MG Motor UK S5 EV review

The MG S5's prices are sharp but not razor-sharp. Some slightly smaller rivals are nearly as cheap and their makers have histories of tempting lease rates. MG hasn't released lease or PCP figures for the S5 as we write this.

The price ladder is a simple one with £2,500 steps. It's £28,495 for the standard range SE, £30,995 to upgrade to the bigger battery and more powerful motor, and £33,495 for Trophy.

Trophy brings you heated seats and steering wheel, which in any EV helps range because you use less cabin heating in winter. It also brings 18-inch wheels, electric driver's seat, power tailgate, different upholstery, more speakers (still only six), inductive phone charger, and surround parking cameras.

All versions have the full ADAS suite, and LED head and rear lights. If you stay plugged in the battery has a heater ahead of driving, which is useful to protect range. But there's no heat pump. There is, in all specs, vehicle-to-load power for your off-grid picnics.

The S5's running efficiency is about average; we got 3.5mi/kWh on a drive around the Midlands – all kinds of roads but no long motorway stretches. That equates to 220 miles range on the 62kWh version, but the battery was cold as it had been a parky night. You'd get better in summer mixed driving, and 200 miles on the motorway.

Warranty is seven years/80,000 miles, and the battery is eight years/100,000 miles to 70 percent capacity.