MG S5 EV

Follow-up to the MG 4 is an electric crossover to take on the Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq

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Sometimes reviewing cars can feel like shouting at clouds. But in the case of the new MG S5 EV, the product presentation felt a bit like having our MG 4 EV road test read back to me. It’s clear that for its latest car, MG looked at feedback from customers and media and set about addressing the main criticisms.

Annoying ADAS? Here’s a button to turn them off. Crap interior quality? Here’s some more fabrics and soft-touch materials. Not enough buttons? Here’s a couple of well-chosen knobs and switches.

So in short, the S5 is a 4 that’s bigger and better in almost every way, and for not much more money. We like the 4, so slam dunk, case closed, right?

Well, there’s a bit more to it than that. Read on to find out how it compares with its fiercely competitive set of rivals that includes the Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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What is the S5 EV? It’s a rubbish name, for starters – one that only makes sense if you think very hard about it. It’s effectively the taller, chunkier version of the 4 hatchback, using the same rear-drive dedicated EV platform.

In other words, it’s what the Renault Scenic is to the Renault Megane. As such, it’s also the indirect successor to EV version of the MG ZS, which has recently entered a petrol- and hybrid-only second generation.

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

At 4476mm long and 1633mm tall, the S5 is noticeably bigger in all directions than the 4 and very much in line with the Scenic and Skoda Elroq.

Underneath, it’s mostly familiar from the 4. It launches with the same two battery packs as that car did.

The Standard Range has a 47.1kWh LFP battery and a 177bhp motor for 211 miles of range, while the Long Range has a 62.1kWh NMC battery and gets a slight power boost to 228bhp. That gives it 298 miles of official range in SE trim or 288 miles in Trophy trim.

There’s no mention of an Extended Range version yet, but we do expect the S5 to get the 74.4kWh battery as well.

MG says there are new bearings to reduce rolling resistance for better efficiency, but otherwise the technical make-up is the same as before, with MacPherson struts at the front, a multi-link arrangement in the rear and rear-wheel drive.

Visually, the S5 takes some inspiration from the MG Cyberster sports car, with a split lower grille. Meanwhile, the dual-level headlights and rear light bar are straight out of the 2023 car design handbook.

INTERIOR

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Inside is where MG has really waved the improvement wand. Gone are the ugly and flimsy-feeling plastics from the 4, replaced with soft-touch faux leather and suede. There are metal-effect accents, there's almost no gloss black plastic and it all feels well screwed together. Even the plastic smell that plagues some MGs is all but gone.

The seats themselves are upholstered in a mix of fabric and faux leather and, despite the absence of adjustable lumbar support, are quite comfortable – more so than the 4's, which always feel like they’re sagging a bit, even when new.

I actually find the all-cloth seats of the SE more welcoming than the part-synthetic-leather ones of the Trophy, but only the top trim gets heating for the seats and steering wheel.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The 4 has always been a cut above BYDs for usability, because it has a simpler multimedia system, as well as a couple of physical buttons. The S5 improves on that with a set of dials and rocker switches for the temperature, volume and fan control. Ideal.

Controls for the heated seats and steering wheel are permanently on the touchscreen, which responds much more quickly and smoothly than before. The menus have been cleaned up, with a clearer structure and bigger buttons.

Sure, the fake carbonfibre is a bit naff and there isn’t the same design flair or originality as in the Scenic, but this MG is in the same conversation as European and Korean options and doesn’t require ‘for the price’ caveats.

General practicality is competitive. Rear passenger space is plentiful and the floor is flat, if a bit high. At 453 litres, the boot is just as big as the Scenic’s but adds a handy variable-height floor.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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MG reckons the S5 is the quickest-accelerating car in its class, and with a 0-62mph time of 6.3sec, that seems to check out.

When you put your foot down in Normal mode, it doesn’t feel particularly sprightly, however, since you need to be in Sport mode to liberate full power. That’s slightly annoying, but even in Sport mode, the accelerator response remains nicely progressive, so I would just default to that.

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

Drivability is generally quite well-resolved. There are low, medium, high, one-pedal and adaptive modes for the regen.

They're normally adjusted in the touchscreen, but it’s possible to map one of the steering wheel buttons to cycle through the various stages.

The low mode is very gentle indeed, and the brake pedal is nicely progressive, without the spongy feel you get in the 4. The one-pedal mode isn’t the easiest to modulate, but we’ve experienced much worse.

RIDE & HANDLING

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According to MG’s spec sheets, the S5 is very slightly lighter than the 4. That’s surprising, given that it’s a physically bigger car. It also doesn’t feel it. Don’t get me wrong: it drives well enough. It’s not bad, not great, just fine.

It feels quite softly sprung but too firmly damped, with the result that it can feel a bit loose in corners and over big bumps but turn rigid over speed bumps and be rather busy over badly surfaced roads.

The traction control isn't the best. It can unnecessarily cut in at odd moments and can be quite heavy-handed when it detects wheelspin.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

There are three modes for the steering, but I stuck to the lightest one, because the other settings introduced a weird springiness. There’s never much feedback, but it’s precise enough to carve a corner with confidence.

It grips okay in the dry, and when you power out, you get the satisfying feeling of being pushed rather than pulled.

When you disable the traction control, the S5 will even adopt a sliver of yaw out of a corner. Mildly amusing? Sure. A driver’s car? Not really, but good enough for a sensible electric crossover.

Assisted driving

If there is one thing that makes the 4 annoying to live with, it’s the assisted driving features. As with the interior, the S5 takes a huge leap forwards in this respect.

We’ve been praising Renault and JLR for offering a personalised ADAS mode, where you can select which systems you want and which ones you don’t and then quickly dial up that configuration with one button when you start the car. MG has basically copied that, and good on it for doing so. You swipe down on the screen, press the MG Pilot Custom button, press again to confirm and you’re done.

The irony is that now that these systems are much easier to turn off, they actually work better than before. The lane keeping assistance is relatively unintrusive, as is the driver attention monitoring. The speed limit recognition is still frequently wrong, however. The adaptive cruise control is much improved too, but is still far from the best. It’s not great at maintaining the set speed on inclines and not particularly smooth when speeding up or slowing down.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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From launch, there are three versions of the S5. The Standard Range, which is available only in SE trim, costs £28,495. The Long Range, still in SE trim, costs £30,995.

MG expects most buyers to upgrade to Trophy, at £33,495. This adds 18in wheels, electrically adjustable and heated seats, a wireless charger, an upgraded audio system, an electric tailgate and a few other features. The only separate option is for metallic paint.

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

On the one hand, that’s only £1000-1500 more than the 4. Then again, things have moved on in this corner of the market. The Kia EV3 58.3kWh Air is £500 less than the S5 Trophy and the Skoda Elroq 60 SE L, optioned up to match the Trophy, is only £705 more. MG hasn't communicated monthly rates yet.

Those rivals have slightly smaller batteries but, thanks to better efficiency, very comparable ranges. On my test drive (around 10deg C, dry and sunny), my S5 Trophy averaged a pretty mediocre 3.2mpkWh, which translates to 200 miles of range.

VERDICT

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The S5 isn’t the bargain we’ve come to expect from MG, then. The Chinese brand clearly reckons its latest car can compete head-on with the establishment.

It has good reasons to do so. It has carefully listened to the criticism about its current cars and addressed a lot of those concerns. The result is that its latest car is a compact family EV that's practical, spacious, easy to use and broadly decent to drive.

That’s good enough for the S5 to compete on equal terms with cars like the EV3 and Elroq, but win? That’s a bridge too far. As it stands, the S5 doesn’t do anything in particular to differentiate itself.

The role of making decent cars that are good value but unexceptional is one that Kia and Hyundai successfully played for years before they progressed to the front runners that they are today. But it’s certainly a change of tack for MG.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.