MG4 Excite Review | Australia's cheapest EV but should you buy it?

[@chrisvanderstock]

There has been a price drop since this was recorded. For up to date pricing, visit: mgmotor.com.au

[@jeoffer]

Price has just dropped another AUD $10,000 !!!!! Now $31,000 drive away. The warranty is 10 years now too.

[@marcjost509]

I bought the MG4 Excite 51 after test driving a 80k priced Tesla model y, that was such a let down from all it's hype, then same day drive the MG4 which was so much better and had so much more front driver leg room and space for a tall person, aircon on MG4 best and coldest I've ever seen, handling great, power is great and range is above the wltp quoted, the bad stereo sound can be eliminated by using Android Auto and custom EQ settings, the turning circle is so good, makes Tesla's look like a semi trailer, and no glass roof is great in summer, can't fault anything, if your thinking of buying one, take it for a test drive 👍✅

[@wakeupcallforyou]

Down to $30,990 drive-away!

[@JustinPeterAustralia]

Booked one yesterday!!! its a bargain

[@surfer123au]

MG ES5 coming soon.

[@TassieEV]

Thanks Chris...good review of the entry level and aligns with other reviews I've seen on it. Also thanks for taking pic of Jack and I at FCL/EE in Sydney very much appreciated. :)

[@chrisvanderstock]

No worries! And thanks for your support!

[@stuartirwin3779]

I've had the 51 kWh since August, and have generally been very pleased with it. Yes, I agree, the cruse control can only be used on dead straight roads; very annoying! However, I have to report a potentially serious issue, which arose only today. Turning right at a busy intersection, with no cars in front of me, the car slammed to a halt for no apparent reason. I had a big truck behind me, and I'm sure I was the subject of some curses. Certainly, I heard a horn blast from possibly the car behind. Very dangerous, and hopefully an issue that will be addressed soon.

[@Kenno62]

FYI - while this hasn’t happened with our 64 Essence, also delivered in Aug, it has been reported on the Australia page of the MG forum and there is a software update to fix. You will need to convince your dealer it’s a fault for the update to be a free warranty fix on

[@Mububban23]

This appears to be a more common problem with over-zealous driver aids in very modern cars. Not just EVs. The "phantom braking" is going to cause accidents rather than prevent them!

[@JohnoEx]

Good review, the ACC slowdown around bends has been fixed with a software update.

[@chrisandshazza01]

We’ve got the Longrange 77 - love it !!!! We use our panels to charge it so $0 free motoring. Quiet, quick, comfy. App is awesome, we use the app everyday for charging……..and to preheat the car on cold mornings! For a daily we can’t fault it. Rear centre headrest isn’t that bad - it’s excellent for a tired adult, your head can fit perfect up against it for a half hr nap🤣 Our older Jeep Grand Cherokee is a lot worse, I had to take the centre head rest out where as I can easily live with the centre head rest in the MG. Looking forward to seeing lthis vehicle getting better and better over the next 4/5 years. Here’s a quick tip too - swipe down on the Home Screen, it brings up some great options straight up. Great video. 100% agree with you regarding looking at this over a Corolla or similar - I’d take this every day of the week. We sold our i30 for the MG and haven’t looked back, as faultless and as good as the i30 was. Edit - we had to head up to Sydney recently and was around 360km round trip with mostly highway. It had 95% on the battery before heading off and around 50km left when we got home. Not bad - given Sydney would be our most furthest travel on occasion we’re happy with the Longrange. Absolutely beautiful to drive.

[@rayweir5142]

After 10 months of Excite 51 ownership and 49,000kms I couldn't be happier, especially love the one pedal drive feature that wasn't mentioned in this review, rarely need to use the brakes.

[@MGriff-q1i]

I haven’t driven the Excite model. Mine is an Essence 64 which came with the firmware update which addressed some of the issues people had noticed. Over 6months it has attempted to slow down a bit on long bends only a few times. It doesn’t do it unless there is another car or truck in exactly the right spot and distance coming the other way. It doesn’t last long and is a gentle slow down which it soon corrects. Perhaps the Excite model is different. The behaviour in cruise on the highway never does the stuff you describe. It will remind you if it thinks you are drifting across to another lane. I got used to always indicating lane changes very quickly. I have driven around 10,000km and it is a comfortable touring car. It is interesting that your assessment seems so different. How long did you have the car?

[@lynnwilliams3408]

Excellent detailed and honest review Chris!. Thanks!

[@chrisvanderstock]

Thanks again Lynn! The Essence video is the better video (out next week), but it's 30 minutes long and needs a big edit.

[@TheYaMeZ]

Solid review, however I didn't appreciate the clickbait thumbnail so I felt like I was tricked into watching this video to find some fatal flaw.

[@chrisvanderstock]

Yeah sorry about that. KZbin thing that if I titled it "MG4 Excite Review", it won't get up search results.

[@aplustransportservicesgold5219]

Great review Chris , Thankyou , I'm definitely in the market for an EV and your review has answered alot of interesting questions :) Look forward to checking out more of your content , Travel Safe.

[@dragoncraft5781]

How would you compare this to something like the Ato3? I see BYD's getting great reviews. We will be looking to replace a 2008 Golf in the next year or 2. From what I see online the BYD tech is so much better than the MG.

[@chrisvanderstock]

It's similar, fit and finish and bigger. as it's a small SUV compared with hatchback of the MG4. The Atto 3 doesn't have one pedal driving (a big critism I noted in my review), and the interior is very polarising with its muscles and tendons. The closer competitor to the MG4 is the BYD Dolphin, but other than kicking tires at car shows, I haven't driven one yet.

[@tonyarntz821]

I was almost convinced till I saw the cacky handed steering column. We pretty much expect that on the eurotrash, but BYD have managed to get that right, not the steering wheel though. It'd be interesting to see how Toyota would go selling right hand steering columns to the cacky handed countries, haha. We Aussies are pretty tolerant.

[@MGriff-q1i]

What a weird thing to say. The steering wheel is very enjoyable and the stalks are very good quality. Go and test drive one. There are very few compromises for the money.

[@FalkinerTim]

Very good review Chris. One thing with the MG4 (you may have mentioned it, but I did not pick it up) is the turning circle is tighter than the Ora and (apparently) the Dolphin. This is important in car parks. I have driven the MG4 and ended up purchasing the Ora because of the parking features in the base model and the retro look. But for most drivers the MG4 would suit better though the absence of a rear alarm and braking system is almost a deal breaker for city parking amongst SUVs.

[@chrisvanderstock]

Thanks Tim, I do note this in my Essence review, video out next week. And yeah, the breaks could be better right.

[@curiouszac411]

Thanks for your review.Just wondering what advice do you have for someone considering it as a 2nd car with a Novated lease against a 2nd hand small hybrid like 2018-2020 Corolla/Yaris. Currently have a 23 Outlander PHEV but finding myself still going to the station to refill more often than i'd like as I'm using it as the only car.Already almost at 10k km's in 3 months.I work from home weekdays and charge from solar during the day, travel to the train station 2x a week but do a lot of inter- suburb highway travel over the weekend approx 70-80kms each way. Want to keep costs as low as possible and be practical.The 3rd option is to continue piling on the kms on my 1 car as I wait for the next gens (Gen2) with at least more range, rear seat back pocket, lighting and pull down cup holders/arm rest.Not sure if prices will stay sub 40k though along with current gov incentives in Victoria.Thanks.

[@chrisvanderstock]

In the $40K bracket due to FBT benefits, the MG4 and BYD Dolphin are great buys and will save you a heap of money both in terms of payments, fuel and service costs. I've only kicked the tires of the Dolphin at car shows, so not sure how it drives, but based upon my review of the BYD Atto 3, a big issue with them is no one pedal driving. For electric cars it's a great feature which I look for in any car I buy. And PS, there's lots of good secondhand Tesla Model 3's in the $30K bracket now, your novating leasing company might support this, best to ask. And one final bit of advice, whilst the tax savings and repayments of salary packaging a car are great, the lease interest rate and bubble and something to consider. We used Macquarie for our Tesla Model Y loan at 4.99% - locked in for five years. This was cheaper than doing leasing - but if you change cars every three to five years, novated leasing is the way to go. All the best!

[@Mububban23]

What sort of fuel use are you seeing in the Outlander with your usage?

[@dominicwild3189]

Old 2023 stock can be had even in Perth for $31k for MG4 51kWh Excite.

[@ElectricCarAustralia]

Great review Chris 👍

[@thermitebanana]

Adding a spoiler to the wish list kind of undermined the credibility of this

[@electricdiesel1993]

I rather push an MGC GT than King Charles MG4.

[@metricstormtrooper]

Well you're in the wrong place, aren't you sunshine, good luck with the rust and shite build quality.

[@therealjeffg]

Thanks Chris

[@chrisvanderstock]

Thanks for watching!!!

[@DWilks-fo1ze]

Now a 10?year warranty and 7 year road assist

[@blhouston]

Did I miss it? Why don't you recommend this car? It wasn't covered in the summary at the end. Admittedly I skipped a few parts in the middle ...

[@Mercatecnia]

Clickbait.

[@blhouston]

@@Mercatecnia Unfortunate if so. I follow Chris due to his commendable court case on the EV rego tax in Victoria. I would not think he would stoop to clickbait tactics. More than likely just an oversight.

[@chrisvanderstock]

Sorry about the click bait title, YT doesn't surface videos for people to find unless there's a decent click through rate. I've change the thumbnail to reflect my comment in the conclusion in that the MG4 Essence is the car to buy.

[@blhouston]

@@chrisvanderstock I have the 51Kw Excite. I chose it over the essence because it has the LiFe batteries, that the others don't and can be charged to 100% without a worry. That's probably worth a mention. If the higher spec battery versions should only be charged to 80% due to their chemistry, it negates the advantage of the larger sized battery.

[@derekharper6031]

Mate if your going to review a car, how about you do your research properly. So many bits of mis or lacking info. ACC following distance 1, 2 or 3 green bars whatever that means... it means the number of secs gap. For a review done posted 2 days ago that car hasn't got latest firmware updates as the slowing during corniering on ACC has been addressed as have several other of the things you mentioned incl the change to the speed increments on ACC. Did you bother to go into the audio setup, virtual sub settings etc? Sat nav really... particularly in Australia where updates are so poor in all manufacturers sat nav systems non of which really have the features available in IOS or androids mapping apps. Just use a mapping app.

[@evdave6693]

Mate, if you’re gonna criticise someone who works hard to put together this stuff for free for you, maybe you better get off your arse and do a better job!

[@OTPulse]

Can only review the product he has not "hopes & dreams" of updates thet might happen.

[@NishanthStephen]

Amazing review Chris 😊

[@chrisvanderstock]

Thanks! 😀