MG Hector 700 km drive review: A soft ride but with a hectoring presence
- Premium cabin
- Bold styling
- Comfortable
- Technology struggles
- Body roll
- Low fuel efficiency
- The refreshed MG Hector excels in comfort and cabin quality for family journeys. It showcases a relaxed driving style with decent technology features. A good choice for comfort-seekers, but may not satisfy the thrill-seekers.
Spending over 700 km in a car usually tells you more than a short media drive ever can. Highways, rough roads, city traffic and mountain sections all have a way of exposing a car's personality. And after spending that time with the updated MG Hector Plus, its character became pretty clear.
The MG Hector confidently plays to its strengths. Instead of aiming for a sporty feel, the Hector prioritises comfort for its passengers, and it succeeds in this goal most of the time.
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Exterior and design
The updates brought to the 2026 version of the SUV themselves are not dramatic, but they do freshen things up. We drove the newly introduced Celadon Blue shade, and it felt like a colour that gets the balance right. It is noticeable without trying too hard and should age well. Up front, the new grille may divide opinion. Personally, it feels a little too generous with the chrome. The redesigned bumpers work better for me because they add some shape and character to the front and rear, making the SUV look a bit more muscular than before.
Cabin and features
Step inside, and the improvements become more obvious. Our test car came with the new tan interior, and it surely changes the feel of the cabin over the older one. It looks premium and gives the Hector a richer ambience than before. Overall fit and finish also seem better now with fabric inserts and soft-touch materials, which only adds to that impression.
The seats deserve a mention for getting the basics right. They are supportive and stay comfortable even after spending hours behind the wheel. The ventilated seats are particularly impressive too. The cooling effect is strong and it works for both the seat base and backrest. And unlike some systems that sound like a small fan has been switched on under you, these remain fairly quiet.
The AC itself is effective too and cools the cabin quickly, which becomes important when you are spending long hours on the road. Especially with an expansive glass roof above you.
Not everything inside is perfect, though. The USB ports at the front are awkwardly placed, and plugging something into them takes more effort than it should. Moreover, the need for USB-C ports is also prominently felt.
Ride and handling
The MG Hector Plus settles into its comfort-oriented nature almost immediately after you start driving. The suspension is soft, and there is a floaty character to the way it moves down the road.
On rough roads, that works in its favour. Broken patches and potholes are dealt with maturely, and the passengers remain well isolated from what is happening underneath. If your regular drives involve less-than-perfect roads, the Hector feels quite at home. Push harder, though, and the compromises become clear.
There is a noticeable amount of nose dive under braking, and through corners, you can feel the SUV's weight shifting around. It leans, sways, and quickly reminds you that this is a large SUV. Quick changes in direction, especially during emergency manoeuvres, can feel slightly intimidating because of both the vehicle's size and its softer suspension setup.
The brakes themselves feel reassuring with a solid pedal response, although the weight of the SUV does seem to overload the tyres quite a bit.
NVH and highway manners
Get onto an open highway, and the Hector starts making much more sense. This is where it feels most comfortable. Cabin insulation is good, and NVH levels remain impressively low. Hours behind the wheel never really become tiring, which is exactly what you want from a family SUV.
The Infinity sound system adds nicely to that experience as well. It sounds well-tuned, and on long drives, it helps to set the mood inside the cabin.
Headlight performance is decent too, with good spread and throw, although the high beam could still do with a little more reach. Automatic turn indicators are useful in everyday driving conditions, but on mountain roads, they keep turning on and off at every curve, thereby confusing the people following you. Thankfully, there is an option to turn them off from the infotainment screen settings.
Engine and gearbox
Under the bonnet is now only a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine producing 143 bhp and 250 Nm. We drove the CVT version, and on highways, it behaves quite well.
The gearbox keeps things smooth and relaxed, which matches the overall personality of the car. But once the roads start climbing, especially through hilly sections, you begin to feel the SUV asking for a little more from the engine.
Throttle responses are good, and it reacts quickly enough to inputs, but in the Hector Plus, that engine occasionally starts feeling stretched. For everyday driving and family duties, it is sufficient, but if you are expecting strong performance or something enthusiastic, this is probably not it.
The CVT does get simulated stepped gearshifts, and there is also a sequential shifting mode beside Drive that becomes useful on downhill sections for engine braking. One small limitation is that manual mode does not let you upshift too early.
The lack of additional engine options also feels noticeable now. A diesel option would have added another layer of appeal, particularly for buyers covering bigger distances.
Technology experience
The Hector Plus continues to lean heavily into technology. Gesture controls for the infotainment system are actually useful because there are not many physical buttons for functions like climate controls and volume adjustments. The steering wheel also gets plenty of controls that are laid out sensibly enough that you rarely need to take your eyes away from the road.
The issue is that the infotainment system itself still feels unpolished. During our drive, it repeatedly threw up a "storage is full" error despite deleting applications and restarting the system multiple times. It is the sort of thing you can overlook once, but after seeing it happen repeatedly, it starts becoming annoying. The 360-degree camera is useful too, although image quality is only decent. We also faced a few wireless connectivity issues with Apple CarPlay, but Android Auto worked like a charm most of the time.
Verdict: Who should buy it?
The MG Hector Plus makes sense for buyers who want a comfortable, spacious and feature-loaded family SUV. If your priorities are long-distance comfort, a quiet cabin and an interior that feels premium, the Hector delivers on those fronts quite convincingly.
Avoid it if you want something that feels sharper to drive, handles hills with more confidence or offers stronger performance. The Hector is happiest when driven calmly, and it makes no effort to hide that. However, buy it if most of your driving involves daily commutes, highway runs and family trips where comfort matters more than driving excitement.
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