Five things you should know about the 2024 MG3 Hybrid+

The latest generation of Australia’s best-selling light car delivers meaningful improvements

It wasn’t all that long ago that the MG3 was one of the cheapest new cars you could buy in Australia, with a starting price of less than $20,000.

But in June, the new-generation 2024 MG3 arrived to shake-up the light car segment, bringing fresh competition to the likes of the Toyota Yaris and Suzuki Swift hybrid city cars, with a starting price of just under $25k.

So while the prices have risen, MG says it's entry-level car is a much improved vehicle.

Here’s what you need to know about the?2024 MG3 Hybrid+.

Now with hybrid power

For the first time, the Chinese car-maker has added a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain to the MG3 mix.

Petrol-electric hybrid versions of the MG3 combine a 75kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a 100kW electric motor (and a small 1.8kWh battery) to dish out combined outputs of 155kW/425Nm.

That's pretty muscular for a small hatchback but it’s also claimed to sip just 4.3L/100km on the combined cycle. Fast and frugal? Check out the embedded video to find out what we think.

There’s no dirt-cheap manual option and the new hatchback is exclusively a front-wheel drive affair, whether you get the petrol or hybrid model.

The MG3 is still available with cheaper petrol powered models, to which drive-away pricing is attached.

More safety

A major sore point with the previous generation MG3 was its lack of safety equipment and the fact it didn’t come with an ANCAP safety rating, although clearly this wasn't a barrier to entry for a lot of buyers.

Still, the new-gen MG3 promises to be much safer, and although it’s yet to be officially crash tested here or overseas, a full suite of MG’s Pilot Safety driver aids is a very welcome addition.

All versions of the 2024 MG3 now come standard with six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane assist, rear cross traffic alert, speed sign recognition, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, driver attention monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring, and front and rear parking sensors.

While a reverse camera comes standard on Excite grades, Essence model grades boast a 360-degree camera as well.

More smarts

Along with a vastly improved cabin – sporting new digital displays, navigation, and smartphone mirroring – top-spec grades now get access to MG’s iSMART app.

This allows you to “bind” your vehicle to your smartphone and remotely view the vehicle's status. Is it happy, sad or indifferent? In all seriousness, you can find its GPS location, see whether it’s locked or unlocked (and remotely lock/unlock it), view your fuel range, and switch on the air conditioning to pre-warm or cool the vehicle.

There’s also a ‘Find my car’ function that’ll direct you to its location, or, if you’ve lost your car in a car park, you can sound the horn and flash the lights to help locate it. They're small things very useful in a pinch.

Fresh equipment

Until now, you couldn’t have the MG3 with a sunroof. Now, every top-spec Essence grade comes standard with a sunroof, as well as LED headlights, and keyless entry.???

Standard across the range are 16-inch alloy wheels and a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster. However, the MG3 range still retains budget-friendly (read: cost cutting) features that remind you it’s still an affordable city car.

For example, you don’t get heated or electric-adjust front seats and fabric is the only material on offer, although Essence grades get ‘leather-look’ fabric upholstery.

The steering wheel also doesn’t offer telescopic reach adjustment to help people with shorter arms; you just get the regular tilt adjust.?

EV-like drive settings

Unlike most self-charging hybrid vehicles, the 2024 MG3 Hybrid+ gives you the option to adjust the sensitivity of its regenerative braking with three options: low, medium, and high.

That’s tech usually reserved for an electric vehicle and while the hybrid MG3 doesn’t offer the same ‘one-pedal’ driving experience you’ll find in some EVs, there’s a significant difference in each setting for you to know it’s more than just a gimmick.

One thing you can’t do, however, is manually select an EV drive mode like you can in some rivals, namely Toyota hybrids. Instead, the MG3 decides for you, based on driving conditions/behaviour and speed, among other factors as to whether it’ll give you EV (electric vehicle) or HEV (hybrid-electric vehicle) mode.

This article was originally featured on carsales.com.au and can be viewed here.