A final model-year change is the addition of a one-pedal driving mode, for those who prefer to drive EVs without using the brake pedal much. That’s very welcome – but there’s a delay to the retardation kicking in, which makes it harder to control precisely than it ought to be.
Not that one-pedal driving is what will motivate many XPower owners. So is this a Q-car, or a hot hatch, or something else entirely? The answer is probably closest to the last of those ideas.
The standard, single-motor, rear-drive MG 4 actually remains the discerning driver’s choice for those who like the idea of a better-handling, affordable EV, because the XPower has lost some of that car’s dynamic sweetness. If you’re here for the kidney-crushing power, though, you won’t be disappointed.
It’s properly ‘push you back in your seat’ quick. Of course it is, with 429bhp. But it delivers this performance with surprisingly little drama or verve. Just plant your foot and go. The front tyres occasionally have a bit of trouble hooking up if the surface isn’t perfect or if the steering isn’t completely straight, however, because the Bridgestone tyres we mentioned earlier don’t exactly have the most commanding grip levels.
Other than that, all you get is ‘fast’. There are no paddles for regen control here (you can cycle the settings for that using a button instead, but it’s not as engaging to do it that way), and no attempts are made to enrich the driving experience with pretend gear ratios or spaceship combustion noises.
And that’s fine; provided that all you really want is the potential to beat so many sports cars away from the traffic lights. The MG 4 XPower’s an interesting test of how much the subjective excitement of even an affordable performance car is contributed to by factors other than outright pace. Things like a stirring engine note, and a gearbox with close-stacked ratios and a tactile manual change, might just matter more than you expect.
