MG5 (2023) Review

PATIENCE is a virtue but not one many of us possess nowadays – or is that just me?

As the speed of modern technology hastens by the second, we seem to spend more time waiting – to find a parking spot, for people to respond to messages, to get through traffic jams. It conspires to make us anxious, twitchy, a tad ADHD.

It’s the same in the morning when sleepy teenager fails to get out of bed in good time making us late for the school run. I remember recently waiting impatiently for the windscreen to clear on a frosty start – it seemed to take forever and resulted in a speedier than normal commute to make up lost time.

With this in mind you would imagine an electric vehicle is going to make life worse not better, with all that sitting around supermarket car parks waiting for it to charge and in some cases it does. But, strangely, with MG’s new EV estate, the 5, this is not the case.

Back to the frosty mornings; the great thing about the MG5 is that it doesn’t rely on the engine warning up to generate heat, mainly because it hasn’t gone one. Instead of the ubiquitous combustion engine it has a 61kWh motor so the heating, like the car, is electric. That means the heat starts to come through as soon as the starter button is depressed.

Instant hot air makes short work of the ice on the windscreen, blows comfortingly at your face, while the electrically heated seats warm your bum. Within minutes we are toasty and off to school.

The cold does impact on the range of the EV and what had read 204 miles for 100 per cent charge on a milder morning drops to 190 in the chill. The good thing with the MG5 is that it willingly takes the charge from a three-pin domestic plug socket and overnight that results in lifting the battery from 59 per cent as I left it to full charge by the next morning. Not all EVs do this and some of the posher ones, with bigger more powerful batteries, really struggle to take a charge from the mains.

MG5 is great at public, rapid chargers too, always accepting the charge in under an hour, though with Fastned it does shut off at 95 per cent which equates to 170 miles in the cold.

Head winds continue to be the scourge of EV kind and a strong westerly knocks off an additional 40 miles on a 60 mile commute home and has me searching for the eco mode to ensure I get home.

But, all told, never once do I experience the stomach churning stress of range anxiety so you can relax and enjoy the MG5’s brilliant performance.

I’m yet to test an EV that isn’t brilliant to drive and the MG5 is no exception. It is just so fast, smooth, quiet and powerful that it makes mincemeat of modern motoring. Acceleration is instant and utterly controllable. It sits happily at 70mph on the motorway without using too much charge, is rapid away from the lights and is an awesome overtaker of slow moving vehicles.

It steers and handles brilliantly well and rides in a way that cossets. It has KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) like an F1 car. You can choose the degree of recovery, from 1-3, and this means that when you lift off the throttle it regenerates the power from the brakes. It also means that you don’t need to use the brake pedal much which leads to smoother, more economical, driving.

The latest MG5 gets a new-look with a much sleeker, aerodynamic and attractive front end, where you will also find the charging point behind a flap. The rest reminds me a bit of a Subaru Outback but there’s nothing wrong with that.

The interior is great too with plenty of space, quality materials and great ergonomics. The touchscreen is a tad fiddly because the ‘buttons’ are so small but you do adjust and it is very well-specified.

MG is fast building a strong brand with a classic name that represents incredible value for money. The MG5 is an excellent vehicle with which to continue this drive and I’m impatient to see what the marque will produce next.

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