MG Hector Plus Vs Other Mid & Compact SUVs: Specification Comparison

The MG Hector Plus has been launched in India. Though the three-row version is undoubtedly a Hector at heart, there are enough design tweaks offered as an addition that helps the Hector Plus establish an identity of its own. While we have already discussed how well the Hector Plus fare against its direct competitors like Mahindra XUV500 and Toyota Innova Crysta, we also believe that Hector Plus gets all what it takes to be considered ahead of the 5 seater compact and mid-size SUVs and a critical factor that justifies the comparison is overlapping price spectrums.

This article thus aims at portraying how well Hector Plus can fare against the 5-seater compact (Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos) and Mid-size SUVs (Jeep Compass and Tata Harrier), rivals on the back of a competitively price range.

MG Hector Vs Rivals: Price

The comparison of a 6-seater, SUV with smaller segment/5-seater SUVs might have raised eyebrows at first, but as a substantial chunk of Hector Plus’s price range overlaps with that of many popular compact SUVs, We thought of giving the comparison a go.

Building upon fact mentioned above, a car buyer who is in the market searching for a potent 5-seater SUV can surely check out the Hector Plus as it appears to provide the added practicality of accommodating an extra occupant, without really compromising with the comfort and convenience much.

Despite being a six-seater, it manages to retail at a price significantly lesser than the other competitors including Tata’s Harrier and Jeep’s Compass.

Dimensions

As mentioned earlier, these are not a direct competitors and the overlapping price ranges are the reason why we thought of comparing a six-seater car with SUVs that can occupy five. Dimensions are indicative of the same fact, as the Hector Plus happens to be a six-seater it easily manages to trump all the other cars being compared by a fair margin. Even the boot space reflects the same. While the other three might come across as significantly smaller, Tata’s Harrier’s dimensions are suggestive of the fact that it is the closest Hector Plus competitor.

Engine Options

It is great to see that all the cars being compared are being offered with a host of different engine-gearbox combination offered. However, the Hyundai Creta & Kia Seltos manage to take the honours with respect to the number of choices on offer. They not only gets the option of both manual and automatic gearboxes with petrol and diesel engine but also get an additional turbocharged petrol engine on plate that comes paired with a DCT automatic gearbox.

1. Diesel Engine

• The Harrier and Compass churn up performance outputs equivalent to the Hector Plus, as they necessarily get the same diesel engine.
• On the mileage front, the Korean offerings lead the chart. 
• Unfortunately, Hector Plus is the only car that misses out on an automatic choice with a diesel engine. 

2. Petrol Engine 

* Hector Plus is being offered with a 48-V mild-hybrid system as well that works in conjunction with a manual transmission, interestingly, it is the only car in this comparison to be offered with a hybrid.

• Hector Plus get the 1.5L engine and stands second only to Jeep Compass, as far as output figures are concerned.  
• Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos get a couple of petrol engine options.
• The performance figures of Hyundai-Kia's turbo petrol engines are very close to the Hector Plus. 
• The naturally aspirated (NA) engines of both sisters cars deliver a best of 16.8 kilometres per litre claimed fuel efficiency.  

Conclusion

The base variant of the Hector Plus commands a price premium of Rs 65,000 over the 5-seater Hector and as we move towards the top-of-the-line variant this difference observes a marginal dip and drops down to Rs 32,000. To be frank, the price premium that the Hector Plus is demanding seems justified given the added practicality of a six-seating option.

This is the simple fact that tempted us to shed a light on Hector Plus’s dominance as an able compact and Mid-size SUV rival.  While it is too early to draw concluding remarks, it is safe to assert that it does come across as a very capable alternative to compact & mid-sized 5 seater SUVs.  Kudos to MG, of course, they have got the pricing spot-on and it really should not come as surprise if the Hector Plus manages to give these cars tough times ahead.