MG HS review 2020 Is made in China finally good We review MG's mid-sized SUV.
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. A big chunk of the electronics we buy today are built in China,
00:04but would you buy your next car from a Chinese brand? The last few Chinese cars I've driven
00:09haven't been very good. Actually, they've been pretty terrible. But what about MG? It's a new
00:14brand to the Australian market, and they've now built this. It's called the MG HS. It's
00:20the brand's mid-sized SUV. This is called the Excite, and it's the mid-spec model. It's priced
00:26at just under $35,000, and it competes with cars like the Mazda CX-5, the Toyota RAV4,
00:32the Hyundai Tucson, all those cars in that mid-size SUV segment. Today, we're going to do
00:37a detailed review to see whether these things are now up to scratch. If you do want to skip ahead
00:41to other parts of this review, you can use the time codes up on the screen there, or if you're
00:45on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already, I'd
00:49love it if you could hit subscribe, press the bell icon so you can find out every single time
00:53we publish a new review. Let's talk exterior, and before I get into the way this car looks and all
00:58the colours and that sort of stuff, let's talk about this brand. So, MG. I think a lot of us
01:03think of an MG roadster, race cars, sports car heritage. Well, the brand was bought by the
01:09Chinese, and it is now the same brand, but under the Chinese banner, and there's no sports cars at
01:14the moment. It's just SUVs and other practical vehicles. So you can get this in five different
01:19colours and all, but the base white is an extra $700. What do we think about the styling? I actually
01:24don't think it looks all that offensive. You know, we have this stereotype of a Chinese car looking
01:29a bit boxy. Some of them are rip-offs of other car designs, but this one actually looks quite nice.
01:34It's got a nice style to it. It looks upmarket and a bit premium. You can see the grille here.
01:38They've gone to a lot of effort getting that 3D element to it with the chrome highlights,
01:42a big proudly worn MG badge there, and then this blue colour is offset with these chrome highlights,
01:47and also this, I don't know what you'd call that colour there, like a brushed aluminium plastic
01:51stuff. In terms of other features you're getting with the HS, full LED headlights with LED daytime
01:57running lights slotted into there, fog lights down the bottom, come around to the side, you're getting
02:0218-inch alloy wheels. It's a fairly modest design, but it suits the car nicely, and as with all of
02:08these SUVs that don't go off-road, you get cladding on the wheel arches. There's 175 millimetres of
02:14ground clearance, and the entire HS range is front-wheel drive only, so you won't be doing
02:18any off-roading here. Let's have a look at the rest of the car. You get indicators built into
02:22those wing mirrors, chrome highlights around the side, these brushed aluminium roof rails come
02:27around to the back, LED taillights, you get reverse parking sensors. I don't know, it's a fairly
02:33handsome design. It doesn't look overly offensive, and I think it stands out nicely on the road.
02:37So we're inside the MG HS, and I'll tell you what, I'm kind of a little bit surprised because I
02:43wasn't expecting it to be this nice. I think a lot of medium SUVs in this segment still stick
02:48with the mantra of only have a nice interior if you spend lots of money, whereas this actually
02:53looks nice everywhere. So up the top here, you've got some soft materials, soft materials here,
02:58you've got this faux brushed aluminium stuff, a rubber garage door, it just looks high-end
03:05and premium, especially with this big infotainment screen that I'll run you through in a second. So
03:09big tick there, and also big fan of these air vents too. Nicely knurled as well. So yeah,
03:16big tick there in terms of appearance. Let's see how soft-touch the soft-touch dashboard is.
03:21It measures from 0 to 100. If you're interested to see how this car compares to other cars,
03:27just go down to the description. I've got a link there to a table where you can
03:30see what other results look like. So as you can see, there really aren't too many hard
03:34surfaces around here. It feels quite premium for what it is. Now what about build quality?
03:39Look, it's okay, but if you start sort of poking around, that's really not that impressive. Now,
03:43one of you guys asked what relevance that has to build quality. Well, look, it's more just
03:48the perception of it, right? So if this flexes and isn't secure, the perception is that it isn't very
03:54well built. So that's the test that we do to kind of figure out whether it is built well.
03:58Okay, let's talk infotainment. It's a 10.1-inch screen, so that is impressive. It sits nice and
04:04high here and visibility is excellent while you're driving. Today, I'm going to take you
04:08through all the functions of this infotainment system and what you can expect from it. So
04:13let's get started over here with the radio menu. You have AM and FM bands. There's no DAB plus
04:18digital radio in there, unfortunately. But in addition to that, you can stream music from your
04:23phone. There's also the integration of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It is via a cable,
04:28so it's not a wireless system. So that means you can stream music from Spotify or other online
04:33streaming platforms if you want. And then there's shortcut buttons down the bottom here to get you
04:37back to the home screen or to the car menu. Navigation is built into the screen. It's a
04:42reasonably good navigation system. It's not the fastest in the world, so I was waiting for it to
04:46load. Now we'll try popping in Melbourne Airport, which is my go-to destination for points of
04:50interest. When it finally loads, yes, we'll accept your terms of service. So we'll move this around.
04:57Yeah, okay, so it appears to be a third-party system of some sort, but it does the job. Let's
05:02try putting in a destination, and we'll choose a place, and we'll just type in Melbourne Airport.
05:09Yep, okay, M-E-L-B-R-N-E Airport. All right, let's see what comes up there.
05:21Still searching, still searching. Okay, there we go. It's come up with a whole stack of results
05:25there near the airport. It's not the quickest thing in the world. You can see it lagging a
05:28little bit as I try and flick through those menus, but you can just rely on your smartphone
05:34mirroring if you do need a better navigation system. You then have a menu for your climate
05:39controls, which is located there, and then down the bottom here you have shortcuts to the phone,
05:44which is your Bluetooth system. You only use voice recognition when you have a smartphone paired,
05:50so it doesn't actually do anything outside of that, which is a little bit disappointing. It's a
05:53bit like Hyundais and Kias. The voice recognition button doesn't actually do anything until you go
05:58into Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Now, in the car menu, this is kind of interesting. So,
06:03here is where you'll find all of the safety systems, but if you jump down to comfort and
06:07convenience, if the car has ambient lighting, this is also where you can set the colour. So,
06:12you can flick through all the different colours that are available, and the ambient lighting
06:15around the car will change depending on what you've just chosen. You can then also have it
06:20adapt to your driving mode as well, so a lot of personalisation there, and this is the type of
06:24stuff you don't find on a lot of mainstream medium-sized SUVs. Then, what you can also do
06:29is via the USB port insert pictures and have video play on the screen, and finally we have the setup
06:35menu, which is all of the car's settings. So, in here you'll be able to adjust all the annoying
06:39beeps that the car constantly makes. You'll be able to change the frequency that the radio works
06:43on the time, your Bluetooth pairing, and then also update your navigation straight on the screen
06:48there. Now, let's talk about other features. So, dual-zone climate control, but it's a little bit
06:54fiddly. So, earlier I showed you that the HVAC controls are on this screen, so you access them
06:58by pushing this button here, but there's no ability to go up and down in terms of temperature
07:02from your switches or via a knob. You have to manually do it here with your finger, and it's
07:07quite hard to do while you're driving, so you've got to take your eyes off the road, navigate to
07:10here, get what you need, and then finally activate it. On top of that, have a listen to this. When it
07:16is in auto mode, the blower is so loud that you have to manually turn it down, otherwise it does
07:22your head in. So, I don't know, there could be some refinements made here to the HVAC controls.
07:26You get automatic headlights, automatic high beams, automatic windscreen wipers, you get an
07:31automatic dimming rear vision mirror, you also have folding side mirrors, and then in terms of
07:36safety technology, you have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, you have a lane
07:42departure warning, a lane keeping assistant, a blind spot monitor, rear cross traffic alert. They
07:47really have thrown the feature book at this car in terms of safety tech. Ahead of the driver here,
07:51you have an LCD screen, and that can be controlled using the steering wheel. You get a digital
07:56speedometer, trip computer, and a couple of other bits and pieces, including the radar cruise control
08:01settings, but there isn't a head-up display. I would have liked to see something like that. Now,
08:05I've got to touch on this because something else that is driving me crazy at the moment is just
08:10beeping. So, let me demonstrate here. I'm going to switch all of this off and open this door.
08:16So, if you try and walk away from the car with the lights on, I'm going to get off the seat here.
08:22It just continuously beeps at you. If the key is left in the car, it will beep at you, then honk
08:28the horn. While you're driving, it beeps at you when you leave the lane and when it wants to give
08:32you a warning of some sort. There are just endless beeps, and while there is a setting in the setup
08:37menu here for system beeps, it either makes them louder or loud. Loud or louder, you can't get off
08:42or just soft. Okay, so what does the key look like? There it is there. You get an MG logo,
08:49blue body coloured inserts, a little bit of chrome on the side, and then on the back,
08:53lock, boot, unlock, and it's a proximity sensing key as well. So, you just leave that in your
08:58pocket, grab the door handle, and then hit the start button when you get inside. Okay,
09:01enough about that. Let's talk about practicality, and we'll start with storage. So, your phone can
09:06actually live in a really nice nook there, or you can slide it into the cup holders.
09:11I can't really do much with it down the front, and there's no wireless phone charging.
09:15Now, what about bottles? They easily fit into there, and then inside the door, you have plenty
09:20of room for bottle storage, and then also room for odds and ends. Now, this centre console slides
09:25forward to give you a bit of extra comfort, and is reasonably deep inside. Down the front here,
09:31you've also got two USB ports, a 12 volt outlet, and let's have a look at this. You have a decent
09:36size glove box there, somewhere to hide your sunglasses, and then finally down near your feet,
09:42you also have a hidey hole for keys and coins. Now, let's talk comfort. So, the seats are actually
09:47pretty nice. They're like this leather-esque material. Now, they don't really hug you in
09:52massively. You know, I'm not huge, but I don't have a lot of bolster support, but you do have
09:57the ability to adjust your lumbar. So, initially, I thought this was quite firm, but I pushed that
10:02sort of all the way out, and it does feel nice and comfortable, just not as much side support as I
10:06would have liked. Steering wheel sits really nicely in the hand. It's quite a sporty steering wheel.
10:11You've got paddle shifters there, a super sport button that I'll run you through when we go for
10:14a drive, and all of the critical controls are easy to reach. You don't have to stretch too far for
10:19them. Okay, let's talk back seat, but before we do, we have just discovered where some of these
10:23beeps are coming from. Have a listen to this. Every time you open a door, it beeps. Igor, do you want
10:29to try that front door, see if it does it? I just don't understand that stuff. Anyway, okay, what's
10:39it like back here? It's actually pretty good. I've got a really decent amount of knee room. I have
10:44loads of toe room, lots of headroom as well. The seat's fairly comfortable. I can recline it to
10:50using the lever at the top of the seat. So, from that point of view, it's quite nice back here.
10:54There is a centre armrest. Have a look at this. This looks very swish and high-end. It's kind of
10:59cold to the touch as well, so it's like a brushed aluminium type thing. This opens up to present you
11:05with some cup holders, nice little teeth in there as well, and then you can also put your bottle in
11:10the door with storage room either side, and then there's a little tray here for storage with like a
11:15leather band on it as well, which is pretty cool. You get ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats,
11:20and if you dive down here, you've got air vents, which is great, but also USB ports for charging
11:25devices, mat pockets as well. So, it's actually a really pleasant place to be seated, and I think
11:30if you're a kid back here, you've got plenty of room to stretch out. So, let's talk cargo space.
11:34You've got a power tailgate to get you in. 463 litres of cargo space, but it's not really the
11:41best boot because the cargo floor is quite high. Beneath this cargo floor, you have extra storage,
11:47and beneath that, you have a space-saver spare tyre, plus this contraption to hold the cargo
11:52floor up, but let's see what it's like with our luggage, and I'll get rid of this cargo blind
11:57first. Pull that out there. So, it can't fit under the floor, but you can kind of just store
12:04it here. It does move around a bit, so you'll have to leave this at home if you're not going
12:08to be using it. Let's see what it's like with our bags in here. Alrighty, so they seem to fit okay.
12:14Let's drop these seats as well. With the second row folded, you get just under 1300 litres of
12:22cargo space, so it is a fairly big boot. It's just a shame this boot floor is so high.
12:27So, we have hit the road in the MG HS. What is powering this little car? So, it's a 1.5-litre
12:36four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. It makes 119 kilowatts of power, 250 newton metres of torque.
12:42It's not a groundbreaking amount, but the car doesn't weigh a great deal, so it's enough to
12:46keep it all moving, and then it's mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Now, the fascinating
12:51thing here with this seven-speed automatic transmission is that it's not like your typical
12:56dual-clutch that's clunky and a bit hard to use at low speeds. It's actually a pretty impressive
13:00gearbox, which surprised me. Often, the gearboxes they put into these small cars are just nasty,
13:04and they're simply for the reason of fuel economy. So, the official fuel economy figure is 7.3 litres
13:11per 100 kilometres, but in practice, it is much higher than that. We're sitting at just under 10
13:17litres per 100 km, which is a fair chunk of fuel to be using for such a small car. The other problem
13:23as well is that you need to fill this with minimum 95 RON premium unleaded. Now, what does it feel
13:28like behind the wheel? We're going up a hill here. I'll gradually lean onto the throttle. The gearbox
13:32is pretty smooth. Once it starts diving back through the gears, it gives you the torque that
13:37you need. Like, it's actually surprisingly good for a car this size. It doesn't feel groundbreaking,
13:44but when you get stuck into it, there's enough momentum to get the car moving. It doesn't feel
13:48completely underpowered, which is what you get with some of the naturally aspirated cars in this
13:52segment. Okay, let's talk drive modes. So, you can choose from Eco, Normal, Sport and Custom. Custom
13:58is, of course, the one that allows you to set the variables. Eco just dulls everything. Normal is for
14:03your normal driving, but I'm keen to see what this Super Sport button does. So, one push of that
14:08changes all the dials to red. It immediately starts dropping back through the gears. We'll give it a
14:12bit of a punch. Okay, look, I mean, it's more eager to hold gears, which is what it's doing now,
14:21and then as you sort of get into the throttle, it's sort of, yeah, it's just a little sportier.
14:25It gives it a raspier edge. It's no sports car or Super Sport, but it is sportier than normal. Now,
14:32we don't have an official zero to 100 kilometre an hour time, but this is what it looks like.
14:38And what about handling? Well, look, it's not going to set the world on fire. It's got a little
14:42bit of body roll, but for the most part, it is fine for a small SUV like this. It doesn't quite
14:47meet the benchmark in the segment, which is stuff like the CX-5. CX-5 sits nice and flat through
14:52corners. This still feels a little bit like a small SUV, but it's got a little bit of body roll.
14:58Now, I've got to say, I don't think I've ever seen a car like this. I've never seen a car like this
15:02like the CX-5. CX-5 sits nice and flat through corners. This still feels a little bit rolly,
15:08but it's going to be adequate for 99% of people who just expect A to B transport.
15:13Now, let's talk about the ride. This is the bit that's probably surprised me the most. I mentioned
15:17earlier in the introduction that the last Chinese cars I'd driven weren't that impressive. What MG
15:22has done is gone and hired a lot of engineers from reputable car companies and said, look,
15:27make our car drive like all the other popular SUVs in this segment. And that's what they've
15:33done here. It's not overly floaty. It's not overly firm. It's just nice and compliant.
15:37And I don't know, you just can't tell it's any different from any other car,
15:40especially from a brand that hasn't built SUVs up until virtually right now.
15:45Now, what about visibility? So at the front, it's great. At the sides, it's good. The wing
15:50mirrors are nice and big. Rear visibility is pretty good. The envelope of that window is
15:54big enough to be able to see out of, and then there's no real major blind spots to take note
15:58of. What about engine noise? So the small 1.5 litre engine is going to make a little bit of
16:03a racket if you do get stuck into it, but it's not the end of the world. You do hear the noise
16:08coming into the cabin, and given it is a smaller engine, it has to work a little harder, but it's
16:12not droney or not overly intrusive. And the same goes with the road noise. I was expecting a little
16:17bit more road noise into the cabin on coarse chip surfaces like this, but it's actually quite
16:21pleasant in here at the moment. The only negative worth calling out here in terms of the drive
16:25experience is the brake pedal feel. It's okay, but the pedal itself can be quite hard. So as you're
16:32going through on the brake pedal, it's not quite consistent. It's not linear. You get to a point
16:36where it firms up a bit and you have to put a bit more effort into it. So MG HS, let's put this brand
16:41to one side for a second. If you had a Toyota badge there or a Mazda badge there, I think people
16:45would be flocking and buying these in drives because it is really well equipped and it's
16:49really well priced as well. But in terms of the negatives, the beeps, they are doing my head in.
16:55Every single time something goes wrong, it'll beep for about a minute to tell you there's
16:58something very minor wrong. So there's a couple of little refinement things they need to get right,
17:03and I think the engine is in the long term going to be a little underpowered. A 1.5 litre,
17:07once you start putting your friends and luggage in, this is going to feel a little bit underdone.
17:12But outside of that, it really is hard to complain. It is a good value for money proposition.
17:16Keep in mind though, if you do travel regionally, MG's network of dealers isn't as strong as a Mazda
17:22or a Toyota or a Ford, for example. So you are going to have to travel further to get things
17:27fixed if anything goes wrong. But if you're driving in and around the city, it is perfectly fine.
17:31Can you get your comments and feedback below? Have you bought an MG? What's it actually like to live
17:35with? What are they like day to day? Let me know in the comments section below. If you have enjoyed
17:39this video, hit the like button, follow it up with a subscribe and press the bell icon as well so you
17:44can find out every single time we publish something new. But until next time, take it easy.