MG4 Urban review: Big value family hatchback is the talk of the town

3OUT OF 5

The verdict

Something to be valued

The MG4 Urban isn't perfect, but its blend of space and value makes it worthy of consideration

★★★★★

The MG4 is central to MG’s current success. The brand was already growing but the arrival of a £25,000 EV that could carry a whole family and offered a practical range and decent specification helped slingshot it to new levels.

That was four years ago, though, and the EV landscape has changed a lot. A £25k EV is no longer a rarity and the family EV market has progressed. So MG has taken action and launched not one, but two replacements – a facelifted MG4 and this, the MG4 Urban.

MG’s reasoning is that because the market has developed, one car can’t compete across all the spaces the original did. Instead, it has moved the “OG” MG4 upmarket and slotted this MG4 Urban in as its most accessible and affordable option, with prices from £23,500.

That’s close to the Renault 5 or Hyundai Inster price, yet the MG4 Urban is far bigger than either. In fact, it’s bigger than the “regular” MG4, the Renault Megane or Volkswagen ID.3.

Although they share part of the same name, the MG4 Urban and MG4 are entirely different cars built on entirely different platforms. While the Urban is bigger, it gets smaller batteries and less powerful motors to keep costs down.

But behind the numbers, does the MG4 Urban make sense or has MG spread itself too thin?

I’ve spent a week testing the MG4 Urban to find out.

Design and interior

MG says that the MG4 Urban’s look has been inspired by the radical Cyberster roadster.

That’s a bold claim for a family hatchback and you have to go looking for the connections but they are there.

There are little nods in the shape of the headlights and the split lower bumper treatment. The arrow-shaped tail lights are also Cyberster-inspired and, in combination with a full-width light bar, give a nice unique character to the car’s rear.

That said, it’s still a five-door C-segment hatchback with a slightly soft aesthetic. Its proportions are less awkward that the MG4’s and it is inoffensive in the same way as an ID.3, but it’s not a design classic.

MG laughingly suggests that the MG4 Urban is a B-segment car. It’s not. As mentioned earlier, it is actually bigger than many C-segment hatchbacks and at least 40cm longer than the Renault 5. Despite being priced like a supermini, it’s got all the space of a decent-sized family hatchback. There’s plenty of legroom and headroom in the back, and four adults should fit comfortably. The only caveat is that front space isn’t as generous as alternatives, so taller-than-average drivers might struggle for legroom and find the seats too short and narrow.

A 479-litre boot (measured to the roof) puts cars like the VW ID.3 in the shade and it can be expanded to 577 litres thanks to a huge area hidden beneath the removable boot floor.

Beyond the practicality, the MG4 Urban showcases MG’s efforts to improve quality. It isn’t quite on par with the new MG4 or the ID.3, but it is £6,500 cheaper, so that’s forgivable.

Some elements, such as the shiny dashtop plastic and slightly scratchy seat fabrics have a budget air, but generally materials and build quality are perfectly reasonable for the price. They’re certainly better than the original MG4, and components such as the heater vents, steering wheel and infotainment system are shared with the Urban’s more expensive updated sibling. Also shared are the simple physical buttons and dials for the air conditioning. They’re a small touch but one that really enhances the MG4 Urban’s ease of use.

The cabin design is a simple one, with a large centre console housing a wireless charging pad and cupholders, with a larger storage space beneath. Aside from that and the air con controls, it’s a pretty simple affair, with the dashboard dominated by two screens.

Technology and equipment

There’s a seven-inch digital instrument display which is crisp and delivers the data you actually need (take note, BYD). Beside that is a 12.8-inch touchscreen that is shared with MG’s more expensive MGS6. This all-new system is way ahead of the old MG setup, but that’s not saying much.

The system is sharper and quicker but it’s still not one of the most responsive units, nor is it among the simplest. It comes with wireless Apple and Android pairing and features helpfully large homescreen widgets. However, there are still a lot of menus and sub-menus, but a lot of things can be set up once and forgotten about and some useful customisable shortcuts. These include the MG Pilot function which lets you set and select your preferred ADAS setup with a couple of quick taps – although you’ve got to be in park for it to work.

That shortcut is just as well. While the MG driver aids are no longer actively dangerous, they are still pretty poor and you’ll want to switch them off. That also goes for the self-dipping headlights, which are truly hopeless.

Elsewhere, this sub-£28k car gets lots of kit that is usually optional or only fitted to more expensive cars.

Range, battery and charging

The key differentiator between the MG4 Urban and the updated MG4 is under the skin, where the Urban’s E3 platform is front-wheel-drive and houses less powerful motors and smaller batteries.

The entry-level Standard Range car gets a 148bhp motor and 41.9kWh battery. That’s good for 201 miles of range. Above that the Long Range model gets a 158bhp motor and a 52.8kWh battery. That means up to 258 miles of range.

Those figures put it in the same territory as the smaller Renault 5 and Fiat Grande Panda. Positively, over a week of very mixed driving, I saw a real-world range of around 245 miles and impressive efficiency of 4.4m/kWh – not bad for a car this size.

The smaller battery makes do with 82kW DC charging while the larger one gets a mild improvement to 87kW. Both will get from 10-80% in around half an hour but neither will worry the likes of Renault, Citroen or Hyundai, who all offer at least 100kW.

Performance and driving

I drove the Long Range model, whose 158bhp delivers a 0-62mph time of 9.5 seconds, which is pretty ponderous. On the road, the MG4 Urban behaves very much as its on-paper stats would suggest.

There’s enough instant torque from the motor to keep up with the cut and thrust of urban traffic but it runs out of puff a little accelerating on faster roads. Four levels of braking regeneration are accessed via a steering wheel shortcut button and there’s a full one-pedal option (via the touchscreen). There are also multiple drive modes but, like so many rivals, these have very little impact on the driving experience.

The front-wheel-drive chassis definitely isn’t as lively as the rear-driven MG4, or more compact rivals like the Renault 5. The steering is oddly lifeless and there’s quite a bit of roll from the body that means its driving experience falls into the “adequate” rather than “impressive” range.

It is also let down by a fidgety ride. There’s a stiffness to the MG4 Urban’s suspension and damping that means it never feels properly settled. It isn’t drastically uncomfortable but alternatives, whether by size or price, ride better and offer better noise insulation too.

Price, trim and rivals

Prices for the MG4 Urban start at £23,495. That’s £6,500 less than the MG4, £7,300 less than an ID.3 and £7,800 less than a Megane.

All of those cars offer more range and performance, but the MG4 Urban is on a technical par with similarly priced but smaller options such as the Renault 5, Hyundai Inster or BYD Dolphin Surf.

Entry-level Comfort Standard Range spec gets the smaller battery/motor combination, 16-inch alloy wheels, climate control, dual digital screens with sat nav and wireless smartphone mirroring, vehicle-to-load ability and a reversing camera. An extra £2,000 unlocks the bigger battery and motor for Comfort Long Range cars.

At the top of the range, Premium trim only comes with the larger battery and brings 17-inch wheels, electrically adjustable heated front seats and steering wheel, privacy glass, a 360-degree camera and ambient lighting for £27,995.

Verdict

The MG4’s price and size make it hard to pigeonhole but fairly easy to recommend.

It doesn’t have the flair of smaller rivals like the R5 or Inster, and its technical spec is behind similarly sized alternatives.

But it does offer far more practicality and space than anything else for the money and its range and performance will be more than adequate for a huge number of drivers.

Where value for money is concerned, it is another winner for MG.

For

Big car, small price

Generous equipment levels

Impressive efficiency

Against

Fidgety ride

Slow charging

Uninspiring drive

Fact file

MG4 Urban Premium Long Range

Price

£27,995

Powertrain

Single-motor, front-wheel-drive

Battery

52.8kWh

Power

158bhp

Torque

184lb ft

Top speed

99mph

0-62mph

9.5 seconds

Range

251 miles

Consumption

4m/kWh

Real-world range

245 miles

Real-world consumption

4.4m/kWh

Charging

up to 87kW

Boot space

479 litres

Insurance group

23

The rivals

Alternatives worth a test drive