MG Windsor EV

The MG Windsor EV is a rebadged version of the Wuling Air EV that is sold in the other South East Asian markets. It is MG’s third electric vehicle for the Indian market after the MG Comet and ZS EV. While it has a unique body style, rivals include compact SUVs such as the Hyundai Creta EV, Tata Curvv EV and even the Tata Nexon EV.

Unlike its rivals, the MG Windsor is a born EV. Consequently, it has packaging benefits, which allow it to utilise the space and practicality within the same size much better than its rivals. This trait, along with its unique styling approach and feature-laden cabin, immediately sets it apart from its rivals.

Having spent nearly three months driving an MG Comet around, I had a few expectations from the Windsor EV. I spent a week testing this electric vehicle to figure out how it maximizes those packaging benefits, and who should really be buying it?

The MG Windsor’s design immediately stands out from the rest of its rivals with its unique shape. Its rounded egg-like silhouette might look odd at first to many. However, there are plenty of design details and elements that help it look fresh and distinctive.

It starts with an illuminated MG logo on the bonnet and the connected LED DRLs that look rich, especially in the dark. The big LED projector headlights are offered as standard and sit on either side of the rounded bumper.

The flush-fitting door handles and 18-inch aerodynamic alloy wheels add some premiumness to the side profile. The PRO variants with the bigger battery pack sports a different design for the 18-inch alloys, which has a neat and classy look.

At the rear, the Windsor appears to be cute and curvy with rounded bumpers and minimal cladding. There’s connected LED tail lights with some really impressive detailing, too. 

This electric car undoubtedly does grab attention on the road, and I really like how the LED connected lighting exudes a premium look at night. With its interesting shape and tasteful execution of the lighting elements, the Windsor manages to look cute and rich at the same time.

That said, I’m not a big fan of the official accessories. While there’s nothing wrong with them visually, and they can actually help add some style to the design, they make heavy use of chrome inserts on the panels, which tend to get rusty really quickly. Even the fitment of these accessories wasn’t up to factory-finishing standards on our test vehicle. While these accessories are personal choices, I’d recommend you avoid them. 

In terms of colour options, there are 6 monotone shades to choose from: Celadon Blue, Turquoise Green, Aurora Silver, Pearl White, Glaze Red, and Starburst Black. The Glaze Red colour particularly stands out amongst all the other colour options, with its bright and striking treatment.

Overall, the Windsor definitely has a design that’s fresh for the Indian market, and its road presence shines not because of its size but because of its unique design.

The MG Windsor has a minimalist cabin design that feels premium with interesting contrasting inserts and design elements. There are two themes available. The standard variants of the Windsor get a black interior, while the new Pro variant (with the bigger battery) sports a dual-tone black and ivory theme. Admittedly, the Pro variants’ dual tone theme feels richer and makes the cabin feel even more spacious, but it picks up dust and grime with ease and will require constant maintenance and upkeep.

I like how MG has integrated the ambient light strip across the cabin. The application feels almost luxury car-like and with 64 colours to choose from, you really can customize the mood according to yourself.

In terms of quality, MG has got it just right with the Windsor. The sofa-like seats, and soft-touch materials on the doors and dashboard make the cabin feel premium, and extensive usage of faux wood trims and rose gold accents add to the visual appeal. However, the fit and finish levels could’ve been more consistent in some places, it feels flimsy.

For example, the floating central panel tends to flex after applying pressure, and the weight of the AC vents and the feel of the door handles feels too light. If not for these slightly iffy panels, the quality of the MG Windsor’s cabin would’ve been right up there, if not better than the segment benchmark.

Front Seats

Ingress egress in the MG Windsor EV is super easy, thanks to a tall roofline which doesn’t require you to duck too much. Once inside, the sofa-like seats of the Windsor feel very comfortable in terms of cushioning and underthigh support. Only the side contours could’ve offered better support. This will be felt by those XL-sized, especially.  

With 6-way powered seats, and tilt and telescopic steering adjustment, everyone can find a comfortable driving position in the Windsor. The windshield is huge, and with cut outs in the A-pillar, you have good visibility all around, so even new drivers can get comfortable behind the wheel easily.

There’s no dearth of space, and even an exceptionally tall occupant can be comfortable behind the wheel. A front central armrest is offered as standard, which is something you’ll appreciate on long journeys.

Rear seats

The rear seats are where the MG Windsor EV shines and trumps over its rivals without much effort. The space on offer is so generous that it is comparable to cars from a segment or two above. The rear seats don’t slide, but there’s still space for two six footers to sit behind one another with space to spare. Headroom is plenty, and underthigh support is adequate, and you can genuinely stretch out here.

I found that the Windsor is one of the few cars in its segment that can actually accommodate three passengers in relative comfort thanks to a wide cabin, flat floor and a largely flat backrest. The central passenger also gets a dedicated headrest for comfort on longer journeys.

The seats already provide great comfort with their balanced cushioning, but with 135-degree backrest recline, it truly offers a lounge-like feel. Taking the experience to a whole different level is the fact that you can recline the front seats completely, after which you get a business class-like seat where you can rest your legs and lounge.

Functional amenities like the central armrest and rear AC vents finish off the entire package. 

Visibility is great all around too. MG could improve the rear seat experience further by offering rear sunblinds and two separate rear AC vents inside of a single large one which limits usability.

Storage

The MG Windsor is among the most practical offerings at its price point. The front door pockets can accommodate 1-litre bottles, which can also be stored in the central console. It gets three options, one for 1-litre bottles, and the other two for smaller cans or 500-ml bottles. Even the dashboard has two cupholders, but I avoid storing any cold drinks there because they tend to get warm too quickly due to their close proximity to the windshield.

The central armrest holds a big space underneath, there’s a big covered space under the central console and even the glovebox size is decent. However, no covered space is cooled.

Passengers at the back get pockets behind the front seats to store magazines or laptops, two cup holders in the central armrest and an open slot underneath the rear AC vents. But the rear door pockets are only good enough for small bottles.

Charging options

For charging duties, MG offers a type-C and type-A port, along with a 12V socket underneath the front central armrest. The rear occupants only have to make use of a single type-C port.

Overall, the MG Windsor offers a premium cabin experience, which has an edge over its rivals in terms of the space and practicality on offer. Both those aspects are not just better, but outright superior – to a level where it is comparable with cars from a segment above.

Features (4 out of 5)

For its price, the MG Windsor is very well equipped. It covers the basics quite well. Here’s a quick snapshot:

That ‘in-your-face’ 15.6-inch touchscreen is the highlight, obviously. While it looks great on the  brochure, real world experience can be mildly frustrating. Many of the features, including the absolute basic ones that you would use multiple times on your daily drive have been executed in such a way that they require a step or two extra than they normally would. 

For instance, controls for things as simple as folding your mirrors, opening/closing the cover for the glass roof or accessing the ventilated seats have been integrated in the main display. Adjustment of the mirrors is done through the steering mounted controls and even features like headlight leveler and drive modes have been made part of the screen itself. It takes extra steps to access these little functions and with the screen not being highly responsive, the entire experience becomes unnecessarily tedious. Not only  is it inconvenient, but also dangerous while driving. 

The Windsor’s infotainment system has bright colours and supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. However, using the screen isn’t a smooth experience, as I faced some delays in response times, and the screen sometimes takes longer than usual to switch between menus. The user interface also feels cluttered and difficult to understand, and while young people will still get a hang of it, elderly people won’t really enjoy using the screen much.

In comparison, the 8.8-inch digital driver’s display is rather simple. It might look tiny in front of the main screen, but it functions as intended. Resolution is crisp and information is relayed in a clean and easy to consume manner. There are no themes or layouts here, just different set of information being displayed.

MG has equipped the Windsor with a 9-speaker infinity sound system. The setup doesn’t offer the same premium experience as its peers, but the quality is acceptable for regular usage. It only fails to make you feel the music like other sound systems in this price and segment do.

The Windsor’s 360-degree surround view camera’s quality is strictly average. It does offer 2D and 3D modes along with multiple viewing angles to choose from, but it tends to lag sometimes, with odd frame drops and glitches.

Features like vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) are exclusive to the Essence Pro variant, and let you use the vehicle like a powerbank, effectively letting you power appliances or charge other EVs if needed. Most won’t ever use this feature, but if you go on picnics or like to camp at a remote place overnight or have to rescue a stranded EV, this might come in handy.

There are no complaints from the functioning of the ventilated front seats, but they deserve a dedicated button for ease of access, and this brings us to the feature execution issue in the Windsor. 

The MG Windsor comes with a healthy list of standard safety equipment. A 360-degree camera and rear defogger are offered in the higher variants, but surprisingly, the Windsor doesn't offer a rear wiper or washer in any of its variants.

It also packs Level-2 autonomous driving assistance system (ADAS), but they are limited to the Essence Pro variant. The kit includes features like adaptive cruise control, lane departure assist, and auto emergency braking. Compared to the segment, the ADAS suite does miss out on a few features like blind spot monitoring and detection. You can turn off the Windsor’s ADAS features, but you will have to access them via the screen itself. 

The MG Windsor hasn’t been tested for a crash test rating by any independent authority yet.

While there is no frunk in the MG Windsor, the carmaker claims a rather sizable boot space of 579-604-litres depending on the variant. There’s 60:40 split functionality in the rear seats, which fold flat with the seat base.

Real-world boot space with both the battery packs is impressive, and can easily store a full set of suitcases, including a small, medium and large suitcase, and a couple of duffle bags. Irrespective of the variant, you still will have enough space for a family’s weekend worth of luggage with ease.

The top-spec Essence PRO variant comes with a powered tailgate which works with proximity, so even if you have bags in your hand, the tailgate will open if you're standing near it, and I feel that this is a very convenient feature. Loading and unloading luggage in the MG Windsor is fairly easy too.

The MG Windsor gets a single 136 PS and 200 Nm electric motor, which is common between its two battery packs: 38 kWh and 52.9 kWh. There are four driving modes to choose from: Eco+, Eco, Normal, and Sports, and three different settings for the regen modes: Light, Normal, and Heavy.

While the Windsor’s smaller battery gets the option of either a 3.3kW or 7.4kW AC home charger, the bigger battery pack only gets the 7.4kW home charger. The latter also has a higher charging capacity of 60kW, compared to the smaller battery's 45kW charging capacity, and I found this added charging capacity to be useful for quick top ups during long journeys.

If your usage of the Windsor is going to be mostly restricted to the city, I would recommend you to pick the smaller battery pack. We conducted a 100-0% test with the 38kWh version in Pune and drove it through the city, hilly roads and highways. We could extract 260km of range, with the air-conditioning in use. 

I would opt for the bigger battery only if I had high intercity usage, and wanted the additional range (approx ~100km) and quicker 60kW charging speed.  

City performance

Driving the MG Windsor does not involve a learning curve, even if you’re a new driver or all you’ve ever only driven was a petrol/diesel car. The entire drive experience has been tuned for smoothness, so the car does not feel jumpy or jerky in bumper to bumper traffic. It crawls smoothly, and even when you ask for a quick acceleration, the power delivery is instant, but linear. 

Regen increases progressively as you go from Light to Normal, and the Heavy regen mode isn’t a single pedal mode, it is still aggressive and drops speed rather quickly. So it is best to stick to Light or Normal regen modes for city usage. I just wish MG offered paddle shifters to change the regen modes, which would’ve made it much easier and even intuitive to change them while driving the car, instead of having to fiddle with the touchscreen. 

I found that despite being at 1-2% charge, the car was still able to crawl at city speeds. Performance is strictly sedate at that charge percentage, but it is enough for you to keep pace with the slow moving traffic. 

Highway performance

While the Windsor’s output figure might not be outright impressive by EV standards, there won’t be a moment when you will want more performance in your regular commutes or roadtrips. The car reaches triple digit speeds with ease and can stay at speeds of 100-120kmph comfortably.

In fact, the instantaneous power delivery helps make the high speed overtakes easier. I found the Normal mode's performance to be adequate, but if there’s full load in the vehicle, and you need to make a quick overtake or are driving in hilly areas with steep inclines, it is best to switch to Sports mode. There is a noticeable difference in throttle response, and the car tends to pick up pace in Sports mode much more eagerly than it does in the other modes.

Overall, the Windsor’s performance might not be outright exciting, but it feels quick enough for all commuting needs. Dedicated buttons for the drive mode and regen selection would’ve improved the experience, but in terms of driveability, the Windsor ticks all the right boxes with its refinement and effortlessness. 

Regular road imperfections and small speedbreakers are dealt with easily. In fact, the sharper bumps are fairly well absorbed. However, over rough roads and really deep potholes, you will feel the impact inside, and the rear occupants will be more uncomfortable due to the side-to-side movement.

You could choose to speed up over broken roads to soften the impact. Thankfully, an unladen ground clearance of 186mm let’s you can tackle those rough roads with confidence as well.

Highway ride quality is good where the car feels stable over any sudden undulation or expansion joints. But the insulation at those speeds isn’t up to the mark as you can hear a lot of road and tyre noise inside. 

A thing to be cautious about in the Windsor are its low-friction tyres. While they have been offered in a bid to improve range, their grip takes an instant hit in low traction conditions, and you will have to be super careful when taking the car on a steep or wet incline. When it rained, the MG Windsor struggled to climb up a relatively mild slope from our parking onto the main road. 

If you’re going to be using the car in hilly regions frequented by rains, or in general have a parking or garage with a steep incline that gets wet often, I would recommend changing your tyres for better grip and control.

Handling

A family SUV should be easy to drive in the city and the MG Windsor nails that duty. The steering is so light that it can be maneuvered using a single finger, so taking it out of tight parking spaces or making a three pointer turn is effortless. 

While the Windsor does remain stable around a fast corner, it is best to drive it in a relaxed manner to keep your occupants happy. You will enjoy driving it in hilly areas, not when you’re pushing it, but only when you’re driving it sensibly.

Overall, for a car that’s supposed to primarily do city chores with the family, the Windsor could’ve been more comfortable. The experience would’ve been better if the ride was slightly more absorbent, but it isn’t too harsh for it to be a dealbreaker either.

• The MG Windsor is offered in five variants: Excite, Exclusive, Essence, Exclusive Pro and Essence Pro.

• The bigger 52.9 kWh battery is available with the Exclusive Pro and Essence Pro variants.

Excite

• Looks nearly similar to the top variants with full LED lighting setup, flush door handles and turn indicators on the ORVMs. Sits on 17-inch steel wheels with covers.

• Gets fabric seats and leatherette only on the driver armrest.

• Ticks all functional equipment including rear AC vents, cruise control, tilt and telescopic steering wheel, electrically adjustable ORVMs, and keyless entry.

• Packs a 10.1-inch infotainment system, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and a 6-speaker sound system.

• Safety kit gets 6 airbags, rear parking sensors, tyre pressure warning system, and an electronic parking brake as standard.

Exclusive

• Adds 18-inch alloys and chrome inserts on the windowline for a more premium look.

• Richer interior with leatherette on dashboard, door trims and seats.

• Main feature additions include 6-way power adjustable driver seat, a wireless phone charger, auto folding and fully powered outside mirrors, and central armrest for rear seats.

• Features a bigger 15.6-inch infotainment system with an 8.8-inch fully digital display for the driver.

• 360-degree camera, proper tyre pressure monitoring system and LED cornering lights are the new additions to the safety kit.

Essence

• No major change to the exterior and interior styling, but the addition of ambient lighting inside the cabin adds some visual appeal.

• Gets three feature additions - a glass roof, ventilated front seats, and a 9-speaker Infinity-tuned sound system.

• No changes in the safety kit.

Essence Pro

• Gets the bigger 52.9 kWh battery pack.

• The differently styled 18-inch alloy wheels are the only cosmetic change.

• Features a dual-tone black and ivory theme with similar inserts as the rest of the variants.

• In terms of features there are three additions - vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-load (V2L), and a powered tailgate.

• Safety kit exclusively gets level-2 autonomous driving assistance features like adaptive cruise control, lane departure assist, and auto emergency braking.

CarDekho Recommends:

• The base variant of the MG Windsor offers you more style and equipment than the mid-spec variants of some of the similarly-sized compact SUVs. As a result, it is the recommended option for people on a tight budget.

• The Exclusive variant feels the most value-for-money with a healthy list of creature comforts and elements to make the experience feel more expensive than it actually is.

• The Essence Pro variant is a discretionary buy for people who want the peace of mind that comes with additional range and higher charging capacity. Its additional asking price is justified.

Despite the slightly stiff ride quality and tech package that involves a learning curve, especially for non-tech-savvy people, the MG Windsor is an excellent family electric vehicle. It looks different, feels premium, packs hi-tech features and safety equipment, while offering you space and practicality of cars that are a size or two bigger. And now with the bigger battery pack, the only thing that was missing in the MG Windsor has been added.

Other cars to consider instead of the MG Windsor EV

Tata Nexon EV

Reasons to consider

• More conventional design

• Better infotainment experience

• More comfortable ride quality

Reasons to ignore

• Smaller car

• Less space in the rear

• Smaller boot space

• Not nearly as practical

Hyundai Creta EV

Reasons to consider

• More conventional styling

• Better feature execution

• Slightly better ride comfort

Reasons to ignore

• Top variants are much more expensive

• Rear seat experience isn’t as lavish

Tata Curvv EV

Reasons to consider

• Sportier styling

• More comfortable ride quality

• Better feature execution

Reasons to ignore

• Limited rear seat space

• Not as practical

• Fit and finish inconsistencies