MG Motor UK MG4 review

Right, the basics here are that you’ve got five seats, or more likely four adults with a small person wedged into the middle back seat. There’s plenty of space up front, a flat floor and not much room for feet for those in the back. The boot is only ok, small hatchback-sized at 363 litres, and there’s no frunk to stow cables, so they’ll probably live under the second level of the floor. Practical enough, without making it something you’d show off about.

HOW’S THINGS FOR THE DRIVER?

Up front, you get a seven-inch driver’s display and a 10.25-inch floating touchscreen in the middle - which both look fine - with a kind of shelf below which houses the electric handbrake rocker and rotary gear selector, plus a flat section that’s a wireless phone charger in higher-spec models, or a phone holder in the cheaper versions. Be warned that heady acceleration in the XPower will send your phone flying out.

The more affordable ones come with holes in the sides of the shelf so that you can thread your cables down to the USB points in the lower section and keep things tidy. The shelf itself looks like it might interfere with your knees getting in and out, but it really doesn’t.

Then there’s a pair of cupholders down near the floor, more storage and a covered bin between the seats. Materials are good but not great, design is clean and clear but not hugely stylish. That’s the general feeling here; there’s a lot to like and it all seems to work very well, but it’s a practical space. And the row of physical buttons under the touchscreen for often-used functions (good) are blocky and cheap-feeling (bad).

OTHER CRITICISMS?

Well, if you’re bigger, the seats feel a bit cost-conscious, lacking padding and feeling a bit narrow in the base, and there’s a whopping blindspot in the c-pillar. Some have also mentioned the lack of a rear wiper, but given that the rear hatch at the base of the windscreen juts out like a shelf, that is unlikely to be much of a problem. 

HOW’S THE TOUCHSCREEN?

Fuss-free and functional. It does without the jazzy graphics and dancing displays that are only ever a distraction in more premium marques, so does less to draw your attention away from the road. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included as standard, but with wired connection only.