2023 MG Hector Facelift in CarToq’s First Drive Review
MG Hector has been around for a decent amount of time in the Indian market. Given the size and feature list of the Hector, it quickly gained popularity in the market and continues to be a popular choice in the market. MG announced the prices of the new Hector earlier this year and we got a chance to drive it for a short while. Here is what we think about the car.
MG Hector has always been able to turn heads on the roads because of its massive size. With the new Hector, MG has added a dominating face to the vehicle and has given it a massive appearance by simply increasing the size of the grille. The front gets a new starry effect grille that sure looks great but you may find it a bit too shiny because of the extensive use of chrome.
There are tweaks done to the bumper of the car as well and it now definitely looks more dominating on the roads. Everything else like the headlamp set-up, bonnet lid and other parts remains the same. On the side, you will not might any changes though. The rear is where MG has added a few updates. The rear of the new 2023 MG Hector gets a new tail lamp cluster and an LED bar that connects the tail lamps. It sure looks quite attractive at night. But since we only had the car during the daytime, we don’t know for sure.
MG has done small and effective changes to the Hector to keep it fresh in the market for a few more years.
The cabin gets more updates compared to the exterior. The dashboard design is new and sleeker than before. You also get to see a lot of horizontal elements. Then comes the massive 14.1-inch touchscreen-based infotainment system that takes the centre stage. We will get back to the screen later but you should know that this is the biggest screen available with any car in India.
All the AC vents also get a new design. While the design of the steering wheel remains the same, you get new buttons on it for the ADAS. Hector also gets a new beige theme that makes the cabin feel bigger. We like it but most owners living in the dusty and polluted parts of the country would not really like the maintenance.
The Hector also gets changing ambient lights and there is a sleek strip that goes across the dashboard. We liked how it looks in the daytime and think it will look even better at night.
Now the biggest highlight of the cabin is the new 14-inch infotainment screen. It is massive in size and gets all the controls you can imagine. The screen is so massive that it can display information on a split screen. We liked the size of the screen very much but there was a lag in the unit that we got. But with the updated 360-degree view of the camera and the high-resolution display, we liked how the screen looked even in the broad daylight.
MG also offers features like a wireless phone charger, an electrically-adjustable driver seat, ventilated front seats, an electric parking brake, an electric tailgate and a massive panoramic sunroof. The cabin of the new MG Hector is quite loaded with features and it will attract a lot of customers.
MG Hector is available with two engine options. A 1.5-litre turbo-petrol and a 2.0-litre diesel engine. We got the 1.5-litre petrol variant with the CVT gearbox and we will only talk about that in this review. The 1.5-litre turbo-petrol generates a maximum power of 141 Bhp and a peak torque of 250 Nm.
The Hector is a big car but is easy to manoeuvre. It has a limited body roll and as before, you get a balanced suspension set-up that provides a good amount of comfort and handling. Driving the CVT through slow traffic situations is ideal. But once you get on the highway and want to drive fast and overtake other vehicles, the characteristics of CVT start to show up. You may hear the loud engine noises before Hector picks up speed. But that’s typical CVT behaviour and you cannot do much about it.
The new Hector also gets ADAS. The Level-2 ADAS will get all the features like Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control and more. The car also gets an additional feature that allows you to crawl in traffic. However, we could not test the same during our first-drive review. But you can watch the video and see how the car performed through the traffic.
The Hector offers a great cabin space and it looks dominant on the road. While it does not offer a diesel automatic, the petrol engine options are quite powerful and frugal. The long feature list and the prices of the new Hector will attract many buyers. We have mentioned the best points about Hector in the video so make sure that you watch it too.