The MG Cyberster a two-seat electric roadster, guaranteed to turn heads

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Car Reviewed: MG Cyberster Trophy

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Answer: yes, of course you are. It looks pretty keen, does it not? Complete with attention-gabbing supercar-style doors, the Cyberster is this new wave, fully electric, two-seater boldly going where no MG two-seater has been before.

MG these days is mainly associated with a wide and well-received range of good-value mainstream models. Bankrolled by China’s vast SAIC group, MG is on a roll and sales are booming.

The Cyberster is the icing on the cake if you like, a new sporting icon for MG, a legendary badge in the UK, with roots stretching back over 100 years to 1924 when the marque began life as Morris Garages in Oxford.

Fast forward to 2024, and MG gives a UK debut to the Cyberster, this open-top, gamer-style EV sportster at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Cyberster is presented as MG’s 100-year present to itself. Media interest, inevitably, is enormous.

So, to cut to the chase, you want to know what it’s like. Short answer: fascinating, fast but not completely free of foibles. It is a car that nonetheless takes the classic English Octagon badge and launches it into a new sporting arena.

Up to a point, the Cyberster is a modern-day successor to the MGB and MGF. Except, where the MGB and MGF were generally mass-market and affordable, the Chinese-built Cyberster is a far more upscale, specialized product. Its target: the Porsche Boxster…

Even the Cyberster name plays obvious homage to the Boxster, and some visual aspects, especially side on, do the same.

Still, seeing and sitting in the MG for the first time it feels fresh and new. That’s a good start. The EV side of it offers you two versions: the single motor, rear-drive Trophy (250kW) or dual motor GT (375kW).

Although I’ve driven both cars, we’re concentrating here on the Trophy. This looks the same as the GT, with both cars sharing the same 77kW lithium-ion battery.

The Trophy however, is cheaper, lighter and has a longer claimed EV driving range (up to 316 miles vs 276 miles for the GT) on a full charge. The Trophy also wears 19 ins alloys. The GT rolls on 20 ins wheels.

The Cyberster was designed in London, and with its sleek, drooping nose, sexy (Porsche-like) side profile and neat cut-off tail with arrow indicators, looks innovative, modern and appealing, at least to my eye.

Indeed, this MG positively catches the eye with the electric top-up or down (it takes 15 secs to raise/lower at speeds up to 30 mph).

Inside, you sense the Cyberster’s origins as a sports EV for gamers.  Three screens are in front of the driver, like a modern gamer PC setup. Trouble is, the steering wheel cuts off visibility to the two side screens.

The Cyberster has a number of little frustrations like this. Forward view out over the bonnet is fantastic, but a (removable) wind blocker cuts off rear vision.

As for those attention-grabbing scissors doors (perfect for pub car parks), these are not always straightforward to operate. After five days, the novelty had somehow worn off.

However, The doors serve one practical purpose: the Cyberster is so wide that they let you enter and exit the car quite easily in a tight parking space.

Did I mention size? Yes, with a length of 4535 mm, width of 1913 mm and height of 1329 mm, the Cyberster is almost the size of a modern Porsche 911 Turbo…

And it’s no lightweight, tipping the scales at 1885 kgs (or 1985 kgs in GT guise), so a long way off the evergreen Mazda MX-5, for example.

The Cyberster is a strict two-seater. The seats look smart and cabin feels upscale, if a bit gimmicky in detailing. Switchgear is not always easy to grasp.

There’s some small space behind the seats for jackets or light shopping. Boot space is modest and carries the EV charging cables. There is no “frunk” on this car. Lift the bonnet and you find just a big plastic cover…

Being purely electric and with instant, massive torque, the Cyberster zooms quickly up to speed. Should you engage the Super Sport button, then it immediately becomes VERY FAST. Almost scarily so.

There are four drive modes – Comfort – Sport – Custom – Track – so there’s plenty of variety. You get steering wheel paddle shifts to adjust brake regeneration and there’s also a setting for one-pedal driving.

On this evidence, the Cyberster is not exactly a sports car, more of a grand tourer. On the motorway, it’s composed and quite refined.

But over a series of good B-roads, where you would expect it to shine, it’s fast but not agile and communicative, just flat and covering the ground in a generally neutral, inert manner. At times, it seems quite hard work.

Ride quality is pretty stiff. Steering feel is numb. The suspension was tuned in the UK, but overall, this setup (front double wishbones, five-link arrangement at the rear) needs more work, subtlety, and finesse.

When the tail breaks away, as it can do abruptly, you need to be quick to correct it.

The Cyberster 4WD GT model is far better poised in this regard, more planted, predictable, easier to drive fast. Dynamically, the GT is the one to go for.

Equipment levels, meantime, are good, and the MG has a quality feel to it. On a 150 kW Fast Charger, you can replenish the battery from 30-80 per cent in just 37 minutes. The electric roof goes up and down impressively and is well-finished.

While the Cyberster is said to have been inspired by the ‘60s MGB, the world has moved on since then and the Cyberster Trophy ambitiously is right on Porsche 718 Boxster money at £54,995 (the GT is £59.995).

The Trophy can be super quick – 0-62 km/h in just 5.0 secs – but indicated electrical driving efficiency at around 2.1 MLS/kWh is a long way off its official figure.

MG is just starting out with the Cyberster and for a first attempt at an open top EV sportster is impressive in many key areas, while raising questions in others.

Right now, it pretty much has the open EV two-seater market all to itself.

Yes, no question, the MG Cyberster is a car that fascinates and, indeed intrigues. Which I think is where we came in…