2024 MG4 XPower review: An electric hyper hatch?

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the MG4 XPower, you might be aware of one rather controversial addition to the Chinese-made, British-badged 320kW all-paw hatchback: bright orange clip-on caliper covers straight off Wish-dot-com, described as “orange ‘XPOWER’ brake calipers”.

For the hot hatch purist this kind of peacocking is the absolute antithesis of the genre, but should a vehicle be judged entirely on one marketing choice? Absolutely not.

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The XPower could be a diamond, especially given the praise that’s been heaped on the regular MG4.

Plus, the XPower is good value. If you’d told us 10 years ago that an electric hot hatch would be able to sprint from rest to licence-losing speeds in 3.8 seconds, all for $59,990 (before on-road costs), and without sacrificing niceties such as a 10.25-inch touchscreen with smartphone mirroring we’d have laughed you out of the room.

Something has to give. Our hunch is that, like the braking situation, MG may have glossed over engineering excellence in favour of headline figures.

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JUMP AHEAD

• How much is it, and what do you get?
• How do rivals compare on value?
• Interior comfort, space and storage
• What is it like to drive?
• What’s the MG4’s driving range and charging speed?
• How safe is it?
• Warranty and running costs
• VERDICT
• Specifications

How much is it, and what do you get?

This is the MG4 flagship, the most expensive of the lot, and it’s essentially identical inside to the regular Essence trim aside from some orange stitching on the seats. There’s also an exclusive satin finish in the Hunter Green paint hue you see here.

The Essence is luckily packed with standard kit such as 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights with auto high beam, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, a connected phone app (with charge scheduling, HVAC controls and more), voice control, wireless charging, 360-degree camera, and 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster.

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How do rivals compare on value?

When looking at outputs alone, the $59,990 Cupra Born with ‘just’ 170kW and 310Nm looks pretty sorry for itself. Hell, even a slower Golf R is dearer than the electric MG4 ($70,590).

Dig deeper, though, and the Born’s 511km WLTP range, (optional) grippy Michelin tyres, adaptive dampers, and supportive bucket seats make it the connoisseur’s choice.

There’s also much better value in MG’s stable. The MG4 Essence 77kWh, for example, is $4000 cheaper with a 180kW rear motor (trust us, it’s plenty), and extends WLTP range to 530km from a charge.

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Interior comfort, space and storage

Like any hot hatch, the MG4 XPower benefits from its donor car’s great packaging. There’s plenty of room in the back for at least two six-foot adults and a well-sized 350-litre boot with a shopping bag hook and light (though no spare tyre).

In the front, there are nice packaging touches such as a deep central cubby, covered storage area, netting (that’s great for keys or garage buzzers), two cup holders, grippy door bins, and a rubberised wireless charging pad ahead of the rotary shifter complemented by USB-A, USB-C and 12-volt charging points.

The comfortable front seats are trimmed in a mix of suede-cloth and faux-leather with manual adjust (the passenger does without height adjustment) though they aren’t supportive enough for a sporty vehicle. The Cupra Born has sexier buckets that hug and reassure the driver through corners – MG has missed a trick here.

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Generally, the cabin vibe is subdued for such a grunty little car, with only orange stitching telling you that this is The Fast One.

The standard car’s Allegro-esque quartic steering wheel remains (it’s great in the hand), as does the slow-to-respond on buttonless start-up rotary gear selector.

MG’s tech interface is fine (and clearly inspired by Cupra’s) but we noticed the XPower’s software looked a little older than our latest experience in Excite/Essence trims. It lacked persistent climate controls on the home screen and we found voice control to be essentially unusable.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work through a wired connection with neat little cable tunnels running up to the rubberised pad near the shifter. The six-speaker sound system is a noticeable improvement over the base Excite’s four-speaker set-up.

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What is it like to drive?

The MG4 XPower is largely an understated transformation into a performance car. Not a bad thing if the money’s been poured into making this hatch a serious driver’s machine, of course.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Starting with the tyres that may be wrapped around sportier-looking 18-inch alloys but in truth are identical to the Essence’s rubber: 235/45 R18 Bridgestone Turanze T005 EV touring tyres. Not the kind of high-performance rubber (such as a Michelin Pilot Sport 4S) you want for enthusiastic driving or track days.

They struggle to put all the MG’s grunt – with 150kW front and 170kW rear electric motors totalling 320kW/600Nm – to the tarmac, even with all-wheel drive grip, ‘intelligent motor control’ torque vectoring, and an electronically-controlled limited-slip differential.

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We couldn’t match MG’s claimed 3.8-second 0-100km/h acceleration time. Our best effort had the VBOX showing 4.1 seconds with 0-60km/h (the traffic light grand prix) coming up in 2.1 seconds. 

It’s hard to complain about acceleration that rapid when things feel relatively controlled, save for some front axle scrabbling and a bit of old-school steering corruption.

Speed is one thing but a true hot hatch should be dripping with handling prowess and chassis feel. A great one will instill enough confidence in the driver to be able to match the speed of much higher-performance cars on a technical backroad.

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And, despite MG fitting new springs, anti-roll bars and changing damper characteristics to stiffen the suspension by 25 per cent, the XPower is very much overwhelmed by grunt.

The steering has no more feel than the standard car’s despite requiring less lock (2.6 vs 2.9 turns lock-to-lock) so it’s still hard to judge grip levels.

Tip the XPower into a tight off-camber bend and one of two things will happen. With the right amount of trail braking, the car will roll and settle on its outside rear. This is good, and you can then use the throttle to steer out, though there’s not enough roll support to make this feel controlled and you really feel all 1800kg working against you.

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Barrel in a little too quickly, or pick up the throttle too soon, and the XPower’s short-travel pedal lightens the front end and knocks the car into scrappy understeer.

The sensation is only amplified in damp conditions.

The ride quality is good on bumpy roads though, so MG hasn’t ruined the hatchback’s usability by making it too stiff. There are also customisable buttons on the steering wheel that can be set to adjust drive mode and regenerative braking power on the fly, which is appreciated.

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Brake feel isn’t noticeably improved over the regular MG4, with single-piston sliding calipers clamping 345mm ventilated front rotors.

We’d appreciate a more solid pedal feel, though the power proved adequate with our VBOX recording a 36-metre 100-0km/h stop.

The XPower isn’t a bad steer, but it could be so much better. We’d have preferred revised front-end geometry with more castor and camber to improve steering feel and grip, a better steering calibration, and higher-quality (even adaptive) dampers – perhaps provided by Sachs or Bilstein.

As it stands, the regular rear-drive MG4 offers a more delicate and rewarding driving experience than the heavier, faster XPower. There was a chance to spiritually revive BMW’s E81 130i hatch in an electric age. Instead, MG listened to the corrupting call of power when it came to developing the XPower.

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What’s the MG4’s driving range and charging speed?

Fitted with the mid-size 62.1kWh NCM lithium-ion battery (marketed by its gross 64kWh capacity) the twin-motor XPower is rated at 385km driving range in the WLTP cycle, against 435km for the Essence and 530km 77kWh Long Range.

Over our time with the XPower – which included regularly indulging in all the grunt on offer – we saw 17.6kWh/100km, for 351km of driving range – not too far off the WLTP rating.

It charges quickly for the class with 140kW (DC) peak speeds – verified on a local rapid charger – promising 10-80 per cent recuperation (39 to 308km of driving range) in as little as 26 minutes.

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How safe is it?

The 2024 MG4 was awarded five stars in ANCAP testing under the 2020-2022 criteria.

The MG4 misses a centre airbag, though is equipped with many driver aids including AEB, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring.

We found the systems to be tuned better than, say, Chery’s, but still overzealous and snappy in their interventions compared to the best in the business, such as Volkswagen.

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Warranty and running costs

The MG4 is backed by a seven-year unlimited-kilometre warranty and an equal period of capped-price servicing.

Maintenance is due every 24 months/40,000km and will cost $1478 over six years.

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VERDICT

The brake caliper covers don’t make this a bad car, but they are a perfect allegory for the XPower experience.

Instead of addressing the shortcomings of the Essence for performance driving – lifeless steering, flat seats, and low tyre grip – MG has thrown in an extra motor and nearly doubled the power. It doesn’t even have stickier performance tyres.

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Looking at it away from the hot hatch purist lens, the XPower doesn’t make much more sense, either.

It’s fast, yeah, but you rarely get to indulge in that pace. The extra power and added weight mean its driving range is compromised and there’s little sense of occasion as you step inside.

If you’re looking for a rewarding and athletic electric vehicle under $65K the Cupra Born does a better job, and if you want the optimal MG4 we’d lean towards the $4000 cheaper Essence 77kWh.

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