MG IM5

Standard Range £39,450

The IM5 definitely takes inspiration from Tesla’s Model 3, so you get a sleek low set silhouette, IM & MG badges, pop-out door handles, blacked out rear windows, a frankly tiny rear window, high boot spoiler, flat front with no grille & boomerang shaped headlights

Here things get interesting. Open the door & the first thing you’ll notice is the carpets, yes the carpets, a thick, grey number that look like they’ve come from a 1970’s episode of the Likely Lads.

Soft touch grey’s dominate the dash front, centre & the inside of the doors, with a black steering wheel, faux leather upholstery in grey & some chrome on the fixtures & fittings. The large 26.3-inch screen stretches two-thirds of the way across the dash top with a smaller 10.5-inch touchscreen to the drivers left in the middle section, which controls most of the cars settings. Lifted from the Tesla are two wheel mounted steering wheel switches, for volume & to select the screen options, plus the paddles behind adjust the cruise control distance. The right mounted gear lever engages cruise when pushed down. Hidden door opening switches are located on the door armrests. Quality is okay but it all looks a little bland & unexciting.

For good or for bad you’ll need to use the smaller centre screen to adjust climate, the car settings, wing mirrors & car’s set-up. The single ADAS button allows quick customisation which we liked. The screen  response & loading times are quick, the menus are simple to understand & wireless CarPlay connected easily. The single phone charger is easy to reach although the front USB is hidden in the centre armrest which seemed an oversight.

Standard Range accelerates from 0-62mph in 6.8 seconds with a top speed of 124mph. Long Range reduces this to 4.9 seconds & increases the top speed to 137mph & the bonkers Performance version will hit 62mph in just 3.2 seconds & reach 167mph.

There’s 457-1,290 litres offered on Standard Range,  594-997 litres on Long Range & 405-1,095 litres onboard the Performance version. The hatch opens wide to reveal an Audio TT-like rear window & a usefully shaped load area. Seats can be folded 60:40 & there’s a small 18 litre frunk at the front just big enough for your charging cable bag.

We spent a week in the Long Range single motor fitted with the 100kWh battery. Driving in cold December when fully charged the indicated range in Eco driving mode was 343 miles.

We drove to Chippenham & back a distance of 156 miles each way & the IM5 at a constant 70mph recorded a 1 mile driven to 1 mile of range used on our mostly motorway journey which was impressive. The claimed economy is 4.4 miles per kWh whereas we were getting around 3 miles per kWh.

Public charging was fast. With 800V architecture on the Long Range model, a maximum recharge rate of 396W is on offer so a a 10 to 80%  top-up takes 16 minutes. The chargers we used were slower adding 120 miles in 25 minutes at a cost of £40. Short Range is slower again at 152kW so a 10-80% top-up will take longer at 26 minutes.

At home on our Rolec smart charger the IM5 added 37 kW to the range for just £3.30.https://www.rolecserv.com/ev-products/evo

If you can handle the slim tyre-large alloy combo which are incredibly easy to scratch the cars pretty good over poor tarmac. With passive springs & dampers there’s no way of avoiding the worst bumps in the road though. Low speed comfort is acceptable & in town the IM5 purrs along quietly. Front & side vision are good but the rear windows a waste of time so you’ll get used to using your wing mirrors & the cars reverse side cameras which come on when you indicate.

On the motorway you select cruise control on the gear lever & away you go. It will happily sit in the busy lanes at 70mph all the while wanting to go faster, which it will. We selected Eco mode for our long motorway trips & tried out Sport for a bit of fun on some local country roads & acceleration is impressive. Motorway overtaking is a doddle.

On the motorway the IM5 is remarkable refined as well. Sound deadening on the front wings, double-layer sound proof glass & the double-glazed panoramic roof all contribute to the calm in the cabin. And the speakers are very good so Spotify was a winner.

The smallish steering wheel is nice. But at higher speeds & on winding roads it’s incredibly vague in common with many Chinese cars. Sport steering mode was a bit of revelation. When we selected this the steering was firmer & better, so we’d suggest doing the same.

Body roll  is kept to a minimum, after all the cars is very low slung. You can customise the suspension settings as well, but when we did it didn’t really add anything to the ride we felt. Brake regeneration can be utilised too but none of the settings are strong & certainly not one-pedal which is a shame. The brakes themselves worked well, especially when slowing down from a hard kick-down.

Very well equipped, handles nicely, decent charging speeds & driving range. Exterior looks cool. Competitively priced.

The interiors not as nice as the rest of the car. The infotainment is a touch annoying.

The IM5 certainly takes MG into uncharted territory & it now has a model to compete in the executive fleet sector. If you’re looking for fun, all versions are fast & that instant acceleration is intoxicating. We weren’t overly keen on the interior & it’s not as practical as it should be. We’d give it the highest marks as a long-distance cruiser; quiet, comfortable & super-fast charging make it an excellent motorway companion. We’d suggest the Long Range model is the one to choose.