2024 MG MG4 vs 2023 Tesla Model Y

What's the difference?

The MG4 was a game changing electric car, resetting the price benchmark while also being a very good small car in its own right. But as we discovered when we tested the rest of the range, the MG4 is a car that gets more compelling the cheaper it is. The $38,990 MG4 Excite 51 is arguably the pick of the range given its value equation.

But that’s not to say the MG4 XPower isn’t a good car. It’s a very quick car that will play the role of daily driver and weekend fun machine well. Just not quite as well as its petrol-powered rivals.

One thing is for sure, it’s definitely a performance car, but not as we know it.

This version of the Tesla Model Y is the ultimate tech gadget on four wheels. It’s incredibly fast, has unbelievable, unnerving handling, and importantly what seems to be the best software in the business. Coming in significantly cheaper than its European performance EV rivals, it doesn’t even seem like bad value.

But. Enthusiasts be warned. There is an element of drama missing here, the Model Y is almost too good at attacking the road, there’s no roaring feedback or imperfections for you to correct, and for this reason alone, even if it’s the future, I don’t think it’s going to be for everyone.

What really stands out about the design is… that not much stands out about the design. At least in differentiating the XPower from the rest of the MG4 line-up.

There are no pumped out wheel arches or a bigger, sportier spoiler that makes it look different in the same way a GR Corolla won’t be mistaken for a regular Corolla hatch.

Instead, the XPower has the same 'Energetic Agile' silhouette and includes the same ‘Active Intake spoiler’ at the front and the ‘Twin-Aero’ rear spoiler that’s the same as the Essence models.

There are some differences though, including more pronounced styling on the sides of the doors. It doesn’t add any performance benefit but creates a slight visual difference between the models in the range.

Surprisingly, there is very little to signify that this is the sportiest XPower model, with a distinct lack of badging - inside and out. In fact, the only visual clue that this is the XPower is on the bright orange brake calipers. Or, to be more accurate, brake caliper covers.

These are just lightweight metal covers that make the MG4 braking hardware look bigger than it really is, so it’s a bit of visual trickery from the MG designers.

If you’ve seen one Tesla, you’ve pretty much seen them all, with the Model Y Performance doing little to set itself apart from the rest of the range.

It’s all part of Tesla’s minimalist Silicon Valley aesthetic. Like various models of iPhone, the changes between models are meant to be felt and not seen.

The Uberturbine wheels are of course a highlight, really filling the arches compared to the standard hub cab-wearing ones which ship on the standard Model Y, but they are also the only option on the Performance, too bad if you’re not a fan of matt black.

On the inside there are no surprises, either. The same minimalist aesthetic applies, as usual to a fault.

I feel like I’m sitting in the Apple Store, with just a big floating tablet being the main decoration.

Our car had the wood-look trim option, which is the most preferable option of the two. I found the white plastic fill alternative a bit cheap-feeling during my test of the standard Model Y.

I think the minimalism of the Model Y’s cabin will help it age well, but as I usually complain about these Tesla cabins. There’s no dash cluster or even a head-up display which feels like a bit of a usability blunder. Who wants to look at a centre display for critical information on the car?

As with the exterior, there’s not a lot to differentiate the XPower from the rest of the line-up. No bright red Civic Type R style interior treatment here. MG has opted to carry over the minimalist design that no doubt contributes to the sharp pricing.

Probably the only notable difference is the seat trim, with the XPower model getting a combination of synthetic leather and suede for a sportier look and feel. But the rest is largely the same, which detracts slightly from its hot hatch credentials.

On the plus side, the MG4 cabin is generally a well-designed interior space, which is a positive for the XPower’s hot hatch argument, as the idea behind the ‘hot hatch’ is that it can be a practical car during the week and fun on the weekends. 

There’s good room for passengers and luggage, in large part thanks to the relatively slim battery design that frees up more cabin space. Front seat occupants will enjoy the space and good visibility on offer.

Small item storage is very good in the MG4, with a pair of cupholders, a large, flat lidded tray (with one USB-C and one USB-A outlet just above) and the centre console box all fitting between the front seats.

There’s also a wireless smartphone charging pad that sits halfway up the centre fascia, next to the rotary gear selector, but it’s a shallow space so your phone will almost certainly fly out as soon as you begin cornering vigorously.

However, once again highlighting the ways MG has saved money to keep costs down, the back seat accommodation isn’t anywhere near as well appointed.

While the space is adequate for a small hatch, there are no cupholders, no air-conditioning vents and no fold down armrest for those in the back. All they have access to are some pockets on the back of the front seats, including a pair of small ones high on the seat, seemingly designed to accommodate your smartphone.

In another positive for its hot hatch practicality, there are ISOFIX points on the outer rear seats, neatly covered by leather pieces for a cleaner look when you don’t have kids.

As for the boot, the XPower measures the same 363 litres with the seats up which is unchanged from the rest of the MG4 line-up.

Disappointingly, there’s no obvious place to stow the charging cable, even though it comes in a small, neat bag. This is a worryingly common trend with these early generation EVs that shows a lack of practical thinking from the designers.

The MG4 has no under-bonnet storage either, so it feels like a few wasted opportunities for what is a bespoke EV design.

The Model Y feels much bigger than the Model 3 so it will definitely hit the sweet spot for people who wanted a Tesla but found the Model 3 too cramped for a family.

Everywhere feels expanded, especially headroom, and the minimalist design leaves room for big door pockets and the flat floor leaves room for extra large stowage areas under the centre console.

I especially like the way the dual wireless chargers integrate with the design here.

There are a few hidden hard plastics, but Tesla has put soft-touch and padded surfaces in all the right areas.

The seats are reasonably comfortable, but I’m not sure how the synthetic leather trim will age in the Australian sun particularly as there’s no way to cover the big panoramic sunroof.

Not everyone has a garage. Interestingly though the car does have a cabin overheat protection function, which automatically starts the air conditioning should the cabin exceed a certain temperature.

Still, there are a lot of months in the year our brutal sun will be cooking the interior.

If you’ve read any of my Tesla reviews before, you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of the need to control pretty much all of the car's key functions through the central touchscreen.

It feels like a shame to complain about this, because the software is truly beautiful, and Tesla backs it with powerful computer hardware to keep the screen fast and responsive.

But having no dash cluster feels like a bit of a design-over-usability trait, especially when you go to adjust some of this car’s settings on the fly.

This is a far cry from an affordable EV. Forget your MG ZS EVs, BYD Atto 3s and even base Teslas, because the Model Y Performance is in a different league when it comes to price and ability.

To give you an idea, the entry-point Model Y tends to float around $70,000 once you add on-road costs, sometimes slightly more. This Performance version takes a massive hike to nearly $100,000, before on-road costs, and the example we drove for this test totalled $108,031.

The trouble with the Performance version is it’s so expensive it doesn’t qualify for electric car rebates, and in fact attracts luxury car tax instead, pushing the price ever higher.

To add insult to injury, there’s not even a whole lot on the outside of this car to tip you off it costs nearly $40,000 more than the entry-level version, with the main hint being the 21-inch 'Uberturbine' wheels.

If you look even more closely you might notice it rides a little lower than the standard car, has bigger brakes, and a little carbon-fibre lip spoiler attached to the tailgate.

Most of the changes are under the skin, including an alternate suspension tune, second motor on the front axle, and a lot of additional power.

Tesla, famously shy about sharing specifics, only gives a 0-100km/h sprint time, which improves from 6.9 to 3.7 seconds for the Performance.

The battery is larger, too, boosting range from 455km on the base Model Y to 514km.

On the inside expect the standard Tesla stuff, like synthetic leather interior trim, the huge 15-inch centre tablet screen with integrated nav and always online connectivity, dual wireless chargers, and a panoramic sunroof.

The whole look and feel is super slick, as always, but is notably missing Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Tesla is hoping you’ll use built-in versions of all your favourite apps. Too bad if you use one which isn’t offered.

LED headlights, performance tyres, and a power tailgate add to the gear list, but interestingly there’s no V2L - one key feature still missing from the Tesla brand, and something which adds a slight advantage to its rivals from Kia and Hyundai.

Of course, the software is the biggest sell. As though to prove Tesla is a software company first and a car brand second, the software in this car is by far the best on the market.

It’s super slick, and offers the most feature packed and functional app. It’s stuff like this which is hard to go back from, and is still keeping Teslas feeling more futuristic than most electric rivals.

It’s worth noting: even at this inflated price, the Model Y Performance still seems like decent value given how quick it is.

The only comparisons, cars like the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, and BMW iX cost more, with the exception of the Kia EV6 GT which is similarly priced and offers similar specs and features.

This is arguably the biggest single difference between the XPower and the rest of the MG4 line-up. Unlike the others that have a single, rear-mounted electric motor, the XPower adds a second motor on the front axle.

This has an obvious impact on the performance, boosting it from the previous best of 180kW to an impressive 320kW/600Nm.

Having motors on each axle also means the XPower is all-wheel drive, so it has little trouble transferring all that grunt to the road.

So much so that the MG4 XPower is the equal quickest hot hatch on the market (at the time of publication), taking just 3.8 seconds to run 0-100km/h; matching the Audi RS3, with its turbocharged five-cylinder engine.

Tesla, always mysterious when it comes to hard specs, does not offer official power and torque figures for any of its models. Just the ever-impressive 0-100km/h sprint times.

However, looking at documentation the brand has officially filed in China (where the Model Y for our market is built) reveals specs of 220kW/440Nm for the rear motor, and 137kW/219Nm for the front motor, placing it pretty far up there in the EV performance charts.

It’s not just raw power, either. The Model Y performance also scores a lowered ride, bigger brakes, impressive torque vectoring software to keep everything under control, and interestingly, what Tesla tells us is a new suspension tune (even newer than the set-up we tested when the Model Y first arrived in Australia in late 2022.)

It’s all very impressive-sounding, but does it work? Read on to find out.

Interestingly, the XPower is not fitted with the biggest battery in the MG4 range, forgoing the 77kWh version in favour of the 64kWh option.

In the ‘standard’ rear-wheel drive MG4 Excite 64 model this battery can provide up to 450km of range (on the WLTP cycle) but in the XPower that figure is reduced to 400km.

While that’s well short of the 530km offered by the long-range Essence 77 model, it’s still a respectable amount of driving range and should suit your typical hot hatch buyer, who knows performance typically comes at the expense of efficiency.

Our test drive was limited to just two days, so we didn't have the chance to live with the XPower for an extended period, but it managed to make it this reviewer’s preferred hot hatch playground on the edge of the city and back again to home with more than 50 per cent of the battery charge remaining.

This was a trip that included a lot of urban driving, some highway and then some ‘spirited’ running on the twisty road, so there’s enough range from the XPower to meet most buyers' needs.

Across almost seven hours of driving, the MG’s trip computer was claiming an average energy use of 18.6kWh/100km. To replenish the batteries, a 140kW DC charger will take just 30 minutes to take them from 10 to 80 per cent.

The V2L is another nice addition, which allows you to draw power from the battery, if needed, to run small electrical appliances.

The XPower is hardly a car for camping but, for example, if you decided to take it to a track day and want to plug in a kettle to make a hot drink, you can literally plug it into the car. Handy!

The Model Y Performance has an official, WLTP-rated consumption number of 15.4kWh/100km, which grants the car a 514km driving range.

Few EVs manage to get over the 500km range mark, so this fact alone is pretty impressive.

In our testing the car returned a higher figure of 18.7kWh/100km, reducing range to the mid-400s on a full charge.

We only had the car for three days, so I expect, like the standard Model Y, it would be possible to get close to the official number with a longer-term test.

When it comes to charging, the Model Y can hit an impressive 250kW on a fast DC charger, allowing a charge time of around half an hour on a compatible unit. Expect more like an hour and a half on a more common 50kW unit.

Meanwhile the slow AC charger will hit a peak of 11kW, allowing the Model Y to charge from 10 per cent in more like seven hours. Still, adding roughly 75km of range an hour is worth it for longer stays at shopping centres or the like.

Interestingly, the Model Y doesn’t offer V2L, that is - the ability to power devices from its charging port. It seems to be one key piece of EV equipment missing from its spec list.

The real question about the XPower is not if it’s quick, because all EVs and especially those with dual motors tend to be very rapid in a straight line, but how it handles itself on a twisty road.

That’s what separates a good hot hatch from a great one, but it’s also an area EVs have struggled in, because the combination of silence, weight and just the fact they’re new and different tends to mean they lack the driving engagement of more established competition.

Hot hatches also need to play a dual role, as daily transport and weekend fun machine, so that’s another factor to consider.

So, how does the MG4 XPower stack up? Well, the unsurprising news is it’s very, very quick. The acceleration is ferocious and really shoves you back in your seat, leaving you in no doubt that it will leave most of its hot hatch rivals (with the exception of the Audi RS3) in its dust.

When the going gets twisty though the XPower feels like it lets its rivals catch back up. There are different driving modes and switching to ‘Sport’ and reducing the regenerative braking makes a notable difference to the way the XPower handles.

The steering gets heavier and it will roll and coast into corners more like a petrol-powered hatch. It makes for a very competent car, with direct steering and good road holding… but not a great hot hatch.

It lacks the engagement and excitement that the best hot hatches offer. For example, the steering gets heavier in Sport mode, but doesn’t provide any more feedback to the driver. The Bridgestone Turanza tyres do a fine job but they lack the grip of a Michelin Pilot Sport. 

The lasting impression on the driver is a car that feels quick but doesn’t leave you wanting more. The best hot hatches make you want to keep on driving and driving, that’s not the case in the XPower.

As a daily driver it’s arguably better than its rivals, though, with quiet, effortless commuting potential thanks to its electric powertrain.

I’ll just cut to the chase here: Sorry Musk haters, the Model Y Performance is truly, deeply impressive.

I didn’t stopwatch test its 0-100km/h sprint time, but 3.7 seconds certainly feels possible, and totally visceral.

Yes, the Model Y Performance will turn your groceries into a fine paste on the back of the boot if you stick your foot in, but the sprint time is far from the most impressive part of the drive experience.

I’d hand this honour over to the handling. The Model Y is simply incredible at holding onto the road.

Try as I might on one of Sydney’s best and curviest roads, the Model Y simply wouldn’t misbehave.

It’s almost surreal feeling the computers work their magic in the corners, taming the physics of a 2.0-tonne SUV, constantly fighting understeer or oversteer on the fly to keep it all tidy.

It does all of this in silence, with just the tyre roar to indicate your velocity. I must admit. I didn’t expect such ferocious ability from this car.

I certainly expected speed, but not this level of tidiness for something heavier and taller than a Model 3.

The trouble for a traditional car enthusiast, then, is the fact the Model Y is almost too good. It’s clinical in the way it attacks the road, and feels almost unfair, artificial, as though a computer is doing the work for you (it might as well be).

It feels risk-free, drama-free, feedback-free. While the experience of driving such a machine is nothing short of incredible, I somehow think it’s not the kind of thrills combustion enthusiasts are looking for.

Even the steering is artificial, with three heavily computer-assisted modes. I must say, 'Sport' and 'Standard' are a bit too heavy, with my preferred steering mode being the 'Chill' setting, which is the lightest and makes the car feel a bit easier to wrangle in the corners.

The three regen modes will actually appeal to a variety of tastes, allowing the car to behave either like a single-pedal EV (my preferred mode) or more like a combustion car, with a creep mode and a roll mode which will be more familiar to those who haven’t experienced an EV before, or are not fans of regenerative braking.

The new suspension has improved the ride significantly, with the Model Y Performance lacking the brittle edge which I experienced when the Model Y first arrived a few months ago.

It feels like it deals with sudden jolts a bit better, but make no mistake, this is still a firm ride, and the Y still has a firm frame.

While the ride has improved, it is still susceptible to significant amounts of jiggle, with the ride being notably busy over poor road surfaces. Still, it’s good to see this common issue with Teslas starting to move in the right direction.

Teslas are very impressive when it comes to safety, with an almost unprecedented number of sensors, and, importantly, great software to process what the car sees.

This is best seen through the radar screen which the car displays alongside the map, which is constantly collecting data on what the car sees around it.

It gives you confidence the car has seen and categorised a potential threat, usually before you have, and if ANCAP’s testing is anything to go by, it works, too.

The Model Y, including this Performance variant, wears a maximum five ANCAP stars, performing extremely well across all categories, with a particularly high score in ‘adult occupant protection’, and ‘Safety Assist’ which considers the abilities of its automatic safety systems.

While the Model Y’s suite is broader than individual standard active safety items offered by other brands, equivalents of most systems like auto emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane keep assist, and things like traffic sign recognition are on-board.

Even the adaptive cruise control is one of the best on the market, remarkably good at lane keeping and steering assist, but I’d question whether it’s worth splashing for the controversial 'Full Self Driving' option.

Coming in at more than $10,000, it’s questionable if any of the included software features are even legal to use.

Like every MG sold in Australia, the MG4 XPower is covered by the brand’s seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which is industry standard for high-volume brands these days.

As for servicing, the intervals are also the same as the rest of the MG4 range, which means a lengthy two years or 40,000km, whichever comes first, between visits to the dealership.

That’s much longer than your typical petrol-powered hot hatch, which has more moving parts that need servicing. 

In terms of costs, the XPower is ever-so-slightly more expensive compared to the rest of the MG4 line-up.

A minor service is the same $296 but a major service (which comes every second service) will cost you $962.

But even so, for the first six years you’ll only be up for $1554 in servicing costs, which is comparatively cheap amongst its hot hatch rivals, and only $76 more than you’ll pay for any other MG4.

It’s a good question: What’s it like to own a Tesla. Some of the numbers aren’t promising, like, for example, the four-year and 80,000km warranty promise which is one of the shortest new car warranties on the market right now.

However, Tesla does cover the high voltage battery and drive components for a much longer eight years and 192,000km, guaranteeing 70 per cent of the car’s original battery capacity at that time.

Teslas have condition-based servicing (because, of course they do), meaning the car will tell you when it wants to visit a Tesla workshop based on various inputs. Seems logical, but not very transparent.