MG IM5 – MG’s Most Advanced Electric Car Yet?
Did you know that Mars, the confectionary company, owns Pedigree, the dog food company? They also own Whiskers, the cat food company. Isn’t it funny that these household brand names that we we see every day, we never really think about their ultimate ownership, except perhaps maybe when it comes to the automotive world. Because whenever I’ve reviewed an MG over the last few years and I talk about MG’s illustrious history, people get quite defensive and sly say it’s not the same anymore. It’s how can you talk about an illustrious history? The Chinese bought the badge. It’s not the same MG as it used to be. Or is it? Because let’s be honest with you, we don’t really think about the ultimate ownership of those other brand names. So why do we think about it when it comes to cars? And we’ve lost some big brand names through poor ultimate ownership over the years in the automotive world. Pontiac, Plymouth, Holden, Rover, and an old favorite of mine, Saab. So surely, as long as the ultimate ownership is steering a steady ship, then the heritage of the brand remains intact. And for me, that has been the case with MG ever since seic, the big Chinese conglomerate, bought the company. As long as they kept producing good cars, good value for money, decent cars that people were buying, and the cars were being sold, does it really matter who ultimately owns it? Except we’re not really used to seeing the MG badge on everyday sensible, normal everyday cars, are we? We’re used to seeing them on sports cars and sort of like hot hatches and sports saloons and things like that. Well, of course, now MG are getting serious. And we’re seeing the MG badge on a sports saloon. This one here, the IM5. Except you can’t see an MG badge on the front of it, can you? So, what’s this all about? Time to find out. As I say, welcome to this week’s road test review. Welcome to the new MG IM5. And as always, welcome to AutoEV. [Applause] [Music] Now, before we get started on this week’s review of the MG IM5, it is of course the time where I have to be a little bit boring and repetitive. However, it would seem there are still some people out there who are not subscribed to the Auto EV channel. Now, if that’s you, could you just go and do it now? Then we can get all this out of the way now and I don’t have to go on about it again. Yeah. So, just go and press the subscribe button and then when you’ve done that, turn on your notifications because obviously then you’ll get the alert when the next video is uploaded and it’s gone live. When you watch the review, if you enjoy it, and obviously I sincerely hope you do, give it a we thumbs up for me and of course, as always, let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. I’m sure you will on this one. Uh, let me know what you think about the cars we feature on the channel, such as the MG IM5 and of course on the AutoV channel overall. So, what’s this all about? It’s an MG, Brian, but I don’t see an MG badge on it. It’s got a funny weird badge on it. Right, let me tell you a wee bit about it. So, this is an IM effectively because IM is a company that is that’s a collaboration between SEIC, the ultimate parent company of MG and a couple of other tech companies across in China. And this car is for sale in other parts of the world wearing a different badge, wearing the IM badge. I think they call an L5 or an L6 or something like that. However, they didn’t want to launch a new brand in the UK, especially not when you’ve got MG. And of course, it’s doing really well, MG. It has been since it was relaunched back a few years back. And this is their idea to sort like push the brand up market a little bit. Now, you’ve they’ve already got a Halo product with the brilliant Cyber, but they’ve been a bit more renowned over the last few years for MG4, you know, small family hatchbacks, the MG3, the little hybrid super mini, the ZS, you know, the relatively cheap, you know, value for money sort of like crossover, and of course, the new MGS5 EV. they don’t really associate them with big tech stuff that this car has. So whilst this car exists, they thought, well, why not bring it into the UK under the MG banner and really try and push it up market. How big’s the tech on it? Well, 800 volt architecture, 100 kWh batteries, over 400 miles of range and performance that we’d see off a Porsche TYON. So what’s it all about? Well, let’s find out, shall we? However, as always, before we get started, let’s take a look at the main points about the new MG IM5. So, the IM5 is a compact sports saloon from MG to rival cars such as the Tesla Model 3, the Polestar 2, Hyundai’s IonX 6, and of course, the BYD Seal. It’s available in both single motor rear wheel drive and dual motor all-wheel drive formats. Two batteries are available. Either a standard range 75 kWh one that can see the car travel for up to 304 miles according to WLTP tests or a long range one that can travel up to 441 mi. The single motor car produces 291 horsepower with the dual motor all-wheel drive car upping that to either 402 horsepower or a staggering 741 horsepower depending on the model. And prices start from £395,000 to £485,000 depending on the model chosen, which still seems like an awful lot of value for money given what you get for the money. But value for money isn’t so much the key with this car because MG don’t want you to buy this car because it’s a car you can afford to buy. They want you to buy it because it’s a car you want to buy. Have they succeeded? Well, the only way we’re going to find that out is, of course, by putting it through the road test that actual car buy bars trust when it comes to choosing their next electric vehicle. It’s the auto EV one, I keep telling you. Now, as always, we’re going to start with how the car looks, which is an awful lot like a Tesla Model 3, isn’t it? Anyway, uh there’s no doubt about that, you know. I mean, it does, you know, remind you a lot of the Tesla Model 3 in terms of the way the lights come down there, you know, and in there. And of course, really nice lighting signature. And of course you get the LED lights as standard. Huge amount of kit on the car as standard. Huge amount of tech on the car as standard. But we are going to get to that. And a very very low drag coefficient on the car. Now I do want to talk about this because let’s be fair, the styling is well you can see and you can make your own mind up whether or not you like it or not. It’s got you know nice little bits of like air flow management down in there with the air curtains and of course you’ve got parking sensors. You got a beautifully embedded little camera there. Of course you get your H sensor for your radar guided cruise control down there. And as I say, quite a low nose. I’m more concerned with this. Okay, so there’s no MG Octagon on it. Why not? Well, this is the badge for IM. I don’t know what it looks like. It just it’s a weird looking thing, I think. And I’m just a little bit concerned that they’ve not sort badged it as MG in the UK because, you know, since MG came back under SEIC’s ownership, they’ve really pushed their heritage. They’ve really, you know, they celebrated a hundred years at Goodwood last year. you know, they they make big thing noises about like putting the, you know, making the octagon bigger on some of the models. You know, on the Cyber Star, it’s big and bold at the front. So, why abandon it for this unknown symbol badge thing here that people don’t really know about? If you’re going to shout about this being the new MG, surely it should be badged as an MG. Now, it does have an MG badge on the back in some respects, but I do think that’s going to confuse an awful lot of people. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be sold from MG showrooms. You’re going to walk into your local MG dealer and see one of these cars. That’s not the problem, but I do think it’s just a little bit I don’t know. That’s going to take a lot of explaining to people. And I do feel that for this market, for the European market, given the the the the huge success that MG’s had since it came back, I feel it should have the octagon on it. But there we go. That’s my my view on that. Let me know what you think in the comment section. quite swoopy, quite curvy, big bit of wind, you know, big windscreen, you know, really sort of aerodynamics play a huge role in this this car’s range, which is phenomenal, by the way. But we’ll go on to talk about that later. But as I say, yeah, there’s a bit of Tesla Model 3 at the front. You know, you can see that obviously it’s a good looking car, isn’t it? I think it’s quite nice, you know, like it’s sharp. It’s looking, but I just wish it was wearing the MG badge. That’s my only beef with this. Now, I mentioned air flow and aerodynamics there. So, drag coefficient is a 0.2 226 uh CD. So very very low. And as I say, there’s lots of nice air flow work around the car. So you got those air curtains at the front that take the air flow down the side. There’s no real big sort of like creases or or silly bits in the body work. It’s got a nicely sculpted sort like side to it. You get flush door handles that have got the touch sensitive pad. You don’t even need to pull them. You can, but you just need touch the inside of them and the door opens. It’s quite nice. And then obviously they pop into the bodywork when the car is moving. Nice aerial mirrors there. You get the camera pods mounted in the front wings there. And of course, there’s extra cameras there. Huge amount of tech on the car. Um, that’s embedded in there. Right. Sizewise now, the car is 69 mm short of 5 m in overall length, okay, with a wheelbase of running about 2.9 m. It’s a big car. This it’s more along the size of some things such as the the Volkswagen ID7 than it is against something like the Tesla Model 3 or the Polestar 2. However, price-wise and market positioning, MG are very much in that D segment, sort of like compact sports saloon market. So, as I say, Polestar 2, BYD sealed, Tesla Model 3, BMW i4, that kind of car. Okay. But, as I say, it’s at the upper end of that. It’s more along the lines of the Volkswagen ID7. Now, it depends on the model you get. We’ll talk about trims and spec obviously as we go through it. Um, leading car gets 19in alloy wheels. the performance model, which this car is, gets the 20-in alloy wheels as well, and some big brakes on the car. There’s a huge amount of tech on it, but a huge amount of performance uh orientated engineering has gone into the car. And like the MG4X Power, it’s got the orange brake calipers. But why again have they abandoned the X Power badge? So, you made a big fuss about XPower and a badge from MG’s past. Why not call this the IM5 X Power? They haven’t. It’s called the performance like Tesla Model 3. Just Oh, surely it’s not me. Surely I’m not that clever that even I can see just sitting here going, “Why have they not done that?” to make it really easy for customers to understand where the positioning of this car is. There we go. Anyway, they’re not covers. They’re proper big calipers in here. And of course, the big brakes on the car, which I’ll talk about in like when we’re out driving the car. They’re done by Continental. So, big calipers at the front there to help with the braking system of the car. It’s also got four-wheel steering on it. Um, but as I say, look at it. As I say, it’s quite long. So, like very aerodynamically shaped, you know, this long sloping. It’s a it’s a five door hatchback. There’s nothing superfluous on the on the body. It’s maybe lacking a little bit of definition. For me, though, it’s maybe not quite as, you know, square jawed and crisp and clean as something like a Polestar 2 or got the nice kind of sharp edges that you get with things such as the BYD Seal. Uh, and it’s certainly not got the kind of controversial yet, you know, interesting sort of, you know, sort like heritage design that something like the Hyundai Ionic 6 has. It It’s bordering on sort of like the bland, you know, like with the Tesla Model 3. But that’s just my opinion. Let’s see what the back looks like. Well, the back looks like an Aston Martin, doesn’t it? You know, this new light bar like more so in the big SUV on the IM6, but you know what I mean with that sort of, you know, the light bar that it’s nice. is liking. If we want to copy a car, copy an Aston. Um, but you see what I mean? Again, there’s that badge. What? There’s no big MG badge there. It just says MG over there and a font that MG don’t use. Why? You know what I mean? Anyway, there you go. Um, camera up the top there. I’ll explain why when we’re on the interior, but there’s also the reverse camera there. So, there’s two cameras. That actually is quite a good thing that having that one up there, but there’s a camera down there. And of course, normal your parking sensors. Your IM5 badge there. Nice. Like this panel here is just, as I say, really nice. It’s got this almost so the way it comes in and then comes back out. This negative space in there. That’s quite decent. I see parking sensors and then some more airflow bits and pieces down there. Your low set uh reverse lights are down at the bottom there. So, what do we think? It’s okay. Okay. I I did quite I do quite like it. Okay. It’s not a design classic. It’s not the best looking car in its class and as I say it maybe lacks a little bit of the crisp lines that you get, you know, so like I say with the polestar, I think it lacks a little bit that nice sharp sharkish look that I think the BY Deal Seal has, oddly enough, calling it a shark. Um, so it’s maybe verging more towards the blander end of the scale like the Tesla Model 3 is, but even then it’s a bit more I don’t know. Even the Tesla Model 3 now has got quite good looking I think with the latest model. This is just But the big thing for me is that lack of the octagon. I just don’t understand that. I don’t understand why they’ve not popped the MG badge on certainly for this market space. Is that just me or do you think the same? What do you think of the way the car looks? Would it tempt you? Have you been thinking about actually, yeah, I’m going to go for a Tesla Model 3 or a Polestar 2 or a Hyundai Onyx 6 cuz they facelifted that car. Oh, hang on a second. This has caught my eye. Has it? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. The one thing that’s handy about the badge is that’s your boot lid release, that little circle there, 457 L of boot space. And if you fold down uh the standard 60/40 split rear seat, it will take total capacity up to 1,290. Now, 457 L is bigger than everything in the class except for the Volkswagen ID7 and believe it or not, the BMW i4. So, it’s bigger than the BYD seal. It’s bigger than the Hyundai IonX 6. It’s bigger than the Polestar 2. And of course, it’s bigger than the Tesla Model Y, but there’s no under floor storage. Or certainly, if there is, I can’t get this boot floor up. There’s nothing there to lift that boot floor. But it’s tell you what, it’s really nicely trimmed in the back here. You know, you’ve got really nice carpeting here. And of course, you get your tie down lashings. It’s like from four points there if you want to put a luggage net on it. It does feel like there’s a lot of body work here that this aperture is quite small. But as I say, it’s a good size boot. It’s a big boot, but there’s no parcel shelf. And that’s because the way the rear screen comes down against the rear the backs, sorry, against the backs of the rear seats, and we’re going to chat about that when we’re inside the car. But you also do get a small amount of storage as well up at the front. But up at the front, you do get a small amount of storage. And I do mean small because it’s only 18 L, which isn’t well very big at all in fairness. Because in here, all you’ve got room for really is your tar repair kit and maybe a Marks and Spencer’s prawn cocktail sandwich or a packet of cheese and onion walkers, you know, crisps. As long as it’s no bigger than that grab bag style, you should be all right. But like I say, at least it’s got something. Now, back here, it feels quite commodious. And I if I sound a little bit hesitant there, the only thing I noticed there is the floor feels really high. It feels like it really pushes your legs right up. You know, if you sit with your feet right on the ground, I cannot get my feet underneath the driver’s seat. That’s my driving position. I’m 5’8 and I cannot get and I’ve got tiny feet. I cannot get my feet underneath the the seat. So, it’s a good job. There’s a good amount of room here in terms of that. But it does feel that your legs are being pushed a little bit up. But in terms of leg space, in terms of the feeling of overall space, it is big. You know, you have to agree with that. Now, the only thing I will say, however, is this standard glass panoramic roof. Now, I was talking about that earlier about that rear camera. You’ve got the ability to have that camera showing you what’s behind because that rear aperture between the top of the head restraint and the the the rear uh uh roof structure is non-existent. You can barely see out the back there. That is one downside. You know, there’s very limited rear visibility and the roof line comes all the way down. Now, in fairness, Polestar don’t really have a problem with that on the Polestar 4 because they don’t have a rear window at all. So, you know, maybe you might, you know, you might not see that as a bit of a negative. But, if you’ve had, let’s say, a Tesla Model 3 or, you know, like a Volkswagen ID7 or you’re comparing it to one of those cars, just be sure you’re comfortable with that cuz that is tiny. And as I say, there’s no parcel shelf, so you’re seeing right into the boot of the car. Okay, that’s the negative bits. The rest of it is quite positive. The seats, I tell you what, when I talk about talk about the feeling of luxury. Oh yeah, this is quite some. The seats are really cushioned, you know? They’re like properly sort of quilted leather. And the pile on this carpet, I haven’t seen anything like that that hasn’t worn a Bentley or an A or a Rolls-Royce badge. That is a very thick pile on that carpet. So, it feels quite, you know, the materials feel really good. You’ve got storage from mat pockets in the backs of the front seats there. There is a smallalish door bin along the side. You have an armrest with two cup holders in it, which obviously is good. And there’s vents on the back of the front console. There is only one USBC port, however. That’s the one downside. Um, but you’ve got nice little touches like the fold away coat hooks, which are nicely damped. If you have a look here, some of the speakers um for the because it’s got a massive audio system in the car and the speakers are around like the the the roof lining of the car to sort of you know like come in, you know, bring the sound envelop you. And it’s quite nice because to fold the seats down, the actual levers for them are actually in this side pillar here. So they’re quite nice and easy to get to. They’re not stuck up around here. You’re trying to lean in to pull. They’re nice and easily to get at there. the ISOIX points, they’re quite nicely exposed when you lift up that Velcro flap there. But yeah, as I say, the actual feeling of sort of like, you know, comfort is good except for around about your feet. That’s the downside with it. As I say, the floor the floor feels really pushed up and as I say, I cannot get my feet underneath that driving seat in the front how I’ve got my driving position. So, it is a good job that there is enough space, but just be aware of that. And as I say, if you’re taller, you’re going to be limiting yourself on a little bit of headroom as well, I would say, because of the slope of that roof line as well. So, it’s good, if not brilliant. Now, when you get in the car, it’s really unlike anything MG have done up until now. Um, and it’s a real tech fest, you know. So, everything in here, obviously, as you can see, a bit like Tesla, is controlled through the screens, and there are two of them. Okay. So, you have this huge 26.3 in display across the dashboard. It is really nice. It’s very clear, very crisp. Uh and obviously, it does show you an awful lot of information. And then secondary, you have this 10 1/2 in uh screen down here that controls things such as your heating and ventilation, your ADAS systems, and various things such as that. So, I’ll go through bits and pieces with you. So, as I say, initially you are as soon as you get in the car, uh, and you put your foot on the brake, the car is now ready to drive. So, there’s no key. Well, there is a key to sort of like lock and unlock. And again, nice, you know, in the shape of, you know, a little car. I quite like that. That’s quite a nice little key. So, it’s nice, nice bit of tactility when you first pick up your keys. That’s something I do like. And then when you sit in the seat and press, you put your foot in the brake, the car comes up, says ready. So, it’s now ready to go. Your transmission lever for drive, reverse, neutral, and park obviously is up here on your right hand side. So that’s the column stock here. This one here does your wipers, indicators, and lights. Okay. So that’s what your two column stocks do. And that is pretty much apart from the door controls and a couple of scroll wheels here. Your only physical buttons on the car. That’s it. Everything else is done through here. So, you also get things such as Apple CarPlay, um, Android Auto, wireless. You’ve also got entertainment packages such as YouTube, Tik Tok, Amazon Music, Spotify, things like that. You can go into, you know, you go into things like your weather app as well. There’s, you know, gives you the weather. That’s quite a handy thing, I suppose, as well. Um, you know, and various different things. Is that how do I get back? Uh, he says, uh, see what I mean? Does everything need to be on screens? Okay, there we go. I wonder if there’s a home button that does it. There we go. Yeah, the home button down here. There you are. See? So, you have to get used to that cuz that’s where all loads of things are played up there. Now, I talked about that camera that was up on the route. Let me just quickly show you this. If you Hang on. What does it do? Oh, no. That’s not how you do it. Hang on. That’s it there. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. How’d I get out of this? Now, this is the only thing with screens and everything. It gets all a bit confusing. If you touch this scroll wheel over here, it now gives me the view of that camera because that rear window view is tiny. So, you can actually have It would have been better if they’ just done one of those camera mirrors up here because that is just a tiny tiny mirror. Look at it. How small is that? There’s bigger vanity mirrors than sun visors in some cars. But then if you if you touch that, it comes up here and you can have the length of time that it stays up for. There’s three settings. It’s 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and 2 minutes or something like that. You can have that stay up for, but I think that should be up there. I think that should be one of one of those camera mirrors, personally speaking, rather than actually on the dashboard. What it does have, however, if you indicate It’s not going to do it because I’m not in drive, is it? If I go into drive. Yeah, there we go. That’s down the left hand side of the car and there’s down the right hand side of the car. So, a bit like Hyundai uh do with the blind spot, you know, monitoring. So, in Kia do, you get that and Tesla do it now as well. So, you get the blind spot monitoring using the cameras down the side of the car that I do like. So, that is quite handy thing to have. So, well done MG on having that. Okay. So, that’s all your stuff there. If you obviously if you go into your navigation, uh, there it’s all there. Uh, does it have a map on it or does it just There we go. Yeah. So, there’s the map there. So, it’s quite nice. It’s quite It’s there. It’s up in your line of sight. You press your home screen, takes you back here, but you obviously go into Apple CarPlay and use your Google Maps or your Apple Maps or your ways or whatever and that will be in there. Okay. And then, as I say, across here in front of the driver, you’ve got very nice big and bold, you know, you’ve got your gear indication display there. You’ve got your ADAS systems, you got trip, and obviously you’ll have your speed as well. It’s in your line of sight. It’s easy to see through this three-spoke steering wheel here. Uh and everything’s well laid out for you. Then everything is controlled through here. Okay. So, various different things. There are some shortcuts, which is good. So, you’ve got your ADAS systems there. So, you press that and immediately you’ve come up with, you know, warning off uh for your speed limit warning and lane departure assist off there as well. There’s a lane keep assist and a lane change assist as well. So there’s a little bit of autonomous driving with again as well. So you have set a certain uh thing you then set up. If you turn on the indicator and it’s clear, the car will actually make the lane change for you. So there’s an element of that autonomous driving available on the car as well. Okay. So that is there too. Uh close all. There we go. Confirm. So yeah, you can save it all. You can just turn everything off by just pressing the one button. But it’s just a couple of presses on this screen. But it is in the screen. Okay. You can open up the rear boot from there. You can do a self park as well where the car will look as you’re driving along. It’ll look for a parking bay and then you press it and then the car will actually go into the bay using the cameras. Obviously, stuff like that. We’re seeing that more and more on cars. There’s a 360 degree parking camera. You can see there. And then if you go into here, this is the downside for me. if you go into car settings. So for things like adjusting your mirrors, you’ve then got to go into here. So to adjust the mirror. So So hang on, let me show you this. So let’s go back to the home screen. So right, I’ve got in the car, you know, somebody else has been driving it and I need to adjust the mirror. So I sit in the seat. I press the car setting there. I press the mirror setting there. I then press the left button there. And then I’ve got to use the scroll wheel on the steering wheel to actually adjust the mirror. And then I adjust my right one. And it’s the same there. Okay, there we go. And then obviously you can press and hold that to confirm the memory. Okay, just would be nicer just to have a little button on the door panel. That’s all. Am I just getting old? But you know what I mean. Why do we need all that? And then there’s various different the the seat really. You know, you can control the seat. Oh, hang on. I’ve done too much there. You can control the seat back from there. There’s your lumbar support. You can control it from there. But there are separate buttons on the seat at least. But you can control the seat from here as well, which is quite good. You know, that’s quite good as well. Uh there’s your mirror. And then if you go into your steering, you can uh it tells you how to adjust your steering column, but it’s a manual reach and rake. I know how to adjust those. That’s fine. You don’t need to tell me how to do that. So yeah, so that’s quite cool. So that’s thing there. And it’s things like adjusting wiper sensitivity, that’s in the screen. uh you know switching on the heated mirrors that’s in the screen um your lights that I mean obviously it’s got auto lights but you also got to go in here and all down here is a list of various different sub menus you can go into here so you know into lights so if you want the welcoming lights your ambient lights there’s something like 265 different colors of ambient lighting why why do we need that many that’s what you can have um your ADA systems are in there as well connecting up a mobile phone and things like that. I’ll talk about the mobiles in a second. That’s all down in here as well. So, there is an awful lot in there. Okay. Right. Your mobile phone. You’ve got um a 15watt um ventilated charging pad here. So, that just sits there. Um and then there’s a little like cubby here. I feel I’m not really sure what that’s for, but with this white interior, it just feels like this is getting really grubby. In fact, I’ve also noticed how grubby this roof lining is. Um, there’s only two colors you can have on the interior. This, it’s a slightly off-white or a gray. Very Teslaike, isn’t it? You know, it’s like that, isn’t it? So, there is an awful lot of Tesla influence I see going on in here. The actual ambience of the interior isn’t too bad in fairness. I mean, it’s going to get really filthy in this color, you know, but this sort of it’s not really it’s just a plastic. I don’t know what it is. It’s just a decor panel and it’s quite nice. Nobody’s put any piano black in here or or tried to make it look carbon fiber or anything like that. It’s just different and it’s quite nice. I quite like the fact that it’s not the same as everything else. The silver like finishes to things like the speaker grills and the door switch and stuff isn’t really silver. It’s like a champagne finish and it’s again it’s quite nice. I quite like that. It’s a bit different. That’s good. Um, you got your driver attention monitoring system uh up on the the pillar there as you know cars are having these days. Uh, and as I say, it’s got this very minimalist wheel, you know, three-spoke with the two scrolls on it, that’s it, you know. So, obviously these will be multi-functional depending on what function you’re using. So, whether or not it is uh uh volume, whether or not it’s to adjust mirrors, whether it’s track search or to scroll in and out the map on the nav, they’ll do multiunctional things. Now, what you also have is a an adaptive cruise control. So, when you’re uh driving along in drive, if I do this right, uh you push down on it there to go into your adaptive cruise control. And then there are four buttons. Well, they’re like paddles. They’re split into two behind the steering wheel. And and the right one will up and down your speed. So, pull the top one to increase the speed, the bottom one to decrease the speed, and then the left one will do your distance. So closer on the top one and further away on the on the bottom one. That’s good. I like that. That’s really handy to have that there. Just, you know, literally on at your fingertips. So that’s all you do is when you’ve got the adaptive cruise control on, then you’ve got these four controls behind the steering wheel to adjust that. I do like that. That That’s handy. I like that. But yeah, this the interior, I don’t know. I’m I’m really not sure about it. There’s an element of it I do quite like. You know, as I say, it’s a little bit different. I like the fact there’s no glossy piano black. I like the fact they haven’t tried to do silly carbon fiber. I like the fact the screen is as good as it is. You know, it’s really clear. It’s really prominent there. And this actually is not bad, this screen, but it’s just the fact everything is controlled through it. Now, again, maybe that’s just me. Maybe, you know, you guys out there buying these cars are now getting used to this type of thing. You’re used to doing stuff on your phones, doing it on a screen in the car maybe isn’t such a bad thing. Personally, I’d rather have physical buttons because I think it takes your eye off the road too much trying to do a screen. But that’s not MG. That’s everyone that does these things. I just feel there are certain elements of it that don’t feel the materials. H okay. Well, as I say, it’s this leatherrett style material that’s on dash. Everything’s padded, so your knee doesn’t feel like it’s up against hard plastic, which is not. Um, but this just feels like it’s getting really grubby. That’s my only thing. There’s two water bottle cup holders there. There’s an armrest which is deep enough, you know, that that goes in there. Um, it’s got that’s chilled as well. There is storage underneath here, which is good. And there’s door bins, but they’re not lined. They’re still kind of plastic, but they don’t feel cheap plastic. So, it’s a real middle ground for me. It’s certainly not the best in class. and you know so things like you know it doesn’t have obviously I like the polestar too because you operates off a Google operating system and I really like the way polestar lay their screen and things out um you know Tesla obviously you know everyone sort of get used to the screens on Tesla and the way that they operate I do like sort like a little bit more of like the design of the Hyundai Ionic 6 you know with the sort of you know the the sort like the perspects the recycled plastics and things I like the way Hyundai do it but this isn’t bad. Okay. It doesn’t have the gimmicky rotating screen like the BYD does. You know, as I say, it’s it’s good. It’s neat. It’s well laid out. It’s relatively well designed. I don’t particularly like the off-white color of this one cuz I think it just shows up all the dirt and stuff. And I just wish there was a bit more physical buttons, but it’s not the worst that I’ve seen at all. And, you know, the comfort of the seats and things like that does feel nice. There’s a good amount of support underneath your thighs. There’s good lateral support. There’s good adjustment. There’s a comfortable driving position. So, yeah, it it it’s good. It’s not the best, but it’s far from the worst when it comes to the interior. Now, we get to the bit that really impresses. Okay, the usability section when we talk about batteries. Now, I am going to use my iPad because there is an awful lot here to talk about. There’s a lot to remember and I am getting old and I won’t remember it unless I write it all down. You get a choice of two battery sizes with the IM5. Okay. Now AC and that’s across three models. Okay. So two batteries, three models. You get a 75 standard range car. Okay. That has a 75 kWh which is its gross capacity, not usable capacity LFP battery. And that is cap that’s and that’s a a single motor rear wheel drive car. Okay. and that is capable of a range of up to 304 miles on the combined WLTP cycle. Okay. Um that battery can charge at up to 153 kW on the DC and that means it will take 26 minutes to go from 10 to 80% at its maximum charging rate. You also get an onboard 11 kW uh charger as standard. Uh MG quotes 10 to 100% uh which is fair enough. you know, you very rarely ever go below 10% of the batteries. So, a 10 to 100% uh from a 7 kW wall box will take 12 hours on that battery. Okay, obviously a little bit more just to cover off that last 10%. If you’re below that, um then you move up to the 100 long range, okay, which is the sort of the middle car if you like. That’s also a single motor rear wheel drive car, but that is a 100 kWh battery. Now, again, that’s a usable capacity, but even so, that’s phenomenal. And that is the car that they say will travel up to 441 miles between charges. Now that battery is uh NCM in its construction. Okay, so that’s not an LFP battery. And the electrical architecture goes from 400 volts in the 75 standard range car to 800 volts in that car. Okay, which means it will do a maximum charging speed of 396 kW. That is incredible. And that means a 10 to 80% charge in just 17 minutes at a 350 kW charger. You know your ionities that you get from your ones. That’s absolutely incredible. Um 10 to 80% on that big battery. However, from a 7 kW wall box takes 16 hours. That’s maybe the only downside. But again, that’s an overnight charge, isn’t it? You know, again, 11 kW standard on that. Then you get this car which is the 100 performance. Okay. So it’s the stand. That’s the same battery, the 100 kWh battery. Uh the same electrical architecture, the same fast charging speed, same charging speeds as all that, but it’s a dual motor all-wheel drive car. The range drops on this car to 357 mi. But even so, that is still impressive, I think. And a heat pump is standard across the range. Right, let’s just quickly talk about power outputs for the moment, cuz as I say, there’s three cars. Three cars. um available in this range. Um you’ve got the 75 standard which standard range which gives you 295 PS. Okay, it’s rear wheel drive single motor rear wheel drive that will do not to 60 in 6.8 seconds. Okay, so quick. Then you move up to the 100 long range. Okay. So, still rear wheel drive, but more power. 407 PS. That will do not to 60 in 4.9 seconds. All right. I’ve got the performance, the 100 performance, which is dual motor, obviously, one in the front, one at the back. All-wheel drive. This has 751 PS, not to 60 in under 4 seconds. This thing is quick. Blisteringly quick. I’m genuinely not sure you can go as quick as this for less money. I’ I’d have to think that, but I’m genuinely not in terms of acceleration. Okay. Now, here’s the thing about this car. There is no doubting its performance. No doubt whatsoever. But there’s a simple thing about this. The Pirelli, which oddly enough the tires on this particular car are Pirellis, used to say power is nothing without control. And there’s an element of me that thinks never has that been more apt than when it comes to describing this car. Okay? Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to like about it. All right? It drives well, but does it drive well enough? I don’t think it does. Okay, so there’s a couple of things I want to just discuss. First thing is ride quality. There’s just areas here. We’re out in Susset, the roads of Sussex. There’s just areas of the road where you’ve got expansion joints, you got sort of little potholes, you got drain hole covers, you get changes surfaces, and you’re always feeling them. You’re always feeling that pitter patter from underneath the car. You just It never feels settled. There’s constantly something going on. It’s constantly something just chit chatting away, you know? It just always something that’s just doing something with it. Okay, that’s the first thing about it. Okay, the second thing about it is it feels almost too fast. It feels almost like you’re you’re at the edge of that control and you’re never truly in control of the car. Okay. Now, you can vary different bits of the car depending obviously on how you how you feel. Okay. So, there’s various different things you can go into the menu system. So, power, you can obviously go from eco, standard, and sport. Okay. And I’ve got it in the sport mode just now. So, brake pedal, force, you’ve got comfort, standard, and sport. I think they’re talking about renaming some of these as well. That’s what they’re they’re talking to make them seem a bit more well, logical, data suggest. And then steering as well, light, moderate, and steady. So again, I think that’s probably going to go comfort, standard, sport or something like that. So there’ll probably be small changes, but I’ve got it in the steady. So effectively the sport mode. So the first thing about the steering when you’re in that mode, which you you and you can set up a driving mode, uh like an individual driving mode if you like, you know, so you can go into and press that and that’s always yours. Okay. So how you set up the steering it’s it’s it’s weighty you know it has got you know when you’re in this mode there is a bit of weight behind it but just as you come off the dead head there’s a feeling of elasticity to it and it just feels like you know it’s constantly trying to pull you back in you know into the straight and narrow constantly trying to do that you know I mean just to balance itself again it never it feels like it’s almost not quite fighting you but it just feels like you’re never really that’s what I and you’re never really in control of the car yourself. Okay. Then you get sort of like elements of it when you go into a bend for instance. And when I said earlier the seats are really nice because they’ve got nice support. They have as long as you’re not going too fast cuz they’re quite squidgy at the side. And I’m I almost feel like they need to sort of like clamp you a bit more. They just need a bit more support. you tend to find I’m I’m I’m not quite feeling like I’m in the car. And that’s what I mean. I never feel like I’m truly in control. And you stamp on that accelerator pedal and you get, you know, all of that power straight onto the road and then all of a sudden it’s like you’re on a fair ground ride. You’re never really feeling like you’re actually in control of the car. You know, you’re you’re almost you’re not fighting to stay in control. You know what I mean? It just feels like if I put my foot, it just Oh, yeah. It never feels comfortable applying power. Now admittedly I am in the sport mode which but then again this is the performance model. So why would you not use that performance so that makes me think first of all this isn’t the choice of this isn’t the pick of the range. I would think the pick of the range is either going to be the leadin car or the 100 long range. you know, the 75 standard or the 100 long range. I think if you you you want to max out the mileage, then you know, for £45,000, the 100 long range, it’s fast enough and you’re getting more efficiency, you’re getting better mileage out of the car, that’s the one I would probably say is the one for you if you want to get the maximum range out of it. The other one, the ST 75 standard range, it still has good charging speed, it still has decent range, and it’s under £40,000. So that’s a real choice as well. This one I just don’t feel is it is quite there. Okay. The other thing with it is the suspension whilst on the you know I’m actually on relatively smooth roads now and it’s settled down a little bit but up on and it’s just a normal British A road. There’s nothing you know it’s not a particularly bad piece of road. It’s just a British A road. It just never feels settled. It just always felt like it was chattering away, you know, like like one of those children that just can’t stop talking to you all the time. It gets in your nerves after a while. You love kids, but do you know what I mean? So, that’s the first thing about it. The second thing is when you pitch into a bend and then, as I say, you apply that power, you just feel like you’re moving around too much. You never feel and it’s like, oh criy, I’m trying to hold on and just feel like, oh, I don’t know where I’m going. I just feel I need to just hold on to something. And it’s like a fairground ride that you’re not ready for. That’s what it feels like. It’d be much better with less power and and more honing into the sort like the chassis of the car. That’s what it feels. And it’s really odd because I I almost felt the same about the MG4X power. I don’t know if you if you’ve ever watched my review of that car. blisteringly fast car, but not the best MG4 to drive because it just felt it was all about the acceleration. It’s all about the power. It’s all about the silly not to 60 times. It’s not actually about driver enjoyment. It’s not about engagement with you as a driver. And it’s the same here. That’s how I feel with it. It’s just if you were expecting it doesn’t have the sharpness and the fluency of the BMW i4, you know, it doesn’t really have that. It it it it’s just not there. And then Tesla was a little bit like that as well. You know, it was all about the acceleration and the wow, look at me, how fast I can accelerate to 60 mph. But actually, when it came down to did you enjoy driving it? Not really. you’re better off having less power and a better chassis and if you’re a driver in that sense and that I think is where something like the BMW i4 does win as well as the Pstar 2 and it was going to be really interesting because obviously just recently we’ve done a sneak peek with the Hyundai Ionic 6N and we know how good the Ionic 5N is especially in the chassis department and whilst it’s still a powerful car it’s not as powerful as this one but I suspect it will be awful lot better to drive just because of the type of car that it will be set up to be and it’s a bit more of a driver’s car rather than just look how fast I can get away from the traffic lights that I don’t know if any of that makes sense to you but that’s how I feel with this car. I just feel that they’ve concentrated too hard on making it really really fast and not actually concentrated on making enjoyable to drive. And as I say, I I I then don’t think this is the one to have. I think actually come further down the range and get more mileage out of it or get a better value for money proposition in the 75 standard range. Um we’ll talk about a few other things. So say that’s sort of like steering, acceleration, chassis work talked about. Let’s talk about the brakes for a little while. There’s no one pedal driving as such with it. There are levels of brake regen with the car depending obviously on how much or how little you want on, but if you’re expecting a one pedal drive setting, I’m afraid it’s not here, you know. So there’s just various different like levels of it that you can go into. uh you can you have got an auto hold but if you’ve got your ERS it’s uh energy recovery system it’s either off low or standard and I’m in the standard mode now so if I which effectively would be one pedal driving so if I come right off the pedal it’s taking an age and I’m going uphill at the moment and it doesn’t it’s not so it’s not proper one pedal driving but you can turn it completely off and then you use the brakes yourself. Now, the brakes themselves are very good, okay? So, they’re very powerful. You got um floating uh caliper, floating pistons at the back, and you got very, very strong brakes in the front. They’re ventilated discs all around. Yeah. You see, again, just chucking it in there, you just never feel that it’s really comfortable. And then using the brakes themselves, they are super powerful, but they do need a real good heavy shovel on them if you’re doing it. So, you’re the one that’s controlling it. You’re the one that’s really, you know, making the car slow down. Yeah. So, there we go. And as I say, the suspension just never feels quite settled enough. It never feels happy enough. Now, this car admittedly is on um the 20-in wheels, but I can’t see it being night and day of a difference. Yeah. See there turning in. It just felt that the steering just wanted just to pull me back. It’s a real shame. As I say, it’s just it’s not the first time MG have done this. As I say, I we saw it with AG4X power and as I say, it’s not a bad car. I really want to make that very very clear. It is a good car. And I think a lot of people will get into this car and and see a really good car here. and a lot of value for money. But that’s what MG have been doing for quite a while now with their cars without giving us power. They’ve been giving us those value for money cars. They’re still doing it with the IM5. So that makes me think actually you’re better off playing to your strengths in that sense and going for the better value in the range rather than the quick one in the range because I’m afraid when it comes to performance and being a driver’s car, it’s not quite there right pricing. Good value for money. Remember I said this right at the start. Whilst this is not MG trumping along with their value for money card here in some respects because they want to be seen as this a as a real technological showcase for them rather than a value for money proposition in terms of what you get for your money. I think they’re they’re on to a bit of a winner with this car in some respects. So the range starts remember as I say it’s two batteries, three models. Okay. So the 75 standard range is your leadin to uh to to the IM5 range and that just sneaks below that £40,000 barrier for the UK’s that silly luxury car tax that is uh £39,450. Okay. Um, if you want to go up to the 100 long range, so the the most efficient car with the longest range, still a huge amount of performance. Remember, that’s going to cost you $44995. And if you want this, frankly ludicrous uh car here, the the 100 performance, then it’s 48,495. So that’s over that’s over 750 PS for under £50,000 with a seven-year warranty. Wow. Right. Competition. Well, you’d be dafted if you didn’t start with Tesla, wouldn’t you? Tesla Model 3. That’s main sort like that’s it bullseye target market, isn’t it? Tesla Model 3. But of course, whilst it’s not an SUV, there are a lot of these compact saloons out there and there’s well, it’s not very compact, but you know what I mean, in this market sector, and there’s more coming as well. So, as well as the Tesla Model 3, you’ve also got to consider cars such as the BYD Seal. That’s a great car, real good entry into the market. Obviously, another Chinese brand, very successful Chinese brand, BYD, just like MG. So, that’s going to be a natural uh rival for the car, as is the Polestar 2 and the BMW i4. You know, those are two sort of like the old guard now, like the Tesla. You know, they feel like they’ve been around for ages now. So, you’re naturally going to consider those two as rivals as well. Not quite as big as sorry, the BMW is not quite as big as this car in terms of like interior space and stuff, but it’s BMW. That’s going to be enough for some people. And talking of space, Volkswagen ID7, that’s an entrant into the market that came out a couple of years back. And in terms of overall interior space, uh, aerodynamic efficiency, things like that, that is a great car, I think. You know, and it’s a real worthy rival to this one as well. And as I say, we’ve seen another couple of cars uh come onto the market or certainly been announced over the last few months as well. uh Mazda of all people with the new um 6E. That’s a car that’s going to uh compete with the car in here as is the booted version of the Kia EV4. That’s a car that they’re going to aim at this car. We know how good KAS are, you know, when it comes to that. Uh and there’s also the from Korea as well, the Hyundai IonX 6, which has just had a facelift as well. And I really like the IonX 6. So, that’s another car that’s going to uh compete with this one there. So, like I said, whilst we’re not talking about SUVs where there just seem to be dozens and dozens of them to discuss, there’s still quite a few rivals for the MG, and it’s still some big badges that it’s going up against. As I say, Tesla, Mazda, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, and Volkswagen. So, here’s what we like and also what we don’t like about the new MG IM5. Well, we think its electrical architecture is outstanding for the money. There’s a high level of standard equipment. There’s a choice of models and batteries to suit most requirements. And along with a 7-year warranty, it offers great value for money. We don’t like, well, for us, the looks are a little bit bland and generic. It’s too reliant on touchcreens on the interior. The chassis ultimately lacks control and fluidity, especially in the high performance model. And for us, there’s just a little bit of confusion surrounding its branding. Is this really an MG? The IM5 is a very brave car for MG, but it’s not a car without its problems. and the problems that it has dare I suggest are a consequence of its own existence. First of all, the branding. Now, since SEIC brought MG back, they’ve been harping on about the heritage of the brand. Over a 100red years of history, they’ve been making us want to see it still as the old MG that we know and love from the past, but just with a modern face to it. So, if that’s the case, where’s the MG badge? Why are you not badging this as an MG? Now, I understand you walking into an MG showroom and buying it from an MG dealer, but I still think it’s going to cause some confusion for people, and it almost feels like you don’t want to put the MG badge on it. That’s how it feels. So, therefore, are you saying that MGs are only bought on budget, on affordability rather than ability? And there lies its second problem. Because if that’s not what you’re saying, if you’re saying this is a technological showcase for us, this is what MG is capable of doing. Then the top of range car is where the cracks start to appear. Yes, it has great electrical architecture. Yes, it has a big battery. Yes, it has a great range. And yes, it has scintillating performance. But it’s not a driver’s car. It’s not a car that could proudly wear the MG badge and say, “Look at me. I’m here for the drivers.” Because it simply isn’t. The best IM5 is not the range topping car. It’s to be found further down the range at a lesser price. And then dare I suggest you’re back to your old problem. People are buying it because it offers value for money. People are seeing it as a budget alternative to brands such as BMW, Polestar, even Hyundai, Kia, and Volkswagen these days. Is it a bad car? No. It’s a worthy entrant into the class. There’s no doubt about it. But does it go straight to the top of the class? No, far from it. Thank you for watching another road test review on AutoEV. As always, please make sure that you are subscribed to the AutoEV channel. And then once you’ve done that, make sure you turn on your notifications so you receive word of when our next next even road test review is uploaded and it’s gone live. If you have enjoyed this week’s episode, please make sure you give it a little thumbs up. And as always, don’t forget, leave me your thoughts in the comment section down below. What do you think of the new MG IM5? Would you have this over a BYD seal or a Tesla Model 3 or a Polestar 2 or a BMW i4? Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section. Now remember, we’re acrossing all social media platforms as well. So if you’re into your Facebook, your Tik Tok, your Instagram, your LinkedIn, your X, you’ll find us over on all those as well. So if you want to give us a follow there, it would certainly be appreciated. And remember, if you’re in the marketplace for an electric car, it might not be a new MG IM5. Maybe you’re thinking about a secondhand MG ZS or an MG5 estate. Good value for money car there. See, we’re back to the value for money affordability thing. But you need to know a little bit more about it before you go and sign in the dotted line. How do you find out? Well, here’s how. Stay on the OGV homepage on the YouTube channel, and just at the top there, you’ll see a magnifying glass. Type the name of the car you’re interested in buying in there. And of course, if it’s been a new electric car in the UK in the last six years, then we’ve subjected it to the road test that actual car buyers trust when it comes to choosing their next electric vehicle. And that is the auto EV run. All that remains for me to say is thank you once again for watching. Thank you again for all your support. I’ll see you again soon.
Experience the all‑new MG IM5 – MG’s most advanced electric car yet. In this in‑depth review, we take you on a full tour of MG’s bold new EV, covering design, technology, performance, range, interior quality and practicality. Whether you’re considering buying the MG IM5 or just want to know if it’s a genuine rival to Tesla, BYD, Hyundai or Kia, this video has you covered.
We’ll look at the MG IM5’s EV range and charging times, explore its cutting‑edge interior tech, and see how it drives in the real world. Is this the car that puts MG at the top of the electric game? Let’s find out.
If you enjoy automotive reviews, electric car comparisons and honest car buying advice, make sure you like, subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don’t miss our next video.
📌 Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
02:03 – Titles
02:11 – Meet the car
06:00 – Styling
13:48 – Practicality
19:09 – Interior
31:58 – Usability
34:55 – Performance and Handling
47:02 – Pricing
48:24 – Competition
50:36 – Pros & Cons
51:25 – Summary
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