MG Motor UK IM5 review

Not an MG, that’s what. Over in China IM is a brand in its own right but one that belongs to the same family as MG, that of megacorp parent SAIC; the group that also houses Maxus, Roewe, Rising Auto, and a number of other names you’ve never heard of.

The common DNA has allowed for some cynical brand integration to facilitate IM’s venture into overseas territories, hence why the electric exec saloon you see here is called the MG IM5 despite only having one MG badge on the entire car.

From September it’ll be sold through MG’s dealer network, and its job is to ensnare fleet and company car types in a way that the MG3, MG4, HS, ZS, S5 EV and Cyberster aren’t geared up for.

So has MG had any input into this *at all*?

Yes, actually. MG took the IM L6 – which is what this is called in its home market – and conducted some Europe-specific tuning at Longbridge. The steering and suspension setup have been unsoftened (China prefers things light and wallowy), but note the UK gets the same fettling as IM5s destined for continental Europe, so no extra mitigation for our cratered roads.

The infotainment system has also been replaced because the original, Alibaba-based one is guarded by many firewalls (presumably) and a three-headed dog (also presumably), so simply wouldn’t work here.

Anything special about it?

Drumroll please… the fast one’s got 742bhp and does 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds.

… and?

Tough crowd. Is this thing on? Joking aside, the power fatigue for ludicrously motivated ‘normal’ cars is very real and having almost as much shove as a Bentley Continental GT for a fraction of the cost just doesn’t spark the same intrigue as it would’ve done five years ago.

The IM5’s other major selling point is range: the Long Range, rear-wheel drive version is good for 441 miles WLTP, putting it in the top five rangiest electric cars on sale today.

It’s also kitted out with 800V architecture which means charging peaks at 396kW and will re-juice the 100kWh battery from 10-80 per cent full in 17 minutes. Nothing else at this price comes close.

Why, how much does it cost?

£39,450. Well, that’s for the entry car which gets a smaller 75kWh battery. The Long Range with the, er, long range is £45k, while the Road-Runner fast Performance model is another three-and-a-half grand more. But whichever way you cut it, you’re looking at dirt cheap fundamentals.

For that money you’ll also be window shopping for the Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2, BMW i4, VW ID.7 and Hyundai Ioniq 6. Stiff competition, then: the Tesla was a trailblazer in this arena, the BMW drives sweetly and the Ioniq is an efficiency monster.

The BYD Seal set out its stall here a couple of years ago so it’s had a head-start on the IM5.

Come on then, is it any good to drive?

Sigh… no it isn’t. The whole experience is ruined by the suspension, which is one of the fussiest we’ve tried on a Chinese-bred car. And that’s saying something. Whatever the speed, whatever the road surface, it complains. Constantly. And you’ll be fed up with it after an hour.

That feeds into the dynamics, which are incredibly dull and completely at odds with the localised nuclear explosion under your right foot. There’s little wrong with the pedals – they’re set up to be spongy and easygoing, and suit the car – but the only fun you’ll get from it is by scaring unsuspecting passengers witless.

We’ve saved the full old-person-yells-at-cloud rant for the Driving tab. Strap in.

I’ll head that way in a sec… is there anything you like about it?

IM – sorry, MG – has done a good job with the soundproofing. Double-glazed windows and lovely thick carpet means precious little wind noise or tyre roar works its way into the cabin, so if your only goal is to reach a cruising speed and stay there while unwinding with a podcast, then the IM5 will probably do you right.

There’s copious amounts of leather inside and the seats are suitably well padded for the long haul. Just be wary of the touchscreen: there’s virtually no physical switchgear so everything is controlled through the display on the centre console. Ugh. MG is at pains to point out that the car tested here is a late-stage pre-production model, so some software patches are incoming.

That ride though… we’re going to be having nightmares about it for weeks.

The MG IM5 is another of those cars that’s going to pile the pressure on established names: enticing power, huge range and a menagerie of gizmos all for a seriously tempting price. With company car tax rates staying in single figures until the end of the decade, we can easily see this thing hoovering up besuited regional managers left, right, centre, and in hitherto undiscovered dimensions.

However, this comes across as a car that MG has bought to the UK simply to plug a gap in its range, and do so as cheaply as possible. If the firm can’t be bothered to slap on MG badges, where else might it have cut corners?

As a package though, it’s desperately unrefined. The ride quality is appalling, the handling is perfunctory, and it’s genuinely astounding that a car manufacturer should divert so much of your attention away from the road and into the touchscreen. MG is far from the only offender here, but no amount of custom shortcuts can be an excuse for such a finickity system.

There aren’t many electric saloons out there but most of them so far have been really good: the IM5 joins not just at the back of the pack, but quite some distance behind. Oh dear.