2026 MG HS Super Hybrid Essence review

Only a few years ago, buying a plug-in hybrid medium SUV was out of reach for most Australian families.

It was something you could do only if you were prepared to spend a fair bit more cash on what was essentially the same car, but with lower fuel consumption.

Now there are several options in our favourite new-car category for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), with prices on par with petrol models of the same size and something to suit most budgets.

Even though the Fringe Benefits Tax exemption on PHEVs has now ended, there are still models like the MG HS Super Hybrid that are well specified, nestled between affordable and luxury, that aim to hit that sweet spot for the majority.

So what is the MG HS Super Hybrid like? Well, it’s like a regular HS, really, but super. Let me tell you why.

I had the MG HS Super Hybrid Essence on test, which sits at the top of the HS range, above the plug-in hybrid Excite and the petrol and hybrid variants.

The Excite starts from $48,990, while the Essence begins at $52,990, both before on-road costs.

Optional extras include premium paint and an alternative tan interior, which each cost $700. 

Both grades feature dual 12.3-inch screens for the infotainment system and the digital instrument cluster, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

In addition, the Essence gets a wireless charger, an eight-speaker sound system, dual-zone climate control, tinted rear windows, a powered tailgate, a panoramic sunroof, leather-look heated front seats, 19-inch wheels, and the driver’s seat has six-way electric adjustment and lumbar.

Considering the Excite is still knocking on the door of $50K, it misses out on some key equipment for the price, such as front parking sensors, the passenger’s seat is not power-adjustable, and it has fabric seats and single-zone climate control. MG has even taken away the sunglasses box in this grade, which seems a bit stingy.

Well-specced rivals in the same price range are the GWM Haval H6 Ultra PHEV FWD, which costs $47,990 drive-away, and the BYD Sealion 6 Dynamic Extended Range, which starts from $46,990 before on-road costs.

As one of the mid-sized plug-in trailblazers, it would be remiss not to mention the Mitsubishi Outlander. However, the cheapest Outlander PHEV starts from $58,990 before on-road costs.

If you’re looking for the absolute cheapest plug-in hybrid going, you might consider cars like the Chery Tiggo 7, Leapmotor C10 or Jaecoo J7. 

Or if money is no object (or less of one at least), perhaps something like the BMW X3, Peugeot 3008 or the Mazda CX-60.

Theoretically offering the best of both worlds, one thing a plug-in hybrid should be good at is saving you money on fuel.

That said, in most cases, the real-world consumption is much higher than the manufacturer’s claim.

The good news is that even if they don’t quite do what they say on the tin, the average fuel economy is still better than the equivalent petrol-only version.

The HS Super Hybrid Essence is claimed to sip just 0.7 litres per 100 kilometres of premium unleaded 95RON fuel according to MG, but during my week with it, I found it used, on average, 3.2L/100km. 

I tried to do most of my driving around town in EV Mode where possible, which helped to keep the fuel use low, and saved Hybrid Mode for the long trips on the freeway.

MG claims the HS Super Hybrid has an electric-only driving range of 120km (WLTP) from its 24.7kWh battery, and I found this to be pretty accurate. 

One morning, I left for work with 70km to spare and still had 15km remaining after the 60km commute.

By the end of the week, I still had around 700km of fuel left in the tank and hadn’t visited a public charger all week either. Using a standard three-pin plug to top up the battery while the sun was out once or twice was enough.

If plugging in isn’t for you, the HS Essence also comes as a parallel hybrid. Compared to the Super Hybrid, it has a claimed fuel consumption figure of 5.2L/100km, while the petrol-only version uses 6.9L/100km.

Last year, MG introduced a 10-year warranty for new MG-branded vehicles (excluding IM vehicles) on top of its long-running seven-year warranty.

It means that for cars serviced exclusively with MG for an entire 10-year (250,000km) period, a warranty is extended to match. However, owners who decide to service elsewhere will receive a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty instead.

The high-voltage battery is also covered for the same period, but only for 150,000km.

In comparison, BYD covers the Sealion 6 with a six-year/150,000km warranty, with servicing every 12 months or 20,000km, while GWM backs the Haval H6 with a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty with servicing every 12 months/15,000km.

Mitsubishi offers a 10-year warranty for the Outlander, or 200,000km, but it’s conditional on the vehicle being serviced exclusively by the brand. Otherwise, it reverts to a five-year/100,000km warranty.

Over three years, the MG HS Super Hybrid costs $1040 to service, or $2166 over five.

The Sealion 6 is the cheapest to service at $880 for the first three years, while the H6 costs $1030 and the Outlander $1216.

The MG HS Super Hybrid will cost $2216 to comprehensively insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The MG HS has a five-star safety rating awarded in 2024, which covers all variants, including the Super Hybrid.

It was given a 90 per cent pass mark for adult occupant protection, 87 per cent for its ability to protect children, 83 per cent for vulnerable road users, and 74 per cent for its safety technology.

In this regard, it doesn’t matter whether you opt for the Excite or the Essence, because both come with an extensive list of safety equipment.

In addition to the features outlined in the table below, the HS has seven airbags, a door opening warning, a direct tyre pressure monitoring system, intelligent cruise assist, and a pedestrian warning sound.

Having recently driven the MG QS, I was prepared for the nagging safety alerts to drive me insane, but I was pleasantly surprised that, in the HS, they seem better calibrated.

That’s not to say the driver monitor didn’t ping more than I’d like during my time with it, but it wasn’t incessant. What is quite annoying is the speed limit warning, which seems to beep constantly, even when you’re only one or two kilometres per hour over. It also isn’t very accurate and misreads road signs.

The MG HS is quite understated on the outside, but I don’t actually mind that. It’s not the most stylish mid-sizer on the market; it lacks the flair of a Hyundai Tucson, for example.

In some ways, though, that could work in its favour; it’s low fuss for people who maybe don’t want to stand out.

It bears a strong resemblance to its larger MG QS sibling. Although the seven-seater is that little bit longer, and its grille is a different shape, in profile and from the rear, you could mistake one for the other.

I saw one mum at my daughter’s kinder do exactly that. My test car and her QS were both the same shade of grey, and she walked towards my car at first believing it was hers, before realising she’d parked further away, so it couldn’t be.

From the outside, you also can’t tell the Essence apart from the lower-spec Excite, as there are no physical differences on the exterior.

It’s similar in size to the Kia Sportage or Nissan X-Trail as one of the slightly larger medium SUVs, but bigger than the pack-leading Toyota RAV4.

Lunar Grey Metallic, as this car wore, is probably the colour to go for, as most of the others are a bit too bright or conversely uninteresting, though Black Pearl Metallic is a good second choice.

It’s not all that common for urban SUVs to have side steps, but the HS does, and I can’t fully decide whether I’m in favour of this or not.

They’re definitely beneficial when you’re driving a ute, off-road or high-riding SUV, but in this, where it’s actually not all that far off the ground, as an adult they get in the way and you have to take a bigger, quite awkward, step to get out of the car. 

However, for my young children they made it easier for them to get into the car by themselves.

The inside of the HS is fairly big. There’s good room in the front and rear, as well as a generous boot that can accommodate a pram, several shopping bags, or a couple of suitcases, for example, with a cargo blind to cover it all up if you want to.

There's space for two child seats and an adult at a squeeze, depending on the types of seats you have it may be possible to fit three across. The outboard positions have ISOFIX anchors, and all three have top-tether points, which are accessible via the boot.

Some storage areas are practical, and some aren’t. In the front, you have two central cupholders, but they only fit a standard-size drink bottle, and the door panels aren’t big enough to accommodate larger vessels, either in the first or second row.

The storage bin under the central armrest is reasonable, as is the glovebox, for keeping personal items tucked away from view, and there are two map pockets on both sides for rear occupants.

The upholstery might look like it’s real leather, but it’s actually PVC, so it’s maybe not quite as luxurious as it might first appear. On the plus side, it’s waterproof and easy to clean, so it would prove useful for families in the long run.

If the outside is underdone, the inside isn’t – at least in this car’s specification. It had the optional Classic Tan interior. I’ll be honest: I just don’t like tan interiors. I think they’re garish and rarely done well. Is this one worth $700 more than the black one? Probably not.

There’s also quite a lot of black piano plastic on display, which shows finger marks easily.

The big takeaway from the interior is the distinct lack of buttons and physical controls. 

On the centre console, there’s one for the hill descent control, switches for the auto hold, and the electronic parking brake. 

And on the dash, a couple of buttons for demisting the front and rear windows, an on/off switch for the climate control and the hazard lights. That’s it.

It makes accessing features like climate control, driving modes, and even switching between hybrid and EV modes hard work on the move. 

You can create shortcuts using the star buttons on the steering wheel, but they take you to the overall menu for that function rather than a direct way to activate it. And the volume is controlled only via a toggle on the steering wheel, too, with nothing for the front passenger.

The HS’s infotainment system is straightforward, with dual 12.3-inch bright displays that help it be competitive, though not class-leading by any means.

The technology in Kias and Hyundais is better, but MG's beats Toyota’s and Nissan’s very basic offerings. The built-in map looks quite dated, though, letting the side down a bit.

The main menu sets out the climate, music and navigation controls, as well as weather and a shortcut to Apple CarPlay.

There are also some quick control functions along the side of the infotainment screen by the driver, for the same features, as well as safety and driving settings and the 360-degree camera.

Working your way through menus to find things is logical enough, but it is a real effort while you’re driving, particularly to do simple tasks like switch between the driving modes, as well as between the Super Hybrid and EV modes.

It’s also not especially responsive to input, so you’ll find yourself jabbing at the screen more than once to select something, or even holding onto the corner of the display to stabilise yourself to get it right the first time.

I didn’t experience any connectivity issues during my time with it, which is good, whether wirelessly or via a cable. There are two USB-C ports in the front if you do want or need to plug in, and another two in the back for charging.

There’s also a 12V socket in the front behind the gear shifter.

The eight-speaker sound system isn’t a branded unit, but it delivers reasonable audio quality. It would be nice to see something more capable for a top-spec car, though, rather than just the addition of two speakers to distinguish it from the Excite.

For owners, MG offers its iSmart app free for 12 months, with features such as information on battery/fuel levels, locking/unlocking doors, setting air conditioning, finding the vehicle's location, and managing EV charging.

The MG HS Super Hybrid is powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a single electric motor driving the front wheels through a dedicated hybrid transmission. 

Together they produce outputs of 220kW/350Nm, making it pretty punchy off the line, and it’s smooth to transition between hybrid and electric power unless under forceful acceleration. 

If you do accelerate too hard in EV Mode, though, it will come out of it and switch to Hybrid Mode, but won’t automatically revert back to EV once things have settled down, meaning you’ll have to dive back into that fiddly infotainment system to do so.

Oddly, for a hybrid, there is no dedicated Eco driving mode, just Comfort, Normal and Sport. There’s not much difference between Comfort and Normal, but Sport makes the steering heavier and a touch more direct. It’s well balanced as is; Sport just gives it a greater sense of urgency for more spirited driving.

There’s no adaptive suspension to alter the ride between the drive modes either, but the ride is generally very comfortable, and only occasionally a little bouncy as it rebounds from a big impact. Pockmarked roads can cause some clatter, but not enough to make you wince.

Body control for an SUV of its size is good too. There’s some movement in slaloming situations, such as through chicanes and the like, but it’s vastly better than the longer QS in this regard. If you don’t need the two extra seats, this alone would be enough to make me choose the HS over the QS.

You will need to take more care going around corners or roundabouts, though, for an annoying and totally avoidable reason.

Visibility at the front near the A-pillars is badly restricted because it has such large wing mirrors that, combined with the quarter light being obscured by black plastic, it means you can't see a damn thing.

Grip is respectable thanks to padded 225/55 R19 Bridgestone Alenza tyres. They held up well in the wet and were only troubled on corrugated dirt roads where there was a bit of slip.

What they’re not great at is keeping noise down in the cabin. Both the road and wind noise can be invasive, more so at freeway speeds, though there’s little noise to be heard from the engine at any point, even on start-up. 

The weird sound you will notice instead is the spaceship-like hum it makes at low speeds to warn pedestrians it’s there. This became a legal requirement last year when travelling up to 20km/h. 

MG has obviously decided to widen this with a ‘just in case’ buffer, because the sound is there up to roughly 25km/h whether you’re in EV or Hybrid Mode.

You can find plenty of examples of the MG HS for sale on Drive Marketplace, alongside other new and used MG models.

Find your nearest MG dealer here to see the HS in the metal and take one for a test drive.

For more details relating to pricing, specifications, and the latest offers on the HS, click here. 

If you’re looking for something that’s better on fuel, or have ambitions for your next vehicle to be more eco-friendly, and have a family, this should absolutely be on your shopping list.

It has a five-star safety rating, fuel economy isn’t as low as claimed but is still very good, it has a lot of kit for the price and drives quite nicely, certainly better than the seven-seat QS, but also than many of the cheaper medium SUV plug-ins out there.

It has tough competition in the GWM Haval H6 and BYD Sealion 6, though, unfortunately, the Mitsubishi Outlander here prices itself out of contention.

A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.

Read more about Kathryn Fisk