MG4 2024 review: Excite 51

This is the cheapest EV in Australia. Sorry, this WAS the cheapest EV in Australia. For about five minutes, before it was undercut by the princely sum of $100 by the BYD Dolphin, in what the latter swears was just a coincidence.

Still, this MG4 is the second-cheapest EV in Australia, listing at $38,990, before on-road costs for this entry-level Excite 51 model. The 51 refers to the battery size, by the way, but we’ll come back to that in a moment.

Outside, there are 17-inch alloy wheels, LED lighting front and rear and electric wing mirrors. Inside, there’s a 10.25-inch multimedia system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster in front of the driver. The stereo is a four-speaker system in the cheapest model.

There are some reminders this is an entry-level model, though. The seats are black cloth, the driver’s seat adjusts manually, and some of the plastics used are less than impressive, especially where you might rest your elbow on the top of the door when driving.

Upfront of the MG4 Excite 51 is a 10.25-inch multimedia system.

Some of the plastics used inside of the base grade MG4 are less than impressive.

The MG4 Excite 51 wears 17-inch alloy wheels.

Standard features of the MG4 is front and rear LED lighting.

The MG4 features electric wing mirrors.

There are two answers to the design question, I reckon, and the better of those begins outside. MG has taken to describing this as a “hot hatch” (because there are faster, more powerful models in the MG4 range), and I’ve got to say, it does looks pretty sharp.

And, outside at least, it doesn’t much look like an entry-level model, does it? There’s a kind of angular, wedge-like front-end that gives way to a more traditional hatch body style, and there’s plenty going on at the back, with a massive boot-lip spoiler and sharp LED rear lights that cut into the body work at the rear flanks which look brilliant at night.

But while it doesn’t look like an entry level-model from the outside, it does feel like one a bit in the cabin.

Don’t get me wrong, the tech stuff all looks clean and lovely, but plastics used here are hard, cheap and uncomfortable to lean on, and the little row of buttons beneath the centre screen feels flimsy and cheap, too.

What I do love, though, is the steering wheel. It’s the main touchpoint in the car, so it’s important, and MG have nailed it here. It feels luxurious and sporty every time you grab it.

Questionable materials aside, the MG4 – in my humble opinion – is a good-looking vehicle, inside and out. And perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t look cheap, either.

The MG measures in at 4287mm in length, 1836mm in width and 1504mm in height, and it rides on a 2705mm wheelbase.

That makes it about on-par in the small hatch segment – a Mazda3, for example, is 4460mm long and 1795mm wide.

That said, there are a couple of practicality perks on offer, largely in the back seat, where I found ample leg and head room behind my 175cm driving position (honestly, adults can ride here in comfort).

Up front of the MG4, there are twin cupholders, door pockets, and USB connection points. (Image: Andrew Chesterton)

There is ample head and leg room in the back seats of the MG4. (Image: Andrew Chesterton)

There’s not much else in the back, though. There’s nothing in the way of cupholders or vents, for example, but there are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat. Up front, there are twin cupholders, door pockets, and USB connection points.

Interestingly for an EV, there’s no ‘frunk’. Instead, the boot will hold 363 litres with the rear seats in place, growing to 1177 litres with the rear bench folded flat.

The MG4 has 363 litres of boot capacity. (Image: Andrew Chesterton)

With the rear seats stowed, the MG4 has 1177 litres of boot capacity. (Image: Andrew Chesterton)

MG makes a big deal about injecting a little driving fun into the MG4, which rides on a new platform designed for near-perfect weight distribution, and with an electric motor that powers the rear wheels.

Speaking of which, this Excite 51’s motor produces 125kW and 250Nm, which should be enough to dispatch 100km/h in 7.7 seconds.

But here’s the thing — it feels faster, and more urgent, than that. The way the torque arrives so quickly means you rocket up to suburban speeds, before it begins to taper.

There are five driving modes (‘Eco’, ‘Normal’, ‘Sport’, ‘Snow’ and ‘Custom’), and four-stage regenerative braking, including an ‘Automatic’ mode.

This entry-level model is fitted with the smallest battery available, a 51kWh unit that should produce a driving range for around 350km. I say ‘around’ because when fully charged the screen had been reading more like 330km.

Think that’s not enough? How often do you drive more than 330km in a day?

Plugged into a 50kW fast charger, it will go from 10-80 percent charged in 40 minutes. At home with a wallbox, it will be more like 6.5 hours.

Have you ever heard of the Tata Nano? It burst onto the Indian new-car market in 2008 billed as the world’s cheapest car. And it bombed.

Among the issues that plagued it was the fact it looked and felt cheap, and self-respecting Indian drivers didn’t want to advertise the fact they were behind the wheel of the absolute cheapest from of vehicular transport on the planet.

I must admit, I approached the MG4 Excite 51 with memories of the Nano bouncing around my head. See it was, for one hot minute, Australia’s cheapest electric car, and so you couldn’t help but wonder if it was going to give off the same cut-price vibes as the ill-fated Tata.

Short answer? It doesn’t. You can tell as soon as you approach it. Even in its cheapest guise the MG4 looks sporty and sharp, thanks in part to the standard 17-inch alloys, but also to the design execution of the front and rear lights.

Yes, there are some budget reminders in the cabin, but it too feels clean and pretty tech savvy.

But the biggest surprise comes when you start it up and get moving (but one gripe first – can we please bring back on-off buttons in the cabin? The MG4, like many other EVs, is simply on when you get in, and off when you get out and lock the door. Sounds good on paper, I know, but in practice it feels modern for the sake of modern, and a little annoying).

That bugbear aside, the MG4 is a hugely pleasant, and pleasantly surprising, drive. It feels solid and complete, the steering is natural-feeling and nicely weighted and the ride feels sporty and in-tune with the road below.

It also feels faster than its specs suggest, owing to the instant surge of torque when you flatten your foot. And while I’ve driven some EVs lately that struggle with embarrassing wheelspin when trying to get that power through the rubber, there’s no such issue in the MG4, which sits and grips without so much as a chirp.

The result is a car that is mostly smooth and silent (it can be too firm on things like road expanders), composed when cornering, and perky when pushed from a standstill.

Honestly, it makes some of the loud and buzzy ICE offerings in this segment feel like they’ve come from a different era.

The full five stars from Euro NCAP here, owing partly to the fact that even the cheapest MG4 gets the brand’s ‘Pilot’ safety suite, which adds high-tech stuff like ‘Active Emergency Braking’ with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist and lane keep assist with lane departure warning.

There’s also ‘Intelligent High Beam Assist’ and ‘Intelligent Speed Limit Assist’ with traffic sign recognition.

That’s all joined by six airbags, as well as your usual braking and traction aids.

The MG4 is covered by MG’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. And here’s the other big perk of EV ownership – while MG is yet to confirm the servicing details for the MG4, we expect it to mirror the ZS EV, which (wait for it) requires a trip to the service centre every two years or 40,000km.

Pricing for those services hasn’t been confirmed, but again, using the ZS as a guide, you can expect to pay close to $300 for the first service, and $800 for the second, with that cycle repeating.