IT sounds a bit too good to be true. A mid-size SUV that is among the least expensive in its class, can cover 1,000kms on a tank-full of petrol combined with battery power, has plenty of room, is well furnished and is solidly built.
Yes, it’s a combination that would have any sales person extolling its virtues.
And they would not be as far off as you might think.
There is plenty for them to glow about in the new HS PHEV petrol hybrid plug-in compact SUV from MG.
Now, anyone who bought the old one, or initial versions of some other MGs from years back might find themselves a bit reluctant to go again.
I, for one, hadn’t that much faith in a few of the models I had on test back then. In fairness it was early days for MG in terms of getting models out there and battling with better, and more established, arrivals. Crucially, even then price was a big selling point for them, even as other elements such as electronics left something to be desired.
But this SUV, as well as other recent new MG launches, show just how far they have come – and are going – in blending the core price platform with value for your money.
There is the HS price, spec, comfort and tech as well as plenty of power (307 PS total system: engine and battery.
And, it is important to note that there is a manufacturer’s warranty of 7years/150,000 km, while the service interval is every 12 months or 24,000 km.
Ridiculously low emission figures win loads of ‘green’ points from the relevant car tax people.
As you are probably fed-up reading, if you can keep the battery topped up and in use most of the time you’re driving, you can, hypothetically, manage a miniscule 12 grammes of C02 emitted every kilometre.
That’s the number obtained by the official WLTP testers. And because of that, VRT is lower. Obviously the petrol engine element was used sparingly in tests and the price reflects in the HS. And road tax is just €140 as a result here.
But I am telling you, those extreme emission figures are pure fantasy. I don’t know how long this can go on but may it be around for years.
My real-world experience got me 5.5 litres/100kms. And that you can regard as a good figure. Because as a fair part of our unusual test route, to and especially, from Sligo and Dublin, we covered nearly every back-road in north Westmeath. We travelled through parts of the country I had not been to for decades, if at all.
It meant that the engine was in much more frequent use and we benefitted from just the one full battery charge. They claim you can cover 120kms on battery power alone. I reckoned on 95kms judging by the returns on my test. That’s good by the way.
Propelling the HS was a 1.5T turbo petrol, a 2-speed automatic transmission, front wheel drive and a battery capacity of 24.7 kWh. Estimated charging time from zero to 100pc full (never likely to happen) with 2.2kW 3-pin domestic plug is 7-hours 30 minutes; with a 7kW fast charger it does the business in 4hours.
The 0-100kmh in 6.8 seconds is not bad considering how heavy these SUVs can weigh. I’m not interested in sprint times in a family SUV but I’m using it to show there was a bit of bite in it if you so desire but don’t expect too much. There was plenty of torque and, my goodness, the quality of the suspension was quite an eye-opener. As I mentioned we spent a long time on the back-roads, tracking down places of interest (Fore, for example, is a wonderful, hidden gem of a place once the home of thousands of religious occupants).
As the kms went by I have to say I changed a lot of my preconceptions. Far from being cheap and cheerful, this is seriously well put together machine.
Mind you, I had few expectations when I first saw the new SUV in the driveway, dressed in black (the car, not me), with a strong, sturdy pose but no great design fanfare.
Just like the looks, they are keeping things nice and tidy with the model line-up. There are just the two trims. The Excite model costs from €40,995 while the Exclusive starts at €43,995. Spec is high, even on the entry level model.
Which means that, with one glaring exception, to which I will come in a minute, this HS is as near being the real thing as anything else on that segment of the market.
It’s not altogether Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson calibre, but it’s not that far off and, especially in the case of the RAV4, there is a big element of lower price on the MG.
The cabin was much roomier than I expected as it is not a big-framed car. Bedecked in strong mustard/brown upholstery (it wouldn’t be my cup of tea but it would be easily kept clean) there was loads of room front and back (knee, head and shoulder, with a 500+ boot area – that’s good for a PHEV where often batteries can intrude heavily.
My only major crib was the infotainment system as portrayed on the large screen (there are two).
Not for the life of us could we get a simple way of lowering or rising the air conditioning. The intelligent one on board usually sorts these things out in a matter of minutes. Sad to say this beat her. We went far into the backroads of screens and graphics to no avail.
It sounds like a minor quibble. It’s not. If something you use, or interface with, on a daily basis is a source of irritation, then it has to be criticised. We even tried to get it on YouTube but to no avail. Now I know someone will be on to show me how simple it is. Unless we totally missed the obvious, it doesn’t sound simple.
But in its own way, it shows how, some minor matters apart, I hadn’t too much else to nitpick the MG HS PHEV. There are better looking cars but this compensates with sturdiness and price. Worth a test drive.
