Review and test MG Marvel R Performance

Many new brands are introduced with great fanfare, preferably after months or even years tease. If not the reborn MG. If people knew it still existed (or existed again), they had no idea what the brand was doing. Until October 2019 – suddenly there was the ZS EV, a small, SUV-like electric car that was also quite affordable with an entry price of 30k.

The timing was perfect. A few months later, the addition rules would be adjusted, always good for an end-of-year run on the cars with the most favorable percentages. More or less unseen, MG sold about 1,500 ZS EVs. At the end of last year, the EHS, a larger plug-in hybrid SUV, appeared almost silently. And now it’s the turn of the Marvel R, the provisional top model, with which the MG offer is actually starting to look like something of a range.

The history of MG

Just for the record and the people who had no idea: MG is an ancient brand. It was founded in 1924 in Longbridge, England by William Morris – the letters stand for Morris Garages. It was best known for affordable but sporty open two-seaters such as the MGA, MGB and Midget. After British Leyland bought the brand and (like everything it touched) carefully scrapped it, it ended up with Rover.

It did, itself meanwhile taken over by BMW, an attempt at revival, with the sympathetic MG F. In 2005 the bankrupt estate was sold to China, where it ended up at SAIC. That company has also been around for a while (since 1958), is the largest car manufacturer in China and the number 12 in the world. It makes cars for Volkswagen and General Motors, among others.

SAIC made it work

You could certainly end up worse off as a dead brand, if you don’t end up at the bottom of a drawer – there are more dead brands than live ones and most of them are in a drawer somewhere, after all. But SAIC decided that MG was the brand they should take the leap to Europe with. You can clearly see that they have built a car there in Shanghai before: the Marvel R is well put together in every way. All body seams fit nicely, doors close in a confidence-inspiring way and the interior is usually nicely finished. It doesn’t get spectacular anywhere, not even in terms of design, but it is above average for sure.

It’s a big thing, that MG Marvel R; think Skoda Enyaq/VW ID.4, and then add a few centimeters. It is typically one of those cars that you can objectively never call ugly. It just gets a bit much of the same, with those electric SUVs. This could also have been a Kia, or an Aiways, or something else without a real face.

The range of the MG Marvel R

The battery is always 70 kWh, enough for an acceptable range. It differs depending on whether you want the rear-wheel drive (Comfort/Luxury, 402 kilometers) or the four-wheel drive (Performance, 370 kilometers). Before you have already made your choice based on that: there are more differences. The first has two electric motors, 180 hp and 410 Nm, the second has three, 288 hp and 665 Nm. A sprint to 100 km/h takes 7.9 seconds and 4.9 seconds respectively – so the four-wheel drive is seriously fast too.

Fast charging is possible, although by the standards set by Porsche and Hyundai, for example, it is not really super fast: it comes up to 92 kW, which means that a 30 to 80 percent top-up will take you half an hour. If your battery is almost empty (5 percent), you will be busy for 43 minutes. Compare that with an Ioniq 5: after 18 minutes of charging it is again from 10 to 80 percent full, and then it also has a larger battery pack. Doesn’t matter. Before the Marvel R, it speaks again that a heat pump (which, for example, can already heat the interior and battery, which can make a significant difference in the range, especially if it is cold outside) is always standard – in the cheaper versions of the Ioniq 5 you have to pay extra.

In terms of driving, everything is fine with the MG Marvel R

He is, of course, fast, quiet, comfortable and especially spacious in the back seat. He has no problems with corners and the steering has also been decidedly vaguer and more non-communicative. The huge upright screen is easy to operate, although we had a bit of a fight with the Apple CarPlay navigation. Not something you can blame the Marvel R for. It’s chock-full of auxiliary electronics, has a panoramic roof, heated seats, 19-inch wheels, a heat pump, Bose audio, all the things you want as standard. The only thing we could think of was a head-up display – let’s just not have that. Furthermore: nothing to wish for.

Well, the boot space is okay, but no more than that. Because of all the stuff under the floor you will have to lift high and you will have 357 liters left. That contrasts sharply with the 527 liters of the Hyundai and the 585 liters of an Enyaq. By flattening the rear seats, the space can be expanded to 1,396 litres, about 200 less than the competition. The rear-wheel drive Marvel R has an extra luggage compartment in the front; the 4WD has to do without.

The maintenance of the Marvel R

Where MG has an edge over other Chinese competitors such as Seres and Aiways, is that distribution and maintenance is in the hands of Van Mossel, now only the largest dealer group in the Netherlands. They now have five (will there be more) special MG branches from the ground up. You will not need much maintenance, because electric. And you get a full seven-year warranty – another reassuring thought.

Two versions are coming to the Netherlands. This Performance which should cost 48,990 euros and the Luxury. The latter has rear-wheel drive and costs 44,490 euros.

The MG Marvel R is another electric SUV that you can hardly find fault with. It’s just fine, perfectly fine. And roughly speaking exactly same as what we have been riding for the past few months. Distinguishing is becoming more and more difficult – our fun as a motoring journalist is diminishing a bit, right now. Anyway, our problem; There is no need for a consumer to worry about that, of course…

Big plans

As said, the Marvel R is only the third model that MG is launching here, but that certainly does not mean that it is complete – on the contrary. Very soon the fourth model, miraculously called MG5, which will be a c-segment station wagon. After that, there will be at least four more models, about which the brand unfortunately wants to lose less. At most, they are types ‘in segments that are still empty’. However, you have to see that broadly; ‘with this car we are entering a whole new segment’ is the most frequently heard phrase at press conferences since the creation of, well, the press conference.

On the other hand, MG emphasizes that it has absolutely nothing to do with the old MG at the moment, but that that will change in the future. In addition, in April of this year they came up with a concept of a not too large, but beautiful open two-seater, the Cyberster. You don’t have to have a lot of imagination to see a spiritual successor to the MGB in it. So to be continued!