FULL REVIEW: 2023 MG GT Sport -- When a dash of mustard actually works

Disclosure: The Covenant Car Company, Inc., which is the official importer and distributor of MG in the Philippines, lent us a 2023 MG GT Sport for 7 days. It arrived with a full tank of fuel and loaded RFID cards. AutoFun Philippines paid for additional fuel and RFID load.

I must make a confession – I have never liked condiments.

I don’t eat mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, tartar sauce and even gravy. Although many of you may feel light-headed at the thought of having a “plain” cheeseburger, I discovered some interesting things with this dietary choice.

For one, holding the dressing helps keep down my salt, sugar and cholesterol (yes, I’m at the age that I need to be worried about these things). And for another, it helps me discover dishes that are fundamentally delicious and not merely memorable because of the mustard.

It’s the same thing with cars – some may astound with fancy infotainment systems and huge alloy wheels. But once you get behind the wheel, you sometimes end up with a back-breaking ride, terrible seats or an air-conditioning system with all the puff of an asthmatic mouse.

When I tested the MG GT Alpha, I discovered that it was a very compelling package. The sporty sedan had decent driving dynamics, heaps of style and an attractive price.

This time, I’m trying out the top-spec MG GT Sport, which comes with an eye-popping yellow body color and the promise of greater performance. But is the GT Sport a genuine improvement of the base model or just heaps of unnecessary dressing?

Looks better in yellow

Comparing the two variants, you really don’t see much of a difference. You still get the pointed front headlights, prominent front grill and slick fastback styling.

But because the GT Sport is bright yellow, everything truly pops, including the variant-exclusive, 17-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Primacy tires.

Given that this is the sporty model, I would have liked a more aggressive look to the car. Things like a subtle bodykit and/or lowered suspension would certainly be nicer than just an innocuous “SPORT” badge on the back end.

Interior lacks added pizzazz

The theme of “same old, same old” carries on inside.

The GT Sport’s cabin uses the same two-tone, black-and-red leather interior from the base model, down to the very supportive seats, faux-aluminum trim and diamond-pattern, piano-black accents.

Again, I would have preferred to see more performance-oriented bits like bigger seat bolsters or even something to spruce up the cabin, such as fewer hard plastics on the dashboard and door cards.

The Sport also gets the Alpha’s clear and comprehensive digital gauge cluster, along with the touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Annoyingly, the screen operates the air-conditioning system, which means you can’t adjust the aircon in the middle of a call.

Nonetheless, the GT Sport is a comfortable and roomy place to be, even with five people on board.

Goes like a train

Fire up the MG GT Sport and all seems business as usual.

The 1.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 gasoline engine is smooth and quiet. But when you plant the accelerator to the floor, this bright-yellow sedan unleashes its true colors.

Unlike the naturally aspirated Alpha, the Sport gets help from a turbocharger, bumping the performance up to 173 PS and 250 Nm of torque. This is 59 PS and 100 Nm more than the base model.

Sending all this punch to the front wheels is a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT), which makes lightning-fast shifts on the move. But as with many other DCTs, there can be considerable lag before full power comes in, especially when you floor the throttle in Drive.

I must, however, commend the engineers that tuned this turbocharged powerplant. Boost kicks in at 2,000 rpm and is delivered very smoothly all the way to the 6,000 rpm redline.

Put another way, whereas the turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-3 gasoline engine from Geely shoves you with a huge wave of boost, the MG seems to glide well past the speed limit.

Unfortunately, the GT Sport still carries over the ride and handling characteristics of the Alpha. The ride may be smooth, but you still have a spongy brake pedal, numb steering and springs that are far too soft for a car with this level of performance.

This results in a car that is amusingly fast, but can be a bit tricky in spirited driving through corners. 

Better safety gear

Another place where the GT Sport builds up from its non-turbo sibling is safety equipment.

This punchy variant comes standard with lane-keep assist and forward-collision warning. These systems produce visual and audio prompts in case you are straying from your lane or are about to torpedo the car in front of you.

But it would have been nicer if MG also included adaptive cruise control as standard to truly take on one of its major rivals, the Honda Civic.

One great thing about the GT Sport is that you all get this added performance and safety without sacrificing fuel economy. In fact, the numbers are comparable to the non-turbo Alpha.

City driving got me 7 to 10 km/l, while going out on the expressway meant 17 to 20 km/l, cruising steady at 100 km/h at 2,000 rpm.

Added flavoring that works

So, is the GT Sport better than the GT Alpha and other turbocharged sedans in its class?

I’ll put it this way – I hate condiments, but I love a steak with gravy made out of its own pan juices. The GT Sport has legitimate enhancements that truly elevate the good points of the GT Alpha, albeit with the consequence of highlighting the latter’s bad points.

And it accomplishes all this for just ₱1,193,888. This is ₱178,000 more than the Alpha and an amount that I feel is well worth spending.

The GT Sport is also cheaper than the base model GAC Empow at ₱1,225,000, while also undercutting the established Honda Civic that starts out at a whopping ₱1,583,000.

Put another way, there is no other car in the MG GT Sport’s price range, not even the excellent Honda City RS, that has the same level of performance, comfort, practicality and features. 

And that certainly leaves a good taste in anyone’s mouth.

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