MG4 or BYD Atto 3: Which one should you buy in Australia in 2024? Size, interior, driving comparison

[@ishizu92]

just bought the excite51 for 30k, awesome drive

[@bozugarage]

Excellent buying at that price, congratulations!

[@MGriff-q1i]

I like our MG4 Essence64. The BYD Seal was not available at the time we bought. The BYD brand name, front wheel drive, odd looking interior design, no local dealership and available colour schemes, were some of the reasons I opted to ignore the BYD offerings. I prefer cars which are nice to drive. The MG4 continues to delight in this regard. It’s a very enjoyable drive. The downside of the MG4 is the wired connection to AppleCarPlay/Android. I would like a set of buttons for a few functions. These may be minor irritations but they are something to consider.

[@bozugarage]

The MG4 undeniably drives a lot better than the atto3! If you want a wireless carplay/AA solution for the MG4, I did a review on an excellent unit (I bought a few duds first) that work well with the mg4, check out kzbin.info/www/bejne/noOThmqvZZdoo5Y

[@upyoursmindyourownbusiness3411]

The big one is the batteries. The BYD battery is quite happy for you to charge it to a 100% without getting battery degradation the MG 4 is much happier at only 80% charge. That has an impact on the distance you can travel.

[@bozugarage]

MG4 51 is also an LFP battery like the Atto 3. All the other MG4s (64, 77 and xpower) are NMC

[@ellWayify]

If I was to get one of these I would definitely go the MG4. Interior and exterior looks a lot nicer and the drive is much better

[@bozugarage]

Agreed, MG4 is a superior driving car and I like the looks better too. The major flaw in the MG4 is lack of over the air updates which I'm going to keep complaining about endlessly!

[@davidtaylor3]

It really depends on your use case. As a family car, the Atto 3 wins hands down. There’s just no comparison. The rear seating in the MG4 is too bare bones, and I couldn’t do that to my kids. But as a second car or daily commuter, the lower price and superior driving dynamics of the MG4 would have to give it the win.

[@bozugarage]

Yes exactly - both cars are good, which one you choose depends on your specific needs.

[@shanemcguire3953]

Did you mention that the price of the MG4 recently dropped by $10,000 Au (25%), to help clear the backlog of unsold cars ?

[@bozugarage]

This video was released well before MG slashed MG4 prices. Covered it in these videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHKkoIt4htuJnMU and kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoWaiZhsr5aWr9k

[@Reddylion]

Nice comparo. Which is nice !

[@bozugarage]

Glad you liked it!

[@ianmcnicol6513]

All temperature and fan controls dont need use of the screen - can all be done by voice....so much easier.....and, the MG, as you state many times, has a lot more omissions in features which are standard on the BYD - therefore the BYD is easily the better car IMO.

[@bozugarage]

The BYD has really good voice recognition, much better than the awful voice recognition in my Tesla. Already missing that lovely huge panoramic roof - BYD throw a lot of standard features in their car which is great for buyers

[@lastfour]

MG4 all day, but I will love OTA updates. Quick question, why you discard Dolphin?

[@bozugarage]

Hoping OTA updates come to the MG4 one day. The dolphin just looks weird to me, the interior even more "interesting" than the atto 3 (hated the flipper door handles), it's FWD, and the entry model dolphin has an abysmal 0-100 time measured using a calendar

[@chrisford4431]

Nice co. Essence 64 has a lot more range than standard range

[@bozugarage]

And then the MG4 LR has even more range! But we only use the excite 51 as a city car, so range is really a nonissue for us

[@fwmack1]

Why did it take so long until a decent choice of EVs was available to the consumer 4 years ago its either tesla or tesla Got an Atto 3 love it and this nonsense about charfging station Yes got one at home but when travelling if you can access a power outlet you can charge

[@bozugarage]

Agree - the Atto 3 is super impressive withthe features it includes, especially the beautiful huge panoramic opening sunroof. Some people ask me how long it takes to charge - I always say 20 seconds. 10 seconds to plug it in, and 10 seconds to unplug.

[@jovceata]

i was going to get the MG4 but the interior put me off so i got the BYD SEal Dynamic and loving it

[@bozugarage]

BYD seal looks awesome, I'm hoping to get a lend of one soon for a comparison to my model 3 - certainly a great value car

[@waruswaller1580]

I owned an MG4 and I drove Atto3 demo car for about 20 mins. Overall, Atto3 is a better car. mG4 does not share its chasis heritage (MG3 uses Rover 25 chasis but not Mg4). MG4 drives like a Nissan or Daihatsu, Hyuandai i dont know. Atto3 drives like a european car , Volkswagen or something like that.

[@bozugarage]

Interesting, I don't know much about the NZ EV market but will have to look at what happened when your government changed! We had a famously anti EV prime minister for a while, that absolute brick of a moron who said "an EV can't tow your boat, tow your caravan, take you on holidays" etc are famous last words.

[@marcjost509]

I was going to buy the atto 3, until I sat in it, no driver leg space or legroom if tall, stearing wheel offset to left, interior looks cheap and door handles weird, owned MG4 Excite 51 for 7 months now and no complaints, heaps of interior leg space and fast and zippy, definitely a driver's car 😊

[@bozugarage]

Plenty of people will have no issues with the drive and handling of the Atto 3, but there's a lot of people who can't stomach the floaty and soft handling of the Atto 3. I've driven the MG4 pretty enthusiastically a few times and it's surprising how good even the base mode excite 51 is

[@neilhenderson5782]

Stopped watching this video because I found the rapidly moving camera too distracting.

[@KillerCarne]

MG now $31k v BYD $48k Chery Omoda ev $45 Chery Omoda petrol $27 Wait 5 years EVs $ will = petrol $

[@bozugarage]

At $32,000 or so, the MG4 is already pretty much at parity with ICE hatchbacks, but I can't think of any RWD hatches in this price segment. Heaps more EV manufacturers releasing models in the next 12 months, it'll be a bloodbath of EV prices coming

[@paulb1951]

Omoda is the best comparison, 18k more is a big difference.

[@KillerCarne]

@@paulb1951 Yes & ev’s are a much harder sell atm.

[@johnmckay428]

the ota updated situation in the mg4 is a dealbreaker along with the very crap and laggy infotainment screen. I love driving my essence 64, but these things ps me off every time I get in. not to mention its 7K cheaper that when I bought it in Dec.....😩

[@bozugarage]

wow $7,000 cheaper? Which state are you in? Then again EVs values have been a bit crazy lately, a friend of mine bought the Tesla Model Y on release, now it's about $16,000 cheaper 18 months later