MG IM5 review

This new EV is MG’s first super-saloon since the V8-engined ZT of 2003. But is it any good?

European policy makers are scrambling to protect the interests of their home-grown car makers, but the torrent of temptingly priced, technologically rapier-sharp Chinese EV simply flows on. The latest insurgent is this, the MG IM5.

It's a saloon (well, a hatchback, technically) priced on par with the Tesla Model 3 but promising the space of the Volkswagen ID 7 plus tech that you would more typically find on a Porsche Taycan – not least 800V electricals available on the more expensive derivatives. There is also, if you'd like, the small matter of 742bhp on the flagship dual-motor model.  

We'll get into the hardware in a moment, but before that you’re possibly wondering what the ‘IM’ in the name is about. Those initials hold meaning, because they speak to the fact that this new MG isn’t really an MG.

It’s a badge-engineered version of the Chinese-market L6 made by Intelligence in Motion, a Shanghai-based brand launched in 2020 that is a collaboration between MG’s parent company SAIC (the majority owner), e-commerce colossus Alibaba Group and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech. This arrangement is a big deal, because the L6 and therefore the European IM5 is a lot more luxurious than anything MG has so far sold since its reimagining as an EV brand, notwithstanding the Cyberster roadster, a halo model. New ground is being trodden as MG reaches upmarket.

In truth, the IM5 is only barely badge-engineered. For reasons we still don't quite understand, you won't find any tradtional octagonal 'Morris Garages' logos on the car, only an ‘MG’ in IM’s squiggly typeface on the bootlid. Strange but true.

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So is this an MG or not? You decide, although it hardly matters. Consider that BYD – another major Chinese car maker – is growing so rapidly that it sold more cars in the UK in Q1 of 2025 than it did in the whole of 2024 and in 2025 is outselling Honda and Mazda entirely. Three years ago, few Brits had even heard of the company, but these days cost and capability often matter more than brand recognition. If the IM5 is good, it will sell, despite its unusual, slightly opaque origins.

Moreover, MG's bosses have not doubt realised that consumer tastes have changed, and the need for a recoginsed, established brand to front your new product is no longer a guaranteed winner. These days, if you price it right, make it look good and add all the kit, they will come.

The more interesting question is why MG, whose budget-focused strategy is ticking along nicely, is now taking this more premium model under its wing in Europe (although only to the UK, Norway and Switzerland for now). The answer is two-fold, although of course profit is at the heart of it. 

Firstly, the Chinese domestic EV market is now so competitive that car makers’ margins are hammered pancake-thin. The European market remains a juicier prospect, especially if you have a more luxurious product to offer, as the IM5 is. Compared with MG stalwarts like the 5 SW EV estate, it’s on another level of lavishiness and opens up a fresh revenue front for SAIC.  

Related to this is the fact that MG wants to push upmarket because corporate sales are, according to MG Motor UK boss Guy Pigounakis, today dominated by brands offering plush electric cars with long ranges and lots of power. This is exactly what the flagship IM5 Performance, with its 100kW battery, 396kW peak charging rate and 3.2sec 0-62mph time, happens to be.

Private buyers should certainly pay attention, though. Prices start at less than £40,000 and the IM5 has the very good but far from perfect Model 3 in its sights. There’s an opening here for MG, and if the dynamics and usability stack up, it could very well take it.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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The IM5 (and its MG IM6 SUV counterpart) use a platform separate from anything else we’ve known underneath an MG because, well, it's not an MG. With half an eye on the future, it’s already compatible with solid-state battery technology but for now carries either a 75kWh LFP battery with a 400V electrical architecture or a 100kWh NMC battery with an 800V architecture.

The Standard Range IM5 uses the former while the Long Range and Performance derivatives get the latter. MG expects most buyers to go for 100kWh, but a substantial percentage will take the sub-£40k 75kWh car and sidestep the UK’s ‘luxury car tax'. Bases covered.

The IM5 has a feature whereby if you get yourself into a tight spot or stuck down a dead-end, it will slowly reverse itself along the precise line it came in on, up to 100m.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

You might wonder how IM managed to squeeze so much capacity into a small-ish car, but the IM5 isn’t actually that small. At 4931mm long, it’s almost no shorter than the hulking ID 7, which itself is a rival to the BMW i5. The Model 3 is just 4720mm long, and the IM5 is also comfortably longer than the BYD Seal, its other chief competitor. It isn’t wasted bodywork, either: the wheelbase is just 11mm shorter than that of the current Mercedes-Benz E-Class. 

In the metal, the IM5 wears its considerable footprint neatly – certainly more neatly than the IM6. The curvaceous, lizard-eyed styling for both cars is recognisably of the modern Chinese school and was overseen by Slovakian designer Jozef Kaban, who has enjoyed stints at Rolls-Royce and Audi but is best known for the Bugatti Veyron.  Even so, for all its curves and sleek profile, there's a certain generic blandness to it (whoever said the flexibility of EV engineering would unleash designer creativity didn't foresee the huge influence of the vast but ultimately conservative Chinese car industry).

Rear-wheel drive and Hankook tyres are standard fare, with four-wheel drive and Pirelli P Zeros (with wider, 265-section rears) reserved for the Performance derivative.

All models get rear-axle steering with an enormous 12deg of articulation – enough to have you praying that the engineers have got the calibration right at higher speeds. The benefit is low-speed manoeuvrability: the IM5 has a turning circle similar to that of the MG 4 EV hatchback. The set-up also allows the car to 'crab' in certain situations, which MG claims enhances the ability to slide out of a parallel parking spot.

All IM5s use brake-by-wire technology, but the Performance gets a system from Continental that's denoted by calipers painted in the famous yellow-orange paint of the German company. The mechanical upgrade applies to the four-piston front caliper, which is lighter than the standard caliper and grips a 365mm Brembo disc.

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INTERIOR

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MG interiors have come a long way in not a long time, but even so, the IM5 is in another league of material lavishness and lounge-like atmosphere compared with its lesser rangemates. Soft, voluptuous surfaces are trimmed in synthetic leather and a broad, raked ‘transmission tunnel' into which a 10.5in touchscreen is embedded – à la Taycan – give the sense that this is a car from a more lofty brand. Which, let us not forget, is essentially the case.

Equally, there's a faintly cartoonish manner to the architecture that feels very un-European and lends the place a certain genericness. You couldn't call the IM5's cabin superficially plush, because perceived quality is high, but it does lack charm and individuality. 

The IM5 doesn't get massage seats like the top-spec IM6 SUV does, but these are still great pews with a 1990s-esque softness and old-school pleats.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

Kit levels are especially high, mind. There are only two colour schemes (bright and white or grey and sombre) but heated and ventilated, six-way electric seats with adjustable lumbar support are standard across the range. So too is a vast, ‘thermal insulation’ panoramic roof, 256-colour ambient lighting, a cooled front-armrest storage cubby and MG’s road-noise cancellation system (which really does seem to work when you're on the move). There’s also a ventilated 50W phone-charging tray in the front – although note that the back row, which also features heated seats, gets only one USB-C port. It’s a small drawback on an otherwise well-equipped car. 

Reading through the specification in advance of this test, there was concern that the 26.3in ‘immersive’ display that spreads itself across the dashboard would be too dominant. In reality, the display in the IM5 isn’t that tall and this makes it feel proportionally correct. The colours are also softly rendered and the icons sensibly sized, so it's easy on the eyes. We didn’t mind it, and a portion of the display dead-ahead of the driver can also display a high-resolution video feed or your blindspots via cameras in the A-pillars.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are neatly integrated, and apart from the odd and frankly unacceptable typo ('ramdon' instead of 'random' for one of the AC options), it's all slick enough, with little to no latency.

The lack of physical switchgear is much more likely to annoy you, because the IM5 is right up there with the Model 3 and Volvo EX30 in its attempts to create a minimalist space. Wing-mirror adjustments, for instance, are made first by a tap or two on the central touchscreen and then with the steering-wheel controls (a particular Tesla-ism, this). If you want to change the direction of a ventilation shute, you also need to do that digitally. 

You use the touchscreen to control almost everything except, thankfully, for indicating and the windscreen wipers. Not the exterior lighting, though. That requires digital input. Need to quickly get your foglights up in tricky low-visibility conditions? To the menus with you! It's just not logical. At least a single press of one of the scrollers on the wheel shortcuts you to the ADAS menu, where things can quickly be disabled.     

Space in the back? Good but not great. There is a lot of knee room and a fantastic sense of light provided by the glass roof, but this platform doesn’t provide cutouts in the battery to allow your passengers’ feet to easily slip under the front seats. This won’t be a problem for shorter people, but taller people will find their knees riding a bit high. The ID 7 doesn’t have this problem.

Nor indeed does it have such poor rear visibility. You slide into the IM5 and wonder why it has such a comically narrow rear-view mirror, but soon realise why that is: the aperture is Ferrari 296 GTB narrow.

Space inside the electrically opening boot is reasonable at 357 litres but should perhaps be better. The ID 7, barely any longer than the IM5, manages 532 litres, and the Seal 400 litres. The supposedly smaller Model 3 boasts more than 600 litres. You do also get a small frunk for cables and the like, but then so do the other cars mentioned.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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The slowest IM5, the 75kWh Standard Range, makes a healthy-sounding 291bhp – and from there the numbers escalate considerably. Most people will surely be happy enough with the 402bhp of the rear-driven 100kWh Long Range, but for those who want proper contemporary super-saloon straight-line speed, the 742bhp, four-wheel-drive 100kWh Performance offers just that, and then some. 

Of that mind-scrambling total, 402bhp is delivered by the rear motor with the rest coming from an identical unit at the front. Push the accelerator pedal the full extent of its travel and the car’s coldly delivered turn of pace is shocking. Once or twice really is enough.

The fastest version of the IM5 can be chalked up as a real performance bargain: 3.2sec to 62mph is quicker than the latest BMW M5.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

However, it’s not like whipcrack acceleration is remorselessly thrust upon you. There are three maps for the responsiveness of this dual-motor powertrain, but even the most aggressive still allows torque to be fed in neatly. Ask for everything and there are moments when the traction control smoothly but noticeably pegs the motors' efforts back a touch, but in general the pick-up is neat and the delivery linear, as we’ve come to expect from super-EVs.

Despite the fuss made over the Continental system, the braking isn’t so impressive. The system also has a trio of ‘force’ calibrations (Comfort, and Standard and Sport), but these really only alter the sharpness of the biting point and not the resistance of the pedal once you’re into it and trying to modulate your dcceleration. The system is okay by EV standards and pedal feel certainly isn’t conspicuously spongy. But there are times when you’re slowing the long, heavy IM5 when it just isn’t consistent enough to engender confidence. Bringing the car to a complete stop can also be a tricky thing to gauge, wich the pedal requiring an extra-firm prod right at the death.  

We've also sampled the middle-ranking Long Range 100 and, frankly, it has all the performance you will need. The rear-mounted 402bhp motor offers an extremly brisk 0-62mph of 4.9sec, while it continues to accelerate hard beyond the legal speed limit unlike some EV rivals. You can ramp up the throttle response by dialling into the Sport driving mode, but for most occassions the standard setting offers a nicely linear feel that's in keeping with the car's executive image.

Traction in the dual-motor version is excellent (at least in the dry, when we drove the car) and performance is simply wild for an executive saloon that costs what this MG does. However, less impressive is the rear-drive version, which in wet conditions was all to willing to spin its rear wheels up without warning before the traction control stepped in rather abruptly. Switch the system off (large an unwise move) and the IM5 can produce the sort of wheel-spinning smoke show that's normally reserved for Santa Pod contestants.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The IM5 uses a passive spring-and-damper set-up whichever variant you go for. In its most rarified trim, the IM6 SUV gets adaptive dampers and air springs, but there’s currently no prospect of this hardware making its way onto the saloon. 

Ride quality is mixed. The car’s long-wave gait is generally as mature as you would hope for in a 5m-long saloon with an endless wheelbase and it deals with speed bumps in effortless fashion, but the ride never truly settles unless you’re either on a glass-smooth surface or pedalling the thing along a little faster than perhaps you should. 

Strangely, I preferred the IM6 SUV. With the air springs set to their most relaxed, it has an easy flow the IM5 can't quite capture and some shape in the way the body moves.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

It’s a reactivity that could be forgiven in something with genuine handling appeal, but that’s something the IM5 doesn’t have. It steers accurately (the rear-axle articulation is never unnatural once you’re up and running) and the electrically assisted rack has a reasonably instinctive weight and speed about it that makes the IM5 hassle-free to flow along. But in terms of dynamism and driving satisfaction, this is pretty thin gruel, with the priority being po-faced body control and neutrality (which, in fairness, the car doles out well).

Any hope that the rear-driven IM5 offers more to get stuck into – a cornering manner that has some life to it, rather than just being objectively well balanced – is undone by its poor traction, in damp or wet conditions at least. So suddenly do the rear wheels give up their grip that you're treated to sudden snaps of oversteer on corner exit, which rather cools your approach in such a big and heavy machine.

The IM5 is, however, wonderfully quiet. With a drag coefficient of 0.23, it glides along with so little wind and tyre roar that you can sometimes hear the motors whirring on the overrun, which is unusual. It also has an excellent sound system (20 speakers, including some in the header rails). With a little more reach in the reach column, which would allow taller drivers to sit farther back and stretch their legs, it would be even better.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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As a value-for-money proposition, the focus will naturally fall on the entry-level IM5, with its 75kWh battery and 304 miles of range for £39,450. However, the true star is the non-Performance 100kWh Long Range model, which costs £44,995 and as such doesn’t escape a supplemental VED charge but on its 800V architecture offers nearly 400kW of charging speed, versus just 153kW for the Standard Range. It also has a claimed 441 miles of range, against 357 miles for the Performance and 304 miles for the Standard Range.

Compared with the Model 3 Long Range RWD, that’s five miles more for five pounds more, so essentially identical. Breaking the tie is maximum charging rate: the Tesla can manage only 250kW. 

As for efficiency, on a mixed test route our Performance test car returned 3.3mpkWh, which translates to a real-world range of about 330 miles. Surprisingly, the rear-driven 100kWh car was actually less efficient, delivering just 3.0mpkWh over the course of our test. Still, with that mighty maximum rapid-charging speed and massive battery options, it’s enough for the IM5 to function as a serious electric GT, even if it trails far behind efficiency leaders such as Tesla.

VERDICT

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From a value-based perspective, the verdict here is straightforward. How many other EVs can you name with near-supercar straight-line performance, space for the family, more than 350 miles real-world range if you're careful and a charging speed normally the preserve of premium-brand models, all for less than £50,000?

To this the IM5 adds rather a lovely cabin ambience and generous levels of equipment. This helps its case in the fight against rivals from Tesla and BYD, and allows it to dramatically undercut cars like the excellent new Mercedes-Benz CLA EQ on a spec-by-spec basis.

Objectively, the IM5 is a difficult car to beat – more so in the case of the rear-driven 100kWh Long Range, which is £3000 or so cheaper than the 100kWh Performance tested here and, we suspect, the sweet spot of the range in terms of value if not dynamics.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

So why doesn't it score higher? Rear passenger and boot space should be better, given the scope of the body. It also seems that not a lot of love has gone into the fine-tuning of the chassis, which is perfectly competent but shows little of the dynamic charm or polish you'd want from a performance saloon with a low centre of gravity.

The same applies to rolling refinement: it can be good on certain roads, but in the UK there's a consistent pitter-patter underwheel that has an attritional effect on comfort.

Lastly, the cabin is far too reliant on digital controls, which are hugely popular in the Chinese market but rightly less beloved in Europe. Headlights and foglights should have physical controls, surely?

Of course, many people will happily live with these drawbacks for the raw capability of the IM5, which is a worthy flagship for MG and punches hard on a technical basis with its 800V platform (at least for the bigger-batteried versions). It's not as accomplised dynamically as established rivals, but expect to see plenty of these badge-engineered saloons on the road, even if you can't immediately identify whose showroom you should visit to buy one.

James Disdale

James Disdale
Title: Special correspondent

James is a special correspondent for Autocar, which means he turns his hand to pretty much anything, including delivering first drive verdicts, gathering together group tests, formulating features and keeping Autocar.co.uk topped-up with the latest news and reviews. He also co-hosts the odd podcast and occasional video with Autocar’s esteemed Editor-at-large, Matt Prior.

For more than a decade and a half James has been writing about cars, in which time he has driven pretty much everything from humble hatchbacks to the highest of high performance machines. Having started his automotive career on, ahem, another weekly automotive magazine, he rose through the ranks and spent many years running that title’s road test desk. This was followed by a stint doing the same job for monthly title, evo, before starting a freelance career in 2019. The less said about his wilderness, post-university years selling mobile phones and insurance, the better.

Richard Lane

Richard Lane
Title: Deputy road test editor

Richard is Autocar's deputy road test editor. He previously worked at Evo magazine. His role involves travelling far and wide to be among the first to drive new cars. That or heading up to Nuneaton, to fix telemetry gear to test cars at MIRA proving ground and see how faithfully they meet their makers' claims. 

He's also a feature-writer for the magazine, a columnist, and can be often found on Autocar's YouTube channel. 

Highlights at Autocar include a class win while driving a Bowler Defender in the British Cross Country Championship, riding shotgun with a flat-out Walter Röhrl, and setting the magazine's fastest road-test lap-time to date at the wheel of a Ferrari 296 GTB. Nursing a stricken Jeep up 2950ft to the top of a deserted Grossglockner Pass is also in the mix.