MG Im5 vs Ram 2500

What's the difference?

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 RAM 2500 Laramie 4x4 is designed primarily as an extreme duty tow vehicle, and in that role it excels. So if you've got something really big to tow like a multi-axle caravan, horse float, boat trailer or other type of trailer up to 7.0 tonnes, you'd be hard pressed to find a more effortless and luxurious way to move it than with one of these jiggers.

Playing spot the straight line on the outside of the MG IM5 is like an automotive design version of Where’s Wally? There aren’t many, in the midst of an unrelentingly curvaceous exterior treatment.

At close to five metres long and two metres wide the IM5 is appreciably longer (+211mm), a little wider (+27mm) and a bit taller (+33mm) than a Tesla Model 3. Think BMW 5 Series in terms of overall size.

And the soft-form shape is functional; the swoopy liftback boasting an ultra-slick 0.24 drag coefficient.

That said, I’m not convinced by the ‘Periscopic’ cameras informing the driver assistance systems from the front guards. They scream tacked-on afterthought. But a touch-only initial opening function for the flush door handles is cool and makes life easier.

The curves continue inside with soft-padded surfaces around the dash and doors, but the straight edge obviously came out for the 10.5-inch central media screen and vast 26.3-inch upper display. There are next to no buttons; even exterior mirror adjustment is directed from the screen to a multi-function steering wheel control.

System software (powered by a Qualcomm ‘Snapdragon’ chip) is lightning fast with a two-finger up and down swipe shortcut function on the central screen for ventilation and other functions.

The interior is light and bright thanks to the enormous panoramic sunroof. It’s been fine in cooler winter conditions during this test but it could be interesting to revisit in the heat of an Aussie summer

There are two interior colour schemes available - the ‘Highland Grey’ of our test car or ‘Dover Beige’ for those brave enough to live life with the threat of scuff marks on your shiny new car’s glamorous but vulnerably light interior.

With a granite-crushing 3577kg kerb weight (by comparison Ford's top-shelf Ranger Wildtrak dual cab ute is 'only' 2250kg) the RAM 2500's architecture is tailor-made for heavy towing with a massive ladder frame chassis and expansive 3797mm wheelbase (Ranger 3220mm) providing rock-solid towing stability.

Front and rear suspension is via multi-link coil-sprung live axles (LSD rear), with four wheel disc brakes inside 18 x 8.0-inch polished alloy wheels and Michelin LT265/70R18E all-purpose tyres. Plus there's a full size spare.

ASV prefers to use the word 're-manufacture' rather than 'conversion' when describing its extensive body-off-frame RHD engineering process. We can vouch for that, having inspected the company's ISO quality-certified Melbourne production line, which turns out about 40 vehicles a month and employs 28 full-time staff in a dedicated factory right next door to HSV in Clayton. The end result is OEM standards in parts supply, engineering quality, standard of finish and driving performance.

There’s plenty of breathing room up front and in terms of storage one of the first things worth calling out are the long but relatively narrow door bins. No good for anything above unusually slender bottles, even if they’re lying down.

No conventional glove box in the dash, but there is a large lidded box (cooled and heated) between the seats that doubles as a centre armrest. It’s supplemented by a big stowage area underneath the flying buttress style centre console.  

There are two cupholders in the centre console as well as a wireless device charging pad in front of them with a vaguely phone-shaped oddments bin alongside it.  

Move to the rear and the IM5’s 75mm wheelbase advantage over the Tesla Model 3 is clear. Heaps of knee and headroom for me at 183cm sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my position. 

But… the seat sits low which pushes your knees up into the air to the point where my thighs are not contacting the seat cushion. Even though the rear seat reclines to a certain degree it’s a problem compounded by a chronic lack of room for your toes under the front seat. Awkward.

There are map pockets in the front seatbacks, modest bins in the doors and a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders. Adjustable ventilation in the rear of the front centre console always makes life in the rear seat more pleasant.

The car also houses ‘Strong Magnets’ at various points around the cabin and boot, with a configurable adapter able to lock a phone or tablet into place for the entertainment of, in our case, back seaters. 

Speaking of devices for entertainment, there are two USB-C sockets and a 12-volt outlet in the front and another USB-C and 12V in the back, so charging isn’t an issue. 

The IM5 is a liftback so the boot aperture is generous and a capacity of 457 litres with the rear seats up is decent for a car of this size, although that’s less than the Tesla Model 3 (594L) which has an additional well under the floor. 

Still, enough room for the largest (124L) and smallest (36L) suitcases from the CarsGuide three-piece luggage set with some room to spare.

The power tailgate can be operated hands-free via the key or an always welcome under bumper kick function.

Volume expands to 1290 litres with the rear seats folded and there’s a modest 18-litre ‘frunk’ under the bonnet.

The bad news is a repair-inflator kit rather than a physical spare wheel, but the better news is the IM5 Performance can tow a 1500kg braked trailer (750kg unbraked).

The IM range also features the ‘MG iSmart’ app allowing remote control of various functions including charging, checking vehicle location and route planning. 

The RAM 2500's payload capacity of 913kg might seem conservative compared to smaller dual cab utes with one-tonne payloads, but drill down further into its huge tow ratings and that 913kg (say 5-6 occupants and all their gear) looks mighty impressive.

Why? Because on a 50mm ball it can tow up to 3500kg with a full payload (7990kg gross combined mass), on a 70mm ball it can tow up to 4500kg with a full payload (8990kg GCM) and with a gooseneck and ring connection (aka pintle) it can tow up to 6989kg – and still with a full payload. That's a whopping 11,479kg GCM or just under 11.5 tonnes. Try doing that with a one-tonne ute!

The heart of this power giant is a Cummins 6.7 litre inline six cylinder turbo-diesel with 276kW at 2800rpm and a towering 1084Nm of torque at only 1600rpm.

The big cargo box, which is protected by a spray-in bedliner, is 511mm deep with a load floor that's 1939mm long and 1687mm wide with 1295mm between the wheel arches. That means it can take a standard 1160mm x 1160mm pallet, or a couple of dirt bikes with the tailgate up and heaps of room left for your gear and tools.

The cabin offers numerous storage options with bottle holders and twin storage pockets in the front doors, a huge centre console (which pivots into an upright position to serve as the centre seat backrest when required) with internal storage and three more cup/bottle holders, twin glove box compartments, rear door storage pockets, a central floor-mounted twin bottle holder and deep in-floor storage bins hidden under the carpet mats on either side. The rear seat can also be quickly reconfigured into a convenient flat-floored cargo area when required.

ASV offers a choice of 2500 and 3500 (larger GVM) models, with the 2500 attracting the vast majority of local sales as it has a higher peak tow rating and can be driven with a standard driver's licence.

Our test vehicle was the RAM 2500 Laramie Dual Cab 4x4 which starts at $139,500. That's a lot of money but not unreasonable when compared to the $120,000-plus you'll pay for Toyota's local towing hero, the 200 Series Land Cruiser in premium Sahara spec, with 'only' a 3.5 tonne tow rating.

The ASV RAM is supplied in top-shelf Laramie grade which includes a sumptuous six-seater leather interior with more features than you could ask for. These include all the usuals like multimedia interface, dual-zone climate control, sunroof, sliding rear window and power everything, plus some not-so-usuals like remote starting using the key-fob (great on cold mornings before you leave the house), a high-mount cargo camera to keep an eye on your payload, a heated steering wheel and power adjustable pedals to name a few on a very long list.

Further proof of its intended role in life is a seven-pin wiring harness, heavy duty receiver hitch and electric trailer brake control. In simple terms, it's fully loaded.

The MG IM5 Performance is powered by an electric motor on each axle - the rear (372kW/500Nm) more powerful than the front (200kW/300Nm), for overall outputs of 572kW (that’s close to 770hp) and 802Nm of pulling power.

The official term for that amount of grunt is… a lot. And we’ll get to what it means on the road in the Driving section shortly.

The heart of this power giant is a Cummins 6.7 litre inline six cylinder turbo-diesel with 276kW at 2800rpm and - most importantly in this context – a towering 1084Nm of torque at only 1600rpm. It's also equipped with a very effective exhaust brake with a choice of settings.

Chrysler's equally robust and well-proven (68RFE) six-speed automatic transmission with driver-adaptive shifting is purpose-built for extreme duty. The 4x4 drivetrain features a dual-range Borg Warner transfer case with electronic shift-on-the-fly control and a 2.64:1 low range reduction, which with the 3.42:1 final drive results in a 29.2:1 crawl ratio. Ideal for towing a heavy load out of a rugged worksite or a campground turned boggy by overnight rain.

The MG IM5 Performance features an 800-volt electrical architecture which means the 100kWh NCM battery can accept a DC peak charge of close to 400kW.

Only snag is the highest you’ll currently find in Australia is 350kW. But even at that rate you’ll still be looking at a 30-80 per cent charge in just over 15 minutes. Maximum AC charge rate is 11kW.

Claimed range is 575km (WLTP) which is less than the Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor AWD at 629km.

Over a week of city, suburban and some freeway running we saw average energy use of 20.6kWh/100km which is on the high side for an EV of this size but maybe not for one with this kind of performance potential. 

We conducted two tests based on fuel bowser and trip meter readings. The first, which mostly comprised heavy towing, resulted in 20.14L/100km compared to 16.6 on its instrument display. The second was a mix of city, suburban and highway driving with no towing which returned 15.08 litres/100km compared to 14.0 displayed.

First things first, the IM5 Performance is supercar fast. This 2.3-tonne five-seater blazes from 0-100km/h 3.2 seconds and with its dual motors combining to produce 572kW/802Nm, eye-widening performance always resides underneath your right foot.

But it’s not all about straight line speed. Ride comfort is excellent. Underpinned by an all-new platform, the IM5’s suspension is by double wishbones at the front and multi-links at the rear. But the key to its bump and rut smoothing ability is air suspension and ‘continuous control’ active damping.

Fold in double-glazing on the full-length glass roof and side windows, as well as active noise cancellation and you have a serene interior environment at any speed. Also worth noting the front seats are great; as grippy as they are comfortable.

Not only that, despite its relative heft, this mid-sizer steers well, too. Not the last word in road feel but it points accurately and the standard rear steering helps with prompt (but never jerky) cornering turn-in. Flick to ‘Sport’ mode and the IM5 is up for some enthusiastic running.

The rear wheels can turn up to 12 degrees in the opposite direction to the fronts at slow speed, which makes for a usefully tight 10-metre turning circle. But above that, at lesser angles, it adds extra stability and decisiveness in the way the car steers through even tight, twisty sections.

Rubber is top-shelf Pirelli P Zeros on 20-inch alloys (245/40 fr - 275/35 rr) and it grips hard, especially in the wet weather over much of the test period. Braking is solid, as it needs to be, with ventilated discs all around and four-piston callipers at the front. 

No adjustable regen braking but you can feel the ‘Cooperative Regenerative Brake System’ (CRBS) doing its thing when you lift off the accelerator. 

The physical rear view is modest thanks to the slope of the back window reducing its functional area for the driver to that of a 1950s VW Beetle. Even the interior rear-view mirror is tiny and folds up into a recess in the headliner if you’d prefer life without it.

But that’s where a rear camera view popping up on the upper screen display (accessed via the right-hand steering wheel click control) comes in handy. Side camera views are also available as is a 360-degree overhead view, which makes parking straightforward.

If you need more parking help there are various self-parking modes including a nifty ‘Curbside’ function that will realign the car hands-free if you’re parallel parked too far out from the kerb.

In a similar vein, a ‘Rainy Night’ mode projects left and right rear views onto the main screen using AI to enhance clarity and highlight pedestrians and cars.

Overall the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) are relatively unobtrusive but we found ourselves switching off the incessant overspeed chime that sounds for 10 seconds if you creep over the indicated speed limit, even when the system has misfired on the correct speed. For example, 40km/h school zones on a Sunday.

The over-zealous driver distraction warning also occasionally issued a visual and audible slap on the wrist when I was looking straight ahead. Tellingly, there’s a specific quick screen for turning both these functions off, but it kinda defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.

We also found the adaptive cruise control to be hesitant in multi-lane environments, reducing speed occasionally because the system seemingly believed a car was set to merge, when it wasn’t.

The strong whiff of leather is a nice way to start each journey. The full-length side steps and grab handles are required for every climb in and out of the elevated cabin which provides a commanding view of the world, even though the outer edges of its vast bonnet and front mudguards disappear from view.

The front seats are wide and comfortable with good lateral support and rear seat passengers have generous head, shoulder and legroom as you would expect. Although it feels huge when you first climb aboard, the RAM starts to shrink around you the more you drive it, aided by front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera for tight parking situations (which is most of the time).

Its height of 1974mm (Ranger 1848mm) will still clear most undercover car parks (usually 2100mm limit) and its 2009mm width is only 150mm wider than a Ranger, so it will also fit within most car parking spaces. The biggest parking handicap is its oil tanker-like 6030mm length which is 675mm longer than the Ranger, so you need plenty of room for reversing.

On the highway it has a remarkably quiet cabin environment thanks to substantial ASV-added sound insulation, low wind noise and minimal tyre roar.

Ride quality when empty is generally good, although you do notice the firmness of the heavy duty spring rates over larger bumps. Acceleration is spirited, too, with an unbridled 1084Nm shoving you in the back and the steering is nicely weighted and relatively direct for an old-school steering box set-up.

The quartet of disc brakes, though, do not have the bite relative to pedal effort one might expect. ASV engineers claim it's the result of pad compounds which have to withstand the heat of up to 7.0 tonne towing loads, so they tend to be relatively hard.

On the highway it has a remarkably quiet cabin environment thanks to substantial ASV-added sound insulation, low wind noise and minimal tyre roar. At 100km/h with no payload, the 6.7 litre Cummins barely ticked over at 1400rpm and that hardly changed when we hooked up a dual axle New Age Caravan with a 3270kg tare weight.

Given that was less than half of its peak towing capacity, the big RAM barely noticed it was there. The engine's massive 1084Nm of torque at only 1600rpm was most impressive on long gradual climbs, allowing the truck and caravan combo to squash each hill in top gear with minimal throttle.

Each time you ease off the accelerator, too, the exhaust brake provides more than enough retardation (and Kenworth sound effects) to ensure you rarely need to push the brake pedal. And when you do, the electric trailer brake control provides powerful and sure-footed stopping power. The door mirrors were also wide enough to see along each side of the van and approaching rear traffic.

Currently no ANCAP rating but ASV subjected one to a full frontal barrier crash under Australian Design Rule 69/00 which it passed, thereby becoming the first locally converted (oops, re-manufactured) vehicle to be crash tested.

It's loaded with passive and active safety features including driver and front passenger airbags, front seat-mounted side airbags and front and rear side curtain airbags, electronic stability control, front and rear parking sensors, tyre pressure monitoring display and reversing camera. The rear seat has three headrests and three lap-sash belts plus anchorage points to secure up to three child seats.

The MG IM5 Performance is covered by a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, which is a plus, but the catch is it’s conditional on authorised dealer servicing. Go elsewhere and the term drops to a more common five years/unlimited km. The drive battery is covered for eight years/160,000km, which is the norm in the Aussie market

Servicing is required every 12 months or 20,000km with charges averaging $586 per workshop visit for the first five years, which is on the high side for an EV, even at this price point, the average bumped up by a more than $1400 doozy at year four.

MG IM models are sold (with service available) through all of MG’s 100-plus dealerships across the country, so no concerns there.

RAM Trucks Australia provides a three year/100,000km warranty plus national Roadside Assistance for the duration of the warranty period.

Service intervals of six months/12,000km whichever comes first. ASV has a 30-strong Australian dealership network providing full sales and after-sales service.