Drivesouth - Best Motor Buys: November 04, 2022

NEW CAR REVIEW
By Ross Kiddie
MG powering into EV market
• Price – MG HS PHEV Plus,
$55,990
• Dimensions – Length,
4574mm; width, 1876mm;
height, 1664mm
• Configuration – Four-cylinder,
front-wheel-drive, 1490cc,
119kW (+90kW), 250Nm
(+230Nm), continuously
variable automatic
• Performance –
0-100km/h, 6.9sec
• Fuel usage – 1.7l/100km
It wasn’t the ideal start to an evaluation.
Just one day into my time in an MG
HS PHEV Plus, a plug-in hybrid electric
sport utility vehicle, I thought I’d take the
opportunity to boost the battery capacity at
a designated charge port.
However, I couldn’t get the key fob
to register and was scratching my head
wondering what to do next when a kind
Nissan Leaf owner, who had pulled up
beside me, offered his fob to charge the MG
as well as his car. That was fine until 50min
later when it was time for me to leave I
discovered I needed his fob to release the
MG from the charger. There was no sign of
my Samaritan and I was trapped plugged in
and attached to the charge port.
After much detective work, I managed to
locate the Leaf owner and he came back
some time later to release his car and the
MG. Lesson learnt there – make sure the fob
is registered to all charge point providers.
If you’ll pardon the pun, the long-standing
brand MG is powering into our market with
electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, supply
is relatively plentiful and all models are
priced for affordability.
MG has the fully electric ZS, a small sport
utility vehicle that I’m about to drive soon,
it sits alongside the HS PHEV SUV a car
one-step bigger. At 4.5m the HS sits in the
mid-size market and has all the benefits
an electric motor and petrol engine can
provide.
What’s more, the HS PHEV is priced
so that those who are heading in the
eco-friendly direction can do so without
breaking the bank – the HS is here in two
specifications Excite and Essence that list
at $51,990 and $55,990 respectively, the
evaluation car was the latter, and it is fully
functional and equipped with a high range
of specification.
Before you do the maths, take into
account as well the Government will open its
purse and refund you $5750 on both as part
of its clean car rebate programme. It gets
even better from there, MG’s prices include
on road costs, seven year warranty, seven
year roadside assistance and seven year
warrant of fitness checks.
What’s more, you are buying into a very
well recognised brand, there are many
who will buy an MG solely as a way of
reconnecting with the nameplate they have
known as desirable during the heady days of
English sports cars, convertibles and reliable
sedans.
Even though development work
and design is carried out in the United
Kingdom, MG today is owned and operated
out of the giant Shanghai Automotive
Industry Corporation in China. SAIC is a
well-established conglomerate that has
had connections with General Motors,
Volkswagen and a number of heavy vehicle
manufacturers.
Those who are working in the Christchurch
MG dealership are passionate about the
product, and the brand has a high profile in
the city, you can tell that things are ticking
over nicely for MG here, there are a healthy
number on our roads and the dealership is
busy.
In terms of the HS PHEV’s drive system,
it is not so difficult to explain. In EV mode
the HS is powered by a 16.6kWh lithium-ion
battery, its high rating will give you range,
according to the distributors up to 63km
between charges. In normal EV fashion
charging can be done in two ways, but
you will need two different cables. One is
a type 2 to type 2 that I used at a DC rapid
charging point taking about 45min to
charge from low to 80 per cent.
The other is a three-pin cable that can
be plugged in from a domestic supply,
MG claims an estimated five hours to fully
charge.
The HS PHEV also has a four-cylinder
turbocharged petrol engine. Its capacity is
1.5-litre and is rated at 119kW and 250Nm,
healthy figures that sure provide solid
momentum. Add in the 90kW and 230Nm
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from the electric motor and you have a
powerful driveline combination that will send
you to 100km/h from a standstill in 6.9sec.
It will also complete a highway overtake in
5.6sec (80-120km/h).
The power flow is instant, when charged,
the electric motor will give you most of
the impetus, petrol power takes on largely
a back-up role. When activated it is rather
dynamic, although it makes its presence
known in a quiet and orderly fashion.
My daughter took ill while on a field
trip and I had to make a hasty trip to the
shores of Lake Ellesmere to get her medical
attention. On that journey the HS PHEV
dispensed the kilometres with little fuss, it is
quiet and smooth. None of that is a surprise
given the mechanicals aren’t under a great
deal of load.
A couple of tight corners on those
roads were dealt to with balance and
stability underneath. The suspension is fully
independent and it is engineered with a
certain amount of firmness that exudes a
dynamic feel. The high grade variant gets
wheels an inch in diameter larger than the
entry model, and the 235/50 x 18in Michelin
tyres offer a surefootedness and steering
feel that is quite involving.
More importantly is MG’s fuel usage claim.
Rated at 1.7-litres per 100km, the HS PHEV
can only achieve that at best possible usage.
My sudden excursion to Southbridge did
little to enhance economy, but I did take
the evaluation car back to the dealership
showing just 4.5l/100km on the readout that
I thought was respectable and is something
that can surely be improved with a light
throttle and sensible driving behaviour.
There’s no doubt about the success of MG
in New Zealand at present, after years with
little product in our market it’s a brand that
has had major resurgence in recent years.
There’s good choice between petrol only
and hybrid or electric, which is a part of the
market that has taken off with a hiss and a
roar in recent times.