THE all-electric MG5 is the latest offering from the company and is worth a mention because it is an estate car rather than yet another SUV/crossover.

The MG5 is after a share of the fleet market although it will not appeal to the very high mileage customers as its range is 214 miles between charges.

That will be enough to suit private buyers or company drivers whose work is centred around town rather than long distance hikes on motorways.

It offers room for five adults or stacks of load space with the rear seats folded and comes with lots of equipment.

It is keenly priced as it starts from £24,495 after the government grant is taken into account and it also boasts a seven-year warranty.

Style wise it looks a bit dated and some of the materials inside are not the best but that is obviously to keep the price down.

Powered by a 115kW electric motor the MG5 delivers good performance and can reach 62mph in just 7.7 seconds before going on to a top speed of 115mph.

It handles reasonably well and is comfortable on the road but can be a bit unsettled over rough tarmac.

The 52.5kWh Lithium-Ion battery pack can be charged from zero to 80 per cent in just 50 minutes using a rapid charger. A full charge at home using Type 2 fast charging will take about eight and a half hours.

During a visit to a hotel last week it failed to connect to a variety of chargers and had to be connected to a domestic supply overnight but that may have been down to faulty equipment.

You can tell that it is an all-electric vehicle by the badging, lack of tailpipes and the green strip on the number plate but that apart it looks like any other estate car.

The MG badge on the front grille conceals the charge socket and there is another large MG badge on the manually operated tailgate.

There is a substantial amount of standard equipment and a rotary dial replaces the usual gear selector while all the instruments are clear and easily read. Sadly some of the materials fall short.

You do get heated and fully adjustable seats as well as electric windows all-round, air conditioning, regenerative braking, cruise control with speed limiter, an auto-hold electric parking brake, rain-sensing wipers and push-button starter.

The package also includes alloys, electrically adjustable mirrors, remote entry with push button start, sat nav and silver roof rails.

There is an eight-inch colour touchscreen and seven-inch TFT display. The touchscreen controls navigation and infotainment but I found it complicated and difficult to use especially on the move. The DAB radio plays through six speaker and there is full connectivity for smartphones.

The TFT display provides a lot of good information on the charging and range of the car which is good for those who suffer from range anxiety.

On the practical side the boot offers 464 litres of space and an impressive 1,456 litres with the rear seats folded.

As you would expect it comes with active and passive safety systems, with front, side and curtain airbags, electronic brake assist, ABS with EBD, twin ISOFIX points in the rear and hill start assistance.