Going the distance

ALL-ELECTRIC MG ESTATE CAN COVER 250 MILES

AS I’VE often declared on these pages, I like estate cars. They’re better to drive than an SUV thanks to a lower centre of gravity and are often more spacious.

However, the future is not looking bright for estate car fans at the moment. Currently it is possible to buy only two fully-electric estates.

One is the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo which is a mighty fine machine but costs £81,500, and the other is the MG 5.

You couldn’t get two more different machines. The Porsche is luxurious, full of leather, stylish and extremely fast. The MG 5 is quite basic inside, its plastic trim is a bit cheap and although it can do 0-62mph in 7.3sec (which is quite brisk) it couldn’t see where the Porsche had gone in a traffic light shootout.

But there is one crucial area in which the humble MG 5 is very similar to the Porsche and that’s battery range.

Originally launched just over a year ago, there’s now a new version called the MG Long Range.

Fully charged, the car’s 57.7kwh battery gives it a range of 250 miles compared to 283 miles in the Taycan. This from a car that costs £26,495 after the PICG in its basic Excite trim version.

Move up to the Exclusive, which is the one we’ve been testing, and that goes up to £28,995.

By electric car standards that’s extremely good value.

Kia’s e-niro, to get back to the real world after the Porsche, has a range of 180 miles for £30,000.

Yes, the plastics inside are a bit cheap and cheerful, and some of the switches feel weak, but this is a car that has a 464 litre luggage area with the rear seats in place, sits adults comfortably in that rear seat and comes with a seven-year warranty.

Although, like all MGS, the 5 is made in China, the UK engineering centre has an input into how the cars are set up for UK roads.

The result of this approach is a car that is comfortable over bumps and is impressively quiet.

You feel that you’re sitting slightly higher than you normally

would in an estate car or hatchback, particularly in the back where the seating position is in part dictated by the battery pack.

It’s easy to find fault with the MG 5 Long Range. Some of my fellow car critics have poured scorn on the car’s ambiguous and rather bland styling, and have stuck the knife into the basic interior.

However, these are people who are probably not in the market for a practical estate car that is so modestly priced.

Only a fool could ignore the fact that the car’s range, which is a major concern with all fully-electric cars, beats all rivals at this price point.

And as we’ve mentioned, many cars that are priced significantly above it.

The MG 5 Long Range Exclusive