compared to things like an e208 or a corset. E, it is reasonably practical back here, so if youre an adult just under six foot, then you can sit up straight with a reasonable amount of headroom left over youve got a good amount of leg room as well, and even with the seat in front of you. In its lowest position, youve still got some room to put your feet underneath as well, so it doesnt feel cramped, doesnt feel claustrophobic, and another good thing is that the floor is reasonably flat in the back. You have got a bit of a lump here, but its not very big, and this middle seat is raised slightly compared to the outer two rear seats, but its still reasonably well cushioned. So if you do end up having to sit here, its not quite the short straw, that it is in some other electric cars, so overall space in the back of the mg4 is very good. The boot offers 363 litres of storage which compared to the smaller electric cars that this is up against, like the zoe the e208. The corsa e is a bit more than what they offer, but when you look at the id3 and the cooper born, those boots are bigger than what you get here.

But you can see the space that you get is fairly simple, fairly big theres, a bit of a wheel, arch bulge, either side theres, also, no underfloor storage and its a shame that this is a bespoke new electric car platform. But there hasnt been any space for a front boot, which is a shame. If you want more space than what you have here, then you can fold down the rear seats. They split fold 60, 40 and while this might not be the most practical electric car on sale for the money, its definitely very impressive Music. Now the battery that you choose for your mg4 also impacts how much power you have were in the long range version of this car, which is more powerful than the electric motor that you get in the standard range version. But strangely this doesnt alter 62 miles per hour in 7.9 seconds. The standard range version, less power does 7.7 seconds, so its actually quicker, and the reason for that is. This has got the bigger battery pack, which gives it a longer range, but also makes it heavier. But anyway, theres not a big difference in the performance figures, so that means that both cars arent, the quickest electric cars on sale, but neither are they painfully slow. So getting up to motorway speeds is fine country. Road overtakes are also manageable in this car and while the performance figures dont necessarily stand out even compared to other electric mgs, the way this car drives is significantly better than all the other electric mgs that have come before.

So in the zsev. It had quite a firm, unsettled suspension, set up so youd be bouncing around on the road and it would never settle down, and it would never feel like a particularly comfortable car to drive. The mg5 was, at the other end of the scale where it was really really soft, which was quite nice most of the time, but it also meant it wasnt, particularly brilliant to drive, but the mg4 strikes quite a nice balance between those two cars. So it is comfortable youre, very well cushioned from the worst of the rough bumps on the road, but it all still feels stable and tied down and pretty settled all of the time. So this new platform that it sits on has a rear, wheel, drive layout and the whole setup just feels way better than the mg5 and the zsev and the steering is significantly better than it is in either of those other cars. The car does still feel a little bit top heavy. If you go around the corner quickly. The mg4 is also fairly impressive when it comes to charging speeds. The standard range battery can accept a maximum charging rate of 117 kilowatts, which is a bit faster than the zsev, the mg5, and also a bit faster than the e208, and the long range model accepts a maximum charging speed of 135 kilowatts, which is actually a bit More than the bourne and the id3, so that means a 10 to 80 charge from a 50 kilowatt.

Charger takes 52 minutes for a standard range model and 60 minutes in the long range. If you manage to find a 150 kilowatt charger, then the times drop to ‘ minutes and 35 minutes. Other good things about the mg4 on the road. The brakes are very good. A lot of electric cars get this wrong. The brake pedal can feel grabby or really inconsistent and numb, but in the mg4, its very positive, its very easy to know exactly how much pressure you need to put on to stop the car smoothly. Youve also got regenerative braking in this car and you can choose one of four settings for it, but annoyingly, even in the strongest setting. When you lift off the accelerator, it doesnt slow the car down to a complete stop. So you dont have that one pedal driving function that a lot of other electric cars offer. The annoying thing is, though, if you want to change the regenerative, braking settings and youve got to go into the infotainment system. Click on these small icons, try and read this really small text as well. Even if you want to change the drive modes, youve got to dive into this infotainment system, which is very frustrating particularly because in the mg5 that had some really helpful toggle switches to go through those things. But you dont have that in the form. Now, if you like, the mg4 but dont, think any of the versions available now are for you, then next year were going to have an extended version of this car, which has more than 330 miles for its claimed range.

And if you like, the sound of this car, but want really a bit more power, then also next year, theres going to be a performance, focused version of the mg4, which sounds ridiculous but apparently well be able to do naught to 62 miles per hour. In less than four seconds, which is like an audi rs3, so of course, even if you go for the entry level model, 25 995 pounds is still a lot of money to a lot of people, but in the context of new electric cars, its only really a Citroen ami, which is much cheaper, youll, probably want to go for the long range mg4, though the extra chunk of range that you get will be well worth the premium for most buyers and it still undercuts pretty much every rival. And what do you get for your money? Well, along with a decent range and relatively quick charging times you get an electric car which is comfortable decent to drive and spacious inside. There are even more practical evs with nicer interiors that are even better on the road, but all of them are more expensive for much more on the mg4 go to wotcar.com, where you can also get a great saving on your next car.