MG’s first ute is a monster second for the Chinese language model.
Primarily based on a car-style unibody platform (just like the LDV Terron 9 on which it’s based mostly), somewhat than a ladder-frame chassis like all of Australia’s hottest utes, it’s controversial that the brand new MG U9 dual-cab is concentrating on conventional Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger patrons.
As an alternative, it gives a robust and distinctive design, impartial coil-sprung multi-link rear suspension, and some improvements that we haven’t beforehand seen within the diesel ute market.
A kind of – a fold-down ‘mid-gate’ between the bathtub and the cabin – might be a successful selection for many who need lengthy load size functionality however with out selecting a single-cab/chassis (and the work-focused finishes that include that).
As an alternative, the intelligent mid-gate is reserved for the top-spec mannequin examined right here, and it prices additional. However even with it fitted, it is a value-packed and premium-feeling ute… in some methods.
Learn on to seek out out extra.
How a lot does the MG U9 price?
The MG model goes in with a pointy worth level for its debut ute vary, nicely and actually slicing tens of 1000’s of greenbacks off the invoice once you examine this dual-cab to some big-name gamers on spec.
| Mannequin | Drive-away worth |
|---|---|
| 2026 MG U9 Discover | $52,990 |
| 2026 MG U9 Discover X | $55,990 |
| 2026 MG U9 Discover Professional | $60,990 |
This ute on check right here is the top-shelf Discover Professional, which has the elective MG Good Hatch mid-gate system fitted. That includes a bottom-hinged folding rear panel part behind the again seats, and an electrically deployable rear windscreen inside it.
It provides $5490 to the asking worth, and the Canyon Gray end price $800 additional too. So we’re speaking $67,280 drive-away in NSW for personal clients.
That may appear a tall asking worth for this machine, however think about this: you’d be getting right into a mid-spec (if you happen to’re fortunate) 4×4 Ranger or HiLux for that worth, and even the Isuzu D-Max vary doesn’t supply anyplace close to as a lot for the cash…. Particulars on all the usual inclusions are listed under.
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
Allow us to allow you to discover your new automotive
Purchase your new automotive with out the stress. It is quick, easy and utterly free.
Nice service from Travis and workforce, second time I’ve used this enterprise wouldn’t hesitate to suggest them to anybody
Craig C.
Bought a Ford Ranger in Sunshine Coast, QLD
CarExpert helped Craig save 1000’s on his Ford Ranger, now allow us to prevent in your subsequent new automotive.
What’s the MG U9 like on the within?
The inside of this top-spec model of MG’s ute leaves some others in its mud.
It feels much more particular than another $60k dual-cabs, with an inside design therapy and finishes which might be actually becoming for a high-spec mannequin.
Scratching the tech itch are twin 12.3-inch digital shows – one for the driving force, with a variety of data on present, and one other for media and automotive controls.
There’s wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the connectivity was superb on my check. And there’s additionally a punchy eight-speaker JBL sound system.
The menus on the display screen will take some acclimation, but it surely’s not as tough as some others. There’s a menu bar on the aspect, and it stays there even along with your telephone linked – that means you possibly can soar again to something within the native menu system fairly easily.
And for parking strikes, there’s an excellent encompass view digital camera system with a number of view modes. It’s frankly the benchmark within the phase for park-friendly digital camera programs in utes – so good, and extremely configurable. It even has a towball hitch view for simple line-ups, and there are favourites which you could arrange for a caravan, field trailer or boat trailer.
There’s an abundance of settings and changes on-screen, together with altering the color of the ambient lighting, and there’s in-built sat-nav, too, if you wish to use it. Related providers are included as nicely, that means you possibly can examine the climate forecast and be sure you gained’t get rained out on the jobsite (or campsite).
There may be an app you possibly can obtain to your telephone to regulate local weather settings within the ute too, amongst different issues.
Talking of which, the local weather system isn’t confined to on-screen changes right here – as a substitute, there’s a welcome row of bodily controls, together with twin local weather zone toggles and fan buttons, together with demisters. However annoyingly, you continue to have to activate the recirc utilizing the display screen controls.
In the meantime, the entrance seat heating and cooling can set robotically based mostly on the temperature inside and outside, or you possibly can manually do the job. There’s a steering wheel heating button on the tiller, too.
The steering wheel has a variety of buttons and triggers to regulate issues, and there’s an indicator/lights stalk on the precise of the column, and a hard and fast stalk for wipers on the left.
Different main controls embody the big, grippy gear selector, which takes some getting used to (I’ll clarify why within the driving part), and an electrical park brake, push-button controls for the drive modes and 4L (low vary), and differential locking system (sure, it has entrance and rear diff locks).
Storage is nicely executed, with bottle holders and extra sleeve house within the doorways, a pair of cupholders between the entrance seats, a fairly large centre console, and a (locking!) glovebox.
One factor that won’t gel with all drivers and occupants is the electrical push-button door openers, which I struggled with. There are emergency pull levers hidden within the door pockets, must you want them.
I additionally didn’t like the shortage of overhead seize handles within the U9 – no occupant will get them. However there are huge pull-up handles on the A- and B-pillars. And I actually, actually preferred the sunshine suede end on the headlining, which edges across the large opening sunroof (which itself has a fairly thick retractable shade to maintain warmth out).
The back-seat expertise is sweet, however perhaps not as mindblowing as chances are you’ll expect for a car of this dimension.
At 182cm/6’0”, I had some room in entrance of my knees, however there’s a scarcity of toe-wiggle room, which isn’t good for big-footers. Headroom is satisfactory however not distinctive, and it isn’t cavernous like a Ram 1500.
Should you’re pondering of this one as a dual-purpose household truck, it has ISOFIX little one seat anchors within the window seats and two top-tethers for the outboard seats down behind the seatbacks, somewhat than the foolish middle-tether setup in some dual-cab utes. However notice, there’s no center top-tether level..
There are good facilities again there, although, together with heated window seats, and directional air-vents, together with USB ports for charging. This check car had the MG Good Hatch system, which permits you an enormous load-through space from the bathtub into the cabin.
It’s essential fold up the seat bases, which pivot ahead, after which fold down the seatbacks into the ground space. You then decrease the rear windscreen utilizing the button on the passenger-side rear again wall (except there’s one other method to do it, which I couldn’t discover!), after which you possibly can fold down the rear bulkhead.
It opens up an enormous house and liberates greater than two metres of load size, but it surely’s not fairly flat and don’t go sitting something ultra-heavy on the again panel part, because it has a weight restrict of 120kg.
There’s a spray-in tub-liner as customary, and a variety of tie-down factors on the entrance and rear of the load space. A cargo safety railing system is fitted to the highest sides of the bathtub, with adjustable cleats to make sure your load is locked down as greatest it may be.
There’s additionally an assisted opening and shutting function for the tailgate, and you may even set off that utilizing the important thing itself.
The tailgate has MG’s intelligent fold-down step system, which is activated by the button on the tailgate’s high edge, however bear in mind that it may be fiddly to re-holster that step, as a result of chances are you’ll find yourself lifting the complete tailgate, not simply the step.
Underneath the bathtub space of the car you’ll discover a metal spare wheel.
| Dimensions | MG U9 |
|---|---|
| Size | 5500mm |
| Width | 2265mm |
| Peak | 1874mm |
| Wheelbase | 3300mm |
| Tub quantity | 1053L (approx.) |
| Tub size | 1600mm |
| Tub width | 1230mm |
| Tub depth | 535mm |
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
What’s below the bonnet?
Typically it’s greatest to hit the market with a powertrain that has some headline numbers.
| Specs | MG U9 Discover Professional |
|---|---|
| Engine | 2.5L 4cyl turbo-diesel |
| Energy | 160kW |
| Torque | 520Nm |
| Transmission | 8-speed computerized |
| Drive sort | 4-wheel drive |
| Gas financial system (claimed) | 7.9L/100km |
| Gas financial system (on check) | 10.1L/100km |
| CO2 emissions (claimed) | 208g/km |
| Gas tank | 80L |
| Weight | 2550kg |
| Payload | 770kg |
| Braked towing capability | 3500kg |
| Gross car mass (GVM) | 3320kg |
| Gross mixture mass (GCM) | 6500kg |
This one is a robust oil-burner, with extra energy and torque than the four-cylinder HiLux and Ranger fashions (particularly because the bi-turbo engine within the latter has been axed). It additionally out-oomphs the Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara, Mazda BT-50, D-Max, and the opposite utes from China and Korea, too.
There’s lots of constructive numerical worth within the desk above, however there are numbers that mightn’t be splendid for some ute patrons together with the lower-than-average payload capability.
Simply give it some thought – if you wish to tow a giant caravan you’ve acquired to account for 10 per cent of that towed car’s mass in your payload.
So a 3.5-tonne caravan with a 350kg downball weight leaves you simply 420kg to work with. When you have a household of 4 and a bath with only a few days’ price of substances, it’ll be at max capability. So be conscious of that.
However within the ‘ooh that’s spectacular!’ column is the gas consumption declare of simply 7.9L/100km, which – for an enormous ute like this – is great. In my testing, with restricted loaded driving and no towing, I noticed a return on actual roads of 10.1L/100km – a tad excessive in comparison with the declare.
It has a giant tank and, initially at the least, the MG U9 meets the Euro 5 emissions customary, that means it doesn’t want AdBlue however does have a diesel particulate filter system..
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
How does the MG U9 drive?
The MG U9 gives a extra refined expertise – in some methods – than most of its rival within the dual-cab diesel phase.
A variety of that comes all the way down to the very fact it’s a unibody design, but additionally due to the coil-spring rear suspension, which is extra compliant and comfort-focused than most ladder-chassis utes with rear leaf springs.
And whereas the suspension is fairly nicely sorted in its behaviour, this top-spec one nonetheless comes with 20-inch rims which might be giant and heavy, and still have comparatively low-profile tyres that may additionally transmit extra of the niggling bumps within the street floor than larger-sidewall rubber would.
Throughout my testing, I famous that the rear of the ute – presumably the Good Hatch mid-gate space – was vulnerable to clunking and rattling, which is a disgrace as a result of in any other case the physique feels taut and managed.
The steering is first rate. It’s not thrilling to drive, but it surely reacts predictably and, whereas the turning circle is giant at 13.3 metres owing to its prolonged wheelbase, it’s manageable to park in city settings, and reliably responsive at increased speeds.
The two.5-litre turbo-diesel engine is a robust operator as nicely. There’s some lag to deal with at low revs in stop-start site visitors, however as soon as up and operating it rolls on with a stage of torque, smoothness and calmness to its efficiency that leaves a few of the big-name utes in its wake.
Certainly, normal refinement ranges are nice, with little or no street, wind or engine noise in comparison with different budget-friendly utes from China, just like the abrasive JAC T9.
The eight-speed computerized transmission operates cleverly, and isn’t afraid of constructing adjustments commonly to attempt to preserve issues within the torque band. On my check – which included city, freeway and freeway driving – I had little or no bother with the transmission, however I did have one gripe about it… the gear selector itself.
You have to be conscious that it requires a robust press on the brake to actuate a shift, and there could also be instances that – if you happen to’re impatient – it could find yourself in impartial once you meant to be in reverse or drive.
Trusted Evaluations, Smarter Decisions, Higher Costs
The place skilled automotive opinions meet skilled automotive shopping for – CarExpert provides you trusted recommendation, personalised service and actual financial savings in your subsequent new automotive.
Be affected person and also you’ll be superb. I simply drive so many automobiles that it caught me out a number of instances.
Additionally, the U9 has a intelligent four-wheel drive system that may run predominantly in rear-wheel drive in Eco mode, however in Regular mode or any of the opposite settings it tends to behave like a high-range four-wheel drive system (4H), apportioning torque to entrance and rear.
I didn’t do any off-roading for this evaluation, however there are a number of modes – 4L (low-range), Snow, Mud, Sand, Tow and Customized.
Higher but, that customisable security system swap makes dwelling with it a lot simpler than it could in any other case be. I had it set to disable the lane preserving help (just a little unnerving at instances), the driving force monitoring digital camera system (not that unhealthy, however there’s nonetheless a bing-bong chime) and the velocity signal recognition system, which warns you just a little an excessive amount of about your environment.
To my thoughts, that is security tech carried out virtually nearly as good as it may be whereas nonetheless bowing all the way down to the Gods of ANCAP. It permits drivers to decide on what they wish to flick off rapidly after they restart their car. I simply want there was a ‘everlasting’ reminiscence setting that would hook as much as a key or driver profile so that you wouldn’t have to redo it each drive.
However as a daily-driver dual-cab diesel ute, I got here away largely happy with the expertise right here.
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
What do you get?
This one isn’t a tradie-spec undercooked fleet car – no model of the MG U9 feels underequipped, and even the bottom mannequin has a protracted record of substances that’s higher than some utes costing $20,000 extra.
2025 MG U9 Discover gear highlights:
- 18-inch alloy wheels
- Rain-sensing wipers
- LED headlights
- Heated aspect mirrors
- Tub liner
- Keyless entry with push-button begin
- 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
- 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- DAB+ digital radio
- Twin-zone local weather management
- Microfibre leather-based steering wheel trim
- 6-way adjustable electrical driver’s seat
- Synthetic leather-based upholstery
- 6-speaker sound system
The Discover X provides:
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- LED rear tub lights
- Tub cargo slide rail with hook
- Electrical folding aspect mirrors
- Heated steering wheel
- 6-way power-adjustable passenger’s seat
- Heated entrance seats
- Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
- Amazon music
- Over-the-air updates
- Voice management
- Satellite tv for pc navigation
- Wi-fi telephone charger
The Discover Professional provides:
- 20-inch alloy wheels
- Black window trim
- Black roof rails
- Electrical tailgate
- 64-colour ambient lighting
- Suede headliner
- Electrical panoramic sunroof
- 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat
- Driver’s seat lumbar, air flow and therapeutic massage features
- Leather-based upholstery
- Heated rear outboard seats
- Trailer reversing help
- 8-speaker JBL sound system
This flagship variant is fitted with the MG Good Hatch, which prices a cool $5490 additional.
The electrically foldable rear cabin entry panel, or mid-gate, is an intriguing choice, however I’m undecided it’s price virtually 10 per cent of the acquisition worth… If it was priced at round $3000 and out there on extra mannequin grades, I reckon it’d be much more interesting.
As for equipment, there’s a complete raft of choices together with racking programs, gentle and arduous tonneau covers, and curler tonneau covers, in addition to a bull bar. There are cover choices within the aftermarket, too.
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
Is the MG U9 secure?
It has a five-star ANCAP score, however this car wasn’t truly crash-tested. The evaluation relies on Euro NCAP testing of the Maxus eTerron 9 – the electrical model of its LDV sister mannequin. Does that appear like a stretch?
To me, saying that an electrical car with a very completely different powertrain and weight distribution resulting from its huge battery construction is corresponding to a diesel dual-cab is frankly smelling a bit like bovine excrement.
However I assume it’s ok for ANCAP. And the outcomes had been robust, with an grownup occupant safety rating of 91 per cent, little one occupant safety rating of 89 per cent, weak street person safety rating of 84 per cent, and security help rating of 85 per cent.
Commonplace security gear consists of:
- AEB with pedestrian, bicycle owner, junction and automotive detection
- Clever Cruise Help
- Lane-keep help
- Lane departure warning
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Driver fatigue monitoring
- Ahead collision warning
- Rear collision warning
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Tyre stress monitoring
- Entrance and rear parking sensors
- Reversing digital camera
Discover X provides:
Discover Professional provides:
The MG U9 has seven airbags – twin entrance, entrance aspect, a front-centre airbag, and curtain protection for each rows of seats.
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
How a lot does the MG U9 price to run?
MG may need made headlines not too long ago with huge boasts about guarantee protection, however this one is a bit completely different.
| MG U9 | Servicing particulars |
|---|---|
| Guarantee | 5 years or limitless kilometres – Non-public 5 years or 160,000km – Industrial |
| Conditional guarantee | As much as 7 years if serviced with MG |
| Service intervals | First service – 12 months/10,000km After that – 12 months/15,000km |
| Service prices | $2355 – 5 years |
| Roadside help | For length of new-car guarantee |
The U9 ute couldn’t be seen to be outdoing its twin – the LDV Terron 9 – so it comes with a shorter guarantee than the remainder of the MG lineup.
The model gives a five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee for personal patrons, however if you happen to’re a industrial buyer the guarantee is 5 years/160,000km, whichever comes first.
Nonetheless, if you happen to service inside MG’s community of workshops, you’ll rise up to seven years of guarantee cowl, which is likely to be the deal-sweetener you’re in search of.
Consider, nonetheless, your servicing intervals. The primary check-up is at 12 months or 10,000km, whichever happens first, and thereafter servicing is required each 12 months/15,000km.
To see how the MG U9 strains up towards the competitors, try our comparability software
CarExpert’s Tackle the MG U9
The MG U9 is a compelling life-style ute choice, with a load of normal expertise and gear that, frankly, makes different utes really feel old style and underdone.
However it isn’t like conventional utes – and subsequently won’t go well with conventional ute patrons. For these trying to get right into a dual-cab with extra of a give attention to the ‘life’ aspect of the ‘work-life’ steadiness, nonetheless, MG’s first ute seems to be a stable selection.
CarExpert can prevent 1000’s on a brand new MG U9. Click on right here to get an important deal.
Click on the pictures for the total gallery
