MGS5 Information & Reviews

[TimothyN]

Well, I wouldn't say 5% is nowhere...

But clearly a design decision has been taken.

 

[tsedge]

Well, I wouldn't say 5% is nowhere...

But clearly a design decision has been taken.

Yep.

I think with a LR car it probably wouldn't be an issue at 100% with the battery top buffer and the average usage balancing out with OPD.

But I suppose they have to set the policy for worst case: SR at 100% for the one customer who lives at the top of a mountain and descends for 30 minutes when they start their journey.

 

[NLMGSAN]

I don't know how it works with the mgs5, but the MG4 is not consistent in this either. After the software update in January 2025, OPD suddenly worked at 100%. Then, after the summer, all of a sudden it refused to do so. It again went back to 97%-98% before I could activate it. But sometimes, it also worked at 99%.

I do charge more often at 100% than just the once-a-month balancing charge. It prevents me from paying expensive charge prices along motorways. I feel like there many variables causing you to use OPD at 100% or not. Like battery health status (> software changes charge behaviour) and the fact that 100% is a rounded number that may leave some absolute charge capacity on the table (99,5% when rounded off still leaves 0,374 Wh to top off with a 74.4 kWh net battery capacity). Another one is button mispress. If I select OPD when driving in town, bumpy rides have lead me to think I selected it. But the audio confirmation only told me .. I missed it. Depending when you find out it wasn't activated, charge levels may have dropped and you could think it is a different charge level when it actually activates. I found this out when I started asking my wife to change to OPD as she was sitting in the passenger seat.
This week I drove the ZS EV (loan car). Interestingly, I defaulted to level 3 and it never complained at 100%. But the regen reduced quite strongly, only to return to maximum after 10% or so. This could also happen to OPD and my MG4: the dash shows 100% and OPD is on, but the regenerated charge is lower....

Btw, also the MGS5 seems to roll backwards when stopping it on a steep slope with OPD on.

 

[Les burrows]

Hi I have recently done a 160 mile round trip in an MGS5 in the rear seat and I can honestly say it was not very comfortable; let me explain.

The day before doing this journey I had driven the car for only a short distance and that was ok ish, then I travelled around 7-8 miles in the front passenger seat and I said to the owner/driver the ride is a little harsh don’t you think? his response was well it's not as smooth as the car he had just traded in to purchase the S5 which was a Peugeot 3008 so I suggest maybe the tyre pressures where incorrect even though the information screen reading appeared ok. so when we got back to his home we had a very quick check and all appeared correct even though the tyres weren’t totally cold. have driven around 4-5 miles at slowest speeds most of the ride, due to traffic conditions.

So the next morning we set off on the 160 mile round trip journey and this time myself and my wife sat in the rear seat. well I was most disappointed in the quality of the ride and after on hour or so I realised my lower back was aching quite a lot, my wife said she had a little bit of discomfort also but the ride was in my opinion not very good at all, I felt every jarring of the road which where both A roads and motorways for around 25-30 miles of the journey so I was most concerned about that.

Off all the vehicle reviews we watch on YT etc on any vehicle really you never really get an opinion of the passengers do you?
The tester will sit in the back to test knee and head room but no one rides there.

In hindsight afterwards I’m thinking perhaps the fixings used to fit a child seat my have played apart in this as that area of the seat has a flap to cover these slots. I think it’s called iso fix something like that anyhow.

The mi/kWh for the journey was 3.2, outside temp 11-12 degrees, dry roads and no wind to speak of.

So retuning to my own MG5 estate to drive home afterwards I was thinking how much better the ride was and just as quiet as the new car after 20 odd thousand miles.

So not a criticism or complaint about the new S5 it’s a very nice car but from the points above it did not impress me.
Les

 

[Loveclose]

Have to say, I was driven home the other night, and I sat in the back.
Can't say I experienced anything like what you describe. Loads more room than the MG4, and the seats were very comfortable.
Which version of the S5 were you in??
My Trophy trim was just fine back seat-wise....

 

[Les burrows]

Yes, it was the Trophy and I did do around 80 miles each way. I'm pleased you found it ok. maybe just me then; front seats fine, rear not for me.
Les

 

[Loveclose]

To be fair....I didn't do 80 miles....more like 25.
But I had a bad back and I found the rear seats comfortable and supportive!!

 

[ajrl]

And how tall are you(s)? How did you feel the under thigh support (or lack of) played a part?

 

[Ian Key]

I'm 6ft 1in (185.4cm) with long legs and I use a seat cushion in my MGS5 to give the seat a little more height and leg support. Before anyone says you can adjust the seat height, I know you can but as I have the seat all the way back when you raise the seat it moves forward. I used the same cushion in the MG4 and it improved the comfort too.

https://amzn.eu/d/hCwoYV0

 

[Delascas]

 

[Les burrows]

And how tall are you(s)? How did you feel the under thigh support (or lack of) played a part?

6 ft 1.8 m can’t remember what the under leg support was like to be honest.
Les

 

[NLMGSAN]

Jerry also mentions the rear seats are a bit too flat. And soso space for the feet. But I do not see much difference with the mg4 and that sense.

 

[Blackbartblues]

Here’s my review for the MGS5 after 6 weeks and 1,700 miles. Warning - not a positive read!



Context:

I got my new MGS5 Trophy in December. It would be mainly used for day to day travel plus trade shows that I attend every couple of weeks (February-December) and stock collections. I’ve had plenty of cars previously, from Minis to a Citroen C5 estate, with a Polestar 2 being my prior foray into electric (company car for a year).



The great:

I love the look of the car, especially in the red that I chose.

I really like the way the car handles on a country road, which given where I live I find myself on every day.

The app is worlds better than for other cars I’ve had, with the ability to control a lot more from your phone. Plus it connects no issue about 95% of the time.



The good:

MG Smart Pilot is a nice feature to avoid a thousand button presses before driving off.

The seats are quite comfortable - not quite as good as my old V60, but better than most.

CarPlay connects without issue



The niggles:

The stereo is pants. It doesn’t cost much to generate a decent sound in a car, but MG clearly went to the cheap parts bin. The DAB is quite poor too.

While the car handles nicely on a country road, it never really settles on the straight, being quite fidgety.

The driver screen doesn’t have a cover above to stop it reflecting badly off the windscreen at night (combines with one ‘feature’ below).



The bad & awful:

This is a big one for me: The adaptive cruise control is simply awful, and you can’t turn off the adaptive element. Not only is the sensitivity all over the place, if there’s rain / too much sun / my 8 year old sneezes, the cruise decides to turn off completely. When it does so, because I’m in 1-pedal drive the car lurches forward as it regen brakes heavily. I’ve also had random false positives of other vehicles or obstacles, meaning once again the car anchors up. This alone ruins longer journeys.

The car lies about its efficiency (see my long post on the real world range thread about this) and gets nowhere near what it should. It’s awful at any long distance travel, and I drive quite sedately.

The car sensors that show cars in front / to your side on the driver display are typically a bit pointless, but harmless. However when going around country lanes at night they go berserk, thinking there are cars either side of you on and off at great speed, then sometimes in front of you. This creates a wonderful disco effect on the windscreen due to reflection, and then occasionally the car decides to emergency stop - even though the road ahead is empty. YAY.



Conclusion:

Overall I’d say that while the car is decent for around town, for anyone that wants a cruiser, or travels country routes, this is not the car for you. I regret my purchase and upon bringing up my issues with the dealer they said ‘you know, safety systems aren’t always 100%.’ They then admitted to having other cars coming back because people had similar frustrations.

The car’s going back tomorrow. I’m taking a hit as it’s over a month old now, but I don’t care. I can’t drive it any longer without getting angry with it. Going to get another Polestar, which had all the same systems (that actually worked and didn’t give me heart attacks / nearly cause accidents) and the one I had went as far as it said it would when I left with any given charge.

Any potential buyer be warned.

 

[NLMGSAN]

The bad & awful:

This is a big one for me: The adaptive cruise control is simply awful, and you can’t turn off the adaptive element. Not only is the sensitivity all over the place, if there’s rain / too much sun / my 8 year old sneezes, the cruise decides to turn off completely. When it does so, because I’m in 1-pedal drive the car lurches forward as it regen brakes heavily. I’ve also had random false positives of other vehicles or obstacles, meaning once again the car anchors up. This alone ruins longer journeys.

I was scanning here in case I might jump ship. But now you mention this: it is exactly what I experience with my MG4. It started after an update. The first time I was completely surprized. Than it caught me again in heavy traffic with all lanes on a bridge fully loaded. The car just dropped 6 miles per hour in a very short time (opd active).
I complained about it but of course they could not reproduce it. So I made a video of, again on the same bridge. Well....

Btw, these are not safety systems. They are driver assist system. This has consequences in testing and homologation, so I've told.

 

[Blackbartblues]

I was scanning here in case I might jump ship. But now you mention this: it is exactly what I experience with my MG4. It started after an update. The first time I was completely surprized. Than it caught me again in heavy traffic with all lanes on a bridge fully loaded. The car just dropped 6 miles per hour in a very short time (opd active).
I complained about it but of course they could not reproduce it. So I made a video of, again on the same bridge. Well....

Btw, these are not safety systems. They are driver assist system. This has consequences in testing and homologation, so I've told.

I know they’re not safety systems, but the sales chap at the dealership seems to know very little about the car.m and refers to them as such. When I picked it up (while I was still excited about the car) there were features he said didn’t exist that do, I pointed out some stuff to him, and he spent quite a bit of time telling me how if he had the choice he’d buy a ‘premium’ car rather than the MG. Seriously I think when they interview for some car dealerships they just see if you can wear a suit well

 

[Rei]

The bad & awful:

This is a big one for me: The adaptive cruise control is simply awful, and you can’t turn off the adaptive element. Not only is the sensitivity all over the place, if there’s rain / too much sun / my 8 year old sneezes, the cruise decides to turn off completely. When it does so, because I’m in 1-pedal drive the car lurches forward as it regen brakes heavily. I’ve also had random false positives of other vehicles or obstacles, meaning once again the car anchors up. This alone ruins longer journeys.

Can you tell us what software version you have? Mine doesn't do that, when the adaptive cruise control turns off in one pedal mode the car coasts until I start using the pedals. It's actually really nice.

 

[Blackbartblues]

Can you tell us what software version you have? Mine doesn't do that, when the adaptive cruise control turns off in one pedal mode the car coasts until I start using the pedals. It's actually really nice.

I’ll have quick look if I can as I hand it back. Currently sat at the dealership being ignored (30 minutes so far).