New Ora Funky Cat vs MG 4 EV: interiors

Behind the wheel

Driving position, visibility, build quality

So far, the Ora Funky Cat has taken quite a few punches, but now it's time for it to hit back. You see, depending on the spec you go for, its interior can be far more inviting than the MG 4 EV's decidedly drab and grey offering. 

We say 'can be' because if you go for the only standard paint colour (Nebula Green, otherwise known as duck egg blue), the Funky Cat's interior is all grey – although there's still an appealing faux suede material on the dashboard and some quilting on the insides of the doors. However, you pay £795 for Aurora Green or Mars Red (pictured) paint and the top half of the dashboard and top third of the steering wheel roughly match the exterior colour, with the lower areas in a light cream colour. 

That helps to disguise the fact that there's plenty of hard plastic elsewhere in the Funky Cat's interior, although it still edges the MG 4 for overall material quality and plushness, despite the latter having some soft-touch material on the top of its dashboard. 

When it comes to getting comfortable, while each car has an electric driver's seat, there's no option to adjust the lumbar support to ease any lower back ache on long journeys. The MG 4's steering wheel and pedals are also offset slightly to the left, making it hard to find the ideal driving position. 

Forward visibility is decent in both cars, and you won'r struggle to see out at junctions or roundabouts. However, rear visibility is better in the MG 4; the Funky Cat's thicker rear pillars block a greater proportion of your over-the-shoulder view. Fortunately, to help out with parking, both cars come with rear sensors and 360-degree surround-view cameras that display a clear picture on each car's infotainment screen. 

Speaking of which, both cars rely on those screens far more than we'd like, because you have to press icons on them to do things such as adjusting the interior temperature (something the Funky Cat's facial monitoring safety software will tell you off for). Both cars have a small number of physical buttons (or Mini-style toggle switches in the Funky Cat) below the screen for basic functions such as turning the demisters on and off. 

Infotainment systems

Ora Funky Cat

While the 10.25in display in the Cat is impressively sharp, the icons are so small that they can be difficult to decipher without peering closely at them. That’s especially true of the built-in sat-nav’s functions – something that makes the absence of smartphone mirroring even more frustrating. What’s more, although there aren’t many menus to navigate, figuring out where certain functions are located can take quite some time.

MG 4 EV

Although the MG 4’s touchscreen is no bigger than the Funky Cat’s (10.25in), it’s easier to use on the move, thanks to larger icons. The latter are sometimes slow to respond, though, and there are far too many menus to navigate when you want to change things like the level of regenerative braking. Unlike in the Funky Cat, you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone mirroring, allowing you to use your apps for music and sat-nav.

<< Previous | Next: How practical are they? >>

Page 2 of 5