MG3 in NZ

Entry point MG here at last DAVE MOORE Last updated 06:15 29/03/2014



MG3: New small hatch stands out among the usual suspects.



Eventually there will be a whole raft of MG models.



We've had the MG6 for some two years now, and very soon the MG5 will enter the fray here too, while there are rumours that the Chinese-owned British brand will soon offer a front-engined rear-drive sports car.



But for the time-being, the limelight is rightly taken by the wee MG3 which we guess you could call the MG 1100/1300 reborn, being a transverse-engined family B-segment offering. Unlike that old 60s favourite, the MG3 has actually got a hatch rather than a hopelessly truncated boot and for the time-being it is to be offered here in New Zealand in a single, high specification mode as the MG3 "Style", for $19,995.



While the car won't have an automatic option until later in the year, the five-speed manual car has a lot of standard specification and home comforts for its sticker, including part-leather and climate control air conditioning.



There will be smaller petrol options in some markets and an all-new diesel power unit in good time, but for the launch the car comes with a 78kW 16 valve DOHC fuel injected so-called VTi-Tech 1.5-litre engine.



The Style specification car being offered in New Zealand is the equivalent of highest grade MG3 in the United Kingdom, where it sells for £9990.



For that, the new five-door gets front LED lights, and electronic hill hold as standard, along with high-quality audio, six airbags, electronic stability control, corner brake control and traction control.



The car also gets 16 inch "Diamond" alloy wheels and a sports body styling pack that includes the rear boot spoiler and subtle side sill extensions.



Standard convenience features include cruise control, automatic lights and windscreen wipers and reverse parking sensors, as well as Bluetooth and audio streaming a leather-rimmed MG-design wheel with red stitching and steering wheel audio controls.



MG's current offering and its first, the MG6, is a rare sight in New Zealand, which is a pity because it is dynamically sound, well-priced from under $30,000 and loaded with equipment, while its build quality is irrefutable.



By placing the new MG3 at under that $20,000 tipping point and leaving nothing to be asked for on the standard manifest, the newcomer, which is about the same size as a VW Polo or Toyota, is better placed to snare private buyers than the MG6.



For a start it looks "different" while the MG6 looked a little generic, and merely part of a pack. The wedge, blade-edged MG3 design, which was crafted at MG owner Shanghai Automobiles' Design Centre at Longbridge, by a team of 60 designers and 300 engineers.



It's good to see that apart from the famous octagon badge, MG in its 21st century form has not tried to hang any old-fashioned design elements on the car for posterity's sake.



The reborn brand deserves to live in a form of its own and any slavish link with the past is ill-advised in the here and now buying decisions of the modern motorist, many of whom think of MGs as mainly rag-topped cars driven by usually an older motorist.



This observation is meant with no disrespect to MG-owners of this old and admired school, as it is they, rather than the oft mis-managed brand itself that have maintained world interest in the marque.



However, for every MG fan there are many thousands of other small-car aspirants that the modern MG marque needs to conquer before if it is to make the kind of profits required to give it the wherewithal to finance modern renderings of its stock-in-trade sports cars.



The car looks terrific, and will stand-out among the blobby sameness of the B/C segment in supermarket carparks, with crisp, straight edges and a nose-down wedge-like profile. For us there's a little too much metal between the glasshouse and rear wheel arch, but that's personal taste and over all the 4016mm car looks a treat on its standard alloy rims.



The car's chassis is fairly industry average, with the MG3's all-new front-drive design is using MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion bar at the rear, with firmer, more sporting damper and spring rates for New Zealand.



While many small cars employ electrically-assisted steering these days to reduce engine drag and emissions, the MG3 has stuck with hydraulic rack and pinion steering. We'd expect this to change in the future as the "old" pre-Chinese MG as we know was one of the pioneers of electric steering with the MGf in the mid 90s. The car uses front disc brakes, with drums at the rear.



Early reports about the car's dynamics are encouraging with the British press - which is usually very sniffy about Chinese associated cars - affording the new MG3 gushing praise about its tactility and handling.



They also like the cabin space and its "racy" black, grey and red execution and we have to say we agree, and can't wait to get our mits on one for a serious road test.



The lack of an automatic will slow potential sales of this car at first, but we're confident that with the right kind of publicity, this car could acquit itself well in the market place when it gets that self-shifter.



In the meantime, asking $3000 to $7000 less than some other Euros, Japanese and Korean hatches in this size bracket with smaller engines, stingier equipment levels will put the MG3 firmly on some shopping lists.



Watch this space for a full road test of the car. - © Fairfax NZ News

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