NEW Tesla Model 3 vs Mercedes CLA vs MG IM5 review! | What Car?
The Tesla Model 3 has just been updated. So, is one of the world’s best electric cars now even further ahead of the competition? Well, it’s got some new rivals, which on paper give it its toughest fight yet? This is one of them. It’s the new Mercedes CLA, and it can travel even further on a charge than that new Tesla. The new MG IM5 is another competitor. It’s cheaper than the Model 3 and also reputedly it’s one of the fastest charging electric cars on sale. So, is the Tesla still really the best around? In this review, we’re driving hundreds of miles to compare these three electric cars in every area. We’ll be looking at their interiors, checking out their practicality, finding out what they’re like to drive, and make sure you stay watching until the end because we will crunch all of the numbers from our trip to find out their real world efficiency and range. And, of course, we’ll pick a winner. So, this is a new Model 3. It’s so new, in fact, that we’re down in Southampton to collect it because it’s just got off the boat from Shanghai. But what is actually new? Well, it gets a new front-facing camera down here, which is said to offer an expanded view of the surroundings on the center screen. It also gets a washer to keep it clean and an integrated heater to stop it from fogging up. And do you remember when Tesla thought it was a brilliant idea to get rid of its indicator stalk? Well, it’s back. All versions now also have a longer range thanks to upgraded battery packs. So now the longrange Model 3 has a 79 kWh battery with an official range of up to 466 mi. That’s not bad, but it’s not quite as far as this can go without stopping because the new Mercedes CLA has an official maximum range of up to 484 miles on a charge, which makes it one of the longest range EVs on sale today. Now, you’re probably already familiar with the CLA name. It’s a coupe- shaped saloon that’s been in Mercedes lineup since 2013. This is the third generation model, but it’s very different from the first two. For starters, it’s the first car to sit on the new Mercedes modular architecture or MMA. Something we’ll see underpinning a number of other electric and hybrid models from the German brand. At the moment, the CLA is only available as a fully electric car with an 85 kWh usable capacity battery and a 268 brake horsepower electric motor driving the rear wheels. There will though be a cheaper version with a smaller battery and a more expensive version with more power. You’ll also be able to buy a mild hybrid petrol version of the CLA2. But this fully electric version sounds very promising. Although there is potentially one very big problem with it, and I’ll tell you more about that later on. And this is a new MG, although you might not know that because I’ve had a good look around and I can’t see any MG badges on it anywhere. And why is that? Well, the truth is I don’t really know. I do know this that this car is sold in China under the Iron Motors brand. And I know that the company that owns IM Motors in China also owns NG. And it makes sense that if you’re going to sell it in the UK, then you sell it as an MG. But what I don’t know is why they didn’t swap any of the badges. But what I do know is that we need to find out what the MG IM5 has to offer. Well, the maximum range of 441 miles isn’t quite as good as the other two, but it’s not exactly bad, is it? And this is one of the fastest charging electric cars you can buy. How fast? 396 kW is its peak charging speed, which means a 10 to 80% top up takes just 17 minutes. And that is despite its enormous 96.5 kWh battery. So, Will, what’s the plan with these three electric cars? Well, they all have massive ranges. some of the longest around. So, we want to get some decent mileage in over the next couple of days to get a better idea of their real world efficiency and range and of course how quickly they can charge up too. So, we started in Southampton, we charged the cars up to 100% and now we are on our way to 10B in Wales for an overnight stop and then tomorrow we’ll head back towards London on the M4. Let’s tell you a bit more about the specific cars that we have here on test. So, this is a Tesla Model 3 long range rear wheel drive. And really, we think this is the pick of the Model 3 lineup. That’s because it gets a bigger battery than the entry- level version. So, yes, it does cost more money, but you get more than 100 miles of extra range officially. And we also think it’s easier to recommend ahead of the versions above it because it’s cheaper and yet it still has a better range than those versions, even if it’s not quite as quick in a straight line. So, this version here will set you back £44,990. Now, we’ve already explained that there isn’t much choice in the CLA range at the moment when it comes to battery or electric motor, but there are quite a few trim levels. This is an AMG line premium edition, which is towards the top end of the lineup. So, while the range starts at just over £45,000, if you want this particular car, you will be spending £51,770 plus an extra £715 if you want this rather fetching sapphire blue metallic paint. This trim level gets you 19in wheels. You get 18s on the entry- level CLA, and that does have an impact on range. So, while the cheapest sport edition version has an official range of 484 miles on a charge, this can only do 462 mi, and that’s slightly behind Doug’s Tesla. You’ve got three options when it comes to the IM5, which is standard range, long range, and performance. And the lineup starts at 39,450 for the standard range, which will officially do up to 304 mi on a single charge. And it just about undercuts the Tesla Model 3 on price. The long range is £44,995. And guess what? Yes, it’s got a longer range, £441, which we’ve already mentioned is thanks to its bigger battery. And at just under £45,000, it’s virtually what you’ll pay for that Model 3 and less than you’ll pay for the CLA. Except this isn’t the long range. It was meant to be the long range, and that’s what we asked MG for, but while we were filming, we noticed something. those wheels and behind them big shiny orange brake calipers, which isn’t what you normally get with the longrange model. It is what you get with the performance though. So, we phoned up MG and said, “Which car have we got?” And they went, “The performance.” R. However, it’s still fine for this test because even though this is the most expensive IM5 you can buy at 48.495, it’s still cheaper than the CLA we got on test. And yes, the range the range is a bit of a problem. At 357 mi, it’s a lot worse than the other two cars. However, for day-to-day driving, 357 miles is still a pretty good range. But think about the positives you get with this car. The fact it’s dual motor, which means it’s four-wheel drive and with two motors powering all four wheels. The power you get is astronomical. 742 brake horsepower, which monsters the other two. So rather than completely ruin his test, which to be honest, we did think was the case when we first realized MG had sent us the wrong car, it actually makes it a hell of a lot more interesting. After a stint of motorway driving, we pulled over to take a closer look at our car’s interiors. So Doug, we are in the Model 3, and it doesn’t look much different than it did. No, pretty much the only physical difference to point out is that indicator stalk there, which is a very welcome addition, of course, because the last update to the Model 3 got rid of the indicator stalk and put some buttons on the steering wheel instead, and it was just very fiddly. Nowhere near as good to use. Yeah. Particularly if they were both on the same side, so I could never remember which one to press to go right or left. Absolutely. But isn’t it good, I guess, that Tesla has clearly listened to feedback and quite quickly reintroduced the indicator stalk. Apart from that though, the only other difference really to point out is the fact that you’ve got this new camera on the front which gives you an extra field of vision that you didn’t have before. But you still don’t have a traditional 360° bird’s eye view camera setup that is quite common on other new cars. However, Tesla does give you this kind of computerenerated version instead. But apart from that, pretty much everything in here is exactly the same as it was before. And that is not a problem because we know this is a really strong interior, particularly when it comes to technology. Hang on, though. There’s one thing, though. Okay, if I bring up the main menu, I do find those quite small when you’re driving along trying to pick one out of those. It’s a shame because the screen’s so big, they could just make the icons a bit bigger and fill the screen a bit more. But I have to say, I can’t fault the software in other respects in terms of responsiveness and ease of use. Yeah, that is fair enough. And although you don’t get Apple CarPlay, you’ve got lots of other apps that pretty much make up for that, don’t they? Yeah, it’s one of the best infotainment systems out there, for sure. Now, the interior looks minimalist, but actually lots of nice dense materials in here. And it feels quite solid, too, doesn’t it? Does y absolutely like the ambient lighting, too. That can also turn into rave mode on your infotainment system. He just loves all the gimmicks. You still got all these fun features on the infotainment system. Yes. But everything you can actually measure in this Model 3 is still really impressive, just like it was before. And on top of all those strengths up front, it’s brilliant in the back as well. So even if you’re a tall adult sat in the rear seats, you’ve got good headroom, good leg room, space for your feet under the seat in front, a flat floor, and lots of glass back here that lets in a lot of light. So tough to fault. And you’ve got your own screen. I have. Look at that. So let’s see what the other cars are like, right? Then so we’re all familiar with the Model 3 by now, aren’t we? It’s been around a long time. And this hasn’t been around as long. However, there is a familiarity to it, isn’t there? because a little while ago we did a test of the IM6 which is basically this car’s bigger brother just the SUV version. We did indeed. And if you want to watch that video, you can click the link up there at the top. But what about this interior then? It’s a different approach to the Model 3, isn’t it? It’s um I feel it’s more intimate. The Model 3 is more minimalist. It’s a bit more open and clean, whereas this one is a bit more wraparound, and there’s definitely a more of a swoop to the dashboard layout. Whether you like it or not, that’s one of those things. But the other difference is you’ve also got more screens. Are more screens better? Personally, I find having three screens. So, you’ve got the driver’s display, the infotainment display, and then well, I don’t know what this is. Is it another infotainment display or whatever? Because some things are on this screen, some things are on that screen, some things aren’t there, but they are here. And it just gets a bit jumbled and bit difficult to work out where everything is. And here’s something else, Doug. If I press the home button there, look at that screen. familiar. It does look rather familiar, doesn’t it? Where’s that from, do you think? I wonder. Could it be from the Tesla Model 3? It is quite clearly a copy, isn’t it? And also this climate control screen almost identical, but not quite as intuitive. Exactly. The main thing is if you are going to copy someone, and let’s be honest, they have done that. I think that’s fair to say. If you are going to copy someone, make sure you do it properly. So, either at least as good or better. And I don’t think this works as well. I would agree. So technology then, clearly not as good as the Model 3. What about quality in here though? Well, I think quality is pretty good on the whole. If you look at the car generally, it’s still look at the stitching on there. It’s quite nice and neat. Um, everything feels quite solid. Not sure about some of the trims because I don’t know what that’s meant to be, but it’s not exact. It’s sort of somewhere between wood and for mica, isn’t it? But the main thing is it’s kind of solid. The thing is not just things like that. You do look at this leather which looks fine from a distance but when you run your finger up close it’s a bit plasticky isn’t it? Yeah I would agree. It looks nice from a distance but when you start touching it it feels quite plasticky and also might be specific to this car but that isn’t seated particularly well there. That faux leather around the vent. So that’s not ideal. But even if that’s not model specific, I think we’re all agreed it’s not far away from the Tesla, but just not quite as polished. And seat comfort, not quite as good as the Tesla either. So, I spent the most amount of time in this car, and I don’t find the seat particularly comfortable. And I’ll tell you why. Because basically if you’re sitting in it over a long journey, there’s not a lot of side support. But the main thing I have a gripe with is I need the lumbar support stuck out because otherwise I feel like I’m sort of bent over. But you put the lumbar support out and it’s like somebody’s pushing a brick into your back. It’s just not comfortable. Yeah, it’s not quite as comfortable in the driver’s seat as the Tesla. But what about the back? Well, this car is 20 cm longer than the Model 3 and leg room is better than that car. Not that it’s stingy in the Model 3, of course, but actually in most other respects, it’s the Model 3 which is more comfortable in the rear seats than this IM5. The main reason for that is the sitting position that you have in here. So, this seat base feels pretty low to the floor. So, it means that my knees are pretty high. Now, they’re high in the Model 3. That doesn’t have a perfect sitting position either, but it’s not quite as pronounced as it is in this IM5. When it comes to headroom, this is similar to what the Model 3 offers, but actually not quite as good. Although I can adjust the angle of the back rest like so. As you can see, there is a huge amount of difference in in what you can do. Have you actually moved? I have moved. I promise. Better to have it than not, but ultimately the Model 3 is the more spacious and overall more comfortable in the rear seats. And how do you find the rear touchcreen? It doesn’t have one, but it has got these luxury carpets. Jackpole carpets. Okay. Should we have a look at the CLA? Let’s go. Let’s go. Now, we just talked about the driving position in the IM5, didn’t we? And this driving position actually in many respects is very, very good, I think, because it has the most comfortable seats of the three cars, certainly for my driving position. Also, the steering wheels in a natural position. You feel lower to the road, more of a saloon car experience than you have in the Tesla. And I’ve got a good view of that digital instrument panel behind me there. There is one big problem though, and that is that the pedals are offset to the right of the seat. And also because there’s an encroachment from the bulkhead into the left hand side of the pedal area, it means that I find myself sitting at a slightly skewed angle. And that’s not comfortable on long journeys. I don’t find that quite as much of an issue as you or I can see what you’re talking about. But how do you get on these touch sensitive buttons? because I find that I’m always accidentally pressing something or if I scroll through on there, I miss the thing that I’m trying to hit. Yeah, I think because they’re part touch sensitive, but also you have to push them down as well to activate it. I’m not sure to be honest what’s wrong with good old fashioned buttons there. Another issue with the driving position is the view out the back of the car actually in this, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s not brilliant, is it? Although it is better than the IM5. Well, it has to be better than the IM5 cuz basically the IM5 doesn’t have a rear window indeed. Other than the pole store four, I’m not sure what’s worse for rear visibility. And I quite like the some of the old school bits, too, like the vents that you if you want them angled towards your face, you can do that. And there’s also these ones here. And look at the colors, eh? Blue like a provincial nightclub. Yeah, I’m not sure this interior will be to everyone’s taste. It’s pretty in your face, isn’t it? With this blue lighting here. All of these threeointed stars. I should actually mention, you can have a screen for your passenger instead of that if you want. It’s an option. This car doesn’t have it, of course, but yeah, lots of different textures, lots of different colors. There’s piano black in here. There’s this pinstriped white finish. I’m not entirely sure what it is there on the center console. So, yeah, it’s not exactly understated, is it? But what’s the actual quality like in here? Well, there are some nice materials. I would say the steering wheel leather feels quite nice. And there is also some softer touch materials on the insides of the doors, but there are also some harder plastics in here. And there are some creaky ones as well. And also, I’m not sure about the sprayed silver plastic down here that’s meant to look like metal. Yeah, I think overall the Tesla feels a little bit more solid inside. Yeah, definitely. And what about this infotainment system? Well, on the whole, I would say it’s not bad. Like the other two cars, you have to use the touchcreen to adjust the interior temperature. I actually can’t see that control from my driving position. I have to kind of move my head to the left to be able to see it properly. But otherwise, it responds quite quickly. The screen’s quite big. And you do get Apple CarPlay, which you also get on the iMes. And you know, you said it responds quickly. It does. Do you know why that is? Cuz it’s got supercomputers. It’s got Yeah. I went on the launch of this car and Mercedes did tell me it’s got a supercomputer because it can do 280 million functions a second. I don’t know what the definition of a supercomput is. But what I can tell you is I press this button. You know, we were talking about the small icons in the Model 3. Well, look on the screen there. I’ve just got these massive icons. And yes, it does mean that I do have to swoop across the menus to see all the icons, but personally, I prefer that to have them big and easy to hit like this. Yeah, I think if your eyesight’s on the way out that is definitely it’s not just me because I’m old. It’s Look, come on. Anyone would find those easier to hit because look at the size of But overall, the Model 3 still has the best infotainment system of the bunch that we have here. It does. Yes. And in terms of quality, it’s got the slight edge over these other two as well. Yeah, I can see why you might prefer the design of any of these cars. Actually, this is more extrovert than the others. But I would say overall when it comes to pure build quality, the Tesla just has the edge over the others. When it comes to rear seat space, this unfortunately for Mercedes and the CLA is the worst of the three. It’s even a bit of a struggle getting in in the first place. I find it very difficult to get in this car. And then it’s got the least leg room of the three. I can’t sit up straight without my head touching the roof lining. And I’m not a particularly tall person. 177 cm, about 5′ 10, and it feels the most narrow. It has the least amount of light back here because of this sloping roof line as well. So, if you’re looking for rear seat space, this isn’t the pick of the three. True, but this is more of a coupe in its shape, isn’t it? And it’s also because of that the most aerodynamic of the three. And don’t forget that if you do want a bit more space from your CLA, there will be a shooting brake coming out soon. Good point. Okay, let’s get back on the road. We made it to our overnight stop in Tenb. The next morning, we compared the boots of our three cars. So, the Tesla Model 3, the first thing to point out is that you get an electric tailgate as standard on all versions of the car, which is handy. And with our carry-on size suitcase test, we could fit seven in the main compartment. We could fit an extra one under the boot floor and even an entire suitcase in the front trunk of this car. So, in total, we could fit nine in the Model 3, which is very impressive for an electric saloon, of course. That is, but we know that because this car has been around for a while. So, the real question is, what are the other two like? Okay, so the CLA’s boot pops open automatically, but it’s not powered. So, you have to close it yourself. And in the boot itself, it’s a saloon like the Tesla, so this aperture is not particularly big, but there’s a lot of space inside. I managed to fit seven carry-on suitcases in the main boot area. There is some underlo storage, but it’s absolutely tiny. Nowhere near enough for one of these cases. So, that’s why it’s one down on the Tesla. But I think that’s not bad at all. What about the front? Well, there is a frunk. It’s actually bigger than the Model 3s, but still only big enough for one carry-on suitcase. So, that’s why it’s eight in total. Tesla was nine. Okay. So, rear seat space isn’t particularly amazing in the CLA, but this boot is perhaps more practical than you might imagine. It is. But what about the MG? Okay, so the first thing to note about the IM5 is it’s the only one here with a hatchback and like the Tesla Model 3, it also has a powered tailgate. So, good start. However, as you can see, the boot’s quite tapering like that, which means it’s quite shallow here, and we’ve only managed to fit six carry-on suitcases in the main boot compartment. Okay. But what about under the floor? No, there’s no under floor storage. Is there a frunk, though? Yes. Is it any good? No. Oh, so you can’t fit a suitcase in the front boot. No, but MG has put the manual in there, which has taken up most of the space. And there’s another problem as well. See, look, there’s no tono cover here. So, when the boot’s closed, everyone can see what you got inside. It’s not ideal, is it? Not really. So, the worst boot here belongs to this IM5, does it? 100%. It’s also got the worst range. So, how are you doing in that department, John? Well, not brilliantly. Uh, I’ve just checked the battery. It’s 15% which means I have only 53 miles of range left. Oh, okay. Well, the Model 3 is doing quite a bit better than that. I’ve got 36% of my charge left, which is about 137 mi. What about the CLA? Also 36% but 152 mi indicated. Oh wow. Okay. Why is it I always end up in the car with the least range? Because you’ve got a heavy right foot, John. But the good news is I have found some Tesla superchargers on the way back which are open to non Teslas. So, why don’t we head there and we’ll get a quick top up and get on our way again. Will I make it? You should be fine because they’re about 25 26 milesi from here. So, let’s go. Yeah, that could be a bit of a problem, guys, because that brings me on to one of the drawbacks of this car that I mentioned earlier on. And that is that I can’t use any 400vt chargers. Most Tesla superchargers 400 volt. So, I’m not going to be able to join you. I’m going to have to go and find another charger somewhere else. So, this can only charge at 800 volt charges. 800vt chargers. Or you can plug in at home, right? So, you can get a very, very, very slow overnight top up. Yes. Or an incredibly quick top up from very rare public chargers, but you can’t really do anything in between. Well, they’re not that rare, but particularly in this part of Wales, yes, there aren’t many. So, I’m going to have to do a bit of digging to find one. Okay. Well, let’s still go to the supercharger because that is the closest one for the range that you have. Yeah. And good luck to you, Will. We’ll catch up later. If I find somewhere, I will join you guys for a nice bit of driving on some country roads. And who knows, I might not make it. That is true. Let’s go. Three of us arrived at our charging stops at different states of charge, but we decided to time how long it took to get from 30 to 80%. We’ll be revealing all the details at the end. Okay, the good news is we have made it to some 800 volt chargers just before we join the M4. The bad news is that I’m going to be charged 89p per kilowatt hour, which is an awful lot of money. Whereas John at those Tesla superchargers is going to be paying 55p per kilowatt hour. Doug as a Tesla driver even less than that. So that is quite annoying and a big drawback of this car at the moment. However, Mercedes will be offering 400vt charging capability on the CLA in spring 2026. It will be available as an option, so you have to pay extra for it, but that will make this more flexible and potentially offer cheaper public charging. We are on 23% at the moment. This is an 800vt charger capable of delivering around 350 kW. The CLA can accept a maximum of 320 kW. So, let’s see how long it takes to get to 80%. After finishing our top up, we met up again for the journey back. Now, what are these cars like on the road? Well, we’ll start with the Model 3, the new Model 3. But really, it’s got an indicator stalk again. It’s got a slightly bigger battery, but mechanically nothing is majorly different from before. The last big update for this car was the facelift that it had a couple of years ago, and that did really improve things on the road, but since then, nothing has changed, which isn’t a problem because this is still just as impressive as before. And so, that means it’s comfortable. The ride is on the firm side, but it’s really well controlled and it’s still nicely cushioned. The steering is quick, perhaps a bit too quick when you’re on the motorway. It’s not quite as relaxing as some other cars. Feels a little twitchier than some of its alternatives, but overall, this is still really good on the road, particularly by electric car standards. And actually, the ride and the steering make this feel pretty sporty. But is it the sportiest of the three? Would you expect this to be the sportiest of the three cuz it’s the IM5 performance model? But is it? Well, no, not really in every respect because a lot of that is down to weight because it’s by far the heaviest of the cars here. And you feel that. You feel it in how it’s a bit lazier turning into corners. And then once you’re in the corner, there’s a bit more body lean as well. And then there’s the steering, which is fine, but for a sporty car, it would be nice if there was a bit more bit more sensation through the steering. So, you get a feeling of the grip building up at the front wheels. It’s just not it’s just a bit numb. And what about the ride quality? Well, it’s not terrible. So, that’s the good thing because it’s reasonably soft, but having said that, it’s not as well controlled as the Tesla. And you notice that because if you’re going around a corner and hit a bump mid bend like that, it tends just to get a little bit more upset by them. But strangely, at the same time, you still feel the impacts over potholes just as much as you do in the Tesla. So, it’s a bit in no man’s land in that respect. But what about the positives? Well, like the Tesla, it’s very quiet at speed. So, it’s a very good car to cruise in for long distances. And then there’s the pace. Now, that is where it absolutely smashes the other ones because it will do naugh to 62 in 3.2 seconds, which is really, really fast. And the good thing is because you’ve got four-wheel drive, you’ve got loads of traction, even on a day like this. Now, fairly obviously, this is not as fast as that IM5. It’s not even as quick as that Tesla, but do you really care? This can still do naugh to 60 in less than 7 seconds, which is more than fast enough for an executive saloon. And in some other respects, this is actually the best of the three to drive. It has the smoothest, most comfortable ride for one thing. Even with these 19in alloys, you get 18-in rims on the cheaper sport edition. It’s particularly good at high speeds, but even around town, this is a comfortable car. It’s also the only one of these cars with a twospeed gearbox, and that means at faster speeds, you are in higher gear, which means the electric motor isn’t spinning as fast, and that should in theory help efficiency, but we’ll be finding out if that’s the case in the real world when we crunch the numbers later on. And what about handling? Well, this can’t carry as much speed through a corner as that Tesla Model 3. There’s just not the same mechanical grip. But in other respects, it’s actually more pleasant to drive because the steering is slower. It’s more naturally weighted. So, as long as you’re not absolutely thrashing it along at 10/10, this is a nice thing to drive along a country road like this. The only thing I would say is that it isn’t the quietest car. There’s some road noise. Again, those 19in wheels probably don’t help there. There’s also a bit of wind noise at faster speeds around these frameless doors. And there is a continual gurgling noise from the air conditioning system. So, it sounds a bit like there’s a dishwasher running in the dashboard there, which isn’t ideal. But other than that, this is a really nice thing to drive. Now, before we get into the numbers, something unusual happened in this test and unfortunately resulted in a collision between two of the cars that we had. And this was not down to driver error. It happened at low speeds. Everything was fine. But it is something that we are needing to investigate. And so, in a future video, we’re going to be explaining exactly what happened in detail once we’ve done all of our research and once we’ve got all the evidence and quotes that we need from the manufacturers involved. And if you want to make sure that you see that video, then hit the subscribe button. For now, we are not factoring that into any of the conclusions that we draw in this test. And instead, we’re going to focus on the charging and the range numbers to start. So, if we go back to that first charge in Kamadan, we timed how long it took each car to get from 30 to 80%. I was in the Model 3, plugged into a supercharger, and it took me 27 minutes 15 seconds. My average charging rate, which was across the whole of my charge to 80%, was 97 kW. John, you were in the IM5 plugged in next to me in one of the fastest charging electric cars you can buy. How long did it take you? Well, it took a fraction over 36 minutes, Doug. And the average charging rate across that whole charge was only 81 kW, which is quite a bit below the 396 kW that MG claims. Now, of course, we know that a 400vt Tesla supercharger won’t deliver 396 kW, but here’s the thing. We’ve plugged in this IM5 and in a previous test, the IM6 or the SUV version at lots of different charging points at various different charging states, including 800 volt chargers. Including 800 volt chargers. And we’ve never seen close to 396 kW. The best was around 270 kW with the IM6 when you plugged it in once, but that was only once. Mostly we’ve seen charging speeds of around 85 kW even from a very low state of charge. Now that still could be the fault of the chargers. We know that. But the only thing we will say is we have seen cars parked next to the NGS when they’ve been on charge and they’ve been charging at faster rates. That is true. That is disappointing, isn’t it? Now, what about the CLA? Well, as I explained, I couldn’t use those 400 volt superchargers, but at the grid server, I found it only took me 17 minutes and 10 seconds to go from 30 to 80%. And my average charging speed across the whole charge was 153 kW. Wow, that is impressive. And the fastest of the three cars here. So now let’s look at all of the charging data that we have because obviously that wasn’t our only stop from the entire trip and work out the real world range and the real world efficiency. So we ended up driving more than 450 mi in total. In the Tesla, I ended up doing about 20 miles more than the other cars because the grid serve charges that we ended up at at the end of the trip were painfully slow. So, I bailed earlier and went off to finish my top up at a quicker charger. You did? And the other thing to point out is that because those charges were so slow at 8:00 on a Friday evening, we decided to do our final charge to 80%. And so for our real world efficiency figures that we’re about to reveal, we have extrapolated up to 100% which is the charge level we started with of course. So for the 483 mi that I covered in the Model 3, I needed 110.4 kwatt hours. My average efficiency was 3.8 m per kilowatt hour. Although the trip computer was showing 4.4 miles per kilowatt hour, but of course the real world figure factors in charging losses which the trip computer won’t. And the total cost for me using a mix of superchargers and some other fast public chargers was £8916. What about the IM5? Well, I covered 465 miles and that used up 163.2 kwatt hours. And after that, the IM5’s trip computer was showing average efficiency of 2.7 m per kowatt hour. But going on the actual energy used, the MG’s real world efficiency was just 2.5 m per kowatt hour. So, not great. And it also cost me a lot more as a result. So, the total trip cost £117.90. Okay. That’s pretty poor efficiency, isn’t it? And it also shows the impact that it can have on your wallet. Yeah. And some of your charging was at Tesla Superchargers, which as we know are generally speaking, and I think that was the case here, are quite a bit cheaper than other public charging providers. So surely that leaves the IM5 in third place for efficiency, which means Will, was the CLA more efficient than the Model 3? Well, I covered 461 miles and I needed 108.2 kwatt hours of energy for that journey. And by estimating the amount of extra energy I’d have needed to get the battery back up to 100%, that means my real world efficiency, including charging losses again, was 3.6 m per kowatt hour. The trip computer out of interest was showing 4 miles per kilowatt hour and the total cost was £96.32. Okay, so the model 3 was the most efficient then. And even though I covered a few more miles, it was still cheaper and that wasn’t just using superchargers the whole way either. But now what about the real world ranges? Let’s take a look at those. Yes. Now, I should point out that we didn’t run these cars out of charge on the public road, but with all the data we have from this trip. We can calculate an estimated real world range for each car, and I’m assuming the worst result was the IM5. Well, Doug, it’s dangerous to assume. However, on this occasion, you are right. The IM5’s estimated real world range from this test was 276 mi. So quite a bit down on the official 357 miles that MG claims, but it was mostly on the motorway to be fair. And remember, there is a long range version of the IM5 which can officially travel almost 100 miles further than this performance version on a single charge. So which is best between the Model 3 and CLA? In the Model 3, the estimated real world range was 335 mi and the CLA, well, it was 342 mi. So, that is a win for the CLA, albeit by a pretty small margin. And really, that’s only because it has a bigger battery than your Tesla because, as you mentioned, the Model 3 does have the best real world efficiency. Although, remember the RCLA was on 19in alloys. Cheaper versions have 18in wheels. So, on paper at least, those cheaper versions should be slightly more efficient. Good point. But now, let’s talk overall costs of these cars then. and the Model 3 has the cheapest list price. But when you factor in the discounts that are available, then the difference between them actually becomes pretty close. Yeah, that’s the same for company car tax as well. All of these cars are of course full EVs, so they’re very cheap when it comes to benefit and kind tax. But it is quite different when it comes to PCP finance, isn’t it? That’s right. And to get these quotes, the terms that we decided on were a £5,000 deposit covering £10,000 a year over four years. And what’s the cost per month for the IM5? Well, I hope nobody be superstitious here cuz it was a devilish £666. And the CLA? £578, which is quite a bit cheaper. But what about the Model 3? Well, it’s £41, so a lot cheaper than the other two. And that is largely thanks to 0% APR and a £3,000 deposit contribution from Tesla. And it’s the cheapest car to start with by quite a big margin, isn’t it? of course. So, where does all of that leave us in conclusion? Well, I think from what we’ve talked about, it’s quite clear that the IM5 is going to be in third place in this test. It was the quickest though, by quite a margin. It definitely was. But on the other side of that, it was the worst for efficiency, the worst for range, the most expensive, and also the least impressive overall to drive. However, since filming, we have had a chance to drive the long range version, which is much better. It’s more comfortable. It’s cheaper. Uh albeit still not as quite as cheap as a Tesla, and it’s still more than fast enough. So, we think it’s the much more recommendable version, don’t we? Definitely. Having said that, it was still probably finished in third place in this test, but much closer to the other two. And then it’s actually very close between the other two cars, the Model 3 and the CLA in this test, isn’t it, Will? Yeah, the CLA is a really impressive EV. Its biggest strength, I think, is what it’s like to drive on the road because it’s the most comfortable of the three cars that we had on this test. It has the nicest steering and also it has the longest range as well, but it’s not quite the allrounder that the Model 3 is, is it? No, it just doesn’t tick as many boxes really. It’s a lot more expensive. It’s not as efficient in the real world. It’s fairly cramped in the back. And at the moment, there is that problem of it not being able to use 400 volt chargers. Although, as I explained earlier, Mercedes will be sorting that out with an option next year. And so, it’s yet another victory for the Model 3, which is yet to be beaten in all the years it’s been on sale, which is pretty remarkable. True. I But I think we’d all agree that the CLA has come closest to beating the Model 3 as an electric car. And actually, if this test was all about the driving side of things, it’s probably the CLA is the nicest car to drive and do long distances in. Yeah, I think certainly if you’re doing long journeys, then it’s a very impressive thing. But factoring in everything, the Model 3 is the most recommendable car. So, there you have it. Another victory for the Model 3. Thanks very much for watching this video. If you want to see another one, click up there. Make sure you subscribe to our channel as well. And if you want to read much more about these cars and every car around, click on that link to go to whatcar.com.
There is a NEW Tesla Model 3. So is it now even further ahead of the competition?
To put it to the test, we have the new Mercedes CLA and MG IM5 – on paper two of the toughest rivals it’s EVER had. But which is the best electric car? Watch to find out.
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