00:00 MG Philippines is introducing not just one but two new electric vehicles to its lineup,
00:06 the Marvel R and the MG4 EV.
00:21 The MG4 is a hatchback.
00:22 MG isn't calling it a crossover because yeah, it's not.
00:26 It's a bit small for a crossover, but it is a very sporty-looking hatchback with these
00:30 aggressive-looking headlamps and these sharp lines all around the front fascia.
00:34 There are two variants of this one available, but there aren't a lot of external changes
00:38 between the two, save for the rear which has a ducktail spoiler here on the base variant
00:44 and it has a bigger wing on the top-spec variant.
00:47 And this one also sits on 16-inch steelies with aero covers.
00:51 They're not hubcaps.
00:52 While the top-spec variant gets 18-inch wheels with aero covers as well.
00:57 Now before we head on over to the Marvel R, let's check out the interior of this one first.
01:01 MG4 has a nice spacious cabin clad in a mixture of hard and gloss black plastics, some leather
01:07 here and there, and fabric seats.
01:09 You can find the controls on the steering wheel which by the way has a flat bottom and
01:13 a sort of flat top to it.
01:16 Behind it is a small instrument cluster with a nice clear and colorful display.
01:20 Of course, at the middle, you have this wide infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and
01:24 Android Auto connectivity.
01:26 You also won't find a gear shift lever here, but instead you get this knob to shift from
01:31 park to drive.
01:32 Overall, it's a very nice cabin to be in.
01:38 Unlike the MG4, the Marvel R has a very SUV-like styling to it.
01:43 It's sleek and it's very stylish.
01:45 It actually has C-shaped headlamps that remind me a lot of the Toyota Crown SUV.
01:49 At the back, you have more of that typical SUV styling and it really doesn't have that
01:54 outrageous or futuristic-looking styling of the newer EVs of today.
01:58 And now, let's check out the interior.
01:59 The Marvel R has a much more premium interior.
02:03 It's got a lot more leather and of course, a lot more screen.
02:06 It's got this absolutely humongous infotainment system right at the center of the cabin which
02:11 by the way projects the entirety of Apple CarPlay.
02:15 Interior design here is a bit more intricate and it just feels a lot more luxurious overall.
02:20 It also has other features such as the ambient lighting of the side panels and the sizable
02:25 sunroof up top.
02:29 This cabin can easily compete with what other SUVs in the market currently offer.
02:35 We're now inside the MG4 EV and they've prepared a short course for us.
02:40 There's a few tests here, acceleration and braking and there's a short slalom, gymkhana
02:45 sort of course.
02:46 And we're gonna try out acceleration and stopping power and we're gonna try out the handling
02:50 of this car.
02:51 Once I shift to drive, as I've been told earlier, parking brake automatically disengages.
02:57 And this has a few drive modes.
02:58 How can I access the drive modes again?
03:00 Yeah, so this one.
03:02 So right now, we are in normal mode.
03:06 Can I switch to sport mode?
03:07 Let's switch to sport mode.
03:09 So there's also a custom mode available so you can modify the horsepower, steering, pedal
03:15 force, energy recovery as you would like to.
03:17 But let's just switch to the standard sport mode.
03:20 All right, we're now in drive and we're gonna head out.
03:23 Line it up here and you guys ready?
03:27 Kapit?
03:28 All right.
03:29 I don't know what speed I'm gonna hit.
03:34 I don't know what speed I hit but with sport mode on, I was able to stop within this distance
03:44 they've set which is actually pretty impressive.
03:47 So whenever you encounter this type of braking situation, an intense hard braking situation,
03:52 hazard lights automatically turn on and as you brake, the brake lights start to blink.
03:57 Okay, so let's head on over to the slalom course.
04:03 The ride is comfy.
04:06 I can feel it here as we're driving around Bridgetown.
04:09 These aren't exactly the perfect roads and there's little NVH.
04:14 The NVH levels are kept to a minimum.
04:17 Minimum vibrations.
04:18 I don't hear much of the road outside.
04:21 I do hear the raindrops but that's fine.
04:24 And steering is light even with sport mode on.
04:27 It's light.
04:28 I'm not sure if other people would prefer that but yeah.
04:31 Okay, so the course is set.
04:35 It's raining quite hard right now so it'll also be a good test of the grip of the Bridgestone
04:39 EV tires on this car.
04:41 So I guess let's go.
04:42 Let's not go too fast through this course.
04:54 Handling is pretty solid.
04:56 Left, exit, then ikot.
05:02 Alright, now for the turning radius, I'm taking it slow just so I can demonstrate just how
05:08 easy it is to turn with this car and yeah, turning radius is pretty small.
05:15 That will help when you're maneuvering tight streets inside Metro Manila.
05:19 So I can exit here again?
05:20 Yep, and then go follow the road.
05:22 Alright, let's take it a bit at speed this time.
05:25 Is our camera woman okay at the back?
05:43 Let's switch to... let's try Eco mode just so I can feel the acceleration change.
05:49 Yeah, it suppresses the powertrain a bit more for more economical driving, of course.
05:57 We can also turn on high-energy recovery mode.
06:02 This is similar to what other EVs can do.
06:06 It makes the engine braking, if you would, it makes it more aggressive just so you'll
06:11 have more recovery through braking.
06:15 So when you lift off the gas like this, it's gonna brake a bit hard, whereas if you turn
06:20 it to low, it's just gonna coast when you release the gas pedal.
06:24 Oh, there is...
06:26 Yeah, I feel the change in the steering when you switch from sport to something lighter.
06:32 Overall, it's a very comfy car to drive.
06:36 Ride is great and steering is very light.
06:40 Perfect city car.
06:43 I can imagine driving this in traffic-riddled streets and be fine with it.
06:49 By the way, what we're driving right now is the top-spec variant of the MG4.
06:54 This has a 64 kWh battery, has 200 horses and 250 Nm of torque, and has a range of 430
07:02 kilometers on one full charge.
07:04 The base-spec MG4 has a 51 kWh battery with a total output of 170 hp and 250 Nm of torque.
07:13 That one has a range of what?
07:15 - 350.
07:16 - 350, right.
07:17 One-pedal driving mode feels a bit intuitive once you get into it.
07:25 You just have to remember not to step on the brakes.
07:27 - Nice for bumper-to-bumper traffic.
07:29 - Yeah, yeah.
07:30 It's gonna be comfortable to use in heavy traffic.
07:34 So now we're inside the Marvel R, and I'm now tweaking this big, this huge head unit
07:41 that we've been tinkering with all day.
07:43 I just wanna access the drive mode.
07:45 Where are the drive modes?
07:46 - Drive modes, it's here.
07:47 - Oh, here.
07:48 - As you can see it on the...
07:50 - It's easier to switch between drive modes in the Marvel R versus in the MG4 when you
07:55 have to use the head unit.
07:57 So there's still some cover on the cluster, but I can see it's winter mode, wrong one,
08:03 eco mode, normal, and sport mode.
08:06 Let's try sport mode 'cause we're also gonna go through the acceleration and braking tests
08:10 and slalom.
08:11 Before we go, this is also to switch between regeneration.
08:15 - Yes, sir.
08:17 So we have three levels, level one.
08:19 - Ah, that one.
08:21 So we have level one, level two, and level three.
08:23 It's like low, medium, and high for the...
08:26 So let's switch to one, level one.
08:29 And drive mode on.
08:30 We also have a 360-degree camera that almost looks pixelated because it's just a huge screen,
08:36 but it's a good quality camera nonetheless.
08:38 I remember where we stopped with the MG4.
08:40 This is a much more powerful and a much heavier EV, so we'll see how it compares.
08:46 We're now in sport mode, and we're just gonna floor it.
08:49 Alright, you guys okay?
08:50 You guys good?
08:51 Three, two, one.
08:52 Wow, those brakes are powerful.
09:04 Wow.
09:06 The cabin felt much quicker in the MG4, but the stopping power is night and day.
09:12 Wow.
09:13 The pedal is solid.
09:14 Wow, that's impressive.
09:15 I wonder what brand these brakes are.
09:16 Are these OE brakes?
09:17 Do you know?
09:18 - I think so.
09:19 I think it's original from the MG.
09:20 - Oh, that's cool.
09:21 And as with the MG4, NVH levels here are also kept to a minimum.
09:31 It's pouring outside, but it's pretty quiet inside the cabin.
09:35 Pretty quiet here.
09:37 And we're now in sport mode, so does it also tweak the suspension or no?
09:42 - It feels a little bit stiffer when in sport mode.
09:45 And the steering wheel also.
09:46 But not that much.
09:47 - The steering wheel, oh yeah, I feel the steering wheel.
09:50 The suspension, probably, yeah, not that much.
09:53 Or we might need a more extensive test for that.
09:55 But the steering, it's also a lot lighter when it's in normal.
09:59 Alright, let's go.
10:00 Let's take it a bit slow for the first run, just see how it feels.
10:07 This one runs on Michelins, right?
10:14 - Yes.
10:18 - Still pretty impressive for its size and its weight.
10:21 Let's see how the turning radius is for this one.
10:27 It's pretty big considering its size, but still able to make a turn on a two-lane highway.
10:33 So that's good.
10:34 Okay, so I'm gonna enter it again.
10:35 Alright, let's take it a bit quicker this time.
10:56 So what I noticed is I didn't go that fast through the course, but it felt so grippy.
11:05 It felt like it really handled well.
11:08 I am curious to see how this one will take twisties at speed.
11:13 Solid, eh?
11:15 The grip is there and it's pretty precise for that, at least for that course.
11:20 It feels pretty precise.
11:23 So let's try with region mode set to three.
11:27 - So try to floor it and then let go so you can feel the engine brakes.
11:34 - It's not as aggressive as the high mode in the MG4, but it's also still there.
11:41 Does this one have one-pedal driving?
11:45 - I don't think so compared to the MG4.
11:48 So even with the sport mode on, at least it doesn't feel truckish.
11:54 It doesn't feel like your typical SUV with a hydraulic steering.
11:58 It's still pretty light.
12:00 So let's try switching to eco mode.
12:03 Alright, so it's starting to feel sluggish compared to earlier.
12:09 Let's try flooring it with eco mode on.
12:12 So yeah, it suppresses the power train as well quite aggressively, actually.
12:17 That's good when you're driving in the city, you don't really need sport mode.
12:20 - Especially in the EDSA.
12:22 - Yeah, if you're in stop-and-go traffic anyway.
12:25 So we're not going to be able to try out features like adaptive cruise control and lane keep/assist
12:31 or blind spot monitoring because we're only driving around this short course here in Bridgetown.
12:37 But this has been a pretty good preview, a pretty good test of what these EVs are capable
12:43 of.
12:44 I'm eager to try these out on public roads once we're able to test them out properly.
12:50 I'm standing beside the top-spec MG4 EV which we drove earlier.
12:54 Unfortunately, it is outside where it is pretty loud.
12:58 Just to give you a quick look of just how different this is from the base variant which
13:01 we featured earlier is that this one sits on 18-inch wheels with Bridgestone EV tires
13:06 and it has a large wing out back.
13:09 There aren't any available official prices yet as of this shoot, but we were told that
13:13 the MG4 will be priced about Php 1.4 to Php 1.5 million for the base trim and Php 1.7
13:19 to Php 1.8 for this higher-spec variant.
13:22 As for the Marvel R, there is just one variant available and it could be priced anywhere
13:27 between Php 2.5 to Php 2.7 million.
13:30 What do you guys think of MG's newest EVs?
13:32 Let us know in the comments section.
13:33 [Music]
13:38 (upbeat music)
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