With the MG ZS SUV already a best seller it was always going to have a major influence on the styling of this new MG3, with the all new signature front grille and superb looking LED daytime running lights creating a distinctive and memorable silhouette that reflects the brand’s new found confidence.
There’s a revised rear to the car that blends it’s subtly revised rear light clusters with a bold new bodywork crease that sweeps horizontally across the boot. If you put the bodywork changes together with the strong side profile, what you’ve got is a thoroughly modern and sporty looking city car and one that manages to stand out amongst the increasingly generic competition.
A myriad of thoroughly modern styling and design options allow you to make the car your own, a simple job to complete as you get six stunning body colours, eye-grabbing graphic packs, variable mirror caps and 16” diamond cut alloy wheels to decide between.
The ‘old’ MG3 has a decent interior with a decent level of kit but it’s not a patch on the 2018 version, a point clearly made as you make yourself comfortable in the easily adjustable, sporty feeling front seats, reach forward to the all new steering wheel and take in your surroundings. An 8” colour touch screen dominates the centre of the console and includes the ever impressive Apple CarPlayTM, DAB radio with USB, Bluetooth telephone and audio streaming. Air conditioning is taken care of by separate physical controls, whilst the vents themselves mirror those in the larger MG ZS and look all the better for it.
Under the bonnet the MG3 sports the same 1498cc 4-cylinder normally aspirated engine as before, putting out 105bhp @ 6000rpm and providing the driver with 101 ft/lb torque @ 4500rpm, you also get a combined mpg of up to 42.3mpg. This is certainly no bad thing as the engine’s reliability is already proven and MG are confident enough in the power plant and car as a whole, to offer a warranty that is fully transferable to future owners and lasts for up to 7 years or 80,000 miles, whichever comes first.
What’s always been one of the major plus points with the MG3 is the car’s handling prowess, especially as it’s ability to slay a twisting country back lane provides a link to the past and MG’s of old. Keep the revs in the upper reaches of the engines range, leave the gearshift in third and you have the ideal opportunity to see what the MG can do once town driving and traffic have been left behind in it’s wake. The engine may well have ‘only’ 105bhp but that is more than enough when it’s powering an unladen weight of just 1,200kg as a 0-60mph time of 10.4s and a top speed of 108mph testify.
Stick cruise control at 60mph, sit back and enjoy the feeling of space on offer from the well appointed interior and the views through the expanses of glass that surround you. After all, this is a car that does long journeys on straight and dull A roads and motorways just as easily as it does twists and turns.
The MG3 offers the discerning driver a modern city car for not much money. Starting at £9,495 for the basic Explore edition and rising to £12,795 for the top of the range Exclusive. You are not going to get the same mix of fun, practicality, technology and feeling from anywhere else and that is something to be admired and embraced. Congratulations MG.
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