MG5 owners only. Post on here what you think of the car.

[andrewuk]

Not had the car 2 months yet but it has far exceeded our expectations; it's just so darn practical, which is what we want from a car, and so comfortable, easy and relaxing to drive. A major bonus is how quiet it is on the road. As I work from home charging has been entirely from solar PV so far despite rather dull weather, 600 miles of free fuel! Best car we have ever owned in 45 years of motoring.

I was told that the solar pv can not 100% sure to charge for the EV car. Is it true? I am also going to install solar pv, however, I need to confirm that if my MG5 is fully charged by pv or not.

 

[greentangerine]

I was told that the solar pv can not 100% sure to charge for the EV car. Is it true? I am also going to install solar pv, however, I need to confirm that if my MG5 is fully charged by pv or not.

It depends on the size of your PV array, the load your house is drawing, is it daylight and most importantly, is it sunny?!

 

[Petriix]

I was told that the solar pv can not 100% sure to charge for the EV car. Is it true? I am also going to install solar pv, however, I need to confirm that if my MG5 is fully charged by pv or not.

Solar can definitely contribute to charging. On a good, sunny day my 3.42kWp array can add about 20kWh to the car - around a third of the battery after charging losses. It might require a little from the grid even when it's sunny e.g. when I boil the kettle, the charging won't stop instantly so some power will be imported.

You'll need something like a Zappi charger or similar and it obviously depends on where you are, the orientation and size of your array, the time of year and the weather.

 

[Musicman]

Had the car 6 months and just completed 6000 miles. It’s comfortable on both long journeys and the hop to the shop. It’s reliable. It is very cheap to run. It’s not the build quality I have had in the past, but I am OK with it. Just feels like it has a few wrinkles that will no doubt get ironed out in time (infotainment system being my No.1 priority). Was it a good choice - yes indeed!

 

[andrewuk]

Solar can definitely contribute to charging. On a good, sunny day my 3.42kWp array can add about 20kWh to the car - around a third of the battery after charging losses. It might require a little from the grid even when it's sunny e.g. when I boil the kettle, the charging won't stop instantly so some power will be imported.

You'll need something like a Zappi charger or similar and it obviously depends on where you are, the orientation and size of your array, the time of year and the weather.

How do I know that how much my MG5 is charged by pv and how much by grid?

Btw, how much do you pay for your solor system with 3.43k? I am doing research and find out that it is good to choose the solar system without a battery if the entry power is only arounf 4kwh and if you consider the cost of return.

 

[Barney]

How do I know that how much my MG5 is charged by pv and how much by grid?

Btw, how much do you pay for your solor system with 3.43k? I am doing research and find out that it is good to choose the solar system without a battery if the entry power is only arounf 4kwh and if you consider the cost of return.

If you don't have a battery, then the car can only be using PV-derived energy when panels have enough sunlight to generate power, which clearly varies throughout the day and throughout the year. If your car is not absorbing all the solar energy then presumably you will be exporting the surplus to the grid ? I'm not sure that your question can be answered.

 

[MickH]

I'm really happy with my MG5. It too is the best car I've had.

I do have some caveats:

1. The headlights are a step back for me. Going from xenon hid headlights which were brighter and had the ability to switch sides when driving abroad. Projector headlights were a definite step back. Projector headlights were a new thing a couple of decades ago.
2. The autohold seems a bit basic. The break pedal staying down seems a bit cheap and clunky. My old passat's autohold feature would let the foot break return to it's natural position and turn off the break lights.
3. The infotainment system is just too slow. This is a software issue so can be fixed should MG wish it. Android Auto can be buggy but this may not be MG's fault.
4. Interior storage is poor. The cubby holes and door pockets are too small. It's missing the little draws and storage compartments similar estates would have.

I’m pretty happy with mine and both myself and the wife enjoy driving it. However, I agree with you that the infotainment system is pretty awful with the maps being way out of date, the headlights are terrible with a strange coloured fringing. I have upgraded the bulbs but not prepared to go the illegal LED route. The only other thing I would like is an app with the ability to pre condition the car and remote monitoring of the battery.

 

[sparkygoat]

Really love the car - it's amazing - but is anyone else having trouble with spares?. I was told by my dealer that at only 1650 miles ( 5 weeks from brand new ) that I needed a new gearbox ( yes, a gearbox. apparently ev's have a "reduction" gearbox) . I've been driving a courtesy mg5 since then so no real inconvenience. ( dealer has been really good ). Was told parts would take about 10 weeks to come from China. But that was a few weeks ago. Checked again yesterday and told by dealer "it's out of their hands". This has kind of taken the shine of buying a new car.

 

[defeatedbythecat]

Really love the car - it's amazing - but is anyone else having trouble with spares?. I was told by my dealer that at only 1650 miles ( 5 weeks from brand new ) that I needed a new gearbox ( yes, a gearbox. apparently ev's have a "reduction" gearbox) . I've been driving a courtesy mg5 since then so no real inconvenience. ( dealer has been really good ). Was told parts would take about 10 weeks to come from China. But that was a few weeks ago. Checked again yesterday and told by dealer "it's out of their hands". This has kind of taken the shine of buying a new car.

Assuming that's a warranty repair?

 

[sparkygoat]

Assuming that's a warranty repair?

Of course. Definitely a warranty repair. I reported the noise at only 450mls after new thinking it might be a characteristic of the car. But nope. Was told by service dept it needed a new gearbox.

 

[pjmuk]

Look on the bright side, your car will be virtually as new when you get it back. Any wear and tear will be on the courtesy car

 

[sparkygoat]

Look on the bright side, your car will be virtually as new when you get it back. Any wear and tear will be on the courtesy car

You do have a good point there!

 

[Petriix]

How do I know that how much my MG5 is charged by pv and how much by grid?

Btw, how much do you pay for your solor system with 3.43k? I am doing research and find out that it is good to choose the solar system without a battery if the entry power is only arounf 4kwh and if you consider the cost of return.

The Zappi (and app) tell you that in real-time then, after you unplug, it shows a % 'green' for the previous charging session. With my 50% threshold I'm typically seeing 80-90% green.

My PV system cost £4k for 3.42kWp in 2017. I get FIT and 'deemed' export payments which means I can uses as much of my own generation as I like without penalty so pay back will be 8-9 years (or maybe less if prices continue to spiral). A new installation today would be more likely 12-13 years before it breaks even.

Domestic batteries are not cost effective in the majority of cases but can be if you have particularly high use or certain specific usage patterns. They also cause a net increase in CO2 emissions (power exported to the grid is slightly more efficient, then consider manufacturing and round trip losses for charging and discharging).

Do your own sums based on real data. I'm able to self-consume ~ 60% of generation including EV charging but that takes a lot of effort and being at home during the day much of the time.

 

[biffo]

Once V2G and V2H become more common, I've always thought buying an old Nissan Leaf that supports bi-directional charging could be more cost effective than a solar battery. Saying that, more cars will support bi-directional charging in coming years and solar batteries might also drastically reduce in price once old EV batteries are repurposed.

I think this is an area that's likely to change most over the next 5 to 10 years.

 

[Caldosan]

The majority of cars use CCS. CCS V2G will be a while according to CharIN, it has said it will be 2025 before it can support V2G. The used Leaf is something I thought about but I live outside the trial region (Midlands afaik). Anyway in my usage case a Tesla Powerwall took 27.7 years to repay its outlay cost. I can wait for V2G

 

[Kompins]

I was told that the solar pv can not 100% sure to charge for the EV car. Is it true? I am also going to install solar pv, however, I need to confirm that if my MG5 is fully charged by pv or not.

We don't have a charger as due to our car usage profile and the fact I work from home we don't need one. We have a 3.65kW array and I charge the car on days when we will have low power loads and it's sunny The car draws 2.2 ish on the granny charger so that leaves us with enough to run everything else. We went for optimised LG panels and the matching SolarEdge inverter, not cheap but so impressed. I'd advise anyone looking to have solar PV to find out about panel optimisation before making a descision.

 

[Petriix]

We don't have a charger as due to our car usage profile and the fact I work from home we don't need one. We have a 3.65kW array and I charge the car on days when we will have low power loads and it's sunny The car draws 2.2 ish on the granny charger so that leaves us with enough to run everything else. We went for optimised LG panels and the matching SolarEdge inverter, not cheap but so impressed. I'd advise anyone looking to have solar PV to find out about panel optimisation before making a descision.

Optimisers make sense if you have shading. Otherwise they're pretty redundant. It would have cost a lot more for the Solaredge kit and added several years to the payback for me. It's definitely worth doing the calculations though.

 

[m4rmite]

Faultless apart from the infotainment screen going blank.
It happened once whilst in the nav screen, nearly at work so left it until i finished work and it was fine.

This morning it happened while on the main screen and it came back on after a few minutes, radio kept playing all the time no problem.

Nav screen worked fine but the heater on screen displays never moved to the correct details- ie- turned up the heater temp never moved from LO or the fan speed.
I turned the heater up full and it did indeed blow warm air out.
Soon see if it works after i finish work.

 

[biffo]

I've encountered the issue where I selected drive before the car said ready - didn't seem to want to go into gear then and rolled forward once selected reverse. Not happened again now that I always wait for 'ready' to appear. Might have partly been user error/perception as only had the car a couple of days at this stage.

 

[AnonymouseDriva]

I've encountered the issue where I selected drive before the car said ready - didn't seem to want to go into gear then and rolled forward once selected reverse. Not happened again now that I always wait for 'ready' to appear. Might have partly been user error/perception as only had the car a couple of days at this stage.

Hah - I have the opposite problem. Not used to an auto. Now I've got my head around no clutch and not changing gears, I keep trying to set off from home then realising I haven't put it in drive yet...

Loving it so far though. Big test comes in October when it goes on a camping trip. 171 miles to site loaded to the hilt and with a roofbox on top. Hoping to make it in one go, but with spots in Gretna or Dumfries identified in case I need a top up en route.

I have also removed the big foam insert. all the stuff that was in there actually fits perfectly in a bag in the netted pocket on the left of the boot of the LR. That'll help with the packing - sleeping bags might be going under there instead! Plus, if I need the puncture kit, I don't want to have to unload everything to get to it!