YOU'D THINK THE SIGHT of a new MG might attract more attention, whether it was spied carving up the winding roads of rural Scotland or whizzing down the back streets of the country's capital city, Edinburgh. Once one of the United Kingdom's most successful exports and synonymous with sports car, an MG would turn the heads of every small-town Scot and even a few sheep. As we passed through quaint burghs large and small in our MG4 EV Trophy Extended Range, hardly anyone looked up.
Modern MGs are not the Morris Garages cars of old. The Chinese state-owned carmaker Nanjing Automobile purchased the storied brand in 2005 before merging with current owner SAIC Motor (also state controlled) in 2007. Made in China, MGs are now commonplace in Europe, having racked up substantial sales across the Continent and throughout the British Isles. This inexpensive electric SUV is one that strikes terror in the hearts of Western automakers and legislators. But the Scots we drove past were nonplussed.
While the modern MG lacks the romance and emotional appeal of its forebears, our experience driving more than 1500 miles in this electric version suggests that when it comes to affordable and reliable transportation, competing carmakers' worries about Chinese EVs are well founded. This MG4 is not a beauty or even a cutie. Its design is overwrought yet somehow boring in the modern compact-SUV vein, and its interior fittings hark back to another era in their utter iffiness. But for the price, it's startlingly all right.
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AN AMERICAN TOURING SCOTLAND IN AN ENGLISH CAR BUILT IN CHINA
In Dornbach, Scotland, Kitman walks past a modern MG and a Morris Minor, its distant relative. From left: Motoring through the Scottish Highlands; lobster traps in Dunbeath; taking on electrons at Gridserve; traversing the North Sea coast.
THE MAD SCRAMBLE
AN 814-HP V-12 THAT SCREAMS TO 9400 RPM IS JUST THE START OF THE INTENSE EXPERIENCE THAT IS THE LAMBORGHINI REVUELTO.
2022 Rivian R1T
This EV pickup proves to be E-Z to live with.
Spite Defender
Ineos Grenadier HIGHS: Dapper off-road style meets genuine off-road capability, wonderfully smooth powertrain, built like a brick outhouse. LOWS: Incessant warnings, sloppy and slow steering, noisy on the highway.
The Revivalist
The Nissan Murano emerges fresh-faced and revitalized from a long-overdue redo.
ELECTRICAL CONNECTION
The Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, and the Hyundai Sonata all take different approaches to hybridization, but which one does it best?
The Achilles Kneel
Mercedes-Benz W123 wagons doing the Carolina Squat can get their droopy self-leveling rear suspension back up to snuff courtesy of a Californian.
Dollars to Donuts
Despite the high cost, automakers are still drawn to racing.
G to the Power of E
Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology HIGHS: Quicker than the old G550, improved handling, better braking. LOWS: Cubist shape torpedoes highway range, cramped inside, dorky name.
The Best Odds
The cars I recall most fondly were neither the prettiest nor the quickest. Certainly not the most expensive. They were machines that emerged willfully peculiar and intractably idiosyncratic.
