MG4 xPower – inconspicuous power of fact

The MG4, especially as xPower, is one of the craziest electrically powered cars on the market. Why is that so? Read for yourself.

The success story of the Chinese brand MG in Europe is pretty crazy. Wait, Chinese brand MG? Yes, don't worry, it's not just you who's pruning. MG, Morris Garage. Who would have ever thought that the company behind these sonorous two letters, which embodies the concentrated British automotive tradition, would one day be in Chinese hands?

But as is the case with the cyclical development of companies – the British Leyland empire, to which MG later belonged, sank slowly, but it did. And now the label lives on under the SAIC Group (Shanghai Automotive Industrie Corporation), which took over the remains of the former UK car giant around 20 years ago. With over 200,000 employees, the group is no small number and is one of the relevant players on the world automotive stage. But is that alone the guarantee of success, especially in our region?

If you go to the MG brand's British website, after the MG logo appears on a red background, “100 Years Young” appears in a squiggly font. You can dismiss this, so to speak, brand-specific historical awareness as pseudo, because today's brand has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with Morris Garage. But the handling of the brand seems to be working. And in order to keep the British story continuous, the so-called MG Motor UK is taking over the sales activities in the kingdom.

However, the vehicles have long since spread across the continent and MG is the most successful Chinese brand in Germany, if you exclude the Geely products. Anyone who carefully studies the streetscape in this country will often spot the MG logo. And the fact that the brand is so successful is almost a bit mysterious, because their mobile vehicles are not high quality, to put it a little flippantly. Is sales success based on price?

The label “xPower” is quite historical

If you look at the entire range, the ZS as a petrol engine at prices starting at just under 18,000 euros is definitely not the cheapest way to get a new car. On the other hand, an MG4 starting at 34,990 euros is pretty cheap for a purely electrically powered compact class. And even if the materials in the interior seem a bit cheap here and there, the model is overall quite okay.

And it is precisely this MG4, on whose backbone the MG success is based, at least here in Germany, that will be the subject of this treatise. But this time not the boring base, but the crazy top model called xPower. This model name may not have been chosen without consideration, as the last MG sports car in the noughties was called xPower SV. This V8 beast with at least 320 hp (engine with a displacement of 4.6 or 5.0 liters from the Ford shelf), which was cobbled together from a hodgepodge of components, was virtually never sold except for a few examples.

And now it's back, the xPower. Not as a standalone model, but no less crazy as a variant of the actually well-behaved MG4. The performance monster – you can hardly call this compact anything else – is hardly recognizable from the outside. The brief “xPower” lettering on the right of the trunk lid is hardly noticeable, but a look towards the rims reveals it. Because the orange brake calipers of the top variant catch the eye.

But how does this wolf in sheep's clothing drive? Actually quite unspectacular, although incredibly powerful. It takes the sporty driving mode to mobilize the full power, but then things go off, so to speak. This 4.29 meter long top MG doesn't make much of a stir because of its power (435 hp and 600 Newton meters of torque), no special sound, no play with any lighting features. Just a calm push. So much so that even two driven axles struggle for traction on dry roads.

The top MG4 is incredibly toxic

Sure, because with a curb weight of 1.8 tons, the hot hatch isn't even terribly heavy for an electric car. And so the four-door understatement monster doesn't drive particularly solidly, but rather a bit fluttery. But it's all good, you don't feel unsafe with the performance, you go around corners quickly and do fast highway moves. And on the open slopes there are no risky moments. According to the factory, the compact car rushes to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds, but is regulated at 200 km/h. And no matter how venomously he fires from a standing start, it has to be said that he gets tired at the top. The pressure decreases significantly as the pace increases, which is okay, but sometimes leads to funny situations. On the feeder road, a possible BMW M4 driver looks stupid, only to regain power at the end of the acceleration lane at the latest. But hey, we're talking about a compact with a list price of 46,990 euros.

And otherwise? You can easily ride the muscle pack for a while without being shaken. The firm note of the chassis does come through, but it would be strange otherwise. There is something ironic about the fact that the sports chairs, which are more lavish in the xPower, serve more of a comfort function than the task of keeping the passengers firmly in the middle when things go wild. Because: You don't really want to have any real lateral dynamics with the chassis, which is a bit undersized for the performance. It doesn't have to, you don't expect Porsche standards here. Overall, the exceptional four-door electric car performs well as an all-rounder, with a useful amount of space and acceptable operation. Of course there is still room for improvement in terms of infotainment and the finish. But please always keep the price in mind.

It might be interesting for the buyer to know that the powerful drive train eliminates the need for a very large 77 kWh battery. Instead, there is only the medium battery (64 kWh). And since two motors consume more electricity than one, the factory-specified WLTP consumption of 18.7 kWh per 100 kilometers can sometimes be exceeded when the accelerator pedal is low. And then 385 kilometers of range is very theoretical. But the little MG absorbs energy pretty damn well with its nominal charging power of 140 kW. Getting back to almost 80 percent charge level in around 25 minutes is a deeply realistic scenario. However, it is also more realistic that MG4 customers are more likely to choose the weaker models. Why not treat yourself to the fun of a silent wolf in sheep's clothing? He's funny in any case. And not overly expensive.

Data sheet MG4 Electric xPower

Conclusion: The MG4 xPower is a car that couldn't be crazier. There are similarly motorized electric models in this class – think of offers such as the Volvo EX30 Twin or Smart #1 with dual motor drive. But in the more functional MG4? Kind of strange. But that's part of what makes it so cool, because no one expects this kind of power from this rather inconspicuous vehicle. By the way, for the price of under 50,000 euros, the compact is unbeatable and therefore a recommendation. The fact that it is not perfect does not even need to be discussed. But I bet you'll always get out of the hot hatch grinning.