MG Comet Reviews

And now for MG's next act - a tribute to the MG B GT in 21st century electric form

Booming Chinese brand has revealed its updated answer to the all conquering Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.The new MG HS mid-size SUV broke cover at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed overnight with a massive advancement of the plug-in hybrid version leading the charge.It sports a sleek new design with a new grille design, dynamic headlights and plenty of body creases in all the right places.The new HS is also longer and wider than before, but is shorter thanks to a more contoured roof. MG has stretched the wheelbase - the distance between the front and rear wheels - to make for a roomier cabin.MG Australia hasn’t revealed local specification but has confirmed it’ll arrive in showrooms before the end of the year.In the UK, the HS will come with either a petrol engine or a plug-in hybrid set-up.The plug-in hybrid combines the standard petrol engine with a potent electric motor to make a combined 223kW, which is about 34kW more than the current HS plug-in hybrid.MG has more than just extra oomph to boast about, a new 24.7kWh battery now delivers a driving range of up to 120km on pure electric power that is about double the range of the outgoing version.The petrol-only version makes 125kW and 275Nm in the UK. MG hasn’t revealed fuel use figures for either variant.MG also hasn’t officially revealed the interior details of the next-generation HS, but said it has two 12.3-inch displays: one for the multimedia and the other for the driver’s instruments.And an image of the front seats shows a reworked cabin with soft touch materials covering lots of surfaces and textured inserts on the doors. Synthetic leather wrapped seats have extra side bolstering and there is contrast stitching. There also appears to be a camera pointed directly at the driver.MG hasn’t revealed prices but it is extremely rare for new models to get cheaper, so expect a significant rise on the current version’s $30,990 drive-away starting price.The Chinese maker recently launched its new 3 small hatchback in Australia and its price rose by about $6000 compared to the older model, so budget more for a new HS, too.MG has firmly established itself as a mainstream brand in Australia and is a constant in the top 10 sellers list.The HS has been the weak point in its local line-up, despite being in the most popular new car segment in the country.The new model should boost its popularity against red hot rivals such as the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Kia Sportage.MG previously confirmed to CarsGuide earlier this year it was also planning on bringing a larger seven-seat family SUV soon. This would fill one of the biggest holes in its local line-up.

The top five electric SUVs updated for 2022

interested in Australia's most popular new vehicles? Here is a list ranking sales from from 1-100 between January 1 and June 30, 2024.

China is now the third-largest source for new cars in Australia, beaten only by Japan and Thailand for cars exported here.

Something I need to stop doing is getting out of cars I’ve just been driving and walking off while they’re still running. Seriously, I’ve done it constantly lately and I blame it all on the MG MG4 I’ve been testing for the past month.The MG4 is a small electric hatchback and it doesn’t have an on or off switch. It just turns on when you open the door and sit in the driver’s seat and then turns off when you get out and lock it.That’s a convenient feature and I became used to it quickly. Thing is I’m now getting out of other cars without turning them off.There’s more to the MG4 than that trick, so let me start again.Our MG4 is the most affordable in its range which means it’s the Excite grade and it has the 51kWh battery. MG was doing a drive-way deal of $39,990 at the time of writing, making it one of the lowest priced electric cars in Australia.The Excite grade has most of the features of the Essence grade above it. There’s LED headlights, a 10.25-inch media screen and 7.0-inch instrument cluster, plus there’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.Just before I started in this MG4 I’d been testing the MG4 Essence and that gave me a clear back-to-back comparison of what you’re not getting in the Excite. Things like heated seats, a wireless phone charger and a power adjustable driver’s seat.You can do without those features if money’s tight, but I’m not sure I could live without the 435km driving range (WLPT) the Essence has from its larger 64kWh battery.The Excite’s 51kWh battery has a range of 350km (WLPT) and in real-world testing we found this to be accurate, but also not enough for longer trips where we knew a charger wasn’t waiting for us at the other end.The good news is the Excite is offered with a 64kWh battery, too, for about $5000 more which sounds like a lot at this level, but the extra capacity will take some of the range anxiety away.We managed to travel 405km in our Excite 51kWh but it was all urban duties - the school run, grocery shopping and city commuting. Overall our average energy usage was 23.1kWh/100km, which is on the higher side. Our long-term testing of larger heavier EVs returned better energy efficiency than this. Charging is quick and I found using a 75kW charger the battery could be filled from five to 90 per cent in under an hour, which is impressive, but don’t forget the battery isn’t enormous.What is impressive is the way the MG4 Excite drives. This is a comfortable, well composed sporty hatchback with good handling. I feel the way this car drives is outstanding for the price bracket with great steering, too, and a superb feeling of connection to the road. The practicality of the MG4 is also outstanding. We have a small family with a toddler and a bigger kid and we lived daily with the MG4 and never found room for us or our stuff in the cabin to be an issue. Boot space is a little restricted, though, at 363 litres, but the beauty of a hatch is you can fold the rear seats down to carry something larger, which we did. We bought a small cabinet online which fit with plenty of space to spare. Have a look at my pictures.Great styling with a sporty face, interesting tail-lights with a cool LED design and a premium-looking interior complete what is an outstanding package, especially at this price.Acquired: June 2024Distance travelled this month: 405kmOdometer: 1493kmAverage energy consumption this month: 23.1kWh/100km

Something is happening to the car world and we're all witnessing it - the return of the hatchback and sedan, and we know why its happening

Australia's ever-booming new car market has hit a bump in the road, with the June sales result recording the industry's first year-on-year decline in around 16 months.

MG has released a teaser of its new HS ahead of a full reveal at this month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 11, 2024. The Australian release of the MG HS mid-size SUV is not locked in but the new car will very likely arrive in early September.Though we have no full images of the HS, we have a fairly good idea of what to expect from the Toyota RAV4, GWM Haval H6 and Nissan X-Trail rival thanks to various compliance documents that hint at its design and features. The nameplate appeared in Australian compliance documents as the ‘AS33’ update, which suggests a pair of engines including a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder with a dual-clutch auto transmission and a new 2.0-litre turbo-petrol with nine-speed automatic transmission.Additionally, three trim levels – abbreviated COM, DEL and LUX – appear in the documents.  MG has promised an HS plug-in hybrid in the UK press release. Using the China-market Roewe RX5 (on which the HS is based) as an indicator, a 20kWh-plus battery pack could offer up to 135km electric-only driving range with outputs approaching 180kW and 570Nm.Distinguishing it from the RX5 is the MG Hs’s heavy styling update reminiscent of the MG3 hatch. Interior design is yet to be revealed but expect a decently-sized touchscreen, digital driver’s display and a layout similar to the MG4 and MG3. The current model starts at $29,990, drive-away, and we expect the new car to climb in price, likely in excess of $5000 if the MG3 is anything to go by.A new HS mid-size SUV would boost sales. The current HS was the brand's lowest selling model in May (279 registrations) a long way shy of segment leaders like the Toyota RAV4 (5517) and Mitsubishi Outlander (2500).MG Senior Product and Strategy Manager Akshat Ahuja told CarsGuide, "With new products coming through, especially really important products such as new HS and ZS, we definitely focused on providing those great offerings to the market."MG is lining up for a big 18 months. The Cyberster electric sports car hopes to rekindle some of the brand’s history, with volume models including a new ZS small SUV and as-yet-unseen seven-seat SUV expected, too.

If you think electric vehicles might be just a fad, like a Rubik’s Cube or a Livestrong bracelet, or even those Oakley stickers everyone had on their windscreens that said “Thermonuclear Protection”, we have news for you: EVs aren’t going anywhere. They’re going everywhere.