This Fast Roadster Is Fun to Drive

The MG Cyberster has striking, Instagram-friendly looks, and is great for therapeutic drives—not really for your everyday routine

- Rishad Saam Mehta

MG Motor's first electric roadster, the Cyberster, is fast and sleek enough to be James Bond's getaway car yet clean and green enough to be Greta Thunberg's ride. Striking butterfly doors and a retractable roof makes it so Instagrammable that it adds to its desirability.

This is certainly not an inconspicuous car—it does 0-100kmph in 3.2 seconds—and I suspect this will be a car bought (₹75 lakh on road) to be seen in rather than speed in.

The media reveal was at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida, a racetrack built for Formula 1 cars to go screaming at full whack. We got three laps each, and there is something deliciously contradictory about watching a bright red convertible hurtle down a racetrack with all the drama of a fighter jet but none of the noise. The MG Cyberster blitzed the tarmac while barely waking the pigeons perched on the pit lane gantry.

BIC features a back straight that could shame a runway and some corners that demand sharp steering. I get into the car and adjust the seat and steering wheel; even with the seat and back rest pushed back to the maximum, I feel slightly cramped at 6ft, but it's not a deal breaker.