Buying advice, used MG5, SR vs LR

[johncolescarr]

Hello all, I’m looking to buy my first EV and a used MG5 seems a great fit for me.

I’m a no frills kind of fella, basic spec with minimal driver aids is actually my preference.

I mainly drive 70 mile round trip commute but also do a 120 mile schlep over hilly terrain a couple times a month (120 miles each way with an overnight stay).

By my calculations a standard range should be fine for this (may need a splash top up on my longer journey in winter, for which there is a convenient fast charger halfway).

Am I being naive about range? Particularly after several years (I buy used and hold onto my cars til they die).

I’m encouraged by the YT videos by James and Kate but looking for other opinions

 

[Shrink Proof]

In your position, I'd get the Long Range. Two reasons:-

1. The more crucial it is that you use them, the more likely public chargers are to be broken.

2. Winter will decimate your range - as a former North Yorkshire resident whose work frequently took me around the North York Moors, I know just how cold it can be.

Just my 2p-worth...

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi, I bought a SR Excite in 2021 and have done two trips to Scotland in it. My commute is 66 miles.
It has now done 72k (warranty is 80k) so I got rid if my wife's Octavia and bought a 72 plate LR Exclusive for me and my wife now has the SR.
Winter bad months were about 3.2m/kWh and summer 4.4m/kWh. Similar in both.
Check the stats on here.

M

Post in thread 'The Ultimate MG5 "Real World" Energy Consumption Thread'

Thursday at 3:17 PM

Ok so I stumbled across something interesting, and scary.
On my 12 mile drive into/out of brum every day, I normally get around 3.7-4.2 miles per kwh, depending on temp etc
So last year I drove to Birmingham airport, past my work, and got 4.7miles per kwh.
Ok sunny day and a Sunday with less traffic.

So yesterday, mid week and during the day, in heavy traffic as usual I got 4.9 miles per kwh.
The only difference is, I had my wife with me on both airport occasions.

I need help guys and gals, do i need to take my wife with me to work to get better efficiency?:ROFLMAO...

• m4rmite

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[rjb1970]

The main thing I found with switching, that I wasn't prepared for, is that an EV is more efficient round town and less so on the motorway, whereas ICE cars tend to be the other way round. I learnt this the hard way when I went on a work conference in January, 100 mile round trip with 4 people on board. I have the long range. Started with 80% battery and the car estimating 200 miles range, so in my inexperience I figured I should get back home with 40% battery left. I actually finished with 13%! So for your longer trip you might struggle with the short range in winter. Plus as the battery degrades over time, especially if you're keeping it until it dies, the longer range car will serve you better for longer.

 

[5teep]

Hello all, I’m looking to buy my first EV and a used MG5 seems a great fit for me.

I’m a no frills kind of fella, basic spec with minimal driver aids is actually my preference.

I mainly drive 70 mile round trip commute but also do a 120 mile schlep over hilly terrain a couple times a month (120 miles each way with an overnight stay).

By my calculations a standard range should be fine for this (may need a splash top up on my longer journey in winter, for which there is a convenient fast charger halfway).

Am I being naive about range? Particularly after several years (I buy used and hold onto my cars til they die).

I’m encouraged by the YT videos by James and Kate but looking for other opinions

Range will depend a lot on your driving style and the conditions you drive in so all guesses are just that.
I've driven both SR and LR Exclusive versions -
The SR in the coldest temperatures (0 or minus) will go about 140 miles on my kind of driving which is mostly hillly but non motorway stuff. Summertime the best I've seen was 250 (once) in very hot weather with slow traffic. But on the whole I found it easy to get more than the 214 mile wltp figure in summer.

The LR has extra features, adaptive cruise control which is nice, bigger battery but a less efficient motor so the range increase is less than you might think. It still goes further, in cold weather average 170, right now 200 or just over and that should go up as the summer progresses.

On your long run, is there access to a charger at the destination? if not, somewhere along your route? In fact it's something to start doing now, planning for 30 minute charging stops on the routes you drive to combat range anxiety. At least until you get used to whichever car you drive and know its limitations.

 

[MickeySw]

but a less efficient motor

Any details on that?

 

[johncolescarr]

Range will depend a lot on your driving style and the conditions you drive in so all guesses are just that.
I've driven both SR and LR Exclusive versions -
The SR in the coldest temperatures (0 or minus) will go about 140 miles on my kind of driving which is mostly hillly but non motorway stuff. Summertime the best I've seen was 250 (once) in very hot weather with slow traffic. But on the whole I found it easy to get more than the 214 mile wltp figure in summer.

The LR has extra features, adaptive cruise control which is nice, bigger battery but a less efficient motor so the range increase is less than you might think. It still goes further, in cold weather average 170, right now 200 or just over and that should go up as the summer progresses.

On your long run, is there access to a charger at the destination? if not, somewhere along your route? In fact it's something to start doing now, planning for 30 minute charging stops on the routes you drive to combat range anxiety. At least until you get used to whichever car you drive and know its limitations.

Thanks, this is exactly the insight I have been looking for! I’ve read on several threads that the gap between SR and LR is not a linear extrapolation of the KW storage, not sure if this is the experience across the board, or like for like models (wheel size, driving style etc) but good to hear from someone that has driven both.

On my long run there are several rapid chargers in the town I stop in, plus several on the way. My regular pit stop has 3x 60kW CCS which seem to mostly be available and working. Plus I’m sure there are a few more. Of course I could change my job and journeys be different but in the last 20 years 90% of my journeys have been less than 100 mile round trip (regular long trip is only in last 18 mo and I’m trying to reduce it!)

My driving style is sedate, I currently cruise at 65ish on dual carriage ways and happy to nurse my cars along as in my experience the time savings on uk roads is negligible.

My concern is 4-5 years down the line will the range start dropping off to a point that is inconvenient. Right now I’m leaning towards saving the 1.5-2k premium of LR models and if I need to (exceptionally long or cold trips) I’ll borrow my wife’s diesel galaxy and she can have the EV.

 

[5teep]

Any details on that?

Anecdotally, using my real world driving experience. As I said earlier, I could easily meet and exceed the wltp figure for the standard range but find it very hard to get to the wltp for the long range. 70k miles in standard range, 90k miles in long range.

 

[kevin ellard]

Thanks, this is exactly the insight I have been looking for! I’ve read on several threads that the gap between SR and LR is not a linear extrapolation of the KW storage, not sure if this is the experience across the board, or like for like models (wheel size, driving style etc) but good to hear from someone that has driven both.

On my long run there are several rapid chargers in the town I stop in, plus several on the way. My regular pit stop has 3x 60kW CCS which seem to mostly be available and working. Plus I’m sure there are a few more. Of course I could change my job and journeys be different but in the last 20 years 90% of my journeys have been less than 100 mile round trip (regular long trip is only in last 18 mo and I’m trying to reduce it!)

My driving style is sedate, I currently cruise at 65ish on dual carriage ways and happy to nurse my cars along as in my experience the time savings on uk roads is negligible.

My concern is 4-5 years down the line will the range start dropping off to a point that is inconvenient. Right now I’m leaning towards saving the 1.5-2k premium of LR models and if I need to (exceptionally long or cold trips) I’ll borrow my wife’s diesel galaxy and she can have the EV.

Take a look at the James Coates videos on line - they run a fleet of MG5s and haven't had any trouble with range loss.
My impression, from what I've seen on here, is that the SR does not suffer quite as badly in the cold weather.
If you have overnight charging on your long trip then I think the SR would be fine.
All that said, I bought a long range Trophy which I am very happy with.

 

[5teep]

Thanks, this is exactly the insight I have been looking for! I’ve read on several threads that the gap between SR and LR is not a linear extrapolation of the KW storage, not sure if this is the experience across the board, or like for like models (wheel size, driving style etc) but good to hear from someone that has driven both.

On my long run there are several rapid chargers in the town I stop in, plus several on the way. My regular pit stop has 3x 60kW CCS which seem to mostly be available and working. Plus I’m sure there are a few more. Of course I could change my job and journeys be different but in the last 20 years 90% of my journeys have been less than 100 mile round trip (regular long trip is only in last 18 mo and I’m trying to reduce it!)

My driving style is sedate, I currently cruise at 65ish on dual carriage ways and happy to nurse my cars along as in my experience the time savings on uk roads is negligible.

My concern is 4-5 years down the line will the range start dropping off to a point that is inconvenient. Right now I’m leaning towards saving the 1.5-2k premium of LR models and if I need to (exceptionally long or cold trips) I’ll borrow my wife’s diesel galaxy and she can have the EV.

OK two things, the usual pit stop sounds perfect, plug in there for 15-20 minutes to top up while you go do what you need to.

Re your concern, it's valid but you should not worry. Modern EV batteries are performing far better than expected and a 20 year useful lifespan is very possible. Going by data on my first car which is the only one to have a proper battery state of health check done, it was 98% at 40k miles. In a recent J and K video on the ZS he bought the battery soh was 91% at 238k miles which is roughly the same.
Basically the battery will most likely outlast the car.

 

[johncolescarr]

Thanks for the quick replies. My plan is to go ahead and pick up one of these, likely SR but will be price and condition driven decision. I’ll experiment with pretending I’m in an EV, check chargers and extend my pit stops to simulate what it will be like in real life on my longer trips.

It feels a great time to get into EV motoring right now with the used market incredibly good value (due to public perception/nervousness of EV?) and a well fed secondary market from all the 21/22 reg vehicles that are being off hired.

 

[Jomarkh]

Ask to see the SOH.
My SR at 72k is at about 93% SOH.

 

[johncolescarr]

In

Ask to see the SOH.
My SR at 72k is at about 93% SOH.

i picked up a OBD2 reader that’s compatible with car scanner so I’ll give it a go reading the SOH

 

[MickeySw]

i picked up a OBD2 reader that’s compatible with car scanner so I’ll give it a go reading the SOH

Note: there are many compatible dongles that work with the car scanner app but not all of them connect to a MG5, eZS is another option for Android devices.

As already mentioned by @5teep, modern EV’s battery degradation rates are nowhere near their first generation predecessors and therefore SoH of any second hand MG5 should well be above 95%.

 

[MickeySw]

Anecdotally, using my real world driving experience. As I said earlier, I could easily meet and exceed the wltp figure for the standard range but find it very hard to get to the wltp for the long range. 70k miles in standard range, 90k miles in long range.

Turns out the motors are different between SR (Type 1) & LR (Type 2), interesting though, that the higher spec seems more efficient?

 

[5teep]

I don't think it's more efficient, a bit more powerful certainly. Maybe the extra power isn't enough to offest the extra weight? Either way I can only go by personal experience.

 

[MickeySw]

… a bit more powerful certainly. Maybe the extra power isn't enough to offest the extra weight? Either way I can only go by personal experience.

That’s the odd thing, the LR’s motor is less powerful (on paper) despite the car being 40lbs heavier?

 

[5teep]

That’s the odd thing, the LR’s motor is less powerful (on paper) despite the car being 40lbs heavier?

Did I read it back to front? I think I did.