Cars of the Year: MG Cyberster

MG hasn’t been building cars for the likes of me for a rather long time. In fact, 13 years to be precise. And by that I mean for enthusiasts who talk in animated tones about paint colours, head gaskets, and what colour picnic blanket would look nice from the MG Car Club’s merchandise range. With photos of my V6-engined MG ZT littering my iPhone, I’m a delight at dinner parties.

Quite rightly, MG Motor’s owners – the gigantic Chinese powerhouse SAIC – has been a little more focussed on selling cars that appeal to a wider audience than flat cap-wearing old duffers such as yours truly. It started with the pretty dreadful MG6 in 2011, but since then it’s become an influential player in the market, especially in EVs, with its excellent MG4.

The MG of today is rather different from the one that was beloved by sports jacket-wearing chaps of the sixties. I’m guessing here, but the MG buyer of 2024 is one who’s more interested in cheap PCP deals than wire wheels and leaking roofs.

But maybe, just maybe, things are changing. First there was the MG4 XPower – a twin-motor, 429bhp version of the conventional family hatch. Putting its colossal power output to one side, it sparked a revival of the XPower name last seen on the even more bonkers MG SV – a two-seater coupe with a 4.6-litre Ford Mustang-derived V8 under the bonnet.

Now, there’s the next step in MG reviving its sporty mojo. Thirteen years on from the death of the MG TF, we have another two-seater drop-top. Sporting a name that could have come out of the mind of Elon Musk, the Cyberster muscles into MG’s range to give the brand some much-needed glamour. Think of it as a 100th birthday present to itself.

The Cyberster is more than just an extravagant trinket, though. With its electric powertrain, it not only marks a radical departure from the light and fizzy sports cars from MG’s past, but it’s the first electric sports car you can actually go and buy from a proper dealership (as opposed to the Tesla Roadster of 2008, which was here one minute and gone the next). Just take this in for a second – MG has beaten the likes of Porsche to the ‘leccy sports car market.

Ask me to name a beautiful Chinese car and I honestly couldn’t give you an answer. No-one could. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying the Cyberster is beautiful, it’s certainly graceful and stylish; jaw-dropping compared to the rest of MG’s range. There’s probably a good reason for that as the design was the work of SAIC’s London team, led by Brit Carl Gotham, who’s been working on the car since 2017.

MG could have penned a retro pastiche of the MGB, but no – the Cyberster is resolutely modern. Yes, perhaps there are shades of the Corvette C7 at the front, and could that be a hint of Lotus Evija at the rear? And that long bonnet and stubby tail is pure Jaguar F-Type.

Whatever, it’s a stunning piece of design. And while those (slow) scissor doors become frustrating after a while, I can’t help but love the sheer lunacy of an MG having them.

The styling and the Inca Yellow paint – a £695 option and named after the shade available on the 70s ‘rubber bumper’ MGB – certainly make the MG stand out.

But you soon learn to dial down the speed as sadly the rest of the package lacks the precision you’d want from a sports car. At 1,985kg, the MG is a little too on the lardy side to trouble existing two-seaters such as the Mazda MX-5. With a 300kg-plus penalty over a BMW Z4, the extra pounds make themselves felt during cornering. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the chassis tuning compensated, but it doesn’t. There’s a precision that is lacking, and the suspension doesn’t improve things either – hit a bump and the body rebounds in a frenzy of shudders and wobbles.

On a smoother road and with the roof down, it’s a happier story. You can whizz along at a (very) decent lick, and providing the road is more fluid, the Cyberster makes a decent job of being an open-top GT. The boot is spacious enough for a couple of weekend bags, there’s decent storage behind the rear seats, and the interior quality is staggeringly good. If only the seating position wasn’t quite so MGF-like in being too lofty, and the steering wheel didn’t obscure quite so much of the screen real estate, then it would be nearly perfect.