MG Mg4 Urban vs Ferrari Roma

What's the difference?

MG needs a win, and the MG4 Urban may be the right car at the right time to give the Chinese brand a major boost.

It has been a rough few years for MG, with sales in decline for the past two years, which has seen it tumble from Australia’s favourite Chinese car maker to a distant fourth place behind BYD, GWM and Chery. 

Part of that could be because of its rapid expansion, both in terms of its total number of models but also the size of the vehicles it’s offering. The larger QS SUV and U9 ute have both received underwhelming responses from the car-buying public.

So, MG has returned to its roots - small, affordable cars. The MG4 Urban, not to be confused with the MG4 Hatch, is its new price-leading electric car and the company’s new management hopes it leads a sales revival.

There aren’t as many Ferraris on the road in Italy as you might think. There’s the purchase price, per-kW taxes and poisonously expensive fuel. So, usually, they’re a rare sight, except around Maranello in the northern province of Modena.

Because that’s Ferrari’s home and in getting to grips with the subject of this review - the twin-turbo V8 Roma - I enjoyed a smile-inducing moment with a local milk truck driver.

On a narrow section, part way into a road test drive through local villages and twisting B-roads to the west of Maranello, the tanker pulled over to let me through. 

Gave a thank you double blink of the hazard lights on passing and received a quick headlight flash in return. They almost certainly thought I was putting kays on a test mule in the same way camouflaged prototypes so often do on the same stretch of road.

Maybe I’d inadvertently sipped some Prancing Horse Kool-Aid, but it felt special. Ferrari is so close to Italian hearts and the Roma is such a sleek and engaging example of its current output.

But is this ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ 2+2 capable of tearing you away from its well-credentialled high-end competitors? Stick with us to find out.