Kia EV2 vs MG S5 EV

The MG S5 EV costs £3,500 more than the Kia EV2. For that premium it adds 91 litres more boot space, 70 kW more power and a 3.2s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Kia EV2 comes out ahead overall.

The Kia EV2 is £3,500 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £144 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Kia EV2 comes out roughly £3,620 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 234 miles for the Kia EV2 and 208 miles for the MG S5 EV - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Kia EV2 goes roughly 27 miles further between charging stops.

The Kia EV2 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 49 mm narrower than the MG S5 EV. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 600 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV2 and about 551 mm of total clearance for the MG S5 EV. The Kia EV2 also turns in a 0.5 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Kia EV2 and 84% for the MG S5 EV. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. The MG S5 EV has the longer battery warranty at 8 years, versus 7 for the Kia EV2.