We have been living with the fully electric, volcano orange MG4 Essence 64 as our family's second car for several months now, and we are going to be so sad to see it go! We have put it through every family situation, from the daily school drop-off and commute to family holidays, far-flung dancing competitions and more! This is everything we love and hate about living with the MG4 as our family car.
It's a great-looking car. In volcano orange, it cheers up everyone's morning at school drop-off! As well as being one of Australia's most-affordable electric cars, it's proved practical and very enjoyable to drive. I think its appeal spans a lot of generations and I have recommended it to our audience members looking for a first car for their teenagers, to first- and second-time parents and to a Grandad of 82 looking for a runaround for he and his wife and when he looks after his Grandchildren!
The MG4 works really well as our second family car, and it's become the one that does most of the work! The school drop-offs and pick-ups, the grocery shopping, etc. It's the workhorse of the two cars in our garage every week and the one we definitely choose to drive when we're taking the kids about. It's easy, comfortable and everyone is happy in it.
Price
I'm starting with the price because it's always the first thing people ask me and I love answering people with this one because they are always so pleasantly surprised! The MG4 is a very affordable fully electric car.
It is available in four different specifications, the base spec Excite 51 with a 350km range costing $32,990, then the Excite 64 with a longer range of 450km costs $34,990.
We are driving the Essence 64, which has a 435km range and costs $44,990, and the top-spec Long Range 77 has a 530km range and costs $50,990. These two models and the very fast XPower version currently have an $8000 factory bonus available.
The MG4 has a five-star ANCAP rating and comes with a 10-year warranty. So over ten years the cheapest MG4 will cost you $3300 a year, plus servicing costs and, if like us, you have a home charger and solar on your roof, it costs you the price of a coffee to run every week!
Another advantage is the battery range. When I was plugging this cheerful MG4 in to charge the other morning, I saw the screen saying it will charge up to 478km of range, which is plenty more than the brochure says! And I thought to myself, “That's incredible for an electric car of this price to have such a big battery range.”
I have noticed while living with the MG4 long term that the battery range is really consistent for all kinds of driving, which I have appreciated over the last few months.
Charging & Range Anxiety in the MG4
I did an experiment, and in an average week, I actually only drive about 150km, which is well under the MG4's battery range. But it's not like a petrol car where you fill up when it starts to get empty, you just top it up whenever you're home (and preferably the sun is shining if you have solar).
However, about once a month I do a 300-400km round trip. The first few times I felt a bit panicky, what if I run out of battery, where will I charge it etc. But what I've come to learn is that I don't need to! I make sure I charge it to 100% before I go and I've got enough battery for that trip and enough left for the school run the next day when I get back!
There have been occasions when I've needed to drive 200km to a destination and back again. It's just a case of making sure the car is fully charged the day before meant we had plenty of battery and no need to stop and charge.
Living with the MG4 has definitely helped me get rid of range anxiety and feel much more in control of charging. I've realised what the true amount of kilometres I drive a week is and the battery range well covers that.
Also, 450km is way more than enough to drive between stops on a family road trip and because it's faster to charge from 10-80% your natural rest stops every three hours or so fit quite well into the battery range and there's that 1ookm+ buffer in case chargers are occupied, not working etc and you need a Plan B.
I've had to do Plan B, C, D and E while travelling the Australian outback in petrol cars when service stations have been closed, run out of fuel, been on fire and closed because the other petrol station was on fire. I sometimes wonder that if I'd been in an electric car at those times whether someone somewhere would have been more likely to have a power outlet I could use in that scenario!
Something I've noticed driving an EV is that I notice local chargers in car parks more than before (and noticed that a lot more have been built recently). I haven't needed to use them much because we have our home charger BUT when I look at them they're often in use, whereas I can remember when I first started reviewing electric cars that I'd often be the only person using the charging stations. They were also often free to use or very cheap but some of them can cost as much as the equivalent distance of petrol would nowadays. So, after living with an MG4, for any EV I would recommend having your own home charger if you can.
On the subject of charging stations, while I've had the MG4, the Evie charging network introduced an Autocharge system. Once you have used one of Evie's chargers, Evie remembers the car's ‘signature' that you can add to the Evie app, after which you can just plug in and go at any Evie charger. The payment will be taken automatically once the charging is finished. It's easy, just as Tesla has done since day one with its Supercharger network. I liked the hassle-free experience and especially the text and app notifications Evie sends to let you know how the charging session was going as I've been frustrated when going back to an electric car to find it hadn't charged properly.
Comfort in the MG4
We have truly ‘moved in' to the MG4 and made it our family car! The kids have their toy selection on board (they love the little pouches at the top of the seatbacks). A pair of their shoes reside in the footwell, and towels and spare clothes live in the boot for impromptu after-school beach trips!
Only when I came to write this did I realise I hadn't had any complaints from the kids when driving the MG4, which is no small feat! My kids are very quick to tell me their thoughts and feelings. “I feel sick,” “I can't see out the window,” and “It's too bumpy” are the usual soundtrack if they don't like a car. I haven't heard anywhere near the number of objections to this little MG!
It's a car our whole family feels comfortable in! The driver's seat has a 6-way electrical adjustment, and every time my husband or I jump in to drive and move the seat, it is so quick and easy to get comfortable. Some cars take a lot of fiddling around to find a comfortable seating position, but we find it easy to switch between drivers and get in and go in the MG4 even though there is no seat position memory.
We are getting into Queensland summer, and the lack of rear air vents is noticeable. However, we are finding it cools quite quickly in the back with the fans on full in the front, and then you can turn them down once everyone is comfortable.
One of the features I love about the MG4 climate control is that it stays on when you arrive at your destination until everyone is out of the car and you lock the doors. I LOVE this feature! It's so good because all the little passengers are kept at a comfortable temperature while you go from door to door of the car, getting them in or out.
The aircon controls are in the touchscreen, which can be a bit slow and annoying, but thankfully MG has included a handy button on the steering wheel that gives you a miniature aircon control menu that means you can adjust temperature and fan speed with the little joystick on the steering wheel.
There are also no rear ceiling lights, which makes it quite difficult for the passengers to see in the back at night, locate their seatbelt buckles, and fasten and unfasten them when getting in and out. I have found myself shining my phone torch into the back so they could see what they were doing. The lights in the front are pretty weak as well.
Storage in the MG4
Storage is good throughout the MG4. There is somewhere to put everything we need for everyday family life and we haven't found we don't have anywhere to put anything yet!
The two cup holders in the front are great for our tea and coffee cups on longer drives and behind those is a quite big space with roller cover where I keep keys, receipts and one of our phones if travelling as a family. There is a wireless phone charging tray above but it doesn't do a great job of stopping the phone falling onto the floor.
The front door bins will hold our water bottles so they don't roll around in the footwells.
The glasses case in the ceiling keeps my glasses from getting damaged and the central console bin holds the packet of wipes and keys.
I like the extra pockets at the top on the back of the front seats. I find I can pop something in there for my youngest daughter that she can reach to play with while driving along.
After-school playdate test
Statistically, most families have two children, so we think, ‘Ah yeah, it's a five-seater, it'll be fine'. And it will, but if your kids are like my eldest, they are waiting to ambush you at school pick up with an afterschool playdate they have been arranging all day with their classmate rather than listening to a word their teacher has said!
So after agreeing to their bestie coming home with us too, I have a spare child seat in the boot that I pop in the back seats, and their sibling wants to come too, so a two-child pick-up often turns into four!
The MG4 can fit three child seats across, as we found when we did our BabyDrive seat testing. When using it as our kids' after-school taxi service, we could comfortably fit two child seats in the back with a third child sitting between them.
School Run Test: MG4 Boot Practicality
My eldest daughter's cello has travelled comfortably in the rear footwell to school and back each week. So it well passes that test!
I don't know if I'm the only parent whose kids' legs work totally fine at a playground, beach, anywhere with food, and anywhere you want them to sit down. They have all the energy in those situations to run around like a mad thing! The second you want them to walk from the car to the school gates, they lose all ability, and their legs are too tired! Well, this is definitely the case with my youngest!
The magic leg switch goes off the instant she gets out of the MG4, so I have always had to take my Thule Spring compact pram in the boot to school drop-off and pick-up! I have loads of room around this for school bags, scooter, beach cricket set etc.
The little wells behind the wheel arches are super helpful for holding the kids' water bottles that they sling at me as they haul their backpacks into the boot!
Unfortunately part of the boot floor buckled quite early on during our time with the MG4 and it's now quite bendy. I guess it's designed to be lightweight and cost-effective but I think it's a case of buy cheap, buy twice.
Weekend test: The whole family onboard
Family weekends are not complete without a couple of traditions. I escape early on a Saturday morning to do Parkrun or a longer run with my friends, followed by a well-earned breakfast! The MG4 has worked well for this as it's silent when I'm creeping out of the house before everyone else is awake. I am relieved to be able to take the fully electric MG4 because there's no noisy engine or driving noise to wake the family up.
When I go with just my run club, the three adults all fit comfortably in the car; two in the back beside the child seat and one in the front.
I also go to Run Club for Mums and take my youngest daughter in my Thule Urban Glide 3 running pram, which also fits nicely in the boot. I just pop one of the back wheels off, and it fits comfortably, with space on top for our bags.
Another bonus of the MG4 is its small size and cheery volcano orange colour! It is usually very busy at Parkrun, and parking is limited. With a small footprint, I can parallel park easily and squeeze into spaces larger cars wouldn't, and the great visibility and cameras help with this.
When the whole family goes to the theme park or shopping centre at the weekend, being bright orange, I found this MG4 is easy to locate in a sea of vehicles in a busy car park!
Extracurricular test: Kids and all their gear in the MG4!
I don't know one child that does not do extracurricular something! So we all need a boot that can cope with the stuff and the gear that goes along with it. The MG4 boot got a good testing with my daughter's dancing competitions. We had two adults in the front and two eight-year-olds in the back very comfortably with all their costumes, props, hair and make-up equipment.
Also, in the boot, we had both girls' dance bags, their costumes, and the props box, and it all fitted in nicely. Not to mention the classic fish and chips picnic in the boot!
Pre-schooler test
A couple of days a week when my eldest daughter is at school, my youngest daughter and I enjoy running around the coastal paths, visiting our local playgrounds and beaches. I have the Thule Urban Glide 3 in the boot for this purpose and it fits really well. I just pop one of the back wheels off putting it in and it pops right back on when I take it out. My daughter’s scooter fits in the boot too.
The beach gear, lunchbox, etc. all fit in the basket underneath the Thule Urban Glide 3 when we’re running around with it.
Weekly shop
The MG4 boot passes the weekly family grocery shop test too!
I'm a huge fan of the online click-and-collect supermarket shop. The MG4's boot is just the right size for our family of four's weekly food, fitting ten shopping bags from empty.
The MG4 is a great second car for my family. We find ourselves using it out of preference a lot of the time. Often with a four-wheel drive or SUV to test as our primary car, the MG4 is the one we find ourselves picking up the keys for when doing all the pick-ups and drop-offs. For all the comfy local trips, running the family around, it is so easy and enjoyable.
The MG4 does have auto start, so as soon as you open the doors the car is switched on. When I have the children in the car while I'm loading the groceries into the boot I find this quite stressful as a parent because then the kids can play with everything without me needing to be there.
At the start I was always worried the kids would put it into drive or reverse accidentally by fiddling with the rotary dial. But I have come to learn it is not that simple, you do have to have your foot on the brake and you have to select the gear a couple of times for it to engage (which I have also found frustrating when in a hurry).
Cleaning Test: The MG4 comes up clean!
Well, I've got to be honest because we tend only to have a test car for a week or two, and it rarely gets a chance to get too dirty inside, at least not that really lived-in feel where you find a month-old banana skin tucked down the back of the child seat. I have to admit that this MG4 has definitely had the fully lived-in family experience!
I've have had to give it a full clean a few times over the last few months, and I am always so pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to clean and how resistant it is to the kids' crumbs, spills, footprints and their nature collections! It always comes up looking really good without a tremendous amount of effort! The carpet doesn't seem to trap things and with a quick vacuum it looks good again.
Downsides to the MG4 Essence 64
I've had a mostly positive experience with the MG4 but a few things have disappointed or annoyed me:
- The touchscreen can be a bit slow to respond
- The lane-keep assist feels like it's constantly fighting you through the steering wheel
- The rear cross-traffic auto-braking is so paranoid that I turned it off
- Apple CarPlay won't work unless you plug in your phone after the car has fully started up
- Not enough interior lights and the ones provided are too dim
- No spare tyre, which puts me off doing longer road trips
- A weird rattle sometimes happens at motorway speeds
- The built-in sat nav doesn't have up-to-date public charging locations
- Wireless phone charging tray is too shallow so your phone easily falls out
- No rear aircon vents
- The parking camera images aren't as clear as on most Chinese cars
- A cold snap can affect the tyre pressure monitors
- Boot floor is weak and buckled from everyday use
Be the first to comment