MG Motor IM 6 review

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Having swept up sales in the bargain basement, MG is heading upmarket

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China’s best-known automotive export brand, MG, is now unashamedly gunning for the UK car market’s big fish.

Right now, our shores typically support between five and eight manufacturers with 5% market share or more. As 2025’s year-to-date sales chart has it, none of Renault, Toyota, Land Rover, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan or Peugeot is among them. But MG clearly wants to be; and 20% more growth for the brand – not a figure beyond the bounds of credibility, given its performance to date – will do the trick.

It will be looking to the subject of this road test to get it part of the way there. The MG IM6 is one half of a two-pronged attack from its maker on the lower reaches of the market for premium electric cars. A 4.9m-long crossover, it is big for its class – notably longer than a Tesla Model Y or a Polestar 2 – and has a lower-roofed, fastback saloon sibling, the IM5, that could be considered an alternative to anything from a BMW i4 to a Volkswagen ID 7.

These are the first members of what, to European eyes, would appear to be a new sub-brand from MG – called IM, short for ‘Intelligence in Motion’ – that wants to become renowned for advanced, innovative, high-performing EVs of a particularly refined and ‘elevated’ kind.

Now to find out how much credibility MG can muster as it bids to lay hands on a whole range of new, stronger opponents.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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If you’re not quite sure what the MG IM6 reminds you of, that might be because it could be any one of a number of existing cars. The similarities with Tesla’s outgoing design language at the front are clear, while there is an apparent tribute to the Aston Martin DBX in the car’s tailgate. Among all of the things that this IM brand is set to represent, then, it seems original, distinctive looks don’t feature.

You will look in vain to find one of MG’s hexagon-shaped badges anywhere on the car. The reason is that, in its domestic market, this car isn’t an MG at all. In China, Intelligence in Motion is a car brand in its own right, part-owned by the Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group, but, like MG, controlled by SAIC. That’s why this car has a brand logo – which looks a little like morse code that’s been written at a jaunty angle – all of its own.

Would an MG badge have helped sell a premium-priced car in the UK, or hindered one? Maybe MG decided the latter. For what it's worth, the IM brand logo on the bootlid doubles as the exterior boot release.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The IM6 shares its all-steel platform with the IM5 but doesn’t offer that car’s smaller, 73.5kWh drive battery. All IM6s use a nickel-manganese-cobalt pack of 96.5kWh usable capacity, and have an 800V electrical architecture that makes for very fast DC rapid charging of up to a claimed 396kW.

You can choose from a solitary drive motor on the rear axle or one per axle. The bottom-rung single-motor grade – the one we elected to test – is called the 100 Long Range (after its total battery capacity) and promises a WLTP-certified electric range of 388 miles: not quite class-leading, but close enough to be worth a lot of credit. It offers 403bhp and 369lb ft of torque – well clear of equivalent single-motor rivals – but for those who want even more, the dual-motor Performance version increases the car’s reserves to a heady 742bhp and 592lb ft – and  for a premium of only £3000.

Both versions ride on steel coil suspension and have conventional passive dampers, but go for a range-topping Launch Edition instead (still £9000 cheaper than a range-topping Tesla Model Y) and you will get a car with air springs and adaptive dampers into the bargain. Meanwhile, all versions get active all-wheel steering, which is supposed to enable some particularly innovative parking and manoeuvring aids, the effectiveness of which we will come to shortly.

Just as the 4.9m-long IM6 is big  for its class (the average is 4.7m)  and uses a big drive battery, so is the car heavy: 2340kg as we weighed it. That’s probably fully 10% – or around 250kg – heavier than most of its rivals, and heavier still than one or two others.

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INTERIOR

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There is real, palpable quality to the cabin of the IM6, and plenty of space and airiness – though, like the exterior, there are few really distinguishing features and almost nothing in the way of design flair.

You sit at a slightly raised hip point, on big, comfortable, generously padded synthetic leather chairs up front. A full-length glass roof above you floods the cabin with light, and extends to meet a rearwards header rail punted behind the second-row headrests in order to extend head room for those in the back, à la Polestar 4. In this case, it does leave a small, rather pillar-box-like rear screen; which is much better than having no screen at all but not as desirable as having a normal-sized one. Visibility in general is otherwise fine, with plenty of camera technology on the outside of the car to supplement your view in myriad ways via the various digital displays.

A pair of feeds from the backwards-facing cameras automatically pop up on the widescreen infotainment display during an emergency stop; presumably so you can watch, in medium-high definition, as the lorry driver behind you narrowly avoids shunting your rear bumper.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Padded, soft-touch leather-effect trims cover most of the fascia, door cards and centre console, while satin-finish chrome is used on the air vents and window switchgear. But there are few other physical secondary controls to be found.

A widescreen instrument screen-cum-navigation display partners a landscape-oriented lower touchscreen console that stands in for physical buttons on the centre stack. The digital migration even extends to headlight controls and key seat adjustment functions you have to dive into that central screen to track down. Conventional wiper and indicator stalks are present and correct, mercifully, and the Tesla-style multi-function scroll wheels on the steering spokes actually cover quite a lot of ground, and prove useful once you’re familiar with how to use them. Even so, the car’s top-level human-machine interface would be more intuitive if it were just a bit more old-fashioned.

Second-row occupant space is quite generous. We measured more head room than either a Tesla Model Y or a Kia EV6 offers, and notably more leg room and head room than in a Polestar 2. Boot space is similar, though the shape of the boot sides and roofline cut into the loading area a fair bit, and might prevent the bulkiest cargo from being carried.

Multimedia - 3.5 stars

MG claims a width of 26.3in for the IM6’s upper digital screen. But this, of course, is a de facto side-by-side arrangement of instrument display and multimedia screen, and only ever displays one seamless image over its full width: an animation of a car surrounded by lots of dramatic faux tyre smoke, as you turn on the ignition (one tester rather aptly described as “a bit cringey”).

The way the screen integrates wireless smartphone mirroring, leaving space for the mirrored display to move left and right by a few inches and make space for various camera feeds as you manoeuvre and turn, however, is quite clever. We also like the way the margins of the screen glow red to warn of a vehicle in your blindspot (after all, why use a light on a mirror that mostly doesn’t show the vehicle in question?).

Typically you use the lower, portrait-oriented screen to select menus and functions for the upper one to display. Usability, while better than on the Cyberster convertible, is still a little convoluted but isn’t the worst example of its kind.

The number of times you’re asked to grant permission to share data with the cloud, however, or scan a QR code to download an app, gets decidedly annoying. We found no way to add a user account to the system to avoid this, and it significantly erodes the appeal of so much digital technology being in place at all.

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ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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The IM6 doesn’t rush into motion on a hair trigger, but instead pauses for the merest instant when you probe deep into the accelerator pedal, and then accelerates strongly but not dramatically, without breaching its grip levels or activating its electronics. It’s assertive but collected and unruffled.

Having over 100bhp more than the equivalent Tesla Model Y (which we tested in matching Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive form earlier this year), you might expect the IM6 to beat it to 60mph by quite a distance. As it is, that mature, composed take-off sees to it that 60mph comes up in 5.5sec, 100mph in 12.2sec  and 30-70mph in 4.0sec. In every respect, the Tesla is slower; though the IM6’s advantage shows more strongly the quicker you go, and it feels quite a lot more commanding than some rivals at faster motorway speeds. A single-motor Kia EV6 needs fully 7.5sec longer to hit 100mph from rest, and is barely half as quick as the MG from 70-100mph.

That controlled, collected style of delivery ensures that it isn’t outright briskness you notice about the IM6’s performance but, instead, refinement. Despite its 20in alloy wheels, this car’s cruising noise levels are remarkably low – especially on better, smoother surfaces. It has laminated side glazing front and rear, and uses noise-cancelling technology to lessen the impact of what frequencies you can pick up on. We measured cabin noise at 50mph at 59dBA (Tesla Model Y: 61dBA, Xpeng G6: 62dBA, Kia EV6: 65dBA).

Drivability is quite good, though it misses one or two useful EV conventions. The car has split paddle shifters on each side of the steering wheel but dedicates them to adjusting the car’s piloted cruise control, when one or other could have been repurposed for manual control of brake regeneration when the cruise control is inactive. As it is, you have to find the right menu in the lower touchscreen to adjust trailing-throttle brake regen, and both unfettered coasting and one-pedal driving are offered either  side of a mildish standard regen mode to which the car defaults.

Assisted driving - 2.5 stars

The IM6 has some interesting active manoeuvring features granted by its standard-fit four-wheel steering. 

Crab mode is accessed via the touchscreen, a bit like an automated parking system. But, just as you’re hoping it will somehow cause the wheels to rotate through 90deg like trolley castors, and the car to motor sideways into a kerbside space, you realise the limits of the system. It only permits 6deg of rear-axle steer in parallel with the front wheels. That means it’s of some limited use to get closer to the kerb after a botched conventional parallel park, for example; but it depends on space to move into either ahead of or behind the car to work acceptably well.

The IM6’s piloted cruise control, with semi-autonomous lane keeping, is advertised as a particularly sophisticated system, but we found that it tended to over-react to traffic in adjacent lanes when regulating speed, and also struggled a little to maintain a central position in its lane. Even more annoyingly, it also drops out and needs to be re-engaged every time you change lanes, so we  didn’t use it often.

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RIDE & HANDLING

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The IM6’s weight feels like something of an asset to it at times. As we have already seen, that powerful drive motor prevents it from making the car slow. Moreover, when the brake regen is turned off, the car becomes capable of carrying momentum remarkably far on a trailing throttle, and kicking up little road noise as it’s doing so - which can be an enticing, effortless way to cover distance on quieter roads.

Until you arrive at a corner that little bit more quickly than you bargained on, that is. At that point, the IM6 makes its bulk apparent fairly plainly. This is a big car that’s medium-soft in its suspension tuning, and so it’s quite smooth- and flat-riding in urban environments. It remains adequately well controlled in terms of body movement at speed, and certainly doesn’t get involved with exaggerated body roll, vertical heave or pitch and dive.

But while the four-wheel steering disguises the IM6’s size and weight at lower speeds, it doesn’t seek to at cross-country pace, and so what used to feel quite a wieldy car suddenly seems rather large and cumbersome when sweeping into a quicker bend. The steering, compliant enough at lower speeds, becomes heavier and harder work at higher ones, and is never communicative or connected enough to be an invitation to engage. Its traction and stability control, while effective, are quite proactive, and a little intrusive, at the limit of grip.

In terms of outright ride sophistication, the car doesn’t quite get into rarefied luxury territory – not on its steel coil springs, at least. There’s a slight lack of wheel control apparent that allows the axles too much unchecked movement for that, and makes the ride on occasion a little thumpy and fussy over rougher roads. But, in the main, it’s comfortable and isolated enough to serve the car, and its occupants, fairly well.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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Considering its 800V rapid-charging performance especially, the IM6 looks like exceptional value for money at a sub-£50,000 entry price. Our test car recorded a 242kW weighted average in our habitual charging test, and on a 350kW charger at that when it’s rated for a peak draw of 396kW. Only Porsche Taycans and Lotus EVs have done better.

The IM6’s real-world electric range also strengthens its hand. Our car returned 2.9mpkWh in our touring efficiency test, which itself isn’t brilliant but does still make for a motorway range of nearly 300 miles – an achievement few rivals could match. At lower cruising speeds and around town, you could expect more than 350 miles from it.

I can understand people gravitating towards the Long Range version, but the IM6 Performance is a family-friendly EV with premium-brand trappings, 742bhp and 0-62mph in just 3.5sec. And it’s cheaper than a 2.0-litre diesel BMW X3. Surely it sells itself?
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

MG’s buying offer is simple. Beyond the three derivative IM6 model tiers, you can pay to add metallic paint only. The bottom-rung Long Range car comes with heated outer rear seats, heated massage seats up front and a heat pump as standard.

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VERDICT

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Automotive history repeats itself time and again. The ‘premium’ cars that tend to hit the big time are those with a real breadth to their CVs – that do a range of things well, rather than one thing brilliantly.

It will take time, clearly, for a brand like MG to be capable of such completeness. The IM6 is already a lot of electric car for the money, with an advanced powertrain that its rivals currently have no answer for. It’s spacious, refined, manoeuvrable, and quite lavish in its quiet, anonymous way.

But while that positioning tends to sell budget propositions well, it’s unlikely to motivate premium-brand regulars as effectively. They will see what this car lacks – true personality, distinguishing design, dynamic finesse, and detailed systems fine-tuning – as plainly as what it offers. Although what it offers on the spec sheet speaks for itself.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.