The new MG4 Extended Range has… extended range

We’ve been waiting for a longer-range MG4 for a few months now, albeit having forgotten about it briefly when the MG4 XPower landed with its ludicrous 429bhp. Anyway, await no longer.

The MG4 Extended Range sees the hatchback break the 300-mile barrier for the first time, offering 323 miles of WLTP range courtesy of a new 77kWh battery that dwarfs the existing 51 and 64kWh options. Note that a 10-80 per cent charge takes 39 minutes.

Naturally you can only have it in top-spec Trophy trim, which means the slimming black roof, tinted windows, heated leather seats, 360-degree camera and all MG’s other trinkets are all present and correct.

There’s also more power too, with that rear-mounted motor tuned to deliver 241bhp and a 0-62mph time of 6.5 seconds; more than a full second quicker than the not-quite-as-long-range Long Range model. Not bad given the inevitable weight penalty.

Curiously, the MG4 Extended Range is exactly the same price as the hot (okay, warm) hatch version - £36,495 - giving buyers the ultimate dilemma between whopping acceleration or maximum convenience. Flip a coin, perhaps?

“The Extended Range is the fifth model in the award winning MG4 EV model family,” says Guy Pigounakis, MG’s commercial director, “and we believe drivers have real breadth of choice with our electric hatchbacks which now include the very capable SE cars all the way through to the XPOWER, the most powerful production MG ever built.”

A record that should stand until - you would think - the advent of the MG Cyberster, whenever that happens...