MG4 EV review: reliability & safety rating

The MG4 isn’t the marque’s first electric car, but it's the first to use the brand-new MSP platform that’ll underpin every pure-electric MG launched from now on. There’s little to go on when it comes to gauging the reliability of MG's first bespoke EV, but it was awarded the maximum five-star crash-test rating by Euro NCAP. The strong suite of standard active safety kit should also give drivers peace of mind.

MG4 EV reliability & problems

Like we said, this is a brand-new model on a brand-new platform, so until owners have had a chance to give the MG4 a proper shakedown, we can’t judge its reliability. What we will say is that during our test drives we have encountered a handful of issues, from the reversing camera going AWOL and the car refusing to go into gear – MG constantly releases over-the-air updates for the 4, so we hope these will be resolved in time.

The MG4 is also covered by a seven-year/80,000-mile warranty. MG's Chinese parent company SAIC does churn out hundreds of thousands of electric cars for its home market, and electric cars are generally more dependable than their combustion-engined equivalents, so we’re not too worried about reliability with the electric family hatch. 

The MG brand finished plumb last on the list of the best carmarkers in the 2023 Driver Power satisfaction survey, with a worrying 33% of owners reporting an issue with their car in the first year of ownership. All the while, the MG5 EV placed a disappointing 66th out of the top 75 cars, with owners slating build quality and MG’s infotainment system.

Safety

Euro NCAP crash-tested the MG4 in December 2022, awarding it the maximum five-star overall rating, as well as 83% and 80% scores for adult and child occupant protection, respectively, plus 78% for its safety assistance systems.

Every version of the electric family hatchback comes with the MG Pilot driver assistance suite, which on SE models includes lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, intelligent high beam assist and driver attention alert. But, if you upgrade to Trophy trim, you also get blind-spot monitoring and lane-change assist among other systems. 

The MG4 might not boast the same semi-autonomous driving capabilities as the ID.3 with the optional 'Travel Assist' system, but it still features an impressive amount of safety kit for the price.