MG Extender Reviews

MG India has revealed a new seven-seat SUV, which could rival popular ladder-frame-based models as a facelift to one of its Indian-market offerings.

There's no doubting the MG4 XPower's impressive power and acceleration, but mystery still swirls around the cut-price performance EV. Is it a proper hot hatch? Or just a surprisingly potent city-friendly EV? Is it the best bang-for-bucks electric option in the market? Or rather a basic-feeling commuter with the grunt dialled up? To find out, we've put Andrew Chesterton behind the long-term wheel.

Australia’s new car market rose very slightly in volume in 2024 compared to 2023 - but it wasn’t good news across the board.

Australia clocked a record number of new-car sales in 2024, proving once again how diverse our new-car market really is.

Driving in Sydney in the lead up to Christmas is a chore. Let’s find out how the new MG HS fared in the heat and non-stop traffic.After two months in the MG HS Essence I’ve driven more than 1300km and spent over 50 hours behind the wheel - or more than two days.That’s a huge amount of time to spend in one car as a motoring journalist and after all that driving it has ironed out some of its foibles from the first month but accentuated some of the red flags, too.Let’s talk about the good points first.The engine is a cracker for a mid-size family SUV. It performs better than its 1.5-litre capacity suggests, with 125kW and 275Nm on tap.That torque figure is key to delivering hefty performance in the middle of the rev range making for sturdy and spritely acceleration.It’s quiet, too, with only a slight grumble entering the cabin. Pop the bonnet and you’ll see why, with noticeable sound deadening material blocking the engine noise from pumping into the interior. This helps add a level of refinement missing from earlier MGs.The steering is well weighted and responsive, which makes it easy to pilot around town.Last month I talked about the twitchy dual-clutch automatic that sent surges of power to the wheels and was lagging when accelerating on turning at intersections. Those elements are still there, but with more sympathetic throttle application than needed in other cars those issues are left in the rear view mirror. So be gentle with the HS and it will reward you with a smoother commute.It’s a good size SUV, too. It's big enough to lug the family around but so big that it feels cumbersome around town. Driving the HS it’s easy to see why mid-size SUVs are the most popular vehicles in Australia.This was confirmed navigating a mammoth Westfield shopping centre, jam-packed Woolies and cut-throat beachside car parks.The HS never had an issue getting down tight concrete lined ramps or squeezing into parks next to big poles.This was aided by excellent parking aids with detailed sensors that tell you the exact distance in centimetres between the object behind or in front. The top down view also helps make sure you’re lined up correctly.The cabin is spacious with plenty of room for kids and adults in the back seat. A solid distance between the back and front seats meant our two-year old couldn’t kick the seat in front, as in some vehicles.There were a few things that stung this past month, though.The heat in Sydney was ramping up and the MG’s air con wasn’t as cooling as was needed, it took some time to cool down and blow the heat out of the cabin.The black synthetic leather upholstery got particularly hot if it was in direct sunlight, too.On one occasion the multimedia screen went completely green as we were parking, making the rear view and surround view camera unusable. Luckily this issue only happened once and hasn’t been seen since.The driver attention warning was particularly frustrating. It would beep if I scratched my face, adjusted my sunglasses and it thought I was falling asleep when I was squinting into the sun one day I had forgotten my shades.The boot isn’t as big as you’d expect in a car this size. I can fit more in my personal car that is a size smaller than the HS.Fuel use and the cost of filling up also stung a lot.MG claims the HS drinks 6.9L per 100km combined, or 8.9L/100km around town and 5.8L/100km on the highway. We couldn’t get below 10.4L/100km this month, which is about 17 per cent worse than the company’s city driving claim where we did most of our motoring.It needs premium petrol, too, which meant it cost more than $100 to fill up.Running costs are further hurt by pricey servicing, which costs $2354 over five years/75,000km ($471 per workshop visit).The counterbalance to that is a sharp entry price — our range-topper is about $44,000, drive-away — and it comes with a benchmark 10 year/250,000km warranty.For the next instalment we’ll hit the freeway and get out of town to see how it likes the open road.Acquired: OctoberDistance travelled this month: 584kmOdometer: 3122kmAverage fuel consumption this month: 10.4L/100km (measured at pump)

Australia’s top-selling car and the top-selling brands for 2024 have been revealed and it’s been yet another record year of sales.Last year, Australians bought 1,237,287 new vehicles, which represented a modest 1.7 per cent upswing compared with 2023 sales. It was enough to make it the biggest year of sales in Australian history.Utes and SUVs continued to dominate with just one passenger car - the Toyota Corolla - managing to remain in the top 10 best-selling models list.Almost 700,000 SUVs were sold in the calendar year compared with 270,000 light-commercial vehicles and just over 203,000 passenger cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, sports cars and people movers).The top-selling model for 2024 was the Ford Ranger, repeating its 2023 win, despite a slight dip in sales to 62,593 (-1.2%).The Toyota RAV4 had its best sales year and came pretty close to toppling the Ranger, but had to settle for a still-impressive second place with 58,718 units, closely followed by its HiLux stablemate on 53,499.The Isuzu D-Max was the only other ute in the top 10, landing in fourth place with 30,194, and rounding out the top-five models was the Mitsubishi Outlander.Making up the rest of the top-10 models were Ford’s Everest, the Corolla, Mazda CX-5, MG ZS and the Kia Sportage. Check the tables below for all the figures.Toyota maintained its dominance in the industry, leading the charge with 241,296 sales, which is 12.1 per cent ahead of last year’s total.As expected, Ford leapfrogged Mazda to nab second place with a healthy 100,170 units, helped mostly by those solid Ranger and Everest numbers.Mazda dipped a little in 2024 (95,987) but remained well ahead of fourth-placed Kia on 81,787, while Mitsubishi (74,547) capped off the top-five brands.Hyundai (71,664) only just missed out on a top-five position, trailing Mitsubishi by 2883 units.MG also took a sales tumble but still stayed firm with 50,592 (-13.3%) for seventh place, while Isuzu continued to punch above its weight in eighth spot, recording 48,172 sales with just two models on sale.Nissan managed to make some gains in 2024, landing in ninth place with 45,284, and China’s GWM is now firmly a top-10 player having grabbed tenth spot with 42,782.The Chinese giant kept Subaru and Tesla out of the top list, with Subaru collecting 40,604 sales and Tesla sliding by 17 per cent to 38,347.The Model Y also just missed out on a top-10 spot for model sales, with 21,253 finding homes, a drop of 26 per cent.Despite the bumper sales year, the automotive industry’s peak body is forecasting a gloomy outlook and taking a swipe at the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Emissions Standards that kicked in on January 1.“While overall consumer preferences remain clear with SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles continuing to dominate the market and especially the top ten sales, many vehicles in these segments are either difficult or expensive to decarbonise. This will prove to be a significant challenge in meeting the extremely ambitious targets of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which began on 1 January 2025,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber said in a media release.“The industry is responding to NVES by increasing the range of zero and low emission vehicles on offer. However, a continuation of current customer buying preferences will inevitably lead to the accrual of substantial penalties under the Government’s new scheme, which will create price inflation within the new vehicle market.”

What makes a car important? Depending on the brand, important can mean a lot of different things.It could be its profitability or maybe it’s the new technology it will bring or even a new image it could create for a brand.So picking the most important new models from Australia’s biggest brands isn’t always easy, but looking ahead to what’s headed our way in 2025 one common theme emerged - sales.It seems obvious, it’s important that the models each brand offers sell, but in the case of these five there is an extra layer of importance beyond just the volume they will or won’t do.To say the Ranger is important to the success of Ford Australia is an understatement. Sales of the ute account for more than 60 per cent of its total volume, and that’s before factoring in the Everest SUV spin-off.Ford has put a lot of money and resources behind this new plug-in hybrid version of the Ranger, knowing that it needs to cut its fleet emissions as the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) is introduced in 2025.If Ford can get its marketing and sales staff to successfully push the Ranger PHEV it sets the brand up for a bright, lower-emissions future. But if they can’t, it could become a very expensive white elephant for the brand.Toyota hasn’t said too much on the record, but all signs point to a new RAV4 arriving by the end of 2025. The popular SUV usually has a six-year lifespan and the current iteration was launched in 2019, so in theory it’s time is up.What will we see from the new RAV4 - will it be more of the same or a shift upmarket like we’ve seen with the CH-R? The former is far and away the most likely, although don’t be surprised if inflation drives the price up slightly, as the RAV4 has become the brand’s bedrock passenger vehicle.There is a possibility it will follow the Camry and go for an all-hybrid line-up, but that would undoubtedly drive the entry-price up and Toyota is probably hesitant to do that if it can be avoided. It should have enough hybrids to help offset its HiLux and LandCruiser sales under NVES.Why is a small car so important in 2025? Especially when Kia is set to launch its all-new Tasman ute? Well, because of sales.The K4 is the replacement for the Cerato which, despite all the hype around SUVs and utes, is still Kia Australia’s second best-selling model (behind the Sportage SUV, of course). If the more polished-looking K4 carries a significant price rise, though, that could dent its market appeal and leave Kia with a sudden drop in its overall volume.Small cars like the Cerato and Toyota Corolla still do decent volumes, in large part because they are affordable and appeal to a sizeable number of people that don’t want a bigger car. Pricing the K4 right will be the most important challenge for Kia Australia in 2025, regardless of what happens with the Tasman.This new baby of the Hyundai family is due in the early months of 2025 and will bring with it a lot of expectations and new hope. While we’re still waiting for official details (at the time of publication) the speculation is it will carry a sub-$40k price tag. That would be a big deal for Hyundai in its fight against the influx of affordable electric small cars from China - such as the GWM Ora, BYD Dolphin and MG4.But more than that, the Inster needs to draw a younger audience to Hyundai. The brand has deliberately ditched its ‘cheap and cheerful’ image for a more premium range. But there’s no doubt many current Tucson, Santa Fe and Staria drivers probably had an Excel or Accent in their past.The Inster is unapologetically youth-targeted, so if it can be priced right it could be critical in reviving Hyundai’s chances with a fresh audience for years to come.The Chinese brand may be proudly celebrating its improved new generation of vehicles, including the recently launched ZS Hybrid+, but the reality is its volume aspirations are tied to affordability. Which is where the rest of the ZS will play such a crucial role when it arrives in early 2025.While the hybrid offers a good value package, its mid-$30k price range is a big step up from the sub-$25k entry-level ZS of old. Introducing at least two (but preferably three) sub-$30,000 models will be crucial to maintaining the ZS as the best-selling small SUV in the country.

It’s no secret times are tough. The cost of living is sky high and cars don’t seem to be getting any cheaper. 

A new year brings a fresh array of vehicles for Australia — but some get us more excited than others.

As the top vehicle class for Australians for six of the last seven years, the medium SUV segment is our nation's most competitive.