- Plug-in hybrid powerful and refined
- Cheap to buy – but not the cheapest
- Niggles with infotainment and ADAS
SUV offers value for money and hybrid refinement but has some irritating flaws.
Overview
The MG brand, which was revived under Chinese ownership following the demise of MG Rover in 2005, has seen strong sales growth in recent years thanks to its range of well-priced, electrified models. The most successful of these is the HS, which was the UK’s eighth best-selling car over the first five months of 2026. The current, second-generation version of the medium-sized SUV launched in 2024, initially with a choice of petrol and plug-in hybrid powertrains, with a full hybrid version then added to the line-up last year.
All HS powertrains feature a 1.5-litre petrol engine. With the pure petrol model, this produces 169PS, and is paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic gearbox. The full hybrid – badged Hybrid+ – has a 142PS petrol engine, which combines with a 198PS electric motor for a total output of 224PS. As for the plug-in hybrid – the version we tested – this features a 142PS petrol engine, and a 24.7kWh battery powering a 209PS electric motor, with a 299PS combined output. Both hybrid options feature, unusually, two-speed automatic transmission, reflecting the dominant role of their electric motors in delivering drive to the wheels.
At 4,670mm long in hybrid and plug-in hybrid form (the petrol version is 15mm shorter) the HS is one of the largest models in the medium SUV segment. Rivals from established brands include the Kia Sportage and Ford Kuga, while alternatives from MG’s Chinese competitors include the Jaecoo 7 and Chery Tiggo 7. Given MG’s budget positioning, the Dacia Bigster is another relevant rival.
Pricing and spec
The HS is available with a choice of SE and Trophy trim levels. Standard features with SE trim include automatic LED headlights, LED taillights, front fog lights, sat-nav, a six-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat and rear privacy glass. Further features with Trophy trim include leather-style upholstery, heated front seats, dual-zone automatic air conditioning and a power tailgate.
OTR prices with SE trim are £26,495 for a petrol model, £29,495 for a hybrid and £32,495 for a plug-in hybrid. Trophy cars incur a £2,500 premium.
The HS, which comes with an impressive seven-year/80,000-mile warranty, is predictably much cheaper than the Kia Sportage and Ford Kuga. More impressively, it’s also priced lower than the Jaecoo 7. However, the Chery Tiggo 7 and Dacia Bigster are cheaper still.
Technology
All MG HSs come as standard with a pair of 12.3-inch screens – one an infotainment touchscreen and the other a driver display. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity is standard – wirelessly so with the hybrid powertrains, while Trophy-spec cars also get wireless smartphone charging.
The infotainment system is frankly poor, with the screen often requiring many increasingly frustrating repeated presses before it will do anything, and quite slow to function when it does. For the first part of our week with the car the system also refused to connect our iPhone to CarPlay for more than one trip without us having to delete it from the system and reconnect from scratch – although in the latter period of our test this stopped being needed and the connection became much more reliable, for reasons we’re not sure of.
You do get a shelf under this touchscreen with some physical shortcut buttons, including an infotainment home button and heated windscreen and fan controls. However, many functions, such as adjusting the volume of the audio system, are handled via buttons on the steering wheel which are not clearly labelled, meaning it takes a while to figure everything out (a pressing matter since we couldn’t find another volume control method anywhere else).
Safety
The HS comes as standard with the MG Pilot ADAS package, with features such as active emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping assist and departure warning, blind zone detection with lane change assist, driver attention alert and active rear cross traffic alert. However, some of these systems can frustrate on the road. The driver attention warning system, for example, is overly sensitive, while on a couple of occasions the lane change assist system fought against our steering inputs when we were attempting to change lanes on busy motorways despite having space to do so – a highly unsettling experience. Fortunately, the HS allows drivers to create and save a customised list of settings turning off unwanted systems, which can then be applied by swiping down from the top of the touchscreen before starting each journey – although this sometimes takes a couple of attempts before all unwanted systems are successfully deactivated.
A more impressive feature of the HS is an extensive 360-degree camera system (with Trophy spec – SE cars just get a reversing camera), which includes the distance from surrounding objects displayed in centimetres.
Even more positively, when the HS was tested by Euro NCAP in 2024 it received a maximum five-star safety rating, with the model attracting particular praise for its level of occupant protection.
Driving experience
With 299PS available, the HS plug-in hybrid offers strong performance for an SUV of this size, with 0-62mph possible in 6.8 seconds. With the two-speed transmission, acceleration is delivered in a slightly unusual way, with a strong initial surge that then tails off slightly, before getting a second wind at about 50mph. The level of available acceleration does noticeably drop when the battery is depleted – it doesn’t become a slow car by any means, but you lose a bit of the punchiness that comes with a higher level of charge. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the powertrain, however, is its refinement, with the petrol engine remaining very quiet even under heavy acceleration.
Thanks to its large battery, which provides an EV-only range of up to 75 miles in official testing, the HS plug-in hybrid has a WLTP weighted combined fuel economy rating of 705mpg, although obviously getting close to this will need regular charging. In our week with the car, covering a few hundred miles, mainly on motorways, with a battery that was delivered part-charged and never plugged in, we saw 46.3mpg – a figure somewhere between those two will likely be realistic for most buyers. MG quotes a 48.7mpg figure with an uncharged battery.
Ride quality we would say is reasonable – it’s not class-leading for comfort, but also isn’t overly firm or harsh. As for handling, the HS’s chassis and suspension certainly don’t pull any clever tricks to disguise that this is a heavy (HS plug-in hybrids weigh 300kg more than petrols) and relatively large SUV. It corners fairly ponderously and doesn’t seem to approach a twisty road with much relish. That being said, it clings on pretty tenaciously in bends, and the brakes pull up well.
Practicality
Noteworthy aspects when climbing aboard the HS, in plug-in hybrid form, begin immediately with the presence of side steps. These help to augment the SUV design – although they didn’t seem to be that useful to us, presenting more of an annoyance that we had to step over than any useful aid to climbing aboard, though perhaps shorter drivers would disagree.
Once onboard, with Trophy spec, things improve with a good amount of leather-style, brushed metal-style and gloss plastic trim being applied to the interior. We also like the styling detail of air vents blended into the dashboard.
Rear legroom is impressive, and headroom is fairly good too. Two USB-C charging ports are provided back there, as are air vents.
A 530-litre boot capacity with electrified HS models is a little disappointing given the model’s size, especially given that MG quotes a floor-to-roof figure, rather than the more commonly quoted floor-to-parcel-shelf (petrol models have a 630-litre capacity). For an SUV the PHEV’s boot is quite shallow, and it has quite a high lip too – though at least there’s an easy-to-use roll-up luggage cover.
