The MG ZS EV and MG5 converted a lot of Brits into happy EV owners, but it was the MG4 EV that really put the Chinese-owned British brand on the map as a go-to EV carmaker. The MG4 offers a fantastic blend of sharp design, keen driving dynamics, good specification levels, and excellent driving ranges. There's a model for every budget and taste, too – from ones that can go far between charges to a high-performance model that can out-accelerate a Porsche 911 Carrera. The MG4 is keenly priced when new, but offers exceptional value to those looking for a used car.
The MG4 is an excellent all-rounder – it’s good looking, packed with equipment, is good to drive, and, arguably more importantly, offers an excellent electric range. It’s a perfect choice when it comes to the used market as it represents huge value for money, making it ideal for those who are making the switch to the EV lifestyle for the first time.
Jack is an experienced motoring journalist who has been covering the latest new-car releases for the last 10 years.
Read bioBuy a brand new MG4 and you’ll be looking at spending £27,245 for the entry-level 51kWh (49kWh useable) Standard Range model, rising to £36,745 for the top-spec Trophy Extended Range with its 77kWh battery. The high-performance XPower model, meanwhile, also comes with a £36,745 price tag. The MG4 is keenly priced and well-equipped. The MG4 becomes seriously good value when it comes to the used market. As of 2025, the oldest models on platforms such as AA Cars have dipped below the £10,000 bracket, offering exceptional value for money. But that is for the smallest battery model – if you want more range, the 64kWh models, depending on age and mileage, start at around £13,000, while the 77kWh battery-equipped cars are more than £20,000. The 77kWh Extended Range cars tend to carry a £1,500–£3,000 premium over equivalent Long Range models thanks to the bigger battery. XPower cars can be had for just under £20,000.
It's all very simple with the MG4 – three batteries and the choice of rear- or all-wheel drive. The entry-level cars with the smallest battery are called 'Standard Range'. These get a 51kWh LFP battery (49kWh useable), giving a claimed range of 217 miles, and this is hooked up to an electric motor that powers the rear wheels. 'Long Range' gets a 64kWh NMC battery and can travel up to 281 miles before needing to be topped up, while the 'Extended Range' – introduced in 2023 – gets a 77kWh battery.
Naturally, this version can travel the furthest between charges, with an impressive claimed range of 323 miles. The XPower – which revives a name used on MG's most powerful models in the early 2000s – uses the Long Range's 64kWh battery pack, but adds a motor on the front axle to give all-wheel drive. It has a very potent 429bhp. Maximum DC rapid charging rates range from 117kW in the Standard Range to 144kW in the Extended Range. In 2025, MG tweaked the batteries to give more range. All models, bar the 51kWh car, saw small gains – Long Range cars saw an uplift to 288 miles, Extended Range to 329 miles, and XPower to 248 miles.
In normal, everyday driving, the MG4 has a lovely easygoing feel about it. Light steering, excellent brake regeneration, and good visibility make town work pleasingly stress-free, and all versions give punchy performance to make the most of small gaps in the traffic. The MG4 is pretty refined on faster roads for an electric hatchback. There's plenty of power for slip roads and overtaking slower moving traffic on the motorway, and it's a quiet car to be in. The XPower takes the MG4's easygoing nature and really steps it up a gear. It offers outrageous performance, plus the addition of an extra motor gives four-wheel drive traction and stability.
The MG4 is easily one of the more enjoyable electric hatchbacks to drive, and yet doesn't sacrifice ride comfort. The steering is light at low speeds but weights up nicely to give an accurate feel, which is useful when you're on a twisting country road as it gives a nice sense of engagement. In all cars, bar the XPower, the accurate steering is matched to a rear-wheel drive motor that gives a hint of playfulness on twisting roads without ever being intimidating.
The MG4 has quite a firm suspension set-up, which helps with cornering and body control, but does give a slightly fidgety ride, especially over speed bumps and potholes around town. At 18-inches, Trophy and XPower models have the largest wheels, and this just exacerbates this feeling. The XPower gives the hardest ride of the lot thanks to its 25 per cent stiffer springs, but it's never too crashy and tiresome. It also has some extra performance tweaks such as an electronic differential and torque vectoring to improve road holding. It also has greater stopping power thanks to uprated and ventilated disc brakes.
The MG4’s interior is clean, modern and minimalist. As is the norm with most EVs, the focus is on the screens rather than buttons and knobs; there's a small display ahead of the driver, and sitting in the middle of the dashboard is a 10.25-inch touchscreen. Happily, though, there is a row of buttons running along the bottom of the touchscreen for things like the climate control. It all feels solidly put together, too, even if there is an absence of nice tactile materials, but it's a shame that the interior is just black on black – there's no option to have some brighter colours. The infotainment system is pretty basic. Rivals like the Volkswagen ID.3 have fancier, more modern feeling systems, but the MG4's does what it needs to. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard across the range.
The interior may be a little dark and gloomy but you cannot complain about a lack of space. The MG4 has one of the most spacious interiors in the electric family hatchback class, and is a great choice if you need to carry passengers and all their stuff. It's easy to get a good driving position, and up front there are plenty of storage spaces. The back seats are particularly commodious, with loads of knee and leg room. The rear doors also open wide making it easy to load children and fit child seats.
Boot space is a little disappointing, however, as it falls short of cars like the Cupra Born. That said, at 363 litres, it's an equivalent size to a petrol-powered hatchback and is still very useful. There's no cumbersome load lip, and there's a handy underfloor storage area. The rear seats, meanwhile, split in a 60/40 fashion and fold down pretty flatly. One thing to note, however, is that Trophy and XPower models have slightly less space than other versions – 1,165 litres versus 1,177 litres, but you'd hardly notice this.
Much like with the batteries, the trim range is very simple in the MG4. SE is the base spec, but even this comes with full LED headlights and rear lights, the seven-inch digital driver's display and 10.24-inch touchscreen, rear parking sensors, 17-inch alloys, vehicle-to-load (which allows you to charge other electrical items like bikes or even kettles from the car's battery), and an smartphone app allowing control of various features of the car.
Trophy adds a 'twin-aero' rear spoiler, a two-tone roof, rear privacy glass, wireless phone caring, heated seats and steering wheel, a 360-degree parking camera, a height-adjustable boot floor, and leather-style upholstery. SE and Trophy are as popular as each other, so you'll come across equal numbers of them on platforms like AA Cars. XPower is a separate model, effectively. It doesn't look wildly different to the Trophy, despite its potent power and engineering tweaks, although you will spot the XPower-branded orange brake calipers. In addition, it gets black Alcantara upholstery, and metal pedals.
Most MG4s sold were the SE and Trophy model, with the latter adding some extra sporty styling features and interior luxuries. But even the base-spec SE had an excellent standard kit list, comprising 17-inch alloys, LED front and rear lights, twin interior screens, vehicle-to-load functionality, and a neat smartphone app. It doesn't necessarily pay to spend extra for the Trophy model, unless you desperately desire its extra features. The XPower, meanwhile, is pretty much a separate model, and is rarer. MG has never offered a wide range of optional equipment for the MG4, but there was a bold colour palette consisting of blue, red and even orange. The XPower can come in a matte 'Racing Green' which gives a really sporting flavour.
Independent safety experts Euro NCAP gave the MG4 a full five-star safety rating when it tested the car in 2022. However, the testing regime has since been revised, making comparisons with newer EVs like the also-five-star Renault 5 tested in 2024 difficult. Despite this, though, the MG4 is still a safe car on paper, with an 83 per cent rating for adult occupant protection, and 80 per cent for child occupant protection. Vulnerable road users protection came to 75 per cent, while the MG4's safety assist system was rated at 78 per cent. The MG4 has a bit of a patchy reliability record. Some owners' forums are home to plenty of complaints, ranging from charging issues and glitchy infotainment to poor paintwork problems. Other owners, however, have had a faultless ownership experience.
Before April 2025, EVs like the MG4 attracted no road tax (VED) but that's no longer the case. All used MG4s registered before April 1, 2025, are subject to a flat £195 road tax, just like with most petrol and diesel cars. MG quotes efficiency figures as high as 3.8 miles per kWh, and it's not impossible to match these numbers and even beat them depending on your driving. Lots of motorway driving will see those figures slump, but even here a figure of around 3.1 miles per kWh is normal. SE Standard Range and SE and Trophy Long Range cars should complete a 10 to 80 per cent top-up in around 30 minutes, while the larger batteried Extended Range version should take around 40 minutes.
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