Living
MG’s new 3 Essence Hybrid Plus is an incredibly complete effort from the storied brand—and a must for any shopping list for the B-segment, writes Jack Yan
Photographed by the author
We’ve been looking forward to the new MG 3 for quite some time. With our United Nations Environment Programme partnership, we tend to be on the lookout for cars that are better for our planet than trucks that burn dead dinosaurs. We also tend to favour vehicles that are honest, while, of course, being dynamically sound and good to drive.
MG, like other Chinese-owned marques (notice how the stigma of those words has vanished since we first profiled the MG 6 in the early 2010s), wisely rebooted its entry into the New Zealand market-place when parent company SAIC got serious about seizing market share. It did so with a marketing blitz, but also well priced product that you couldn’t help but add to your consideration set—to discover long warranties that removed any concerns about an unfamiliar country of origin. The MG ZS crossover is the perfect example of how successful MG has been with this strategy, gaining plenty of adherents, though the MG 3 never quite cracked the B-segment in the way the Suzuki Swift has here.
Enter the MG 3 Mk IV, if you count the Rover Streetwise-based model as Mk I, the original Fiat Grande Punto-like hatch as Mk II, and its facelifted version as Mk III. We liked the Mk II: while not the most refined, it was an incredibly well put together small hatch that deserved to do better than it did. But that was before the reboot. Mk III, de-contented to get it under the NZ$20,000 price tag, might have been honest, giving you B-segment space for the price of even smaller city cars. But here’s the third true act from SAIC: after 13 years of the previous-platform 3 (Mks II and III), the company has surveyed the competition and is out to beat them convincingly.
The package is certainly right. We tested the Essence Hybrid Plus, the top of the range for New Zealand, with a 1·5-litre petrol engine plus a 1·83 kWh battery, giving a combined claimed power of 211 PS (155 kW). Wheelbase is up 50 mm to 2,570 mm, aiding interior room. It has one of the biggest boots in its class. And it looks right: not so much that it will surprise people, with cues from the excellent MG 4 EV, but enough to give it freshness. With at least one competitor gone—the Ford Fiesta—MG is appealing to those who might consider an alternative to a Toyota (the disappointing Yaris) or a Suzuki. We’ve yet to give the Kia Stonic a proper test to make a judgement call there, though the range has no hybrids. On these shores, other competitors might include the Opel Corsa, but for the price, and the Peugeot 208, again but for the price. The Škoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo round off potential competitors. Here’s the thing, however: the MG 3 was designed to take those last four on, too, and throws more than a convincing punch that it needs to be on the shopping list of anyone who might wish to pay a premium for a B-segment car.
Our test car was a fairly plain silver shade but it still looks reasonably attractive. As a front-wheel-drive car, the nose does extend further out, something which the 3 doesn’t do as a good a job at hiding as, say, the Corsa. At some angles the 3 looks under-tyred—we guess there’ll be no Xpower hot-hatch version—though the obvious counterpoint is smaller wheels (16 in) make for a reasonably good ride and they won’t cost a mint to replace. (If anything, we’ve taken the big-tyre trend too far. The honesty to having something simpler is welcome.)
But the feature lines on the bonnet and across the sides give it definition—we bored of how plain some car makers have made their designs in profile—while the horizontal emphasis of the rear taillights gives the 3 a sleeker appearance than some of its B-segment hatch competitors. So far, so good.
Inside, the interior is pleasant and, unlike the outgoing 3, it is up to date. There is no skimping here, with dual digital displays: 7 in in front of the driver, 10¼ in for the infotainment. The system is familiar to the 4’s, which means it’s very simple to use and hook your phone to. Sat-nav rendering and other details are high-res and pleasant to read. The rotary gear selector brings a premium touch to the 3, reminiscent of the 4, and the red stitching around the cabin also lifts the ambiance. The leather-feel steering wheel also feels premium. All in all, the interior feels better screwed together than ever before, and you no longer feel MG is cutting corners to keep the price down.
On the road, you don’t feel that this is a 211 PS car. And the small capacity of the battery does help with fuel savings—MG quotes 4·3 ℓ/100 km (65·7 mpg Imperial), though you do need, as with the Suzuki Vitara, to up to 95 octane fuel. The power delivery is steady, and ride is finally on par with its European rivals. It’s not the spirited drive of the 4, but handling is very good, though the steering could be sharper. Somehow the three-speed automatic doesn’t hamper things and the petrol engine and electric drive work together well.
However, all this comes at a price. Gone is the sub-NZ$20,000 entry-level price: the basic petrol model is now NZ$25,990, which, given the jump the new platform and design represent, is still outstanding value. The Excite Hybrid Plus takes the price up another NZ$4,000, while our test car, the Essence Hybrid Plus, comes in at NZ$31,990—which, given the hybrid system, is still incredibly keen pricing. That undercuts the subpar Yaris GX Hybrid (NZ$32,490), but it is up over the entry-level fifth-gen Swift Hybrid, which is happily available as a manual (NZ$25,990), but with less standard equipment.
Kiwis can be a conformist bunch and Swift is so often a default choice, but MG is on to something special here, a car that should be considered by anyone in the market for a small hatchback. It’s so good that we’d consider parting with our own money for one. •
Jack Yan is founder and publisher of Lucire.
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