MG Cyberster (2024 - ) Electric review

Modern MG has many qualities but, if you asked most people, the first one springing to mind is affordability. At nearly £20,000 more than the next nearest model in the range the Cyberster certainly isn’t that, and it puts the brand into a new and very different league. But at the moment it’s in a class of one, given there aren’t really any other electric sports cars around this side of million pound hypercars. So, in spirit you need to compare it with equivalent petrol-engined roadsters and here it’s quite a bit more expensive than a Mazda MX-5 and more on a par with the likes of the Porsche 718 Boxster. Which seems fair given the looks, quality and amount of performance on offer. In terms of running costs a car of this nature isn’t likely to rack up big mileages like a family SUV so the advantages of going electric are probably more about the novelty than anything else. Still, if you can charge at home and only use it for fun it’ll cost peanuts on that score while also scoring some useful discounts in towns where parking incentives and free passes to emissions or congestion zones still count for electric cars.

For all the fancy looks the Cyberster is built on MG’s proven electric hardware seen in other models like the MG4. Like all electric cars mechanical simplicity counts in its favour here, there being no need for the oil changes or other servicing combustion-engined sports cars demand. A seven-year warranty meanwhile offers great peace of mind.

The usual moans here about fiddly touch-screens demanding too much time with eyes off the road, something the MG Cyberster self-consciously acknowledges by bonging at you for not looking where you’re going when you’re using them. As well as bonging at you for going too fast, or too close to the white lines. Indeed, most of the time you’re not sure which bong is warning you about what, making them more of an irritation than an aid. Still, there’s lots of tech there to keep you safe, even if we ended up turning most of it off before pulling away to avoid being driven to distraction. If you prefer the safety nets they include automatic emergency braking, lane keeping and the actually useful stuff like alerts for unseen vehicles in your blindspot or passing behind you when reversing out of a tight driveway or parking space.

Accepting this is a strictly two-seat car the MG Cyberster is a surprisingly comfy way to cover miles, especially given its sporty looks. True, the boot is small and shallow so you’ll have to pack relatively light and use the stash space behind the seats as well. Small squashy bags and not big suitcases for the win on that score. But for driver and front seat passenger the seats are supportive and comfortable and it doesn’t feel as cramped as, say, a Mazda MX-5. Those distinctive power operated doors look flashy but are a novelty we could probably live without, giving opening and closing them seemingly takes longer than the 15 seconds or so it takes to drop the power operated roof! If you were expecting a driving position as sporty as the looks get ready for a disappointment as well – the battery pack may be slimmer than most but you’re still on top of it so it feels like you sit ‘on’ the car rather than ‘in’ it. This isn’t actually as bad as it sounds, given MG has tuned the Cyberster more for cruisey comfort than it has white knuckle sports car thrills. So, the steering is pretty chilled and the suspension relatively soft with a well-judged balance between handling and comfort. The silence of the electric power is also rather nice with the roof down, to the point where you can be zipping along the lanes with the wind in your hair and still hear the birdsong, a novelty we really rather enjoyed. And for days when you’re keeping the roof up refinement on motorways and the like is also impressively soothing.

Bravo to MG for keeping it simple here, on the basis both single-motor Trophy and twin-motor GT have exactly the same equipment levels and the price premium for the latter is purely about the extra performance. Colours other than the standard white come at extra cost and, on some of them, you can have red fabric for the roof if you wish. On both models the spec is very generous, with a standard fit Bose stereo system, heating for seats and steering wheel, power adjustment and lumbar support, a wind deflector between the seats to keep turbulence to a minimum when the roof is down and even a ‘vehicle to load’ function so you can turn your car into a giant power bank with a three-pin socket adaptor on the charging port to power any domestic appliance. While the upholstery is faux rather than real leather the fit and finish all looks pretty good, and a big step up from regular MGs. Inevitably there’s lots of tech as well, with a clear and simple digital instrument display flanked by two smaller screens packed with baffling amounts of information we didn’t feel we needed and couldn’t read anyway because the text is too small, the interface clunky and a good portion of both is obscured by your hands on the steering wheel. Unfortunately, that includes the nav display on the left, meaning you have to crane your neck to see where you’re going.

Choose between single-motor Trophy and twin-motor all-wheel drive GT here, the latter with an impressive sounding 503 horsepower and 0-62mph time of 3.2 seconds. Which, on paper, is comparable with V8 versions of the Jaguar F-Type the Cyberster is perhaps closest to in spirit and heritage, despite their very different powertrains. While we drove both we spent more time in the rear-wheel drive Trophy and despite having ‘just’ 340 horsepower it actually feels like a nicer balance, with plenty of overtaking grunt to zip past dawdling motorhomes on the lovely Scottish roads we tested it on and seemingly comparable performance at the speeds that matter in the real world. Because there’s no additional motor powering the front wheels we’d say the steering feels more natural as well, so unless you feel the need to have the big numbers to impress your mates down the pub we’d be happy saving the money and having the regular Trophy. It also goes 316 miles on a charge to the GT’s 276 miles and even at what we’ll describe as an enthusiastic cross-country pace the efficiency figures we got were genuinely impressive, helped by easily adjustable regenerative braking via the left paddle on the steering wheel. The right hand one controls the drive modes, a big red button giving you Sport Plus but, frankly, we rarely felt the need.