What's the difference?
Yep, it’s like deja vu all over again! Yet another fresh name in the Aussie new-car market, but this time in the form of a sub-brand from a carmaker that itself feels like it’s only been around for five minutes (but has in fact been in market here for a decade or more).
We’re testing the MG IM5 Performance, the IM badge standing alone in other markets. There, as here, signifying a new level of equipment, performance and quality.
And we’ve been steering this top-spec, dual-motor AWD version of the pure-electric, five-door liftback IM5, priced and specified to challenge a rapidly expanding group of high-performance mid-size EV sedans now occupying local showrooms.
So, read on to see if this premium electric performer has what it takes to tempt you into a new option from the latest challenger brand to jump into the ever-intensifying, no-holds barred contest for your new-car dollars.
Range Rover has developed a bit of an image problem in the last few years.
To many the brand is still the face of a quintessentially British aspirational luxurious off-roader. But to a growing group, it has become synonymous with the concept of an environmentally reckless fuel-guzzling SUV.
They’re big, heavy, and still feature V8 engines, but Range Rover knows all too well the writing is on the wall for its increasingly infamous range of combustion vehicles.
The trouble is, customers love them, and while the I-Pace from sister brand Jaguar is a big leap into the future, there needs to be a happy medium for easing some of its existing customers away from combustion, while still offering the kinds of excess and aspirational performance the Range Rover brand is associated with.
Enter this car, the Evoque HSE P300e. It’s a plug-in hybrid, notably only available in the top trim level, with top-shelf performance, too.
Is it the right car to represent Range Rover’s entry-level model at a critical time of technological transformation? Let’s take a look.
The MG IM5 Performance is fast, comfortable, quiet and super refined. Putting some minor spec and active safety niggles to one side, it offers the features, tech and price to match it with its well-credentialled and already popular mid-size EV sedan competitors. Is there room for one more? We think there should be.
The Range Rover Evoque is more highly specified and more luxurious than ever, and this plug-in hybrid version makes the most of what’s on offer with its slick but familiar feel from behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, it does have an eye-watering price tag to go with its classy design and the options list is a bit rude, all things considered, but the core offering is a solid luxury buy for city-slickers, nonetheless.
What makes the Evoque P300e stand out for me is its impressive EV driving range and excellent charging specs which make it as convenient as possible to make the most of its electrified features.
It’s up to the buyer whether these conveniences and the Range Rover badge are worth swapping into a car a full size down from its luxury plug-in rivals for the same money.