2025 MG 4 XPower review: Should MG sell this sporty accessory pack?

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2025 MG 4 XPower

The MG 4 XPower arrived in Australia nearly 12 months ago as the cheapest way to accelerate from 0–100km/h in less than four seconds with a full new-car warranty.

Now the local division of MG is considering an Australia-led 'tuning program', which would offer a dealer-fit, factory-warrantied accessory pack comprised of a series of aftermarket parts intended to boost the electric hot hatch's visual and driving appeal.

As it debates the idea, MG has fitted one of its MG 4 XPower media evaluation vehicles with the proposed tuning pack to gauge customer interest before giving it the green light for showrooms.

What does it add, how much would it cost, and is it an idea worth pursuing? Drive climbed behind the wheel to find out.

How much is an MG 4 XPower?

MG electric-car prices have been a moving target in recent months, as the company switches from state-based to nationwide drive-away prices, and back again, with a few RRP cuts and limited-time discounts thrown into the mix.

At the time of writing in October 2024, the MG 4 XPower is priced from $55,990 plus on-road costs, or $59,756 drive-away in NSW – minus factory bonuses of $5000 on Model Year 2024 stock, or $8000 on MY23 builds, but offers and incentives may change over time.

As for the proposed tuning pack, it adds 30mm-lower H&R springs, 18×8.5-inch Konig Ampliform wheels, a 'custom' body kit with a front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser, and a set of floor mats.

There's no firm word on how much the extras would cost, but MG estimates $2396 for a set of wheels, $800 for the springs, $1200 for the body kit, and $140 for the floor mats – all excluding the cost of dealer fitment.

A final, fitted price of $6000 would still see the modified MG 4 XPower cost about $66,000 on the road – depending on where you live – which, for a car capable of 0–100km/h in 3.8 seconds, is sharp by modern performance-car standards.

Our test vehicle was also fitted with a prototype power tailgate also being considered for the genuine accessories list.

Rivals range from a slower but similarly sized Cupra Born ($59,990 plus on-roads), to a similarly quick but larger BYD Seal Performance ($65,748), or a petrol hot hatch such as a Volkswagen Golf R ($70,590).

The tuning accessory pack builds on the standard specification of the regular MG 4 XPower.

While the springs are swapped for lowered H&R items, and there are new 18-inch wheels, not much else has changed mechanically.

The dampers and anti-roll bars are untouched, as are the 235/45 R18 Bridgestone Turanza T005 EV tyres – the same rubber on cheaper MG 4s with less than half the power, not from Bridgestone's high-performance Potenza series.

It shares the regular XPower's 345mm ventilated front and rear brake discs, which are larger than those on the regular MG 4, but are clamped by carry-over Continental calipers with screwed-on branded orange covers to make them appear larger.

Other highlights shared with the standard XPower include recalibrated steering compared to cheaper MG 4s, new torque-vectoring software, an electronic differential lock, and a Track mode.

Standard features of the more pedestrian variety include LED headlights, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 7.0-inch instrument display, synthetic leather-look and Alcantara seat upholstery, a power-adjustable driver's seat, wireless phone charging, and single-zone climate control.

How big is an MG 4 XPower?

Floor mats aside, none of the proposed upgrades in the tuning accessory pack alter the interior, so it's the same as the standard MG 4 XPower – for better and worse.

There's little to distinguish the XPower from cheaper MG 4s inside, as part of what is a generally sparse but relatively spacious cabin for a small hatchback.

The front seats with synthetic leather-look bolsters are shared with other MG 4 variants, but they gain Alcantara centres in place of cloth, as well as some orange stitching.

And that's it for XPower-exclusive interior details. While the armrests are soft, the cabin is otherwise austere for the price, with plenty of hard, scratchy plastic surfaces that are acceptable in base-model $40,000 MG 4s, but harder to forgive in the $60,000 XPower.

The front seats are relatively comfortable on longer drives, but they lack support when driving the XPower like a hot hatch – and although there is power adjustment on the driver's side, it is only six-way and doesn't extend to under-thigh support, which is lacking.

The steering wheel is large for a small car, but it's leather-trimmed, and offers tilt and reach adjustment in the column. The buttons are initially confusing – as they're not well marked – but after a few hours behind the wheel, you come to learn them.

As with all MG 4s, there's no start button – so the initialisation process involves sitting in the car, closing the door, placing your foot on the brake pedal, and turning the rotary gear selector to drive or reverse.

That order is important, because if you get it wrong – touching the brake before closing the door – the car won’t ‘start’, and it needs two firm presses of the brake pedal with the driver’s door closed to confirm the start process.

Storage space is good, thanks to an open console with two cupholders and a rubberised base for holding items, plus a well-sized glovebox, door pockets with space for bottles, and a centre console box that is small but serviceable for wallets and keys.

There are two USB ports – though only the USB-A can be used for CarPlay and Android Auto – plus a 12-volt socket, and ample amenities: a wireless phone charger, heated front seats, keyless entry and start, and single-zone climate control.

Quality, at least in this test car, could be better. There are some creaks in the trim around the steering wheel buttons, the glovebox button stuck part-way through its travel, as is the exterior charging flap, which is partially jammed and needs multiple firm presses to open.

Multiple MG 4s have passed through the Drive garage over the past 12 months, and none have experienced these issues – so this test vehicle may have had a hard life before we were given the keys.

Space in the rear seats is respectable for a small hatch. At 186cm (6ft 1in) tall, I can sit behind my driving position with ample knee, head and toe room.

Amenities are light on in what is a visually dark rear cabin. There are no lights in the roof, no air vents, and no fold-down armrest, though the MG 4 offers a USB-A port, door pockets, three top-tether points and two ISOFIX anchors.

MG claims 363 litres of boot space in the XPower, which is enough for a full-sized suitcase, as well as some smaller soft bags in the side. The rear seats fold 60:40 for more space.

The boot floor is adjustable in two positions, though even with it set in its upper position, the portable charging cable bag does not fit under the floor – and there is no dedicated space for it, so it tends to roll around during fast driving.

As with most electric cars, there is only a tyre repair kit, rather than a full-size or space-saver spare wheel. A power tailgate was fitted to our test vehicle; something that is not on the standard equipment list for the XPower.

With the purchase of a $250 adapter through MG dealers, the MG 4 is capable of vehicle-to-load through its external charging port, meaning it can use its high-voltage battery to supply up to 3kW to electrical devices such as camping lights, kitchen appliances or computers.

Does the MG 4 XPower have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?

Standard in the MG 4 XPower is a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, embedded satellite navigation, FM and digital DAB radio (but no AM), and Bluetooth.

It is a large screen, and reasonably easy to use, but it is not the most responsive to inputs – particularly in this test car – often requiring multiple firm presses of on-screen buttons before registering the user's touch, and the graphics are basic.

Apple CarPlay also proved troublesome. While the connection to my iPhone 15 Pro worked reliably, others on the Drive team with older iPhones who drove the car experienced continued dropouts, often only minutes apart.

We've experienced similar issues with other MG 4s, ranging from dropouts on even the slightest movement of the phone – whether that's after the car hits a speed bump, or turns a corner – to needing to disconnect and reconnect the phone after the first connection for CarPlay to initialise.

The MG 4's air-conditioning controls run through the touchscreen, which is annoying at first – until you discover the handy workaround. There are two buttons on the steering wheel with star icons, which can be mapped to different functions in the car, including the climate controls.

Doing so allows the driver to use one of the joysticks on the wheel to change the fan speed with left and right movements – or temperature with up and down movements – without needing to exit Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and take their eyes off the road.

While it doesn't work for every climate-control function – heated seats or recirculating air, for example – it is an excellent feature that we think more cars should offer.

The 7.0-inch instrument display ahead of the driver is basic in its graphics, but clear and easy to read, showing the expected driving data such as the trip computer, tyre pressures, and a G-force meter in this XPower.

High-specification MG 4s including the XPower offer MG's full iSmart connected services technology, with a smartphone app that enables remote control of the car's locks and lights, vehicle, cabin pre-heating and cooling, recharge scheduling, and other operations.

A six-speaker sound system is standard in the XPower, which delivers acceptable – but not exceptional – punch.

Is the MG 4 XPower a safe car?

The rear-wheel-drive MG 4 range is covered by a five-star ANCAP safety rating – based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2022, to recent although not the latest and most stringent protocols – but this does not cover the XPower variant.

Given the XPower adds a front electric motor that could change how it performs in a crash, ANCAP and Euro NCAP would likely require further information – whether by conducting another crash test, or receiving data from MG – before it can apply the five-star score across the range.

RWD variants earned scores of 83 per cent for adult occupant protection, 86 per cent for child occupant protection, 75 per cent for vulnerable road user protection (pedestrians and cyclists) and 81 per cent for safety assist technology.

What safety technology does the MG 4 XPower have?

The MG 4 offers a broad suite of advanced safety technology, from autonomous emergency braking to blind-spot monitoring and lane-keep assist.

Most of the systems work reasonably well in the real world, but more refinement is needed on the lane-assist systems.

The regular lane-keep assist – designed to prevent the vehicle straying from its lane – was at times too eager to intervene when it wasn't needed, while the lane-centring technology tended to gently bounce between the lane markings rather than hold the centre of the lane.

It is worth noting MG supplied this test vehicle without the latest calibration of the advanced safety systems installed.

A software update was made available earlier this year that refines the performance of the crash-avoidance technology, and while it is an improvement – based on our testing of the software in other MG 4s in the Drive garage – it is not as smooth as the technology offered by some other brands.

The software update would also fix another complaint with the adaptive cruise control, which in this test car adjusts in 5km/h increments on a quick press – but needs a long press for 1km/h changes, which is fiddly, and hard to judge when to lift off the button to avoid overshooting the desired speed.

Fortunately, the latest software has flipped the controls, so short presses adjust by 1km/h, while holding the toggle down changes the speed by 5km/h.

Our test vehicle would also display a tyre pressure monitoring system failure after about 15 minutes of driving. It is likely an issue with this test car – and the switch to the aftermarket wheels for this one-off 'proof of concept' – that we hope MG addresses should it add this accessory pack to showrooms.

How much does the MG 4 XPower cost to run?

The MG 4 XPower and its high-voltage battery are covered by the car maker's freshly minted 10-year/250,000km warranty, whichever comes first – replacing the previous seven-year/unlimited-kilometre assurance at the start of August 2024.

This applies to vehicles in "non-commercial use". Those deemed to be in commercial use – such as ride-sharing or food delivery – are instead subject to a seven-year/160,000km vehicle and high-voltage battery warranty.

If the items in the tuning pack come to MG showrooms as genuine accessories, they would be covered by the same separate 12-month/unlimited-kilometre warranty as other MG genuine accessories.

Services for the regular XPower are spread 24 months or 40,000km apart, and the bill amounts to $296 after the first service, $1258 after two, and $1554 after three.

For comparison, four years/80,000km of servicing for a BYD Seal Performance (at 12-month/20,000km intervals) costs $1851, while four years/60,000km for a Cupra Born (at 12-month/15,000km intervals) costs $1848.

A year of comprehensive insurance coverage with a leading provider is quoted at $2162, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The same quote parameters and calculator return $2628 for a BYD Seal Performance.

What is the range of an MG 4 XPower?

MG claims energy consumption of 15.2kWh per 100 kilometres for the XPower, as well as a 400km range in European WLTP testing from a 62.1kWh usable battery capacity.

Over a mix of city, highway and country driving, we observed 18.6kWh/100km. It is high for a small car, but we were not trying to drive it efficiently, nor would the acceleration testing we conducted with the car have helped its case.

In the city, we saw energy use and range close to the claim, while when driving the car like a hot hatch – and demonstrating its performance – we saw consumption shoot up beyond 22kWh/100km, which would translate to less than 300km of driving range.

A 10 to 80 per cent fast charge in 28 minutes is claimed by the manufacturer, at a peak of 140kW DC.

We weren't able to put the XPower through our regular highway range and charging tests on this occasion, but we've previously timed an Essence 64 variant with the same battery from 10 to 80 per cent charge in 25 minutes and 30 seconds – beating the claim.

What is the MG 4 XPower like to drive?

If you couldn't tell from the spec sheet, it's the power that dominates the MG 4 XPower driving experience.

More than 300kW is a serious amount of power for a small hatch – and the 3.8-second claimed acceleration time, which we were able to replicate on VBox satellite timing equipment, will turn nearly every other car on the road into a speck in the rear-view mirror.

Power does begin to taper off after 80km/h but, especially in Sport mode, the XPower delivers the kind of performance that wants to rearrange your organs and make your brain play catch-up.

The only important mechanical change to notice on the road is the new set of springs. The ride is firmer than a regular MG 4, but not unbearably so, and it is still comfortable enough to live with, in the daily grind.

However, it lacks the composure of other performance cars – even those with similarly firm suspension – crashing into some sharp bumps and potholes.

Around town, the XPower is easy to drive. The steering is light in its normal mode, there are plenty of parking cameras to aid low-speed manoeuvres, visibility out the front and sides is good – though it's limited out the rear – and there is a range of regenerative braking modes, including a full one-pedal setting.

But when you get the XPower on a winding road, it is clear there's still room for improvement, and it lacks the final degree of fun and driver engagement we expect – and get – from the best hot hatches.

The excellent rear-biased handling balance we love in the rear-wheel-drive MG 4 – where you can feel the car rotating under you as you modulate the power in a corner – hasn’t translated to the XPower.

Instead, it has a desire to understeer (run wide) as the front motor regularly struggles to put its power down, often accompanied by a flurry of torque steer (tugging of the wheel in the driver's hands) and traction-control intervention.

There's more body roll than you might expect for a sporty car, and it also can't hide its 1.8-tonne weight – 300kg to 400kg more than a similarly sized petrol hot hatch.

A better set of tyres would help the XPower's cause. Its 18-inch wheels are shod in EV-focused Bridgestone Turanza rubber, which can't match the purchase on the road surface during spirited driving that a high-performance Bridgestone Potenza tyre would offer.

The steering is well weighted around town, but during enthusiastic driving, it doesn't tell the driver much about the grip level of the tyres on the road surface below, as the best hot hatches do. It's direct, and does get sufficiently heavy in Sport, but we'd like more than that.

The brakes are larger than the non-XPower MG 4 variants, and the pedal is firm when the discs are cold, but the 36.8-metre stopping distance from 100km/h we recorded on our VBox is average to slightly below average for a hot hatch, not exceptional.

That is likely a reflection of the tyres, rather than the brake discs and calipers themselves. For context, a Volkswagen Golf GTI we recently tested on the same surface – with Bridgestone Potenza tyres, larger brake discs, and 400kg less weight – pulled up two metres sooner, which is a big difference in braking terms.

Tyre roar on rough roads is relatively well suppressed, but there's a fair amount of suspension noise over bumps – particularly at the rear of the car – as well as wind noise.

This test vehicle also had a subtle vibration felt under the driver's seat at freeway speeds – akin to something being out of balance in the driveline – which we've not experienced in other MG 4s we've tested.

MG Australia has confirmed this vehicle was an early build that was not fitted with an updated steering damper intended to fix vibration issues reported by owners overseas before the XPower launched in Australia last year.

The XPower is not a bad car to drive, and it is fun once you learn how to drive it to its strength: rocketing from corner to corner at an incredible pace. But it lacks the sophistication and fun factor of our favourite new hot hatchbacks, and that's something the tuning pack doesn't address.

Can an MG 4 XPower tow?

The hottest MG 4 can tow up to 500kg, no matter whether braked or unbraked. It's not much, but the power on offer means the XPower would barely break a sweat with half a tonne on the back.

The vehicle carries a payload of 461kg, which is enough for average-mass adults in each of the XPower's seats, plus some luggage in the boot, without breaking the gross vehicle mass of 2261kg and therefore making the car illegal to drive on the road.

Should I buy an MG 4 XPower?

The accessory tuning package would be an interesting addition to the MG 4 XPower. It adds a bit of extra visual appeal to what is otherwise a sedately styled car – by hot-hatch standards – and it's something we could see plenty of buyers going for.

However, we wish the upgrades went further.

The pack doesn't need to change the XPower's sheer power, the space inside, or its unbeatable value for money – and fortunately, it hasn't. No other new car can match the XPower's speed for this price, and certainly not with 10 years of warranty coverage.

But a proper factory-designed solution that could add better tyres, bigger brakes, and sportier seats would go a long way to polishing the rough edges on what is otherwise a modern performance bargain.

How do I buy an MG 4 XPower? The next steps.

At the time of writing in October 2024, MG is offering the XPower with 'factory bonuses' of up to $8000, reflecting plenty of stock in dealerships.

The next step on the purchase journey is to contact your nearest MG dealer at this link to confirm stock levels near you. You can also find MGs for sale at Drive Marketplace.

If you want to stay updated with everything that’s happened to this car since our review, you’ll find all the latest news here.

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