Long-term test: MG4 Urban Premium Long Range

What I love most about the MG4 Urban is its incredible efficiency; I’ve been blown away by some of the figures it has returned on short commutes around my Oxfordshire home. But I was keen to see how it would perform on a longer journey to pick up my family from Luton Airport.

Although the 130-mile round trip was almost all on motorways and I had the air-con cranked up, I was stued to see the MG return 4.8 miles per kWh. In fact, it had used just 26 per cent of the battery’s charge by the time I reached the airport. In all my time driving electric cars, I’ve never seen one achieve anything close to this before. 

This eye-catching efficiency figure is no doubt helped by the MG4 Urban’s kerbweight. Our Long Range model comes in at just 1,520kg – that’s more than 500kg lighter than the Skoda Elroq SUV that I previously ran on our fleet.

Tyre-supply problems result in a trying time for our man

Oh, MG! New-car ownership is supposed to be easy, but sometimes the simplest things can cause untold problems. Regular readers will know a mysterious tyre pressure warning flashed up not too long after taking delivery of our MG4 Urban, but as you can probably tell from the picture, it turns out it wasn’t so mysterious after all.

Used - available now

2026 MG

MG4 Urban

1,000 milesAutomaticElectric

2026 MG

MG4 Urban

AutomaticElectric

2026 MG

MG4 Urban

AutomaticElectric

After topping the rear tyre up with air, I continued driving until the warning returned a week or so later. The signs were ominous when it occurred for a third time, so I took the car to my local garage to try and get the slow puncture repaired or the tyre replaced. 

Unfortunately the puncture was on the sidewall, so new rubber would be required, but here’s where the problems continued. The Maxxis Waltz MS1 tyres on the MG are so new that they’re not readily available in the UK. The garage couldn’t find any, and when I trawled through the usual suspects online, I also drew a blank. Any new MG4 Urban buyers are essentially left with only two choices: buy a different brand and have an odd tyre, or fork out for four brand-new ones so they match. Both scenarios are far from ideal. Thankfully, I could call on MG’s press office to help, and a team was quickly dispatched to solve the issue. 

Two technicians arrived with a new Maxxis Waltz MS1 and it was fitted right outside my house. The service from MG was exemplary and I was back on the road in double quick time, but it’s far from ideal if this happens to anybody else. The tyre fitter I spoke to said MG was aware of the issue, and the Maxxis tyre should be available in the UK soon, but – at the time of writing – it still isn’t. 

Despite my brief time off the road, the MG4 Urban continues to surprise. The efficiency remains the main talking point, because the figures it’s achieving are admirable. The hot weather hasn’t had as much of an impact as I expected. Despite having the air-con cranked up to its maximum, I’m still regularly hitting over 4.0 miles per kWh on most journeys. 

However, there are some niggles already. With the car being so cheap to buy – the range starts at just over £23,000 – you can forgive the fact that there are plenty of obvious money-saving parts. The MG’s interior looks quite high-end at first glance, but it’s mainly covered in cheaper plastics and the seats aren’t exactly comfortable on longer journeys.

What’s harder to forgive though, is that the interior has already started to creak and rattle after just over 2,000 miles of use. The centre console seems to have developed an especially aoying noise that continues even when driving over relatively smooth roads.

The overbearing safety tech also remains a constant thorn in my side. With help from senior road test editor Dean Gibson – and MG itself – I have managed to turn off most of the beeps and bongs. The MG Pilot system enables owners to toggle many of the safety systems and save the settings for future use. 

But this needs to be done each time before you drive off, and I’m always forgetting. I’ll start driving and then let out an audible groan when the car starts warning me of something – usually that I’m too tired. I then have to put up with the noise until I stop the car.

The other main issue I’m struggling with is remembering to switch the MG off. The only way I have found to do this is by locking the car. Only then do the air-con, radio and more power down. I found this out to my cost recently during the hot spell in late June. I had the air-con set to maximum and jumped out of the car, forgetting to lock it. Five hours later, I went to use the car and discovered that it hadn’t switched off. To my horror, the air-con had been blowing the whole time and I had lost 17 per cent of battery charge.

Both these issues are arguably more my fault than the MG’s, but it would be nice if things were a little easier to operate.

The MG4 Urban’s infotainment system gets plenty right, but one glaring omission can leave me feeling rather heated

The infotainment system on the MG4 Urban is a curious thing. In some ways it works well, but in others it doesn’t. The biggest gripe is the climate control, because the interior temperature is not displayed anywhere. Yes, it shows when you turn the knob, but it would be nice to know what the temperature is set to beforehand, especially when you first jump in the car and realise that your wife has left it set to Saharan levels of heat.

Our man reckons he’s quids in thanks to the low ruing costs of his new car

Let’s get one thing clear right at the start. The MG4 Urban offers great value for money, because it’s cheap to buy and cheap to run – and the latter is something I have already found out despite only having the car for a brief time so far.

As regular readers of Auto Express will probably know (and no doubt start to groan at the mention), I’ve been a huge advocate of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric in the past because it offers a level of efficiency that I just haven’t seen from modern EVs... until now. It was easily capable of returning around 5.0 miles per kWh due to its relatively small battery and lack of aerodynamic drag, but the MG4 can match it. I’ve been so impressed, I’ve started talking about it instead of the Hyundai.

Since taking delivery of the MG in late March, I’ve achieved an average of 4.5 miles per kWh. But on numerous occasions, when the conditions have been just right, I’ve seen close to 5.5 miles per kWh. These are numbers most electric cars can only dream of and it’s stued me a bit. I really wasn’t expecting the car to be so economical and so able to achieve – and even exceed – its official 258-mile range.

Efficiency in EVs is still rarely talked about, at least compared with conversations around outright range, but it should be. Putting a huge battery in an EV will get you further, but it will cost much more to run. The MG4 Urban really hits the sweet spot in this compromise, and it is already saving me huge amounts of money on charging costs. 

It’s so efficient, in fact, that it feels like I’ve barely had to plug it in! Combined with the sub-£28k asking price for this top-spec Premium Long Range model, it’s the ultimate money saver.

The low price doesn’t mean you’ll be getting a car that’s compromised either, because it’s packed with kit and is a pleasant place to sit. As the Urban name suggests, it’s really at home in the city. Its compact dimensions and short boet mean it’s easy to place on the road, and even easier to park. 

The smooth power delivery and adaptive regenerative braking help ease the stress of traffic, while the one-pedal mode makes life even better, with the car  cruising to a stop when you lift off.

The MG isn’t quite as suited to faster roads, though, with some body roll on winding country roads, and it easily becomes unsettled whenever you hit a pothole. Still, the 158bhp electric motor is more than strong enough to accelerate at speed and, regardless of where you’re driving, that efficiency figure will always put a smile on your face. 

It does take a slight hit when driving on the motorway, but it’s less noticeable than what you’ll find when driving many other EVs.

Where the MG4 Urban does let itself down slightly is when it comes to the in-car tech. Without wishing to generalise, I find many Chinese cars have overbearing safety features and the Urban is no different. The constant beeps and bongs warning me of various things do become a bit draining on longer journeys. For instance, almost every time I yawn, I get a warning that I’m tired and should take a break. This warning doesn’t just flash up and disappear; it will continue beeping at me for a good minute.

The same applies to the speed warning. The camera isn’t the best at correctly reading road signs, so I keep getting notifications to tell me that I’m illegally doing over 30mph when the speed limit is actually 50mph – and the noise just doesn’t stop!

I also had a notification for a mystery loss of tyre pressure pop up on the dashboard. The pressure in the nearside rear tyre strangely dropped by 10psi overnight, but I topped it up with air and it’s been fine ever since.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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Pete has over 20 years journalistic experience. Having previously worked for Ladbrokes and the Racing Post, he switched from sports writing to automotive journalism when joining Auto Express in 2015.

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