You can call it half British, I guess. The
MG 3 was designed in the UK, wears the badging of a British brand and is 35 per
cent assembled at Longbridge. That it’s UK-made is a minor reason for long-term
acquaintance with this car, but our main one is that the MG 3 is easily MG
Motor’s most competitive offering yet, the bigger MG 6 proving to be a very
difficult sell. On top of that, it’s excellent value for money, all versions
being listed at less than $16,950. It’s actually a pretty good car, too.
The
MG packs a 1.5-litre engine which outputs 105bhp and 101lb ft; the 0-60mph
sprint is dispatched in 11.4sec
That wasn’t what was expected of a
supermini oozing light disappointment when I drove a Chinese-market version three
years ago in Shanghai. That car scored with its big cabin package and an aura
of frill-free robustness, but it displayed few of the qualities that you’d
expect of a car wearing an MG badge. But now, a long three years after it made
its debut in 2010, UK buyers are being offered a subtly yet extensively
improved version of an MG 3 reconfigured for European tastes.
There have been component quality upgrades,
a retuning of the suspension and steering to better suit the MG branding, an
improved infotainment system, reworked interior trimmings and a set of graphic
personalization packs. The alterations compared with Chinese-specification MG
3s are one reason for MG Motor completing the cars in the UK; the desire to
maintain a level of car-building expertise at Longbridge is another. The hope
is that the plant will one day make cars more completely and in much higher
volumes. As it is, the factory builds in batches, and we were able to see our
MG 3 undergo the process.
Red
highlights with black and grey trim are classic MG cues
It arrives from China as a fully painted,
glazed, trimmed and wired body; its rear suspension has already been installed,
too. But the engine comes undressed and out of the car, Longbridge adding the
alternator, power steering pump, transmission and front subframe, all of this
stuffed up into the body on a production line that once made Rover 75s. The
exhaust, bumpers, wheels and various minor components are added, too. It’s a
long way from the days of sheet steel entering at one end and a 75 emerging at
the other, but many thought Longbridge would never see car assembly again.
The MG 3 comes with only one mechanical
format in the shape of the optimistically labelled 1.5 VTi engine and a
five-speed gearbox. Optimistically, because the VTi label implies a
sophistication that isn’t really there, this motor doing without variable valve
timing, a turbo or even an aluminium block. On the positive side, its 105bhp is
far more than a 58bhp base Ford Fiesta musters, and its 101lb ft of torque is
competitive. But CO2 emissions of 136g/km certainly aren’t, and nor is a
combined 48.7mpg.
The
seats are a good size and it's easy to find a decent driving position
Consider the MG’s pricing — and an
impressively low 4E insurance group — and the powertrain’s costly dietary
habits are a little easier to overlook. The range starts at $14,235 for the 3
Time (cheesy derivative, paint colour and graphics labels are rampant in MG 3
world), climbs to $15,760 for the 3 Form, $16,270 for the 3 Form Sport and $16,950
for the 3 Style we have here. MG reckons the 3 Form Sport will be the most
popular, but for $763 extra we couldn’t resist the top-of-the-range version,
not least because it produces an MG 3 with a surprisingly lengthy set of
features, many of them electronic and genuinely useful. Among them are a DAB
radio, Bluetooth phone connectivity, cruise control, a smartphone/sat-nav
docking station, automatic lights and wipers, electronic air conditioning, a
trip computer and a six-speaker stereo of entirely decent quality. Not bad for
less than $16,950, and many of those features come on the cheaper versions too.
The
loading lip hides a large boot that's deep enough to beat most in the class
We also indulged the options list with
all-black alloys at $590, a $340 Trophy striping kit, $66 black mirror cappings
and some $170 piano black and red interior trim décor that gives the cabin a
pleasing lift. This last item I forgot to order, but because we collected the
car from the factory, we were able to switch these pieces on collection day, a
facility MG has already provided to a few mind-changing customers.
We could find no faults on the car when we
drove it out of the plant with three miles on its odometer, and were impressed
by its game handling, the feel of its hydraulic power steering and its roomy
cabin. We’ve yet to hear the engine’s grumbly high-rev power delivery because
it’s running in; it requires 900 miles of containing the revs to 3,000rpm and
the top speed to 72mph. No doubt it’ll pipe up after that, but we’ll also be
better able to enjoy the MG’s dynamic entertainments.
