MG5 EV Long Range 2022 Review

Intro, Price, Options and Verdict

Introduction

When the MG5 EV arrived at the end of 2020, it blew us away with the value for money it offered. But its 214-mile range was still a limitation. Now, less than a year later, MG has released an updated version with a bigger battery called, imaginatively, the MG5 EV Long Range. It is only £1,400 more than the original model and has some other upgrades too.

Price and Options

The headline improvement with the MG5 EV Long Range is that the battery has been upgraded from 52.5kWh to 61.1kWh. Otherwise, the drivetrain is the same, with a 154bhp motor driving the front wheels. The other new addition is MG Pilot, MG's safety and assistance package. Modern safety features were an area where the original MG5 EV showed some of its budget status. With MG Pilot, it gets much closer to more expensive competitors, and now offers adaptive cruise control as standard plus automatic main beams.

In other respects, however, the MG5 EV Long Range isn’t so different from the original version. The two trim levels remain the same, with the standard Excite and an Exclusive option for £2,500 more. But even the basic trim has some decent features. Excite still includes front and rear electric windows, sat-nav, a parking camera and that adaptive cruise control. The Exclusive trim adds leather-style seats, with the front ones heated, electric driver's seat adjustment, and rain-sensing wipers. The Exclusive also adds keyless entry, so you can press the button on the door to unlock and lock. The folding mirrors are Exclusive-only too.

The 16in alloy wheels are the same as before, though, and standard on all cars. The basic paint colour is white, but for £545 extra you can have black, blue or the silver of our review car. For £695 you can have a red tri-coat paint job, which is the most striking option.

Even though the UK grant has dropped a bit, the basic MG5 EV is still available for £25,095. The Long Range starts at £26,495, including the grant, which is incredible considering how much more practicality it has than the entry-level Renault Zoe, for a grand less. The Exclusive costs £28,995. Putting that in perspective, you can pick up a VW ID.3 Pro for £560 less with 14 miles more range, but that's without any options chosen whatsoever, less performance, and some missing features the MG5 has, such as the parking camera.

Design, Comfort and Storage

Exterior Design

When the MG5 EV Long Range was announced earlier in 2021, the images revealed implied that the updated version would come with a facelift and new alloys. But this hasn’t materialised now the Long Range is here. The new car looks almost identical to the old one.

In other words, the MG5 EV Long Range is unexciting to look at, with a rather old-fashioned external design. Its style is reminiscent of the Volkswagen Passat estate car, which isn’t a negative comparison, but you won’t be buying the MG5 because of its sense of visual flair. You will be buying for practicality, however, as this is still the only electric estate car on the market, unless you consider the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo to be in the same class, which would be patently ridiculous.

One exterior improvement, however, is that the roof rails can now support loads up to 75kg, where the original car's rails were not rated, which annoyed a few people. They are rated now, but only for 35kg. With the MG5’s potential as a utility vehicle for people doing practical work, having serviceable roof rails is a bonus.

Interior Comfort

Like the exterior, the interior appearance hasn't changed with the Long Range. The Excite comes with cloth seats and the Exclusive what MG calls “leather like” material. The Exclusive front seats are also heated, and the driver's side has electric adjustment, but not the passenger side. On the Excite both seats are mechanical. The seats are comfortable enough but after all the electric SUVs we have driven the space available for driver and front passenger is more cramped.

The interior has a very traditional look, and there is a lot of hard plastic used, which will be durable but isn’t exactly premium in feel. However, you buy this car for value not funky design. There are a couple of cupholders with two different sizes and a small cubby under the arm rest, plus document holders on either side of the central console. The glove compartment is reasonably sized, with room for more than just the fat documentation book.

You get a couple of USB ports in the central console, and a 12V car power port, but no wireless phone charging and there's nowhere to rest your phone when charging it with a wire. Only one of the USB ports can be used for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

The rear seats have a similar amount of headroom as the front, with an adequate if not huge amount of knee room. This is more than a hatchback, but considerably less than electric SUVs like the Audi Q4 e-tron. The rear floor is a little high, so your legs point upwards. There's a small but functional middle seat, the back of which can fold forward to make an armrest with a couple of cupholders.

There are two USB Type A ports in the central console for rear passengers, but only with the Exclusive trim. There is an air conditioning vent in the central console too, but it’s very low and will mostly benefit your feet. There are also seat-back pockets for rear passengers and ISOfix points on the two outer seats, but not on the front passenger seat.

Storage and Load Carrying

You buy an estate car for cargo capacity, and this was already a strong area for the MG5 EV. The basic capacity is 464 litres, increasing to 578 litres with the cover retracted. This is a relatively premium blind rather than the cheaper stiffened panel we see on Volkswagen Group BEVs. Under the boot floor you can find a tyre inflator kit and an area that could be occupied by a space saver spare tyre.

Drop the rear seats forward, which offers the usual 60/40 split, and you get 1,456 litres, which is typical for a mid-sized estate car boot. The floor isn't completely flat but it's good enough for items that need a level surface. The length is also good, so if you need to stick a ladder in the back, you could. Unfortunately, the MG5 still isn't rated for towing, but, as we said already, you can now strap things to these roof rails up to a weight of 75kg. So load-lugging capabilities are definitely a strong point for the MG5 EV Long Range. The 75kg rating is enough for three or four bikes, assuming they fit.

In-Car Entertainment and Controls

Like other aspects of the interior, the MG5's controls haven't changed since the original car. There's a physical button for turning the system off and on. The steering wheel is conventional-looking and round, apart from a flattened bottom, with menu buttons on the right and audio controls on the left. The right-hand side stalk controls the wipers, which have an automatic function on the Exclusive trim. The left-hand stalk is for the lights, and below that is another stalk for the cruise control, which is now adaptive on both Long Range trims.

The dashboard display looks very conventional, with an analog speedometer dial on the left and another analog dial showing engine power or braking regeneration on the right. You also get a battery percentage on the left, and 12V battery status on the right. The middle section, however, is an LCD panel with digital speed readout and various contextual information, which you can cycle through with the buttons on the steering wheel. This has a slightly annoying habit of switching to an ADAS display whenever an ADAS event occurs when you’re driving, so you have to cycle back if you want the digital speed again.

The drive modes are operated via a rotating knob in the central console, with a left turn for reverse, right turn for forward, neutral in the middle and the button on the top for park. There is a separate electronic parking brake, but you don't need to use the switch for that as it goes on and off automatically as you select and deselect park. Nearby there is also a button for auto hold, which you have to engage every time you start the car – the default is off.

The three switches above the drive mode knob let you choose between eco, normal and sport motor power modes. The KERS switch operates levels of regenerative braking. There's still a third button but it's not labelled Battery anymore and still doesn't seem to have a function. Above this is a full set of controls for the air conditioning, which has an auto mode with the Exclusive trim. This is quite easy to adjust when driving, with big knobs and buttons that even the fattest fingers will connect with accurately after the quickest of glances. It's only single-zoned, however.

Another area that has no noticeable change is the 8in media control display. It's functional and all trim levels include a satnav with RDS-TMC traffic and DAB radio. It supports both Apple Car Play and Android Auto, too, so you could use your phone instead, but not wirelessly. The interface is somewhat sluggish, but the menu system is adequately laid out. There’s a reasonable layout for car settings, which cover the main functions. Like most other things about the MG5 EV Long Range, the media control display does its job adequately but doesn’t have any particular pizzazz.

Performance, Running Costs, Range, and Safety

Performance and Driving

The bigger battery has only officially added about 15kg to the weight of the MG5 EV Long Range, which is presumably because it uses a unit with better density than the original MG5. As a result, performance and driving dynamics are effectively identical. For such an innocuous-looking estate car, it’s decidedly quick in a straight line, taking just 7.3 seconds to hit 60mph, and on to a top speed of 115mph. Power delivery is smooth, and torque steer is minimal. However, handling is uninvolving.

With the KERS switch you can vary the regeneration to suit start-stop motion in traffic or smooth constant speed on a motorway. The suspension is soft and compliant, so this is more of a comfortable drive than supplying any kind of automotive thrills. But the MG5 is a family car and they're likely to want comfort over dynamics. It feels perfectly fine at motorway speeds, which is reassuring as this car is the most capable yet from MG for distance driving.

Range and Charging

With 16% more battery capacity, the MG5 EV Long Range can now go for 250 miles instead of 214, which makes it more practical for travelling between cities, and closer to premium models from other brands. It's also up with budget favourites like the Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf, and not far off the much pricier Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus or VW ID.3 Pro.

The charge port is under the MG symbol on the front. Thanks to the bigger battery, it now takes 9.5 hours to charge from zero to 100% on a 7kW home charger. A 50kW DC supply will take 61 minutes to replenish 80%, but a 100kW charger will reduce this to 40 minutes, which is actually the same as the original MG5. MG has clearly slightly improved the top DC charging power. Either way, thanks to the added range and this decent rapid charging ability, this car is definitely a contender for longer journeys, with a meal break every 150 miles or so.

Running Costs

The overall efficiency is the same as the original MG5, equating to 4.1 miles per kWh, which would be 3.4p a mile if you have a 14p per kWh supply which obviously no longer exists. We will continue to quote this value to maintain comparison with our previous reviews, however.

The warranty is good, on par with Korean cars like the Hyundai Kona Electric. The basic guarantee is for 7 years or 80,000 miles. This includes the battery, although MG doesn't state a percentage capacity. However, all versions of the MG5 EV are in insurance group 32, which is a little on the high side for a car this price albeit not extortionate.

Safety

Finally, we get to the other big addition with the MG5 EV Long Range – MG Pilot, which adds a host of modern safety and assistance features. New capabilities include active emergency braking with pedestrian and bicycle detection, as well as Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keep Assist. You get traffic jam assistance, which gives you that patience-saving stop-go ability in gridlock. There is also intelligent speed limit and high beam assistance.

The regular MG5 already had cruise control, but both trim levels of the Long Range get the adaptive variety. The reversing camera is available on all cars, though, including the original MG5. Advanced safety features were an area where MG was behind with the original MG5, so it's great to see that the Long Range has caught up somewhat, although it still lacks blind spot detection, which can be useful if implemented well. It is listed as a general feature of MG Pilot, but we didn’t see it in evidence in our review car. The MG5 EV still doesn't have an NCAP rating yet, either, but all the new safety tech bodes well, and the MG ZS EV has five stars.

Key Specifications

*based on electricity costs of 14p per kWh