MG U9 2026 review: Explore Pro - off-road test | Ford Ranger rival tested

Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?

7 / 10

The MG U9 is available in four grades – Explore, Explore X, Black Edition and as per our test vehicle, Explore Pro. All have a 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine.

The top-spec Explore Pro has a drive-away price-tag of $60,990.

Standard features onboard the Explore Pro include a 12.3-inch multimedia display (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus wireless charging), a 12.3-inch driver’s instrument cluster, JBL eight-speaker sound system and an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat (four-way electronic lumbar support with ventilation, massage function and memory).

Standard wheels are 20-inch but 18-inch 'traction rims' are optionally available for $1836.

Our test vehicle also had the optional Smart Hatch (a button-operated fold-down load-through rear cabin wall) for $5490.

Exterior paint choices include the no-extra-cost Alpine White, or choose from Canyon Grey, Midnight Black, Highland Green, Summit Blue, or Riverstone Blue, each priced at $800.

Rivals such as the Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max can’t match the MG U9 in value-for-money terms, but something like the GWM Cannon Alpha is close to even-stevens.

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Design – Is there anything interesting about its design?

7 / 10

The MG U9 is 5500mm long (with a 3300mm wheelbase), 2265mm wide (with the wing mirrors extended), 1874mm high and has a kerb weight of 2550kg. So it’s not a small ute.

Sure, all contemporary utes look much the same from the outside but in this MG’s favour it has a big front end, plenty of overall presence and under the metal ‘skin’ this is a ladder-frame vehicle with a unibody-style design. As mentioned earlier, this variant has 20-inch alloy wheels.

In terms of interior design, the cabin is a clear functional layout, offering much in terms of room for people, storage space and all of it’s done with a low-key stylishness. It also has 64-colour interior ambient lighting, which at night is a nice touch.

Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside?

7 / 10

The cabin is mostly practical – mostly – but there are a few quirky features that may irk or flat-out annoy you, depending on your level of patience.

I’ll rattle off those before we get stuck into the review proper.

1. There are chunky handles to help you get in and out of the vehicle, but there are no overhead grab handles for any 'JC!' moments. These should be mandatory in 4WDs.

2. When inside the cabin you have to use a button, rather than a handle of any sort, to open your door. These buttons are flimsy, fiddly and on the wrong side of annoying.

3. The large aircraft-controller-style transmission shifter looks cool but is unnecessary and in operation can be clunky as a shift intended for Drive or Reverse may end up in Neutral instead and requires some toggling to and fro in order to get the vehicle going in the direction you want.

4. I’m not a fan of the digital rear-view mirror. It offers less of a fish-eye view than most others, but it still takes my old codger eyes time to become accustomed to the artificial camera-generated view than an actual reflection of what is behind the car.

Those quirks aside, the cabin is, as mentioned, an uncluttered layout that looks and feels premium.

The 12.3-inch multimedia display unit is easy to phone-connect with and its screen is clear and well set up. And even though it’s a maze of menus and sub-menus I managed to navigate my way around without too much difficulty, so anyone can.

There are on-screen controls for many functions as well as some tangible controls, including some on the steering wheel, so take your pick.

Still on that multimedia unit, the camera-view is clear and crisp and depicts guidelines to help you navigate your way around whatever is going on behind you.

There’s plenty of the usual storage spaces you’d expect in a modern dual-cab ute and people in the front and back seats are well catered for in terms of cupholders and USB charging points.

On people, the seats, front and back offer plenty of comfort and support and while the front seats are heated, ventilated and power-adjustable, only the outboard seats in the back are heated.

This Explore Pro has the optional Smart Hatch load-through panel ($5490) fitted which means once you’ve flipped the rear seat bases forward, folded the seat-backs forward, lowered the rear window (via a button on the cabin’s interior rear wall), and then folded the back wall of the cabin forwards (via another button on the cabin’s interior rear wall), you’ve stretched the tub’s load space into the cabin, so long and unwieldy materials (lengths of wood etc) can be loaded into the MG U9.

The tailgate can be opened via the key fob and it has a slow, soft drop, so there’s that. It also has a really nifty built-in step in the tailgate that unfolds at the push of a button on the tailgate’s top edge. It’s rated to withstand a 170kg burden.

The tub has a durable-looking liner, four fixed-in-place tie-down points and it also has a utility-track-style system built into each side wall and those tie-down points can be moved fore and aft along the rail and then locked into position.

In terms of dimensions, the tub is 1600mm long, 1600mm wide (1230mm between the wheel arches) and has a listed volume of approximately 1053 litres.

A full-size steel spare is mounted under the tub.

Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its engine and transmission?

7 / 10

The MG U9 has a 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, producing 160kW and 520Nm and that’s matched to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the latter standard across the U9 range. It features part-time 4WD with a low-range transfer case.

All indications are that it will be decent on-road and capable off-road, however, this ute can be slow to get moving under heavy throttle but it yields a generally smooth and fuss-free driving experience on sealed surfaces.

On paper, the MG U9 is able to more than match the likes of the Ford Ranger, GWM Cannon Alpha and Isuzu D-Max.

Driving – What's it like to drive?

5 / 10

On road, the MG U9 is well behaved and refined. It's impressive as a daily driver. The transmission is smooth and the engine has ample power and torque for everyday driving in a variety of conditions.

As mentioned, the MG U9 is 5.5m long and its wheel tracks are 1685mm (front and rear) and despite its 13.3m turning circle, it never feels overly cumbersome to steer.

Suspension is independent by double-wishbones with coil springs at the front and a multi-link independent rear with coil springs. It delivers controlled ride and handling, even when unladen, unlike the jittery dance of less reined-in leaf-spring utes. It's a smooth daily driver in all conditions.

If you have no plans to go off-road, check out Emily Agar's recent MG U9 review that includes detailed on-road drive impressions.

But its performance off-road negatively impacts its overall driving result.

For one, it doesn't have a lot of ground clearance (a listed 220mm unladen, 180mm laden) and that’s quickly revealed.

I tried to drive over an exposed tree root – one which I’ve driven over many times in many different vehicles – and the MG U9 thumped into it on approach before I’d barely started the test.

I crept forwards over the exposed tree root, driving with the utmost care, but I decided to stop trying to go any further forwards and reversed down the hill to prevent any damage to the ute’s underbody. It bumped all the way down.

And that's not good because an off-road vehicle needs clearance and decent off-road angles as fundamental factors.

The MG U9 does have front and rear diff-locks, but diff-locks are rendered near-useless if your vehicle won’t clear the obstacle or the terrain without heavily grounding and risking serious damage to underbody components.

It’s good that the MG U9 has a variety of drive modes – Sand, Mud, Rock crawl – and it does have a wading function. But, again, those are great features to have on an off-road vehicle, however all of these drive modes, wading functions, and diff-locks don't amount to much if you can't get over an obstacle or a challenge because the vehicle is set up in such a way that that's just not possible.

Even though I drove with care and consideration – and I know the terrain at our unofficial testing and proving ground well – the MG U9 hit a lot of lumps and bumps and I wasn’t comfortable attempting anything more serious than some of our more basic terrain.

This is a large vehicle, and it has a large turning circle and that's a strike against it when you are four-wheel driving because it makes the vehicle a bigger, more cumbersome ute to get around on the tracks. And this MG really feels its size in the bush.

Another strike against it, the MG U9 is sold standard with 20-inch alloy wheels – not ideal for off-roading – and its tyres (Continental CrossContact 275/55R20) that aren’t well suited to 4WDing, either. The good news is 18-inch traction rims (MG’s description, not mine) are an option ($1836) and you can easily find decent all-terrain tyres on the Australian aftermarket.

It is set up for towing, on paper at least, with 750 kilograms of unbraked trailer towing capacity and 3500kg of braked towing capacity. GVM is listed as 3320kg, GCM is 6500kg.

So, all in all, as a light-duty off-roader, the MG U9 ticks all the boxes, and will be fine for a lot of people.

Efficiency – What is its fuel consumption? What is its driving range?

7 / 10

The MG U9's official fuel consumption figure is 7.9L/100km on a combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle. And our fuel consumption on this test, which covered on- and off-road running was 10.4L/100km.

The U9 has an 80-litre fuel tank so, going by those fuel figures, you could reasonably expect a real-world driving range of about 769km out of a full tank.

Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating?

7 / 10

The MG U9 Explore Pro has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2024.

As standard, it has seven airbags (including a front centre airbag and full curtain airbags) and a full suite of driver-assist tech including AEB, blind-spot monitoring, a tyre pressure monitoring system, and a 360-degree camera.

For child seats or baby capsules, the MG U9 features two ISOFIX anchor points and two top-tether points in the two outboard rear seats.

Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs?

7 / 10

The MG U9 Explore Pro is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which can be extended to seven years or 200,000km (whichever occurs soonest) if you have your ute serviced at an authorised MG service centre.

Worth noting that for vehicles used for commercial purposes the warranty is five years/160,000km, with no extended warranty applicable.

Five years of pre-paid capped price servicing is available and will cost you a total of $2775, as long as your car is serviced within the MG network.

The first service is due at the 12 month or 10,000km mark, whichever occurs soonest, then service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,000km.

MG Australia has more than 80 authorised dealerships and service centres around the country.

Verdict