MG Motor UK MG3 review

Initial impressions are pretty positive. The 3 might be a cheaper car than most of its rivals, but it doesn’t feel like MG has cut too many corners here. It looks smart enough, it’s all well put together and the quality is fine, even if there’s a lot of hard plastic. Gotta expect that on an £18k car.

And anyway, that also means it doesn’t suffer from any of the complicated, new-fangled tech some carmakers are so obsessed with. Take the steering wheel, for example, and feast your eyes on the physical buttons. Nothing wrong with that. Some might say boring, we say practical.

So do you get any tech?

All models get a seven-inch digital instrument cluster (though we’d have liked it to be more customisable) and 10.25-inch infotainment display with built in satnav and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. The touchscreen itself is pretty simple, with pleasingly clean graphics even if the text feels slightly too small, but otherwise generally pretty responsive. 

Below that you get some physical shortcut buttons (good news), allowing you to quickly turn on/off front and rear demisters, adjust the audio, and access the climate controls, which are incorporated into the screen (not so good news). In the centre console lies the drive rotary controller, plus drive mode button.

Oddly, when you’re using Apple CarPlay (and presumably Android Auto), you can’t access the climate controls using the shortcut button unless you first press the home button. Weird.

What's comfort like?

The MG3 is both longer and wider than the model it replaces and we've few complaints up front, though legroom is a little limited in the rear: you wouldn’t want to travel too far with three back there.

We found the seats themselves very comfortable, although you only get a bench in the rear, instead of the split-folding seats generally found. Not a massive issue, but it does limit versatility somewhat.

Is there enough bootspace for the weekly food shop?

MG claims the 3 offers the largest boot space in the hybrid B-segment class, and it officially measures 293 litres with the seats up, or 983 litres with the seats down.

That’s indeed bigger than a Suzuki Swift, plus the cross-platform Mazda 2 Hybrid and Toyota Yaris Hybrid. But it's slightly smaller than the Renault Clio Hybrid and the new Citroen C3.