MG5 Long Range (mk1)
2020-2022
The MG5 is the car I purchased brand new in April 2022, looking to start my private hire business shortly thereafter.
With the budget I had at that time and taking account my need for decent luggage space, I decided to buy the only electric estate on the market.
The car served me well until I changed it in September 2024, switching to the more comfortable and roomy Tesla Model Y.
I did have a 24 hour test drive in a car, which was loaned to me by the MG dealership in Southampton. What I didn't realise until I returned the car, was that it wasn't actually theirs, but was a customer car. The customer had apparently agreed to it being used as a demonstrator, whilst they borrowed something else from the garage. This was not something I'd ever heard of before.
Anyway, we put a fair few miles on the car in the 24 hours or so we had it. The first thing we did was to drive the car to a specialist EV dealership where we were going to undertake short test drives in a couple of potential cars for my girlfriend. It was about a 75 mile drive to the car sales place and it took far longer than anticipated due to a major incident and a diversion that took us through a small town as the ring road was closed.
On the Road
The drive of the MG5 was reasonably good, if not exactly great. It is a quiet drive and comfortable, but it does pass on the bumps in the road and feels a bit harsh over some road surfaces. One of the things I have noticed is that whilst you may not have the intrusion of engine noise and the vibrations that come with an internal combustion engine and gearbox, you do get worse road noise. Certain elements of the M25 are particularly bad for this, something that I was acutely conscious of when transporting a business executive from London's Docklands to their offices in Andover.
For the most part though, it is a comfortable car for my passengers; at least that's the feedback they've given me.
The driver's seat is not so comfortable, at least not for someone of my large size. I actually added a wooden beaded seat cushion to lift me up a little in the seat, easing the discomfort. This also allows airflow around my back, helping to keep me cool as I drive. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing addition to the car though.
The MG5 is definitely not a sports car, but it feels reasonably at home making sensible progress along whichever road I'm driving on; town and city roads, country roads or the motorway. All are dealt with comfortably. In the first few weeks of ownership, it happily took me to Milton Keynes and around the central roads and it took me into London, all the way into Chinatown, where I parked for a lunch with friends. Driving through the busy streets of London was not a issue in the electric MG.
Range and Charging
The stated range for the MG5 Long Range is 250 miles, although I've never got close to that. The majority of my miles are on the dual carriageways and motorways near me, meaning higher speeds and lower energy efficiency. Frequently, especially in the colder weather and rain, the miles per kWh (mpkWh) had been lower than three on my business travel. By dropping my speed on the motorways and dual carriageways to 60 -65mph, I managed to get this up as far as 3.7 mpkWh and, as the weather and temperatures improve,d up to as much as 4.3 mpkWh. This is quite impressive given that the journeys are predominantly dual carriageway and motorway.
I have heard of taxi and private hire drivers achieving as much as 5.7 mpkWh working in inner cities and large towns, but my work is unlikely to allow me to see such efficiency.
So, my real range was initially between 170 miles in the winter and 220 in the summer. With a lighter right foot and slower speeds on the main roads, I was able to improve this to up to 220 in the winter and around 250 in the summer with dry roads.
When I had to use public chargers, on longer journeys to see family and friends, I experienced a few issues with the connection. It does seem that a few charging operators have an interface that presents a few hiccups for MG models. Usually, a call to the operator, or a 'disconnect and try again' sorts the issue. When I was actually charging using a rapid charger, I should be able to draw a maximum rate of 80kW DC, although I'm sure I've seen some displays show it hit 85kW. At home, using my Zappi charger, the EV Database shows a maximum charge rate of 6.6kW, but my Zappi App has definitely shown it charging at at least 7kW.
The new facelift models can charge at 11kW AC and 87kW DC, again according to the EV Database.
Interior
The MG5 interior is relatively smart and tidy. From the feedback from passengers, it is reasonably comfortable and spacious, although not as luxurious as some other cars. The standard car does not come with tinted windows and the car used to get very hot in the summer, but I had the rear windows professionally tinted relatively soon after getting the car and this has definitely improved passenger comfort.
There is a vent for the air conditioning in the rear cabin and the rear seat passengers have two USB ports with which to power their devices.
In the front, there are more USB ports and a 12v socket to enable the powering of other devices. The infotainment screen is a bit laggy and slow, but it works. The car does have Apple CarPlay, but it is not wireless (although I've achieved wireless with a gadget off Amazon).
One of the failures in the packaging of the MG5 is the lack of an App to control things such as the charging and pre-warming of the car. MG have addressed this with the facelift model, but given that Nissan had an App ten years before the MG5 was launched and MG themselves had an App previously on the ZS model, the failure to include this on the MG5 from launch was a mistake.
Verdict
The MG5 is a competent car. It's better than that really. As an overall package, taking account of the quietness and smooth power delivery, it's an excellent car. It has met my needs well over the past year and I'm sure it will continue to do so. However, there are much better cars available. It still, for the moment, remains the only electric estate car on the market. Porsche are said to have two 'estate' models, but they really don't have a proper estate boot and should be disregarded for that alone, before looking at the eye-watering prices.
This is set to change soon. Amongst the estate cars due to be launched soon are the Peugeot e-308 SW, the Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer, Audi A6 Avant e-tron, VW ID.7 Tourer and the BMW i5 Tourer. I'm sure there will be more, although the likelihood is that we will still see more SUV style electric vehicles than estates, simply because that's where the demand would appear to be.
Would I buy the MG5 again? Almost definitely not. I don't regret buying it, but there are better cars and some of them would have probably better suited my needs.
After Sales Service
The after sales service has been significantly worse that I would have expected too. Towards the end of 2022, the car went in to the garage for a service and they said they'd do a software update. It was hoped that this would fix an issue with the lane assistance, which kept switching on and off. The lack of the lane keeping system had not been a bother, as I was happy to retain control, and it was easy to just switch this off in the car's menu. However, as it was going in for a service, I thought it would be good for them to fix it. The thing is, they didn't fix it. They broke everything else! They said that the software update failed, but this then meant that a whole host of other safety systems failed; pedestrian avoidance, collision avoidance, speed sign recognition, cruise control and more were flashing up as error messages. Some were orange and one was red. I therefore could not use the car for work until they fixed it. They gave it back with all these faults and had it back in the new year. They said it would take two days to fix, but they actually had it for a week. The minimum lost revenue was about £1,000 and they are still not offering to pay this.
This has seriously put me off the brand.
The ranges stated in the above table are approximations based upon the combined cycles (city and main roads) in the cold and in warmer weather. These are not guarantees and they are not based upon the experience from my test drive.
You can find lots of information about electric vehicles, past and current, at http://www.ev-database.org
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