This is an exciting moment for us at Ev Authority. Our first long term review vehicle! We’re in the big leagues now.
Okay, enough of the breast beating, the reality is a lot of long termers sit around at auto media outlets getting the odd outing down the street on the lunch run.
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Well, not our MG HS Super Hybrid Essence. The arrival of the Chinese auto brand’s new medium SUV in plug-in hybrid form at the Newton household has serendipitously coincided with the sale of our current family car.
The MG is now officially the family truckster and as such is going to get plenty of work.
The plan is to do what we’ve always preached when it comes to PHEVs, keep it juiced up and run it as an EV as much as possible.
So far so good. Well, mostly…
But first, before we get into that, let’s give you some background.
2025 MG HS Super Hybrid Essence price and equipment
This is the second generation MG HS five-seat medium SUV to go on-sale in Australia. But it’s the first to include a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), or as MG is wont to call it, a Super Hybrid.
Curiously, fellow-Chinese brands Geely and the Chery conglomerate also use the Super Hybrid nomenclature. Why?
While the ICE HS is on-sale, the plugless hybrid Hybrid+ and Super Hybrid PHEVs are due in MG showrooms around September 2025.
We previewed the tech here, breaking the news MG developed the system with Australian conditions in mind.
This localisation pertains to its software tune rather than its mechanical hardware, which includes a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, two e-motors (one for drive and one for regeneration) and a 24.7kWh LFP battery pack.
The combined powertrain output is 220kW/350Nm, which is pretty meaty.
MG claims a 120km EV-only range (WLTP) and a combined range – both battery and fuel tank exhausted – beyond 1000km. The system can only recharge at a maximum 6.6kW AC (no DC), so it’s set up for home charging.
Toby Hagon attended the first drive of the Super Hybrid and filed this assessment for us:
The HS Super Hybrid we’ve been handed is the top-spec Essence, priced at $54,990 drive-away. In that typical MG Australia way, the price has already been fiddled, dropping $2000 before it’s even gone on-sale.
It’s $4000 more than the other HS PHEV, the Excite, and the differences are all in the equipment levels.
So the Essence gets extras including a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate control, fake leather seat trim, driver’s seat power lumbar and memory, front passenger-seat power, heating for both front seats, eight-speaker audio, a 360-degree camera and wireless charging.
Well, actually, our pre-production MG HS didn’t come with wireless phone charging or a 360 camera. They will both be in the production Super Hybrid Essence, along with an updated infotainment screen and USB-C ports to replace the USB-A.
There’s no spare tyre – which I hate. Absolutely hate with a passion.
As per all MGs sold privately in Australia, the HS Super Hybrid Essence is covered by a 10-year/250,000km warranty. The same coverage applies to the battery.
2025 MG HS Super Hybrid Essence: What we think so far
You only get one chance to make a first impressions and my three thoughts at the first sight of the HS were:
- nice red (it’s called Diamond Red, it’s a metallic and it costs $700 extra)
- the side steps are pointless and;
- how small is it?
Yep, while the HS is a medium SUV it’s definitely smaller than some key rivals. The official measures are 4670mm long, 1890mm wide, 1663mm tall, all based on a 2765mm wheelbase.
Compare that to its arch-rival, the GWM Haval H6, which is 4703mm x 1886mm x 1730 mm x 2738mm. Doesn’t read dramatic, but the measures undercall the MG’s physical impression of compactness.
OK, to the first drive home across Melbourne from the collection point. Not great.
A whole bunch of controls seemed to be missing. I couldn’t figure out any way to adjust the driver assist settings (speed and driver monitoring among others), so the bing-bongs were constant.
And I hate bong-bongs.
There seemed no way to swap between electric and hybrid mode; without a USB-A cable I was without Apple CarPlay and I couldn’t even figure out how to raise or lower audio volume.
The last issue proved the easiest to sort, being adjustable via stalk on the steering wheel, or via a swipe down shortcut page on the infotainment screen.
But swiping left or right on the home page didn’t do anything. I figured vehicle and other settings were hidden somewhere I just couldn’t access.
The low point came in snarled highway traffic. The battery range was down to 0km and as we stuttered along at maybe 1-3km/h, the HS just died.
Of course, it shouldn’t have done this. If the battery was depleted then the petrol engine should be providing drive – that’s the point of a PHEV.
According to the gauge there was plenty of fuel in the tank to drive the engine.
As cars honked and pulled around, there was a frantic stabbing at the start button to get some spark. Thankfully, the engine fired and we are away again. The problem did not reoccur for the rest of the trip home.
But WTF? A later discussion with an MG technician yielded no concrete answers.
Maybe the car was still trying to drive in this slow traffic on electricity alone. But with it depleted there was none to be had, so it died.
MG’s have been known to have software problems so could that have been the culprit here?
I was determined to find out by filling the battery to the top, going for a drive to drain it completely and then ambling at walking pace to find out if I could replicate the issue.
First, plug in the HS to a 240V outlet at home – when I did the screen stated 0 per cent state of charge – and leave it there till it was full.
Next, what the hell was going on with the screen? As it turned out, nothing. It was all about where you place your finger to swipe. Avoid the edges and swipe more centrally and, whaddya know, there’s the second screen.
And within it were the options to change the MG Pilot settings (goodbye bing-bongs) and swap between EV and HEV (hybrid) modes. Hooray.
And so to our experiment. Leaving the driveway, the trip computer estimated 140km of EV range. After 98km of hilly open road driving in EV mode including repeated runs up a steep hill, the battery was depleted and the HS had irrevocably swapped to HEV.
The next 20 min minutes were spent circling a carpark at walking pace to see if the HS would stall. It didn’t … and it hasn’t since.
2025 MG HS Super Hybrid Essence: Verdict so far
So some weird stuff and some annoying stuff. But also some promising stuff here. To be frank, I’m stuffed if I know what happened on that first day in the traffic.
Hopefully it never recurs and we can enjoy this impressive powertrain. The HS, via its trip computer, is showing consumption averages of 2.3L/100km and 10.8kWh/100km since we picked it up.
We’ve been assiduous in recharging overnight and have completed 1300km of driving and been nowhere near a petrol station. There’s still with hundreds of kays worth of 95 RON in the tank. Like I said, truly impressive.
The next plan is to head off for a long country drive and see if we really can cross the 1000km barrier without recharging or refuelling. That will put the Australian-specific software to the test.
We’ll report on that in a couple of weeks and give our first assessment of how the HS actually feels from behind the steering wheel.
2025 MG HS Super Hybrid Essence specifications
Price: $54,990 drive-away
Basics: PHEV, 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, FWD
Range: 120km (EV)
Battery capacity: 24.7kWh (23.2kWh usable)
Battery warranty: 10 years/250,000km (7 years/160,000km for commercial use)
EV energy consumption: 18kWh/100km (ADR)
Fuel consumption: 0.7L/100Km combined (ADR)
Powertrain: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbo with 135kW/340Nm electric motor, combined outputs 220kW/350Nm
AC charging: 6.6kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: NA
0-100km/h: 6.8 seconds
