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Published March 22, 2025
There’s something deeply satisfying about pointing a car north out of Los Angeles on a cool morning with no fixed plan. Santa Barbara. The winding roads of the Santa Ynez Valley. Maybe a stop for coffee. Definitely a lunch worth the drive.
The car for this escape is the new MG 4 EV Urban — specifically the longer-range 54 kWh version that, when converted from its Australian pricing, lands at roughly $21,000 after incentives in the US. The entry-level 43 kWh model sits even lower, at about $19,000. That kind of sticker shock matters because affordable electric cars have long carried an unspoken asterisk: keep them close to home. Commute. School run. Supermarket. Plug in overnight. Repeat.
But after spending a full day behind the wheel — threading through canyon roads, cruising the Pacific Coast Highway, and ending up at a farm-to-table spot in the Santa Ynez Valley — I walked away convinced the MG 4 EV Urban might be the most convincing budget EV available anywhere in the world right now. And crucially, not simply because it’s cheap.
Not the MG 4 you already know
First, a clarification: despite sharing its name with the rear-drive MG 4 hatchback sold in Europe and Asia, the Urban is a fundamentally different car. It swaps rear-wheel drive for front-wheel drive, and its styling is noticeably softer and more rounded. There’s no faux aggression — no fake grilles, no desperate vents. Instead, you get a clean EV nose, slim LED lighting, tidy 17-inch alloys, and proportions that look surprisingly substantial in person.
And substantial it is. At nearly 4.4 meters long (about 173 inches) and 1.8 meters wide (71 inches), with a generous 2750mm wheelbase, this is no city runabout. The “Urban” badge undersells its size. There’s genuine space here: five usable seats, excellent rear legroom, and a 382-liter trunk (13.5 cubic feet) that expands to 1,266 liters (44.7 cubic feet) with the rear seats folded. You could easily throw in bags and disappear for a weekend. Or, in my case, point it toward wine country because someone mentioned a good pie shop.
Affordable price, premium gear
The bigger surprise comes inside. For roughly $21,000, you’d expect heavy cost cutting. Instead, the MG 4 EV Urban serves up a 12.8-inch central touchscreen, a separate 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster for the driver, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging, a 360-degree camera, and a six-speaker audio system. Then add heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, power driver seat adjustment, and rear air vents. There’s also vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability, letting you power external gear from the car’s battery.
Better still, MG hasn’t buried every control inside the touchscreen. Physical buttons remain
