What the Seal U may lack in dynamic prowess it should make up for in frugality.
It’s a very economical option in practice. On our test drive, utilising a mix of electric and petrol driving, the single-motor Boost model returned an excellent 90mpg overall. Yes, 90mpg.
Over our varied test route in the four-wheel-drive model, it produced around 44mpg using a mixture of electric and petrol power.
Standard equipment is also very impressive. At around £33,000, the Boost is slightly more expensive than the equivalent MG HS, but it comes with electric seats, a 15.6in infotainment touchscreen (which uniquely can rotate from portrait to landscape), a 360deg camera, a panoramic sunroof, a head-up display, wireless phone charging and vehicle-to-load capability (meaning the battery can be used to power external devices).
For just over £35,000, the Comfort version adds a larger battery, while the Design, at £39,905, gets that punchier engine and second motor (giving it four-wheel drive) and off-road driving modes.
Officially, front-drive models offer an electric-only range of around 50 miles and a fuel consumption figure of 313mpg. Total range, including from the petrol powertrain, is rated at 671 miles.
Four-wheel-drive models have an EV range of 44 miles and will officially do 235mpg. Theoretical total range is 541 miles.
We’ve yet to test the mid-spec Comfort but we expect it to perform strongly with its larger battery and 77 miles of electric-only range.
The batteries for both cars can be charged from 30-80% in around 35 minutes using an 11kW charger.
