MG5 EV review

An electric car with a good range and a big boot must be pricey, right? Wrong. Let us introduce you to the MG5 EV – an estate car that combines a decent battery with an attractive list price.

How far can the MG5 go on a full charge? Officially, the 57kWh (usable) battery pack gives the model a range of up to 250 miles. That's not bad considering most rivals with the ability to match that cost thousands of pounds more.

And how much can you fit in the boot? Well, certainly a lot more than you can squeeze into all the similarly priced electric rivals.

What are those rivals? Well, the closest electric estate rivals are the Peugeot e-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer but they're vastly more expensive than the MG5. In terms of pricing, it's actually closer to much smaller electric cars including the BYD Dolphin and Cupra Born.

The MG5 EV we’re talking about here is the face-lifted model, which received massively revamped looks inside and out compared with the version that first went on sale in the UK. So is this latest "5" too good to be true or is it a strong challenger among the best electric cars? Read on to find out...

All MG5 EVs get an electric motor with 154bhp and a 57kWh (usable) battery pack that’s good for an official WLTP combined range of 250 miles. 

The range is very similar to what’s on offer from the Peugeot e-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer but there are small electric cars – including the Cupra Born, MG4 EV and VW ID 3 – that can travel further.

Just bear in mind that, like all electric models, the MG5 is unlikely to achieve that quoted figure in real-world driving conditions (expect more like 200 miles from a full charge of the battery).

With 154bhp from its electric motor, the MG5 takes a respectable 7.3 seconds to blast from 0-60mph. For electric cars in this price range, it’s quick, comfortably beating the e-308 and Astra in a drag race – they’ll cover 0-62mph in a leisurely 9.9 and 9.2 seconds respectively.

The MG5's pace is spritely up to 40mph, with enough heartiness after that to make light work of a fast motorway merge. It can tow up to 500kg, which is not that impressive.

It's quite easy to set the traction control light flashing. The car can struggle to calmly deploy all its power when asked for a burst of speed. In fact, with traction control off and Sport mode engaged, it's alarmingly easy to spin the front wheels.

If you’re not looking to do massive burn-outs, the MG5 is relaxing to drive. It’s quite a softly sprung car, so it soothes away most road imperfections around town and is really settled on motorways. It's better controlled than a lot of rival cars, including the firmer ID 3, and is not far off matching the best-riding small electric cars, such as the Peugeot e-208.

The MG5 handles quite well and has precise steering, sensible grip levels and reasonable suspension control over bumpy roads. However, compared with the more lithe ID 3 and MG4, it leans more in corners and is nowhere near as spry.

You’ll notice the electric motor’s whine more than you will in most rivals, especially when you’re pottering around town, but at speed the MG5 is pretty mute. There's much less road rumble than in an ID 3 but the e-308 SW is noticeably more refined.

The brakes are far less grabby than the e-308 SW’s though. The MG5's regenerative braking system (which recharges the battery as you slow down) doesn't overtly corrupt the pedal feel, so you can come to a smooth stop easily.

You can increase and decrease the effectiveness of the regenerative braking – as you can in a lot of electric cars – but it’s never strong enough to allow one-pedal driving (the MG4 EV lets you come to a stop just by lifting off the accelerator).

Entry-level SE trim gives the MG5 EV six-way manual adjustment and adjustable lumbar support for the driver's seat, while Trophy trim adds electric adjustment. 

We wish the seat height adjuster allowed the seat to drop a little lower, but with the height and reach adjustable steering wheel and soft seat cushions, most people should be pretty comfortable on a long trip.

The MG5's 7.0in digital driver's display is bright and clear, and shows a variety of information, with easy-to-use controls on the steering wheel. It's also easier to work the dashboard controls than many other touchscreen-focused rivals because of the big, clear buttons inside. They're much more user-friendly than the fiddly touch-sensitive controls in the Peugeot e-308 SW.    

With narrow windscreen pillars, the MG5 gives you great forward visibility, and while the rising side window line and chunky rear pillars limit your over-the-shoulder visibility a little, it's far from the hardest car to reverse.

All models get rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera, but not front sensors. Range-topping Trophy gets a 360-degree camera.

The 10.3in infotainment touchscreen is mounted high up on the dashboard, and the home screen icons are usefully big. There are physical shortcut buttons below the screen to make swapping between menus easier.

It’s not flawless. You have to prod the screen quite hard to get it to respond, and even then it’s sometimes hesitant. Not only that, but the climate controls are hidden in the touchscreen, and it’s annoying that you can’t change the temperature without leaving your chosen navigation or media screen.

As you’d hope, a DAB radio as well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring come as standard, and there's also a six-speaker surround-sound stereo.

What about interior quality? Well, it's much better than the pre-facelift version. This may be a relatively cheap car but it's similar inside to the more expensive (but smaller) VW ID 3. There’s a surprising amount of soft-touch material, and chrome and piano-black trims improve the ambience further.

SE trim has a leather-trimmed steering wheel, while the Trophy trim adds leather seats. It's decent inside, then, but the e-308 SW is plusher still.

By the standards of smaller rival electric cars the MG5 EV is rather spacious. There’s plenty of head and leg room in the front for tall adults, and it’s pretty wide, so they won’t be clashing elbows on the central armrest.

The front door bins are usefully big and there’s storage under that central armrest, but the shelf in front of the rotary gear selector is a bit small. You’ll probably end up sticking your phone in a cupholder instead.

Rear space is more generous than it is in a lot of the smaller electric competition too. There's certainly enough head and leg room for a couple of six-footers to fit in, even when the front seats are slid back.

A conventional petrol-powered estate car such as the Skoda Octavia is ultimately more accommodating, but the MG5 is more comfortable in the rear seats than the more expensive Peugeot e-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer. It's also better here than the hybrid Toyota Corolla Touring Sports. The MG5 has a flat rear floor to make seating three in the back a bit easier.

The 479 litres of boot space in the MG5 is decent but much smaller than the boots in the estate car versions of the Corolla (596 litres) and Octavia (640 litres). It’s also less than the 608 litres you get in the e-308 SW and the Astra Electric Sports Tourer's 526 litres.

That said, if you’re looking at this as an alternative to smaller electric cars rivals like the MG4 EV (363 litres) and VW ID 3 (385 litres), the MG5 is usefully bigger and should easily cope with family holiday luggage.

There’s a loading lip to contend with as you load up the boot, even with the height-adjustable boot floor set to its highest position. And the rear seat backs split 60/40 to fold down, but don't lie flat to the floor (and also reveal some very cheap-looking material finish) which might be limiting if you’re on a tip run.

Despite being bigger, the MG5 EV is cheaper to buy outright than the Cupra Born, the Renault Megane E-Tech and the VW ID 3 – even if you go for a range-topping Trophy spec model.

It is also several thousands of pounds cheaper than the Peugeot e-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer (the closest electric estate car rivals to the MG5). The MG5 really does look very good value in the electric car world.

With no CO2 emissions and that low purchase price, it’s also guaranteed to be a cheap proposition in terms of BIK tax if you get one as a company car.

Charging times vary greatly depending on what you’re plugged into, but the quoted maximum charging speed is 87kW. A 10-80% top-up from a rapid CCS charger should take about an hour at 50kW or just over 40 minutes if you can find a 100kW charger. That’s pretty unremarkable, to be honest.

Lots of other rivals are capable of charging more quickly and it means that this is not a particularly well-suited car to very long motorway journeys that require frequent charging stops. When you’re charging at home from a 7kW wall box, 0-100% takes more than nine hours, while a three-pin plug requires 29 hours.

The entry-level MG5 EV SE trim is generously equipped, with keyless start and keyless entry, air-con, 16in alloy wheels, front and rear electric windows, silver roof rails, adaptive cruise control, automatic lights and an automatic electric parking brake.

Trophy trim adds leather seats (heated in the front), 17in alloys, climate control, electrically folding mirrors, auto wipers and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. We’d be tempted to keep it cheap and stick with SE, but if you’ve got the budget for Trophy it’s still a bargain compared to many other electric cars.

The MG5 also has a vehicle-to-load function as standard that allows you to run devices with three-pin plugs from the car's battery if you buy the right adaptor.

MG performed poorly well in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey finishing in a very disappointing 25th place out of 32 manufacturers. The better news, though is that the MG5 performed much better than other MG car models. In fact, it was the fourth most reliable electric car in our survey. You also get a brilliant seven-year or 80,000-mile warranty. 

Euro NCAP has not yet safety tested the 5, but it does come with automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keeping assistance as standard.

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