MG 5

35/36k i think for excite spec and not sure on exclusive.

Not sure on full specs but the same as UK specs I assume. So don't think the white seats are an option.

also great to see with respect to it being the only affordable family estate out there, and with Ford and others switching completely to poxy SUVs, there wont be many more coming online any time soon.

If I leave with a full or fairly full battery then I can drive to most places in Munster from Cork City and return.

I charge up at night time on a low rate (14c per Kwh from Energia)

The car itself is OK as a cheap estate car - I came from a Skoda Diesel Estate so it was an easy change for me.

I do high mileage and the Skoda - although it was only 7 years old was developing issues - Water Pump and Timing belt changed - Then the Fan belt went in service and some pices of it went up into the timing belt and it jumped thereby causing engine issues - all fixed for €5K - if I had known I would have saved the cash. Then it failed the NCT with an oil leak at the back of the engine after all of that - so I'm happy to leave all of that behind and move over to the EV world.

So I gave up on the roomy automatic Skoda and went for an EV - With a small deposit, a trade in and a big leap of faith I went for the MG 5 EV Estate.

I tried - (sat into ) the other MG cars but I found myself too big (the car too small) for me - I'm only 6ft odd so but it seems the car is more suitable for shorter drivers.

During a test drive I actually subconsciously checked for the diesel fuel guage...

I now have it for the last month and have racked up 4,000 km already.

I'm getting about 20kwh/100km which I think is about average ?

It is worth the price but only if you are prepared to 'stick with it' and change the mindset from always availabe diesel/petrol to preparedness of EV - but then this is good practice for all EV's not just the MG.

My niggles are as follows:

Left foot rest is too large and therefore you can not fully rest your legs.

Software options have to be edited every time you start the vehicle - turning off speed warnings (a bug will show 70 instead of 120kph) - the speed warnings flash so I turn them off - to turn off the speed warning you have to go into 'vehicle' and press it off twice for some reason.

I also turn off the lane assist all the time except when I'm on a motorway where it is helpful.

Also worth turning off in my opinion is the Auto High Beam - may be OK on a Motorway but not fully functional in Urban/Suburban environment.

The Adaptive Cruise Control is good enough and once you are used to it then it works fine even around the city.

Smaller niggles - no grab handle for driver to assist getting out of car - fog lamps are either all on or all off (front and rear on or off) - not that I'd use fog lamps a lot.

Common with other cars the rear tail lights do not light up even though the DRL's are on - also there is no adjustment of the sensitivity of auto headlamp on/off - So most of the time if it is anyway dull I just turn on the headlamps.

I have more niggles but they are probably just individual tastes rather than problems that others may experience.

On the plus side I do have Android Auto working - the central display and all controls are OK really - just takes a bit of getting used to.

Similar to when I handed in my previous automatic to be serviced and they gave me a loan of a manual car - at the traffic lights I was wondering why it was chugging until I remembered - Duh...

Also on the plus side I don't have to look under the car for leaks - oil or otherwise but then it's a new car also which is a great benefit.

As far as I'm aware it is one of the cheapest EV Estates out there AND it has a 7 year warranty.

To keep the 7 year warranty you have to get it checked out/serviced at the MG Garage.

I've cancelled my full AA membership because included in that 7 year warranty is full AA coverage but you have to ring a different telephone number to avail of it (01 617 9075)

There's no emergency/spare wheel but that's common on new cars to keep the weight down - but you can spray it with the 'get you going puncture repair can' and then call the AA to assist I guess.

You can buy an emergency spare for it but the MG Garage don't stock it.

I purchased a discharge cable with a 3 pin socket on the end so I can plug in mains equipment into the car if needs be.

I would have preferred the MG3 if it was a little larger or I would have been happier if the MG5 had a sunroof.

They tell me that's for a mid life crisis comb over but what would I know !

That's more or less what I did after a test drive.

Having a charger at home and if possible a day/night meter with a cheap night rate will help a lot.

I guess with more money or if I had more time and not had a faulty Non NCT car then I might have decided elsewhere but the reality is that you do get the biggest amount of car for the smallest amount of money and that swayed the decision for me.

Maybe go for a test drive and see what they offer you first and good luck !

The MG5 boot is not as big as my Octavia Estate was but that is only to be expected in an EV.

I have not tried it but the seats do not fold flat either.

If you need room then you could try and get a roof box as the car supports that.

Quote - 500kg Towing Capacity MG5 has a 500kg approved towing capacity. 75kg Roof Load Going on a longer trip? There's even more space on the roof of the MG5 with a 75kg load capacity.

As for consumption stats I'm getting 20 - 22 mixed driving - I've only completed 3,000 km so far so it's probably a bit early to say.

Quote

We're still getting used to exactly how economical cars are in general, but a good rule of
thumb for now is that the most efficient models will generally return a
figure of 16-18kWh/100km in mixed driving. Anything above 22kWh/100km is pretty 'thirsty.

Thank you, much appreciated!

Yeah we must have a look at one in the flesh at some stage to see what its like, the astras aren't a huge car in general so I can't imagine it would be much smaller than that. Even just the general shape of the taller boot would probably solve the complaints my wife has. For example The dogs would only fit in the ioniq as a last resort as they wouldn't have much room to stand, I'm not terribly disappointed by this fact though as at least there is one car that doesn't get covered in dog hair!

The consumption is a bit worse than the Ioniq, this week I've been doing trips that are 80% motorway and unless I'm reading it wrong, the average consumption for the 500KM I did this week its 16kWh/100, and according to the app the total for the last month (unknown amount of miles) the average energy consumption is 15kWh/100 (in general it would do a lot more shorter runs than this week).

But the cars are so cheap to run in general even a increase from 15kWh/100 to 20kWh/100 would increase our monthly "fuel" bill from around €15 to €20, so not exactly breaking the bank! And that's compared to the €150 it was before on diesel!

Indeed ! - And I'm waiting for that 'Bonus' to happen as well as I've only had the car for a month now -

And I don't miss the €80 or even €90 Diesel bills average every odd week and I've no doubt that I'll see the benefits soon

I have 2 dogs as well and I'll try it out with them but not looking forward to cleaning out the hairs afterwards !

Maybe a built in mat and some coverings first.

I might try and remove the 'parcel shelf' later on to see if I can fit a 'dog jail' - One of them is a giant Lab and I dont want her to jump over the back seats.

I'm still getting used to the car to be honest but I've had no real issues so far.

I know you can put down/up the boot shelf height and that may assist with dogs.

The opening does seem to be higher on this car and I think that's because the MG5 is a conversion over from a petrol car to an EV with the batteries underneath raising the car higher - so it might be difficult for an older dog to jump in.

I did have a removeable tow bar fitted to the Octavia Estate and although it was only for occasional use with an old trailer It was handy - so I might go and see if a lightweight one could be fitted.

It's a Ford Focus-sized estate at the end of the day. Reasonable room and would take two dogs of that size just fine.