MG 3 hybrid 2025 long-term test

What am I, Autocar’s supermini correspondent? I might be fairly pleased with that, really, having beforehand run a typically fabulous Renault Clio E-Tech hybrid after which an endearingly sincere petrol Dacia Sandero on our take a look at fleet.

Now I am making an attempt the brand new MG 3 – a automobile on which I delivered Autocar’s first verdict again in Might, and a really optimistic verdict at that. Effectively, MG did promise “all the pieces about it was designed to place a smile in your face”.

The previous 3 appeared a era behind the competitors even once I final drove it some six years in the past, the justification being that it was one of many most cost-effective automobiles on sale. This new 3 is an entirely totally different proposition:

MG says it successfully skipped a era, which checks out, and it is now priced £4000 larger, placing it into Clio territory. And when it comes to the way it behaved on the street, my preliminary feeling was that it wasn’t notably inferior to the category chief.

In fact, although, residing with a automobile day by day can reveal hidden abilities and flaws, which is why I’ll now be evaluating the three over an prolonged interval.

Like that preliminary take a look at automobile, my 3 is in Trophy trim, which provides additional superior driver help programs (as required by regulators, sadly), LED headlights, a mix of faux-leather and cloth upholstery, heated entrance seats (sure then!), a heated steering wheel (oh, get in!), a 360deg digicam, keyless ignition and automated windscreen wipers.

That is all on prime of SE trim’s beneficiant normal equipment rely, which features a 10.3in touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and sat-nav, a 7.0in digital instrument show, a six-way adjustable driver’s seat, rear parking sensors, electrically adjustable door mirrors and 16in alloy wheels.

It is an virtually similar spec to the entry-level Clio hybrid but for £3500 much less (though they’re virtually similar on a 48-month PCP finance deal at current, costing round £200 per 30 days).

It truly is wonderful how a lot you get on reasonably priced automobiles these days (and I might argue that an £18,495 beginning value positively nonetheless qualifies the three as such).

The additional-cost merchandise on our automobile is the quite sensible metallic silver paint, as a result of MG merely doesn’t do choices: you simply choose a powertrain, one in all two trim ranges and a color. Truly, within the 3’s case, you don’t even choose a powertrain, as a result of it solely comes as a hybrid (for now, a minimum of; a less expensive pure-petrol mannequin is outwardly on the way in which).

This combines a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four-pot petrol engine, a three-speed automated gearbox, an electrical motor and a small (0.92kWh usable capability) battery. Mixed outputs are put at 192bhp and 313lb ft, or in electric-only working there’s 134bhp and 184lb ft – considerably greater than some completely usable EVs have.

I’m nonetheless unconvinced in regards to the accuracy of that mixed torque declare, although the three can kick me up the bottom with what’s for a supermini hilarious power.

It’s one thing I must look into in better element. Definitely, the gearbox, whereas less complicated than the mind-boggling multimodal unit within the Clio, isn’t what you’ll often discover, having so few speeds. It supplies distinct waves of energy supply (one in all them coming, confusingly and unhelpfully, at round 70mph), so maybe the reply is someplace therein.

In these powerful financial instances, the excellent effectivity of the Clio was one in all my favorite issues about it, because it averaged 53.5mpg throughout our time collectively, towards an official 65.7mpg. On condition that the three’s WLTP determine is an identical 64.2mpg, I’m relishing the prospect of nonetheless having some extra cash left on the finish of every month.

All people who has had a poke round this Trophy-spec inside has been impressed by the fashionable look and decent-quality really feel – particularly these with expertise of the previous 3.

I notably like that, in contrast to in most Chinese language automobiles (and, to be truthful, lots of the newest from different elements of the world), the touchscreen hasn’t absorbed all the bodily controls. In actual fact, it’s rather more understated than most, together with the Clio’s. Beneath stated display is a row of buttons for air-con capabilities, the infotainment system’s dwelling web page and the audio quantity.

It’s only a disgrace that none of them is for adjusting the fan pace or inside warmth, or certainly turning the heated surfaces on or off, and that it’s a must to press the house button earlier than the air-con button when Apple CarPlay is energetic (which itself irritates by requiring a wired connection), in any other case nothing occurs. Oh nicely: it’s a must to take what you will get today.

An even bigger disappointment is that the passenger’s seat doesn’t modify for base top, just for angle and leg room, as a result of it means both a 5ft-nothing or a 6ft-something passenger will all the time be in a suboptimal place (which wasn’t an issue in my high-spec Clio).

Equally, it’s a disgrace that the three’s rear bench doesn’t cut up in any manner for folding – one thing I’ve all the time taken with no consideration – so that I can take a couple of individual with me to Ikea.

Nonetheless, I’m nonetheless discovering extra positives than negatives about this automobile in the meanwhile. I’m simply puzzled why I haven’t seen one other one on the street but, six months after launch, particularly provided that there’s a giant MG dealership on the town.

Replace 2

Oh no, oh no: I’ve solely simply obtained this automobile and already one thing has gone horribly incorrect with it – and in rush hour on the M25, of all instances and locations.

I’m cruising within the MG 3 when it emits a beeping noise so loud that I jolt with shock. There’s no manner any ADAS bong might be so loud, I feel in a fluster – this must be one thing way more severe than straying too near a line. It actually feels like a hearth alarm. But when checking the instrument show, I see no warning.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Okay, I want to drag over. Stationary on the exhausting shoulder, I examine the screens extra carefully for something amiss, however nonetheless there’s nothing.

Tentatively I dive again into the torrent of fellow commuters, however certain sufficient, shortly afterwards I’m subjected to that very same noise. I pull over at Cobham providers to examine the guide, and even Google, however to no avail.

Time to take drastic measures, I ponder, and seize the noise-cancelling headphones from my work bag (very important tools in a busy workplace).

Right here I have to level out that I’m neither melodramatic nor unusually averse to loud noises. In actual fact, I’m extra typically blasting rock music than listening to Radio 4. No exaggeration, this alarm was uncomfortably, distractingly loud.

Naturally, I e mail MG the subsequent day. Imminent mechanical disaster? No, they are saying: it’s the pace digicam warning. Severely. Unbelievable.

Every week later, I once more have hassle on this similar stretch of motorway – mockingly, as a result of a scarcity of an alarm noise. In lane 4 when the pace restrict jumps from 40 to 70, I plant my proper foot and nothing occurs.

****! Individuals are flashing, tailgating, enterprise… Miraculously I dodge and glide over to the exhausting shoulder, the place I discover I’ve run out of gas.

Sure, in the end my very own silly fault – however my earlier Dacia Sandero would bing when illuminating its low-fuel mild, which was itself distinguished throughout the dial cluster, and neither of these issues was true of the three.

As soon as over the guard rail, I used to be dismayed to find that the steps up the embankment to a safer spot clearly hadn’t been maintained in a few years. I wouldn’t fancy climbing over and thru massive thorn bushes if I had been disabled or aged or had youngsters with me.

Then, after a really embarrassing rescue by the AA (the patrolman bought me a few cans of petrol by way of a contactless card machine), rejoining the visitors was extraordinarily fraught, as I had reached the exhausting shoulder only a few hundred yards earlier than it vanished and the three’s hybrid powertrain had massively restricted its efficiency (whereas warning me of an ‘engine emissions fault’).

In all probability the least auspicious begin to one thing since Jaguar put in a bulk order for pink paint.

Replace 3 

Evidently no two hybrid powertrains are the identical anymore. There’s an actual proliferation of concepts, and the Hybrid+ system that MG has launched with its new 3 is likely one of the extra attention-grabbing ones, having a gearbox of a form exceptional because the Nineteen Nineties and no fewer than 4 working modes.

One, it could actually run purely on its 192bhp electrical motor, as much as round 35mph – and it could actually do that for longer than many different ‘self-charging’ hybrids, as a result of its battery is significantly bigger than its rivals’, at 1.8kWh, therefore why it’s positioned between the rear wheels quite than below the passenger seat.

Two, it could actually run as a collection hybrid, as much as round 59mph – that means the motor nonetheless does all the driving however the 1.5-litre four-cylinder atmo petrol engine fires as much as work as a generator for charging the battery.

Three, below sturdy acceleration, it could actually run as a parallel hybrid – that means the motor and engine are each working to rotate the wheels.

And 4, whenever you’re cruising at a gentle pace, the engine can concurrently do the driving and cost up the battery.

I’ve beforehand forged doubt over MG’s claimed mixed torque determine of 313lb ft, as a result of whereas the three is surprisingly quick, it doesn’t really feel as torquey as a Volkswagen Golf R.

To my disappointment, MG hasn’t been capable of present a graph exhibiting the automobile’s energy and torque curves – though that’s maybe comprehensible given how advanced the powertrain’s operation is.

The wonderful factor is you can’t actually sense which mode the powertrain’s pc mind has chosen: it simply does its factor when you do yours.

Effectively, until there’s no combustion noise, after all – and it isn’t a pleasant-sounding engine, particularly when it’s firing up from chilly. I ponder if it would sound higher when not working on the hybrid-specialised Atkinson cycle within the promised pure-petrol guide 3.

I’m not satisfied by MG’s selection of gearbox, although. Whereby I price Toyota Yaris’s CVT and the Renault Clio’s clutchless multimodal ’field ship energy in a easy, linear manner, the three meets it out in distinct waves.

The third of those comes at round 70mph, which appears a weird level for MG to have chosen, as solely Germans might ever (legally) profit from that.

Extra pressingly, and one thing my passengers have actually observed, is the braking. Normally with a brand new automobile, your braking is jerky just for that first short while as you retrain your right-leg muscle reminiscence, however with the three I nonetheless actually battle to decelerate easily. I suppose this have to be an impact of its mixing of friction and regen braking.

All this simply provides credence to one thing a number of colleagues have posited: MG’s ICE automobiles, whereas significantly better than they had been a number of years again, are a step behind its EVs when it comes to operational sophistication.

Ultimate replace 

Not often if ever have I been left with such combined emotions a couple of long-term take a look at automobile – and likewise, not often have there been so many opinions expressed by colleagues and readers.

I used to be mightily impressed on our first drive of the second era MG 3 supermini in April final yr, awarding the automobile 4 stars on the premise that it “provides consolation, practicality, plenty of know-how and hybrid propulsion for a number of grand lower than rivals” – and I nonetheless stand by that.

A few months later, although, our street testers knocked off half a star, declaring: “It nonetheless lacks the sophistication of some rivals and loses stars for its design compromises, poor tech and gas financial system that doesn’t fairly stay up to the guarantees” – and definitely some weaknesses within the automobile’s make-up grew to become obvious to me throughout this prolonged time collectively. I don’t like disagreeable endings, so I’ll deal with the criticisms first.

Most of them had been made clearer by this MG changing a class-leading Renault Clio E-Tech hybrid in my parking spot. That “missing sophistication”, then.

No, the three definitely isn’t as spectacular to drive because the Clio. Its unorthodox Hybrid+ powertrain, with its three-speed automated gearbox and 4 modes of operation, gave it an odd form of efficiency, rather more muscular at some speeds than others and with distinct waves of energy, in contrast to the sleek and linear supply that I had turn out to be used to (and that in my opinion is making purely combustion-engined fashions, even fancier ones, really feel clunky to drive by comparability).

And though the softer springing and squidgier tyres of the three gave it a comfier trip than the agency and taut (a minimum of in Esprit Alpine trim) Clio, I might nonetheless place extra worth on the rather more spirited dynamics of the French automobile had been my cash at stake.

“Poor know-how” appears a bit harsh, primarily based on my expertise. MG’s modestly sized touchscreen infotainment system and digital instrument cluster, whereas removed from probably the most intuitive to function, gave me all the pieces I would like from a automobile: Apple CarPlay (though solely by means of a wire, annoyingly, and never completely built-in), DAB radio, sat-nav and a gas financial system readout.

And whereas the (now necessary) ADAS options brought on me some consternation, I’ve but to drive a automobile during which they haven’t. I additionally didn’t recognise colleagues’ criticisms of the inside wanting uninteresting and feeling overtly low cost. For the cash, I feel MG did a great job on each fronts, if extra the previous than the latter.

What bothered me extra was the evident cheapness of building. I can’t recall testing a hatchback during which the rear seats didn’t cut up to fold down, and I used to be alarmed by how simple it was to detach the backrests out of their pivots once I robotically pushed them ahead whereas holding solely one of many two latches.

And the telephone shelf (word: not an enclosed cubby) and cup-rest divider got here freed from their mounts greater than as soon as, main colleagues to nervously (however fortunately incorrectly) inform me they’d damaged my automobile. Gasoline financial system was disappointing, too.

The WLTP lab boffins promised me 64.2mpg, however the 3 didn’t even handle 50mpg total (except for some shorter journeys). Admittedly my colleagues and I spent most of our time within the 3 haring up and down motorways, which isn’t what the common buyer goes to be doing, however that was additionally true of the Clio, which managed 53.5mpg.

However, however, however. At a time when automobiles are all turning into fatter, higher-riding, dearer and more and more electrical, the three have to be celebrated as a standard hatchback that’s without delay compact but sensible, spiritedly fast but pretty environment friendly, diminutive but comfy and low cost but not nasty.

I racked up lengthy motorway journeys and by no means felt on the mercy of these outside-lane bullies, having all that petrol-electric energy and torque below my proper foot. I ran errands on the town and was by no means made desperately uncomfortable over the infinite deep potholes.

4 adults had been completely happy to just accept a li from me, they usually didn’t even have to go away their baggage at dwelling. So I’m satisfied that for somebody who buys their automobiles privately for native journeys and may’t cost an EV at dwelling, the three might show supreme.

Would I like to recommend the Clio as a substitute? Completely. However would I speak you out of accepting an ideal deal provided by a neighborhood MG supplier? As long as you had your eyes huge open, I don’t assume I might.

MG 3 Hybrid+ Trophy specification

Costs: Record value new £20,275 Record value now £20,495 Worth as examined £20,820 

Choices: Monument Silver metallic paint £545

Gasoline consumption and vary: Claimed financial system 64.2mpg Gasoline tank 36 litres Check common 47.0mpg Check greatest 51.0mpg Check worst 41.3mpg Actual-world vary 372 miles

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 8.0sec High pace 106mph Engine 4 cyls in line, 1498cc, petrol, plus electrical motor Max energy 192bhp Max torque 313lb ft Transmission 3-spd automated, FWD Boot capability 241-983 litres Wheels 6.5Jx16in, alloy Tyres 195/55 R16, Kumho Solus Kerb weight 1308kg

Service and working prices: Contract rent price £273pcm CO2 100g/km Service prices None Different prices None Gasoline prices £663.07 Operating prices inc gas £663.07 Value per mile 13 pence Faults Touchscreen aircon glitch

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