MG MG4 XPower (2023 - ) Electric review

Value for money has always been one of MG’s biggest selling points, and one attracting more and more buyers. And if that’s your priority the regular MG4 is still an absolute steal. This XPower version costs more but puts an amusing twist on the same brand values by offering performance to humble much more expensive rivals at a price that still looks a total bargain. To puts some numbers on it the XPower’s 435 horsepower and supercar-chasing acceleration times equal or better internal combustion powered hot hatches and far more expensive electric rivals at a price that still looks stonking value. Fuelled by high demand the strong residual values mean MG is also able to offer the XPower at monthly finance numbers undercutting anything from Tesla, Kia, Hyundai or anyone else that can keep up with it on the road.

While the MG name is as old as the hills the company’s modern incarnation remains a relatively fresh face and, to many people, an unknown quantity in reliability terms. But MG’s Chinese parent company brings with it huge resources and technical clout. The fact it stands by its products with a seven-year warranty should help overcome any fears on this score.

The XPower is priced above the regular SE and Trophy grades of the MG4 and, accordingly, gets all the safety kit you could wish for as standard. Interestingly MG had disabled the intrusive lane-keeping on our test cars (in most vehicles this defaults back to ‘on’ every time you turn it on) perhaps aware the calibration on some of the driver aids can be a bit over-sensitive. That aside you get all the systems you could wish for, including useful stuff like blind spot warnings and alarms if you’re backing out of a tight space into unseen traffic – as handy in busy supermarket car parks as it is for those with tight driveways. A thumbs up for all that, though the graphics on the touch-screen are still way too small and fiddly to safely operate while driving. Other than that the XPower includes an extra motor up front for confidence inspiring all-wheel drive traction in slippery conditions while everything from brakes to tyres and suspension have been upgraded to cope with the significantly increased power and performance.

Given its cars are built in China and MG doesn’t have the huge engineering and testing resources of its European rivals it’s done a really impressive job making the MG4 both comfortable and fun to drive on UK roads. True, the suspension is a little stiffer than the regular version to support the inevitably higher speeds you’ll be carrying, and there’s perhaps a little more tyre noise than before. But both are perfectly acceptable compromises, and the XPower strikes a very mature balance between refinement and entertainment, with accurate and pleasantly weighted steering and a predictable balance when deploying that massive electrified surge of power. Other than that it’s much like any other MG4, which is to say reasonably generous in legroom for those in the back, though perhaps lacking a little in boot space for family drivers who need space for pushchairs and other clobber as well as room for the weekly shop.

There’s no faulting the MG4’s fundamental style or onboard tech but you can feel where the money has been saved in terms of materials and the last little bit of polish in the way the systems work. That’s less of an issue in the regular car where the value for money more than compensates but the XPower’s higher price means unfavourable comparisons with the Kias, Hyundais and others you may also be considering. And in this company the brittleness of the plastics and niggles with the fiddly graphics and occasionally sluggish responses to inputs on the central screen are harder to forgive. We do like the two programmable ‘hot keys’ on the steering wheel, though, given you can configure them for short cuts to commonly used features like adjusting the regenerative braking or bringing up the climate control. While the XPower doesn’t look dramatically different to the regular models the orange brake calipers and different wheels (these are 18-inch but still look a bit small) are the obvious changes over and above specific additional features like launch control, a sportier driving display and other performance-oriented upgrades.

With an extra motor up front and more than double the power of the existing Trophy version the difference in performance is as dramatic as you could hope, the mere 3.8 seconds it takes to fling itself from zero to 62mph as shocking is extraordinary for a car costing less than £40,000. Indeed, by the numbers the MG4 XPower is up there with everything from all-wheel drive ‘Performance’ grade Teslas to premium contenders like the Jaguar I-Pace and the amusement value of having this kind of firepower in a ‘value’ model from MG is compelling. At one point on our test drive we were following a Porsche 911 and chuckling at the fact, if it came to it, the driver wouldn’t see which way the MG went. Back in the real world the ability to merge into motorway gaps you didn’t think were there, safely overtake on country roads and generally make spirited progress in electrified silence is a genuine revelation for an MG. OK, it comes at the expense of range and efficiency, the quoted maximum of 239 miles somewhat less impressive than the 281 miles of the single-motor MG4 with the same 64kWh battery. If your priority is going further rather than faster you can now have an extended range version with a bigger battery capable of over 300 miles for the same money, too. Judged by measures of value for money or how far it’ll go on a charge the XPower is, perhaps, the least sensible MG4 you can buy. But you can’t put a price on fun. If you’re worried going electric won’t be as exciting as the more traditional combustion engined hot hatch you might once have bought for the same money the XPower is a welcome bolt from the blue.