MG S5 EV review

From £28,4858

MG's Renault Scenic rival arrives using platform tech borrowed from the popular MG 4 hatchback

Just a few years ago, it took very little time to survey the span and purpose of the modest range of cars of ‘budget brand’ MG Motor. But suddenly that appraisal process now seems to take considerably longer.

Two years ago came the launch of the ambitious MG Cyberster convertible. Since then, we’ve seen the bread-and-butter core of MG’s business shift and diversify slightly away from EVs and towards hybrids (MG 3, ZS and HS). Very recently, we’ve also witnessed the announcement of the firm’s larger, pseudo-premium MG IM 5 and IM 6 models.

So the firm that broke through with value EVs is now doing sports cars, executive cars and no-nonsense hybrids as well. Perhaps, then, it’s about time it came back to earth and gave us another value EV. Which is what the subject of this road test – the MG S5 EV – would seem to be.

Though an indirect successor to the old ZS Electric, this is very much a ground-up electric-only model and it shares its rear-driven chassis with the popular MG 4 hatchback. It therefore takes proven mechanicals and stretches a larger, taller body over the top of them, which allows MG access to a key battleground: the all-electric C-segment SUV class, where the Renault Scenic E-Tech, Kia EV3, Volvo EX30 and Skoda Elroq all lie in wait.

The S5 goes up against those cars with MG’s customary value advantage. But, as we’ll learn, in plenty of ways it doesn’t look, feel or behave like a car that needs any such advantage, or any excuses made for it. Read on to find out exactly why.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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There’s no mistaking which market segment the S5 EV is aimed at. It’s just under 4.5m long at the kerb, making it an almost exact match for most of the rivals we’ve just mentioned.

Though it’s technically related to the MG 4, its appearance is quite different. The smaller MG 4 hatchback has that unmistakable look of a generic plastic car mat toy, but there’s more visual sophistication about the S5. The bumper design references the Cyberster’s laterally split front air dam, and there’s just enough curve and sculpture about the profile to banish any sense of boxiness. The end result is less distinctive than the MG 4, sure, but also more mature and less stylistically naive.

There are two trim levels: SE and Trophy. You can recognise them by the wheels. The SE has black 17in alloys, the Trophy has bi-colour 18in ones.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The platform that the car uses – MG’s all-steel Modular Scalable Platform – confers a rear-mounted AC permanent magnet synchronous motor on this car. It develops 168bhp and 184lb ft if you go for the Standard Range model and 228bhp and 258lb ft in the case of the Long Range, giving the latter more grunt than the equivalent MG 4.

Battery capacity is likewise broadly comparable with the MG 4. The cheaper model uses a lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack of 47.1kWh of usable capacity, the pricier variant a nickel-manganese-cobalt one of 62.1kWh, both being sandwiched under the cabin floor.

The main difference here is that, unlike in the MG 4, there’s no S5 Extended Range version – and, MG sources suggest, neither will there be. Take-up on the MG 4 Extended Range, they say, is less than 5% of total volume, and the improvement to real-world range that an S5 Extended Range model would have delivered compared with an S5 Long Range would have been more marginal than on the MG 4.

The one key on-paper disadvantage that the S5 will carry compared with its competitors, then, looks set to be the absence of any derivative capable of more than 300 lab-test miles of range. Elsewhere, there are few demerits. New wheel bearings are claimed to cut rolling resistance compared with the MG 4, while a new integrated brake booster system from Continental is said to not only cut stopping distances but also make energy regeneration more efficient.

Our upper-trim Long Range Trophy test car weighed 1723kg on the scales. That’s notably less than long-range versions of the Kia EV3 and Renault Scenic E-Tech, and quite a lot less than the equivalent Skoda Elroq.

Given the relative size of the MG’s drive battery, that kind of advantage would make sense. But what other advantages might it enable?

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INTERIOR

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Chinese car makers have already proven themselves responsive to market trends and fast to improve. Their progress has depended on it.

Even allowing for that, however, the interior of the S5 EV is likely to surprise people – and not only with its space but also its apparent material sophistication. It’s a real change of gear.

Satin chrome window switches are a good, chunky size and the pleasing haptic feel to their action suggests that MG is taking an interest in perceived quality.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

While the 4, ZS and HS all impressed us relative to our expectations, the S5 could just as well be from an established European maker. Consider, for instance, the pudgy plushness of its dashboard pad; the inviting, metallised material quality of many of its secondary controls; and the skill with which it mixes in materials such as Alcantara and faux carbonfibre to lift the overall ambience above the purely functional.

Not every model benefits from all of these materials, granted. Our test subject is a Trophy derivative and only here does the car get electric front seat adjustment and adjustable lumbar support, as well as heated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

But, as we’ll come to, even in Trophy trim, this isn’t an EV that’s priced at all ambitiously. Moreover, nowhere do its mouldings feel cheap or flimsy, so the expensive highlights don’t feel like a diversionary tactic. They feel like they belong.

Against the tape measure, there is more encouraging news. The S5 offers more second-row head and leg room than either a Renault Scenic E-Tech or a Kia EV3, though a little less than a Skoda Elroq 

There’s plenty of adult-appropriate space in both rows; the back seats are well provided with amenities such as cupholders and power outlets (although, again, better in a Trophy model than an SE); and the boot has a proper height-adjustable floor, with a competitive below-the-parcel-shelf capacity of 453 litres (Kia EV3 460 litres, Skoda Elroq 470 litres) and equally competitive verified loading length and width.

Multimedia - 3.5 stars

MG claims that the S5’s 12.8in infotainment system represents a generational improvement compared with the one in the MG 4. In some ways, it doesn’t feel quite like that. The screen is slow to respond at times, and though it includes wireless smartphone mirroring as standard, it often needed extra prompts to reconnect to Apple CarPlay during our test.

But usability is notably improved by the simple provision of more physical controls: a ‘home’ menu button underneath the screen itself, which doubles as a volume knob for the audio system, and some tactile metallised rocker switches to control the heating and ventilation. These, provided as a result of customer feedback concerning touchscreen-dominated usability, take the onus off using the display for every little thing and, more often than not, keep you from needing multi-stage touchscreen interactions to find the particular function you need. 

However, the home screen could still provide better direct access to frequently used functions, and there could be more useful quick-access toolbars at the margins of the display.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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The S5 isn’t the most powerful car in its class, but nor does it need to be. It’s relatively light and on a dry test day, with a rear-mounted motor and rearward weight distribution, it made more than enough traction for an assured, brisk getaway. 

It needed just 6.0sec flat to hit 60mph from rest, 5.1sec to get from 30-70mph and the same 5.1sec to go from 50-80mph. Among those rivals we’ve already mentioned, only a Skoda Elroq 85 is quicker across any of those benchmark sprints – and where it is, only very marginally so.

There's a Custom drive mode, but the only two parameters you can adjust are the power delivery and the steering. I went for Sport power and light steering.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The S5 offers five driving modes but needs to be in Sport to give you access to all of its available power. Yet even here, the accelerator pedal mapping is linear and predictable and isn’t tuned to pile on instantaneous torque for effect. 

The brake pedal is likewise progressively tuned and blends regen with friction braking very well. But you do depend on it to do that, because MG’s management of energy regeneration still isn’t as clever as it might be. 

There’s a one-pedal driving mode that works well enough, if it’s your cup of tea, and there are three ‘manual’ regen settings (1, 2, 3) through which regen is incrementally ramped up. You can cycle through these using a user-customisable star button on the steering wheel, but only in one direction; and proper paddle-shift control would be much better.

MG’s ‘adaptive’ regen mode, meanwhile, is slow to react to preceding cars as they move across in traffic and to dial up regen for junctions you’re approaching. There’s also no ‘regen off’ coasting mode.

So outright performance is good but drivability could still be a little bit better.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The rear-driven chassis of the MG 4 seems a promising starting point for the S5 to build on, although it’s a heavier car with a longer wheelbase and a higher roofline, of course, which makes it unlikely to feel like a perfect dynamic match for its smaller sibling.

But it’s a promising start that this car puts to good use. Just as with its interior, there are palpable undertones of sophistication and maturity about the way the S5 rides and handles, suggestive of a more practised, expert hand in tuning than you might expect from MG.

The S5’s adaptive speed limiter is an ADAS function I actually quite like. It simply prevents you from exceeding the posted limit (unless you absolutely flatten the accelerator) and works quite well, principally because it has a simple, achievable, uncomplicated brief that it can be relied upon to fulfil.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Even on 18in rims, it rides with some suppleness and well-isolated, low noise levels. It has steady and settled body control on most roads, and consistent and well-balanced grip levels most of the time, making it easy and reassuring to drive and free of any nasty vices or habits.

It feels slightly softer-riding than the MG 4, less naturally agile and athletic, and more moderate in its character. But in that respect, it is capable of doing lots of things quite well, rather than compromising in any particular area.

The car’s Bridgestone Turanza tyres provide a fairly strong grip level on dry asphalt (although they did show slightly compromised lateral adhesion and stopping distances on MIRA’s wet surfaces). So the S5 typically doesn’t lean on its traction and stability controls for support when driven quickly and it maintains reasonable body control when you’re doing so – and it doesn’t feel like an EV tuned for maximum range and efficiency, and that grips the road a little as if it were rolling on wooden tyres as a result. There is, by and large, a sense of roundedness and dynamic versatility to it that plenty of Chinese rivals would struggle to match.

You can begin to find the margins of that sense of composure at quicker country road speeds, when bumpier surfaces just begin to make the car’s body pitch fore and aft persistently, and sharper edges can start to thump through the S5’s ride isolation. You may also notice the car’s rearwards weight distribution when crosswinds present, which can divert it just a little.

But neither of these is a factor at the kind of speeds and on the sort of surfaces where the S5 will spend most of its time – and where it would overwhelmingly be unremarkable but competent, pleasant company.

Assisted Driving - 3.5 stars

Every S5, even at its £28,495 entry price, has a full suite of ADAS technology that includes adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and traffic jam assist, driver monitoring and blindspot monitoring.

The car’s autonomous emergency braking system features pedestrian and cyclist detection and runs unobtrusively in the background without needless interventions. 

The lane keeping and departure warning systems are likewise fairly unbothersome, although the driver monitoring system is particularly sensitive if you yawn at the wheel, insisting you take a break.

The car’s adaptive cruise control is less good. It’s slow to resume a set speed as the lane ahead clears, and is given to over-compensating for traffic in adjacent lanes.

But MG’s big breakthrough is the S5’s MG Pilot Custom function, which works like similar settings offered by Land Rover and Renault. So you can disable the frustrating systems once, save your preferences, and reactivate them with one ‘button’ on the MG Pilot touchscreen menu every time you ‘start’ the car.

It’d be better still if this was done through an actual physical button. But this feels like important progress all the same, and prevents the S5’s more irksome ADAS features from routinely annoying.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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MG S5 EV prices start at £28,495 and rise to £33,495 for our range-topping test car, so while it’s clearly a C-segment SUV, it’s priced more like a B-segment one (Ford Puma Gen-E, Mini Aceman, Renault 4). Comparing entry-level prices, the cheapest Skoda Elroq is £3000 pricier and the cheapest Kia EV3 £4500 more expensive. The S5 also comes with an 80,000-mile/seven-year warranty. 

Where monthly finance is concerned, it’s in a predictably strong position too. Allowing for a typical term and deposit (36 months, £5000), the entry-level MG will cost between £45 and £85 less per month than its key rivals (Elroq SE and EV3 Air).

DC rapid charging speeds depend on the battery. The smaller one can take 120kW, which is impressive for an LFP battery; the bigger one can take 139kW.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

As for running efficiency, the S5 delivered better touring test results than the Scenic and EV3, but slightly worse than the Elroq. So as far as real-world range is concerned and with only that medium-sized battery to draw on, the car is left in a respectable, though not particularly strong, position. Our Long Range test car suggested that it could put 205 miles between charges on longer motorway trips (Renault Scenic E-Tech Long Range 261 miles, Kia EV3 81.4kWh 203 miles and Skoda Elroq 85 270 miles). Shorter-hop efficiency is much better, as it tends to be on all EVs, and DC rapid-charging performance for the MG is likewise respectable, if a little slow.

All things considered, this probably isn’t the EV to choose for higher-mileage users. If there is anywhere that it offers less than the going rate for an electric C-segment SUV, it’s on longer-range usability. But in other respects, it offers rather a lot, for rather a good price.

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VERDICT

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The MG S5 EV is a car we should have expected from a brand that’s been rocketing on an upward trajectory, yet the accomplished drive and practical, sophisticated interior still make you marvel at how much this brand can now offer, for remarkably little outlay.

The S5 is several steps beyond cheap and cheerful as a budget proposition. In some respects, it’s fully competitive with the best EVs in the C-SUV niche.

It’s likely to come up short on real-world range for longer-distance drivers; and with its finer-detail drivability and ADAS tuning, the mask slips a little, as the S5 betrays the progress MG still has to make.

But what progress it has made already. The S5 EV really is a coming of age. The price gets your attention, and yet the product commands respect.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.