MG4 road test: Answering your questions about MG’s EV best-seller

Saturday, 17 February 2024

After two months of fun, we’ve handed back our long-term MG4 51kWh Excite.

Well, if you can believe it, it’s already midway through February. That means you can stop adding ‘happy new year’ to the top of every email and your plastic Kmart Christmas tree should be firmly tucked away in the attic or garage.

From our end, the return to ‘business as usual’ means the end of our extended summer drive tests, including our two-month loan of MG’s fabulous fully electric MG4 51kWh Excite hatchback.

We were able to hit the MG4’s maximum charging speed of 88kWh a few times.

I’m not going to lie, between driving the MG4 and the Toyota bZ4X throughout the break, it felt pretty spectacular not paying for a single litre of petrol. Yes, we did have to pay for public charging and our home power bill did spike once a week or so. But overall, the savings were plentiful.

The MG4’s long wheelbase makes it a stable drive in the twisty stuff, while also enabling plenty of room in the back seat.

Given that we rather liked the mid-range 64kWh Essence model when we drove it last August, and we were a combination of very impressed and very terrified by the dual-motor, all-wheel drive MG4 XPower hot hatch we grabbed last November, it should be no surprise that we were also quite fond of this entry-level model.

What might be surprising is that I’d rate it as my favourite out of the mix. The smaller battery means it’s lighter, and a dash more fun when you’re leaning into it (remember, this thing is rear-wheel drive with 50:50 weight distribution) than the rest of the range, without being utterly overwhelmed like the XPower.

The MG4 packs more space in the back than most hatchbacks in its side bracket.

It doesn’t necessarily feel like a ‘base model’ car when you hop in it. It’s all quite spartan inside, but you still get the 10.25-inch touchscreen, digital cluster, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, LED lights at both ends, and the majority of active safety features MG offers. Not to mention that some of the tech features exclusive to the pricier grades, like the 360-degree camera, are a bit rubbish.

I managed to reconcile somewhat with one of my other MG4 complaints; its key system. The MG4 does not come with a proper Start/Stop button when you hop in. Instead, you simply step inside and, when seated, it turns on for you. Simple enough, right?

MG’s version of the tech has an interesting quirk in that if you get out of the car without locking it, the screens will stay on. During a previous MG4 test, forgetting to lock a car cost me around 10% of battery when I returned more than an hour later to find its screens still shining.

It appears MG has rectified this issue … I think. I tried on a few occasions to deliberately leave the infotainment system going without locking in order to see how much power it would burn if left on for a lengthy period. Thankfully, with each attempt, it appeared the MG4 would switch itself off after a set length of time.

Is this going to be New Zealand’s best-selling electric vehicle in 2024?

It’s not perfect. Grabbing reverse in a hurry in the hopes of a quick exit often takes multiple goes to get working (this may be more a gear dial issue than a key fob issue). Expect to see this feature roll out on plenty of other cars in the near future.

Before embarking on this test, we asked readers to submit questions about the MG4 that they wanted answered. So, without further ado …

It’s minimalist, but the cheapest MG4 also comes with just about everything you need inside.

‘Will it make it from Auckland to Hamilton and back on one charge ‒ 250km at highway speeds?’

It’s funny you ask, as our first long-ish drive with the MG4 was to Hamilton and back. Not quite the full fat ‘Auckland central to Hamilton central’ drive given Papakura was the starting point, but nevertheless it was a good 190km round trip comprising almost solely motorways and highways.

Having left home with about 80% battery, we returned with more than 10%. A fairly comfortable buffer in the end given we had the air conditioning humming the whole time and sat on 100kph for the majority of the trip.

Plugged in to a three-point charger at home, we were seeing around 15% of charge being added to the battery, for three or four bucks a hit. A more powerful wall charger and a provider with an optimised payment plan for EVs would lead to cheaper and quicker results.

MG claims a range of 350km is possible from this 51kWh MG4, and I wouldn’t rule out that this is doable in the real-world on a fully urban loop. We saw urban figures as small as 13.5kWh/100km, which projected should lead to hitting MG’s claimed figure. On the motorway, meanwhile, efficiency stabilised at around 18.0kWh/100km.

Combined, most drivers should be able to average around 16.0kWh/100km in one of these things on the average drive, which calculates out to 317km — bearing in mind that this car’s 51kWh battery has a usable capacity of 50.8kWh.

It’s not what I’d call beautiful, but the MG4’s looks do grow on you.

Peak DC charging speeds are rated at 88kWh, and we were able to hit this maximum a few times whilst plugged in. Dollar values for charging publicly vary, although our local 75kWh BP charger unit was able to get the MG 40kWh–45kWh of energy (a bit over 80% of its battery) in around 45 minutes for just over $30.

‘Would be curious to know your personal experience using public chargers as you travel around. Did you wait for a charger? Were there locations where a charge would have been useful?’

To answer this one I’ll roll in my experience with testing the also electric Toyota bZ4X over the break, too. Although we did a bit of ‘granny charging’ at home with both the MG and the Toyota, the lion’s share of charging for both cars was done via public chargers. Most DC fast charger units, although there were a few AC charger jaunts, too.

What was maybe a little surprising was the lack of waiting for chargers to free up. There was one mildly frustrating situation where we were waiting in Tauranga for a DC charger at a shopping centre to open up, and were delayed by someone who took 45 minutes to get back to their car (which had its charging paused at 80% the whole time).

With the number of charging provider options growing by the day, we had surprisingly few issues plugging in publicly.

Apart from that, there were maybe two or three occasions where we had to wait 10 minutes for other drivers to finish. On as many occasions, we saw EV owners notice us waiting, and reactively hop out of their cars and unplug in order to give us the charger.

Charger coverage in the greater North Island, particularly around big centres like Auckland, is fairly comprehensive. At no point in our driving to Tauranga or Hamilton or Matakana did we find any proper dead zones. The likes of ChargeNet have done well in recent years to target areas that have previously been black holes for EV owners.

I can’t speak for those travelling through (or living in) more rural parts of New Zealand, though.

“How good or bad are the seats on long trips? How’s the stereo/Android Auto integration? Ride on rough urban streets?”

The MG4 won the New Zealand Car of the Year outright prize this week, making it the fifth EV to claim the award in a row.

The MG4’s seats are interesting. The squabs are very much on the soft side. I found them to be perfectly comfortable on short journeys, but less so at the end of any longer drives. The biggest hindrance are actually the MG4’s sideskirts. Because of how they’re shaped, they rub up against the back of your calves each time you hop in and out … particularly if you’re vertically challenged.

As far as ride quality goes, the 4 is perhaps smoother than a Tesla Model 3, but more harsh than a BYD Atto 3. Remembering that this is a small hatchback and not a lifted SUV, I found its damping to be very adequate.

Its sound system and infotainment system are amongst the key areas MG need to work on. I actually found the audio in this entry-level car to be reasonably serviceable. The issue is that the ‘Premium’ system in the more expensive Essence trim sounds almost identical, despite gaining two extra speakers.

The Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is wired, but that’s perhaps for the best given the bugs some other carmakers have had with implementation of wireless phone mirroring. I used the Apple CarPlay and found it to be perfectly usable, and a quantum leap improvement over the car’s standard infotainment set-up.

‘What’s it like compared to an MG ZS EV?’

The momentum behind the MG4’s local popularity was paved by the model that’s arguably its predecessor, the ZS EV. Much like how the MG4 was the first sub-$40,000 electric car on the market (helped by the rebate), the ZS was the first sub-$50,000 electric.

They might seem pretty different on the surface given that one’s an SUV and the other is a hatch, but the 4 and ZS have quite a lot of overlap. They have a similar footprint; the ZS is a mere 27mm longer, the MG4 is 27mm wider. Both are generously spec’d. And both are popular.

Barring the ZS being easier to get in and out of, having that lifted driving position that so many SUV owners crave, and a more practical boot (it’s 120L larger with a wider opening), the MG4 has the ZS’s number for all the majors.

Being built on a much newer platform, it’s more refined. It’s more fun to drive with better range. There’s more room in the back seat. It’s better put together inside. The list goes on.

‘Would rather have a fully loaded Corolla. Bulletproof and extremely economical.’

I know this is more a statement than a question, but I thought it would be a fun one to address. A car comparison within a review, how fun!

The MG4’s pricing inevitably led to it being compared to the country’s most popular compact hatch, the Toyota Corolla. These days, it doesn’t get a rebate anymore, meaning its $46,990 no longer undercuts any Corolla Hybrid hatch on price (they’re priced between $36,990 to $43,190, for reference).

Still, the Corolla takes petrol, which even in hybrid form can’t match the MG4 for weekly running costs. The MG4 also pips the Corolla on practicality grounds. It has what feels like double the legroom in the back seats, and has a very slightly larger boot (363L to 361L).

Although both ride similarly, the MG4’s lower centre of gravity, electric power, and rear-wheel drive makes it a more dynamic and quicker drive. It’s about two seconds quicker to 100kph, taking just 7.7 seconds.

Reliability and resale value on the MG4 side is still up in the air, given it only launched in New Zealand last September. The Corolla meanwhile is undoubtedly among the most reputable nameplates in the country. Six-year-old ex-fleet Corolla GX hatches with six-figure odometer readings are being advertised for $18,000–$20,000. Not bad for cars that retailed for $29,990 new.

Perhaps a question to revisit in six years’ time?