MG HS vs GWM Haval H6

What's the difference?

MG is quietly establishing itself as a champion of the electric space, with this HS mid-sizer offering a compelling list of specs with a long electric range in an attractive package.

It is still lacking in a few obvious areas, from driving dynamics to charging speed, but it’s doing its part at the asking price to at least make a plug-in hybrid alternative worth considering.

The GWM Haval H6 Ultra Hybrid offers an attractive package for those hunting for a medium SUV hybrid that is affordable but well-equipped. Its rivals have a nicer on-road driving experience and better multimedia systems but you get a lot for your money and the H6 has great on-going costs.

MG’s success is not just in being one of the most affordable but making affordability so damn good looking.

Taking cues from Mazda’s successful glitzy design formula, the HS impresses with a chrome-embossed grille, chiselled light clusters, combining with a curvaceous bonnet for an eye-catching face.

Down the side the curvy lines continue, undulating over the wheelarches, to a well resolved rear-end, complete with tidy light clusters and even dual-exhaust pipes.

Look at this car a little too long, though, and you start to find more than a few flaws with its design.

Sure, it’s eye catching, but the 17-inch alloys do a pretty ordinary job of filling those big wheelarches, and there’s something a little off about the ride height.

You can also see the rear suspension control arms sitting well below the base of the rear, a reminder the HS is an SUV based on the MG6 sedan.

Suffice it to say, while it looks great at a few paces, up close it misses out on some of the nuance and poise of its rivals.

Inside follows the same formula of the outside, with attractive curvy lines, a sporty-looking steering wheel and a pair of dazzling screens.

Again, though, look closer and you’ll see this otherwise modern-looking interior is not as impressive beneath the surface.

The seats look plush but feel cheap with vinyl trim, and the same goes for the door cards and centre console. All have soft-touch surfaces which, in reality, are paper thin. It still beats having hard plastic in the doors, though, so context is everything.

The plastic trims throughout are also hit-and-miss, with some looking great, and others hard and nasty.

The +EV versions of the HS ditch the mechanical shifter in the centre console for an electronic one, which combines nicely with the digital dash to make the cabin feel more modern than even some more upmarket rivals.

The Haval H6 is a good-looking medium SUV. It manages to blend the functionality of its size with a sleekness that should make it appealing to a wide audience.

You can tell the hybrid models apart from the pack because the grille ‘bleeds’ into the surrounding panels rather than maintaining the usual rectangular shape of the non-hybrid models. It makes the front look more stylish.

The full suite of LED lights look particularly interesting on the Ultra Hybrid with a focus on the full-width strip at the rear and cute ‘bunting’ styled brake lights.

The cabin exudes a good sense of quality with most of the materials used, like the synthetic leather upholstery and trims as well as soft touchpoints throughout. There are some harder plastics which detract from this general aesthetic but they’re mostly found in the back row and centre console.

The dashboard is stepped and has a lot going on with the chrome accents, shapes, style of vents and tech screens. You might think that would be overwhelming but it just adds nice focal points. The cabin is a pleasant space to be in.

There are some particularly strange things about the HS’s cabin when it comes to practicality.

The seats are perhaps the biggest issue. Not only are they clad in a cheap feeling vinyl, but the seating position is very high, and you hardly sink into the seat base, leaving you with the impression you’re sitting on the car rather than in it. Weird.

Visibility is great out the sides of this car, but with the seating position the way it is, I feel like my head is close to the roof and the windscreen has a narrow letterbox aspect. This is complicated further by the rear vision mirror, which sticks a fair way down into your field of view.

The front of the cabin feels plenty wide enough, though, and there are some other practicality wins, like the multimedia screen which is easily within reach.

Its limited resolution is a benefit here, with the touch elements being big and easy to reach while you’re concentrating on the road, but the stock software is clumsily laid out and slow, taking a full second or two to react to some interactions.

This is especially notable as the entire climate system is operated via the touchscreen.

The cabin offers up decent storage. There are big bottle holders in the doors as part of a larger bin, and there are a further two large bottle holders in the centre console with a removable divider.

The armrest box opens to reveal a small storage area, which also has an internal vent for the air-conditioning.

Under the shortcut buttons up front there’s a flip-open tray with two USB outlets and a 12V port, but this little opening is so tiny it’s no good to store any kind of object. It’s also impossible to close the flip cover if you have something plugged in.

The rear seat is one of the HS’s best attributes. Compared to even the front seats, the rear passenger space is enormous, with ample width, headroom, and legroom.

The seats can recline slightly, and amenities are even impressive with two pockets on the backs of the front seats, large bottle holders in the doors, dual adjustable air vents, and two USB ports for rear passengers.

Of special note is the strangely lavish drop-down centre armrest, which is clad in soft trim and has a flip-open tray and dual bottle holders.

Rear seat space comes at a bit of a cost to boot capacity, though. The HS offers 451 litres, which is a little off-the-pace for the mid-size SUV segment. The rear seats intrude into the space a fair bit, and the floor is quite high.

It fit our three-piece CarsGuide luggage set, but only just, and it required removing the retractable luggage cover. Unlike the top-spec Essence, the Excite does not have a power tailgate.

No spare wheel in +EV versions of the HS, with the underfloor space housing a repair kit and a small cutaway for charging paraphernalia.

The cabin has loads of passenger space and it feels roomy up front. It’s also an easy car to get in and out of, which I like. I don't love the comfort of the front seats, though, as the seat backs cave too far inwards, even with the lumbar extended. Not conducive to great posture.  

The back seat is like a lounge, though, and in this instance I'd prefer to be a passenger princess than the driver in this car.

In the back row, the head- and legroom is excellent and middle seaters will be comfortable thanks to the flat floor. 

Individual storage is very good up front, the centre console playing the hero with its large shelf underneath. There are also two cupholders, a utility tray and a cute little nook for any small items like keys.

The middle console is medium-sized, as is the glove box and both doors have storage bins and a drink bottle holder.

In the back seat, there are map pockets, two cupholders in a fold down armrest and shallow storage bins in each door.

The other amenities in the back row are okay and you get directional air vents and reading lights.

You get a good storage capacity with the 600L boot and the level loading space makes it easy to slide gear in and out. The back seat has a 60/40 split if you need to boost your storage capacity. There’s no spare tyre in this model, just a tyre repair kit but you do get a powered tailgate. 

The practicality of the cabin is hurt by the usefulness of some of its tech, which is a shame since the cabin on a whole is fairly good.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system looks great and is fairly easy to use but the screen can occasionally lag. There are a lot of functions buried in the system and I miss having physical buttons for this reason. I sometimes don't bother with the heat and ventilation functions for the front seats because it isn't simple to access them.

You don’t get built-in sat nav or digital radio in this model but you do have wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I have beef with the CarPlay as the USB-A port for it is on the passenger side, not the driver's side. The CarPlay and Bluetooth connectivity also dropped out a lot, which I found frustrating, especially when I was using it to navigate.

Charging options are okay with each row getting two USB-A ports. The front also features a wireless charging pad and a 12-volt outlet but you miss out on faster USB-C sockets.

The H6 has six variants and our model on test is the flagship Ultra Hybrid, which is priced from $45,990, drive-away. That makes it way more affordable than similarly equipped rivals, the closest drive-away price tag being over $10K higher, at $56,206 for the Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid.

Pricing goes up from there with the Kia Sportage GT-Line HEV priced from $60,496 and the Nissan X-Trail e-Power Ti-L from $63,200 (drive-away prices based on a NSW, 2000 postcode). So what do you get on the top-model hybrid H6?

For premium features, expect to see synthetic leather upholstery and trims, a panoramic sunroof, a handsfree powered tailgate, dual-zone climate control and a head-up display.

The front seats are electric, with the passenger side featuring four-way adjustment and the driver's side eight-way, as well as powered lumbar support. They sport heat and ventilation functions for added comfort.

Technology is high-quality with the 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system. There is wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is good because unlike it's rivals, you miss out on built-in satellite navigation and digital radio in this model.

The exterior boasts a full suite of LED lights, including DRLs. Rims are 19-inch alloy but this hybrid model only gets a tyre puncture repair kit.

For the price tag, the kit is well-rounded and most creature comforts are assured.

This is where plug-in hybrids tend to get a bit complicated, so bear with us.

The MG HS +EV pairs a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor on the front axle. The two drive the front wheels via a new 10-speed traditional torque converter automatic transmission, instead of the dual-clutch which features in the combustion-only versions of this car.

The engine produces 119kW/250Nm on its own, while the electric motor produces 90kW/230Nm. The two combined produce 189kW/370Nm, making the +EV by far the most powerful HS on the market, capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 6.9 seconds.

The Ultra Hybrid is powered by a (110kW/230Nm) 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine and 'two-speed' (130kW/300Nm) electric motor with drive going to the front wheels only. The motor is powered by a relatively small 1.8kWh lithium-ion battery and GWM Haval quotes combined petrol-electric outputs of 179kW/530Nm.

Clearly that 530Nm torque figure is the result of simply adding the engine and motor's peak numbers together, which is 'unusual' because other brands quote a blended torque output and that's a massive amount of pulling power. In comparison, the RAV4 produces 160kW/221Nm and the Sportage 169kW/350Nm.

Question marks hovering above specification calculations aside, on the road the Ultra Hybrid is no slouch and you can easily keep your speed consistent on hills.

The HS +EV backs its electric features with a relatively large 16.6kWh battery pack, allowing it a purely electric driving range rated at 63km.

This is on the more lenient NEDC standard, though, and our car was reporting between 40–45km on a full charge. Still pretty good for a plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV.

As a result of this well-supported system, +EV versions of the HS have an official/combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 1.7L/100km, but as with all plug-in hybrids this will depend on how you use it.

On my week-long test, the car returned a figure of 3.9L/100km, with the caveat I did run it out of charge on more than one occasion. The HS’s turbocharged engine requires mid-grade 95RON unleaded.

Take a moment to appreciate this mid-sizer still used less fuel than a tiny hatchback, but charging is a less impressive story.

MG says the +EV will charge to 100 per cent from the reserve level in five ours on a 7.0kW charging connection, the only problem is the numbers don’t add up.

If you divide 16.6 by five you get 3.3kW, which is the actual charging rate. For a battery this big, that’s too slow. To put it in perspective, it’s only slightly faster than if you were to charge it up from a wall socket, and makes this car best for those who can trickle charge it at home.

Even dragging out your grocery shop to, say, 2.5 hours, will only net you half this car’s battery, making it inconvenient if you need to rely on public charging to get by.

The official combined cycle fuel figure is just 5.2L/100km and my real-world usage is 6.0L/100km after mostly open road driving. I would expect that figure to be lower in an urban setting.

Based on the combined cycle number and the 61L fuel tank, expect a driving range of up to 1173km for this model. Great for road tripping adventures. GWM recommends a minimum 91 RON 'standard' unleaded petrol to be used.

The Ultra Hybrid is not a plug-in hybrid. Instead, it uses its engine and regenerative braking to recoup battery percentage while you’re driving. After 230km I was only down to 91 per cent for the battery, which means it’s pretty darn efficient in that recouping process. 

Okay, so once you get past the weird seating position we mentioned earlier, it's immediately apparent this hybrid version of the HS is the best to drive in the range.

The powerful electric motor in this car makes it so much smoother and easier to drive than the combustion car. It’s got quiet, smooth acceleration and a nice gentle regen braking, and you never even need to worry about what the transmission is doing.

This 10-speed automatic is so smooth it’s hard to tell what it’s doing at any given time, an out-of-sight improvement over the dual-clutch automatics which appear elsewhere in the range.

Where the HS isn’t as impressive is in the steering. It’s nicely weighted but a bit vague when it comes to feeling. I’m not super confident of what the front wheels are doing, and I feel like it doesn’t handle the additional weight from the big battery pack particularly well.

It feels comparatively top-heavy with a tendency towards mild understeer when you push it, missing some of the confidence its more established rivals have.

The ride is mixed. It’s generally soft, so it’s comfortable over smaller bumps, but when you hit big ones, it is evident the ride lacks a bit of control, because it will bounce around, and feel a little unsettled.

This imbalanced ride and handling is one of MG’s weak spots generally, which is why I’m surprised the electric drivetrain is so sleek, even comparable to Toyota systems.

When it comes to controlling those electric driving functions the HS defaults to a hybrid mode, where it seems to use primarily electric drive at lower speeds, activating the engine automatically at higher speeds, or when the accelerator is more heavily applied.

The only issue I have with this mode is I’m not sure at times how or why it decides to run the engine. With rival systems you’ll get some kind of ‘eco’ indicator which gives you an idea of when the engine will activate, but in this car there’s just a percentage indicator on the dash, which isn’t too helpful.

Your only other drive mode option is to stick it in EV mode, which you can do via a button on the centre console. In this mode it will only use the electric motor, and it’s able to do this at quite high speeds, so even if you’ve got a bit of an expressway or something on your drive it won’t necessarily need combustion support. Meaning you can have genuinely fully electric driving if you’ve got somewhere to charge it up at either end.

There’s no combustion or charge mode like some plug-ins have, and there is also no way to control the regen braking, so it’s not as customisable as we’d like. And the regen tune is relatively mild, so it’s probably not as energy efficient as it could be, either.

Still, the hybrid systems are impressively smooth and as a result the +EV versions of the HS are simply the best in the range to drive by a solid margin.

The Ultra Hybrid has a good well of power to dip into and the switch between the petrol and electric functions is pretty smooth but occasionally when you’re getting up to speed on a highway you get some loud noises as it switches over.

Power delivery is well balanced but you lose traction in the front if you accelerate too quickly from a standstill, particularly if you’re doing it on an incline.

When you’re braking on a hill, there can be a quick sliding sensation as if its slipped out of gear, which I did not like at all.

The ride comfort is a mixed bag for me, mostly because the front seats are uncomfortable on a longer journey but the suspension is compliant enough that you don’t wince when you hit bumps. There is some roll when you hit corners but otherwise you don’t really feel jostled in the Ultra Hybrid which is good.

Around town and at lower speeds, the engine noise is virtually nil and that creates a more refined on-road experience but road and wind noise are noticeable at higher speeds.

With the steering wheel feel set on ‘Comfort’ the H6 manoeuvres responsively in the city but can feel a little clunky in a tight car park because of its larger 12m turning circle.

The 360-degree view camera system is super clear, though, and you also get front and rear parking sensors so I didn’t find the H6 hard to park.

In this grade level the H6 has a great suite of safety features, including a biggie like rear cross-traffic alert, which is only available on the higher Ultra grades. The lane keeping aid is quite sensitive, though, which can lead to a jerky on-road feel.

Other standard safety features include driver attention alert, tyre pressure monitoring, rear collision warning, LED lights, lane departure/keeping aids, emergency lane keeping aid, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, child safety locks and a 360-degree camera system with front and rear parking sensors.

A windshield mounted USB-A port for a dashcam, is also standard.

The H6 has a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing done in 2022 as well as seven airbags including a front centre airbag.

It has high individual assessment scores for adult and child protection at 90 and 88 per cent, respectively.

The H6 features AEB with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection which is operational from 5.0-85km/h (150km/h for car detection).

There are two ISOFIX child seat mounts and three top tether anchor points. Three car seats are likely to fit.

MG has tweaked its ownership promise for its electrified models recently. While the brand generally follows in the footsteps of challenger brands like Kia by offering an ahead-of-the curve seven-year warranty, this has only just been extended to the +EV variants.

Strangely, there’s also a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty for the high-voltage battery components, which is a bit different from the industry standard eight-year/160,000km warranty.

Capped price servicing has also been added covering the duration of the warranty. Each visit at 12 monthly or 10,000km intervals costs between $265 and $968, for a yearly average of $403.14.

Not expensive, but also not at the cheap end of the spectrum.

Affordability is extended to the ongoing costs for the H6 because it comes with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, which is above average for the class.

The hybrid battery is covered by an eight-year warranty and there is a five-year capped priced servicing program where services average $330, which is very competitive for the class.

Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first and you also get complimentary roadside assistance for five years through Allianz Global Assistance.