Why we’re running it: To see how 20% more claimed battery range works with a pokier 241bhp motor
Month 1 - Specs
Life with an MG 4: Month 1
Welcoming the MG to the fleet
In the two years it has been on the market, the MG 4 has made a lot of people happy. It’s ideally sized and priced, it’s more than decent to drive, the cabin accommodation is good (if you can forgive a slightly tight boot) and it generally does what it says on the tin.
As a result of these things – and, very importantly, because its name doesn’t scare people – it has been selling out of its skin. Some of those sales are to private buyers too, as opposed to business buyers who mostly choose EVs for their benefit-in-kind advantages.
In short, here’s an affordable EV that gets chosen for its innate good qualities, not just to save money.
When the chance came to run an MG 4 for a few months, I jumped at the idea, especially since this would be the new Extended Range version with 20% more battery range that promised 323 miles of cruising.
I’ve always thought that to suit my lifestyle an EV’s range has to start with a ‘3’. Then I learned that the Extended Range model also featured a new-spec 241bhp motor that shaved about a second off the 0-62mph time, leaving it at 6.5sec, which is seriously brisk.
The car – a full-house Trophy-spec version in Camden Grey (one of those non-colours I always think are chosen by people who don’t like cars) – arrived with around 5700 miles on the clock, presumably the result of testing by other hacks.
The MG 4’s interior trim materials are of nothing more than average quality, doubtless for cost reasons, but the car showed no ill effects of its busy start in life apart from an odd wear mark on the outside backrest bolster of the driver’s seat. It will be interesting to see how that develops.
To my eye, the MG’s body and paint were fine: modern manufacturing has long since reached a point where panel gaps and paint quality meet my personal standards.
The only sign of use was some wear (I’d estimate 25%) on the car’s four 235/45 R18 tyres, which seem tall enough to give the hubcap-shrouded alloy wheels a fighting chance against the kerbs of Britain. We’ll see.
