Can this hybrid compete with the very best superminis? Right here’s our verdict
What am I, Autocar’s supermini correspondent? I might be fairly pleased with that, truly, having beforehand run a usually 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 automotive on which I delivered Autocar’s first verdict again in Could, and a really optimistic verdict at that. Properly, MG did promise “the whole lot about it was designed to place a smile in your face”.
The outdated 3 appeared a technology behind the competitors even after I final drove it some six years in the past, the justification being that it was one of many least expensive automobiles on sale. This new 3 is an entirely totally different proposition:
MG says it successfully skipped a technology, which checks out, and it is now priced £4000 greater, placing it into Clio territory. And when it comes to the way it behaved on the highway, my preliminary feeling was that it wasn’t notably inferior to the category chief.
After all, although, dwelling with a automotive on daily basis 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 automotive, my 3 is in Trophy trim, which provides additional superior driver help programs (as required by regulators, sadly), LED headlights, a mixture of faux-leather and material 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 high of SE trim’s beneficiant customary package 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 an identical spec to the entry-level Clio hybrid but for £3500 much less (though they’re virtually an identical on a 48-month PCP finance deal at current, costing round £200 monthly).
It truly is wonderful how a lot you get on inexpensive 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 automotive is the somewhat good metallic silver paint, as a result of MG merely doesn’t do choices: you simply choose a powertrain, considered one of 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, at the very least; 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 operating there’s 134bhp and 184lb ft – considerably greater than some completely usable EVs have.
I’m nonetheless unconvinced concerning the accuracy of that mixed torque declare, though 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 higher element. Actually, the gearbox, whereas less complicated than the mind-boggling multimodal unit within the Clio, isn’t what you’d normally discover, having so few speeds. It offers distinct waves of energy supply (considered one of them coming, confusingly and unhelpfully, at round 70mph), so maybe the reply is someplace therein.
In these robust financial instances, the excellent effectivity of the Clio was considered one of my favorite issues about it, because it averaged 53.5mpg throughout our time collectively, in opposition to an official 65.7mpg. Provided that the three’s WLTP determine is the same 64.2mpg, I’m relishing the prospect of nonetheless having some more money 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 outdated 3.
I significantly like that, not like in most Chinese language automobiles (and, to be truthful, most of the newest from different elements of the world), the touchscreen hasn’t absorbed the entire bodily controls. In actual fact, it’s way more understated than most, together with the Clio’s. Beneath mentioned display screen is a row of buttons for air-con features, the infotainment system’s residence web page and the audio quantity.
It’s only a disgrace that none of them is for adjusting the fan velocity 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 lively (which itself irritates by requiring a wired connection), in any other case nothing occurs. Oh properly: it’s a must to take what you may get lately.
A much bigger disappointment is that the passenger’s seat doesn’t regulate for base peak, 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 means for folding – one thing I’ve all the time taken with no consideration – so that I can take a couple of particular person with me to Ikea.
However, I’m nonetheless discovering extra positives than negatives about this automotive in the intervening time. I’m simply puzzled why I haven’t seen one other one on the highway 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 automotive and already one thing has gone horribly fallacious 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 means any ADAS bong may very well be so loud, I feel in a fluster – this needs to be one thing way more severe than straying too near a line. It actually seems like a hearth alarm. But when checking the instrument show, I see no warning.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Okay, I would like to tug over. Stationary on the arduous shoulder, I test 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 companies to test the handbook, and even Google, however to no avail.
Time to take drastic measures, I ponder, and seize the noise-cancelling headphones from my work bag (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 velocity digicam warning. Critically. Unbelievable.
Per week later, I once more have bother on this similar stretch of motorway – mockingly, on account of a scarcity of an alarm noise. In lane 4 when the velocity 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 arduous shoulder, the place I discover I’ve run out of gasoline.
Sure, in the end my very own silly fault – however my earlier Dacia Sandero would bing when illuminating its low-fuel gentle, 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 have been disabled or aged or had children 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 site visitors was extraordinarily fraught, as I had reached the arduous 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’).
Most likely 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 among the extra fascinating ones, having a gearbox of a sort unparalleled because the Nineties and no fewer than 4 working modes.
One, it may possibly run purely on its 192bhp electrical motor, as much as round 35mph – and it may possibly 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 situated between the rear wheels somewhat than underneath the passenger seat.
Two, it may possibly run as a collection hybrid, as much as round 59mph – that means the motor nonetheless does the entire driving however the 1.5-litre four-cylinder atmo petrol engine fires as much as work as a generator for charging the battery.
Three, underneath sturdy acceleration, it may possibly run as a parallel hybrid – that means the motor and engine are each working to rotate the wheels.
And 4, if you’re cruising at a gradual velocity, the engine can concurrently do the driving and cost up the battery.
I’ve beforehand solid 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 automotive’s energy and torque curves – though that’s maybe comprehensible given how complicated the powertrain’s operation is.
The wonderful factor is which you can’t actually sense which mode the powertrain’s laptop mind has chosen: it simply does its factor whilst you do yours.
Properly, except there’s no combustion noise, after all – and it isn’t a pleasant-sounding engine, particularly when it’s firing up from chilly. I’m wondering if it’ll sound higher when not operating on the hybrid-specialised Atkinson cycle within the promised pure-petrol handbook 3.
I’m not satisfied by MG’s alternative of gearbox, although. Whereby I charge Toyota Yaris’s CVT and the Renault Clio’s clutchless multimodal ’field ship energy in a easy, linear means, 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 may ever (legally) profit from that.
Extra pressingly, and one thing my passengers have actually seen, is the braking. Often with a brand new automotive, your braking is jerky just for that first couple of minutes 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 couple of colleagues have posited: MG’s ICE automobiles, whereas a lot better than they have been a couple of years again, are a step behind its EVs when it comes to operational sophistication.
Closing replace
Not often if ever have I been left with such blended emotions a few long-term take a look at automotive – and likewise, hardly ever have there been so many opinions expressed by colleagues and readers.
I used to be mightily impressed on our first drive of the second technology MG 3 supermini in April final 12 months, awarding the automotive 4 stars on the premise that it “presents 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 highway 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 gasoline economic system that doesn’t fairly reside up to the guarantees” – and definitely some weaknesses within the automotive’s make-up grew to become obvious to me throughout this prolonged time collectively. I don’t like disagreeable endings, so I’ll handle the criticisms first.
Most of them have 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 type of efficiency, way more muscular at some speeds than others and with distinct waves of energy, not like the graceful and linear supply that I had change into 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 (at the very least in Esprit Alpine trim) Clio, I might nonetheless place extra worth on the way more spirited dynamics of the French automotive have been my cash at stake.
“Poor know-how” appears a bit harsh, based mostly on my expertise. MG’s modestly sized touchscreen infotainment system and digital instrument cluster, whereas removed from essentially the most intuitive to function, gave me the whole lot I need from a automotive: Apple CarPlay (though solely by way of a wire, annoyingly, and never completely built-in), DAB radio, sat-nav and a gasoline economic system readout.
And whereas the (now obligatory) ADAS options induced me some consternation, I’ve but to drive a automotive by which they haven’t. I additionally didn’t recognise colleagues’ criticisms of the inside trying boring and feeling overtly low cost. For the cash, I feel MG did a very good job on each fronts, if extra the previous than the latter.
What bothered me extra was the evident cheapness of development. I can’t recall testing a hatchback by 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 after I robotically pushed them ahead whereas holding solely one of many two latches.
And the cellphone shelf (observe: 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 automotive. Gas economic system was disappointing, too.
The WLTP lab boffins promised me 64.2mpg, however the 3 didn’t even handle 50mpg general (other than 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 typical 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 conventional hatchback that’s without delay compact but sensible, spiritedly fast but pretty environment friendly, diminutive but snug 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 underneath my proper foot. I ran errands on the town and was by no means made desperately uncomfortable over the countless deep potholes.
4 adults have been completely satisfied to simply accept a li from me, they usually didn’t even have to go away their baggage at residence. So I’m satisfied that for somebody who buys their automobiles privately for native journeys and may’t cost an EV at residence, the three may show ideally suited.
Would I like to recommend the Clio as a substitute? Completely. However would I speak you out of accepting an incredible deal provided by a neighborhood MG supplier? As long as you had your eyes vast open, I don’t assume I might.
MG 3 Hybrid+ Trophy specification
Costs: Record value new £20,275 Record value now £20,495 Value as examined £20,820
Choices: Monument Silver metallic paint £545
Gas consumption and vary: Claimed economic system 64.2mpg Gas tank 36 litres Take a look at common 47.0mpg Take a look at finest 51.0mpg Take a look at worst 41.3mpg Actual-world vary 372 miles
Tech highlights: 0-62mph 8.0sec Prime velocity 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 operating prices: Contract rent charge £273pcm CO2 100g/km Service prices None Different prices None Gas prices £663.07 Operating prices inc gasoline £663.07 Value per mile 13 pence Faults Touchscreen aircon glitch
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