MG Cyberster
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
MG Cyberster review: the only electric roadster on Earth, which is both its triumph and its problem
The MG Cyberster is for the buyer who wants an open-top EV and has noticed, correctly, that nobody else will sell them one — and who can live with the ride, software, and badge snobbery that come with being first. Bottom line: nothing else does this for £55–60k. Nothing else does this at all, actually.
What it is. A two-seat electric convertible from MG — yes, that MG — with scissor doors, a 15-second power roof, and either 340 hp (Trophy, £54,995, 316-mile claimed range) or 510 hp (GT, £59,995, 276 miles, 0–62 in 3.2 seconds). Built in China, on sale in the UK since August 2024, Europe, Australia, and India. Not the US. Not Euro NCAP tested.
What's genuinely good. Start with the obvious: the theatre is real. Scissor doors, a silhouette that stops traffic, and owners report the deeply satisfying experience of being mistaken for something costing twice the money — one debadged his and watches people guess six figures. Then the pace: 510 horsepower, all-wheel drive, roof down, for sixty grand. There is no other car at this money, electric or otherwise, that does 0–62 in 3.2 seconds with the sky above you. Porsche's electric Boxster keeps getting delayed, which means MG is alone in the segment it invented. And the fundamentals are sound — UK press calls it well built and engineered to a high standard, the roof mechanism works, and Bjørn Nyland ran his full 1,000 km winter test in -8°C conditions without the car embarrassing itself. That's a tougher exam than most convertibles ever sit.
What's actually wrong. Now the part the brochure skips. The ride is the owners' number-one complaint and it keeps surfacing in every market: lumpy at low speed in Britain, punishing on Indian roads, "the main issue I feel they need to address" per the most detailed owner account. The interior packaging has a genuine design scar — the triple-screen display is half-hidden behind the steering wheel in any seating position, a leftover from a yoke wheel MG chickened out of, and there's no auto-dimming mirror, which in a £60k car in 2026 is just cheap. The software and app are "disappointing" (owner's word, and he's a fan), with jittery infotainment and OTA updates known to crash. Real-world range is 230-ish miles in the GT on a wet UK day, not 276. Cabin materials are nice-where-you-touch, average-where-you-look — not Porsche-grade, whatever the price overlap suggests. And the scissor doors, glorious as they are, are the long-term reliability question nobody can answer yet; even sympathetic reviewers quietly flag them as a future problem. Skip this car if you want a sorted chassis, need a dealer within easy reach (Indian owners report long treks to service), or can't stomach explaining to your car friends that you bought the MG.
The social pulse. The Cyberster community is tiny, earnest, and slightly defensive — mgevs.com owners acknowledge every flaw the press finds, then point out the press keeps comparing it to petrol roadsters, which misses the point. The real anxiety in the forums isn't mechanical; it's existential: "I hope they persist and further develop the car (low sales may be an issue)." That lands. This is a halo car from a value brand, and halos get cancelled. There's no astroturf here — volumes are far too small — but there is a whiff of launch-hype residue in the "lifetime battery warranty" claims from Chinese marketing, which nobody has independently verified.
The value call. New: £54,995 Trophy / £59,995 GT. The Trophy sits at base-Porsche-718 money, which is the wrong comparison — nobody cross-shops a badge that hard and picks the MG. The GT is the honest buy: 510 hp for the price of a well-specced BMW Z4, and nothing else on sale does what it does. Used: there is no used market yet, which means early depreciation is a cliff edge — buy new only if you plan to keep it. Nearest alternatives: used Porsche 718 Boxster (the badge, the noise, the running costs), BMW Z4 M40i (£57k, slower, petrol), or waiting for the electric Boxster that Porsche keeps postponing. Sweet-spot year: 2025 — the only vintage with any owner history and the 2026-model refinements filtering in. Skip 2023 — China-only launch year, earliest software, no export support story.
The Cyberster is a genuinely brave car, and bravery deserves credit: MG built the electric roadster everyone talked about and nobody else built. Just go in knowing you're buying the first draft of a segment — thrilling, flawed, and entirely alone.