By Paul Gover.
Electrification is going to be big, very big, for Chinese carmakers.
And Australian car buyers, too . . .
MG is already making the point with both hybrid and full battery-electric cars on sale in Australia, and its latest contender is the HS plug-in hybrid which hits the blocks at just under $50,000.
It’s a five-seater family SUV in the Mazda CX-5 class, with a combination of both petrol and electric power for maximum efficiency and emission-free city travel. So it’s both green and practical.
Like the other new MG models, the HS is surprisingly un-bad. Not good, or great, but better than expected and a car – unlike the MG3 that only really sells because of its bargain-basement pricetag and a well-known brand name – to recommend to friends.
The HS in all its forms is a car that rates more highly than an equivalent Mitsubishi and the plug-in hybrid is likely to draw a lot more people to the MG brand because of the growing emphasis on hybrid driving in Australia.
It’s not the best of its breed, but it has a worthwhile electric-only battery range of 52 kilometres and the 1.7-litre petrol engine gives it solid performance and a good range between refuelling. The big advantage for a plug-in hybrid is that it can draw mains electricity – instead of just topping-up on the run with regenerative braking – to provide maximum electric travel.
The rest of the HS package is pretty good.
It’s a good size for families, it’s well equipped, the quality of the finishing is good, and it drives well enough.
It’s not a rival to the CX-5 for class and comfort, or a bunch of the other mid-sized SUVs for that matter, but MG has done a good job on the sort of things that people want and like. So the infotainment system is good, the Bluetooth works well, the aircon does the job, and it gets down the road without fuss or bother.
It’s the same for the hybrid package, which mostly operates in the background.
You can hit the button for Electric, which means it runs entirely from the battery, and that’s fun and quiet and fast enough for the ‘burbs close to home.
Otherwise, it shuttles around the electric-and-petrol package to find you what you need, from pure combustion for highway cruising to a proper hybrid package to stretch its range but also keep the benefits of electric whenever possible. There is solid regenerative braking to top-up the battery and it can be fun to use the push-back in the system instead of the brake pedal when approaching traffic lights.
As always, there are a few niggles.
It took a trip to Google to find the button to open the petrol filler cap, the plug-in cable for the electric system was a bit fiddly to get right, the driver-assistance systems are too intrusive, and the seats don’t have much support.
It also comes without an ANCAP safety rating, although the regular HS gets a 5-star score. Perhaps the safety team in Canberra is too stingy to pay for the necessary tests to rate a car which deserves a ranking.
But those are little things and the price is right, MG is building a good reputation, and the plug-in hybrid has just been updated to MG’s seven-year warranty with unlimited kilometres, which even covers the high-voltage battery for everyone but commercial users.
THE BASICS
MG HS PHEV
Price: from $47,990 drive-away
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo petrol plus electric motor
Power: 189kW/370Nm
Transmission: 6-speed auto, (four-speed electric) front-wheel drive
Safety: no ANCAP rating
Position: SUV tech leader
Plus: affordable hybrid package
Minus: not 5-star safety
THE TICK: a leader
Score: 8/10
