MG MG4 320kW WC XPOWER

Review and road test of the MG4 Electric

Along with Jaguar, MG is probably one of the oldest recognisable “English” brands on the roads today. Ignoring the ultimate ownership for now, MG retains considerable history and nostalgia and for people of certain generations myself included. You will probably have had several interactions and experience of the brand throughout your previous driving and car ownerships.

MG evolution

The days of MG Midgets, Metro’s, and Montego’s and of course the legendary Maestro with the talking dash, often when you were least expecting it to, are well in the past. The brand has been in danger of disappearing altogether on more than one occasion.

Now completely revitalised and rejuvenated under the ownership of SAIC the brand and the vehicles themselves have undergone a complete renaissance in recent years. This is highlighted by the numerous awards bestowed on the brand from both consumer and fleet channels.

At the risk of sounding derogatory and we certainly don’t mean to be, the range of hatchbacks, estate cars and SUVs are best described as well-built, versatile, and good value. They have certainly proved very popular to discerning UK public and company cars drivers.  

The range looked pretty much like something you’d seen before with one notable exception. The all new and all electric MG4 with its striking angular athletic design and some very bold colour options have ensured the MG4 stands out in all surroundings. This is achieved whilst retaining those other brand hallmarks of being well built and very good value for an all-electric vehicle.

Test drive of the MG4 Electric

Our test drive journey took us from Colchester to Milton Keynes and back which is a round trip of just over 200 miles. It is the perfect territory for an electric car to do with in a single charge, unless like us you get to the dealership and they offer you the choice of either the 180kW Trophy EV Extended Range (323 Miles WLTP) or the 320kW WC XPOWER (239 miles WLTP ). Needless to say, our youth took over and we went with the matt green XPOWER. This was nothing to do with the claimed 435 horses packed inside the batteries but more because we once had original an MG Maestro in a similar looking shade of light green metallic.

MG4 Electric performance and price

The MG4 XPOWER is insanely quick off the mark. Most EV’s deliver power really quickly but this car is full on head into the head rest quick, obviously where legal and safe to do so. The MG 4 Electric delivers what can only be described as super car performance with the quoted 0-60 time of 3.8seconds which is quicker than some Porsche 911’s!

Of course, being quick is not always a good thing and not for everyone – but if it is your thing then this car delivers.

This car has a retail OTR price of less than £37,000 and members of our selected partner schemes including BASC, RICS, ICAEW and RIBA can acquire it for considerably less.

MG4 Electric interior

Whilst we cannot fault either the performance or the styling of our MG4, the interior or moreover the tech was a little underwhelming.  It was not the slick, fast and intuitive touch screen experience we are now all too familiar with having enjoyed several incarnations of smart phones and tablets.

The actual functionality and navigation experience felt like we were perhaps using the last generation operating systems. A minor gripe in an otherwise outstanding and perhaps leftfield electric vehicle, and no doubt one that can and will be fixed in the future as the software gets updated down the line. It certainly wouldn’t put us off choosing this or any of the MG4 range.

Despite its rapid acceleration the car is very easy to live with day to day and not so much as hint of fatigue or discomfort our morning commute of nearly 2 ½ hours to our destination with one scheduled breakfast stop.

MG Electric re-charging

As with all electric vehicles it pays to plan, especially if re-charging is required. It also pays to check your plan with the destination if you are relying upon to enable you to get back home at a reasonable hour.

At time of asking MG didn’t automatically provide a Type 2 Charging cable so a couple of attempts to charge prior overnight were thwarted. Current offers on the MG4 appear to include a Type 2 charger which certainly improves home or work charging and enables some early car park charger installations to be used.

Undeterred we had a plan to re-charge at the hotel we were using for our review meeting, usually lasting 4-5hours so plenty of time for a decent charge before embarking on our return journey. But you know what happened next!

Our hotel was undergoing car park and charger improvements, so plan A out of the window and Plan B (i.e. find another charger nearby) is where the challenge of owning, running, and using the public charging network is just that, a challenge.

No nearby chargers were free and those that were free needed a Type 2 cable which we didn’t have. Our attempts after the meeting enabled us to find a charger but due to me not  pre-loading both various charging Apps needed I couldn’t use them “ as an error occurred and they couldn’t complete my account set-up “ .So my hunt for a vacant charging point with card payment began and once sorted I then settled down with my coffee and waited for my journey home to be enabled – catching up on some emails as the circa 40 minutes past until my car was charged to 80% and I have enough range to get home and back to the dealership the following morning.

This is of course not the fault of the car; it is the fault of someone who is still dipping in and out EV’s and is yet to establish the correct habits or rigorous planning that should pre-empt any longer journey.

Conclusion

MG Motor UK deserve all of the accolades they have received so far. The product range and particularly their ability to make EV’s so much more affordable is admirable. 

We loved our short sharp experience of the MG4 for anyone looking for a very capable and great looking comfortable EV for either their own or a company or salary sacrifice choice this sits high on our recommendation list.  

Choice of electric vehicles is growing rapidly with new models and new manufacturers continuing to hit the market and, in some cases, making the choice even harder.

We’re on hand to discuss the merits, pitfalls, and considerations of either adopting or transitioning to EV’s and have some great offers across the MG range for our selected partners, including BASC, RICS, ICAEW and RIBA.

EV’s are a great choice for a salary sacrifice scheme so if your employer doesn’t currently offer a scheme or your thinking of introducing a scheme and not sure of how it works then give us a call on 01473 372020 or email us at getintouch@tysoncooper.com or click here  to complete our call back form to arrange a call at a time convenient for you .