2024 Porsche 911 vs. MG Cyberster: What Does China Know About Sports Cars?

One of the vehicles in this test is a trailblazing sports car sold by a 100-year-old brand. The other is a Porsche 911.

If you’re not familiar with the MG Cyberster, well, neither were we. Up until two months ago, we knew more about the vehicles of Paw Patrol than we knew about this British-badged, Chinese-built electric wedge. That changed in July, when four MotorTrend editors took a field trip to China to make sense of the 21st century Red Scare—the idea that Chinese automakers will decimate our automotive institutions if they enter the U.S. market. Piggybacking off the massive summer test arranged by Chinese automotive website Dongchedi, we drove 19 cars over two days, going deep with budget EVs that sell for less than $25,000 and assembling a five-car comparison of the Tesla Model 3 and its rivals.

As a threat to the U.S. economy, the MG Cyberster is as menacing as a panda bear. An EV convertible would sell like onion-flavored bubble gum here, yet we’re intrigued because in a world of four-door, electric jellybeans, the Cyberster dares to be different. It’s not sold in America and likely never will be, but it’s worth paying attention to as arguably the most unique EV since Tesla wired 6,831 laptop battery cells into a Lotus Elise.

The Cyberster also gives us a lens into what Chinese automakers understand about vehicle dynamics. These companies have earned reputations as leaders in software and batteries. For selling stunning interiors at unbelievable prices. For infotainment, AI-powered voice assistants, and in-car karaoke. But what do Chinese engineers know about making a car sing in Germany’s Black Forest or Southern California’s canyons? To answer that question, we ran the Cyberster through our performance-test gauntlet and around a world-class road course alongside the sports car measuring stick, the Porsche 911.

This isn’t a comparison of which car you should buy or even which one is better. That would be ridiculous even if you could get a Cyberster in the U.S. One’s an all-wheel-drive EV, the other is a rear-drive gas car, and in China they’re separated by a price difference large enough to buy a Corvette Z06.

Instead, it’s a glimpse of the future. Can an electric sports car capture the emotion of a combustion vehicle? And what happens when China tries to re-create established automotive icons? This is the story of a car most Americans know nothing about viewed through the lens of the famous German sports car every enthusiast knows something about.

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Breaking From the Past

If today’s Porsche 911 is the product of continuous evolution, the MG Cyberster is what happens when technology allows you to bring a species back from extinction. After a 16-year dirt nap for original MG vehicles, this roadster has almost nothing in common with the feathery MGAs and MGBs of the past. The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version we tested makes a monstrous 536 horsepower and 535 lb-ft of torque from front and rear permanent-magnet motors bookending a 77.0-kWh lithium-ion battery that ballasts this two-door to a staggering 4,376 pounds.

The design, penned in MG’s U.K. studio, is similarly devoid of historical references other than the stop-sign-shaped badges and the folding roof. Don’t read that as a complaint, though. Measuring 0.3 inch shorter than the 911 on a wheelbase that’s 9.4 inches longer, the MG has the stance of a modern sports car, the Jaguar F-Type’s classically beautiful silhouette, the Miata’s mischievous grin, and a Lamborghini’s magnetism any time you open the electrically actuated scissor doors. The oversized, arrow-shaped taillights look like they belong in a construction zone, and the name “Cyberster” sounds like a made-up Hot Wheels car, but the reincarnated MG sports car otherwise appears ready for Western consumption.

As with all electric cars built and sold in China, the MG Cyberster carries a price that seems too good to be true at $50,200 for the all-wheel-drive version. The Porsche 911 Carrera, on the other hand, starts at $206,300 in China—a figure that makes U.S. prices seem almost sensible. Closer to home (and American pricing realities), in the U.K., the MG sells for $78,400 versus the 911’s $130,400.

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Start Your … Engines?

Thumbing the red Super Sport button on the MG Cyberster’s steering wheel activates a Track mode and unlocks a boomy, growly low-fi simulation of an engine note that will remind you of 1980s arcade games. You can “rev” the “engine” by stabbing the right pedal while your left foot is on the brake. Stand on both pedals, and it emulates a launch control algorithm that will make you laugh—out of amusement, or horror, or probably both—the first time you hear it.

On a second, third, and fourth replay—when the overdubbed soundtrack is no longer a hilarious surprise—you realize the MG is ruthlessly quick and utterly without drama. It doesn’t hit you with a gut punch of torque. Instead, it leaves the station like a bullet train whisking you to 180 mph without so much as sloshing your tea in its cup. The numbers are more remarkable than they feel: 3.1 seconds to 60 mph and 11.5 seconds at 118.9 mph to cover the standing quarter mile.

How much thrust would you give up to feel something on your way to the quarter-mile mark? We’re convinced that anyone with a head would rather ride the 911’s 379-hp twin-turbo flat-six and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, even if it means arriving a half second behind the Cyberster.

The 911’s engine turns the mechanical dance of internal combustion into an almost musical experience. Listen closely, and you can pick out the layers—the steady percussion of the valvetrain, the plucked bass notes of exhaust gases escaping the combustion chamber, the brassy honk of the intake changing pitch as the revs rise and fall. Even if computers run the show during the 911’s 5,000-rpm launch, you’re keenly aware of what the machine behind you is doing at every moment. The PDK transmission feathers the clutch for what seems like whole seconds—one Mississippi, two Mississippi—to keep the engine from bogging then clicks off a satisfying, snappy upshift. Giving up roughly a half a second for a 0–60 time of 3.6 seconds and a quarter-mile run of 12.1 seconds seems like a small price for this experience. We’ll pay it every time we’re given the choice.

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Grip and Grins

Facing a lineup of 19 cars, we mounted our test equipment in the Porsche first because it’s a known quantity. What better way to knock the rust off after a 16-hour flight in economy class, we figured. But we were especially grateful to have it on hand given what we found during our braking and handling tests. The 911’s 0.97 g (average) of lateral grip and 107-foot 60-mph panic stop revealed that the pavement at the government-run proving ground—smooth asphalt peppered with an abundance of small voids—wasn’t as grippy as the test tracks we regularly use in the U.S. Back home in Southern California, a 911 scores around 1.05 g’s of stick in cornering and a stopping distance of less than 100 feet.

That’s the context for the MG’s 109-foot brake stop and 0.91-g cornering grip. On their own, those numbers might look disappointing for a sports car. On a better surface, they’d rise to more acceptable if not exactly impressive figures. MG positions the Cyberster as more of a grand tourer than a hardcore sports car, which lowers the bar for raw performance. That said, the 911 effortlessly switches between Los Angeles commuter, weekend road tripper, and track-day toy without so much as changing drive modes.

Staggered 20-inch Pirelli P Zero Elect tires and the battery pack that anchors the Cyberster’s center of gravity low in the chassis help the MG mask its weight in corners. It’s an easy car to place and hold on a line, but there’s no joy in doing so. The electric power steering returns no feel or feedback and is instead defined by an unchanging light effort that would be off-putting even in an economy car. The soft, long-travel brake pedal feels similarly disconnected from the mechanical elements of the car, as if you’re operating the controls of an arcade game.

In stark contrast, piloting a 911 is one of the most active forms of driving. That’s particularly true when running our figure-eight handling course, which the Porsche completes a full second quicker than the Cyberster despite the 911 being slower in a straight line. You don’t just brake, steer, and accelerate in a 911. You blend the car into the turn and balance it through the corners then meter out the thrust as you come off the exit. Its easy controllability engages your mind, your hands, and your feet and demands you to be more exacting—not to keep the car from spinning but to get the most out of it.

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Inside Game

The MG shines brightest exactly where we expected it to—the interior. The materials and perceived build quality match the high bar set by Porsche if you can look past the gear selector that appears stolen out of a Corvette. We love that despite its four screens, the Cyberster never feels dominated by glass. The flipside is that it’s kind of an ergonomic disaster. The lower screen, which houses climate controls, requires a long look away from the road. The upper screens flanking the central instrument cluster control audio, navigation, and secondary functions but are blocked from view and reach by the steering wheel.

Familiarity makes the Porsche easy to like, even if a Toyota Camry features a more daring design. A 911 sold in Germany is a 911 sold in America is a 911 sold in China, and once you’ve set the infotainment system to English, the cockpit is as comfortable as home.

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Tracking Our Impressions

The day after our initial test of the MG Cyberster and Porsche 911, the proving ground’s 3-mile handling circuit serves as a grander stage to confirm our first impressions. On the damp track, the 911 is a beautiful thing, equally playful and confidence inspiring. In contrast, the MG Cyberster feels inert and aloof. It’s capable of running at a brisk pace but doesn’t inspire you to approach its limits.

With so many cars to test, each MotorTrend editor only spends a handful of laps with the 911 and the Cyberster. Throughout the day, though, we can never escape the 911’s gravitational pull. We’re constantly aware there’s a Porsche with keys in it parked in the paddock of a racetrack that is ours for the day, and it seems like we’re committing a crime whenever we leave the car sitting still. A handful of laps in the MG Cyberster, on the other hand, is enough to satisfy each driver’s curiosity.

That’s the difference between a good sports car and a great one. With no dopamine reward for continuing to drive the Cyberster, we were never stirred to spend more time with it. Yet despite having driven thousands of miles in Porsche 911s over the years, passing up an opportunity to drive a great road or on track with the benchmark sports car will always feel like a wasted opportunity. In a great driver’s car, every mile feels like a new experience.

Photos courtesy of Dcar

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2nd Place: 2024 MG Cyberster

Verdict: Chinese cars won’t replace the best-driving cars anytime soon.

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1st Place: 2024 Porsche 911 Carrera

Verdict: There’s a reason every sports car has the Porsche 911 in its sights.

*Editor’s Note: MotorTrend recently traveled to China to test drive a broad range of Chinese “new energy vehicles”—battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and extended-range electric vehicles (EREV)—in an editorial content sharing partnership with Dongchedi (a.k.a. DCar). A subsidiary of ByteDance, Dcar is one of China’s top automotive media brands and publishes new car videos and social media for the Chinese market on its website and app. DCar invited MotorTrend to join a special summer test program in Wuhan, China, at proving grounds specifically designed for autonomous vehicle development. All of the vehicles we tested were either purchased, rented, or borrowed by DCar; none was supplied by their respective automakers. DCar also provided travel and lodging arrangements for MotorTrend, along with editorial support, including photo, video, and translation services.