MG Motor UK MG4 Urban review

Like most MGs (apart, annoyingly, from the Cyberster) it feels pretty agile and gives a sense the people who set it up have driven on British roads. It copes well with corners of unpredictable radius. It's usefully precise and progressive. As with the steering, you're not consciously thinking of how much accelerator or brake input you need. Which is a sign of well-calibrated progression.

Sounds fun…

That's not what we're saying. The miles pass, but you're not engaged. Remember the other MG4 has a more sophisticated suspension setup and rear-drive, and is quite a playful thing. So the Urban is meant to be, and succeeds in being, a car for people who aren't that interested in driving and just want something that doesn't demand much thought.

So is it nice and soft instead?

Sadly not. The springing is pretty firm. Not harsh or clangy, but just busy all the time, even on a dual-carriageway. This actually means on a B-road you get jostled around when a softer car would take a straighter line. Hard to see why it needs to be so rigid.

There's a bit of tyre noise in the mix too. But wind noise, at least at the unambitious speeds that best suit it, is no more than a background woosh.

Unambitious speeds?

With power at 149 and 160bhp (battery dependent) and torque at 184lb ft (both batteries) the motors have to shove 1,460 and 1,520kg (again, small/big battery). That's impressively light for a roomy EV hatch. But it's still not enough power to drag the 0-62mph time far under 10 seconds.

And does the range hold up?

We got a pretty impressive 4.0 mi/kWh on a coldish day in suburban and B-road driving, but hardly any battery-sapping motorway. That was with the bigger battery, equating to 205 miles versus the 251 WLTP measure.

Are MG’s driver ‘aids’ still an issue?

The original MG4's 'assist' systems were so wilful they triggered a government investigation. They're far less obtrusive here (and the MG4 itself has now been brought up to this latest spec). The steering assist doesn't wrench and the limit bonger isn't deafening. Even the 'watch the road' warning is less nannying than most Chinese cars.

Anyway, you have an impressive set of ADAS, called MG Pilot, on even the base spec. It's easy to set up a custom configuration that you then recall from the screen with a simple swipe-down, tap, confirm.