Overview

ELECTRIC cars are progressing at such a rate that it seems there is never a good time to buy, much like smartphones and laptops.

In the time since our initial long-term test report for the mid-range MG 4 64 Essence, its price has dropped (again) and people who buy one today will benefit from a 10-year warranty (three years more than stated on the rear windscreen sticker of our test vehicle).

We’re running out of fingers to count the number of battery electric vehicles that had their price reduced before even hitting the market, not to mention the volatility of trend-setting Tesla’s prices.

Coming in at $46,990 drive-away with $700 worth of Volcano Orange premium paint, the mid-range MG 4 Essence 64 model tested here is similarly priced to a Honda Civic, while the hybrid version of that car is an ambitious $55,000 drive-away.

However, ICE price parity is not a given, as a top-spec Mazda3, Kia Cerato, or Toyota Corolla undercuts this MG, as does a Volkswagen Golf R-Line. You could even pick up a manual Hyundai i30 N hot hatch for similar coin.

Perhaps, then, novated leasing is a better option, especially as state-based electric vehicle incentives – such as the recently withdrawn $6K rebate in Queensland – start to evaporate.

Leasing via salary sacrifice – for those in a position to do so – yields tax perks and an upgrade cycle not dissimilar to consumer electronics is available.

In this particular scenario, however, we deemed it prudent to have an electric vehicle charger installed as part of a home renovation, complementing an existing rooftop solar array.

With feed-in tariffs now almost worthless, redirecting energy generated from the sun’s rays into the battery of ‘our’ MG 4 would go a long way toward offsetting the higher price of this Chinese electric hatch over a petrol-powered Japanese or Korean equivalent.

The increased number of electric and plug-in hybrid test cars coming through our garage, combined with public charging infrastructure failing to keep pace with vehicle uptake, made our 7kW home charging equipment a bit of a no-brainer investment.

It was our first opportunity to live with an electric car fuelled entirely from our home charging apparatus – and it was a revelation.

Home charging

A lot of questions the electric-curious have is around charging, so let’s cover that first, as I agree largely with my colleague Cobey Bartels in terms of how the MG 4 drives and how its various systems operate.

Whereas Cobey had to rely on public charging infrastructure during his first stint with the MG 4, I have so far managed just fine with home charging.

This has included a trip from the southern end of the Sunshine Coast to the northern end of the Gold Coast and back (covering almost 300km with more than 70km of range to spare).

Another one-charge slog involved a few errands around the Sunshine Coast before heading to Brisbane CBD, then to the suburb of Browns Plains to the south of the Queensland capital and back to the city centre heavily laden with supplies for an automotive technicians’ convention before heading back home to the Sunshine Coast (again around 300km covered with around 70km of range remaining).

MG claims the MG 4 Essence 64 can do 435km on a full charge, based on a mixture of local and highway driving, and with suburban work plus judicious use of the right foot (both acceleration and regenerative braking) we could easily manage 400km if charging to 100 per cent, the onboard distance-to-empty readout regularly exceeding the factory claim.

However, the MG’s charging settings suggest limiting regular usage to 80 per cent charge for the sake of battery longevity and reserving a full 100 per cent zap for planned longer trips.

You can also schedule charging to take advantage of off-peak tariffs or, as was the case for me, peak rooftop solar generation due to working from home.

The charging equipment I had installed is supposed to automatically regulate the amount of energy supplied to the vehicle by calculating how much solar would otherwise be exported but for boring and infuriating reasons this is not the case, so I settled for programming the MG’s charge scheduler.

A heatwave that swept much of Australia in August also impacted range by around 10 per cent as the air-conditioner had to work unseasonably hard to cool the MG4’s pleasantly bright and airy cabin, providing a preview as to its likely summer performance.

Perhaps the heat-absorbing contrasting black roof of our MG 4 was not such a great idea, although likely provided superior insulation to the panoramic glass roof fitted to many electric cars.

Anyway, the above experience gave me confidence that the majority of Australians who live in suburbs of major cities and enjoy weekends away within their state would do just fine with this MG 4.

MG also offers a smaller battery with 350km claimed range in the $39,990 drive-away Excite 51 base grade (the numbers referring to battery pack capacity in kWh), or a $52,990 drive-away Long Range variant that claims up to 530km on a single charge.

I reckon the former would be a suitable second car and the latter for those wanting to go further afield on business or pleasure trips – or just a bit of comfort factor given the touch-and-go experience of relying on public charging networks.

Realistically, 64kW seems like a sweet spot in terms of price and performance and the Essence trim provides pretty much all the equipment many drivers would need and expect.

What was the impact on household energy consumption? It increased by around 75 per cent and the amount exported to grid reduced by a similar amount.

But we still exported a lot as we found the energy used for daily school and day care runs, plus other errands, could be replenished quickly using the 7kW home charger (most MG 4 variants accept 6.6kW single phase AC to add 40-50km of range per hour but the Long Range ups that to 11kW from three phase power).

I’m also pleased about my decision to locate the charger just inside the garage door, making it easier to do brief plug-ins between journeys.

Topping up the battery makes life with an electric car so much more seamless. Were you ever so broke that you splashed a fiver or tenner of fuel into your combustion car for every journey because you couldn’t afford to lock cash away in the fuel tank?

I’ve certainly been there and chuckled about the parallels as I found myself ‘splash-and-dashing’ the MG whenever I could – but in contrast to those edifying low-dollar fuel-stop experiences it was fulfilling and convenient.

Not least, this strategy means there’s always plenty of range should the need for unexpected journeys arise – such as a last-minute airport dash for some interstate emergency or visiting a relative who ended up in a regional hospital. Thankfully neither scenario arose for me.

Taking the car from 80-100 per cent for bigger trips meant allowing for longer hours hooked up to the charger but I soon became accustomed to the advanced planning – and at least I could do it at home.

Jury’s out on whether the MG 4’s charging port location is the most convenient (passenger side rear) though – I recommend specifying at least a 5.5-metre cable for your home charger.

Energy efficiency is often in the mid-13kWh/100km and low 14kWh/100km range and I’ve averaged 15.4kWh/100km during my time so far with the MG4. Compared to the energy consumption of a household, it sounds like a lot of juice is required to travel 100km but with home charging from rooftop solar the cost is almost negligible – as are emissions.

Driving impressions

Sometimes the garage gets a bit busy with various test vehicles but tellingly, I often found myself reaching for the keys to the orange MG.

To get almost anywhere from home I have to drive up one of several steep hills, which feels mechanically unsympathetic to a cold internal combustion engine. Not so in a car that runs on electricity.

Although the MG 4 could be accused of feeling a bit doughy off the line compared with many sharp-shooting electric cars, thrust delivery is reassuringly predictable and decently swift, as are the steering and levels of traction.

It tackles those hills with ease, putting a modest 150kW and 250Nm to surprisingly effective use considering MG quotes a kerb weight of 1672kg for this variant. And, unless you are driving like your hair is on fire, the brakes have good pedal feel with an imperceptible transition from regenerative to friction.

The MG 4 is also a joy to thread through traffic or pull out of steep junctions knowing there’s none of the hesitation you get from internal combustion engines and automatic transmissions that by comparison feel as though they have a short meeting to decide what to do once the accelerator pedal is pressed.

Despite the fun factor Cobey described, ride comfort is admirably compliant and controlled –courtesy of a low centre of gravity, decent suspension tune and simply not being an SUV – although the lane-keep assist feature seems to tug at the wheel constantly and likes to ping-pong between lane markings rather than follow them.

Cobey warned me about the scary rear cross-traffic alert feature, which I initially dismissed as having experienced before in Volkswagen Group products, but when it slammed on the brakes because it detected a car moving on the far side of a car park while I was trying to avoid a lamp post (making me think I’d hit it, throwing me around the cabin to the extent where I hit the horn and scaring my children half to death in the process), I searched the touchscreen menus and reduced its intervention to warning only.

Thankfully this experience did not put my children off the MG 4, which they enjoy for its cheerful colour and striking angular looks. For me, installing child restraints is straightforward and strapping the kids in doesn’t require too much of a back-straining stoop.

I found the cabin and 350L boot to be only moderately roomy for life as a family of four. There is no frunk and underfloor storage is modest. The two-position boot floor is flimsy and is already showing signs of distress from kids’ bikes, scooters, prams – and that delivery to the auto technicians’ event which made full use of the boot’s 1165L seats-down capacity and completely flat rear floor.

I even found the interior easy to clean, which I know Cobey was grateful for after I handed the car back to him after its stint as dad’s taxi.

My eldest child was more than happy to help wash the MG 4 and get involved with maintenance tasks such as refilling the windscreen washer fluid and checking tyre pressures.

On that note, the tyre pressure monitoring system seemed to be affected by cold temperatures (which given our test is taking place in subtropical South East Queensland made us wonder how the technology copes in a proper winter).

Notable spec omissions (given only the loony-tunes X-Power hot hatch ranks above the Essence in MG 4 trim levels), are air-conditioning vents for rear passengers (although they rarely complained due to decent airflow around the compact cabin), front passenger electric seat adjustment and memory for the driver’s seat position.

I also found the centre console layout a bit confounding, with cup holders tucked below a protruding gear selector shelf with a shallow and not-that-grippy phone charging tray that ejects your device into a foot well at the first sign of a corner.

Further back is a large storage tray in which items can be concealed under a roller cover – it ended up a tangle of USB cables and sunglasses – plus a small compartment beneath the central armrest.

On the topic of sunglasses, at least the MG 4 has a ceiling-mounted cubby for those.

But grabbing the keys as a default reflex shows how little the quirks mattered in the grand scheme of things. I enjoy driving the MG 4, whether it is local trips or longer journeys. It has settled into family life admirably while being simple and easy to get along with.

Even the rotary gear selector was a cinch to get used to compared with needlessly complex versions of the same idea in other vehicles such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, while the octagonal-ish steering wheel that apes the MG logo ended up feeling strangely preferable to the perfectly round tillers of other vehicles.

And with that, it’s now time for Cobey to take the car back again for some public charging infrastructure exploration – and a new development that promises to make life easier for electric car owners – plus a progress report on whether he has convinced his family about an electrified transport future.