First impressions - and Head lights and volume control comments

[OzDrew]

Thanks for this forum, so glad I found it. The MGS5 has recently been released downunder, and I've had one on evaluation for the day. I'm new to EVs but have a had a few cars in my time.
Two things I noticed that I haven't seen covered in this forum.

1. Head light (or headlamp as it's called in the UK manual) range feels low. I'm aware of the height adjustment, it's on 0, but seems like the range on normal beams is a bit lower than what I'm used to from a 2023 Subaru Outback and 2017 Mazda CX3 (both have LED head lights). High beam is fine, but hard to spot critters on the country roads here on my brief night drive this evening on just normal beam.
2. Volume control wierdness. On one occassion today, after a 5 minute stop. Got back in, everything starts fine, Android Auto comes on, but the volume control decided it was controlling the Mic volume level, not the speaker volume. After about 5 minutes of driving it came back to controlling speaker volume. Don't know if this is a car thing or a Android Auto thing or my phone (Samsung Galaxy S25+)

Apart from that, we enjoyed the drive. Pretty happy overall, but comparatively short range worries me as we do frequent trips to the city (approx 320kms) and country charging here is not that great. We do stop every two hours, but we like to stop in quiet places away from crowds, no chargers in these spots and don't like the idea of queuing for the only working charger in peak season. Filling up the battery for the trip home would be a challenge as well.

Only other observation that stands out is the steering wheel, it's rather odd shape, and it's quite narrow between thumb and forefinger with hands in the in the "quarter past nine"position.

European style controls (indicator and light stalk on the left) will take a bit of getting used to.

We liked the drive, power is adequate, it's comfortable enough, and feels like a good compromise in terms of size as we wanted something a little smaller than an Outback.

 

[5teep]

Thanks for that ^

Which version of the car do you have? not getting 320km sounds like you may have the smaller battery? The bigger 63 kWh version should get you 400km without too much trouble.

 

[salty]

 

[OzDrew]

Thanks for that ^

Which version of the car do you have? not getting 320km sounds like you may have the smaller battery? The bigger 63kwh version should get you 400km without too much trouble.

Thanks, yeah that would help. 62kWh Top Spec (Essence). Going for a longer drive today, will see how we go.

 

[OzDrew]

We managed almost 280 km, mostly country roads, with a good mix of driving and return trip of 170km, no crazy stuff, just a couple of quick overtakes. Passed through several towns on the trip where it drops down to between 50 and 70km/h.
I averaged very close to 16 kWh/100km. So based on that I'm comfortable we'll get our regular city trip in without needing to charge on the way, as long as we start at 100% charge. Would still prefer a slightly bigger battery option if such a thing were to become available.
Two things I really don't like, the steering wheel and indicator volume. I've just read the latter can be changed on a MG4, not sure about the MGS5. Apart from that, it's an enjoyable driving experience.

 

[5teep]

Pretty sure we'll see a bigger battery version in the next year.

 

[tsedge]

Pretty sure we'll see a bigger battery version in the next year.

I expect they will make one, particularly for Australian market. Whether MGUK bring it here may depend on their view of sales, apparently the MG4 ER hasn't sold many at all, so they may deem it not worth offering.

 

[Delascas]

Whether MGUK bring it here may depend on their view of sales, apparently the MG4 ER hasn't sold many at all, so they may deem it not worth offering.

In the Chorley Group review of the MGS5 on YouTube, they stated only 5% of MG4 cars sold in the UK have been the XR version.

 

[salty]

In the Chorley Group review of the MGS5 on YouTube, they stated only 5% of MG4 cars sold in the UK have been the XR version.

Probably because for the same money or even less. You could get an X Power..

 

[Ian Key]

Probably because for the same money or even less. You could get an X Power..

I like your reasoning. You want a car with a longer range than the LR but instead you buy one that encourages enthusiastic driving decreasing the miles/kW so you need to charge more often

 

[salty]

I like your reasoning. You want a car with a longer range than the LR but instead you buy one that encourages enthusiastic driving decreasing the miles/kW so you need to charge more often

Yep, and?

 

[tsedge]

Probably because for the same money or even less. You could get an X Power..

That is certainly part of the reason, although not everyone who wants range will be persuaded by performance as an alternative.

Will be interesting to see what they do, they could replicate both variants for the MGS5, or maybe not.

 

[OzDrew]

will no doubt be interesting. Until details are known it's a lot of speculation and guesswork. Whatever comes out, my guess is bigger motor and bigger battery will mean bigger sticker price. I could wait, and not start to enjoy any of the benefits or I could make the switch now, and switch again in a couple of years with even more options.
Gotta start taking advantage of govt incentives here, seems crazy not to.