Could the MG Cyberster be the electric sports car enthusiasts have been dreaming of? On paper, and indeed from a distance, the prospect of a two-seater electric roadster with eye-catching design and impressive power figures sounds like a dream come true for many. However, as comprehensively detailed in the accompanying video, the reality of the MG Cyberster presents a starkly different picture, transforming what could have been a groundbreaking vehicle into a significant missed opportunity.
The anticipation surrounding the MG Cyberster was palpable. Here was a company with a rich heritage in accessible sports cars, venturing into the modern electric age with a vehicle designed to stir emotions. The concept promised supercar flair at a more attainable price point, but the execution, regrettably, falls short in critical areas, leading to a driving experience that’s more frustrating than exhilarating.
The Promise of the MG Cyberster: A Bold EV Vision
Initially, the MG Cyberster arrives with a strong visual statement and appealing specifications, suggesting it could indeed fill a niche in the burgeoning electric vehicle market. The blend of classic roadster proportions with futuristic touches was designed to grab attention, and in many respects, it succeeds.
Design That Turns Heads (Mostly)
At first glance, the MG Cyberster certainly commands attention. Its low-slung, two-seater configuration immediately evokes the spirit of a traditional sports car, a refreshing departure from the increasingly common SUV-dominated EV landscape. The lines, reportedly penned in London, have evolved from initial mixed reactions to garner significant curbside appeal. Passersby frequently turn their heads, take photos, and ask questions, often with a quizzical look at the MG badge, which typically isn’t associated with such overt flamboyance.
A standout feature that contributes immensely to this supercar aesthetic is the set of dramatic scissor doors. These aren’t just for show; they offer a unique entry and exit experience, making the car feel significantly more special than its price tag might suggest. Beyond the theatrics, the Cyberster surprises with its practicality. The boot, often an Achilles’ heel for sports cars, is generously sized for a two-seater. While it might sound a bit flimsy when opened, its depth means it can genuinely accommodate luggage for a proper week-long trip, proving that style doesn’t always have to come at the expense of utility.
Electrifying Performance Figures
Beneath its striking exterior, the MG Cyberster boasts a powertrain that, on paper, is genuinely impressive. The video highlights two versions: the base Trophy, a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive variant producing around 350 horsepower, and the range-topping GT, which features two motors for a combined 500 horsepower. There’s only an approximate £5,000 difference between these two, making the GT an appealing upgrade for many seeking maximum performance.
The GT variant delivers a formidable 535 pound-feet of torque (equivalent to 725 Newton-meters) and can rocket from 0 to 62 mph in a blistering 3.2 seconds with launch control. These figures place it firmly in the territory of serious performance cars, promising thrilling acceleration. Power is one area where the Cyberster truly delivers, especially in its sport mode, providing instant torque that is highly effective for rapid overtakes or merging onto busy roads.
The electric powertrain is supported by a 77 kWh battery, offering a claimed range of up to 310 miles for the RWD variant, though real-world driving typically brings this closer to 250 miles. Charging capabilities are decent, with a peak rate of 144 kW, allowing for relatively quick top-ups. For everyday use, a 7 kW home charger can comfortably replenish the battery overnight, ensuring the car is ready for action each morning. While the overall weight of just under two tons is substantial for a sports car, it’s a common characteristic of high-performance EVs, and the power output largely compensates for this in terms of straight-line speed.
Where the Dream Sours: Ergonomics and User Experience
Despite its visual appeal and powerful drivetrain, the MG Cyberster’s potential quickly unravels when one delves into the details of its user experience and ergonomics. It becomes evident that a disconnect exists between design ambition and practical usability, turning otherwise exciting features into sources of frustration.
The Troublesome Doors
The dramatic scissor doors, a major aesthetic draw, are ironically one of the car’s first points of contention. While impressive when stationary, their operation reveals significant design oversights. There are multiple ways to open and close them (key fob, internal buttons), but none are entirely intuitive or convenient. The primary external button is cleverly hidden, while the internal button for closing is difficult to reach once seated, especially for drivers who are not “stretch arm strong.”
A more critical issue arises with the door’s collision detection system. While sensors are present to prevent the door from hitting obstacles, their effectiveness is questionable. As demonstrated in the video, the door can continue to move even when encountering resistance, potentially damaging itself or nearby objects, particularly low-profile walls that are hard to see from the driver’s seat. This flawed functionality transforms a cool feature into a source of anxiety, particularly in tight parking spaces or urban environments. For a car that exudes modern sophistication, such basic operational flaws are baffling and detract significantly from the overall premium feel.
A Cabin of Compromises
Once inside the MG Cyberster’s cockpit, further ergonomic challenges emerge. The “comfort access” feature, which moves the seat back for easier entry, is a thoughtful touch, but it does little to alleviate the fundamental issues with the seating and driving position. The seats themselves are reportedly quite uncomfortable, making it difficult to find a truly relaxed driving posture. This is a critical flaw for any car, let alone one aspiring to be a ‘GT’ vehicle, which implies long-distance comfort.
Visibility is another major concern. The rear-view mirror, even at its maximum adjustment, creates a significant blind spot, often obstructing entire cars at junctions, a design flaw reminiscent of the infamously restrictive visibility in some high-performance vehicles like the Nissan GT-R. Adding to the safety concerns, the emergency door release is awkwardly placed and difficult to access, especially if items are stored in its vicinity, which could prove dangerous in an actual emergency. The steering wheel, despite its modern design, is criticized for being uncomfortable to hold, with an unnatural shape that digs into the driver’s wrists, making it frustrating to use over extended periods. This is a fundamental ergonomic misstep that impacts the core interaction with the vehicle.
Infotainment Overload: The Screen-Centric Nightmare
The MG Cyberster’s interior is dominated by a quartet of screens, an increasing trend in modern vehicles. However, in this application, it becomes a textbook example of quantity over quality, contributing significantly to a bewildering and often frustrating user experience. The video vividly illustrates how these digital interfaces undermine rather than enhance the driving experience.
A Multitude of Screens, A Dearth of Usability
The MG Cyberster features not one, not two, but four digital screens, vying for the driver’s attention. While a modern aesthetic, the implementation is deeply flawed. The primary central screen, for instance, is notoriously difficult to view in direct sunlight, rendering much of its information unreadable. The responsiveness is often sluggish and laggy, creating a disconnect between driver input and system reaction. This “death of a thousand cuts” approach means minor annoyances accumulate into a major frustration. Even simple functions become a chore, challenging the very notion of an intuitive user interface.
The overall impression is one of cheapness and poor integration. Components feel flimsy, and the visual design often prioritizes flashy graphics over clear, concise information. This extensive reliance on touchscreens for almost every function, without the necessary refinement or responsiveness, reflects a design philosophy that seems disconnected from the realities of driving.
Frustrating Feature Controls
Beyond the general usability issues, specific control implementations in the MG Cyberster are particularly baffling. Climate controls, for example, are split across two different screens: a main screen and a separate, seemingly redundant strip of controls above it. This illogical division makes simple adjustments unnecessarily complicated. Passengers are also at a disadvantage, with a large central console obstructing easy access to many shared controls.
The MG Pilot driver assistance system, while offering a “Custom” mode in other MG models for personalized presets, is agonizingly slow and convoluted in the Cyberster. Drivers are forced to navigate through multiple layers of menus to disable common features like speed sign assist or lane departure assist, a process that must be repeated every time the car is started. This lack of user-friendly customization is a significant hindrance, especially for features many drivers prefer to manage themselves.
Connectivity also suffers; Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wired-only, and surprisingly, utilize an outdated USB-A to C connection, rather than the more common and modern USB-C to C standard. Perhaps the most egregious example of design misjudgment, however, is the placement of the fog light switch. Instead of a tactile button or a dedicated stalk, it resides solely within a touchscreen menu. This move to bury critical, safety-related functions within a digital interface is not only impractical but potentially dangerous, forcing drivers to divert attention from the road for a simple task. This kind of “ill thought through” design permeates the vehicle, suggesting a severe lack of real-world testing and user-centric development.
Driving Dynamics: A Contradictory Ride
A true sports car, electric or otherwise, is ultimately judged by its driving experience. While the MG Cyberster offers impressive straight-line acceleration, its dynamic capabilities and ride quality prove to be profoundly disappointing, particularly for a vehicle aspiring to the ‘GT’ designation.
Power Without Poise
The 500 horsepower and instant torque of the MG Cyberster GT ensure that it’s undeniably quick off the mark. Engaging sport mode delivers a rush that matches its impressive 0-62 mph time, making it effective for bursts of speed. However, this raw power is not matched by refined handling or a composed chassis. Weighing just under two tons, the car struggles to manage its mass effectively when tackling corners or uneven roads. While powerful, the sense of agility and connectedness often expected from a sports car is largely absent.
The steering wheel, in addition to its ergonomic flaws, feels disconnected, further diminishing the driver’s confidence in the car’s true capabilities. It’s a classic case of having the engine (or motors, in this case) but lacking the chassis engineering to fully exploit it, resulting in a car that is fast but not inherently fun or engaging to drive hard.
The Jittery GT Debate
MG classifies the Cyberster as a ‘GT’ (Grand Tourer), suggesting it should offer a blend of performance and long-distance comfort. However, its suspension tuning completely contradicts this claim. The video highlights a “constant jitter” at low speeds, where every minor imperfection in the road is magnified, making for an unrefined and uncomfortable ride. This fidgety behavior is not something one expects from a modern vehicle, let alone one designed for touring.
At higher speeds, the situation doesn’t improve significantly; the car becomes “bouncy,” struggling to settle into a stable groove. This lack of composure is particularly jarring when compared to other performance cars. The reviewer notes that even a hardcore supercar like a McLaren 570S, known for its firm ride, was more comfortable than the Cyberster. Given that the MG Cyberster has a top speed of only 125 mph – far below cars designed for the Autobahn – there is no credible excuse for its uncomfortable, unstable, and often “sketchy” ride quality at the speed limit.
A true GT car should inspire confidence and comfort over long distances, allowing the driver to arrive refreshed after covering hundreds of miles. The MG Cyberster, instead, feels agitated and unsettled on familiar roads, akin to driving a car “50 years old, not like two.” This fundamental flaw in its driving dynamics means it fails spectacularly at its stated purpose, making it difficult to recommend for anything beyond straight-line acceleration on perfectly smooth surfaces, which are rare in the real world.
The Verdict: A Missed Opportunity in EV Sports Cars
Ultimately, the MG Cyberster stands as a testament to the challenges of automotive design when practical considerations are overshadowed by conceptual ambitions. The car is an exercise in contradictions: a beautiful concept marred by fundamental flaws in ergonomics, user interface, and driving dynamics.
The criticisms leveled against the MG Cyberster in the video are comprehensive and damning. The uncomfortable seats, the ill-conceived steering wheel, the bewildering array of slow and unintuitive screens, and the utterly baffling placement of critical controls like the fog light switch, all point to a vehicle that was designed without sufficient real-world testing or user empathy. These interior and ergonomic shortcomings would be significant in any new car, but they are particularly glaring in a modern electric sports car aiming to compete in an increasingly sophisticated market.
More critically, the car’s driving dynamics are a significant letdown. Despite its impressive power, the MG Cyberster fails to deliver a coherent or comfortable ride. Its fidgety low-speed behavior and bouncy high-speed instability mean it never truly finds its rhythm, whether on a daily commute or a spirited drive. This makes the car frustrating to drive, undermining its very essence as a sports car and a grand tourer.
The core issue is that the MG Cyberster’s brilliant fundamentals—its two-seater layout, stunning looks (mostly), practical boot, and potent electric powertrain—are completely undermined by a host of poorly executed details. It represents a significant missed opportunity, a car that could have been magnificent with slightly more testing, a redesign of its interior controls, better seats, and a complete overhaul of its suspension. As it stands, it’s a powerful statement of what happens when vision isn’t backed by meticulous execution, leaving potential buyers with a vehicle that is unfortunately difficult to recommend, despite its promising facade.
Decoding the Cyberster’s Design Disasters: Your Q&A
What is the MG Cyberster?
The MG Cyberster is a two-seater electric roadster that aims to be a modern electric sports car, drawing on MG’s history in accessible sports cars.
What are some eye-catching design features of the MG Cyberster?
The car features a low-slung, two-seater configuration and dramatic scissor doors, giving it a distinctive supercar aesthetic.
How powerful is the MG Cyberster?
The top-end GT variant has two electric motors that produce 500 horsepower, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in a quick 3.2 seconds.
What are some of the main problems identified with the MG Cyberster?
Key issues include frustratingly designed doors, uncomfortable seating, a confusing and slow screen-heavy interior, and a noticeably uncomfortable and unstable ride quality for a sports car.
