MG4 EV: One of the most surprising cars we've reviewed
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- The MG4 redefines its brand - and redefines the price point for a compact five-seat electric family hatchback. Many may automatically discount it, but if you're looking for a striking EV at an ultra-competitive price point, then you need to seriously consider the MG4.
One of the most comprehensive and best reviews I've viewed of the MG4. One glaring omission, which is common to all reviews, is that the entry level battery is LPF. IMO the only one to go for, just research the advantages, and few disadvantages, of LPF and decide for yourself.
Depends on where you live and what you plan on doing with the car.
LFP has a longer lifetime than NMC for sure, and performs better at high temperatures, however, the performance drops at an astonishing rate once you reach temperatures of 0 Celsius and below. Range drops 10-20% at 0 Celsius and even more at temps lower than that. This combined with the worse energy density will leave you with a significantly reduced effective range in cold climate countries especially in winter.
For someone like me, who drives 110km per day in a Northern European country with cold winters, the 50KWh LFP battery simply wouldn’t offer enough range.
NMC is a lot more comfortable for me, as I can normally charge it to just 80%, have reduced range drops in cold weather and whenever I need the full range, I can always charge it up to 100%.
@@Wuozlinga I agree entirely. Here in SW of UK it doesn’t often get to zero C. It is at the moment and mls/kWhr is tumbling but not too important for me. Today was very sunny and I could charge it with help from my solar panels and happy to charge to 100%.
@@Wuozlinga It's been interesting to see how the SR and LR versions of the car behaved over the recent cold weather on the MG FB groups, we've had plenty of LR owners range dropping to sometimes below 200miles while the LFP equipped SR has been dropping to between 160 and 180miles depending on type of driving. Although there is a low temp disadvantage to the LPF I don't think it's as big as people make out, maybe modern LFP cells are better in this regard. I've just picked up a SR and to be honest it doesn't seem any worse than my previous EVs in the cold and in fact better than my mk1 ZS EV which in my opinion used quite outdated NMC cells and was awful in freezing weather.
Pick up my black Trophy on Friday 😎
😫I'm on my 20th week and still no date
@@pete9009 😳😬
How are you enjoying yours? Looking forward to trying one out once it comes to Australia
@@Clove_Parma For the money, it’s a fantastic car. My daughter has just picked up her Renault Megane E-Tech First Edition. Now that is STUNNING! Getting out of that & back in the MG is like going from a top-end gaming PC to a ZX Spectrum - I have severe car envy 😂🤣
Sorry to hear that.
The star buttons are shortcuts (for heating, driving modes or regen modes) that you can select settings quickly & adjust the settings using the joysticks on the steering wheel…
Yes, it's amazing how many of these reviewers don't do their homework
Also, a lot of features can be controlled using voice commands.
Yes was just going to add that after watching - also steering responsiveness is dependant in part on drive mode - crisper for e.g. on Sport for obv reasons - but otherwise informative Vid thanks!
Thank you for a complete and wholesome review. Dipping a toe in the EV space can take a massive leap of faith, your review provides a greater degree of confidence to do so, and specifically with the MG4. Thanks for taking the time to be so thorough . Many of theses cars have a massive waiting list so putting down your deposit and waiting for months can be a restless wait with the hope that you have backed the right choice. I am pleased I watched and listened to your commentary. Many thanks, Stephen
Only reviewer mentioning the lack of central headrest that I've seen so far! Good job! It's a very important saftey aspect for a 5 seater car
Comprehensive review, thanks. Point of info, you can power off the car without using the key, it is an option accessed via the main screen
The low price would make you think the MG4 cut a lot of corners to get to that price, but not much at all. So how is it so affordable? Because it’s also sold in China to off-set the cost and using shared parts from other car’s in its parent company’s umbrella of other brands in SAIC.
This is surprisingly good looking in and out and a worthy alternative to German and US alternatives.
Just bought one, top of the range! Red Metallic...
How much is it worth a year later 😮
@@Trevelyan1971 Who cares I'll drive it don't sell it!
Ive taken the leap of faith to EV. I’ve just ordered mine, I can’t wait.
Great info, many thanks! I have the ZS version (year old) I am waiting for my MG4 which I should receive this month! Love the EV, wouldn't go back to fuel driven cars!
Got a Trophy on order, est delivery 1st week Jan 23
It's a good car but it has a few strange omissions. No rear centre seat head rest so technically it's only a 4 seater for adults. No rear wiper which for UK weather is a big mistake on a hatchback. No rear passenger lighting at all which, with the dark (black) roof lining & rear privacy glass (Trophy model), makes the whole interior very dark indeed. No sun roof option (available in other markets) which would help to brighten up the dark interior. That said it's still a compelling option based on the price alone. MG also needs a compact hatch EV to go up against the E208, Corsa-e, Mini, Honda-e etc. Make that available for £22k with a decent boot & battery range & they will be onto another winner.
The head-rest omission is a real pity, as is the poor internal lighting (and lack of rear audio on the SE). The lack of rear wiper is not too big of an issue. Yes, its a little annoying, but the shape of the rear means that little dirt or water gets onto the glass whilst the car is moving. Overall, it's a great car - though the current cold snap has shown up the drop in range in cold weather. I read that the new MG3 won't be electric - let alone EV from ground up - which is a real pity.
For us these were all an issue, but the larger problem was for us no height adjustment on passenger seat and as my wife is tall she found the seating position far to high and uncomfortable for her
Yep although there are some Bluetooth strip lighting solutions which help - tho I agree better to have been addressed in design - but you pays your money and makes your choice :) Still overall excellent value for money imo
Great review, but boy oh boy that green screen overlay in the top right corner is annoying!
You reminded me Fallout Guy. Great video by the way 👍
The trophy model is slower because it’s heavier and the spoiler slows it down. Strange for £5,000 more 😮
It’s £2.500 more for the Trophy over the SE long range (both have the 64kwh battery) 😊
Excellent video, one of the best and in-depth reviews for this car
Sold my new Kia eNiro ev3 and have a Trophy in Camden Grey on order.
As Clive and John posted there are programmable 'star' buttons you can see them at 7.23m in the video.
My Trophy long range arrives in June.... Can't wait
This was a very decent review, thanks!
The wheels on the Essence model (with the spoilers) is the Trophy here. It has 18” wheels. Didn’t you read the manual fully about how to actually use the wheel buttons to control HVAC? We get a center headrest and rear wiper and rear grab handles. Thanks for the dispassionate review.
Mostly good review but I would contend that a 60/40 split rear seat is a 'flexibly split' solution?
Ordered my diamond red luxury today. Looking out to delivery now.
Very informative video. Thanks for sharing!..
Having driven one on a test drive, I can confirm that it’s fun to drive as well as a great small car. It’s a better car than my current Renault Zoe and I think it’s a good contender for my next car.
Great review! It looks like a lovely car, but there's some horrible design choices: the protruding section of the centre console looks hideous; the phone mat is nowhere near the charging ports (not helpful for the entry level kit without wireless charging) so you'll have cables trailing around; not having Bluetooth on the standard kit is ludicrous in this day and age; no physical controls for temperature control is always infuriating, no rear wiper is a major design fail; and why have pointless cup icons next to the cup trays when it's blatantly clear what cup trays are?! Makes me wonder what goes through designers' heads!
I'm not going to go through the things you got wrong about this car because I give up when you told everybody you can't turn the car off unless you lock it 🙄
This is not correct. You can shut down the car When still being inside. There is a function controlled through the main display.
Very good review, reminded me very much of William Woollard on Top Gear
point of the "unmarked toggles" on the wheel is that you can set them to what you want.
Pretty sure as standard one of them is set to the AC, so you c an control heat and blowers from there. so you don't have to fiddle around on the screen
The other could be used to quickly get you into driver assist menu - or regen, or what ever you might find most usefull
It's not the first MG with SAIC badging on the lamp units, the HS does also.
Would anyone know if the car saves the regen settings. If you set it once say to the strongest will it stay that way each time you drive or have to set again?
I believe it defaults to strongest regen on startup .
IT resets almost every setting including the lane keeping assist , collision avoidance ,both of which are awful activating randomly , regen level ,driving mode .
Superb review. All the facts and views I need. Thanks
Not a particularly intelligent presentation when the presenter is frequently hidden behind the brand logo on screen.
There was no mention of a lack of rear cabin light, or that the two star buttons on the steering wheel can bring up climate and regen control from those mysterious multi-function toggle switches on the wheel.
Smaller wheels mean cheaper tyres and a more comfortable ride. I'm buying the car for ME, not to impress the neighbours with its looks!
The LFP battery fitted to the cheapest model can safely be charged to 100% every day, giving a range not far off what the long range model does when charged to the usual 80%; so the base model would offer even better value for money for most users. Why wasn't this mentioned?
You can turn off the car from inside using the infotainment menu.
That’s typical of many electric cars!! A lot of them have the Quartic Steering Wheel as first used in early Austin Allegros!!
19 inch wheels will do nicely too.
Yeah, there's a video on YT with some 18" fitted, totally transforms the car and suits the arches better
the accsent we study in 90s school tape
My leaf 40 Tekna is the same colour and not dissimilar in appearance.
No central arm rest? You must be in the SE!!
The user-defined silver buttons allow you to adjust radio settings and heating. On the trophy you can use one for the regen settings. You get used to them pretty much immediately. Almost all reviews - I'm guessing because they get little time with the car - criticise the car for lacking physical buttons for these functions. This review did one better and complained about the buttons as well! Oh, and you can turn the car off - it's a reasonably easily found button on the main screen.
I stopped watching when he didn't no how to turn the car off.
Could you please tell about your experience of the rear window without wipers, keeps clean and clear during rain and snow. Reports from identical designs (like Subaru Solterra, etc.) suggest that this design specification, i.e. without rear window wiper (at the hatchback), is not good for rear sight in rain and snow.
I have the MG4 SE bought in December 2022. Replaced my MG5 which I loved. I too was concerned about the lack of visibility through the rear view mirror (although I use my wing mirrors most of the time) the rear window remains “muck free”, the road dirt is stopped from getting on the rear screen by the spoiler above the boot. The design works. Rub a water displacer on the rear window and you won’t miss a rear wiper. The water just runs off. I promise! The car is a cracker. Some problems still need ironing out with a few safety features, but other than that, the MG4 is a really good motor. Highly recommended.
Car for inspiration.
Can’t use huge wheels surely you know larger wheels use more energy? Compromises in EVs to make them affordable to drive are something people have to get used to as we have only to date seen mainly EVs which are rich peoples toys. To make them for everyone and get rid of filthy combustion engines this is how it has to be done.
Do you object to the drab boring tesla cock pits aswell or is it just this one because its cheap
Yes, but no charging infrastructure!
Nope... its there, you just do not know how to look for it.
Yet strangely, you have no issues regarding there being literally hundreds of cars for each available fuel pump in the UK? There are 8000 filling stations. Lets assume there are 10 pumps at each one. There are 30 million plus privately owned cars in the UK. You do the maths..... There are tens of millions of EV charging points in the UK. Each house has 15 to 20 plus of them..... And there are now around 40'000 public charging connections, and an estimated 400'000 home EV chargers.
@@berty1422 He can't have heard of ZapMap..........
@@Brian-om2hh you do talk crap!
@@Brian-om2hh no, it’s not happening, it’s sick
UN-intelligent placing of channel logo.
Move the logo from the presenters face!!!
Undue negative review on internal quality of finish.
This EV is getting a lot of attention for one reason only - price. For an EV, it's cheap, but as a car, it's only average. Maybe it will shake up the market, maybe it won't (it probably won't), but based on the limited number actually coming to the UK, don't expect to see any changes soon. EV prices are increasing fast (all car prices have been increasing actually), but EV's especially. Three years ago, there were 12 EV's on sale in the UK under £30k, now there are 3. As of July 2022, the average EV selling price in the UK was £48,600, which prices most buyers out of the market.
Have you driven the MG4? It's a rear wheel drive car with 201hp and 50:50 weight distribution. For a £27k 5 door family hatchback, it's a hoot to drive
@@bill_heywood sorry, not interested in EV's. Today's EV tech will be redundant in 5 years. MG4 is cheap for an EV, that's all.
@@tonyb3629Not a problem, you can keep driving an ICE if you want, they won’t disappear, although petrol stations will. What matters is the transition of 99% of vehicles away from fossil burning, not the 1% of petrolheads
Hi, I'm not interested in EVs but I'm here to post my uninformed views anyhow.
😂
@@davidspencer7254 Well, that's where you're wrong. I am interested in EV's actually - not from an ownership point of view, because I don't want one. I'm interested because of the way they're being pushed on consumers as a way of 'saving the planet' (lie), the fact the technology and infrastructure isn't ready, that manufacturers are releasing massive, heavy expensive EV's nobody but the rich can afford, and how the entire EV push is placing all the cost, inconvenience and pressure on the consumer, who will iterally have no choice. The truth is, switching to EV's will make almost no difference whatsoever to the environment, it will just limit and control the journey's people can make (read up on 15min cities!). What it will also do though is feed the machine we're all locked into.
How to loose money,60% depreciation first year
Dont buy Dollars then...
Which EV did you own which had 60% first year depreciation? Or is this a "I heard from someone who heard from someone etc"
Probabley the worse review i have watched, reviewer doesn't seem to know what he is talking about. Doesn't seem as if he has even driven the car.
Surprising indeed! Have you not seen the plethora of problems reported by new owners on the MGevs website or MG4 owners and fans group on Facebook. Agree its a great car to drive but there are just too many teething problems at the moment. Give it a year when MG have sorted things out , I may be able to agree with your assessment.
I've only heard of one issue ( the oil leak which has already been addressed) what are the "many" others???
fake news
With current delivery times order now and the model will over a year old by the time it arrives
@@SNORKYMEDIA people being locked in with the only way out to crawl through the boot, cars losing all power at speed and having to be transported back to dealers ,under body covers bowing and falling off, switches in the door for locking/unlocking the car failing and dealers refusing to fix them blaming the owners, recalibrating the windscreen cameras not working after a damaged windscreen has been replaced, aggressive lane keeping assist driving people into kerbs and following random lines in the road, collision avoidance system applying the brakes for no reason , auto handbrake failing so car rolls forward or back . I suggest reading some of the owner forums as these are the ones i can remember
You say “surprising”.. yes, surprisingly bad..there is a litany of issues wrong with the MGM 4…I’ll just name 3… car slows down much too soon to cars in front of it.. hopeless… the infotainment system inc maps, is lousy.. confused, non intuitive etc , your phone slips out of the non cabled cradle when it is charging.. it does that all the time onto the floor.. so you have to stop your car and get out to get it… these, and many others lead very quickly to you hating the car. .you don’t I want that lemony stuff.. no …Fortunately, there are reviewers there who are honest… this is not an inexpensive car.. avoid it
Where I live now reselling price of any non EV MG after the first year of ownership is 50%. But it's not the main problem. The main problem is that nobody wants or needs a second hand Chinese car. Now think about EV MG. After the warranty is finished the owner will literally burn his car, because not a single person on this planet will never buy a second hand Chinese EV car with a dead battery, because the price of a new battery is equal to the price of a new car. Period.
What a load of bollocks!
What's wrong with the Chinese car? I'd buy a second hand Chinese car 😆 🤣. Mercedes, Tesla Model Y ,BMW, Volkswagen, EVs are from China. You haven't seen the real Chinese EVs go to Norway you'll see the top Chinese car. Your watching bias BBC, CNN, Fox News too much which against China. You'll find out yourself.
@@jetvdna5449 well, how can I explain to retarded person who never owned BMW or Benz what is wrong to Chinese cars...but I can try. Haval H6 Hybrid - chromium started to dissolve in showroom already. Test drive. Short and uncomfortable seats, cruise control +-5kmh step, face jumping left and right during acceleration, gasoline consumption 10l/100km+. Ora Good Cat - constant electric charging fails, real mileage with aircon and headlights 200km, electric motor overheating in mountains and after long acceleration. MG ZS EV - cheap plastic toy for teens. Real mileage with full charge not over 200km. MG5 - trash with 1.5l engine, MG4 EV - I just got inside, made quick test drive and got outside. Cheap plastic trash. BYD Otto - same feelings with MG ZS EV. So, Mr Smartass, what do you want to tell me interesting more?
@VYM's Playpen well you think Ms smart ass Joe you been driving the cheapest car as your broke. Drive a Nio and Honggie one and don't drive a cheapest and you tesla bmw benz fangirl. They're for the barbies one.
@@jetvdna5449 as I said before I'm not interested in dialogue with idiot. Cheers.
It’s small, ugly, cheap and plasticky. No thanks. Something very strange about all the hype.
No, it's spacious, beautiful and has excellent build quality. It's truly exceptional.
I drive a MINI so to me it's a large car. Moreover your other descriptors are more a perception.
no reason for that .... not truth
Maybe your vauxhall corsa is more smaller duh...🤔 😆 🤣 😂 😹
Have you driven it or any other EV to make a sensible comparison or do we have a troll ?