MG Cyberster delivers electrifying roadster fun

MG celebrated its centenary in 2024 and it has certainly come a long way since the humble days of Morris Garages. Today it is owned by the Chinese automotive giant, SAIC and it is enjoying huge success around the world, especially when it comes to electric vehicles.

The brand left SA eight years ago, but now it’s back and its latest range includes a couple of petrol-powered SUVs, although sadly not the fantastic electric MG4. Instead, electric excitement comes in the form of the flagship battery-electric roadster, the oddly named Cyberster. The inspiration for the name comes from the gaming world and MG’s two-seater roadster is a surprisingly good plaything.

Like a number of famous sporty cars, the Cyberster was not officially planned. Just as the original Volkswagen Golf GTi was created outside office hours as a bit of fun, the Cyberster started life as a skunkworks project among the design team at the SAIC design centre in the UK. Executives loved it so much they decided to build it and so the roadster concept appeared, eventually becoming the Cyberster.

The design has all the hallmarks of a good sports convertible. MG says it has links back to the classic MGB but it’s hard to see any. Instead, the Cyberster has a shark-like nose that showcases the slippery aerodynamics that run the full length of the car to help it achieve the claimed 443km driving range.

It looks cool, but cooler still are the electrically operated scissor doors that rise upwards like a Lamborghini. The button to open them is a bit of a blemish on the design, looking more like a bolt-on box as though someone was so excited about creating scissor doors and forgot they needed a way to actually open them. Press the button though and all is forgiven as you enjoy the theatre of them opening.

Still difficult to know if it’s cool or cheesy, but the rear lights have hints of Union Jack in their design and arrows that point in the appropriate direction when you’re indicating. Then there’s the soft-top, which opens and closes effortlessly and has all that classic rag-top appeal of a proper roadster.

The interior is equally as cool, with three screens neatly integrated into a curved panel that forms part of a driver-focused cockpit. The dash curves around you with a central console that flows down from the top to also form a grab handle for the passenger. The controls are all easy to use, including those for the driving modes and the Super Sport boost button on the steering wheel. It all feels nicely throughout to give it that true sports car look and feel while you drive. It’s also comfortable, with reasonable wind noise when the roof is down and sense of quiet calm at moderate speeds.

When you choose not to be so calm, there’s plenty of fun to be had. While there is a 250kW single-motor version available in overseas markets, SA is only getting the dual-motor with its 375kW, 725Nm of torque and a 0-100km/h time of just 3.2 seconds. That’s not unusual for an EV, but it’s worth noting that it is a whopping 1.3 seconds quicker than a Porsche 718 Boxster GTS. The Boxster sounds better of course, but on my drive around the Highlands of Scotland, I quickly forgot about the lack of noise from the electric motor. That’s because I was having too much fun.

Dynamically, the Cyberster is excellent, providing superb grip in every corner, a great centre of gravity that you can actually feel working to your advantage and a driving position that gives you great control of the car. You do to have watch that surge of electric power on slippery roads, but even then, the MG engineers have done a great job of providing just enough assistance to help when you really need it. The rest of the time, the electronics let you get on with it. That’s especially true when you play with the various driving modes, which include Comfort, Sport, Custom and Track, the latter proving very rewarding for those who relish an enthusiastic drive.

At 249l, the boot space isn’t great, although MG says you can get a golf bag in there. Then there’s the price. R1,399,900 is going to be a hard pill to swallow for those who see MG as a competitively priced Chinese brand. It’s more expensive than a BMW Z4 M340i in standard trim but there’s no doubt it will be significantly cheaper than the new electric Porsche Boxster when that comes along.

The drama of the scissor doors, rapid electric acceleration, superb dynamics and the likely rarity on SA roads, all make the Cyberster a very worthy flagship. Look past the lack of a soundtrack and it ticks all the characteristics of being a great roadster. If you measure value in smiles per mile, then the MG Cyberster is a winner.