805 miles this week in my MG5 trophy LR Parts 1-4

[Les burrows]

This thread as to be in 4 parts as you are not able to post more than I think 8/9 pictures on this site in one post

I will very probably get in trouble with admin for this very long post.

But here goes regardless because I have tried to give a full and accurate account of the MG5 Trophy on a road trip.

I have put numbers on each section just in case you need a break or fall a sleep while reading it, or just get simply bored Apologies in advance.
1
This is my latest trip in my MG5 trophy. It started on the 20/05/23 with us driving from Wigan to Swansea to pick up a couple of friends who are not able to drive more than a short distance anymore, and take them for a short holiday break which they have not had in many years so we are going from Swansea to the Cotswolds for a 5 day stay in a very nice hotel.
2
So at the start from home with the battery at 97% and in default mode, Comfort ReGen 2, GOM was reading 294 miles see pictures. This went to 316 when I selected Eco Mode1 as I set off no picture as I was now driving.


3
So around first 10 miles are M6 with a 50 mph limit and then up to around 65 mph for the next 7/8 miles M6 & M56. So off the motorways now and head south on the A49 as far as Acton bridge in medium traffic when I get a warning from Google maps on CarPlay, that there’s a long delay somewhere ahead of me and directing me off the A49 to a different route saying it’s going to save about 20 minutes, so I’m new to CarPlay really but decided to do what it had told me not sure that was the right thing to do, so after around 2.5 hours of driving on A roads with a fair amount of traffic and stop start motoring we stop in Newtown in mid wales for a comfort/coffee/snack break, we have covered 95 miles and have 58% of the battery left, so 39% of the battery used, Gom says we now have 166 miles left,
hang on I know that doesn’t make sense 95 miles driven mostly in
Eco1 but 128 gone from the Gom !.
Moral is Gom tells lies.


4
So there’s a 7kw charger where we are parked for our comfort stop so I plug in for around 45 minutes while we are taking our coffee and snack which takes the battery from 58 - 67% and now 194 miles are available so no worries.


5
So we set off again driving the length of Mid Wales along the A483 lovely scenery and road if a little up hill and down dale twisting and winding all the way, ho how I wish I was back on a motorcycle again right now or an MG Cyberstar, anyhow 25 miles from Swansea we come to a halt due to a bad accident on one of these bends stuck now for around 45 minutes 3/4 cars and a van looked like some one was on the wrong side of the road maybe trying to overtake hope no one was hurt.

So when the police had done what they needed to do they cleared one side and managed to get things moving again so we continued south to my friends home in Gorseinon near Swansea, so now we have done 194 miles and have 30% left in the battery and 89 miles left on the Gom which would have been around 19% left in battery if I had not put the 11% in when in Newtown having a coffee.


Mainly in Eco but from time to time flicked into sport when needed to overtake something, and has for regen flicking thro the 3 settings as needed which is so easy to do in the MG5 and is far better than the 4 Se IMO.
5
So now Monday 22/05/23 and off we set to the Cotswolds for our mini holiday.
4 goods size adults plus a boot full to the brim with luggage.
Started off with a full charge 100% Gom showing 300 miles available in default mode Comfort2, and in Eco1, 315 miles available




6
Arrived at our hotel (couple of pictures of that lower down) after a pleasant drive from south wales to Oxfordshire 38% of battery and 95 miles left after around 3hrs10minutes and about 146 Miles covered, about 110 of them M4 & M5 and the rest A&B roads.


7
So the hotel has 37 PodPoint 7kw chargers on site over 2 car parking areas, here’s some pictures as I mentioned.
Front of Hotel


Rear


Please see part 2

 

[Les burrows]

Added part 2/4

The 18th fairway and 18th hole on the golf course which is part of the hotel.

One car park with chargers 2 on each point

And another

And more 2 at every point

sad thing was around 24 where occupied by ICE or non plug in hybrid vehicles when we arrived the cost for charging here was 42p pkw so very fair I have to say, anyhow this is where I charged for my 4/5 day stay didn’t charge much at all only around 15 kw to go from 38-70% only.

When we arrived the clock showed 3259 miles and when I left on Friday it was at 3385 so around 126 miles on about 38 % of battery done visiting the lovely villages of the Cotswolds which are not very far apart but wonderful to visit. If you have not done so.
8
While wandering around Stow on the Wold came across this beauty.

Please go to part 3

 

[Les burrows]

Part 3/4
And later in the day it drove past us wonderful site to see.
9
So Thursday evening set the car to charge again ready for our trip back to south wales to my friends house used the app to start the charge and stop it at 90%.without an issue.

On Friday morning set off with that 90% and Gom showing 258 Miles available.

Picture in part 4

 

[Les burrows]

Part 4/4

Using Eco1 most of the time and up to 65mph on M roads where possible very heavy traffic on the M5 bank holiday weekend of course, but then the M4 was a disaster with quite a few bad accidents , so we pulled off at Bridgend to let the women do some more shopping as they do, met a nice chap here who was displaying MG cars had a 3 and a 4 trophy on display from Nathaniel Cars, and he stopped me and got quite a surprise when I, and my wife told him we already own an MG4 And a MG5 facelift, had a good chat with him for a while and when I mentioned this Forum he said he knew nothing at all about it, so I showed him the site on my phone he was very interested and said he would take a look though past podcast episodes, and some of the posts on the forum.

Anyhow after about 1.5 hours things where not much better still very heavy traffic on the M4, so we stopped again after about a further 15 miles at a pub that my mate knew for a nice meal so a long journey back to Gorseinon which in total was about 145 miles which took around 9hrs 20 minutes around 5 of which where actually trying to drive.
10
Arrived with 29% left in the battery 79 miles remaining so 61% used which considering we had all the problems we had and the Aircon was on set around 17 almost all the time 22 degrees or more outside so quite warm, I did do quite a bit of flicking of the regen switch up and down plus changing the drive mode from Eco to comfort to help on the hills of which there are many on this trip.

11
So now it’s Sunday and time to head home.
My MG5 was showing 29% of battery 79miles remaining as i wrote in part 10, so over night it’s has fully charge via a 7kw.Pod point charger at my friends home ready for my 200 mile trip home today so this picture shows before the charging started.

So I set the MG Ismart App to start the charge at 00:01 and for it to charge until full so I woke up before the charge was complete and it was at 95% you can see the times top left, and the charging rate bottom right,in the pictures
1

2

3

4

These last four pictures are screen shots of the MG Ismart App.
13
I unplug the car and I have a look at the screens in the car which are the very same as the screen shots above which is excellent you might agree.

The default comfort 2 = 274 miles,

And Eco 1 now says 288 miles.
14
I decide I will take a different route back this time right through the Bannau Brycheiniog National park, towards Brecon Stunning it was again, with me wishing I was on 2 wheels again came here via around 10-15 miles on M4 then the A465,A470,A40,and A49 up to Ludlow where we stop for Coffee and more Cake and had a walk around, was there just over 2 hours or so from Gorseinon to Ludlow, 98 miles of some very steep roads in places so climbing up in comfort mode for a fair way without a problem, and off course getting good regen coming down the other side of them hills, so in Ludlow I have 58% left in the battery 151 miles of range very good.

Ludlow castle.

So off again to Wigan around 110 miles away still using A roads for about the first 90 miles on the A49 and the remainder on the M56 & M6 motorways.

15
So we arrive back home after a lovely drive in the MG5 with 195 miles covered on a single charge and have still got 19% of battery left and 53 miles on the Gom

16
Weather as been lovely all of this last week including this final leg so have been using the A/C off and on while doing it.

It total I have driven 805 miles on this trip and apart from the issues on the M4 on the return it as been very enjoyable MG5 trophy is easy to drive and is very responsive when it has to be on bends and hill climbing is not a problem in anyway it just eats them even fully loaded.

Les.

 

[Gomev]

Nice travelog. It appears your new facelift is working as well as your old Mk1.
How was Heythrop Park, we haven't visited that one yet. It looks very nice but have heard it is very big to get around the place. We were trying out the rather different Corton Coastal Village this last week and it was very nice.

 

[Les burrows]

Nice travelog. It appears your new facelift is working as well as your old Mk1.
How was Heythrop Park, we haven't visited that one yet. It looks very nice but have heard it is very big to get around the place. We were trying out the rather different Corton Coastal Village this last week and it was very nice.

Hi Gomev must admit old model I have said before felt more planted on the road most of the time but this trophy was ok when fully loaded maybe the extra weight.
And Probably due to the smaller wheels the exclusive SR I think it was a bit more efficient than this trophy model again maybe the wheels I use to see high 4s and sometimes 5 plus in the SR but the trophy does not get quite that high low to mid 4 at best on this kind of trip.
Yeh Heytrop is massive to big I think for the age groups they are targeting many with walking difficulties, compared to others I have stayed at to date that being the castle in north wales twice, Alvaston hall, Gunton hall and while we where there we took a look around at Corton and as you say totally different than any of the others misses was not up for trying that one said it reminded her of Hi De Hi, so we have never stopped yet there but I’m sure its fine but maybe in the future but Heythorp is lovely other than at times getting around it and they are still building further wings, needed a golf buggy to get from the room to the swimming pool.
Les

 

[Gomev]

Hi Gomev must admit old model I have said before felt more planted on the road most of the time but this trophy was ok when fully loaded maybe the extra weight.
And Probably due to the smaller wheels the exclusive SR I think it was a bit more efficient than this trophy model again maybe the wheels I use to see high 4s and sometimes 5 plus in the SR but the trophy does not get quite that high low to mid 4 at best on this kind of trip.
Yeh Heytrop is massive to big I think for the age groups they are targeting many with walking difficulties, compared to others I have stayed at to date that being the castle in north wales twice, Alvaston hall, Gunton hall and while we where there we took a look around at Corton and as you say totally different than any of the others misses was not up for trying that one said it reminded her of Hi De Hi, so we have never stopped yet there but I’m sure its fine but maybe in the future but Heythorp is lovely other than at times getting around it and they are still building further wings, needed a golf buggy to get from the room to the swimming pool.
Les

I think the the Mk1 SR was probably the most efficient of all the 5's, my LR easily got 4.5 on my recent trip of approx 530 miles.
We've also been to Alvaston, liked that. We drove into the Gunton one while we were there last week for a nosey and couldn't drive out fast enough. Thought we had driven into a Stalag camp.
Corton was beautiful, compact, and the rooms excellent, plus free 7kW chargers. The outsides are obviously done to give the impression of beach huts but superb inside.
Also been to Nidd Hall, Thoresby Hall, and Norton Grange in the Isle of Wight. Gradually trying them all out, got Holme Lacy booked for autumn. Never know maybe we will run into you at one of the hotels in the future.

P.S. time to update your avatar

 

[Les burrows]

I think the the Mk1 SR was probably the most efficient of all the 5's, my LR easily got 4.5 on my recent trip of approx 530 miles.
We've also been to Alvaston, liked that. We drove into the Gunton one while we were there last week for a nosey and couldn't drive out fast enough. Thought we had driven into a Stalag camp.
Corton was beautiful, compact, and the rooms excellent, plus free 7kW chargers. The outsides are obviously done to give the impression of beach huts but superb inside.
Also been to Nidd Hall, Thoresby Hall, and Norton Grange in the Isle of Wight. Gradually trying them all out, got Holme Lacy booked for autumn. Never know maybe we will run into you at one of the hotels in the future.

P.S. time to update your avatar

Avatar me and a few others here I know and will do, yeh gunston is very old now and in need of some TLC I have to agree it was ok when we went as we had a very nice cottage in the grounds away from the other stuff only went in there to eat and see a show or 2 really I think Thoresby or Nidd we be next maybe back end of the year I wish they had one or two in Scotland but alas none.
Les.

 

[Les burrows]

I think the the Mk1 SR was probably the most efficient of all the 5's, my LR easily got 4.5 on my recent trip of approx 530 miles.
We've also been to Alvaston, liked that. We drove into the Gunton one while we were there last week for a nosey and couldn't drive out fast enough. Thought we had driven into a Stalag camp.
Corton was beautiful, compact, and the rooms excellent, plus free 7kW chargers. The outsides are obviously done to give the impression of beach huts but superb inside.
Also been to Nidd Hall, Thoresby Hall, and Norton Grange in the Isle of Wight. Gradually trying them all out, got Holme Lacy booked for autumn. Never know maybe we will run into you at one of the hotels in the future.

P.S. time to update your avatar

P.S. time to update your avatar
Done. Well Picture. And if you double click on the picture 2 or 3 times you get the full shot

Anyhow
Cannot see how to enter what I’m driving any more ,do you know?
I remember more than a year ago writing here how much better and easy it would be if everybody did this, so when you read a posting you knew just by looking at the persons Avatar, which vehicle and which model they where writing about. Convince it would make things better for all a few did try to go along this track and I remember marking mine up as well to say at that time MG5 SR.
Alast no more now, the MG5 Trophy LR face lifted model and the wife’s MG4 as you know I but have wrote that just for the others that may not.
Les