Suzuki E-Vitara vs MG Hs Super Hybrid

What's the difference?

The Suzuki e Vitara is a fun, if unusual little electric car, but it does come at a price premium over many of its rivals, which includes the likes of the Kia EV3 and Hyundai Kona.

It’s great to drive, has a versatile cabin, and has a familiar feel for anyone new to electric cars. However, with low driving range, slow charging, no vehicle-to-load or single-pedal driving and comparatively high service costs, it may be a tall order.

Some will prefer that it wears a Japanese badge on its nose compared to budget alternatives, but I’m not sure Suzuki will be selling these in the kinds of volumes it needs to at this price.

The MG HS Super Hybrid Essence gets a lot right. It’s well sized for families, comfortable on the road and easy to live with day to day.

However, it misses a few features you might expect for a flagship grade. More notably, the calibration of some of its technology and safety systems could do with further refinement.

The e Vitara is an odd looking car, with a super upright front and rear combining with sharp motifs across its blocky body.

It’s a departure from anything Suzuki has done before, with only echoes of the current Vitara combustion SUV at the front.

It moves Suzuki into new styling territory with the contemporary angular design feeling more similar to the Kia EV3 rather than the more curvy, contemporary designs seen on some of its more affordable Chinese competition.

The interior updates bring Suzuki into the current decade, with more screens, better software, and a more swish design compared to the increasingly dated interiors of its combustion models.

It has a more conservative approach than some newer names to the Australian market, with comparatively tame screens, the existence of actual buttons for some climate functions, and familiar switchgear, like traditional indicator stalks and a rotary-style shifter.

In fact, the shifter and some of the other buttons seem to be shared components with Toyota, because they are the same as what you might find in the bZ4X, for better or worse.

The software is basic. It features a handful of screens with little depth to the info on offer. However, it is quick to respond, and the dashboard offers a degree of customisation in its layouts. 

Even if it’s not quite the stellar software offering that you might see in a Tesla, it’s the best software Suzuki has offered and it seems to just work without being distracting, so that’s something at least.

On the outside, the HS leans confidently into an athletic look, with strong body lines, side steps and a swooping front end. The black accents add a nice edge, while the 19-inch alloy wheels and full suite of LED lighting give it a sportier presence. It looks particularly good in the Diamond Red Metallic paintwork of our test car.

Step inside and the cabin carries through that sharp design, with a mix of soft-touch and well-finished materials. The standout is the optional tan synthetic leather upholstery. At $700, it’s not essential, but it does a lot of the heavy lifting in giving the interior a more premium feel.

A panoramic sunroof and dual 12.3-inch displays help round things out, creating a space that feels well put together.

There’s major pros and cons for the e Vitara on the practicality front. In some ways it’s a smart and pragmatic cabin, in other ways it leaves a lot to be desired.

Up front the seats are an easy win. Nicely bolstered with good padding, they’re surprisingly comfortable on a long drive despite a high seat base and interesting material choices.

Ergonomically, I felt as though the seating position was a bit high. It feels like an ‘early’ EV in that sense, with the batteries clearly taking up floor space. For shorter people, this will be a good thing, with the car offering a commanding view of the road, but it doesn't feel quite right for me.

The cabin offers ease of access to all the key controls, with physical toggles for the climate unit and a dial for volume. There are some buttons on the steering wheel for adjusting the digital instruments and key cruise functions, but no paddle shifters for controlling regenerative braking.

The centre console is the biggest design blunder. The raised bridge piece is almost entirely gloss plastic, which is impossible to keep clean and will scratch over time. The controls are also chunky, taking up a lot of real estate in this essential location. They could easily have been compressed down to a smaller area with more storage on offer instead.

The padded armrest is too low and too far back. It could have had adjustable height and reach where it sits, and could have offered more storage underneath as well.

To the e Vitara’s credit, there’s a set of two very nice cupholders up front, but using them with a bottle will block access to the physical climate controls and limit access to the wireless charger.

There’s also a tray beneath that houses the 12v, USB-A and USB-C ports, but it’s a bit too height-limited for larger items like handbags. It's finished in a scratchy plastic so loose objects slide around. There are large bottle holders with dividers in each of the front doors.

The rear seat continues with the nice seat trim and offers quite an impressive amount of legroom in its default position. The floor is flat, too, so the centre position is useful enough in terms of space to put your feet. Each door has a bottle holder and there’s a pocket on the back of the passenger seat. The centre seat folds down to make for a padded armrest with two cupholders.

However, there are no power outlets for rear passengers, nor are there adjustable air vents. The headliner and window tint back there is also dark, making the space feel claustrophobic, and the high seat bases combine with a tight roofline (blame the sunroof) to make for a space I only just fit into, despite ample leg room. 

The boot also feels small, but the e Vitara has a trick up its sleeve. With just 238 litres in its default configuration, it’s a small but oblong cargo area, but it swallowed our small and large CarsGuide travel cases. The second seating row is on rails and can move forward to nearly double the available volume. In this position, which would only leave enough space for small children or pets, the boot can absorb the whole three-piece luggage set with space to spare.

There’s a small amount of additional storage under the floor, good for charging cables, although there’s no spare wheel, only a tyre repair kit.

A lack of full-size power outlet or vehicle-to-load discharge system is a notable omission for an electric vehicle in 2026. There’s also no frunk, with the entire under-bonnet area taken up by high-voltage and battery cooling gear.

The HS covers the basics well when it comes to comfort and space, but its day-to-day usability is let down somewhat by its technology.

Up front, the cabin is a comfortable place to spend time. The seats are supportive with plenty of padding, making longer drives easy. The heated seat function is controlled through the multimedia screen, though, which means it’s easy to forget about and the heating cycle switches off fairly quickly.

Storage is decent for the segment. You get a pair of cupholders, sunglasses holder, large door bins and a phone tray, although the middle console is on the smaller side.

Where things fall down slightly is in the technology. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, but CarPlay didn’t consistently reconnect on its own during our time with the car, requiring daily set-up. The Bluetooth connection was stable, although it didn’t pull through contacts or call history.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia display can be laggy and because most functions, including climate control and some seat settings, are buried within it, it can become frustrating to use day-to-day.

That said, there are some positives. The built-in satellite navigation works well and can be mirrored in the driver’s display, which is a nice touch. Charging options are also good, with two USB-C ports per row, a 12-volt socket and a wireless charging pad up front.

In the back, there’s plenty of space for legs and headroom and the seats are impressively plush. Access is generally easy, although the side steps feel a unnecessary. There’s a fold-down armrest with cupholders, but the window line is quite high, which may not suit younger passengers.

Rear amenities include map pockets and directional air vents. However, given the price jump over the petrol equivalent, it feels like a few extra premium touches could have been included. It’s comfortable, just not especially feature-rich.

Around the back, the boot offers a solid 507 litres of capacity. The flat loading floor makes it easy to slide items in and out, and there are handy netted side pockets for smaller bits. A powered tailgate adds convenience, though the absence of a spare wheel in favour of a tyre repair kit may be a drawback for some buyers.

There are seven variants in the MG HS line-up, spanning three powertrains: turbo-petrol, hybrid and plug-in hybrid. For this review, we’re in the flagship Essence plug-in hybrid, priced from $46,990, MSRP. That puts it around $6000 to $10,000 above its petrol and regular hybrid siblings.

At this end of the range, it starts to edge into the territory of key Chinese rivals like the Jaecoo J7 SHS Summit and BYD Sealion 6 Premium, which are priced from $47,990 drive-away and $52,990 MSRP, respectively. Against those, the HS doesn’t feel quite as generously equipped.

There’s still a solid list of premium features on offer. You get synthetic leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof and heated, electrically adjustable front seats. However, it misses a few niceties that are becoming more common with its flagship rivals, like ventilated front seats and heated rear outboard seats.

On the tech front, it’s well covered with dual 12.3-inch displays, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, four USB-C ports, digital radio, Bluetooth, satellite navigation and a wireless charging pad.

Our test car is fitted with the optional tan interior, which adds $700. It’s a worthwhile upgrade, lifting the overall look and feel of the cabin and giving it a more premium edge.

If you want the HS in anything but white, premium paintwork will add a further $700.

The e Vitara Ultra impresses when it comes to its drive hardware. With 135kW/307Nm it’s punchy for a small SUV, with the 0-100km/h sprint time officially measured at 7.4 seconds.

It feels faster to get to 60 though, with a big surge of torque instantly available. This Ultra grade features a dual-motor all-wheel-drive set-up, and even has specific traction settings for off-road scenarios, making it theoretically more capable than some of its rivals.

The MG HS Super Hybrid is front-wheel drive and combines a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor, delivering combined outputs of 220kW and 350Nm.

The system integrates the electric motor smoothly, providing immediate response off the line. Even when the battery charge is low, performance remains largely consistent, with the hybrid system continuing to support the drivetrain rather than dropping off noticeably.

This all-wheel-drive set-up comes at a significant cost. The e Vitara Ultra has a WLTP driving range of 395km and an official energy consumption of 16.5kWh/100km. Far from the 500km-plus range of some of its rivals.

But the story gets worse. While I tend to pull close to if not occasionally more than the official driving range from Hyundai and Kia models, the e Vitara fell well short of its quoted range in my testing.

While not a scientific test by any means, I drove it in regular city driving conditions with some freeway jaunts. The projected range my car was indicating on the dash was just 295km.

While the Toyota bZ4X is fairly notorious for keeping a huge emergency range reserve which impacts its overall driving range, 100km less than the claim is simply not acceptable.

It also overshot its energy consumption significantly, with the car indicating 17.9kWh/100km, which I would expect from an EV a full size bracket above this.

Compounding these issues is the sub-par charging speed. 70kW was once okay for a 61kWh battery, but is now behind the pace, with most rivals quoting 100kW of peak DC charging speed or significantly more.

As such it takes about 45 minutes to charge the e Vitara Ultra from 10-80 per cent, which is well behind the 20-30 minutes of many of its rivals. At least the AC charging speed is an acceptable 11kW.

The HS Super Hybrid is equipped with a 24.7kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, with a claimed WLTP electric-only range of up to 120km.

The combined (urban/extra-urban) fuel cycle figure is 0.7L/100km. In the real world, under normal driving conditions, you won’t see that but you’ll be able to comfortably travel over 1000km before you have to fill up - which is impressive for a 55L fuel tank.

Over a week of driving close to 1800km, mostly on the highway with some urban use mixed in, I recorded an average of 4.6L/100km. Hybrids typically aren’t at their most efficient on longer highway runs, so this is a solid real-world result.

Charging is handled via a Type 2 port, supporting AC charging up to 6.0kW. On that set-up, a full charge takes around four hours, while a standard domestic socket will see it stretch out to an overnight job.

Unlike some rivals, there’s no DC fast charging capability here. That’s something you may notice on longer trips, where quicker top-ups would make a difference.

For all its flaws, the e Vitara is a nice car to drive. Unlike many of its rivals, the driving ergonomics and switchgear feel instantly familiar in this small SUV. You’re not met with an array of weird touch-based systems, strangely placed screens, or even annoying indicator stalks as you are in so many of this car’s rivals from newer brands.

It’s refreshingly straightforward when you hit the road, with more traditional assisted steering, standard pedal feel and nicely blended or near-single-pedal regenerative braking, depending on how you set it.

The e Vitara in Ultra trim with its dual-motor system is also alarmingly rapid, at least to the 60km/h mark, with its raised body lurching forward with some urgency when you stomp on the accelerator.

It’s not like any Suzuki you’ve driven before, that’s for sure.

Despite this impressive sprint ability, things are kept under control with smart traction software and halfway decent tyres keeping things civilised. There’s no violent torque-steer trying to rip the steering wheel out of your hands, or pure tyre torture you get from some EVs in this class.

The ride is comfortable, too. It's not as harsh as the likes of the Tesla Model Y, for example, but it’s also not too spongy like many China-sourced rivals.

Day-to-day it absorbs harsher road imperfections in its stride, and handles cornering with surprising grace, despite what feels like a tall ride height. Its biggest ride flaw is long undulations in the road, which give the car an unsettling floating feeling at certain cadences, as the weight of the battery starts to pendulum.

For the most part though, the e Vitara is refreshingly straightforward and feels familiar to drive, which should keep fans of the brand and those looking for a more traditional Japanese car drive experience pleased.

The HS Super Hybrid is an easy car to get along with on the road. Power delivery is smooth and immediate and the transition between the petrol engine and electric motor is largely seamless.

Through corners, it feels composed with minimal body roll, and there’s enough control to make a winding road enjoyable without pushing into anything overly sporty. The suspension strikes a nice balance, remaining forgiving over bumps without feeling floaty, while the steering is responsive enough for everyday driving.

The regenerative braking system offers two levels of adjustment, although it can feel a abrupt on steeper descents, occasionally resulting in a lurchy sensation.

The cabin stays impressively quiet, with minimal road and wind noise even at higher speeds, making it a comfortable companion for longer trips.

Visibility is generally good out the front, though the A- and B-pillars, along with the side mirrors, are on the thicker side, so you do need to be mindful when checking around them.

Around town, it’s an easy car to park. The 360-degree camera system is clear, and the overall size of the HS means it doesn’t feel intimidating in tighter car parks.

The MG HS holds a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating based on 2024 testing and comes equipped with seven airbags.

The safety suite is comprehensive, including front and rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, lane keeping aid, emergency lane keeping aid, lane departure warning, front and rear collision warning, and tyre pressure monitoring. However, it does miss a couple of features seen elsewhere, such as emergency call capability and side exit assist.

In practice, some of these systems can feel overly intrusive. The driver monitoring system, traffic sign recognition and lane keeping alerts are particularly sensitive, with frequent audible warnings that can become tiresome over time.

For families, there are useful inclusions like two ISOFIX child seat mounts, three top-tether anchor points and seatbelt reminders across the cabin.

Autonomous emergency braking is included with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection, operating from 8.0km/h to 85km/h, or up to 150km/h for car detection. However, it is common to see this system operate from as low as 4.0km/h.

Suzuki offers a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which is outpaced by all of its rivals from China and most of its rivals from Japan.

The e Vitara needs to see a workshop once every 12 months or 20,000km and comes with five years of roadside assistance to match the warranty.

The brand’s genuine service program covers five years or 100,000km, with costs for this Ultra variant varying between $289 and $799 per visit, coming in at a surprisingly expensive yearly average of $503. There are combustion cars with more moving parts that are cheaper to run.

An average fast DC charge session (10-80 per cent at 60c per kWh) will cost around $21.60, while an off-peak at-home charge (at 16c per kWh) of the same amount will cost $5.76.

The HS is backed by MG’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is competitive for the class. There’s also the option to extend this to 10 years or 250,000km, provided servicing conditions are met.

Servicing is covered by either a three- or five-year capped price program, with the five-year plan costing $2166. That’s a reasonable figure for the segment, and service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,000km.

The HS Super Hybrid requires 95 RON premium unleaded fuel or higher, so while it’s efficient, it doesn’t quite sip the cheapest fuel on offer.

There are 110 MG dealers across the country (plus three service-only sites) covering all states and territories as well as key rural and regional centres.