With MG’s storied history with sports cars the Cyberster is a welcome addition from the Chinese car maker and its most expensive model to date. This fully electric roadster has great presence with eye catching style, and in keeping with the brand’s origins the design work was carried out by Carl Gotham in London, the European advanced design director for Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) based in Marylebone.

The MG brand now has 12 electric models on the market in Australia and the Cyberster by far is one of the most interesting. What stands out for me is the superb quality both inside and out, body fit and finish to a high point with paint quality simply outstanding. On this last point, the Chinese have generally made big inroads in paint quality, very noticeable after years of orange peel paint from German manufacturers on luxury models.

The Cyberster is a very tailored two seat design. MG sports cars have never been large cars and the Cyberster is a nice fit for two people and some overnight luggage. The styling is striking from any angle and drew eyes wherever I drove it – the power scissor doors beautifully executed and a real drawcard in the process. The doors make entry and exit a little harder, especially for someone in their latter years, but you soon master the art of how to look cool in doing so.

Australia only gets the highly spec’d all-wheel-drive Cyberster at $115,000 plus on-road costs, around $120,000 drive-away, featuring dual electric motors, pairing a 150kW/250Nm front motor with a 250kw/475Nm rear motor - all up, putting out 375kW and a thumping 725Nm of torque. Impressive figures that can produce a 0 to 100km/hour time of just 3.2-seconds.

The base price provides English white paint with Camden Grey and Sterling Silver another $1,000, with the test cars Diamond Red and Royal Yellow adding $1,200. A high-quality black cloth roof is standard; however, a red roof is optional and available with silver, white and grey painted variants.

For the money the MG Cyberster is well specified with 20-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and taillights, Alcantara and faux leather seats, power adjustable with a sports profile and heated, a power operated fabric roof, a heated leather steering wheel, dual zone climate control and a trio of info screens, the outer screens nicely angled to the driver for quick reference.

The interior is a standout in terms of design and execution – the black and red interior of the test car nicely contrasted to the exterior paint and very inviting visually. From my perspective, legroom was fractionally short, and I would have liked another 20mm of legroom to enable the backrest to be at a more comfortable angle. Having said that, I felt far more comfortable behind the wheel compared to that of the Mazda MX-5 which is 380mm shorter in the wheelbase.

All told the cabin oozes quality and the Chinese have wisely equipped the interior package well with good storage, a normal glovebox, a space under the central armrest and a welcome lidded bin in each door. While behind the seats there’s a netted space to accommodate a jacket, small briefcase or laptop case while the boot has a welcome 249 litres of space, enough for the weekend carry bags, and well above that of the 130 litres offered by the MX-5.

But importantly, the level of fit and finish on this MG Sportster is the best I have seen on a Chinese car. Interestingly, the power roof is accommodated in a dedicated space above the boot and does not impede into the boot space. The power top can be activated at speeds up to 50km/hour and takes just 15 seconds to raise or lower and self-lock in the up position. You do sit higher in the Cyberster to what you may imagine in a sports car, the reason being your sitting on the 77kWhour lithium-ion battery however it gives you better all-round vision.

The three -screen instrument display is interesting - a central 10.25-inch screen with a 7.0-inch touchscreen each side - the information on the side screens is small but comprehensive but takes some time to assimilate with - overall, a feeling you’re sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet. The sound system is a Bose eight-speaker unit which given the small cabin works well, while you can also opt for some driving noises, one that mimics a combustion engine, but to me the quiet nature of an EV makes you arrive at you destination in far more relaxed way and the engine sounds proved a little gimmicky.

What surprised was that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are activated via cable connection, a little dated when compared to the rest of the available information. Active and passive safety is high – blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, rear collision warning, tyre pressure monitoring, lane keep assist with lane centring and departure warning autonomous emergency braking and door opening warning to prevent the wing doors opening in the path of a cyclist or vehicle. On top of that the cabin has four airbags, dual front and head/thorax side impact.

The driving range providing by the 77kWhour lithium-ion battery is 443Km which proved fairly accurate. I managed a battery efficiency of 19.8-kilowatt hours per 100kms, fairly close to MG’s stated figure of 19.1 kWh/100km. I would suggest however that if the cars full potential was realised on a fast open road the usage rate would be much higher. On my 7kW home charger it took 10.5 hours overnight to charge the battery to around 90 percent. On a fast charger and with the MG Cyberster’s battery architecture able to handle a charge rate of 144kW you could effectively top it up to 80 percent in around 35 minutes.

Three drive modes are available; Comfort, Sport and Super Sport Plus and if you feel like being brave you can select Launch mode which displays rocket graphics in the instrument cluster – with all-wheel drive and grip the acceleration is exhilarating to say the least and enough to make your passengers jaw drop. This despite an all-up weight of nearly 2,000 kilos and the non-fitment of a space saver spare wheel, just the dreaded inclusion of a puncture repair kit.

The drivability of the Cyberster is very appealing and it goes about its business in a very confident way, firmly planted on the road yet offering a superlative ride. MG have not tuned it to hard-nosed levels but at a point to make it a very enjoyable day to day sportster without being tiresome. With substantial battery weight below the floor, and with an electric motor front and rear, it sits flat on our broken road surfaces and has enough suspension travel and damping to make it a comfortable drive without it being an over-the-top sportster. It’s not a boy racer and for that reason it offers enormous appeal to drivers of all ages who want a little sports motoring in their life.

Importantly, the MG Cyberster comes with a 10-year/250,000km warranty providing peace of mind motoring especially as it also covers the high-voltage battery for the same period. There are some exceptions, the power roof is only covered for five-years while the paint and anti-perforations warranty is listed at seven years. Capped price servicing is available, with servicing at four years/100,00km, six-years/150,000km and eight years/200,000km. listed at $700, or all up at $2,264 over the first five years,

There’s much to like with the MG Cyberster, an impressive effort by this Chinese manufacturer and certainly the best product that it has launched so far on the Australian market. I am hearing from several quarters that making warranty claims on MG is not easy and has led to some dealer angst – from my own perspective, one of my daughters has a two-year MG ZST SUV and has had an ongoing warranty issue for some time – the part coming from China taking a long time to arrive. More on this subject in due course.