MG Cyberster Review & Prices

The MG Cyberster is, arguably, the first drop-top electric sports car. It joins a vanishingly small cohort of electric convertibles that includes the short-lived Mini Electric Convertible, colossally expensive Maserati GranCabrio Folgore and the hardly-a-convertible Fiat 500e Cabrio plus its Abarth sibling.

The Cyberster represents the meeting of MG’s past and future. The brand’s history is in building convertible sports cars, but the last few years have been all about electrification. It’s like a Silver Cross buggy - inspired by the baby carriages of the past but definitely a product of the present with all the modern features buyers expect.

MG’s also been sure to include a few features that nobody was expecting - hardcore MG fans or otherwise. The Cyberster looks like nothing else on the road, with insectoid headlights, squat proportions that make it look quite a lot smaller than it is and a wild rear featuring arrow-shaped taillights and a full-width lightbar.

The wow factor increases with the doors, which are electrically-operated scissor doors that open up and away rather than outwards. It’s fair to say that if you arrive somewhere in a Cyberster, you’re guaranteed to make an entrance whether you want to or not - in fact, get used to being stopped in car parks, or having people’s heads turn in traffic.

The flip side is that you can’t really arrive anywhere discreetly - and those party piece doors can be frustratingly slow to operate. The interior isn’t short of issues either, most of which come from its eye-catching quadruple-screen layout. That’s right - four screens, with three pivoted towards the driver and a fourth in the centre console for climate controls.

MG Cyberster: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 276 miles / 316 miles
Efficiency: 3.3-3.7mi/kWh
Battery size: 77kWh
Max charge speed: 144kW
Charge time AC: 10hrs 30mins, 10-100%, 7kW
Charge time DC: 38mins, 10-80%, 144kW
Charge port location: Left side rear
Power outputs: 340hp / 510hp

If it sounds confusing, that’s because it is - the outer screens are constantly blocked by the steering wheel, and it’s never particularly clear which functions you control via which screen. At least the driver’s display is clear and concise.

The rest of the interior is largely successful. It’s roomy enough, and storage consists of a glovebox, a big shelf behind the seats useful for bags or coats, tiny door bins and a couple of cubbies in the centre console. Material quality is excellent, and build quality isn’t too bad either - not up to the standards of a Porsche, but then the Cyberster makes even the petrol-engined Porsche Boxster look like a bargain.

One potential issue rears its ugly head for tall drivers, though, as the seats are set very high. You never really feel as if you’re sat ‘in’ the Cyberster - more like you’re perched on top of it - and if you’re over six feet tall or have a long torso you may find your head brushing the roof.

The roof, incidentally, is an electrically-operated fabric affair. It goes down swiftly and can be operated at speeds up to 28mph, which is really useful if you’re hit by a sudden rainstorm, and when it’s up it does a good job of keeping the heat in and the noise out.

Not that there’s much noise to be heard. It’s quite disconcerting being in a convertible car that makes nothing more than a soft whirr on acceleration. Like most electric cars, the Cyberster is swift - even the basic rear-wheel drive model will give hot hatchbacks a run for their money, while the fastest dual-motor version has supercar pace.

Despite this, it doesn’t feel sporty to drive. The Cyberster is comfortable, quiet and reasonably relaxing, but if you push it into a set of corners you soon feel that it’s a very heavy car with relatively uncommunicative steering. Despite appearances, it’s more of a boulevard cruiser than an out-and-out sports car.

You’ll even be able to cruise for a decent distance, with an official range figure of more than 300 miles in the entry-level car.

As a package, there’s a lot to love about the MG Cyberster. It’s not a pedigree performance car, but if you’re looking for a drop-top cruiser it does a fantastic job of being comfortable, offering punchy performance when you need it, and feeling largely high quality inside.

Find out how much you can save with Carwow’s MG Cyberster deals, or get a great price on other MG models. You can also browse the latest used MGs from out network of trusted dealers, and when the time comes, you can sell your car online on Carwow, too.

MG Cyberster prices start at around £55,000 for the Trophy and rise to nearly £60,000 for the high-performance GT version, which feels pretty good value given the big hike in power. It’s tough to compare it to anything on price, but that’s a bit more than the starting price of a petrol-powered Porsche 718 Boxster, but less than an all-electric Porsche Taycan.

Aside from the extra motor that increases the power output and provides all-wheel drive, equipment levels are identical between the two trims, apart from the fact that GT models get 20-inch alloy wheels compared with 19 inches on Trophy cars.

Comfortable and rapid, but the MG Cyberster is easily unsettled by bumps when you’re attacking a twisty road

In town

The MG Cyberster is composed and relaxing to drive around town. You get the EV-typical instant response of the electric motors and near-silent propulsion, as well as a one-pedal mode to make traffic even easier. The Cyberster also handles bumps well at lower speeds – sure, it jiggles about a bit, but you never get any wince-worthy pothole crunches. It’s low, though, so large speed bumps can hit the bottom of the car, which never feels nice.

Because of the battery pack beneath the car, you sit fairly high. This can be annoying when you’re going for a sporty drive, but around town it’s great because the low dashboard means you have good visibility ahead of you. Rear visibility is poor, but standard-fit parking sensors and a 360-degree reversing camera help in a tight spot.

On the motorway

That comfortable suspension, soft seat upholstery and relatively spacious cabin mean that long distances are no trouble in the MG Cyberster. It’s a bit noisy at 70mph, with wind and road noise naturally higher than you’d get in a non-convertible car, but it’s nothing unbearable.

MG Pilot is included as standard, which brings kit such as lane-keeping assistance and blind spot detection, while adaptive cruise control is also fitted to both versions. This maintains your speed as well as distance to the car in front, and takes the strain out of long motorway drives.

On a twisty road

When you look at the sleek, sporty styling and 510hp output of the GT model, it’s easy to think this is a proper performance car. However, the MG Cyberster never feels happy being driven hard – there’s loads of grip, particularly in the GT with all-wheel drive catapulting you out of corners even in the wet – but the suspension struggles with bumpy roads at speed and the steering doesn’t tell you much about what the front tyres are doing.

As a result, it’s better to rein it in and just enjoy the scenery, at which point the Cyberster feels much more enjoyable to drive and less seat-of-your-pants. If you want something to attack a twisty road, a Porsche 718 Boxster is still your best bet, or you can wait for the imminent electric version…

The cabin is spacious by two-seater standards, though the boot is quite small

The MG Cyberster isn’t as small as it looks, which means it’s actually fairly spacious inside. Even taller drivers should be able to find a comfortable driving position, though the seat doesn’t go very low, which is mildly frustrating.

The door bins are hidden behind covers, but they're tiny and largely pointless, though you do get a couple of cupholders between the front seats, as well as a small glovebox and an area beneath the armrest. There’s nowhere for a wireless charging pad, but you do get USB-A and USB-C slots for phone charging and infotainment connection.

Space in the back seats

The MG Cyberster is a two-seater, but there is a shelf behind the seats with a net to hold your items in place. It’s just about big enough for a couple of backpacks, handbags or somewhere to put a light shop. It’s also designed to hold the wind deflector when you don’t want to use it.

Boot space

The boot isn’t particularly big at 249 litres, though there’s enough space for a weekly shop for a small family, or some bags for a weekend away. Access isn’t easy though, with the opening not being particularly big and sitting up high meaning you have to lift items over the rear bumper.

Convertibles such as this never have huge boots, but the Cyberster does have a bit less than the Porsche 718 Boxster (275 litres) and BMW Z4 (280 litres). Disappointingly for an electric car, there's no front boot either. However, unlike some convertibles, the boot is the same size whether the roof is up or down, and it's quite deep - so you can get larger bags in without too much of an issue.

Quality is decent overall, but there are some cheap switches and the screens are poorly positioned

On the whole, interior quality is great and feels like a big step up on anything you’ll have seen from MG before. Dashboard materials and seat upholstery look and feel just about posh enough for the price tag, and the design is simple with a hint of classic roadster.

It’s far from perfect, though. The upswinging doors are cool, but they’re not particularly quick and it can become tiresome if you want to quickly jump in or out, while the chunky switches for this and the fabric roof feel a bit cheap and plasticky.

It’s the array of screens that are the bigger complaint, though. All have a clear resolution and respond quickly to your inputs, but they’re a bit of an ergonomic mess. The central climate screen is positioned well, but the process of scrolling through different temperatures is wholly unintuitive.

There are no complaints about the 10.3-inch instrument display ahead of you, but the 7.0-inch displays either side are partially obscured by the steering wheel. The one on the right has some largely uninteresting information about your charge state and energy flow etc, but the one on the left has your maps, so you’ll often find yourself leaning to the side to see when the next junction is or check your ETA.

It's never particular clear which screen you should use for which function - some settings are on the right screen, for instance, while others are hidden in the climate control screen. The one to the left is also where you'll see your smartphone mirroring through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and it's quite a cramped display for these purposes.

You also only get a wired connection, and there's not much space under the armrest to keep your smartphone - so it'll have to be wedged down the side of a seat or balanced on the centre console.

There are two versions of the MG Cyberster – an entry-level single-motor version and a more powerful dual-motor.

Single-motor Trophy cars make 340hp, which is sent to the rear wheels. The 0-62mph time of 5.0 seconds proves this is hardly a ‘slow’ version though, being near enough identical to an entry-level Porsche 718 Boxster.

If you want the performance-focused GT, you get all-wheel drive from the dual-motor setup, providing 510hp and a 0-62mph sprint of just 3.2 seconds – that’s proper supercar pace. To keep the Porsche comparison alive, that’s not far off a £130,000 911 GTS…

Both Cyberster models get the same 77kWh battery, so as you’d expect all the GT’s extra power limits range somewhat. The official distance between charges for Trophy cars is 316 miles, compared with 276 miles for the GT. Those are respectable figures, though if you’re regularly enjoying all 510hp you can expect the range to drop quickly – on a spirited drive in the Scottish Highlands we saw efficiency of 2.5mi/kWh in the GT, which would equate to a range of about 200 miles, though you could probably eke another 10-20 miles in more typical driving scenarios.

The maximum charge rate is fairly good at 144kW, which MG claims should take you from 10-80% in 38 minutes, while a 7kW home charge will top the battery up in just over 10 hours. There’s no Vehicle Excise Duty to pay on electric cars, and there are ultra-low Benefit-in-Kind rates for company car drivers, too.

The MG Cyberster has not been safety tested by Euro NCAP, though the MG4 EV scored the full five stars when it was tested in 2022, which should be reassuring, particularly as the Cyberster gets a lot of assistance kit as standard.

Whichever model you go for you get all the same safety and security systems, which includes MG Pilot (lane-keeping assistance, blind spot monitoring and more) as well as tech that disengages the keyfob’s signal for keyless entry when not in use, making keyless car theft impossible.

The MG Cyberster is an all-new model, so reliability data isn’t readily available. However, the manufacturer performed badly in the 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming in last place.

As such, it’s fortunate that the Cyberster gets the same warranty as MG’s regular models, which means you get seven years or 80,000 miles of cover, which is one of the best in the business.