Poor cabin heating

[Gaza66]

Two weeks into owning my sleek Cosmic Silver S5, and now that the outside temperatures have started to drop, I’ve noticed an issue with the cabin heating. When the A/C is set to Auto, it only seems to send a faint amount of warm air to the front windshield, regardless of blower speed, with no noticeable airflow coming from the other vents. Even when I set the temperature as high as 25°C, the cabin never reaches the desired warmth.

Even when not in auto although air can be selected for all the vents the amount of heat coming from them seems very minimal.

Anyone else had an issue with their cabin not getting warm or poor heat output?

 

[Lovemyev]

Two weeks into owning my sleek Cosmic Silver S5, and now that the outside temperatures have started to drop, I’ve noticed an issue with the cabin heating. When the A/C is set to Auto, it only seems to send a faint amount of warm air to the front windshield, regardless of blower speed, with no noticeable airflow coming from the other vents. Even when I set the temperature as high as 25°C, the cabin never reaches the desired warmth.

Even when not in auto although air can be selected for all the vents the amount of heat coming from them seems very minimal.

Anyone else had an issue with their cabin not getting warm or poor heat output?

What driving mode are you using ?.
If you are in eco mode, then expect that the heat to the cabin, will be vastly reduced.

 

[Gaza66]

What driving mode are you using ?.
If you are in eco mode, then expect that the heat to the cabin, will be vastly reduced.

Driving mode is "normal", my first EV so wasn't sure if it would be considered normal. I was thinking about getting a digital thermometer and seeing how far away from the required temperature the cabin actually is, I don't recall seeing an option for ECO but will check to be sure.

 

[Lovemyev]

We have only had our car for a short time now and have not really pushed the heating system much at all really.
I do like the fact that you can command the heated seats from the App though .
I am not even sure if the MGS5 has an eco mode if I am being honest, I use the default mode of normal and find it great.
Eco mode on the other MG models, does reduce the heat output from the cabin heater greatly.

 

[Alb]

I imagine COMFORT mode is the equivalent of ECO on the MGS5.

 

[Mark B]

I have my S5 set to Eco mode under the Custom options screen.

 

[Lovemyev]

I have my S5 set to Eco mode under the Custom options screen.

Thanks Mark - Aarhhh … So it does have an eco mode

 

[Gaza66]

Do you find that you can actually feel much in the way of heat coming from the vents?. Mine feels about the same as gently breathing onto the back of your hand.

I leave for work at 4am and the outside temp has been between 5 - 8 ‘C recently at that time and i I can never seem to get the cabin up to a comfortable level.

 

[Lovemyev]

Are you using the App to preheat the cabin, heated seats, steering wheel ?.
This is a brilliant feature that I would definitely be using in your situation, given your early morning starts.
Turn on the heating and drivers seat heating, about 10 mins before you are ready to leave the house and the car will be nice and toasty and warm.
You can select the cabin temperature you want in the App.
It will time out after about 15 mins if you are running late or get delayed.

 

[Gaza66]

I’ll give that a go for sure and report back. I did briefly test the preheat when playing with the app but didn't go directly to the car just after it had finished to see what difference it made.

Really liking the new ride, one peddle drive is a game changer, fantastic. Bit annoying that the radio seems to have a mind of its own on weather it comes on or not when getting into the car but got used ro that now.

Still trying to work out how realistic the range estimation is as it falls faster than the actual miles travelled so am just relying on the percent battery for now

 

[5teep]

Daft question maybe but you do have the airflow directions set properly? i.e. not on windscreen only.

 

[Lovemyev]

I’ll give that a go for sure and report back. I did briefly test the preheat when playing with the app but didn't go directly to the car just after it had finished to see what difference it made.

Really liking the new ride, one peddle drive is a game changer, fantastic. Bit annoying that the radio seems to have a mind of its own on weather it comes on or not when getting into the car but got used ro that now.

Still trying to work out how realistic the range estimation is as it falls faster than the actual miles travelled so am just relying on the percent battery for now

We had our first over night frost here, earlier this week.
I was surprised to see houses with white frost on the roof.
I thought it was a good opportunity to try the heated front seats via the App as you could not command this function on the ZS EV we had previously.
Worked a treat !.
Yeah - The radio is an odd one for sure.
Mostly the radio will boot fine, but displays the “paused” symbol in the head unit and of course there is no music being played.
This can be an advantage in some situations I guess ?.
You leave at 4.00am for work, stay on the previous journey you had the volume turned up high, listening to a pod cast / audiobook etc.
You jump into the car the next morning and it fires straight into that high volume setting !.
Not really what you need at that time of the morning.
So this way, you drive off and then unpause the radio down the road.
I guess you do know you can unpause the radio volume, by pressing the square button on the right hand side of the steering wheel ?.
This is how I use it on my car.
I have covered nearly 500 miles in our S5 now and it is a massive upgrade from the ZS EV.
If it stays like it is right now, I will be very pleased and impressed.
The efficiency is good, it hoovering around 5 m/kwh which is better than we were seeing in the ZS EV.
It is on charge tonight, for a 80% charge.
Only the second time since we brought it home.
The range on the GOM is only the predicted range based on historical data, and a number of factors that will update on given speed / driving style / cabin heater use and weather conditions of course.

 

[Gaza66]

Good tip for the rafi via steering wheel, never thaught of that, mine tends to favour being paused on start in the morning. Just need to add it to my start up checklist

I’m coming up to my third charge charge at home but wont be untill probably the weekend. I’m hovering around the 3.8 miles/kw according to the instrument cluster.

I have the A/C & heating in auto most of the time which seems to only blow on the front screen in the morning when temperatures outside are low. Changing to manual does seem to improve it a bit as its then coming out of all the vents. Perhaps i’m comparing it to my ICE civic too much as an EV totally new experience for me.

 

[Lovemyev]

Yeah - My lack of use of the HVAC system is helping to increase my frequency to recharge of course.
You will find heating the cabin in an ICE car, to an EV is a new learning process.
They are both very different in how they operate.
The option to preheat the cabin is a big plus for many EV’s but you will find that running the heating for longer periods of time is necessary, over your ICE car.
As a ICE car warms up, heat from the engine / exhaust etc, all help warm the cabin space from an external form of what is borrowed / wasted heat.
You don’t have this borrowed / residual heat with an EV, so you will find that as soon as you turn off the heater, the cabin will turn cooler much more quickly.
A lot like an electric fire in the home, switch it off and the instant heat has gone.
Not so when you turn off the heater in an ICE model, hot water is still constantly circulating through heater box and is therefore free latent heat in some respects.
Wasted exhaust heat is similar, the heat warms the cabin floor to a degree as well.
Of course in the summer this the opposite of what you want and works against the cool effects of the A/C on cooling the cabin.
Roundabout and swings I guess.
Cabin heaters in EV’s are similar to house electric fires in there operation, instant heat, instant cold.
Also expensive to run in the home and eats heavily into the range on EV’s as well - both have a lot in common then.
Cooling via the A/C is less greedy on energy than heating the cabin you will generally find though.
Keep experimenting until you get it right, then it will be second nature.
You may find that you have to set the temperature higher than you would normal set in an ICE car, this is why I have tried to explain earlier, how and why the EV is different to an ICE car.
It may say 25 degrees on the setting in your EV but it may need to be that high to match / suit what you had before in your ICE ?.
It’s trail and error until you nail it !.

 

[Kithmo]

Sounds like the heater is like the MG4. I have to set my MG4 heater to 27C to get anything over tepid air coming out.
I normally use the preheat function, but if I forget or haven't the time, I find the quickest way to warm up the cabin is to switch on the front demister for a few minutes then turn it off and just leave the heater on.

 

[Gaza66]

Thanks for all the tips. Perhaps it’s even the same heater system as the MG4 as it’s based off the same platform.

Weather early morning has not been too bad this week so have not really had another chance to experiment with it but will do as soon as the opportunity arises weather wise. Sounds like I just need to find the best routine for my desired comfort level.

 

[Ian Key]

The heating seems to be in the equivalent of ECO mode unless you turn it up to max. The cynic in me wonders if it's so they can officially publish better range figures.

 

[Kithmo]

The heating seems to be in the equivalent of ECO mode unless you turn it up to max. The cynic in me wonders if it's so they can officially publish better range figures.

Very likely. I get 2mi/kWh (or less because that's the lowest figure it displays) with the heating set at 27°C on my short trips and I suspect I'd get 3-4mi/kWh if I set it at 19°C but with no heat.

 

[tsedge]

The heating seems to be in the equivalent of ECO mode unless you turn it up to max. The cynic in me wonders if it's so they can officially publish better range figures.

I guess it is possible they did that. Rather more likely to just be a software glitch though, given MG's record.

 

[LenEV2016]

The heating seems to be in the equivalent of ECO mode unless you turn it up to max. The cynic in me wonders if it's so they can officially publish better range figures.

There is a similar thing with the IM 6 if you watch Teslabjorn efficiency test it went to a high number then didn't go any higher even though his test showed it should have been higher and reported worse efficiency.
I can't remember what the number was but the software had quite clearly been fixed to not report any worse efficiency than that number