MG5 my experience after 4 months

This is my first post on the site, but I have been an avid reader of the forum since I joined which was prior to me buying my MG 5.

The information from the forum has been invaluable to me both before and after purchase. I have now owned my car for 4 months and covered 3000 miles and thought I would share my experiences with you.

I had never intended to buy an EV. When I came to change my car I was looking for a petrol automatic hatch or estate. I spent several months trying to find something suitable to buy (I wasn’t in a rush) but never settled on anything, mainly due to a shortage of supply, high prices, and misleading adverts from some dealers offering discounts but who seemed only interested in PCP deals.
When looking at particular makes or models, I would always look on Youtube to see if there were any reviews. On one particular day my attention was drawn a channel run by Cleevely EV mobile (James and Kate) who were discussing a high mileage MG5. I was impressed with their long term review and it’s reliability. From there I started to look seriously at the 5 as it ticked all the boxes that I required.

I then did a bit of research on Auto-trader and saw a dealer in nearby Stoke on Trent offering pre registered 72 reg Exclusive models with less than 50 miles on the clock for £22000. This was quite a saving on list price even though it was pre face lift.
I went to have a look at one and was very impressed with the vehicle. For the money there was nothing on the market to compare with it, so I ended up buying a Piccadilly blue model.
During the week between purchasing and delivery I had a BG Sync Ev charger fitted which allowed me to programme it for cheap off peak electricity. I was a little shocked at the price to be fitted but in fairness there was a lot of work required to comply with regulations.

First Impressions
There were a couple of things that I needed to address following collection

Replacement of wiper blades.​

As the car had been stored outside for 6 months they had obviously perished. A new set was easily and cheaply obtained on line, which cured the problem.​

Debris and dirt in the the bulkhead area.​

The garage didn’t do a thorough prep of the car, the outside was good but the nooks and crannies were full of leaves and dust. That was a simple matter to hoover the front bay out. I’ll revisit this debris issue later when I cover rust potential.​

Poor headlights.​

I saw this covered on the forum and had to agree that the headlight beam was not great, but I think this maybe due to driving another vehicle with LED lights. I have since changed the bulbs for Osram laser bulbs and there has been an improvement.​

Squealing brakes when in reverse.​

This usually occurred first thing every day. I tracked this down to the front brakes (Only the front o/s). I have since stripped, cleaned and brake greased the front pads. So far this seems to have cured the issue.​

DAB radio.​

My vehicle is fitted with the windscreen antenna and USB lead. I would preferably have liked the system to work without this adaptation, but it looks to me that the dealer fix causes the loss of a USB socket, which I do not want to happen, so I will continue to get my favourite programs through Appleplay.​

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Build Quality. Generally speaking I am pleased with the build, however there are a couple of areas which I think could be improved on.

Paint finish.​

When painting at the factory they have missed applying colour and lacquer on the back end of the front wings.If you open the front door it can clearly be seen. I will mention this at the next service when the body work inspection is carried out.​

Panel gaps.​

Although only slight, the bonnet to wing gaps could be more accurate. I shall live this as all of the fixing bolts are colour painted and putting a spanner or socket on these would damage the paint.​

Corrosion prevention and potential rust issues

Front end of sills.​

The sills lack any stone chip protection. They are basically painted metal which isn’t very resident to stones. As such I have fitted a full set of mud guards. I think the front guards are an essential fit. The rear are less important. Whilst fitting the front guards I pulled back the wheel arch liner to find compacted dirt and leaves at the base. This is obviously the main route for water from the bulk head to run and gathers where the front wing joins the sill. To compound potential issues there is a sponge filler that fills the gap at the back end of the wing where it enters the door aperture. This sponge was wet at the bottom and is unlikely to dry out leaving the area permanently wet. I believe this could be a rust trap. To remedy this I have applied a clear wax under seal to the area and made a spacer to lift the sponge filler away from the sill, thereby letting water and debris to drain away from inside the wing and door aperture. This is an area I will check every year to clean and re apply wax.​

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Front wings lips.​

In my view the front wheel arch liners do not cover the lip of the wing which make it susceptible to a build up of road dirt. This then becomes a moisture trap. I also note that the front wing appears to lack any rust protection. To remedy this I have coated the inside of the wing with clear wax. As part of my regular cleaning routine, I also hose out the lip and remove any dirt.​

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General rust proofing.​

Overall, the underneath seems well protected but there were a number of areas that I believe needed attention. I particularly noted that the chassis frames did not appear to have any additional internal cavity wax. Apart from the sills which were full of wax. There were areas of the underbody which appeared untreated. To remedy this I have injected cavity wax into all visible parts of the chassis and clear waxed as much of the remaining parts of the body and suspension. Hopefully this will keep things better and for longer.​

Overall Impressions

After 3000 miles I have had no faults. It has returned an average of 4.6 miles per KWH. It is a pleasure to drive. There is plenty of room for my retriever and shopping (Oh and the wife).

A 3 year service package with 1 MOT was £400.00. I charge it on Octopus go, so around 2p per mile. So overall I am very pleased with my purchase and hope to get many years of good service.

Thanks to you on this forum for all the valuable information. I hope you enjoy reading my experience as much as I have enjoyed yours.

 

[Jomarkh]

Squealing brakes when in reverse.

My breaks make a really bad noise first thing in the morning. they have been like it for 2 years and 42k mileage, at both services I mentioned it. How easy is it to remedy this and what product did you use?

 

[johnnyg]

I used Liqui Moly anti squeal. Complete strip down and clean. Then applied to contact area of pads.

When I say contact area I mean where the calliper piston contacts the back of the pad.

 

[Tommy]

My brakes often squeal first thing in the morning, but I always put this down to the disks being rusty after being out in the rain / moisture overnight. Once on the move, or after a firm braking, the noise goes away.