Ah yes “GT” what does that really stand for? I guess if you were living in Europe, you would think grand tourer. Maybe you lived in the 90s and GT meant Gran Turismo. The term GT has been coined and warped into so many meanings. But a few standard meanings still stand true.
It’s gotta be fast, luxurious and it’s gotta be a beauty.
The question is does the MG GT Sport check all of those boxes?
Browse Review
Tables Of Contents
Visually Grand
Maybe it’s the color. Or is it that front fascia of the MG GT Sport that captures your attention? Whatever fits your fancy, it looks good.
This car is long, has sleek character lines on the side, the space on the overhang on the wheel arches could use a bit of a trim but those 17 inch rims look good and 215/50 tires are quiet at speed and add to chill vibes of this car.
You can call the big grille a bottom feeder or a big elegant whale shark. Either way, you choose, It’s bold and grand with a flaming grille pattern. The daytime running lamps are one to behold, this is the start of MG creating a visual story of its own albeit inspired by other GT cars that came before it. The rear is where you ask yourself “Doesn’t that look like?….” And yeah it does but I’m fine with it.
Comfy, driver-focused interior.
MG calls the GT’s interior a jet fighter cockpit & driver-focused, and we agree. The center console and the infotainment system are slightly turned towards the driver. The GT Sport has a fair amount of piano black and plastics inside but at this price that’s to be expected, at least the colors inside with the red stitching, and chrome touches look good and the seats are extremely comfortable.
The absence of the reach adjustment for the leather-wrapped steering wheel is a bit odd at first, it almost feels like MG wants YOU to adjust to what It thinks is the best position (more on that later)
Room-wise, 3 adults are fine for the back. Space on the trunk is also generous but a single-piece folding rear seat is a crime for practicality, this means this car turns into a 2 seater coupe if you fill up the compartment and that’s a huge bummer. We don’t understand why it doesn’t have 60/40 split.
The 12.3-inch virtual instrument cluster keeps it interesting with a tasteful UI design, it even has a 0-100 km/h timer. While the 10-inch touchscreen infotainment display is clear and responsive enough. It has AM/FM Radio, Bluetooth, apple CarPlay and android auto.
Smooth, powerful & progressive engine.
The 161 PS / 250Nm 1.5 Liter engine has a nice below sound at the high RPM, where the engine is at its happiest. It’s pretty quick at its feet too reaching 100 Km/h around 8.5secs which in practice feels faster. Fuel consumption is on average at around 16 km/h in the highway and we got around 10 km/L with a mix of heavy Manila traffic.
Is it a real GT car?
While it’s a lot easier to drive in traffic versus other jerky DCTs in this class, long drives its natural habitat. It could use a driving mode toggle though. While you can switch to eco-mode it doesn’t have a dedicated switch to change its personality, the MG GT Sport is kinda always in chill mode. Plus, you still need to go to the infotainment to change to eco mode, when you want to change you have to go to which is a huge drawback.
But you can cheat with your foot. Floor it and it has a very linear acceleration, hell it can even go as fast as 215 km/h which is crazy fast.
How about in the bends?
Not bad, not great either. You can feel the mass and weight of the car when you turn in quickly in a corner. The comfort tuned suspension and high ground clearance doesnt help with that so its best to just let the do its thing in the bend and accelerate at the exit. The MG GT Sport encourages the driver to simply take it slow and just waft around corners. It works to a point.
Should I buy one?
At Php 1,193,888 you might call it a “value” grand tourer or a fast sedan. Maybe you don’t want a razor-sharp handling weekend car, maybe you like it just chill and want it quiet, then I say go for it. The MG GT Sport is a good effort by the current chinese owners (SAIC) its not perfect and there’s a lot of room for improvement but for me, the most important thing is this car shows that MG even with its Chinese manufacturer roots The GT sport shows that the MG brand is in good hands.
