Getting muddy – but you’ll probably want to raise it if you do this often. Photo: MG Motor Australia.
When the Volkswagen Amarok first came along, there was a great deal of hullabaloo about the fact that, finally, here was a ute that could fit a standard Euro-sized wooden pallet in the back.
Well, all these years later, MG’s ute has just taken things a step further.
As with every MG since China’s SAIC Motor took over the company in 2011, the new U9 is obviously about as closely related to the dainty little British roadsters of yore as Bob Katter is to Lebanon. But it’s also more. A new chapter, the bosses say.
“From this moment, the era of MG only making small cars is over. Today, we prominently present a truly large vehicle,” a spokesperson announced at the recent Australian launch.
We had the chance to try out pre-production versions at this launch, and while time behind the wheel was limited, we did get to play around with its many features.
For starters, once you’ve tugged on a couple of straps to fold away the rear seats, there’s another button that will slowly lower the entire back wall, revealing nothing between you and the tray.
Presumably, this is in case you’re carrying very long things on your wooden pallets. Or, if you’re fishing off the tailgate, you can hear the radio more clearly.
You can also electronically lower the rear window, which an MG spokesperson explained to me finally cures the ear-splitting thumping that follows your kids unwinding a window on the highway (you know the noise).
The tailgate itself opens like any other, except for the small step stool which folds out of it – to save your back, knees and dignity when having to reach into the tray.
It’s all genius stuff. The catch is that both of these features are only available on the top-spec Explore Pro model, and the cabin-dividing-wall thing is a $5500 option.
But on the plus side, you’re paying $60,990 driveaway for the Explore Pro – or a good $15-20,000 less than a Ford Ranger Wildtrak. The lesser U9 models are priced at $52,990 for the Explore and $55,990 for the Explore X.
The MG is weird among its rivals for another reason, too. You won’t find any metal tray versions, because it’s all cast as one body – which admittedly might be a setback for a tradie who wants to bolt a toolbox to the back.
Space abounds. Photo: MG Motor Australia.
In the pictures, I did wonder about the enormous chrome face too, but there wasn’t even a hint of nausea when seeing it in the metal. It looked rugged and handsome, and actually very American.
The interior is also very spacious and well-made. I particularly love the gear shifter – part of you wants to hold it while accelerating and yell “taking it up to 80 km/h” like you’re in Top Gun.
There’s a tremendous amount of tech, from eleventy different drive modes for different surfaces to a 360-degree camera (which even shows you what’s underneath) and a massage seat for the driver.
That said, you’d have to spend a whole day studying the touchscreen – with its Russian dolls of menus and submenus – before you’d know your way around it. It was hard to confirm when driving off-road, but I also suspect the safety tech is of the beeping, bonging sort.
What I can say is that the U9 felt surprisingly car-like to drive. There was none of that stiff jiggling you get from unladen utes.
A lot of this comes down to another engineering quirk – because the MG is one of only a few utes to use coil springs in the rear – unlike the leaf springs you’ll find on everything else, including medieval dray carts (this also separates the MG from its leaf-sprung LDV twin, the Terron 9).
There’s other serious hardware too, like a big 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine, a ZF auto gearbox, and centre, rear and front diff locks.
As it was, we pulled through one creek crossing in ‘Eco’ mode and rear-wheel drive, with only a little tyre spinning. The fun sort, before you get to the oh-[insert-swear-word-here]-we’re-sliding-into-that-tree sort.
Mind you, if you’re planning on taking this off-road in any serious way, you’ll want to fit some taller aftermarket suspension and a bull bar. There’s a plastic valance hanging down from the front that, by the end of the day, was scraped and muddy on all the test cars.
However, for most all-purpose duties, such as fishing, the U9 looks very promising.
Probably not one for every tradie. Photo: MG Motor Australia.
2025 MG U9 Explore Pro
- $60,990 driveaway
- 2.5-litre turbo-diesel 4-cylinder, 160 kW / 520 Nm
- 8-speed automatic, 4WD
- 7.9 litres per 100 km claimed fuel consumption
- 870 kg payload, 3500 kg braked towing capacity
- 5-star ANCAP safety rating
Thanks to MG Motor Australia for providing this opportunity for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with MG Motor Australia.
