MotorTrend Testing Director
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MotorTranscript
00:00We're in an MG Cyberster.
00:04This is an electric sports car made by a Chinese company wearing the badge of a 100-year-old
00:10British sports car company.
00:12This car is not a direct 911 competitor.
00:15We're using that 911 as a benchmark, the standard that it needs to meet, maybe.
00:20This vehicle is, though, about half the price of a Porsche 911.
00:23Let's do a launch.
00:240 to 60 in 3.2 seconds there, quarter mile in about 11.7 seconds, 11.6 seconds.
00:38The soundtrack is just bizarre.
00:41Sounds like it's straight out of a 1980s arcade game.
00:44There's not a ton of drama.
00:45It pulls from a stop, but not the way you'd think, given how much torque it makes.
00:50Doesn't feel like it's really jumping off the line like a lot of high-power Teslas do.
00:55Certainly doesn't feel as extensive as a Porsche 911, but you can also see how this might be
01:00designed more for a younger, more digital generation with this kind of three-instrument
01:06cluster.
01:07This is a convertible, of course.
01:09All right, we're at 92% battery.
01:10I think we started at 96%, and it got about a tenth of a second slower from the first
01:16to the second run.
01:17Let's see if it's starting to fade now, or what.
01:20Let's give it a launch.
01:24A little bit of torque there, 0 to 60 in about 3.1 seconds.
01:29It is quicker than a 911, has none of the world drama of a real 911, but you know, goes.
01:38That's what EVs do.
01:39All right, let's do some brake stops.
01:44I do not like the way the brake pedal feels.
01:47No action, no feedback, no nothing.
01:52You just don't feel like there's any connection to the car.
01:56This almost certainly has a brake-by-wire system, and I'm saying that just based solely
01:59on how this thing feels.
02:01There's no way you're stepping on anything other than kind of a simulated brake pedal.
02:08Something that's connected to a box that sends electronic signals to the brake booster to
02:12then push fluid to the calipers.
02:14The brake stops in this MG Cyberster are longer by about five feet in the MG Cyberster compared
02:20to a Porsche 911.
02:21I'm sure weight has a lot to do with that.
02:24Tires could be a factor as well.
02:26All right, let's do it from 100.
02:35I will admit to being a little bit nervous braking from 100 miles per hour in this car.
02:41I'm just hoping that everything stays bolted together.
02:45There's a Super Sport button on the steering wheel.
02:47If you push it, it does not activate Super Sport mode, it activates Track mode.
02:51So we're in Track mode.
02:52We've got traction control and ESC off, maybe.
02:57Overcooked that one a little bit.
02:58Got a brake earlier.
02:59Remember, it's an EV, it's quick.
03:02Chassis builds-wise, it's not atrocious.
03:05I shouldn't say not atrocious, it's okay.
03:08Not responsive to brake and throttle.
03:12I will say there's nothing about the steering that makes me love it.
03:17It is very much the epitome of everything we dislike about bad electric power steering
03:23systems.
03:26So I am about a full second slower in this car, which is quicker zero to 60 than I was
03:35in the 911, around the figure eight, right?
03:39Low stability control intervention there.
03:42So I've got traction control off, but not stability control.
03:46And as far as I can tell, you can't turn off stability control.
03:49I had some locals help me with that.
03:51All right, let's do two more.
03:54Nowhere near as neutral as the Porsche.
03:56You're not really having to worry about oversteering this car.
04:02It will a little bit if you really provoke it, but doesn't require balancing on the edge
04:09like the 911 does.
04:11I'm almost exactly one second slower in this car around the figure eight course than I
04:17was in the Porsche 911.
04:19And that's kind of amazing because this car was almost a half second quicker zero to 60.
04:24So it's a grip issue, maybe a confidence issue, a balance issue a little bit, handling, quality.
04:32So yeah, it's what you'd expect almost.
04:35The EV is quicker in a straight line, but I can't manage the Porsche in terms of handling,
04:40in terms of braking, and certainly not in the sense of driving experience.
04:45It's nowhere near as fun.