New Dacia Bigster vs MG HS
The promise of a lot of metal for a modest amount of money is hard to resist, and these family SUVs deliver just that. But are they genuine bargain or simply an economy too far?...
The contenders
NEW Dacia Bigster Hybrid 155 Journey
List price £29,440
Target Price £29,440
As its name suggests, Dacia’s new SUV is big – the largest it has ever offered, in fact. But is it just a large portion, or is it tasty to boot?
MG HS 1.5T DCT Trophy
List price £30,245
Target Price £30,245
The HS is our reigning Plug-in Hybrid of the Year, but can this cheaper non-hybrid version follow in its sibling’s award-winning footsteps?
You can buy pretty much anything from Amazon these days, but if you want similar gear at bargain basement prices, you go to apps like Shein and Temu. The idea of huge hauls for minimal outlay clearly resonates with consumers; these retail platforms have enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years.
When we’re used to paying through the nose for utilities, insurance and even food these days, it’s great to find instances where our money can stretch a little farther. And that’s where the new Dacia Bigster might help.
This is a family SUV – the size of a Volkswagen Tiguan – that you can buy for less than you’ll pay for a smaller Volkswagen T-Roc. In fact, the Bigster that we have here undercuts almost all of its direct rivals, even in well-equipped Journey trim and featuring a hybrid engine that should help to save on running costs.
Dacia isn’t the only player in the ‘a lot for a little’ game, though. Like those discount apps, the MG HS is the Shein to Dacia’s Temu. It, too, is a hefty five-seat SUV, and while it doesn’t have any hybrid tech to cut fuel consumption, you can buy it in top-spec Trophy trim for not much more than the price of our Bigster. That means a list of kit you’d pay a small fortune for if you were to go for a Tiguan.
And as if the Bigster wasn’t being sufficiently kept on its toes already, we named the pricier MG HS PHEV as our 2025 Plug-in Hybrid of the Year – a promising start for the regular petrol version that we’ve lined up here.
So, in this battle of value for money, let’s find out if the Bigster or the HS is more deserving of your hard-earned cash.
Driving
Performance, ride, handling, refinement
While the HS’s turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine is a bit smaller than the Bigster’s non-turbo 1.8-litre unit, it’s actually the more powerful of the two, producing 168bhp compared with 154bhp. However, you wouldn’t think that was the case in real-world use.
In fact, the HS lacks any kind of urgency. From a standstill or at low speeds, there’s a huge delay between you pressing the accelerator pedal and getting any meaningful response, almost as if the car was sending a request back to MG HQ for approval. Then, when the power arrives, it comes in a sudden burst, met with a vicious nod of your head. This is especially frustrating in stop-start traffic.
By contrast, progress is much smoother in the Bigster. Its hybrid system’s electric motors fill the gaps in the engine’s power delivery and help the car to get off the line more energetically.
At higher speeds, the HS does start to feel stronger than the Bigster, and the two finish virtually neck-and-neck in a 0-60mph sprint, each taking a fraction more than 9.0sec. Again, though, the HS disappoints if you call for a quick burst of speed (such as when overtaking on a country lane), with a pause between pressing the accelerator and the automatic gearbox obliging with a downshift.
We’ve been impressed by the ride comfort of the HS in its PHEV guise, but we have less praise for this non-electrified version. It thuds violently over sharp imperfections at urban and motorway speeds alike, while larger undulations jostle occupants around uncomfortably.
The Bigster controls its body movements much more tightly on undulating roads, moving you around in your seat much less and cushioning sharp bumps without making you wince. It feels far more settled overall and is less bothered by the surface of the road that you’re driving over.
That more settled nature carries through to cornering, too. The Bigster leans less in fast bends and is less affected by mid-corner bumps. The HS claws some points back, though, when you engage Sport mode, with this making its steering feel meatier and more direct. The Bigster offers no such feature, so you’re stuck with its light and numb steering in all situations.
Both cars are perfectly easy to steer along tight city streets, with the HS’s normal steering mode putting it on a par with the Bigster here.
The HS leads, though, when it comes to refinement. Even at 30mph, when the Bigster is running on electricity, the HS is barely any louder inside, and it’s quieter than the Bigster at motorway speeds. Noise from that car’s engine and the wind around the mirrors is much more noticeable.
Behind the wheel
Driving position, visibility, build quality
If you’re looking at buying an SUV, the chances are that you like sitting high above the road, and both of these cars will satisfy
that requirement. What’s more, both have fundamentally sound driving positions that line you up perfectly with the pedals and the steering wheel.
You’ll find it slightly easier to get comfortable in the HS, though, thanks to its electrically adjustable driver’s seat with a memory function and adjustable lumbar support. The Bigster makes do with fiddlier manual adjustment, but its driver’s seat does at least include adjustable lumbar support.
Those elevated driving positions are good news for your forward view, but the position of the windscreen pillars and door mirrors on both cars means they can interfere with your outlook at junctions.
Looking rearwards, the large side windows and cutouts in both cars’ rear pillars give you a good view over your shoulder. Better still, both cars have big rear windscreens, granting a good view directly behind when parking.
Extra assistance comes in the form of front and rear parking sensors in the HS, while the Bigster goes one better with front, rear and side sensors. Both cars also have 360-degree cameras.
It’s a whitewash by the HS, though, when it comes to interior plushness. The Bigster shares its generally hard, scratchy plastic innards with the smaller Dacia Duster, while the HS proudly flaunts soft materials that much more expensive rivals wouldn’t be ashamed of, the optional tan synthetic leather of our test car (a £500 upgrade from the black that comes as standard) being particularly eye-catching. Cheaper-feeling plastics are generally confined to those places you’ll rarely touch.
While the Bigster’s interior isn’t as pleasing to the senses, the two are hard to split for actual build quality. Both feel like they’ll survive the rigours of family use.
We wish the HS had more physical controls on its dashboard. The buttons below its infotainment screen operate only the hazard warning lights and demisters, together with largely redundant shortcuts to the infotainment home and climate control screens. The climate control is always shown in a simplified form anyway, with the full screen only a tap away if you want to switch the heated seats on or adjust the front passenger’s climate zone. The Bigster’s more comprehensive array of buttons, including dedicated controls for the air conditioning system, makes for less distraction on the move.
Infotainment systems
Dacia Bigster
While the graphics on the Bigster’s 10.1in infotainment touchscreen aren’t the most attractive, its large icons are easy to read at a glance. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, but there’s a notable delay between you prodding the screen and the system reacting. Thankfully, the wireless smartphone integration works seamlessly and helps to get around that issue; the screen reacts much quicker to your inputs in that mode.
MG HS
With a larger (12.3in) touchscreen than the Bigster, the HS’s system is even easier to read and its icons easier to hit. Better still, its interface is slightly more intuitive and it responds more promptly to icon prods than the Bigster’s system. It’s annoying, though, that the smartphone mirroring isn’t wireless, plus it worked only intermittently in our test car; we managed to get Apple CarPlay to stay on the screen only for short periods.
Space and practicality
Front space, rear space, seating flexibility, boot
We doubt anyone will moan about how either of these family SUVs accommodates them. Even folk north of six feet tall will have loads of room in the front of either car, with the Bigster offering more head room and the MG supplying more leg and shoulder room.
There are plenty of storage spaces up front, but the HS comes out on top here. Its door bins are shorter but have much wider openings, plus the cubby below its central armrest is wider and contains two proper cupholders. The Bigster gives you a rectangular cubby in front of the armrest that will just about hold two coffee chain paper cups, but it doesn’t have cupholder cutouts.
As with the front seats, a pair of six-footers would be very comfortable in the outer rear seats of either car, albeit with the Bigster catering particularly well for the long of body and the HS serving leggy folk slightly better. The latter also offers more shoulder room and usefully more space for feet underneath its front seats.
The HS’s raised middle seat makes head room tight for a tall fifth passenger, but that car’s smaller floor hump means they’ll find more room for their feet than they’d get in the Bigster.
Open the standard-fit powered tailgate of either car and you’llfind a sizeable boot with a wide, square opening. The Bigster’s boot is longer and wider, though, allowing it to accommodate seven carry-on suitcases – one more than you’ll fit into the HS.
Unlike some rival family SUVs, however, neither of these offers sliding or reclining rear seats to boost luggage capacity if necessary. And while both cars have low lips between their bumpers and boot floors (so it’s easy to load in heavy items), only the Bigster gets an adjustable boot floor that can be lowered when you need to carry taller items.
The Bigster is better at accommodating long, slim loads, thanks to rear seatbacks that split in a more versatile 40/20/40 configuration, as opposed to the 60/40 split offered by the HS.
The Bigster also gives you boot-mounted levers that make it easy to release and fold down its rear seatbacks while standing behind the car. The HS calls for you to either stretch forwards to reach the seatback-mounted buttons from the boot entrance, or walk around to each of the rear doors to access them in turn.
Boot space
Dacia Bigster
Boot capacity 612-1977 litres Suitcases 7
MG HS
Boot capacity 507-1484 litres Suitcases 6
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
The Bigster is the cheaper of these cut-price family SUVs, slicing around £800 off the HS’s price tag if you’re planning to buy outright.
Likewise, those buying on PCP finance will pay less per month if they go for the Bigster. Indeed, if you take out a three-year contract, with a £4000 deposit and a 10,000-mile annual allowance, you’ll pay £341 a month for the Bigster, against £426 for the HS.
The HS does, at least, help to make up for these cost differences with extra standard equipment, including full LED headlights and adaptive cruise control, as well as the aforementioned electric seat adjustment and black synthetic leather upholstery.
As you might expect, the Bigster’s ability to switch off its petrol engine and run on electricity alone at lower speeds gives it a big advantage when it comes to fuel consumption. In fact, at our private test track, which simulates town, A-road and motorway driving, the Bigster achieved an average of 48.8mpg, while the HS managed 40.4mpg. That difference is enough to mean that you’d spend £922 more fuelling the HS over 36,000 miles.
An added benefit of the Bigster’s hybrid system is that it brings lower CO2 emissions and a lower benefit-in-kind (BIK) company car tax bracket. As a result, a 40% taxpayer will pay £82 less per month than the HS demands. It’s worth noting, though, that the plug-in hybrid HS sits in an even lower BIK bracket than the Bigster, so it will cost even less in company car tax.
Both the Bigster and HS were too new to be included in the most recent What Car? Reliability survey, but Dacia performed much more strongly than MG in the brand league table. In fact, while Dacia came a creditable sixth out of the 31 manufacturers covered, MG ended up plumb last.
Reassuringly, though, MG gives you a seven-year, 70,000-mile warranty. By contrast, Dacia’s warranty runs for three years and 60,000 miles, extending to seven years (or 65,000 miles, whichever comes first) only if servicing is performed by Dacia and according to the brand’s guidelines.
When the two cars were scrutinised by independent safety testing body Euro NCAP in 2024, the HS scored the maximum five stars. By contrast, the three-star rating awarded to the Bigster is disappointing by modern standards. However, drilling down into the results shows that it’s as good at protecting children in the back seats as the HS. It scores less well for adult chest protection in a frontal collision, though.
Both cars have lots of safety kit as standard, including automatic emergency braking, blindspot monitoring, driver attention monitoring and lane-keeping assistance. The HS adds rear cross-traffic alert to the list. However, switching the numerous safety notifications off if you want to is much easier in the Bigster; its ‘My Perso’ button recalls your preferred settings at a press.
Our verdict
On the face of it, there’s plenty to like about the MG HS. After all, for its relatively affordable price tag, it offers loads of space inside, a long list of standard equipment and an impressively plush interior. It’s such a shame, then, that this version is frustrating to drive, with a bouncy ride and a jerky power delivery.
If you really have your heart set on an HS, the plug-in hybrid version is a much better car; it’s a little more expensive, but its calmer ride and smoother engine are well worth paying more for.
So, in this match-up, the Dacia Bigster is the winner. True, its interior feels cheap in comparison with the HS’s, but the
Bigster gets the nod on most other counts. It offers decent comfort, a smooth and efficient hybrid engine and one of the biggest boots you’ll find in any family SUV, all while vastly undercutting the majority of its rivals on price.
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1st – Dacia Bigster
For Big boot; cheap to buy and run; smooth power delivery; settled ride
Against Cheap-feeling interior; numb steering; disappointing safety rating
Recommended options None
What Car? rating 4 stars out of 5
Dacia Bigster review >>
Dacia Bigster deals >>
2nd – HS
For Plush interior; lots of standard equipment; plenty of interior space
Against Bouncy ride; MG’s poor reliability record; frustrating accelerator response
Recommended options None
What Car? rating 3 stars out of 5
MG HS review >>
MG HS deals >>
Specifications: Dacia Bigster Hybrid 155 Journey
Engine 4cyl, 1799cc, petrol, plus two electric motors
Peak power 154bhp (total)
Peak torque 151lb ft (total)
Gearbox 4-spd automatic (petrol), 2-spd automatic (electric)
0-60mph 9.1sec
30-70mph in kickdown 7.8sec
Top speed 112mph
Braking 30-0mph 9.1m
Braking 70-0mph 50.2m
Noise at 30mph 57.6dB
Noise at 70mph 66.8dB
Kerb weight 1419kg
Tyre size (standard) 205/55 R19
Test economy 48.8mpg
Official economy 60.1mpg
Fuel tank 50 litres
CO2 emissions 105g/km
Specifications: MG HS 1.5T DCT Trophy
Engine 4cyl, 1496cc, turbo, petrol
Peak power 168bhp at 5000rpm
Peak torque 202lb ft at 3000-4000rpm
Gearbox 7-spd automatic
0-60mph 9.2sec
30-70mph in kickdown 8.5ec
Top speed 121mph
Braking 30-0mph 8.7m
Braking 70-0mph 47.6m
Noise at 30mph 58.0dB
Noise at 70mph 64.9dB
Kerb weight 1600kg
Tyre size (standard) 225/55 R19
Test economy 40.4mpg
Official economy 37.2mpg
Fuel tank 55 litres
CO2 emissions 173g/km
Weather conditions 28deg C, dry
Cars pictured
Dacia Bigster Hybrid 155 Journey with Indigo Blue metallic paint (£650)
MG HS 1.5T DCT Trophy with White Pearl paint and tan synthetic leather (£500)
