• Good overall quality
• Physical heater controls
• Adequate infotainment

How is the quality and layout?

Like most MG EVs before it, the S5’s interior is clean and minimalistic, although quality and usability has been improved. As is so often the case in this class, the interior is a sea of greys and black, with no option to jazz things up with colour. At least it should mean grubby little fingerprints won’t be highlighted too much.

Build quality inside is good. Each panel feels sturdy in its construction, there’s a lot more soft-touch plastic than you might expect, and there are plenty of different trims to jazz things up.

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I particularly like the pasting of faux Alcantara across the central armrest (Trophy only) and the strip of carbon fibre weave-look plastic across the dashboard. Small touches, but enough to take the interior firmly out of the bargain basement.

Infotainment and tech

All S5s come with a 10.3 inch configurable driver’s display. It doesn’t have the sharpest graphics in the business and nor is it the easiest to control, but it does show the information you need clearly. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is standard, with a wireless phone charger standard on Trophy.

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Infotainment is taken care of by a 12.8 inch touchscreen that’s also standard on all versions. I appreciate its location high on the dash, making it easy to see whilst driving, but it looks and feels a generation behind what you’d find in a Skoda Elroq, Kia EV3 or the Renault 4.

The system’s responses to pokes and prods are a bit slower than is ideal, and the menus are long lists that do at least have larger icons than what you’d find in the MG4. Crucially, you don’t have to go into the screen to adjust the heater; there’s a row of physical controls to take care of the temperature, fan speed and other functions.

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Comfort

• Good driving position
• Adjustable lumbar support on Trophy only
• Rear seats could be comfier

So far I’ve only sampled a Trophy which gets a six-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat with manually adjusted lumbar support. I was able to find a comfortable driving position easily, and had no complaints after an hour behind the wheel.

The rear seats aren’t quite so well-padded – an EV3 or Elroq is better here – which could lead to some numb bums on longer journeys. It’s also worth pointing out that only Trophy gets a rear centre armrest, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

Unfortunately, Trophy also gets ‘leather style’ seats. As a child of the 80s, sitting on one after the S5 had been in the sun for a few hours brought back painful memories of vinyl seats in an old Transit minibus. Wear shorts at your peril.

To make matters worse, the air-con takes a few minutes to really start chucking out cold air. Unlike most manufacturers that don’t put the fans on max until the ducts to the vents are slightly chilled, the S5 just blasts you with hot air until the AC chills everything out. Yes, there is preconditioning to stop this, but it shouldn’t be an issue in the first place.