MG S5 EV vs Smart #3

The Smart #3 costs £2,465 more than the MG S5 EV. For that premium it adds 30 kW more power. The MG S5 EV is not just cheaper - it also offers 96 miles more WLTP range, 83 litres more boot space and lower energy use, 155 versus 172 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the MG S5 EV comes out ahead overall.

The MG S5 EV is £2,465 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the MG S5 EV comes out roughly £2,585 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 208 miles for the MG S5 EV and 189 miles for the Smart #3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The MG S5 EV goes roughly 19 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 28-30 minutes.

The two are within 5 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 556 mm of total clearance for the Smart #3 and about 551 mm of total clearance for the MG S5 EV.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the MG S5 EV and 84% for the Smart #3. 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. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.