• Estate boot isn’t hugely capacious
• Passenger space is good
• Plenty of room for oddments

How much space is there?

With the battery packs mounted low down in the MG’s structure, under the floor, space for passengers doesn’t feel as compromised as it does for their belongings in the back.

Whether you’re sat in the front or outer rear seats, there’s ample space for limbs and heads, with only the centre-rear position feeling compromised by the uneven seat cushion in the middle – the floor itself is usefully flat.

Four adults fit comfortably, five would be a bit of a squeeze – a common ailment in cars of this size.

12

Boot space and storage

MG quotes a figure of 578 litres of luggage space in the 5 – but that’s measured up to the roof. Up to the parcel shelf, you get 464 litres of space, which doesn’t sound like all that much when you consider the Renault Megane E-Tech enjoys 440 litres, and the VW ID.4 a whopping 543. Consider other estate rivals like the 581-litre Toyota Corolla Touring Sports hybrid or the 470-litre SEAT Leon Estate e-Hybrid and the MG looks more adequate than exceptional.

There is at least a two-position boot floor, which allows you to hide away your charging cables underneath – and means there’s no hump over the folded back seats, though it does lower overall capacity even further. And regardless you’ll find a large load lip, something rival estates don’t have.

For odds and ends, you get a good-sized glovebox and nicely-sized door bins, plus two cupholders and storage under the centre armrest. Under the centre console there’s also a useful tray which hosts two USB ports plus the car’s 12V outlet. What’s missing is a smaller place to throw things like the car’s key or the contents of your pockets – we resorted to using the door pulls or cupholders, which isn’t ideal.

12

For the 2022 facelift MG added two practical new features. The first are the roof bars – they’re now standard on all models and rated for 75kg of load. The second is a towing capacity of 500kg, which may not be enough for a big caravan but can deal with smaller personal trailers with ease.

Is it easy to park?

Visibility isn’t bad out of the MG 5 – there’s lots of glass and the corners are quite easy to judge. SE cars come with a reversing camera, while Trophy models upgrade this to a full 360-degree monitor. Both of these are fairly low quality, though, with a grainy picture that appears very small on the car’s narrow infotainment screen.

Safety

• Not yet tested by Euro NCAP
• Good level of standard safety equipment
• No advancements over rivals, though

Euro NCAP has yet to get its hands on a fleet of MG 5s to crash repeatedly into a variety of obstacles, but it shares much of its safety tech with the ZS EV and that scored a full five-star rating when it was assessed in 2020.

While it suggests that the fundamental structure of the 5 EV is likely to be sound, too, there’s no evidence to suggest that the MG will show the way to its rivals when it comes to safety advancements.

Nevertheless, all versions of the 5 come with the following as standard:

• Front, side and curtain airbags
• Electronic Brake Assist for superior stopping power
• Hill Start Assist
• Tyre pressure monitoring
• LED day running lights and tail lamps
• Isofix child seat-mounting points in the outer rear seats

The 5 EV also comes as standard with ‘MG Pilot’ – the combination of adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and autonomous emergency braking. This alone is responsible for reducing the 5’s insurance grouping by five groups over the old model.