MG4 EV Urban

MG have updated their MG4 & alongside the familiar five door hatch, is a new MG4 model the Urban. It’s bigger all around & has been cleverly designed as well as priced competitively. We took a turn in one in the Chiltern Hills.

What is it ?

A larger MG4 designed to be more practical & spacious. It comes with a 50 mm longer wheelbase, is 43 mm taller & 108 mm longer.

Two batteries are available. A 43kWh unit & larger 54kWh.

Then choose from three Urban models.

Comfort Standard Range Automatic £23,495

Comfort Long Range Automatic  £25,495
Premium Long Range Automatic  £27,995

Paint colours including basic Arctic White or the metallic options which are Holborn Blue, Stone Green, Black Pearl, Camden Grey or Cosmic Silver. Plus a tri-colour Dynamic Red.

Performance

Top speed across all versions is 99mph, with the 0-62mph dash taking 9.5 or 9.6 seconds.

Standard on Comfort are a reversing camera, 16-inch wheels, a multifunction steering wheel, a 4-speaker sound system & a manually adjusted drivers seat. Premium adds 17-inch wheels, a 360 degree camera, a wireless charger, 6-speakers, a 6-way electrically adjusted drivers seat, ambient lighting & heated front seats.

All versions feature MG Pilot, LED daytime running lights, black & grey fabric upholstery, automatic climate control, a heat pump, a multi-function steering wheel, V2L, Apple Car Play & Android Auto connectivity, keyless entry, a DAB radio, a 7-inch driver display, SatNav & 12.8-inch HD infotainment screen

MG Pilot comes with Adaptive Cruise Control, Active Emergency Braking with Pedestrian and Bicycle Detection, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning System & Emergency Lane Keeping, Traffic Jam Assist , Intelligent Speed Limit Assist  with traffic sign recognition, Intelligent High Beam Assist, a Driver Monitoring System, Blind Spot Detection, Forward & Rear Collision Warning, Active Rear Cross Traffic Alert & Door Opening Warning.

Standard Range comes with a 43kWh battery & 201 mile range or Long Range which comes with a 54kWh battery & a 258 mile range.

There are five driving modes; Normal, Sport, Comfort, Snow or Custom with 4 regenerative braking modes; Auto, 1, 2, or 3. As ever Eco offers the best economy & coupled to Level 3 which is one pedal mode will give you more miles. Sport with auto braking is the most fun & you’ll see your MG4 Urban’s feel sharper in this setting.

All versions offer 11kW AC charging which is good news, with DC charging of 82kW on Standard Range & 87kW on the Extended Range models. Charge up at home & the 0-100% times are 7.5 or 9 hours respectively. On public 150kW fast chargers a 10-80% top-up will take either 28 or 30 minutes.

Whilst it’s not especially exciting, the Urban’s interior design mirrors the layouts in the MGS5 & MGS6 SUVs that we drove in 2025. Grey & black dominate but the quality at this price point is pretty good & none of it is an eyesore or unpleasant.

As with most new cars pretty much everything is controlled via the 12.8 inch touchscreen although a slim line of short cut switches sit below allowing control of the climate & media volume. At the base of the display within the screen are easily understood icons for the phone including Car, Media, SatNav & Home. So you can access the menus with one easy touch. The centre binnacle features twin cup holders & on our test model a wireless phone charger. Buttons for cruise control sit on the left of the steering wheel, with the media controls & driver info on the right. A small 7-inch display sits in front of the driver.

Under armrest space, a low down floating area in the centre-dash & large door pockets offer plenty of useful storage. In the rear there’s a single USB. Despite its B-sector billing, MG have cleverly utilised the space on offer so you get plenty of space up front & in the rear three adults can just about sit alongside with plenty of room for their feet, so benefitting from the cars rear flat floor.

The rear seats fold flat which increases the boot space from a frankly enormous 577 litres to a very useful 1,364 litres. The boot floor lifts up to reveal a 98 litre storage space, large enough for a suitcase or two. Cabin storage is as you’d expect, over 30 litres, with large door pockets, a glove box, twin central cup holders, space under the floating console, twin USB’s & a 12v socket. Rear passengers get a single USB & their own good sized door pockets.

The Urban’s battery made up of Lithium Iron Phosphate so is a touch more old-fashioned than the Nickel Cobalt Manganese battery you’ll find on the updated MG4 Extended Range & XPOWER models. Unsurprisingly this coupled to the Urban’s more upright shape mean’s it’s not as good to drive as those smaller brethren.

However, as with the normal MG4 its smallish dimensions, means it’s easy to park & the light steering make it simple to handle in the city as well. In slow moving traffic the cabin is quiet  & the decent speakers work well so no complaints there.

On the open road especially if it’s over poor tarmac, the Urban will bump & roll a touch, again the cars shape & torsion beam rear suspension which is not multi-link is mainly to blame as the standard MG4 is much better. You are not throwing the Urban in & out of corners like the normal MG4 that’s for sure.

Speed up or drive on the motorway & you’ll notice both wind & road noise entering the cabin, a combination of the tyres & car shape the most likely reason. The lack of out & out power with only 160PS offered on our test car, means acceleration is not EV quick at 9.5 seconds to get to 62mph. Despite this the  Urban will sit happily at motorway speed but  be warned it won’t accelerate like the normal MG4 which in the model we tested alongside the Urban, offered 245PS so was quicker & more nimble.

We couldn’t fault the seats which were comfortable, nor the overall design of the cabin & instrumentation. The gear change is made via a right sided steering wheel stalk, but it’s easy enough to use. As far as visibility goes, it’s all good, with plenty of glass all around. It’s a goldfish bowl on wheels.

The Urban is very practical & comes with a user-friendly cabin, on-trend tech, features MG’s  excellent Pilot safety, offers a massive amount of boot space & has the bonus of 11kW AC charging courtesy of a heat pump.

Unexciting to drive & vanilla exterior looks, both typical in its class.

Whilst we aren’t putting a poster of the Urban on our wall & likely when you’re driving one, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will notice you. But that’s not really the point. It’s difficult to think of a better value for money EV that combines a modern, practical cabin with such an enormously useful boot. When you also study the impressive kit list & factor in MG’s 7-year warranty, the case for the Urban as a family EV get’s even stronger.