Ever since MG Philippines brought in the 3 last year, I’ve been very curious about the hatchback. Not only is the baseline price low, but the top-of-the-line hybrid was a seriously good proposition.
Fast-forward a bit to September, our associate editor Sharleen Banzon was finally able to get behind the wheel of the MG 3, and that one-day drive was enough to convince her (and the rest of the team) that the electrified hatch deserved Top Gear Philippines’ 2024 Hybrid of the Year award.
A little while later, I was presented with the opportunity to take it out for a spin—long enough for a proper review this time—and I had high expectations coming into this drive. We knew the entire hybrid package was good, but what would it be like to live with over a week?
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Styling
The 3’s looks are somewhat polarizing. Some people like it, as it does look a bit aggressive for a small car. Others don’t, saying that the front end looks like the mouth of a catfish. While it was a bit hard to unsee, I still think the design is clean overall.
Outside of the wide grille and the sporty bumper underneath it, there are minimal lines and few visible edges around the body, which I like. MG did it right by not putting underbody claddings here, too—that would’ve made this look cheap.
The two-tone alloy wheels that almost look like cobwebs are decent as well. The car itself isn’t something that would get prolonged stares or turn heads as it rolls down the road, but that’s fine. It’s styled simply, and to the undiscerning eye, it doesn’t look like the pocket rocket that it is. But more on that later.
Interior
There has been a ‘formula’ of sorts for China cars these days, to the point that I already know what to expect whenever I hop into a new one. The MG 3 is a bit different, in both good and bad ways, and that’s okay—this is an econocar, after all.
The interior isn’t flashy and too gimmicky. MG keeps it simple with a dark-themed cabin with mostly hard plastics all around. There’s accentuating trim on the passenger side of the dashboard that adds a bit of texture, but that’s about it. A bit more premium materials would’ve done wonders here, but then again, this car is barely over a million pesos, so maybe that’s just par for the course.
The fabric seats inside are soft, though, and they’ve proven comfortable through hours of traffic—don’t ask me how I know. There aren’t a lot of storage options here, but at least there’s a small cubby under the center console for small everyday items.
Space is just about what you’d expect from a car that’s just a smidge over 4m long. For context, the Honda City Hatchback is 300mm longer than this. Still, it’s not like taller individuals will be impossible to fit inside, as our 6’2” boss Carlo Chungunco was able to sit in the second row, albeit very cramped. For average-sized Filipinos, four adults will fit just fine.
Trunk space is also decent, and you have the option of folding the second row flat if you wish to open up more space. Don’t expect to be hauling a lot of cargo with this car, but if the need arises, there’s some versatility in there for bigger items. A refrigerator? Nope. But a small washing machine? Maybe.
Engine performance
This is the reason the MG 3 got recognition from us last year. The engine under the hood is not only wrapped in this affordable package of a car, but it’s impressive. Really impressive. Have you seen a P1 million car that packs 187hp and 250Nm of torque? That’s almost double of what subcompact sedans in the market can give you, and that’s what you get in MG’s hybrid system. That’s a 1.5-liter engine paired with an electric motor and a 1.83kWh battery, and it charges itself. No plugging in necessary here.
I called it a pocket rocket earlier, and that’s what it feels like. All that power is delivered almost instantaneously to the front wheels via a three-speed hybrid transmission. There’s just so much power on tap, it’s almost intoxicating.
The MG 3 also feels like it has a longer powerband than most hybrids these days. The funny part is that it also feels like it has VTEC—yes, Honda’s VTEC—because there’s a sudden burst of speed when you’re high up the rev range. So you’ll initially jump off the line when you floor it, and then there’s another kick just as you find you and the car barreling down the highway. I know it sounds like fun, but my concern is that it also could be potentially dangerous for others. Not that a lot of people will even need this, but this is for the type of drivers who mash the throttle every single chance they get.
Now, what’s probably the best part is that you can get to enjoy this kind of performance without guzzling up too much fuel. Without breaking a sweat, the MG 3 consistently did around 19-20km/L during my testing, under mixed conditions. Considering that included some bursts of speed every now and then, that’s very impressive. Through heavy traffic, it yielded around 15km/L, which is also still pretty darn good. The fuel tank may be a measly 36 liters, but that amount of fuel will get you far with this car.
Ride and handling
In other awfully-punchy-yet-seemingly-nondescript-cars that I’ve driven, specifically the BYD Seal 5, the chassis couldn’t properly put down the power under the hood. Abruptly stepping on the gas resulted in wheel spins, for example. Taking a corner at speed was often a bad idea, too. But in the case of the MG 3, it appears to manage all that power and torque quite well.
Mashing the accelerator will still send you flying, but it won’t feel like you’re losing traction and stability at any point from zero to 100kph. You also wouldn’t wonder if the power is too much for the little hatch to handle, because it won’t feel like so. It also remains very planted through corners, and frankly, you’d be hard-pressed to find a car at this price point and in this segment that’s as fun as this one.
It’s not all praises for the MG 3, though, as it fails in one category that I believe is more important for its target market: comfort. See, this is a city car, which means most of the people buying this will be in Metro Manila. Now, it’s not bumpy and rides as you expect a city car would, but it’s the sheer noise that seeps into the cabin that had me complaining. It’s a good thing this is a hybrid, because if there were a bigger, noisier engine under that hood, that would also be a big point of concern.
Road noise from underneath doesn’t go through all that much—it’s the noise coming in from the sides and above that’s impossible to ignore. I don’t know if it’s the windows or there’s just not enough sound deadening in that frame, but having a truck beside you in traffic on C5 will be unbearable. And when it starts to rain? My. Goodness. It was the first time in a while that I couldn’t hear myself over the sound of the raindrops on a car’s roof. It felt like I was in a tin can stuck in traffic. It was that bad. If it weren’t for the poor NVH levels here, it would’ve passed off as a decent city car I could comfortably drive daily without any complaints.
Extra features
It’s not just in the previous department where I have some gripes. You know how the Chinese can’t seem to get ergonomics right in some cars? It’s the same story in the MG 3. It’s nice to even have Apple CarPlay at all in a China car, I acknowledge that, but when it takes two presses on the touchscreen to go from smartphone mirroring to, say, your A/C controls and another two presses to go back? It’s frustrating. Especially when the weather gets erratic and the air-conditioning has a hard time maintaining the temperature inside the car. This might seem like nitpicking for some, but it’s something I know I have to point out.
The instrument cluster is also just as frustrating to use. Even just fiddling with the trip meter is confusing. But that’s not the worst part—it’s the fact that Intelligent Overspeed Assist (IOA) turns on every single time the car resets. This feature reads signage and tells the car what the speed limit is on the road it’s on. Sounds like a bright idea, right? Well, if it worked accurately, it would be.
In the MG 3, the IOA isn’t accurate. Say, you’re driving on a road with a 30kph speed limit and you jump on the national highway where up to 60kph is allowed—it won’t update that quickly. Sometimes it won’t even change at all. And at that point, you’ll hear a beeping sound to alert you that you’re supposedly speeding, even if you’re not.
For someone like me who has to drive through at least four different roads with two expressways in between just to get from my house to the metro, it gets irritating real fast. I found myself having to navigate the infotainment system just to try and turn it off as I got on SLEX, because the car kept telling me the speed limit there was 40kph. I know the quick and easy solution is to just turn it off every time I start the car up, but why does it even have to be a problem in the first place?
At the very least, the car does redeem itself in this department with amenities like a 360-degree camera, reverse parking sensors with rear cross-traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control with lane-keep assist. A small car doesn’t really need all these parking aids, but these features will be helpful for beginner drivers. The car is also quite smart that whenever you flick the turn signal before you switch lanes or make a turn, the head unit’s volume automatically goes down to allow you to focus better.
Verdict
The MG3 Hybrid+ stickers for P1,088,888, which makes it a very interesting package. It’s got a punchy hybrid powertrain and is very much fun to drive. But let’s be honest: At this price point, customers aren’t looking for either of those. They want something practical and comfortable, not a budget hot hatch.
Don’t get me wrong, the MG 3 still is a very practical car. It’s got decent space, and it’s still a very fuel-efficient hatchback at the end of the day. It’s just that I’m very particular with cabin noise, and comfort suffers greatly because of it. That said, it isn’t unsolvable, so this will still be one of my recommendations whenever someone asks about a decent budget-friendly starter car. I’ll just tell them to consider adding some aftermarket sound-deadening materials if they plan to get the MG 3.
SPECS: 2026 MG 3 Hybrid+
Price: P1,088,888
Engine: 1.5-liter gasoline I4 + electric motor
Power: 187hp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: Three-speed hybrid
Layout: FWD
Seating: 5
Score: 8.5/10
More photos of the MG 3 Hybrid+ 2026:
