MG 4 VS TESLA MODEL 3 DO YOU GET MORE FOR LESS?

The new MG 4 Extended Range costs thousands less than the cheapest Tesla Model 3, yet it has a longer official range. Is that game over for the Tesla?

Just five years ago, a 300-mile range from an electric car seemed optimistic in the extreme. Only one brand Tesla - built a car that could manage such a feat, and you'd have to spend almost £100,000 to get it.

Well, now the cheapest new electric car in the UK can officially obliterate 300 miles. Not the cheapest version of it, granted, but at £36,495, the new MG 4 Extended Range is barely more than a third of the price of that pioneering Tesla Model S 100D.

In fact, it undercuts Tesla's cheapest car of the present day, the Model 3 RWD, by £6500 while beating it for range. So, if you can now go farther between charges for less money, is there any point in buying a Tesla at all? To find out, we embarked on a road trip from London to Cornwall - the sort of jaunt you might make with your other half, perhaps with the kids in tow, for a weekend or maybe even a whole week away.

A long range is always a bonus for trips like this, especially when visiting areas with relatively few charging points. However, we're also comparing two completely different charging infrastructures: the UK's public charging network versus Tesla's Supercharger network, which, a handful of trials aside, is reserved exclusively for Tesla drivers.

THE CARS

Let's start with a quick recap on the MG 4. It's a Volkswagen Golf-sized family hatchback that was launched last year with two battery options. The entry-level version (our reigning Small Electric Car of the Year) has 50.8kWh of usable capacity and an official range of 218 miles, while the Long Range model gets a 61.7kWh battery and can travel for up to 283 miles on a charge.

The brand new Extended Range, however, gets a 74.4kWh battery and a range of 323 miles. That's more than any other sub-£40k electric car, and as a bonus the electric motor that drives the rear wheels has been boosted to 241bhp to improve performance.