MG4 vs BYD Dolphin 2024 Comparison Review: Which is the Best Cheap EV?

I'm Tom Baker this is chasing cars and this is the comparison that I've been waiting all year to run two of Australia's most affordable new electric vehicles the brand new byd dolphin and the mg4 which has been on the market for a couple of months which one is best in today's video I'm going to let you know which one I would buy I'll let you know which one might suit you based on your preferences we'll check on the Interiors we'll discuss the practicalities and the running costs and of course we'll take them for a drive and I'll let you know which one I think is best but before we get started hit subscribe down below Chasing Cars honest reviews of your next car brought to you by the way the byd dolphin range is structured is a little bit different to the mg4 in the mg4 you can actually choose your battery size with the base trim so the car we've got here actually has the smallest battery and the lowest trim making it really affordable in the byd dolphin if you want to get the premium trim which is what we've got here you automatically get a bigger battery whereas the base model by dolphin which I don't think anyone has driven yet has a smaller battery and quite a bit less in terms of specification the upshot though is that the by dolphin premium is the price of the mg4 base model with the bigger battery so if you go for the byd you're getting a slightly narrower car by about 7 cm but you're getting a similar size battery similar efficiency similar range but a higher level of interior trim at the same price hopefully that makes sense so what do we looking at here in the dolphin premium well we're looking at seats which are quite nice they are a vinyl on the outside and then kind of like a neoprene sort of material in the center and these seats are heated the steering wheel is artificial leather or vinyl no pedal shifters and we're looking forward at an instrument cluster which looks quite similar to what you see in a Volkswagen ID3 or a CA born but then it's here in the center where the dolphin Has Its Real centerpiece it's got a big touchcreen here with better quicker more rapid more polished soft W than what you get in the mg everything works extremely fast the processing power is excellent we have inbuilt navigation in this car we have Apple carplay and Android auto inbuilt Spotify a data connection Everything feels a bit of a cut above the smaller more low rares less Snappy screen in the mg plus just like the B AT3 the dolphin can do that you can actually run your screen in portrait or in landscape orientation but I found that with polarized sunglasses common here in Australia you can't actually see the screen when it's in portrait when you wear your sunnies at least I couldn't you do get physical controls for things like your volume down here which is a roller your regen strength fan on and off and also your direction selector which is this little toggle here and your parking brake traction control just ahead of this wireless charger there is loads of space a tiny bit of covered space and this open area down beneath this big blade that strikes through the center of the car material quality quity it's pretty honest just like the mg4 hard touch doors but you do get some soft inserts and that neoprene sort of material is repeated here on the dash so much like in the mg you know it's not an expensive car it's honest and mainstream in the interior but it is relatively comfortable and the technology is a real highlight in the dolphin just like the byd dolphin the mg4 is interior is fairly conservative in a black and gray theme but the mg4 is even more conservative its entire center console looks Prett pretty much like what you'd see in a normal hatchback in this segment not far apart from the likes of something like a Toyota Corolla that's exactly the point the mg4 is a very normal feeling EV which will mean it's quite appealing to a lot of people and it does in fact feel very approachable and normal for the most part but while build quality is generally quite good in the mg4 and this is about the fifth or sixth we've tested that's why you might see a variety of different colors of the same trim grade in this particular video and the seats are also very comfortable and the seats in this comparison for how supportive and shapely they are in other ways the mg for's interior isn't up to scratch firstly the 10-in screen up here is fine in size but its responsiveness is laggy and its software is more buggy than what you get in the byd which just feels like it's had a few more months of extra development in order to get everything Snappy and working perfectly there's also no integrated navigation in this particular trim grade which is the excite now this particular excite has the small battery the 5050 Kow battery but you can get one with a 60 KW battery for pretty much the same price as the byd still in excite trim so for all intents and purposes this is the interior that competes with the byd on price the other issue with the mg4 interior is actually just this direction selector down here where occasionally you'll jump into the car and there can be real difficulties getting the car to recognize that you're sitting here and get into gear it sounds like a silly thing but all of our road testers have experienced this problem at at least a couple of times in any flavor of mg4 we get through you have to seriously stand on the brakes in order to get the car to recognize you're sitting here that's just never a problem in the byd dolphin or virtually any other car we test so hopefully a software update could fix that one up in terms of material quality you do get a squidy Dash nice leather steering wheel and armrests but there are a lot of other hard materials and also an unfortunately placed bit of trim here which people with longer legs report can be a little bit sore on road trips in terms of storage loads of open space and a closed bin down here nice little net for keys or something like that and a deeper Center bin than what you get in the dolphin just like the mg4 the byd dolphin sits on a long wheelbase compared to its overall length and much of that wheelbase is dedicated to back seat space so even though in Australia this class of car small hatchbacks they're not typically family cars anymore they are still family cars in Europe and that's why you can see byd has chosen to make the back seat really big leg room is good this seat's in my driving position 6' tall 183 cm and I've got good leg room tow room is tight however you could get somebody here in the center there's a completely flat floor and head room behind the sunroof is actually fine for my height the issue is the seat base is too low so you really have to splay your legs in order to get comfortable as it is they are sitting with a gap between my legs and the seat which is a bit unfortunate in terms of amenities back here there's a little bit of soft touch on the door but not much you get a single cup holder two USB ports seat back pockets but unlike the mg4 you actually do have a flip down armrest which is nice with a couple more cup holders built into it so while it's not the most comfortable place to spend time it's spacious and very usable while the space on RR is very similar in the mg4 to the byd dolphin in the back seat the mg4 is actually more comfortable in the back and that's because the the seat base is angled quite distinctly upwards and it supports your legs much better than the same base in the dolphin but otherwise leg room head room and even tow room are so similar as to really not be a distinctive point between either car for adults sitting in the back the third seat is perhaps slightly less usable in the mg4 because the floor isn't entirely flat but it is almost flat and there isn't a center armrest in the mg4 otherwise all so similar no air vents and only one USB port here in the back of the mg so when it comes to the battle of the boots it's not a huge surprise that the car which is slightly bigger has a bigger boot that is the mg4 it's about 7 cm wider than the byd but the length is almost identical I find this plays some visual tricks to me the by looks a lot smaller but in actual fact it is the same length within 3 Ms but it is narrower now opening up the manual tailgate of the mg4 you find 363 L of space the load height is not too high but there is a drop down to the boot floor there's one net on the side here's a little suitcase with our home charger and then beneath the floor just a compressor and a goo kit no spare wheel in this car but nice and easy to close what about the byd now we have been told that byd is going to start removing the build your dreams script from their cars in future but the dolphin still has it here in this ski gray color beneath the man ual tailgate very light manual tailgate of the dolphin there is a smaller boot on paper 345 L I think you'll agree it looks quite a bit smaller than that of the mg4 the load height is actually a little bit higher on this car but so is the floor so you're not having to drop things into it beneath that boot floor you actually get more space so that's where it is actually making up the difference there is a suitcase with your charging cables but it's very deep in there and a couple of nets for your stuff as well cargo blind but it actually it just it doesn't actually clip in it just sort of sits there which feels a bit cheap but again the towergate is relatively easy to close when it came to range and charging there are some key differences to be aware of as I mentioned up front the dolphin premium in this comparison has a bigger battery than the bass mg4 so the comparison isn't entirely straight because our time with the dolphin was so short we've also only tested Urban range for that car at this point with that in mind we saw consumption of 14.3 KW per 100 km in our Urban range test with the dolphin meaning a range of 423 K from its 60.5 kwh usable battery not bad given the claim is 426 km by comparison the mg4 51 KW actually managed to beat its wtp claim in the same Urban range test it achieved 357 km of urban range from its smaller 50.8 KW usable battery with consumption of 14.2 KW per 100 case charging speeds also differ depending on the grade you buy in both cars in the mg4 case the base 51 KW variant can charge it up to 88 KW DC though more expensive variants can be charged at 117 KW or 140 KW in the Dolphins case the base Dynamic grade can only be charged at 60 KW DC while the premium here can take 80 kwatt so in this comparison we're kind of going into it already knowing that the mg4 4 is really good to drive not quite brilliant but very very good competitive with cars like the cuer borne which is quite a lot more expensive than the mg4 especially if you look at this car from the base model which I've said a few times on the channel is sort of all you need if you want more range mg have three different battery sizes to sell you which is a great benefit but if you can live with kind of 320 K of urban range and a bit less than that on the highway then the base model is sort of where it's at the 51 KW hour however on price terms the excite 64 KW hour is the car that actually competes with the dolphin premium and that's going to give you a similar sort of 400 km Urban range to what you get in the dolphin sort of around that low 300s mark on the highway the good news is that pretty much no matter what battery size you choose the mg4 is really sweet to drive this one is the very sweetest because it's light but the thing that you can tell in all of the mg4 is except the top of the range X power is they all feel very clearly rear will drive now if you don't really know what that means or you don't care that's fine you can tune out for the next 20 seconds but what it is is that the motor is actually at the back of this car it drives the rear wheels which means the front wheels all they have to do is the turning and so you get this very pure Dynamic where you don't get any torque steer at all through the steering wheel the front wheels are able to do the braking and the stopping that's all they have to do the rear wheels have lots of grip because the weight transfers to the back when you're accelerating which is exactly what you want for grip and you can also steer the car a little bit with the throttle in the corners by adding a tiny bit of over steer nothing unsafe just little nipping at your line now if you're a keen driver all of that will be music to your ears and the mg4 is really Pleasant in that way but it's also just as easy to drive around town it's comfortable there's an underlying firmness which I think a lot of people will like but compliance is good it traverses bumps pretty well however there is a little little bit of fidget in the cabin when you start bringing it onto more difficult B- roads like this one and that's where the byd is softer it's going to be a little bit more comfortable although the mg's body control is a little bit better than the byd these cars are both quiet they're refinement is good there's a bit of motor wine particularly here in the mg but visibility out is good seat Comfort is better out of these two cars so actually as a vehicle to do road tripping in or to go and find good country roads the mg is just clearly a little bit bit more rewarding though its interior isn't quite as impressive or as highte as what you get in the byd so it's kind of about what your preferences are in this segment just like the byd the regen braking could be better could be more instant could be stronger but out of these two cars the regen is a little bit better here in the mg4 in terms of safety it's got a long list of safety Tech but the lane keep assist is a bit dodgy it sort of POG goes from Line to Line and beeps at you loudly um we actually don't have blind spot monitoring here in the base model mg4 you have to walk up the range of stuff like that but we do have Lane centering and also adaptive cruise control so putting it up against the really very capable mg4 what is the byd dolphin like to drive well this comparison isn't a cakewalk for the mg4 as good as it is because byd has clearly put in the work in tuning the dolphin as well and this isn't that much of a surprise because the ad 3 managed to sweep aside 16 other small SUVs in our recent small SUV Mega test and it came second second to the scoda kamik so that's amazing achievement for a new car so it's not that surprising that the dolphin is also pretty capable having been engineered by the same team at the same proven grounds over in China but clearly with Western input because this car is you know semian in driving feel in the way that it's damped the way that it's suspended now there appears to be a pretty pretty big gap in the byd range in the dolphin range I should say between the base model which has only 70 KW of power on paper it looks like it's going to be painfully slow it's got a torsion beam rear suspension but it's got a small battery so it's very light and then there's a 6 grand step up to the premium which has a massive mechanical change to a 150 KW motor with 310 new M of torque so a lot more torque than the mg4 it's actually the at 3 motor and Battery effectively being transplanted here into the dolphin and the results are as you would expect the throttle might be a bit doughy in eco mode but put it in sport mode and the dolphin premium is quite a quick car sub 7 second 0 to 100 Sprints are easily achievable so it is a bit quicker than an mg4 excite uh but not by very much only by sort of half a second or so if you care about that sort of thing now out of these two cars the dolphin is definitely more softly suspended and the ride quality is a a little bit better it's less troubled by bumps on the road even here on this relatively difficult and bumpy be road just outside of Sydney you notice fewer bumps in the cabin but the body control isn't quite as good or as sporty as the mg4 and so you are able to tackle Country Roads a little bit more confidently and quickly in the mg4 even if it isn't quite as comfortable the other big difference is the dolphin is front-wheel drive rather than rear wheeel drive like the mg4 so you can't quite push on as hard uh but it's still very agile very fun and a really spirited little car to drive around on your errands and I've actually found myself really enjoying this car and the comparison is kind of to something like an i2n much softer than that car but similarly quick similarly agile similarly fun it's just that by have their electric alternative on the market now and the likes of Hyundai just don't their EVS are far more expensive in terms of refinement it is louder in here mainly wind noise the Safety Systems it has that long list just like the mg but again the tuning isn't quite there Lane keep assist pogos uh we do have blind spot monitoring and an excellent 360° camera with Crystal Clear Graphics however one thing that should be mentioned though is the tires fitted to the dolphin in Australia they are an off-brand Ling Long Tire griping the dry is just about acceptable we haven't had enough rain in order to let me test it properly in wet weather over the last few days but from experience on tires like this they're just not generally up to Snuff in the wet and even coming off speed bumps in the dry the tires actually break traction a little bit if you accelerate a bit too hard you know compared to the mg4 Continentals it just comes up a little bit short so I'd be leaving money in the budget to replace these tires with something a little bit more trustworthy so that brings us to the need for a verdict both of these cars accomplish really highly for their affordable price given that they're both fully electric but I think one of each will suit different buyers for me I really like my Classic rear wheel drive Dynamics so the mg4 is the car that I would take home I tend to take my cars out on the weekend find a sporty bit of Road and really exploit their handling and despite being a pretty reasonable Appliance the mg4 is a little better to drive out of this pair but the byd in many ways actually feels like the more finished car the cabin technology is more polished it's got more features it has fewer bugs and the ride quality is even better better in the byd dolphin than in the mg4 so if you want better Tech higher Comfort I would suggest the byd if you want really good driving Dynamics I would go to the mg so hopefully that makes sense what's your opinion let me know down below this video while you're there make sure to hit subscribe and the notification Bell so you don't miss out on more content like this make sure you share this video with anyone you know considering an EV purchase and as always thank you for watching Chasing Cars

Channel: Chasing Cars

Views: 95,425

Keywords: electric car, byd dolphin, byd dolphin review, electric cars, car review, byd dolphin vs mg4, 2024 byd dolphin, byd dolphin range, mg 4, mg4 vs byd dolphin, MG4 review, BYD Dolphin vs MG4, cheap EV, EV comparison, Chasing Cars, EV reviews, Tom Baker

Id: llopvUcoVac

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2023