Advert
The MGS5 EV offers SUV space, value for money, a good driving experience, decent range, and one button to switch off multiple assistance systems!
We’ve had the MG5 EV Estate, and the MG4 EV hatchback, now we have the MGS5 EV SUV. The model naming strategy sounds a bit confusing, but we like the MG4, so is the MGS5 equally as good?
The MGS5 EV C-segment SUV shares the same platform as the MG4 EV hatchback, and both are rear-wheel drive – as opposed to the MG5 EV Estate which is front-wheel drive.
In terms of styling, the MG4 looks sporty, angular and dynamic; the MGS5 is more rounded and SUV-like. It has a 453-litre boot, with space under the floor for charging cables, and the luggage space increases to 1,441 litres with the rear seats folded.
The MGS5 is available as a three model-range with two battery sizes; the MGS5 EV SE Standard Range with a 49kWh battery, the MGS5 EV SE Long Range and the MGS5 EV Trophy Long Range, both of the latter have a larger 64kWh battery.
The MGS5 feels more comfortable to drive than the MG4, with good ride quality on smooth roads, helped by reasonably high-profile tyres, but you can feel large potholes and speed bumps transmit through the car.
Being rear-wheel drive, with five-link rear suspension, the handling is more rewarding than a front-wheel drive layout, and there’s even a button to switch off the ESC (Electronic Stability Control). Performance is perfectly adequate, with 231 PS of power and a 0-62 mph time of 6.3 seconds.
The gear selector is a rotary dial on the centre console between the front seats, with the settings of R, N and D. To adjust the level of brake regeneration, you need to delve into the touchscreen, where you can choose between low, medium, strong and adaptive, or if you want even more regen, there’s a separate button for one pedal drive.
Drive modes are also changed through the touchscreen, via the Driving Controls menu, with the five choices of Normal, Sport, Comfort, Snow and Custom. You’ll need to reset your choice every time you restart the car.
There’s a 10.25-inch digital drivers display and a 12.8-inch central touchscreen which retains permanent shortcuts even when Apple CarPlay is in use – which is likely to be your preferred option for navigation, because the mapping is much better than the MG’s satnav system, which has very basic graphics and a dark background.
If you get in the MGS5 and drive straight off you’re likely to be confronted with a lot of beeping from various assistance systems such as lane departure assistance and emergency lane keeping (ELK) – and if you look at the touchscreen then the car is also likely to beep at you and tell you to focus on driving. To switch off these beeps you need to scroll through a lot of settings in the MG Pilot menu – every time you start the car. However, MG has introduced a brilliant feature to address this issue – MG Pilot Custom – which is one button to switch off a whole load of assistance systems in one go with the ability to customise and store your preferred features. Hooray!
And it gets better. Below the touchscreen are some physical controls: dials for volume and cabin temperature, and buttons for fan speed and to select where the ventilation is coming from. MG says that “physical buttons have been requested by many MG customers, and they avoid driver distraction” which is what we’ve been saying at Green Car Guide for many years. The physical controls are definitely better than having buttons buried in the touchscreen for items such as temperature and volume, it’s just a shame that the design of the controls isn’t a bit more stylish.
The MGS5 comes with iSMART which allows the use of your smart phone to lock and unlock the car, find the parking location, pre-start the climate control before your journey, create travel plans and check key information such as available driving range, battery charge status and tyre pressures.
The MGS5 EV Trophy Long Range, with its 64kWh battery, has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 288 miles. After a week on test the real-world range was averaging 233 miles.
The SE Long Range with the same battery has a range of 298 miles, and the SE Standard Range with a 49kWh battery has a range of 211 miles.
The MGS5 EV Trophy Long Range and the SE Long Range have a maximum DC rapid charging rate of 139 kW, allowing a 10% to 80% charge in 28 minutes. The 49kWh battery can DC charge at up to 120kW, allowing a 10% to 80% charge in 24 minutes.
The MGS5 EV SE Standard Range is available for £28,495, the SE Long Range is priced at £30,995, and the Trophy Long Range costs £33,495.
MGS5 EV SE models feature 17-inch alloy wheels, with 18-inch wheels for the Trophy. The SE and Trophy feature a six-way adjustable driver’s seat and a 4-way adjustable passenger’s seat, and the Trophy has heated front seats and steering wheel.
The MGS5 EV offers car buyers an electric SUV for less than £30,000 in entry-level form, and even the top of the range model is under £35,000. So what’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one really. The MGS5 is spacious, good to drive, with comfortable ride quality on most road surfaces, decent performance, and a driving range of 298 miles for the Trophy Long Range model (although our real-world test fell short of this). The one potential complaint would be about the beeps and boings from the assistance systems, but with MG’s brilliant button to switch these off with one press (well, actually two presses), this issue has been addressed. The MGS5 EV is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
Drive an EV for less than you think with Select Car Leasing 
Save 20-50% on an EV through salary sacrifice with The Electric Car Scheme 
ClearWatt supports buyers, sellers and owners of EVs with app-based battery health testing and detailed EV data insights available for every used EV in the UK. Take the stress out of buying a used EV with ClearWatt and save 10% on all their products with promo code “GCG10”. 
Zapmap: UK's No.1 EV charging points app 2025. Zapmap helps EV drivers search for EV chargers, plan longer journeys and pay for charging. 
With Pod, you're in good hands. With over 15 years of EV charging experience, drivers trust Pod to keep their EVs charged and ready to go. 
Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
