Category: mg im5

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Okay, this should be easy

Last weekend the clocks went back, well I think they did, as everything happened automatically. I finally confirmed it by looking at the oven clock. 

I half expected the clock in the MG IM5 to adjust automatically, well it didn’t.

However, what I thought would be an easy task in the end was a little challenging as I couldn’t find the menu item on the screens to adjust the time.

Later I couldn’t even find it in the manual. However, I wasn’t alone and you find the time settings in the Display menu item.

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Real world driving with the MG IM5

I plugged the car in to the fast charger (AC). I had 19% left on the car. Since I last charged to 100%, I had done 280 miles. This equates to a real world range of 350 miles on a full charge, less than the advertised 441. The car said I had about 100 miles range left, but I took that figure with a pinch of salt.

I kind of expected that to be honest. The real world figures for electric vehicles is like the MPG for petrol cars, figures gained through ideal test conditions.

Most of my driving over the previous two weeks has been motorway driving with the heating (or the air conditioning) on. 

I did some comparisons with my Funky Cat, driving 280 miles would have meant charging up at least twice or even three times with rapid chargers (DC), the ones I use limit you to charging to 80%.

When I got the MG IM5, I went with the Long Range model, with the 100 kWh battery. I did consider getting the Short Range version. That has a decent 75kWh battery, but even so, based on the consumption rate of my driving that would equate to 240 miles (rather than the 304 advertised range), so, if I had that car, I would have needed to charge up at least once during those two weeks.

The only challenge I currently have is keeping within my annual 10,000 mileage limit, so having had the MG IM5 for three months, I should have only done 2,500 miles, I have in fact done 2,712. Well, I enjoy driving this car. I am planning in November to do less driving get back under the limit.

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That final few percent…

car charging graphic

Though I do realise when charging an electric car battery that the charge rate is not consistent. The optimum charging is usually from 20% to 80%. Then the charging rate falls.

However, my charging experience with the MG IM5 has been a somewhat different experience to the Funky Cat.

Though the charge rate would slow right down as the battery charge reached 100%, what I have noticed is that with the MG IM5 that the last few kWh seems to take much longer to finish that the Funky Cat. I don’t have the Funky Cat to hand to confirm this, it got handed back at the end of the lease, but though the final few kWh did take a while, with the MG IM5 it appears to be significantly longer. Note, that this is with the same fast (as in slow) AC charger.

It is like comparing apples and oranges, the Funky Cat battery was a 48kWh LFP battery, whilst the MG IM5 is a 100kWh NMC battery. 

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CarPlay, it just works now

One thing I have noticed driving the MG IM5 that I have not had the same CarPlay issues I had with CarPlay and the Funky Cat.

With the Funky Cat when I first got CarPlay there was a GPS issue that meant maps were essentially useless. I would find that starting CarPlay, opening Apple Maps or Waze the maps would place me in completely the wrong location. Apple Maps showed I was in Biggin Hill, which is 160 miles away…. Eventually it would sort itself out. However now and then it would flip back and forth. Finally an iOS upgrade seemed to fix it, but even then it would occasionally reoccur.

Another glitch I had with CarPlay was that the screen would become unresponsive. Switching back to the ORA screen interface, would then result in a grey blank screen. You would need to disconnect the phone from the car and then reconnect. Annoying when you were driving so often I would need to park and fix it before continuing my journey.

With the MG IM5 I have not had any of those issues, I did have a glitch when CarPlay failed to start, but apart from that, with the MG IM5 I have had none of the issues I had with CarPlay and the Funky Cat.

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Compared to the Funky Cat

I have now been driving the MG IM5 for two months, and I am comparing it my experience of the first two months with the Funky Cat.

This time the experience has been very smooth without issues. Back in 2023 with the Funky Cat I did have a major software issue, turtle mode, with a false reduced power warning problem. The car had to go back to the dealer for a software upgrade. Other issues in those first two months included challenges in finding working chargers. The situation though now three years later is much better. Back in 2023, I didn’t have a home charger and in Weston there were only two rapid chargers (150kWh). My experience with other fast (ie slower) chargers were that either they didn’t work, or were been taken out of commission. Since then many new rapid charging stations have come on stream. 

It should also be said that with the 100kWh battery there is less need for charging with the MH IM5 as I needed to with the Funky Cat.

So comparing like for like, my initial experience with the MG IM5 has been much better than the Funky Cat.

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Charging in East Anglia

boats

I was travelling in East Anglia, staying in Ipswich. I was on my way to the Suffolk coast and stopped at the Tesla chargers at the Anglia Parkway retail park.

I had charged the Funky Cat there back in October 2024 without any issues. It was the same experience with the MG IM5 this time.

I arrived and set the charge going, as I was there before 8am I was able to get the off peak rate from Tesla.

I spent 29 minutes adding 42kWh to the car battery. I had to stop at 80% charge, as then Tesla start charging a congestion fee. That is one limitation of the Tesla app that it doesn’t tell you if there will be a congestion charge or not. At 50p a minute, it’s not something you want to leave to chance.

I did a similar trip in the Funky Cat, and also used the Tesla chargers at the Anglia Parkway retail park. Following that charge on my way home in the Funky Cat, I stopped at Newmarket to do a charge, I then had to stop at Hopwood Services on the M42 as I wouldn’t be able to reach the Gloucester Services to use the Tesla chargers there.

With the MG IM5 following charging to 80% at Anglia Parkway retail park I would have had enough charge to get home covering around 270 miles.

Though actually on my way back I did stop at the Gloucester Services, not just for coffee, but also to put some more charge on the MG IM5 as I knew the following day I would need to drive to Birmingham.

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No more Trouble with Tesla

I was on my way to Heathrow (again) and I stopped at the Reading Services, gave the MG IM5 a top up charge using the Tesla chargers. Easier said than done, as only the westbound services have compatible Tesla chargers. So, I left the M4 at Junction 11, reversed back onto the M4. 

It took 40 minutes to deliver 57.3kW, which average out at around 86kWh. About twice as fast than when charging the Funky Cat.

As on my previous visit, I reversed the MG IM5 into the bay. The charging socket is in the same place as Tesla cars, so though these chargers had the longer cables, having the charging port in the same position as a Tesla, will make it easier with those Tesla charging banks with shorter cables (such as Cribbs Causeway). Using the app I set the charger going and then plugged it into the car.

The MG IM5 comes with 800v technology can take a 396kWh maximum charge and theoretically will take 17 minutes to charge from 10-80%. However the Tesla infrastructure is 400v, so I wasn’t going to get anywhere near that.

I am planning to try out a 800v charger at some point, the Ionity chargers are supposed to be 800v.

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No Trouble with Tesla

I was on my way back from Heathrow and I stopped at the Reading Services, gave the MG IM5 a top up charge using the Tesla chargers.

Unlike my experience at Dart’s Farm, this was a smooth and easy experience.

I reversed the MG IM5 into the bay. The charging socket is in the same place as Tesla cars, so though these had longer cables, it will make it easier with those Tesla charging banks with shorter cables (such as Cribbs Causeway). Using the app I set the charger going and then plugged it into the car.

The MG IM5 comes with 800v technology can take a 396kWh maximum charge and theoretically will take 17 minutes to charge from 10-80%. However the Tesla infrastructure is 400v, so I wasn’t going to get anywhere near that.

It took 19 minutes to deliver 27.7kW, which average out at around 87kWh. Faster than the Funky Cat which (according to my charging history took 38 minutes for about the same amount of charge. 

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Trouble with Tesla Chargers

I drove to Dart’s Farm, with a plan for a quick charge using the Tesla chargers, I was down to around 25% in the MG IM5. Grab a coffee, maybe some stuff from the farm shop.

In the past I have had issues with Tesla chargers and my old Funky Cat. I was hoping with the MG IM5 that I would now avoid these problems.

So, you can imagine my annoyance when I was at Darts Farm down in Devon about to use the Tesla chargers there and I had an issue.

Ironically, I never had any problems with these chargers and the Funky Cat, so my expectation was that I wouldn’t have any issues with the MG IM5.

I used the app, selected the correct charger and set the charger to charge. I was promoted them to plug the charger into the car. This was the process I used with the Funky Cat when using Tesla chargers before. I plugged the MG IM5 in, and nothing happened. I went into the MG app and clicked start charging. I even sat in the car and clicked start charging.

Nothing happened. The Tesla app was reporting that the charger was connected, but no charge we being delivered.

Then I couldn’t unplug the charge cable, reminded me of the Funky Cat. There is a manual release for the charger in the boot, but I couldn’t find it. Of course, when I locked and then unlocked the MG IM5, the cable did eventually release.
 
Unfortunately, no other chargers were free, well there were free chargers, just none that were accessible for the charging port on the MG IM5 (another thing it has in common with the Funky Cat).
 
I moved the car to a normal parking space. I went to Dart’s Farm and had an iced latte.
 
Checking the Tesla app to see how many chargers were free I saw I had an issue with the app. The app was still initialising a charge, despite the car not been connected.
 
I did a hard restart of the app, this didn’t work.
 
I shut down and restarted the phone. That didn’t work.
 
I signed out of the app. Restarted the phone again, yes, you guessed it, that didn’t work either.
 
In the end I deleted the app and then reinstalled it.
 
Even then, the app still said initialising a charge, then it said it had stopped.

I could now see there were more free chargers. I was going to try again. I moved the MG IM5 to a different charger to the one I had before, and guess what, yes, it started charging straight away.
 
Though the MG IM5 had a charge capability of 396kW, this is only with 800v chargers, the Tesla chargers are only 400v. So, I was only getting around 87kWh. Better than the Funky Cat, but still.

Came back to the car, which had around a 50% charge now. Disconnected and started my drive home.

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Activation of Adaptive Cruise Control

The MG IM5 comes with semi-autonomous driving capability with Adaptive Cruise Control.

One feature of the Funky Cat I liked was the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and the Smart Cruise Control (SCC).

ACC would keep the car at a desired speed, but would adjust the speed to maintain a safe distance from the car in front. SCC would also keep the Funky Cat in the lane. 

Though I liked the feature, I didn’t use it as much as I would have, in the main as it significantly negatively impacted on the battery life. 

Now with the bigger battery on the MG IM5 I was keen to try out the ACC. However it wasn’t clear when driving the car what I needed to do to initialise ACC. I had to go and read the manual and even then it took a while to find the right page with the right information.

Activation of Adaptive Cruise Control

The adaptive cruise control system is activated by fully pulling down the shift lever. The settings can then adjusted with the paddles on the steering wheel.

On a short run I did get it working, but am expecting to use it on my next long motorway journey.