Ask MG Car Club president Paul Walbran why he and his clearly patient wife were among the first to buy a nearly $130,000 electric Chinese-built MG Cyberster, and he has a succinct answer: “Because we are complete nutters.”
On a visit to Aladdin’s Cave, which is Paul’s mostly-MG workshop in West Auckland, it was clear he is an eccentric. It is also clear that other eccentrics/nutters entrust their precious MGs – and a few Jaguars (an E-Type and an XJ6, since you ask) – to him.
Paul, however, pulls up in a metallic red convertible that is silent, surprisingly sexy, and new, unlike the MGA, MGB, and MGF in various stages of undress in the garage.
Somehow inevitably, Paul owns the first MG Cyberster sold in Auckland. It seems a step for someone steeped in the Englishness of MG who works on them and has at least two personal garages full of his own MGs – a collection, or an obsession.
The sale of MG Rover to Nanjing Automobile in 2005 was a landmark in the decline of British motoring that prompted howls from the St George’s flag crew.
Yet Nanjing was, in turn, bought by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), and MG lives and thrives again.
MG under Chinese ownership has come a long way, including in New Zealand, where its electric, hybrid, and internal combustion engine models have carved out market share, from small SUVs to a gigantic ute with an MG badge the size of a dinner plate.
The Cyberster is a big step up, though its battery and underpinnings are shared with the MG4 SUV.
“Halo cars” are used by often run-of-the-mill manufacturers to elevate perceptions of their range and ambitions.
The Honda NSX, a more affordable Ferrari without the oil stains, and the V10 Lexus LFA sports car, in a range these days led by angular SUVs, are examples.
Based on what can only be called a “blat” with Paul, the Cyberster is the real deal – a signal of intent by SAIC. Its most logical rival may be Mazda’s MX-5 – a near-perfect coupe that stole the identity of a Lotus Elan and showed the British what the future might have been.
Shark-like bonnet
Yet the Cyberster is longer, wider, and more adventurous than the MX-5; less perfect perhaps than a car that stayed true to the 1989 original. The shark-like bonnet and bustle are reminiscent of the BMW Z4.
SAIC says the Cyberster was designed in its London studio.
Its party trick is McLaren-style scissor doors, pivoting at the front, which rise up rather than out. They are clever and silly. They do make it easier to get in and out and are just cool.
The amusing HBO comedy Silicon Valley featured a scene in which a billionaire whose stock is falling must downgrade from a McLaren to a Maserati (with normal doors).
Ashamed to lose his “three commas” status, he gestures wildly, mimicking the McLaren scissor doors and mocking the Maserati doors, declaring: “These are not the doors of a billionaire!”
The Cyberster has billionaire doors for a fraction of the cost of a McLaren. (The hybrid McLaren Artura is $375,000 and has dihedral doors.)
The Cyberster retails for $129,000 for the top 4WD model, and a little less for the 2WD model. A second-hand Cyberster is on Trade Me at $99,000.
Of course, it’s not all about the doors. Jump across the threshold and the Cyberster is a snug but not cramped cabin. Everything falls to hand; the leather wheel feels ready for anything, with its track mode button and adjacent paddles.
The McLarenesque three-paned screen instrument panel works. The centre console has a screen and auto-transmission controls.
Paul is a top-down-unless-it’s-hosing-down chap. It was cold, but vents warm your extremities, and there is a baffle you can put between the headrests to reduce buffeting.
The powered top can be raised at up to 40km/h and looks very much like a Z4 ragtop.
The Cyberster “goes like stink”, as we once might have said. The push-you-into-the-seat acceleration was second only to a long-ago drive in a Tesla Roadster, an Elise with lithium batteries where the mid-engine had been.
The MG seems more controlled and stable.
Accelerate down a motorway on-ramp, and you’ll merge like a zip so smoothly it will feel indecent. The MG relished a nudge of throttle at the apex of a corner or to pass something. It handles predictably and with supple feedback from the wheel and your bottom.
“We really enjoy it,” Paul said, not having to raise his voice. “It drives well. It handles well, apart from the odd big bump that catches it. It’s just nicely balanced, and that’s really been one of the key things about MGs all the way along.”
Which takes us to what an MG should be.
Paul is refreshing for an aficionado: “I’m not in the ‘better dead than red’ brigade … MG always was starting off with the relatives’ [Morris or Austin] mechanicals and putting your own sexy body on it, and that’s what effectively this is.
“MG has stayed alive because it’s been prepared to evolve … They are still fundamentally going down the same track as it historically was, with a base of daily transport cars, saloon cars, SUVs, if you want these days, because that’s just the fashion.”
Likes: Looks. Performance that is addictive, not obnoxious. Sporting but supple suspension.
Dislikes: Some might emerge if Paul gives me another go. I’m willing to do the research.
Verdict: Maybe a competent Chinese owner is better for MG than the Brits? Specs at MG NZ.
It’s Spider-Man, whether you want him or not
Apple did it and irked millions, and now it’s BMW’s turn to feel the burn on what must have seemed a cool idea in a marketing meeting but turned out to bomb with real BMW buyers.
American BMW customers have been taken aback that their information screens include an unasked-for app tied to the BMW iX3 and 5-Series association with the next movie in the Spider-Man franchise that blurts: “Surprise! Spider-Man just dropped on your BMW!”
“Many BMW drivers have not been thrilled by this uninvited pitch for Peter Parker,” The Atlantic magazine reported.
“‘Stupid and annoying and totally unnecessary,’ one user posted on a BMW Reddit forum. ‘Wtf am I getting an ad? How is that appropriate in a vehicle?’”
BMW has a tie-in to the Spidey franchise and has its own ads linked to it. The in-car promotion, which a BMW spokesperson told me was a “celebratory message” not an ad, seems comparable to Apple forcing us to have U2 in our iTunes in 2012.
BMW said that, based on its understanding of Australian and New Zealand customers, it had decided this was not one of the 35 markets where Spidey is inside your car.
Jaguar seeks inspiration from architecture for 01
Having irked everyone from Donald Trump to Elon Musk with its “woke” relaunch and pink 00 concept, Jaguar has looked to architecture to inspire the interior of the real Type-01.
Jaguar said the interior was “influenced by the enduring beauty of travertine stone and the rich textures of artisan textiles; Type 01 is a deeply sensorial experience”. (Sensorial is sensory with more feeling).
Jaguar, or j-a-G-u-a-r as its new branding suggests, says the design is a “longitudinal” (front-to-back) rather than a lateral (side-to-side) concept, focused on what we would once have called a transmission tunnel but which it calls a “central spine”.
To be fair, an architect and Jaguar-owning friend did comment: “Nice interior … very restrained.”
As Ludwig Mies van de Rohe said, “less is more” and, as Le Corbusier might have said, “A car is a machine for driving in.”
Or, as Elon Musk asked, “Do you sell cars?”