Overall rating:

The reborn MG marque is showing all the signs of a healthy recovery under Chinese ownership, and the 6 GT with this diesel engine is arguably its most convincing all-round package yet, frightful interior design aside...

Key Facts

Model tested: MG 6 GT DTi-Tech TSE
Pricing: £19,995; range starts from £16,995
Engine: 1.9-litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel
Transmission: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Body style: five-door hatchback
Rivals: Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia, Vauxhall Astra
CO₂ emissions: 129g/km
Combined economy: 57.6mpg
Top speed: 120mph
0-62mph: 8.9 seconds
Power: 150hp at 4,000rpm
Torque: 350Nm at 1,800rpm

In the Metal:

While many will call the MG 6's 'play it safe' styling anodyne and anonymous, it's not an ugly car. It comes in some eye-catching colours and, in TSE spec, it gets 18-inch alloys that, coupled to its fastback profile, at least allow it to stand out from the C-segment crowd. It's not going to win any design awards but the 6 is inoffensive.

The same can't be said of the interior. It's absolutely mammoth inside, with plenty of room for fully-grown adults, a boot you could lose entire herds of animals in and plenty of up-to-date toys - such as leather upholstery with heated front seats, satnav, a reversing camera, Bluetooth, dual-zone climate control and parking sensors - but it is also dreadfully antiquated in terms of haptics and ergonomics. The handbrake is a poor piece of design, seemingly set up to trap thumbs at will, the USB socket is sequestered away in a tiny cubby hole to the right of the steering wheel and some of the plastics used would shame Fisher Price. Bits of the design are OK and you can get very comfy in the 6, but you won't see interior finishing this lowly in anything else built post-2005.

The silver lining here is that a facelift is apparently on the way both inside and out, and while the smaller MG 3's cockpit is hardly Volkswagen Golf-rivalling, it does at least suggest MG is improving its interior offerings in terms of quality. Here's hoping some of that rubs off on the 6, as currently this facet lets the rest of the car down.

Driving it:

The reason we're being so harsh on the interior is because, mechanically, the new 6 DTi-Tech is much more 21st century. The engine is a 1,849cc unit (MG will insist on calling it a 1.9-litre, though; perhaps it could have gone for '1.85' as a compromise) developed in-house and it has been in service since late 2012. The difference now is that MG has improved emissions and economy to make the 6 a more appealing proposition to a wider market.

A new six-speed 'SCM360' manual transmission is part of the green box o' tricks foisted on the 6, while start-stop, a variable scroll turbo and speed-sensitive power steering all go to saving those extra few litres of fuel. It also has 'smart charge' tech, which means it only supplies power to the on-board electrics that absolutely demand it at any given point.

The net result is the car has edged into VED Band D with its 129g/km CO₂, meaning it is free to tax for its first 12 months and £20 a year cheaper than the old car after that at £110 all in. BIK is also down to 20 per cent, boosting its appeal to both business and private buyers, although none of these figures are exactly class-leading.

Aside from the eco-drive, bigger front brake discs (up 11mm in diameter to 295mm), increased spring rates, tweaked damper settings and larger diameter, stiffer anti-roll bars are all thrown in to sharpen the 6's dynamics. And the engine and chassis are both excellent; there's nothing wrong with either. It feels every bit as muscular as its respectable performance stats suggest, the ride/handling balance is beautifully judged and even the steering has more feedback and heft than many set-ups from rival companies, meaning it is more fun to throw a 6 around than you might imagine. It is, crucially, totally adept at munching up dual carriageway and motorway miles in unruffled competence, surely the very conditions the car was designed for. Tyre roar from the 18s is the only fly in its high refinement levels ointment.

What you get for your Money:

As outlined above, you're buying a D-segment-sized machine with a wealth of equipment, fine dynamics and decent, if not awe-inspiring, running costs at a price that undercuts more widespread C-segment machinery. Furthermore, the current 'High 5' offer MG is promoting gives you five years' free servicing (up to 75,000 miles), five years' warranty, five years' breakdown cover with the AA, five years' fuel subsidy in the form of £500 of fuel vouchers and five years' low finance at five per cent APR, all of which means you get a hell of a lot of value for your money.

Worth Noting

You may scoff at the MG 6's 'bargain bucket' pricing and aftermarket-care strategy, but this is not a cheap-and-yet-not-cheerful motor. As evidenced by its performance in the recent Auto Express Driver Power Awards, where it not only won the Best Handling category, but finished sixth outright in the all-important Best Car to Own field; that's number six out of 150 cars, by the way. Perhaps this is why MG is the fastest-growing car brand in the UK at the moment, according to the SMMT, with its 2014 Q1 sales increasing by 574 per cent year-to-date compared to the same period in 2013.

Summary

The MG 6 GT DTi-Tech TSE an easy car to like and a difficult one to recommend. The main tangible drawback to the 6 is its hapless interior. That's about to get an overhaul, as is the innocuous body - and it's that impending facelift, plus the elephant in the room in the shape of long-term residual values, that prevents us from whole-heartedly pushing the MG 6 as an alternative to the mainstream. There are plenty of signs coming from Longbridge that MG will very soon be challenging at least the strong Korean brands, if not the likes of Peugeot and Vauxhall; until then, cars like the 6 GT remain capable but curious oddities.