---
title: 'MG S9 Review: The best 7-seat SUV I’ve ever tested?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=X5rlMRcOQt4'
video_id: 'X5rlMRcOQt4'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 945
---

# MG S9 Review: The best 7-seat SUV I’ve ever tested?

> Source: [MG S9 Review: The best 7-seat SUV I’ve ever tested?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=X5rlMRcOQt4)

## Summary

The MG S9 is a seven-seat SUV that offers exceptional value for money, starting at just over £31,000. Despite its budget price, it delivers a quiet, comfortable ride, ample space for adults in all three rows, and a surprisingly premium-feeling interior. However, it has some quirks like a hidden start-stop button and slow wireless charging, but overall it's a compelling family car.

### Key Points

- **Exceptional Value for Money** [00:15] — Starting price is just over £31,000; range-topping version around £35,000 through Carwow.
- **Massive Size** [00:28] — The car is 5 metres long, making it a large vehicle with plenty of interior space.
- **Spacious Third Row** [00:45] — Even adults over 6 feet tall have ample legroom and headroom in the third row.
- **Limited USB Ports in Back** [00:58] — Only one old-school USB port in the back for all passengers.
- **Fake Exhaust Tips** [01:39] — Fake exhaust tips are described as 'awful' and 'horrendous'.
- **Hidden Start-Stop Button** [01:50] — Start-stop button is hidden behind the steering wheel, easy to forget to turn off.
- **Keyless Go Issues** [02:09] — Keyless go can cause problems with losing keys and the car locking itself.
- **Slow Wireless Charging** [03:21] — Wireless charging pad is slow and asymmetrically shaped, making it hard to fit phones.
- **No Phone Button on Steering Wheel** [03:36] — No physical phone button on steering wheel; voice commands can accidentally call old contacts.
- **Annoying Driver Alerts** [03:47] — Annoying beeps and bongs require multiple screen taps to turn off, hard to do while driving.
- **Surprisingly Quiet Cabin** [07:56] — Cabin is extremely quiet at motorway speeds, comparable to luxury brands.
- **Great Visibility for Driver** [08:15] — Excellent visibility makes it easy to manoeuvre in narrow streets despite its size.
- **Wheelspin Under Acceleration** [10:40] — Electric motors provide instant torque, causing front wheels to spin easily under hard acceleration.
- **Good Acceleration Performance** [11:37] — Achieved 0-60 in 8.8 seconds, better than the brochure's 9.6 seconds.
- **Decent Braking Distance** [12:16] — Emergency stop from 60 mph achieved 34 metres, decent for a large car.
- **Spacious and Comfortable Middle Row** [12:23] — Middle row offers loads of knee room, foot space, headroom, and sliding/reclining seats.
- **Versatile Boot Space** [13:30] — Boot is reasonable with all seats up, vast with the rearmost row folded.
- **Buying New vs Leasing Cost Analysis** [14:08] — Buying new is cheaper than leasing due to lower depreciation relative to lease costs.

## Transcript

This is the new MG S9 and it is the best
value for money car in the UK right now
and I'm going to explain why. I'm Matt
Watson. You're watching Carw Wow.
You can get an MGS9 on Carw Wow for just
over £31,000. This range hopping version
through Carw £335,000.
It's mad. This car is absolutely
massive. You're getting a lot of metal
for your money. That's 3 m 4 m. It's 5 m
long and there's a benefit to it being
so long. It's a sevenseater and the best
thing about it is there's loads of room
in the back even for adults. So, let's
just fold this out the way. Right. Come
on. So, you can see what's going on.
Let's get Nick. Nick's tall. He's over 6
foot.
You got enough room there?
>> Oh, loads.
>> Look at this. I've got decent amount of
knee room. Head room's okay. And the
best thing is this. Look,
these back seats.
That is insanely good for a sevenseater.
The only area where they dropped the
ball a bit is this. Look, there's just
one old school USB port there for
everyone to fight over. For such a big,
sensible car, I think it looks all
right. It's got a very like intense
grin. It's a bit like this, isn't it?
>> You want to know how I got these scars?
Yeah. Similar, isn't it? But it doesn't
look like a budget vehicle, you know? It
looks way more expensive than its price.
and it's copied some features off
expensive cars such as this chrome
hockey stick. It's like an old 7 series.
I also think this part of it is very
similar to a Scoda Kodiak. I don't think
it looks any better or any worse than a
Scoda Kodiak apart from one feature at
the back here which is pretty terrible.
Bear with me for a moment cuz I need to
get something. The horrendous fake
exhaust tips as I'll illustrate now with
the carwow stick of truth. Awful, awful,
awful. And those aren't the only
annoying thing about this car. The start
stop button is hidden behind the
steering wheel. So look, from your point
of view, you miss it. So because the
car's quiet and it's mainly in electric
mode, you forget to turn it off. You
just get out. Especially if you're in a
Tesla and you're used to doing that kind
of thing. And then you try to lock it
and then it's a course. Oh, it's
annoying. Oh, turn off. I wish you
wouldn't do that. In fact, you know
what? I hate keyless go because you
often lose the keys and can't go. This
happened earlier.
Drew, have you got the smart key? It
thinks there's no key in it. I gave it
to you and I haven't had it since.
>> I put it in here cuz then the car I
started the car.
>> Right. I'm going to get out. Let you
guys look. You had it though. I handed
it to you, didn't I?
>> And then you just can't remember.
>> I had it because I turned it on.
>> Have you looked under the seats
properly? Even the pit of doom. It's
not.
>> He wouldn't have jumped out.
>> Where did you put it? I would have put
it
on the screen there.
Let's never do that again. And do you
know why you're doing that? Because the
car is liable to lock itself. Once
again, keyless go issues. It's honestly
it's bollocks. It's bollocks. Am I just
old? Yes. Shut up. I'm not a fan of the
poppy Audi door handles, which are
ripoff of Land Rovers. It's a bit like
shaking hands with the kind of all
flimsy. Also, these doors are huge,
which does make it easy to get in and
out when you have them open wired. It
also makes it really hard to get into
the car when you're in a tight space.
You're not going to squeeze through that
gap, are you? Not even I. You only have
slow wireless charging. And the design
of the pad is stupid. Look at it. Look
at the shape of it. It's not It's not
symmetrical. So, while your phone fits
in that one Oh, that's good. It doesn't
fit in that one quite. Can you see?
Great. Oh, and also when you accelerate
it, just do that. As you can see,
there's no phone button on the steering
wheel, which means that if you do a
voice command and it doesn't understand
it and it ends up calling some Tinder
date from 10 years ago, you constantly
just hang up. You have to do it on the
screen and you end up in panic mode.
Speaking of the screen, if you want to
turn off the annoying beeps and bongs,
you have to press car,
go down to Oh, over speed warning. I'll
turn that off. Then scan down. Where is
the other one?
This is one you definitely want to turn
off. the driver distraction monitoring
cuz it's way too strict. Yes, go away.
But all that kind of thing is very hard
to do when you're driving. Bloody
annoying things. The car sometimes makes
this weird worring noise from under the
bonnet for no reason. You'll hear it
randomly. It'll probably appear in a
future take. For such a big car, there's
only two positions for isopix anchor
points here on the outer middle row,
none in the rearmost row and none on the
passenger seat. Wasted opportunity.
Unlike with a Cherry Tiger 8, which has
DC fast charging, this plug-in hybrid
only has old school AC charging. Also,
while it's supposed to do 353 m per
gallon, this is how much I'm averaging.
I hate the way when you fold down this
seat that drops down. So, then you have
to go get back. However, I'm done
criticizing this car because there's
loads I like about it as well. I like
the light roof. So, you got sunlind, but
it's still nice and bright in here. And
the sunroof is massive. Plus, look,
look, look, look. It is a sunroof you
can open and it's standard on all
models. All cars also get 360 degree
camera lock with top down view where you
can see through the car. Very good. You
don't just have one, but you actually
have two customizable buttons on the
steering wheel which you can actually
configure to do lots of different
things. I've got the left one doing
regenerative braking between low,
medium, and high. And I've got this one
on the right doing a 360 camera. The S9
has an electric only range of 62 mi. as
a result has very low emissions and it
falls into the 10% benefit in kind
category. That means for a high rate
taxpayer it's going to cost you about
1,500 quid a year to have this car
through your company. Also, look, it
comes with a handy cup holder in the top
of the engine. It'll probably appear in
a future tank. Perfect to Monday. That
should warm it up. It's making that
noise again.
Where's the keys? It's cuz it's on
there. It stopped. Look, no noise.
Considering this car is such good value
for money, you'd think that it'd have a
budget feeling interior, but it doesn't.
The design looks smart. Some of the
materials are nice. Controls such as the
drive mode selector and the switch gear
nicely damped. The steering wheel feels
expensive. It's surprising really
though. If you do start tapping, some of
the plastics sound a bit hollow, but
nothing wobbles or really caks. I'm very
impressed. I'm also impressed by the
fact they've got physical buttons for
the climate control and actual vents you
can move around. Although the vents in
there actually move on their own. If you
look in there, can you see them moving?
Can you see them just panning around?
Look at that. Now, the screen, it is a
bit dark in terms of the graphics and
it's not the most responsive either, but
it's all right and the menus aren't too
confusing. You can swipe down to some of
the functions like that. The digital
driver's display is clear, but it is
fairly bland. Also, I'm not convinced by
this, the gear selector. Wish it was on
a column stalk. Just seems a bit of an
appendage. Storage is good though. Just
want to show you. This look doesn't feel
cheap. That's deep as well in there.
This feels nice. Two cup holders and
glove box is just acceptable. Underneath
here though, there's a lot of storage.
And we've got a 12vt socket and some
USBCs. Plus, the door bins are large.
Speaking of large, look at the size of
that sun visor.
That feels all right. The entry- level
version of this car is so well equipped,
but for three grand extra, you can get
this range topper, which has fake
leather interior, upgraded seats with
massage and ventilation function, and a
Bose sound system, which sounds very
good. But which one would I buy? Well,
I've actually configured my ideal MGS9
on Carw Wow. If you want to see which
version is the color I go for, and the
saving, click on the pop out banner up
there or scan the QR code on screen now
or just follow the link in the
description of this video. Anyway, I'll
tell you one other area where I'm really
impressed with this car. How good it is
for longd distance journeys. I'm
surprised how good this car is at higher
speed. So, let's just pick up from 40 to
60. Doesn't take very long. Look at
that. 60 mph. It's very quiet. Such a
quiet, relaxing car to travel in. I'm
amazed how quiet it is. It's as quiet as
a luxury car brand like BMW or Audi. How
is this just like 30 odd,000?
It's madness. It definitely feels more
expensive when you're just cruising
along in it. But the quiet cabin isn't
the only thing I noticed while driving
the S9. The visibility is great for the
driver as well. It's a huge car, but I
feel I can see all around it. So, even
when going down narrow streets such as
this, I am not phased. You get great
view forward as well. You can really
judge where the corners of the car are.
Look, I'm going to squeeze through this
gap here. Just whack up the cameras. No
problemmo.
So, good. People would be put off this,
oh, it's just too big for me. But ah,
it's easier than you think. Even the
turning circle is all right. Let's get
the old cameras up. Can I make it round
here? Actually, this is a tidy one. I
don't think this is going to work, but
let's give it a crack. Don't curb it.
Don't hit that car. There's no way I'm
getting past that. If I get past that,
do I do it? I'm going to do it. If this
works, it's mad. Oh, I figured it out.
That show where my wheels are going to
go, not where the front of the car is.
>> Hello. You all right?
>> Yeah.
>> That's a different one for you.
>> Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, it's an MG.
>> Yeah, it's good, isn't it?
>> That's spooky cuz I've been looking for
an MG Z.
>> Yeah, it looks posher than an MG,
doesn't it?
>> It's got that sort of a Range Rover look
about it.
>> Blime me. Range Rover.
>> Guess how much this costs. This car I've
got here.
>> Well, MGs are normally pretty good.
That's why I was looking at them. I
suspect it got all the
>> This is top of the range.
>> Top of the range. I'm probably going to
be a mile out, but
>> 40.
>> 40. Do you know what the actual list
price at this one it's about 36 but
through carwow £33,000
>> is it
>> sevenseater as well.
>> Honestly this thing is insane value for
money.
>> That is good value.
>> Do you know what we're doing though?
We're holding up his majesty's post.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. Good to see you. So maybe check
one of these out. You could use it for
your delivery vans. There's loads of
space inside it. See you later. Despite
its large size, the S9 is a dodle to
drive in town. But how will it fair on a
twisty country road? This MG isn't
particularly exciting to drive, but then
what did you expect? It's a 7seater
budget SUV from China. It's a bit like
complaining that water is wet. And to
tell you the truth, it actually handles
pretty well, as well as you need it to.
It'll grip through the bends. You don't
feel like you're going to fall off the
road. And generally, it's pretty comfy
unless you suddenly hit a bump and then
you get a jolt and a clunk. The
suspension, you can just tell it's a
little bit of a budget car. And you're
surprised because otherwise it feels
quite premium.
There's your clunk. Good clunk. There's
another thing that's funny about it. You
see, we're coming up to a bend. And if
you suddenly try to accelerate with too
much steering lock on, the front wheels
just spin up all too easily. So, here we
go. Bend. Accelerate. Hear that noise?
That's the front wheels slipping. It's
because this is electric powered. I know
it's a hybrid, but it's electricity
that's driving the wheels. You get
instant pickup and the tires just can't
cope. They're like, "Oh no, we're
checking out." And then obviously the
systems rain things back in. But do you
know what? A lot of electric powered
front-wheel drive cars, which this is,
have that same issue. And to be fair,
there's plenty to like about this car. I
can forgive it of that. But will I be
impressed by the MG's performance? Well,
on paper, the stats look good. So, you
got a 1.5 L plug-in hybrid, 300
horsepower, so it should be reasonably
nippy. Let's find out. I'm going to
launch it. 3 2 1 floor it.
Steady pickup. There we go. It is a
heavy car. 2.2 tons. What's the naugh to
60 time?
8.8. In the brochure, they claim it's
9.6. That's good, isn't it? But I said
heavy. What's the braking performance
like? That's just as important if you
got your family on board. All right,
let's do an emergency stop from 60 mph.
We're looking for a distance of 35 m.
Anything over that not great. Coming
into the braking zone right now. 3 2 1.
And I'm going to break hard.
What did we get? Oh, 36 m. Let me stamp
on it harder. I think I was a bit
chicken. Here we go. Like that is
everything.
That is like leg day at the gym. That's
more like it. 34 m. Not bad for a car
this large. Speaking of which, this car
is so comfy here in the middle row.
Loads of knee room, loads of foot space,
loads of head room as well. The seats
are quite far from the floor, so you've
got lots of under thigh support. And of
course, you can slide the seats forwards
and backwards. And look at this as well.
You can recline them. Oh, I'm impressed.
I'm so impressed. Let's try with three
in the back at once all aboard.
>> Okay.
Wow.
>> What do you think about that?
>> That's really good. This is like among
the very best. Just hop out. Thank you.
So, if I fold this down, you have
covered cup holders. Now, you only
normally get this on premium cars.
You've got climate control here in the
back. Two USBC's, door pockets, massive
door bins. What's not so good though is
this ice fix anchor points are a little
bit hard to get to. So, it can be a bit
of a faf trying to fit a seat for the
first time, but there's loads of space
here for even the bulkiest rearfacing
seat. And you know what? The daughter
really loves the fact these big windows
go all the way down. She loves it. In
fact, she's actually put a little mark
on it there as her stickers. The range
hopping version of the MG gets an
automated tailgate with hands-free Come
on. There we go. Handsfreeness. Now,
with seven seats in place, the boot is a
reasonable size. Look, it's not too bad.
Got a little bit of extra storage under
there. Then you got absolutely acres of
space if you fold down the rearmost row.
And then, oh booger. If you want to do
literally, you do have to do a walk
around. Oh, that was the wrong one.
It's this lever down here. There we go.
Oh, go to the other side.
I guess you can't expect electrically
operated rear seats in a car at this
price. But you do have, look here. Oh,
12vt socket. That makes up for
everything, doesn't it?
Not quite. And neither do the lease
deals. And here's why. We've run the
numbers on the leasing price of this car
through CarWow and this is how much it
will cost per month. This is the total
cost of the lease and this is actually
the depreciation if you to buy it new.
So, it's actually cheaper to buy the car
and sell it on than to lease it. Now, if
you want to compare the leasing deals of
this to its competitors, we've done a
special page on Carway. You can check
that out. There's a link in the
description and in the pin comment.
Also, you can just click on the pop out
banner or scan the QR code on screen
now. But, there is another thing you
could do. You might be thinking, you
know what? I'm not really interested in
a lease anyway. I'm going to buy a used
car because you could get a Volvo XC90
for well a bit more than this actually.
A 5-year-old XC90 is still more
expensive than this car. Here's one I
found on Carw Wow. And there's the added
risk when you're buying used, isn't that
that it might have had a shady past. So,
here's a car vertical report of an XC90,
not one that was on CarWow, which has
had seven damage reports. You can even
see the damage of the car. That's why if
you're thinking about buying a used car,
you absolutely positively have to do a
car vertical history check to make sure
it doesn't have a shady past. And if you
do that, use the code car wow for 20%
off. Or of course, you could just play
it even safer and buy new. And there is
no new car that is as good value as this
MGS9. So if you need a sevenseater on a
budget that is actually a mighty fine
car, go right ahead and buy this MG. I
hope you enjoyed the video. If you did,
give it a like. Let me know if you agree
with my verdict in the comments below.
If you want to watch some other videos,
click on the windows. And to sell your
car the easy way, you can do it through
CarWow by clicking the Car Wow logo.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you
next