2024 MG HS 1.5T review

When it boils down to it, buying a mid-size SUV is mostly about responsibility.

There's a responsibility in providing a safe vehicle for your family, a responsibility in spending your hard-earned money wisely and a responsibility in doing your best to guarantee a certain peace of mind around the ownership experience.

Of late, answering that call would mean spending $45-$50K on something like a Toyota RAV4, the caveat being that your order would be fulfilled just as your kids had graduated university and left home. Of course, you could have bought an MG HS instead, but then you'd see those empty nesters in a RAV4 and have the distinct impression that you'd made a few compromises along the way.

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The old HS, introduced back in 2019, wasn't a bad car, but it was the sort of car that found itself beaten by a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross in a January 2022 test, which tells you as much as you need to know about its place in the greater scheme of things.

MG is not a company to sit on its hands, that much we've become acutely aware of. In fact it's on a headlong tear of vehicle development, and the accelerating competence of its recent wares - think new MG4, Cyberster and latest MG3 – clearly show that we the days of damning its products with faint praise are well and truly over.

That may well be the case, but I've just driven the new MG HS and I'm genuinely shocked at how good it is. Some perspective. It's not so good that it makes the rest of its rivals look stupid. Nevertheless, it is a huge leap forward when compared to its predecessor and it's good enough to absolutely warrant a place on your midsize SUV shortlist, even if you've got the budget to be looking at some of the more established rivals.

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MG calls the HS all-new, and it's a reasonable call. Not only is the HS significantly bigger than its predecessor, but it gets a heavily revised powerplant too.

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants are in the works, but for the time being the sole mechanical configuration available to Aussies is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that drives the front wheels via a new (for MG) design of oil-cooled seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Some meat on those bones. Where the old HS measured 4574mm from stem to stern with a 2720mm wheelbase, the latest car eases the belt out a bit. At 4655mm long, it's 81mm lengthier and the wheelbase grows by another 45mm to 2765mm. That means that it's now 55mm longer than a RAV4 and offers 75mm more in the wheelbase. It's become one of the bigger cars in its class.

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Possibly one of the better looking ones too. There's a hint of Lexus in some of the glasshouse angles towards the rear and some saw Volkswagen around the wheel arches, but they're not bad names to be associated with.

The rear lights and the 19-inch alloy wheel designs riff off the design of Renzo Piano's iconic Shard building in south London. There's a full width light bar at the rear and a full-width chrome strip atop the shapelier front grille, with the subtler MG badge now moved to a body mount rather than sitting in the middle of the grille as before. Six metallic paint finishes are offered: Cashmere Silver, Lunar Grey, Arctic Blue, Diamond Red, Black Pearl and Pearl White.

You'll be forgiven if you think a 1496cc engine might struggle to haul circa 1600kg of generously-proportioned SUV up the road, and while 125kW and 275Nm are hardly stats that are about to sent your pants ablaze, it's still 5kW and 72Nm more than you'd get from Toyota's 2.0-litre engine in the RAV4, so it's fair to say that the MG is punching above its weight.

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A lot of work has clearly been devoted to improving the driving dynamics of the old HS.

That vehicle was somewhat underdamped, suffered from inconsistent control weights, was encumbered by significant cabin noise and was lumbered with an indecisive transmission. In order to give the HS some European polish, all of the chassis dynamic work was carried out at the IDIADA test facility in Spain against the best of European rivals and, on first acquaintance, there's reason for optimism.

The test route MG assigned for our first drive was a route through Sydney's CBD, which clearly offered little scope for extending the vehicle in any dynamic regard so this review will carry that caveat until we can get our hands on the HS to put through a proper test process.

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What I can tell you is that the ride is firmish, the steering fairly light and geared with a ratio of 14.8:1 (for an 11.3m turning circle), and the transmission logic is a few degrees smarter than before.

Despite a stack more soundproofing, the engine still makes its presence heard inside the cabin, although the little four sounds fairly purposeful. There's a surprising degree of polish to the controls that is a significant step forward when compared to its predecessor.

The engine has enjoyed some upgrades to the valve timing system, features a water-charged air cooler, a variable geometry turbo and a pendulum dual-mass flywheel all in a bid to increase the responsiveness of the engine, and sync it with the sharper-witted wet DCT gearbox.

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The cabin is well finished too, with the two 12.3-inch floating displays being the technical standout.

Even the base variant gets a leather-look finish to the dash with orange feature stitching and there's stacks of room in the cabin. I'm 6'4” and found I could easily sit behind my driving position in the rear. The dual-pane panoramic roof of the top trim doesn't come close to pinching headroom and, because this is a resolutely front-wheel driver model, there's no transmission tunnel in the rear to rob centre occupants of foot space.

Grumbles? I'm not sure that the mix of functions split between buttons and the touch screens is quite optimised just yet and both the wheel-mounted thumb switches and the lid of the centre console storage bin feel as if they might struggle to wear some big mileages.

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There's also a huge array of ADAS functions which we couldn't have hoped to put to the test in the short stint with the vehicle but the speed warning system makes its presence felt.

We're assured that a wheel-mounted shortcut key can take you to a screen where you can opt in or out of these warnings. The HS has no paddles behind the wheel to take care of manual shifting duties and the lever shifts the wrong way (forward to upshift).

Open the tailgate and you've got 507 litres of space to play with (up 44L on the old car) and up to 1484 litres if you fold the 60/40 split rear bench. That's reasonable, but the best cars in this class all offer capacities in the high 500s with the seats in place, so if ultimate carrying capacity is your thing, the MG may struggle to make the cut.

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Beneath the boot floor is a space saver spare, which is a good deal more reassuring than the can of foam that some manufactures deliver in a bid to increase space, shed weight and, yes, cut costs.

Three mechanically identical trim levels are offered and the prices are razor sharp. The Vibe opens proceedings at $33,990 drive-away. Then there's the midrange Excite at $36,990 and the range-topping Essence rounds out the range at $40,990, again all drive-away. Even the base Vibe gets dusk-sensing LED headlights, the dual 12.3-inch screens, a six-way powered driver's seat, 18-inch alloys, rain-sensing wipers and the MG Pilot safety suite.

Step up to the Excite, which is expected to be the best-selling variant, and there's leather-look seats, a 360-degree HD camera, 19-inch alloys, native sat nav, front fog lights and iSmart connectivity.

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This is an embedded SIM card that allows remote functions such as lock/unlock, cabin temperature pre-conditioning and so on. As it stands there's no facility for over-the-air updates but that capability is being worked on.

The top of the range is the Essence tacks $4,000 on again but brings with it the big panoramic sunroof, rear privacy glass, an electric tailgate, front parking sensors, front seat heating, lumbar control for the driver's seat, dual-zone climate control, 15v wireless phone charging, an 8-speaker stereo and a memory function for the driver's seat and door mirrors.

Seven airbags are fitted including a front centre bag that keeps front passenger's heads apart in the event of an accident.

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Running costs are very reasonable, with the car coming with a 10-year, 250,000km warranty and fuel economy of 6.9L/100km. There's also a fixed price servicing plan that's will take you to 150,000km/10 years for a total of $5741.

The bigger bills come at the 60,000km service ($936) and 120,000km job ($1647), which is something you might want to bear in mind a few years down the track if you're in the market for a used HS and you're wondering why there are so many for sale just shy of these odo readings.

Safety looks decent, but we'll caveat that with the fact that the car has yet to be tested by EuroNCAP. MG expect a five-star rating, but expectations have occasionally been confounded by testing.

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The 360-degree camera also incorporates 'transparent chassis' tech

The Pilot safety suite includes features such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, AEB, intelligent high beam control, speed assistance system, emergency lane-keep assist, driver monitoring, blind spot detection and front collision warning as part of a suite of 15 electronic functions. The 360-degree camera also incorporates 'transparent chassis' tech

Were you to jump into some of the more self-assured cars in this class – and we're thinking Kia Sorento, Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5 – the MG HS might seem a little shy of their design maturity and finish.

But it's not that far short. It's certainly a huge step up from what you might have been expecting from a budget contender. Indeed, that feeling of pleasant surprise is a virtual constant when encountering the HS.

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If you last drove an MG even just two or three years ago and came away unimpressed, I can understand that. I was the same.

This is part of the challenge that MG currently faces in communicating to buyers how quickly its products have improved. It can't afford the usual model lifecycles of facelift at three years and replace at seven. The company is not going to level with or overtake the established players if it plays by established rules.

That's exactly what it's trying to do and, judging by how far the HS has narrowed the gap to the best in class, it'd be foolhardy to bet against MG making a damn good fist of that.