What is it?
Examine the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' sales figures for July compared with last year and you’ll discover MG’s rate of growth has been spectacular.
No less than 167%, in fact, at a time when most marques are experiencing a slight sales slump — not least value-proposition opposition Dacia.
MG, it seems, is flying, but that Bentley recorded 103% growth gives some indication of the underlying reasons for such a statistical surge. The truth is that it’s taken four long years for the Chinese-manufactured MG 3 to amass 10,000 sales in an out-and-out volume segment, and so the only way truly is up. Ford, for reference, sells the British public around 5000 examples of the Fiesta every month.
But if the 3 is some way off the pace in sales, the lightly revised version tested here also remains some way off the price. Even in top-spec Exclusive trim, it comes in at only £12,795; and if that’s not thrifty enough, consider that in entry-level Explore guise this car costs a mere £9495 — almost a match for the basic Volkswagen Up, which is a full segment below the 3.
You’ll need mid-ranking Excite trim if you’re to enjoy 16in diamond-cut alloy wheels instead of 14in steelies, reverse parking sensors and a sharp new 8.0in touchscreen (without navigation, but with Apple CarPlay and a DAB radio), and only Exclusive comes with part-leather sports seats.
The infotainment display is sleekly integrated into the dashboard (although it still sits awkwardly below your eye line) and, in fact, the entire interior is more credible than you might expect both in terms of materials and fit. Along with exterior design tweaks, chief among them the adoption of a larger, chromed-rimmed grille, the 3 cuts an attractive figure.
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I think the octogon as the
I think the octogon as the grille a la previous 3 (and 6) looked great and like no other cars. The new MG front just makes them look like Mazdas, not good. Well not good if it isnt on a Mazda.
That Mazda grille!
I've always rather liked the MG 3 and all the updates seem worthwhile. Although SAIC have retained the octagonal MG badge, I wish they would do a modern take on the rather nice grilles of the MGs of the 60s, it would make the front look less like a Mazda.
Old school MG Grill is very similar to the Mazda Grill
I believe the MG designer claimed they set out to replicate the trapezium Grills of the MGA, MG Magnette, MG 1300 etc. Which I think they've done a good job of. However, I think they need to square it off a bit more to emphasise that its a different shape from the Mazda Grill
streaky wrote:
not just the grille, but the interior vents and steering wheel are somewhat 'familiar' ...
MG3 Updated
The new front looks good much more focused and purposeful than the outgoing model, the dashbord in the old model I thought let the car down, but the revised dash is a great improvement. The interior looks a little plain and could maybe be improved with a touch of colour but then for the price, considering that the price of the MG3 Exclusive is roughly where the Skoda Fabia starts. When I drove the first generation MG3 I thought that the engine was quite peppy and now this new unit ups the ante somewhat to 115hp. For a budget car this power output is a considerable achievement,it's got forty horsepower more than the basic Skoda unit and is close to double the output of the previous Fabia entry level engine. I think that the new MG3 is a pretty good update of the model and will keep it competitive for the next few years. I'd think that at last MG Motor are at last on the road to becoming an establihed model range,next up is the new HS which is to replace the GS, after all new entrants to the UK market have to start somewhere. Remember how far Kia have come,when they started out in 1991 all they had was the Pride hatchback,Das Autocar was rather sniffy about that as well, but now with the Stinger they're knocking on the door of the "premium sector* aren't they?
ianp55 wrote:
Couldnt disagree more about the front end - the old front looked great - very individual, the new one looks entirely anonymous, boring and derivative. The new dash is better, though.