Having had both the MG HS Exclusive and Kuga ST Line (PHEV) on extended test drives I found the following:
Kuga went very well as you would expect, handling was sublime for an SUV could be confidently pushed into corners and was at home pushing hard on A roads.MG being the 1.5 petrol couldn’t compete on performace as you would expect, handling wasn’t as sharp as the kuga but would be more than accetable for the majority of drivers while the ride was better.
Fit and finish suprisingly the interior of the MG was in a different league nice soft touch materials, electric leather seats made you forget you were sitting in a ‘budget’ brand vehicle, the Kuga while nothing really wrong with the interior was full of cheap and hard plastics. Outside couldn’t really fault the MG either in terms of paint, panel shut lines while the doors had a solid germanic feel to them when shut, again nothing wrong with the Ford either in this area.
Equipment for the price even the top spec Vignale cannot complete with the HS Exclusive as some items you expect to be standard in a top of the range vehicle on the Ford are extra you want blind spot mirrors please pay an extra £1100 for the ‘pack’ etc.
All in all for the money the MG HS should be perfectly adequate transport for the 3yr duration of the lease as required adapted the MG comes in at just over £2000 AP, a similair Kuga with a similiar spec and adaptions is in the region of £5000.