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We get behind the wheel of a new model from MG, which promises to be a versatile SUV that offers rapid charging, generous cabin space, intelligent controls, a thrilling driving dynamic, and tons of safety features.
"I've always loved the idea of cheap EVs. Now there haven't been a lot of them, they're coming now, but more importantly I love when cheap EVs offer the same as the competition for less money and that is what MG presumably is doing and what a lot of people say that they've done already, a couple of times actually. This is the new MG SV and it is attempting to be the sort of SUV for a household of four children where you need a large boot and a lot of utility for less money, but can MG deliver without the end product feeling cheap? That is what we're exploring today. Welcome to EV Hour."
"It is interior time and it is a little bit of a mixed bag but for a few reasons I do think that it does pass muster ultimately. Now first and foremost these seats are fine, they're nothing special but they work okay. There's some really interesting materials going on here, this isn't, I'm not sure this is real carbon fiber but even if it isn't it works fine as a sort of a faux replacement. This screen is an okay size, this command screen here is quite rubbish as I'm sure you can see. I mean it is a little bit blurry, it is somehow divided into these textures meaning that it isn't as adaptable as I was hoping it would be and the built-in navigational feature here does not take navigational info from Android Auto or Apple CarPlay which is wirelessly available here. The few controls that there are here such as AC and volume over there and the controls that are here on the steering wheel are all fine and even the little gear shifter down here which is invoked through this circular pad is okay and this particular wireless charging coil here is covered in this velour and it's perfectly reasonable although it can't really charge this particular phone for some reason. None of it is bad but none of it is particularly good or innovative either and while this car is cheap as we will get to, it is not so cheap that it completely explains why MG makes inferior cabins and particularly an inferior UX system in and of itself. None of this is particularly bad, it's just not that great overall and there are so many warning signal plongs going on all the time if you are either tired or you're not paying attention or you're driving five kilometers above the speed limit it will constantly ring and annoy you and the settings for turning that off is buried in there like they don't want you to and I'm not advocating against using these features I'm just saying that they're really invasive here and they take a lot of time to turn off every time you start the the car to go anywhere. So overall a bit of a mixed bag here. It is comfortable I mean you can I'm sure you can see behind me here that there's plenty of space although I found weirdly enough I don't know if you can see I wouldn't call this cramped down here but I'm definitely bending my leg and I'm not that tall I'm 180 and I can't get further back than this. In an SUV crossover vehicle that seems like a bit of a miss but still it's passable for sure and given the fact that it is cheaper maybe it's enough."
"All right it's spec time. It's a 350 kilowatt engine that gives us a WLTP of 550 kilometers. It also has acceleration from 0 to 100 in 4.9 seconds and this particular trim you get four-wheel drive too. 150 kilowatt charging and the fastest around though while some direct competition are stuck at the same limit You can still buy a Tesla Model 3 which can do 250 kilowatts or an Xpeng G6 which can pull similar numbers. It rides fairly well too. There's nothing inherently wrong with it at the very least. It is a big high-riding SUV crossover like meaning that you know it rolls a bit in the corners and you know it doesn't have that low riding grippy feel that some of its contemporaries do. But it's fine you won't buy this and then feel completely let down by the driving experience in terms of stopping, starting, turning this big circular thing in front of you. What I will take just a little bit time to mention though is that there's quite a few bugs here and there that have creeped in and ruined part of my experience. For one I've already addressed all the plings and plongs all the driver assists that are really annoying and really difficult to turn off for the majority of your ride. Secondly with Android Auto right now where I'm currently listening to an audiobook and navigating because that's what I want to do there is a sound skipping thing going on where we'll constantly cut off a second in between which makes listening to people talking at least people that are saying interesting things completely unacceptable and unusable. At the same time I found myself in positions where this car won't turn off it won't turn off its headlights even if I have put it in park and blocked it it'll take a second for it to sort of realize that I'm not there anymore and wanting to you know stop driving. At the same time there is no auto unlock on approach if you have the key you have to physically press that button to unlock it. These are small things and this isn't that much of an expensive car but at the same time I don't think it is inexpensive enough to justify some of these small niggles sort of clawing their way into your experience. I don't think any of them are particularly major which is why I don't think that it is reputation-breaking for MG but I did expect them to be a little bit closer to providing a seamless user experience across the whole with this many years and this many models under their belt."
"I understand the MG S5 just fine. It's built well, it drives fine and it's good value. We could just call it there. I'm not sure whether it's the car I'd personally recommend though because cheaper than the competition, I'm using air quotes here, is a term which must be understood in context and I still believe that slightly more expensive alternatives gives you better value ultimately. As the light fades in the part of Denmark that I call home I find myself very oddly conflicted about the MG S5. I think it's good and I think in a number of key areas MG has really improved and shown that you can make a budget-friendly EV SUV for the whole family. There are a couple of instances though where I still think they fall just a tad bit short particularly compared to those same competitors. A complete UX package that works very well in the day-to-day. A more bug-free experience at least more bug-free than I noticed while I was driving it and a little bit more attention to sparkly detail on the cabin front but still look at it. It looks pretty good, drives pretty well as well and more importantly it is still cheaper than a lot of those main rivals. So go into an MG dealership, sit in the S5, drive it about a bit, connect your phone as well and see if that is something that you could live with and if it is you're about to save a whole lot of money."
