A while back I test drove the MG3 and the Chevrolet Aveo within a few weeks of each other, it was hard to decide which car was the better model but the history behind the MG brand was hard to forget. Last week, with the onset of winter, it was decided that I should buy a third car. My father in law moved closer to us and took a liking to my wife’s car, so that was gone, then my wife found a new job some 40km from our home so she takes my car every day.

Ive been relegated to either walking, bicycle or taxis, the first two are rather uncomfortable in winter. I went to tour the barren wastelands of Japanese dealerships this weekend, Nissan had more staff than customers, Toyota staff were eager but they had nothing in their stable for me and Chang’an Mazda staff looked ready for suicide, only the Mazda 3 and its goofy face seemed to be happy. The 1.6T Hyundai Veloster is screaming buy me, but on the other hand the Nissan Tiida 1.6T is cheaper and packs a similar punch, although it doesn’t have the suspension or design to match. Hyundai pricing is holding steady but Nissan pricing could potentially fall if Chinese consumers keep their money out of Japanese brands. Here’s hoping for some discounts.

And then there’s MG. I test drove the MG5 last week with the 1.5L and 4sp automatic. The same 1.5L in the MG3 makes it pull fairly well but in the MG5 it feels wheezy and out of breath pulling around increased weight, the MG5 is easily the best MG in terms of quality to date however! The MG3 is cheap, cheerful and reasonably powerful for its size, it also has the all important 5-Star CNCAP result as well. The MG3, or MSG Flea as its nicknamed, is circa 100,000RMB, the Tiida is about 150,000RMB and the Veloster Turbo around 180k, once you add in taxes, license plates and insurance you need to add another 30% at least. So do I buy an MSG Flea, add on some suitably sized wheels and a large exhaust to live the boy racer dream? Im thinking yes, unless of course Nissan instigate some savage cuts in the next few months to hit their 12 month goal for the Chinese market.