MG4.
After spending some time with the MG4, the Volkswagen Golf of yore comes to mind.
Not because there is anything visually or mechanically similar about the two cars, but because the MG4 has VW’s elusive but invaluable quality to it. It is undramatically good to use and live with. In a machine as multifaceted and complex as a car, that is one of the hardest things to achieve.
To be fair, the MG brand already has some perfectly creditable models plying Singapore’s roads. Its HS SUV is ambitious but a bit rough around the edges and in some ways, suspiciously derivative.
Taking the opposite approach, the MG5 is strait-laced and sensible, but almost wilfully so. This to the extent that it is currently a very good taxi.
With the MG4, the company has brought to bear on the nascent volume EV market a thrusting, stylish, and unapologetically practical family hatchback at a great price. With its third effort, there are precious few “buts” here.
MORE HITS THAN MISSES
Speaking of butts, you might have noticed the strakes of light crisscrossing the car’s rear. Along with the pinched, sharp-as-knife headlights, they add a touch of unique character to a form that has some, though not too much, adventure to its posture.
Now about that adventure. There is fun to be had behind the wheel of this car. It feels secure, ready to respond, and surefooted. MG has finessed its cars’ driving demeanours to produce a machine that takes good advantage of the electric powertrain’s inherent strengths.
Controls are consistently weighted, and the car can be fluently guided along, leveraging its instantaneous, zippy torque to make short work of the daily commute.
198hp (201bhp) is quite a lot even for a petrol-driven car. Given the exaggerating effect instantaneous electric response has on our perception of a car’s power, it is a more than generous enough power output in this electric hatchback.
Not that passengers are punished for the driver’s privilege. The MG4’s suspension is slightly firmer than the current class average, and one can definitely perceive the physics playing on the hefty battery down low. The worst of sharp edges are deftly dealt with, however, and an upshot of the firm gait is the abolishment of big, wallow-y motions.
The family can enjoy this largely polite relationship with the road in spacious environs that once again illustrate the innate packaging benefits of a non-internally combusted platform.
While decent to look at and agreeable to lounge in, the car’s mix of interior materials are not necessarily the most luxurious to the touch. At this price point, this is entirely forgivable, though one suspects more strategic placement of soft-touch materials and concealment of harder plastics might have been achieved without inflating the price.
The mark of full Golf-ness is also slightly missed by some elements of the car’s ergonomics. Using the steering wheel’s thumb toggles as switchable button interfaces is a clever idea but finicky in execution.
Getting the air-con to do exactly what you want it to requires practice, a full weekend of which still was not enough for me to fully come to grips with the timing of the button presses before the popup menu times itself out.
AN A FOR EFFORT
The Golf took decades and multiple generations of iterative finessing before getting it just right, and so it is creditable MG has come as close as it has with such an early effort in its corporate life.
Solace and schadenfreude may also be enjoyed in the knowledge that VW, having reached the zenith of ergonomic heaven with the Mark 7.5, then proceeded to immediately throw it all away with the nightmare touchscreens of the Mark 8.
The MG4 was evidently a very smartly conceived product. It is priced right, specified right, and clearly fastidiously engineered for the right mix of usability, style, and driver reward.
For the casual shopper and the interested driver, there is something to be satisfied with here. Kudos thus must be given for an eminently recommendable product.
MG 4 (A)
MOTOR Permanent magnet synchronous
MAX POWER 198hp
MAX TORQUE 250Nm
POWER TO WEIGHT 117.5hp per tonne
GEARBOX Single-speed
0-100KM/H 7.9 seconds
TOP SPEED 160km/h
CONSUMPTION 6.25km/kWh
PRICE EXCL. COE $82,888
AGENT MG Motor Singapore
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