MG Motor UK S5 EV review

Here's another new family crossover, lining up to take advantage of Britain's apparently unslakable thirst for these things. It's electric too, a specialism of MG, but sells for similar money to petrol contenders that are only a little larger – think Nissan Qashqai and Kia Sportage.

MG sees its closest electric rivals as the Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq and Hyundai Kona Electric. We'd add the BYD Atto3 which is closer on price, or Peugeot e-2008 and Honda e:Ny1. The Volvo EX30 is £5k pricier. The S5 EV is smaller than the Tesla Model Y, Renault Scenic or VW ID.4 crowd.

The design is competent enough, with some neatly drawn creases on the otherwise smooth surfaces. It speaks that modern Chinese visual idiom of DRL lights above the headlights. But, especially on standard 17-inch alloys, it still has the usual MG problem of looking under-wheeled: like an M chassis is wearing XL clothes.

So if MG’s a value outfit, it’ll need good numbers – high specs, low prices.

Fair point. Prices start at £28,495 which is pretty knockdown for a modern electric family car. Adding £2,500 brings a longer-range battery and more power, and another £2,500 gets up-specced Trophy equipment with that stronger powertrain.

Base battery is a 47kWh (net) LFP job. The LFP chemistry is the most robust kind in use today, so you won't suffer for repeatedly deep-cycling it. Range is 211 miles in the official test. It's paired with a 170bhp motor.

The other powertrain is a 62kWh one with NMC chemistry, giving 298 miles in the official cycle. We got an extrapolated 220 miles on Midlands country roads and by-passes.

On the motorway, we'd expect the two packs to manage at least 150 and 200 miles respectively. Both can recharge 10-80 in less than half an hour.

Is the accommodation Travelodge or Hilton?

Turn to the Buying section of this review for a better idea of the kit that's standard, but in short it's surprisingly lavish for the money. The S5 EV doesn't feel like a tinselled-up cheap car either: you get rear-drive with proper multi-link rear suspension, a solid body, responsive screens and plush trim.

How is it to drive?

MG has an engineering base in Britain, on the edge of the vast Longbridge site where in the distant past its predecessor company Austin-Rover actually built cars. Nowadays they just do final tuning of the Chinese ones. But anyway, this means the S5 feels pretty at home on British roads, coping with the bumps and coarse surfaces.

It's fairly tautly sprung, and it's a setup that will suit a family car because the kids won't feel sick. It feels refined because there's little road noise or suspension clang.

The S5 is rear-drive so feels well-balanced in corners. It's closely related to the MG 4 hatchback, which is fun if a bit unruly. This is more controlled, but less likely to make you smile.

The main black mark is the over-intrusive and inconsistent driver 'assist' systems. Still, on first testing they're not quite as bad as in the early versions of the MG 4. And they're easier to turn off.

A good old British brand anyway.

Ha! MG might be 101 years old and it might have been born in a shed in Oxfordshire, but these days it's the property of the Chinese state and all the cars are built there. MG is the number four EV brand in the UK, behind Tesla, BMW and VW but ahead of any Korean, Czech or French name. So British buyers are plainly pretty relaxed about handing their money and data to The Party.

It joins the parade of Chinese-made electric crossovers in the UK, including the BYD Atto3, Omoda E5, Leapmotor C10, Jaecoo 7, Xpeng G6… and, oh, the Volvo EX30, Smart #3, Honda e:Ny1 and (slightly bigger) Cupra Tavascan. Yes, all Chinese-made.

Also UK Tesla Model 3s come from the next-door factory in Shanghai to the one where MG builds the S5. So the wages of the workers and cost of plant and materials of those two cars are very similar, yet the Tesla sells for thousands more. Which illustrates the value to Tesla of its brand. Whether that Musk-adjacent shine continues to tarnish it is something that's not clear as we write.

MG is now mainstream. It isn't British but it is big-selling and well-known. You won't have to answer the "You've bought a what?" question that comes with Omoda or Leapmotor.

With that has come a uniform improvement in everything that matters to family buyers; soul-less competence in design, interior, efficiency, driving. No it's not fun but it's refined and feels thoroughly engineered.

The S5 is hardly short of rivals. A traffic map of the family electric car market would show a lot of congestion. It doesn't let itself down in any area except character – the Kia EV3 is more interesting and Elroq easier to use.

In branding terms, don't expect much read-across from a Cyberster. But the S5 is very sanitary and pretty sharply priced and warranted, so it's going to do well.