MGS9 Plug-in Hybrid

Introduction and model history – MGS9 PHEV

It’s strange to think that MG has never done a seven-seater before, it feels like the sort of bread and butter territory the Chinese/British carmaker should be right in the middle of. The launch of the MGS9 sees MG on the up, with a level of respectability among car buyers that it has never enjoyed before, even to the extent of feeling brave enough to launch some slightly posher cars on the market like the IM5 and IM6. 

It’s an intriguing niche, too, the seven-seater plug-in hybrid – your options are very limited because everyone wants to stick their batteries under the boot where those extra two seats go. Your choices basically come down to this, an a bit more expensive Chery Tiggo 9 (with a lot more range) or an a lot more expensive Kia Sorento/Hyundai Santa Fe (they're the same underneath, and offer less range). Well played, MG.

All of this perhaps explains why the MGS9 feels like such a confident car, a mature effort that drives comfortably and offers a lot of practicality for families who will use the space it has to offer. 

The most impressive thing about the MGS9 is that it’s cheap but it doesn’t feel cheap, you can rarely feel where any of the corners have been cut to offer such a good value seven-seat PHEV. The fact there are only two Isofix points might rule some buyers out, but otherwise there’s plenty of room and lots to like about this car. 

Range, battery and charging

So the MGS9 gets a 23.2kWh usable battery to go with its 1.5-litre petrol engine – it’s rated for 62 miles of WLTP range in EV mode and has a 7kW onboard charger that’s best suited for plugging in at home. A fast charging option might have been nice here. 

It’s an inexact science unless you’re in an actual lab, but the dash indicated 61 miles of range when we got the car and zeroed the trip meter and the engine came on at 62 miles with three miles left on the range readout. 

I’m not easily impressed, but that was a decent showing I thought. Although the car indicated 3.4 miles/kWh on the dash, which is clearly bobbins otherwise I’d have got nearly 80 miles out of the battery. 

It’s hard to trust your trip info in a PHEV, though, because the electric and petrol figures get all smooshed together. With the battery depleted the mpg seemed to hover around the 30/40mpg mark, with the car running in hybrid mode and using the e-motor where it could.

You get V2L capability as standard, so you can run electronics off the car at a picnic or on your camping holiday. There’s also a feature where you can leave the engine running while parked up to charge the battery, so you can effectively use your MGS9 as a generator if you don’t mind the petrol. 

Practicality and boot space

Obviously the car looks chonky enough from the outside, but there’s a surprising amount of room in the back of the MGS9 – genuine space for adults in all rows. The middle seats slide backwards and forward, with limo-like legroom if you pop them all the way back.

Everyone can fit without anyone feeling like they’re compromised – height depending of course. If you’re giving any giraffes a lift then sacrifices might need to be made. The seats in the boot are fairly spacious – the seat backs tilt, which helps, though there’s not really any space to get your feet under the seats in front.

The seat behind the driver gets a little electronic release that’s not on the other side. The middle row is split 60/40 and the 60 side is a smidge more hard work to shift forward. Kids and grownups alike will have no problem scrambling into the rearmost seats, but older adults such as myself might find it hard to maintain dignity getting back out again. 

There are only two Isofix points in the MGS9, in the outer two middle row chairs, which could be a dealbreaker for some. 

There are some nice little touches though – the tri-zone climate control means the middle row can set their temperature and air flow, plus there are ceiling vents throughout the back. The front seats get two USB-C sockets, a 12V plug and the wireless charging pad, there are two USB-Cs for the middle and one in the very back on the left, which might cause some arguments. 

You get a powered tailgate as standard, and one that opens with a kick around the back of the car in the top spec. That opens to a 332-litre boot with all the seats up (measured from floor to ceiling, though we normally prefer to measure to the window), 1,026 litres with five seats in place and 2,093 litres with everything but the front two seats folded. 

Interior, design/styling and technology

Climbing aboard the MGS9 is a pleasant surprise – it’s not the low rent experience I was expecting. Is that unfair? MG used to be the poster child for budget interiors with brittle beige plastics, but in recent years it seems to have been making great strides in the direction of rival mainstream manufacturers and reaping the rewards in terms of sales. 

You’ve got dual 12.3in screens up front – a digital instrument panel and a touchscreen infotainment display. The touchscreen display does look lovely, but it was often quite slow to react and that meant accidentally prodding one too many times. Turning off the heated seats took me four rounds at one point, hilarity ensued. Patience is a virtue and all that. Those physical aircon buttons are welcome though – as are the two shortcut buttons on the steering wheel that can be configured how you like.

There’s lots of good storage up front, with a hidden shelf underneath the central part of the dashboard that has two USB-C plugs and a roomy cubby that doubles as an armrest. I drove the top spec (of two) Premium model with its wireless phone charging and ended up defaulting to the plug because the wireless charging was barely keeping up with what my phone was using to power the satnav and music, etc. 

There’s plenty of safety kit onboard – the speed limit warning got a bit annoying and I had a lot of warnings about being drowsy. How do I tell the car that’s just my face? We know the MGS9 has a good Euro NCAP score because it was the early five star update from the crash testers back in November that gave the car away before it had been announced. Oops. 

Motors, performance and handling

There’s not much to report here other than that the MGS9 drives well – it’s steady and assured through a corner and the ride is calm and composed. It’s a very mature effort from MG, with a proven plug-in powertrain that's been taken from the five-seater HS SUV.

The heaving and bobbing you often get in these large cars is kept admirably in check – you won’t get sea sick doing a three point turn like you can in some seven seaters. There is a lot of bass thrum that comes from the wheels and suspension, but you’ll probably only notice that if you’re driving the car alone with the radio off. 

We did notice in EV mode a couple of times that the front wheels get a bit scrabbly when you turn into a side road from a stop or even if you hoof the accelerator a bit too hard in a roundabout the front tyres will have a little scream. 

The e-motor never feels underpowered in EV mode like it can do in some PHEVs, and the engine once it kicks in can sound a bit droning – you could run this car without the petrol engine and not really miss out. In fact MG really ought to get on the case of a nice seven-seat electric car. (Want to see what seven seat EVs are on offer? Check out our list here.)

Running costs and pricing

The MGS9 keeps it all nice and simple for you – you’ve got two specs to choose from and you can spend a bit more on paint and whatnot if you fancy. ‘Entry’ level Comfort trim starts from £34,205 and the ‘range topping’ Premium car costs from £36,495. 

You get an entirely respectable level of kit as standard – electrically adjustable heated front seats, 20in wheels, tri-zone climate control, panoramic sunroof, powered tailgate, wireless Apple/Android, V2L and 360-degree parking cameras. 

The Premium car adds fog lights, Bose stereo system, fancier trim, ventilated massage front seats, a fancier electric tailgate and wireless phone charging. One thing we missed in the car was a heated steering wheel, which would have been the cherry on top of a nice little package. 

MG hadn’t yet listed the MGS9 on its finance calculator online at the time of writing, but we’d be surprised if the car wasn’t competitive in terms of monthly costs. 

If you’re getting it as a company car (and it makes a lot of sense if you can charge at home), the 2026/27 BIK rate is 10%, which on basic rate tax means £62 a month. 

Verdict

It’s certainly aimed at a fairly niche audience, but those buyers won’t feel shortchanged with a car that offers more than the sum of its parts. MG has manoeuvred itself into a nice little corner of the market – more dependable than some of its upstart rival Chinese carmakers but plenty cheaper than the likes of Hyundai and Kia who made their name doing a similar sort of thing.

The Kia Sorento/Hyundai Santa Fe duo offer seven-seat plug-in hybrid options and are objectively much nicer cars, but also much more expensive cars. If you’re on a company car scheme and need space for the family but you’re not quite ready to go fully electric then the MGS9 just sort of buys itself.