MG Cyberster 2024 Review | First Drive

With dreams of an electric successor to the Porsche Boxster currently stalled and Tesla’s much-hyped hovering Roadster still failing to get off the ground, all hail MG and its return to building open-top sports cars.

Because, yes, where the might of Porsche and Tesla dithers little old MG, now Chinese owned and better known for its bargain brand electrified SUVs and crossovers, with the first fully electric roadster of the modern age. And first impressions are good. Styled by a team here in the UK, the looks successfully blend the traditional and the modern and for a starting price of £55,000 you get snazzy, power-operated butterfly doors, 340PS (250kW) to the rear wheels, range of just over 300 miles, and a smart interior packed with tech. For another £5,000 and you get all that with a second motor, 510PS (375kW) and 0-62mph in just 3.2 seconds. Impressive stats and slinky styling are all very well, though. How does it drive?

We’ll call it a successful reboot of classic MG design cues, the Cyberster celebrating iconic 60s roadsters like the MGA, MGB, and Midget, nodding to more recent hits like the MGF and honouring the brand’s traditions without resorting lazily to rose-tinted ‘full retro’ vibes it might otherwise have been tempting to plunder.

While there’s nothing jumping out at you as necessarily ‘MG’ about the looks, the badge doesn’t feel out of place on the swooping bonnet. The creases from the nose and along the flanks rise and fall like the sweeps on a designer’s sketchpad, contrasting black sills and detailing around the shoulders cleverly disguising the height of the electrified platform and its underfloor batteries.

A sharp Kamm tail with some distinctive rear lights looks good as well, forward hinged and power-operated doors bringing some kerbside theatre when you pull up. Under the skin the platform is a hybrid of MG4 batteries, running gear, and multi-link rear suspension combined with a double-wishbone front end from Rising, another of MG owner SAIC’s local brands.

While a smaller battery is available in some other markets, all UK-bound Cybersters get the same 77kWh power pack with the option of a single-motor rear-driven set-up in the Trophy, or twin-motor arrangement in the more powerful GT. Other than the latter getting 20-inch wheels over the 19s on the Trophy, both are otherwise the same in their specification and features meaning the usual selection of configurable driving modes are available via the right-hand paddle behind the wheel and adjustable regen from the left. A red ‘Super Sport’ button on the wheel meanwhile promises much, launch control included. Even with MG’s impressively slim battery pack the seating position immediately feels a little lofty for a sports car, though the same was said of the MGF back in the day, so perhaps this is leveraging heritage of sorts!

Starting out in the Trophy, it’s clear the Cyberster is more cruiser than bruiser, light and low-geared steering setting the tone and remaining on the chilled side even when you dial-in the supposedly sportier settings buried in the menus and modes. Like the MG4, you sense the benefits of some UK development work in the chassis and the combination of soft springs and well-judged damping cope well with the lumps and bumps of British roads even if there is a lot of vertical movement for a supposedly sporty car. The odd shimmy through the structure is, perhaps, evidence of why the springs are not stiffer than they are. Leave hopes of the Cyberster being some sort of electrified MX-5 at the door and, instead, settle into moochy vibes more to akin a trad Mercedes SL. Nothing wrong with that, so long as you measure your expectations accordingly.

Performance is a little strange, there being lots of it from the off but less of it the faster you go – something perhaps hinted at in the modest top speeds quoted, with even the GT topping out at just 125mph. Given how quickly you can actually go in a world beyond German Autobahns that’s fine, and in the performance envelope up to 70mph you can actually enjoy, even the Trophy goes well for a car weighing 1,885kg. In the most aggressive mode there’s still some initial softness in the throttle, which perhaps blunts ability to enjoy the rear-wheel drive balance in the corners. But you can still feel that if you get on the throttle early enough, and ‘off means off’ if you choose to disable the stability control, though you need a lead foot to make it do anything really exciting.

Mid-range overtaking grunt is impressive, too, making it easy to sweep past slower moving traffic, while the novelty of silently carving along the lanes roof down without engine noise is a new thrill. Swapping to the GT with its extra motor and promise of 510PS (375kW) and 725Nm (535lb ft), the dulled steering response and extra 100kg are actually more noticeable than the extra grunt. Sure, it gets off the line faster, but the acceleration quickly tails off; it feels a case of diminishing returns and, for our money, the Trophy has the sweeter handling with little meaningful sacrifice in real-world pace. Usefully, it also gets a bit more range, with a claimed 316 miles over the 276 miles of the GT. The impressive 3 miles/kWh we achieved even with some fairly spirited driving suggests you may even see something close to those figures.

Strictly a two-seater, you’ll be glad to hear quality has taken a big step up from the plasticky feel of more everyday MGs. While the ‘leather’ isn’t real, the cabin hangs together nicely in terms of style and finish, there being an option of pale grey or red/black upholstery. There are no rattles or squeaks either, and roof-up refinement at motorway speeds is impressive even with a fabric roof, while turbulence with it down is successfully contained thanks to a standard wind deflector between the seats. With your view of the road ahead framed between the crests of the front wings it feels sporty enough, though at nearly two metres wide and two tonnes in weight it’s a lump compared with MG roadsters of the past. And those doors? While sure to turn heads, they’re a bit slow to operate, require some contortion to duck under and, on balance, are one of those concept car gimmicks like camera rear view mirrors which is better off staying on the show floor rather than making production.

Screens, touch-operated surfaces, and tiny fonts dominates your interactions with the Cyberster’s many and various systems. While the graphics in the instrument cluster are stylishly executed with nice animations, the sub-menus on the smaller screens either side are bafflingly indecipherable on the move, the irritation then compounded when the car scolds you for not looking at the road when you try and use them. Maybe it was our driving position, but we also found the steering wheel obscured at least a third of them as well, meaning you need to move your head just to check your heading on the nav.

A fourth touch panel between the seats controls heating, ventilation, and driver settings, and is just as fiddly to use, though you can at least connect your phone via CarPlay or Android Auto and navigate or communicate via your familiar apps. On the plus side, all Cybersters come with a Bose-powered speaker system as standard, while the heated seats and steering wheel mean roof-down driving remains an option even on fresher days. Which, given it takes just 15 seconds to drop it and can be done at speeds of up to 30mph, leaves no excuse not to so at every opportunity!

MG’s roadgoing models have never really sold on hardcore driving thrills. While the Cyberster looks sporty, this tradition means the relatively mellow driving manners aren’t the disappointment they might otherwise be. Far from it, in fact, the ability to peacefully cruise scenic roads with the wind in your hair and birdsong in your ears is a fresh and engaging twist on the brand’s longstanding traditions. Over its 100 years on sale the MG badge has proven adaptable to the company’s many twists and turns, be that on its own cars in the early days or as a means of spicing up everyday Metros, Maestros or Rovers in more recent times. While the everyday product is perfectly decent, it’s nice to have a sporty roadster as a halo at the top of the range and see the MG badge on a car of this type once again.