• Spacious rear seats
• Boot is a good size, but not the largest
• PHEV is just as roomy as standard car

How much space is there?

The HS continues to be MG’s largest and most spacious car in the UK, and it’s grown slightly as part of this new generation. It’s not massively larger, but is longer and wider, with much of this going into increasing the available interior space, especially for rear passengers. 

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Most adults should be able to get comfortable in the rear seats. There’s ample legroom and enough headroom for all but the tallest adults, although the sloping rear end means headroom is ever so slightly compromised. Plus, unlike the previous HS, there is no option for a panoramic sunroof, making the cabin seem darker compared to before. That said, an optional tan leather upholstery helps to brighten things up again, even if it costs an additional £500. 

Boot space and storage

While the MG HS’s boot isn’t the largest in its class, there’s still a decent amount of space. You get 507 litres with the rear seats in place, which increases to 1,484 litres when you fold them flat. That’s respectable, but a Hyundai Tucson offers noticeably more space – 620 litres, or up to 1,799 litres with the rear seats folded. 

There’s a completely flat floor, however, and the seats almost fold completely flat. Most impressive is the plug-in hybrid as, despite it finding space for a huge 24.7kWh under the boot floor (nearly as large as the fully-electric Dacia Spring), it makes no difference to the boot area. 

While we reckon the HS is more than spacious enough for most family needs, although it lacks some of the clever touches many rivals have. There are not masses of storage spaces and no clever cubby holes. Also, the rear seats don’t slide or tilt in the same way that many competitors do. The Skoda Karoq continues to be the benchmark for interior flexibility in this class. 

Is it easy to park?

Despite growing in size, the second-generation HS remains quite easy to drive. It’s got a good turning circle for a car of its size – despite lacking the rear-wheel steering that you get on a Renault Austral – and you get a clear view of the bonnet. The corners are easy to judge, too.

All models also come with a rear-view camera as standard, as well as rear parking sensors. The top-spec Trophy version also gets surround-view cameras that are great for threading the HS through narrow spaces, although the images aren’t of the highest quality. 

The door mirrors of the HS stick out quite a lot, too, so it’s worth being mindful of this while parking in tight spaces or multi-storey car parks. 

Safety

• Five-star rating from Euro NCAP
• Lots of standard safety tech
• But some of it is irritating and distracting

Following on from the previous version’s 2019 five-star Euro NCAP rating, the crash safety body has awarded this latest MG HS five starts in its 2024 test. This is the highest possible rating, and includes a 90% score for adult occupant safety and 85% for child occupant safety.

Safety kit is generous. Standard features include adaptive cruise control (on automatic cars only), lane keep assist and blind spot monitoring. The plug-in hybrid models also come with a new feature that alerts you try and open the car door into passing traffic or pedestrians. 

You also get a driver attention camera system included, though this proved to be a real bone of contention on our test drive. If the camera thinks you’re not looking at the road, it lets out a loud bong. This sounds like a good idea in principle, but it’s poorly executed because even if you’re staring forward it’ll make the alert noise occasionally. Also, if you look at the touchscreen, which you have to do to control many of the car’s features – such as changing the climate settings – it starts bonging. 

You can turn it off but it requires a lot of presses of the screen to get to the right menu – another distraction. We found it very annoying.

Watch the Euro NCAP crash test video