MG3 REVIEW & PRICES

The new MG3 has come leaps and bounds compared to its predecessor, which was one of the lowest rated cars on Carwow. Not exactly a badge of honour, eh? The current version, however, is one of the best small cars on sale thanks to its powerful hybrid engine option, fuel efficiency and generous standard kit - though it does feel cheap in places.

You can opt for a less powerful petrol engine, so choosing an MG3 is a bit like ordering from a cafe. You get what you pay for, so you may be tempted by the instant coffee, but if you spend a little extra you’ll get a nice cappuccino instead.

In hybrid form it’s cracking value compared to alternatives like the Renault Clio, Toyota Yaris and Peugeot 208 - as it’s more powerful than the others while being better equipped as standard. The petrol MG3, meanwhile, is also more affordable than the Skoda Fabia and SEAT Ibiza - though it’s undercut by the Dacia Sandero in most trim levels.

It’s not quite as stylish as its alternatives, either, but the MG3 is a handsome little car. The pointy front end with its massive grille looks a little fish-like, but it’s definitely sporty with all of the sharp creases down the flanks and the sculpted rear bumper. Quirky, yes, but overall it’s a success.

The interior looks good too, with a dashboard design which spans out either side of the 10.2-inch infotainment system and wraps around to the door handles. Start poking around and the MG3 loses its shine, though. There are lots of cheap, scratchy plastics dotted around you - and you start to understand where MG has saved money.

At least it’s well equipped, as that infotainment system is packed with features, you get a digital driver’s display and easy to use climate controls on the home screen. There’s a decent amount of room up front, though the seats aren’t very adjustable, while back seat and boot space is nothing to brag about; in line with most alternatives.

The MG3 is most affordable when powered by a 1.5-litre petrol motor paired with a five-speed manual gearbox, but for a little bit more you can have the excellent, 191hp, 1.5-litre hybrid engine under the bonnet instead.

Around town the MG3 is an excellent car to zip around in, with plenty of shove away from the lights and a propensity to stay electric powered for the majority of your journey. The suspension is a little firm but does a good job of soaking up bumpy roads, too.

On the motorway you can really feel the benefits of the MG3’s power compared to a Yaris or a Volkswagen Polo, as it’s a piece of cake getting up to cruising speeds - though gear changes are painfully slow. It’s a great car to chuck about on country lanes, too, with loads of grip and the ability to put a smile on your face.

Browse the latest MG3 deals on Carwow, or MG3 lease deals instead. There are plenty of used MG3s to choose from, as well as other used MG models available through our trusted dealer network. Carwow can even help you sell your car, when you decide to switch.

At just over £17,000 in petrol form and starting from around £19,000 as a hybrid, the MG3 offers great value compared to alternatives from Skoda, Volkswagen and Toyota. You get the large infotainment screen and adaptive cruise control as standard as well as rear parking sensor - which is a lot of equipment at such a low price.

The Renault Clio runs it close, though, and you might feel it’s worth the extra £900 in base trim for the far more premium-feeling interior and posher badge. The hybrid, meanwhile, undercuts its alternatives by thousands whilst also being more powerful and better fun to drive.

Hybrid system can be a little clunky, but it’s powerful and reasonably efficient

In town

The MG3’s hybrid system is more electric than most - by that we mean it uses a comparatively powerful electric motor, and relies on that rather than the petrol engine most of the time. In fact, the MG’s electric motor on its own is more powerful than the Toyota Yaris’ entire hybrid system, and that means that most of the time its engine acts more like a generator, just keeping the battery topped up.

Thanks to this, driving round town is extremely smooth because for the most part, it’s done on electric power alone. That doesn’t mean it’s silent like an electric car, though, because the engine needs to be on to keep the battery charged - and it often revs higher than you’d expect with quite a coarse sound. It’s not unbearable, but it is noticeable.

The MG3 has quite firm suspension but it’s not uncomfortable round town. It deals well with lumps and bumps, and the steering is light enough although it does feel a little remote.

It also has significantly more regen braking than any other hybrid car. On its highest setting it’s almost a one-pedal driving mode, though the on-again, off-again nature can make low-speed manoeuvres a little jerky. 

On the motorway

The extra power you get over a Clio or a Yaris here is a boon when it comes to joining the motorway - where those cars would need quite a lot of throttle to get up to speed on a slip road, leaving their engines at high revs and making a racket, the MG can do it in a relatively relaxed fashion. 

If you do put your foot down, you can feel where the hybrid system starts to get clunky. With just a three-speed gearbox on the engine, gear changes feel like they take an age, so the power delivery has pronounced dips as the electric motor tries to fill the gap. During normal driving though, you won’t notice it.

It feels stable and comfortable, and the engine settles down unless you’re really going for it. All MG3s include adaptive cruise control and a suite of safety equipment to make motorway driving more relaxing. The adaptive cruise works okay, but it’s a bit hyperactive, slowing you down miles before you get close to another car. The lane-keeping aids can be rather eager, too. And a word to the warning that you’ll want to turn off the average speed camera alerts in the sat-nav menu - they’re ear-splittingly loud.

On a twisty road

The old MG3 handled corners absolutely brilliantly - and despite its bigger frame and additional complexity, the new car does so too. It has oodles of grip when cornering hard, so you really feel confident to fling it into bends with gay abandon, and have a lot of fun while doing so.

You can flip the car into Sport mode, which makes the powertrain feel even more eager but does add some unnatural-feeling weight to the steering.

Even when you’re giving it some beans, the MG3 tackles bumps pretty well, and it’s more likely to put a smile on your face than either the Renault Clio or the Toyota Yaris.

Comfortably average in the space department but with a few practicality niggles

Front seat occupants have a pretty good time in the MG3 with fairly comfortable and supportive seats. There’s not much adjustment for the driver, though - while the seat does have height adjustment, there’s no variable lumbar support and nor is there reach adjustment for the steering wheel, which is particularly disappointing.

Storage is good, though - there’s a big glovebox, a tray in front of the gear selector plus two large cupholders. Under the arm rest there’s a big storage compartment too, though the cover for this is extremely flimsy.

Space in the back seats

Two adults can just about get comfy in the back of the MG3, though like all of its alternatives there really isn’t space for three except for very short journeys. There’s more legroom and headroom than in a Toyota Yaris, and it’s about on par with the Renault Clio - but a Honda Jazz is the king for back seat space.

Rear passengers get a pair of air vents and small door bins, but they have to share one charging port and there's no fold-down armrest for a bit of extra comfort. The rear windows are nice and big, though, so there’s a good view out. ISOFIX points are present in both outer rear seats 

Boot space

With 293 litres of boot space, the MG3 is on the lower end of average here. It has more room than the Toyota Yaris with its 286-litre boot, and just a snip less than the 300 litres of the Renault Clio hybrid. If you want a bigger boot, look to non-hybrid Clios which have 391 litres.

What’s more disappointing is that the MG’s seatbacks don’t split-fold - it just flops down as one unit. That means if you want to extend the boot to carry larger items, you can’t have any rear occupants at all. Even the Dacia Sandero has split-folding rear seats, so this is pretty poor from MG and limits the car’s versatility. When the seats are folded, you do have a reasonable space, though there is a big load lip and the floor isn’t left totally flat.

A huge upgrade over the last MG3, but does feel cheap in places

The new MG3’s interior is similar to the MG4 EV’s, which means it’s pretty minimalist and feels quite well-built. It’s much more stylish than the last MG3 - you get some nice touches like a cute tartan-patterned plastic section as well as some fake leather padding. 

It’s much more high-tech too, with almost everything controlled by the 10.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the centre. This is similar to the one on the MG4, but feels a little easier to use in places. However, it’s still dominated by menus with tiny, difficult-to-press buttons which makes life annoying if you’re trying to alter functions on the move.

It’s best, then, to ensure you’ve made most of your corrections before you set off. In particular, you’ll probably want to adjust the safety and assisted driving functions - they’re pretty irritating.

There are some hotkeys below the screen, including one to get you directly to the climate control menu - though annoyingly this doesn’t work if you’re using the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone connectivity. Both of those work well, incidentally, though it’s a shame they don’t connect wirelessly.

The driver display is big and clear, but a little busy. Some functions like the cruise control info are constantly visible, even when you’re not using them, whereas for everything else you need to cycle through a small menu on the right side. You don’t get a rev counter unless you’re on the power display screen - not that you need one in an automatic, but some people do like to have one.

Material quality is a mixed bag. We would have liked some more soft-touch plastics on the door cards in particular, as this is where your arm naturally rests, but you can definitely forgive a few cheap-feeling areas - this is a very inexpensive car compared to the alternatives and it doesn’t feel much more downmarket inside than a Toyota Yaris.

During a week of mixed motoring with the MG3 we averaged just over 50mpg. That number tends to go up to around 55mpg in town driving and around 48mpg on a long motorway trip.

This isn’t bad, but compared to the Renault Clio Hybrid or Toyota Yaris it’s a bit disappointing - both of those cars will average much closer to 60mpg. The MG’s additional power and performance does go some way to justifying the decrease, though - but if you’re buying one to lower your running costs, it’s possible to get better economy out of an even cheaper pure-petrol hatchback like a Dacia Sandero.

CO2 emissions are good, though, at just 100g/km - only a few g/km more than a Clio or a Yaris. That puts it just one bracket above them in terms of company car tax, and the same band for first-year road tax.

The MG3 scored a four-star rating out of five when tested by Euro NCAP in 2025, which is a disappointing result given the MG4, MG S5 EV and MG S6 EV all scored the full five-stars. Adult and Child occupant safety scores of 74% and 73% respectively aren’t very confidence-inspiring for families, though.

It’s also worth noting that the driver’s seat physically broke during testing, and the MG3 is the only car that’s happened to in all of Euro NCAP’s history. MG has stated it will rectify this potential issue in all new models, but be cautious about cars produced before October 2025 as they won’t receive the fix.

Safety equipment includes the usual - autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist and various speed limit aids. You can turn most of these off easily enough, but if you forget you’ll soon be reminded by a set of intensely irritating bongs - some of the worst we’ve heard. We also found the lane-keeping to be a bit hyperactive, alerting us when we were nowhere near the white lines. The adaptive cruise control and assisted driving functions work well, though.

MG came stone dead last in the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction, 31st out of all 31 brands entered. Proceed with appropriate expectations, but we’ve not heard any horror stories about the MG3 in particular.

MG’s seven-year, 80,000-mile warranty should give peace of mind here - it’s better than the three years of coverage you get on a Renault Clio, though the Toyota ‘Relax’ warranty with up to ten years of coverage makes the Yaris an even more compelling proposition.