What's the difference?
Finding a half-decent small SUV for less than $30,000 has become quite challenging in the past couple of years. But as mainstream brands march further upmarket, some Chinese manufacturers are happy to grab sales at the lower end of the market.
One such brand, Chery, re-emerged with the Omoda 5 compact crossover about 18 months ago with keen pricing and loads of standard features.
Further pushing the value point, Chery recently added a new base grade of the Omoda 5, the FX. It sits under the Omoda 5 BX and EX with the same powertrain and it only loses a handful of features from the BX.
At $27,000 drive-away, it looks like a steal on paper. But how does the new cut-price Omoda 5 handle urban duties? And does this small SUV offer more than just a solid standard features list?
MG’s latest electric vehicle has arrived in Australia. The MG S5 EV replaces the super popular MG ZS EV. But don’t think of the MG S5 EV as just a replacement because if first impressions ring true this small budget electric SUV could be the new benchmark for the class.
The arrival could not be better timed. A multitude of new Chinese brands have been landing in Australia with small affordable electric SUVs such as the BYD Atto 3, Chery Omoda E5 and Zeekr X, while the MG ZS EV was getting older and uncompetitive even if its price was almost unbeatable.
Now the S5 EV has landed and our first impressions show it to be outstanding. We’ve tested it and can tell you how well it stacks up against the ZS EV and after you read this review you'll also know how well it may compare to its small budget electric SUV rivals.
There’s little argument that Chery is focusing on value-for-money when it comes to its model range, and that’s absolutely the case with its new range opener - the Omoda 5 FX.
The spacious, flexible and neat cabin also get a tick.
Purely looking at this car on paper, it is hard to beat for $27,000 drive-away. And if you stick exclusively to urban areas without hitting the open road, you might be happy with your purchase.
However, the overall drive experience, including the behaviour of the advanced driver assistance tech, is well off the pace of mainstream rivals from Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, VW and more.
If that price is too good to look past, then be sure to do back-to-back test drives with other similarly priced rivals to compare.
Benchmark is a big word. But I’ve been testing cars long enough to know when and where to use it, and if my motoring instincts are correct the MG S5 EV could be the new benchmark for budget small electric SUVs.
Still we’ve only driven one grade - the Essence with the bigger 62kWh battery. We need to get the other grades into the garage to test them too, but on first impressions the MG S5 is outstanding for price, practicality, styling, ownership, and the way it drives.
The Omoda 5’s design is bold, certainly more so than its larger Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 stablemates.
At the front the narrow daytime running lights integrate into the busy-looking grille that is surrounded by vertical headlights.
Tall wheel arches, narrowing rear three-quarter windows, creases, a boot lip spoiler and a perky rear help it stand out, but when you look at it front on or rear on, it seems oddly proportioned. Like it’s on stilts or something.
The cabin design is smart and restrained with a high-set centre console, piano black inserts, attractive three-spoke flat-bottom steering wheel with clear dials and minimal use of buttons.
Soft-touch materials adorn the top of the dash but the doors make do with hard plastics, which I have no issue with. The passenger side dash is upright but that doesn’t impact functionality.
The MG S5 EV is a completely new car. Unlike the ZS EV which was a combustion car that was later turned into an EV, the S5 EV was designed from the start and built as an electric vehicle and that’s super important for everything from space to how it drives.
The S5 EV is a bigger car than the ZS EV. It’s 153mm longer and 40mm wider and it shares the same underpinnings as the excellent MG4 hatch.
The S5 EV looks a bit like the MG4 but an SUV version and I think the styling is a massive improvement over the ZS EV. This thing looks snatched with its sleeker shape and a smooth modern face, the blade-like LED running lights sitting atop the headlights and I really like the treatment to the tail-lights as well and the way the boot lid flicks up into a little integrated spoiler.
It's a far more refined, mature and prestigious look to the ZS EV. And while we're being completely subjective here I also think it's better looking and more refined than the BYD Atto 3 and Chery E5.
That same refinement and modernity is everywhere in the superb cabin from the clean dash design and door trims, to the steering wheel and floating centre console.
The cabin offers enough space for a small SUV. It feels wide across the front seat and there’s plenty of headroom, too.
The driver’s seat is power adjustable and while the fabric and stitching look cool, there’s almost too much padding under your bottom.
There are clear controls on the comfy door armrest and on the lovely looking three-spoke synthetic leather, flat bottom steering wheel.
The console sits up high, presumably to give the cabin a sports car look, and the dash is neat and clean, largely due to a lack of physical buttons. There are two phone holders that dominate the lower part of the dash and they double as device chargers in higher grades, but not in the FX.
There is space under the console to fit a bag or other items but the USB-A and USB-C ports are on the passenger side so you have to reach over to connect a cord if required. Thankfully, the Apple CarPlay is wireless. It connected easily and did not require reconnection while I had the car.
Two smallish cupholders are found near the gear shifter, and a sizeable central bin will store a number or items. The doors can stow a tall and wide bottle as well as other flat items.
Chery’s dual-screen set-up looks nice and not a world away from Kia’s integrated screens. The driver instrument display is not customisable in this grade and many of the items on the display are quite small. It would help if these were a little larger.
The multimedia side is simple to use with iPhone-like icons for functions like vehicle settings and more. There’s even a cute little bubble face on the side that you press to dictate commands. I asked the system to perform a few basic tasks like turning the air con off and on and it did it immediately without fault.
Air con controls are housed in the screen as well but it’s not as fiddly as some systems from other manufacturers. The only complaint is that it doesn’t appear to show the exact temperature, and the air flow could be stronger for a hot climate like Australia.
Taller passengers will probably need to duck their heads getting in and out of the Omoda 5’s rear seats, because of the low roofline. Once in the rear, there is a decent amount of knee and legroom, and headroom is good too despite the roofline.
Those rear seats are flat and not the most comfortable but fine for urban drives, and they feature ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats and three top tether points for child car seats.
In terms of amenities, there’s one USB-C port in the second row, lower air vents - something too many small SUVs go without - a centre fold-down armrest with two (shallow) cupholders and enough space for big bottles in the doors.
All petrol Omoda 5s have a cargo capacity of 360 litres, which increases to 1075L when you fold the 60/40 split rear seats down. This is more than the GWM Haval Jolion petrol’s capacity (337L).
It has a manual tailgate, a high loading area and some under-floor storage, but there is more than enough space for some luggage or a large amount of groceries in the boot.
It has a temporary spare wheel which is essential in Australia if you’re driving beyond urban areas.
The only negative is the flimsy parcel shelf. It struggles to stay in the groves that are designed to hold it. I had to re-fit it every time I opened the boot.
The MG S5 EV’s practicality is also outstanding and while it’s early days, it could be the new benchmark for the class. It's a spacious cabin with superb ergonomics and excellent storage.
Even as a taller person (I’m 189cm) there was plenty of elbow, shoulder and legroom for me as a driver and also to sit behind my driving position in the second row.
Storage is excellent with giant bottle holders in all the doors, stowage under the floating centre console, four cupholders and a flat space for your phone which also is a wireless charger on the Essence.
It’s such an ergonomic and practical cabin even the buttons are practical. There’s a volume dial, and physical buttons and switches for the climate control switch, not screen buttons.
And then there’s the boot, at 453 litres it’s about 10 litres bigger than the ZS EV’s cargo capacity. It's also 10L larger than the Atto 3 and a lot bigger than the Chery E5’s boot.
At the time of publishing, the only non-Chinese-branded model in the mainstream small SUV category available for less than $30K drive-away is the 14-year-old Mitsubishi ASX. The only other sub-$30K small SUVs are from Chery, GWM Haval and MG - all from China.
Since launching the Omoda 5, Chery has placed value at the heart of its pitch to buyers, and that has only sharpened with the launch of the new base FX grade, tested here.
The FX kicks off at $27,990, drive-away, which lowers the price of entry to the Omoda 5 range by $6500. Not bad at all.
The only other models that compete on price are the GWM Haval Jolion Premium from $26,990 drive-away, the soon-to-be replaced MG ZST Vibe at $26,490 drive-away and the Mitsubishi ASX GS which is $26,740, but that doesn't include on-road costs.
Spec wise, the FX is not missing much from the next grade up, the $34,490, drive-away, BX. You get halogen headlights instead of LEDs, and it loses acoustic glass, soft-touch upper door inserts, ambient lighting, a wireless device charger, a 12-volt outlet in the boot and a frameless rear-view mirror.
Compared with the BX the FX suffices with single-zone instead of dual-zone air conditioning, the audio system drops from eight speakers to six and it has fabric rather than synthetic leather seat trim.
Out of these missing items, you’ll miss some more than others. Offering halogen instead of LED headlights is increasingly rare these days, even on base grades, and halogens are just not as strong, especially on regional roads at night.
But I am yet to encounter a truly effective device charging pad in a car so that’s no great loss.
The safety list is solid (see Safety section below) and it still has a good level of standard gear, especially for the price.
The FX comes with rear passenger air vents, keyless entry and start, a proximity key, a six-way power driver’s seat, dual 10.25-inch screens (multimedia and driver instrumentation), digital radio, an intelligent voice command as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
There are two grades in the MG S5 EV line-up. The Excite is the entry grade and the Essence is the top-of-the-range grade. Both come with a choice of two batteries - there's the smaller 49kWh battery and a bigger 62kWh battery. Now that you know this, the pricing will make more sense.
The MG S5 EV line-up starts at $40,490 with the entry grade Excite with the 49kWh battery, then steps up to $42,990 for the Essence also with the 49kWh battery. That increases to $44,990 for the Excite with the 62kWh battery and tops out at $47,990 for the Essence with this unit. All prices are drive-away.
Standard features on both the Excite and Essence include LED headlights, LED running lights and LED tail-lights, also standard are alloy wheels - 18-inch ones on the Essence and 17s on the Excite.
Both grades have proximity unlocking single-zone climate control, a 12.8 inch media display digital radio, a four-speaker stereo on the Excite and a six-speaker sound system on the Essence, while both have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat nav and a 10.25-inch instrument cluster.
The Essence has a few extra items the Excite doesn’t get like rear privacy glass, a panoramic glass roof, wireless phone charging, heated front seats and a power driver’s seat.
There are two petrol engine choices for the Omoda 5. The FX, BX and EX use a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged unit delivering power and torque outputs of 108kW and 210Nm, respectively.
These grades are front-wheel drive and the powertrain features a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
Those outputs are inline with the GWM Haval Jolion petrol but offer more punch than the MG ZST.
The Omoda 5 GT grades use a more powerful 137kW/275Nm 1.6-litre turbo, but they also come with a higher price tag.
The MG S5 EV has one electric motor driving the rear wheels and it has an output of 125kW and 250Nm. That’s plenty of grunt to move this electric car quickly and instantly in a way that feels controllable and smooth.
While front-wheel-drive cars are absolutely fine, rear-wheel drive tends to offer more engagement and feel, and that's an added bonus for the S5 EV.
Chery says the official combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel use figure for the Omoda 5 1.5L is 6.9 litres per 100km and the CO2 emissions are rated at 164g/km from the Euro 6-compliant engine.
After a week of urban, freeway and outer suburban driving we recorded a figure of 10.3L/100km which is well off the official figure.
It has a 51-litre fuel tank and runs on 91 RON petrol. Based on our calculations you can expect a theoretical range of about 765km.
The MG S5 EV’s energy consumption varies depending on the grade and battery size.
The most efficient in the range is the entry grade Excite with the 49kWh battery with MG saying on a combination of open and urban roads it should use 16.6kWh/100km (WLPT). The biggest energy user in the range is the Essence grade with the 62kWh battery with 17.1kWh/100km.
As for the range, this varies from 335km in the 49kWh Essence to 430km in the 62kWh Excite.
The Omoda 5 has two personalities depending how and where you’re driving. If you only drive in urban areas and rarely exceed 60km/h, it’s more than fine as a daily driver.
It’s when you’re on the open road or a freeway that its flaws are revealed.
The 1.5-litre engine is responsive enough, although there is some hesitation when accelerating under full throttle, and it’s slower to pick up pace when you’re already on the move at 60 or 80km/h.
The throttle is quite sensitive, however, and can be a little jolty when taking off. And light tyre chirp is also possible when accelerating hard.
Chery’s CVT is fine and doesn’t have the drone of other CVTs, but the manual mode toggles on the side of the shifter are in a confusing spot. When I first got in the car, I mistook this for the button that allows the shift between drive and reverse that many other cars have. I only made that mistake once, though.
The engine is rowdy when accelerating hard but not unpleasant, and Chery could do more to keep noise out of the cabin. Wind noise is particularly noticeable.
The Omoda 5’s ride can be jittery, particularly on uneven or pockmarked roads. The tyres seem to soak up road reflectors and smaller bumps but the suspension tune is on the firmer side which means it’s crashy over bigger bumps.
It also leans a lot when cornering, feeling top heavy in bends. This is not the sort of dynamically capable crossover you can have fun with on a twisty road, like the sadly departed Ford Puma, or the Mazda CX-30 or VW T-Roc.
Some general impressions - the brakes are a little slow to respond but you learn to adjust. The steering feels artificial and twitchy and you’re constantly fighting with the lane keeping aid. More on that in the ‘Safety’ section below.
On sunny days a distracting reflection of the top of the dash appears on the inside of the windscreen. It’s not great. But another general impression is that the proximity key works a treat. Which is not often the case.
The MG S5 EV is outstanding to drive for an electric vehicle at this affordable price point. Again, I’m going to put it out there and suggest it could be the new benchmark for the more affordable end of the small electric SUV segment. Kia's EV3 is also a winner on the road, but it's quite a bit pricier than the MG.
I was never a fan of the way the ZS EV drove, from its seating position to ride and handling. But the MG S5 EV is completely different to pilot. It’s excellent.
This car feels so composed on the road, the body control is excellent, the steering is well weighted and direct, the visibility is excellent and the pedal feel under my feet is solid, too. And all of that is combined with an electric motor that makes the perfect amount of power.
Add to all this the rear-wheel-drive component and the MG S5 EV is not just easy to drive but engaging as well.
As mentioned earlier, Chery has a long list of standard safety gear for all grades of the Omoda 5 from the base FX to the top-spec GT AWD.
In fact, the only feature the FX and BX don’t get is a 360-degree surround-view monitor.
It comes with a centre airbag to help mitigate against injury during a side collision, front and rear parking sensors, multi-collision brake, forward collision warning, auto emergency braking (AEB), emergency lane keeping, lane departure warning and prevention, traffic jam assist, lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert and traffic sign recognition.
ANCAP gave it a maximum five-star crash safety rating in 2022.
There is no question you get a bucket load of safety gear for your money. However, some of the advanced driver assistance features let the car down.
We have written before about the poor performance of systems like the lane keeping aid when the Omoda 5 launched 18 months ago.
Chery was very quick to recalibrate some of these systems to ensure they are better suited to Australian conditions. But it’s still well off the pace of other more established small SUV rivals.
Despite the improvements, the active lane keeping system still isn’t great. On a freeway, the steering is incredibly jittery and it makes for an unpleasant driving experience. The car ping pongs between the line markings and sometimes it feels like it’s going to steer you into the next lane.
At one point I had the indicator on to change lanes and even then the steering was fighting me to stay in the lane I was in.
It feels like one of the first examples of lane keeping systems from several years ago. Many other brands have sharpened these systems to the point they are barely noticeable.
The blind spot monitor beeps a lot and at inappropriate times. It is quite frustrating. You can turn off some of these systems in the settings menu, but you shouldn’t have to do that. They should just work without distracting from the task at hand - driving.
Chery’s driver attention alert is infuriating. I lost count of the number of times the ‘You’ve been distracted for a long time’ warning flashed up when I was looking straight ahead at the road. At one point the display flashed when I was at a roundabout trying to turn. So I was distracted by what? My own driving?
The adaptive cruise control, however, is responsive and adapted to forward traffic without getting flustered.
Chery may have improved the ADAS calibration after the Omoda's launch, but the carmaker still has a lot of work to do in this area to be anywhere near its mainstream rivals.
The MG S5 EV has the maximum five-star ANCAP rating and that’s from 2025 so it is super fresh. That means it has the lot so there’s auto emergency braking (AEB), front cross-traffic alert, rear cross-traffic alert with braking, lane keeping assistance and blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control, intelligent speed limit assist and more.
There's also a driver and front passenger airbag, two side airbags, two curtain airbags and a far side airbag.
For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor points.
Chery has a solid aftersales offer that includes a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, seven years of roadside assist as long as you service with a Chery dealer, and seven years of capped-price servicing.
The service schedule is every 10,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first. That’s off the pace of some rivals that don’t make you return to the dealership until 15,000km.
But the cost of the first five services is $280 a pop before increasing to $391 and then $295. That is well priced for the segment.
The MG S5 EV is covered by MG’s 10-year 250,000 kilometre warranty. And that includes the battery. Regular families though do about 10,000km a year or 20,000km maximum, so this warranty offers excellent coverage for them.