MG Windsor EV 38 kWh In-Depth Review: City Friendly EV Offers Much Value

Arriving in India in September 2024, the Windsor EV was MG’s third electric vehicle for the Indian market and its first to be offered with the new Battery as a Service (BaaS) model. The move seems to have worked so far in the country, with the Windsor replacing the Nexon EV as the best-selling EV in India in the past few months. Our initial impression of the EV, from the brief time we drove it, was also quite positive, with the Windsor offering a good value for money proposition. However, those were just our initial impressions after a day with the car. Now, almost 8 months later, we spent two weeks with the Windsor EV to take a proper, in-depth look at it.

Also read: MG Windsor EV Pro Launched At Rs 17.50 Lakh With Up To 449 KM Range

MG Windsor EV 38 kWh: Design 

Windsor gets a layered design up front with a short bonnet, LED light bar, split headlamps, and a sizeable bumper.

Design has always been a subjective parameter, but this one can certainly turn heads. The crossover takes the shape and form of a compact people mover rather than an outright SUV, while also borrowing some Comet-inspired design elements. The nose is characterised by a shallow bonnet and a rather bulbous bumper housing large headlamps low down and an intake vent at its base. LED daytime running lamps are positioned at the base of the bonnet with a connecting light strip spanning the fascia.

The electric crossover looks the part of an MPV in profile

Also read: Pre-Booking For All-Electric MG M9 Luxury MPV Begin In India For Rs. 51,000
 

The rear is less fussy in comparison with simpler taillights connected via a lightbar running along the base of the boot lid. The alloy wheels are smart, but nothing to write home about.

The rear design is quite clean in comparison to the front.

On the whole, the Windsor’s design is certainly unique, and you won’t mistake it for anything else. But, at the same time, it does take some getting used to and may not appeal to everyone. 

MG Windsor EV 38 kWh: Cabin & Space 

Dashboard design is quite uncluttered; the touchscreen houses the majority of the controls for in-car functions.

The Windsor’s cabin follows a clean and uncluttered design with a lot of physical control surfaces, making way for touchscreen-based controls. The large 15.6-inch central touchscreen (10-inch in the base model) is the nerve centre for almost all in-car functions, while a row of air-con control switches sits lower down on the centre console. The driver, meanwhile, gets a small 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster that while easy to read and provides all relevant basic information, but lacks any real customisability. 

Moving to the seats, the large front seats are both comfy and supportive, and you can spend extended hours behind the wheel without too many adverse effects.

Also read: Land Cruiser-Inspired MG Cyber X Electric SUV Debuts At Auto Shanghai 2025
 

Front seats are large, supportive and comfy over long drives as well; top variants also get seat ventilation.

Moving to the rear, the Windsor offers a flat floor, meaning that middle passengers don’t need to jostle for space. Leg room is available in spades, though the seating position is a bit knees up. The party piece for the second row is the 135-degree reclining seatback. While most similarly priced cars offer either a single or two-step recline function, the Windsor’s rear seat backrest can be reclined freely to find the ideal position, with the chauffeur-driven also able to fold down the co-driver seat to create a pseudo-recliner to stretch out. The feeling of space is further accentuated by large rear windows (which don’t roll all the way down) and the large panoramic glass roof on top models. 

A lot of room in the rear, though the seating position is a bit knees up.

The air conditioning system is also quite commendable. The single-zone climate control unit is capable of cooling the car’s cabin down quickly, even after parking it in direct sunlight. The slight downer, however, is the design of the vents, which seem to see a drop in air flow when adjusted off center – the vents can be shut by adjusting them fully to one side. Rear occupants also only get a single large central air vent with similar characteristics. 

Also Read: Updated MG Comet Launched At Rs 7 Lakh; Higher Variants Gain More Features

Windsor's party piece is its 135-degree reclining rear seats; chauffeur-driven can drop the front seat and relax.

Speaking of storage, there are plenty of spaces to store odds and ends, including cup holders on the dash-top and floor console, door pockets, a glove box, a covered storage at the base of the centre console, and a storage box under the front centre armrest. Rear passengers get seat back pockets, cup holders in the centre armrest, and decently sized door pockets. 

Windsor has lots of space to store odds and ends, including cup holders and two covered storage areas - under the armrest and below the cupholders.

Moving to the boot, the Windsor’s 604 litre boot (579 litres in this top spec model due to an underfloor subwoofer) is large, spacious and well designed, with the loading lip also quite low. The Windsor gets a puncture repair kit as standard, with buyers needing to buy the spare wheel mount and wheel itself as an accessory with the vehicle. 

Also Read: MG S5 EV Showcased At Bangkok Motor Show 2025: All You Need To Know About The ZS EV Successor

579 litre boot is large and houses a subwoofer under the floor; spare wheel is an accessory.

MG Windsor EV 38 kWh: Tech & Features 

As mentioned previously, the central touchscreen is essentially the nerve centre for all in-car controls, which can feel a little bothersome in some situations. The headlamps controls, drive modes, ventilated seat controls, 360 degree camera, wing mirror folding and even the panoramic glass roof controls are located in the screen, which does get a bit fiddly to use on the move. Even the wing mirror adjustment controls are quite fiddly. The controls are mapped to the left spoke switchgear of the steering wheel, with users able to toggle between the left and right mirrors and air-con controls by clicking the central toggle switch. Adjustments can be made via moving the toggle up or down, and using the outer side buttons, which does take some getting used to.

The touchscreen is the nerve centre for in-car functions; it houses controls for headlamps, drive modes, regen modes, mirror fold function, and even for opening the sunroof.

The touchscreen itself has good graphics, and the display is sharp, though on occasion, you do notice a lag as you ask for a menu to open. It also supports wireless smartphone integration, which, in our experience, was a bit of a hit & miss, though users can physically connect their phones via a USB port in the storage bin at the base of the centre console. Another gripe with the system is that while using Android Auto, you need to exit the program to access all the in-car functions, as they are not pinned to the screen.

Operating functions from the touchscreen can get a bit fiddly especially on the move.

Moving to the other features, the driver seat is six-way power adjustable in this top variant, while both front seats offer seat ventilation. The steering adjusts for both rake and reach so finding a comfortable driving position isn’t hard.

Users also get access to a 360-degree camera, which depicts decently clear images and also doubles as a side view monitor at low speeds.

360 degree camera activates when indicating at low speeds or reversing; picture quality is quite good.

Unlike some cars, owners can adjust the extent to which the sunshade opens for the panoramic glass roof, from as little as 10 per cent to all the way open. This can be done via the drop-down menu on the touchscreen. The page also gives you access to features such as screen brightness, wing mirror folding, auto hold function and ESC controls, among others.

Large glass roof enhances the feeling of space; owners can manually select howmuch of the sunshade to open on the touchscreen.

A feature that buyers are likely to miss is integrated sunshades for the rear doors. The large glasshouse means that the Windsor lets in plenty of sunlight, with sunblinds currently only offered as accessories.

Digital instrument cluster provides relevant details in a simplistic layout; left side of the screen can be cycled between three display options.

That said, those buying a lower variant of the Windsor will not feel shortchanged. All variants get LED exterior lighting, 135 degree reclining rear seats, a touchscreen infotainment system with wireless smartphone integration, rear AC vents, digital instrument cluster, remote locking and unlocking of the vehicle, auto climate control, cruise control, power windows, auto headlamps and wipers, 6 airbags, ESC, and all-wheel disc brakes. The only features unique to this fully-loaded model are the glass roof, ventilated front seats and a higher-end 9-speaker audio system. 

MG Windsor EV 38 kWh: Powertrain, Ride & Handling

The Windsor's electric motor develops 135 bhp and 200 Nm of peak power and torque.

The Windsor comes with a 38 kWh battery paired with an electric motor driving the front wheels. The unit produces a peak of 135 bhp and 200 Nm, which for most uses is more than adequate. MG claims a 0-100 kmph time of a little over 9 seconds, though we weren’t able to properly put that to the test. The Windsor, by default, starts up in Normal mode, which offers a good blend between performance and range. Our range testing with the car showed that the EV could do up to 276 km in mixed highway and city cycle driving, with city-only use boosting this figure to close to 290 km. Given that similarly priced models such as the Nexon EV 45 offer closer to 375 km of range in real-world conditions, this feels like a notable downer, though one that is addressed by the recently launched Windsor EV Pro. 

Performance is more than adequate, and the EV can lift its skirt and run when needed; throttle response can be adjusted via the drive modes.

In everyday usage, performance is more than adequate, and the Windsor can lift its skirt and sprint should the need arise, with triple-digit speeds also easily maintained. That said, the steering feels artificially weighted in the hand and doesn’t inspire much confidence for spirited driving, though the CUV’s low centre of gravity means that the Windsor can keep body roll in check quite well.

Cycling the drive mode to Sport sharpens throttle response quite noticeably, while dropping it to Eco or Eco+ mode essentially throttles the performance. Eco dulls down the response to the accelerator quite sharply, with drivers needing to press down the accelerator quite substantially to really get a move on. Eco+ additionally caps the top speed to just 80 kmph to maximise range.

Windsor offers a good low-speed ride, though the stiffer suspension set-up makes the ride quality jittery on our less-than-stellar roads as speeds climb.

The regen modes also take some getting used to. Heavy regen is the default setting, which sharply slows down the car when the accelerator is released, thus less than ideal outside of city driving. Normal makes the regen feel akin to engine braking in internal combustion model while Light offers negligible retardation which many should find ideal for coasting on highways. Do note that the car defaults to Normal mode with Heavy regen every time it starts up.

MG has done quite well to nail down the low-speed ride. The suspension feels neither too stiff nor too floaty at low speeds and damps out bumps quite well. The same, however, isn’t true as the speeds climb. At higher speeds, the ride quality gets quite busy with the underlying stiffness of the suspension becoming more apparent. On our less-than-stellar roads, the surface undulations are a lot more noticeable, transferring to the cabin in the form of body movement, which could make rear seat passengers a bit uncomfortable. 

38 kWh battery can give you up to 290 km of range depending on the driving conditions; our mixed city + highway test cycle saw it do 275 km on a full charge.

Moving to the charging, MG says that the Windsor supports 3.3 kW AC, 7.2 kW AC and up to 50 kW DC fast charging. MG says that the 7.2 kW AC charger can juice up the car from zero to full in about 6.5 hours while a 50 kW DC charger can juice up the battery from 0 to 80 per cent in 55 minutes. Our experience with fast charging saw the Windsor charge from 28 per cent to 100 per cent in about 65 minutes at a 60 kW fast charger while a 30 kW fast charger juiced up the vehicle from 28 to 95 per cent in about 75 minutes. 

MG Windsor EV 38 kWh: Verdict & Pricing

As it stands, the Windsor EV is a lot of car for the money at its current price of between Rs 13.99 lakh and Rs 16.15 lakh (ex-showroom). Its pricing puts it up against the likes of the Tata Nexon EV which, while offering better range in some variants, falls short in terms of sheer cabin space and comfort. The Windsor also offers ample levels of features across variants, so customers of lower variants also won't feel shortchanged.

The Windsor is a lot of car at a price similar to a Nexon EV with the size playing a bit part in the feeling of space within the cabin.

Additionally, the battery-as-a-subscription model does make the acquisition cost of the Windsor EV a lot lower. Under BaaS, prices for the Windsor drop to between Rs 9.99 lakh and Rs 12.14 lakh (ex-showroom) with an additional battery cost at Rs 3.9 per km. Of course buyers will need to keep their monthly running in mind when subscribing to the BaaS service, with the system only likely to benefit those with low yearly running. As with MG’s other cars, the Windsor is also offered with a buy-back program.

Of course, there is still some room for improvement, such as the addition of rear window sunblinds and revised suspension to iron out the high-speed ride. Other smaller software-derived updates could come in the form of pinning crucial vehicle controls to the bottom of the touchscreen or offering a proper blind spot monitor at all speeds. The main issue of range, down to the vehicle’s 38 kWh battery, has been addressed with the recent addition of the Windsor EV Pro with its 52.9 kWh battery that should really ease range anxiety and make the Windsor a capable intercity vehicle as well. 

The Windsor 38 kWh isn't without its shortcomings, with the biggest being usable range; the new Windsor EV Pro, however, should address this.

So if you are in the market for a spacious family car for primarily intra-city use, the Windsor EV is a very compelling package. The addition of the Pro model should also make the EV a good intercity commuter, though we will have to hold off on any final verdict on this new variant until after we have driven it.