As we plan our long awaited road trip to Baguio, I was blessed enough to have the decision of choosing what car I can bring along with me.
Now, in our generation today, we actually have a lot of options to choose from unlike the days of old. Sure there are the usual car brands out there that can easily be my first choice, but then I figured, “Hey! Why not an MG?” I mean, why not, right? I’ve driven a couple of MG’s back then and if there’s one thing I won’t forget when it comes to driving an MG is how comfortable it is to drive one.
So, will the MG RX5 meet my expectations? Let’s break it down, shall we?
Exterior:
Now, what’s great with the looks of the RX5 is that they’ve kept the car classy yet subtle at the same time. It’s sleek body lines, along with a nice touch of chrome around the grill that compliments well with its LED headlight and halogen fog lamps, really fits well on the simple and classy look of the car, which MG has been really good at.
If you look at it on the side, the RX5 has a two toned 18-inch wheels and has about 175mm ground clearance. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in every wheel arch, you can see two vertical lines on the top and on each side which honestly looks kind of sporty and it compliments the design of the wheels as well.
Now, if you think that the front looks classy, wait till you see the rear! Because I’m not gonna lie, the rear looks just as great as the front! Again, there’s a touch of chrome that is perfectly placed in the middle of the trunk all the way up to the tail light. The design pattern of the tail light, as it goes on at night, is just mezmerizing to look at thanks to its LED Combination tail lights.
Interior:
Moving forward with the interior, you can expect the typical simple, elegant, and clean trademark look of the MG. The black interior with leather accents and white stitches really hits the spot if you want an interior thats easy on the eyes. You also have black leather seats with white stitching that are just amazingly comfortable. Steering wheel controls, along with the cruise control lever, is well placed and user friendly.
Now onto your center panel and console, you have your standard 8-inch infotainment system (With AppleCarPlay, reverse camera, and other MG Features), basic knobs and switches for your AC Controls (this controls the AC at the front and at the back), and to top it all off, a panoramic sunroof. Which I might say is a perfect feature when it comes to roadtrips if you want to just sit back, relax, or even lie down on the backseat and look at the distant night sky.
Safety:
The MG RX5 is also up to speed when it comes to safety as innovation in safety features being one of the top priorities of car manufacturers today. To name a few it has Hill Descend, Hill Hold Control, Dual and side airbags, Anti-Roll Protection (a built in system that recognizes incoming “rollover” instances and selectively brakes to resist rollover), Cornering Brake Control, and many others which makes the RX5 a safe and sturdy car to drive.
Space & Practicality:
When it comes to space and practicality, the MG RX5 has about 595 Liters of space on the trunk alone. Now, if you want more space, just simply fold back the backseat and you can easily have about 1600+ Liters of space, which is a lot for a Compact SUV of its size. Sadly, the seating capacity is only up to 4 or 5 people, but despite filling it up with people, leg room and head room is still decent.
The RX5 is actually a practical car knowing that you can maximize all the space the car can give. Despite having a lot of our personal bags for our Baguio trip (including the “pasalubong” that consists of different kinds of food, fruits & vegetables, a couple of plants, and a “walis”) we can still fit more in the trunk alone.
Engine & Drive:
The MG RX5 has a 1.5L Turbo Charged engine underneath the bonnet that packs about 167HP and 250Nm of Torque along with a 7 speed DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission). For its fuel consumption, you only have 6 km/L on the city. But on the highway, you have about 15 km/L. To be honest, the power of the engine is actually more than enough. As we were driving on the twist and turns heading up to Baguio, the RX5 really didn’t disappoint when it comes to giving the power I need to overtake whenever needed.
Cornering on twisty roads isn’t a problem as well as it feels planted and not to mention the handling has the right combination of softness and heaviness while steering.
The only thing that’s actually holding it back is the transmission as it tends to be really sluggish at first. You can really feel the power lag for a couple of seconds after stepping on the pedel which I really hope that MG would improve on soon. The “manual” mode or + / - mode is amazing while overtaking, downshifting, and engine breaking on the downhill, but at times it tends to be a bit jerky.
Verdict:
So after driving for about 4-5 hours, we finally arrived at Baguio. Moments after arriving and parking the car, James immediately asked me, “so how was driving the MG?” and without any hesitation, my response to him was “It honestly feels good. In fact, I don’t feel tired at all. I feel like I wanted to drive more roads!”
Now I’m not sugarcoating anything on this believe me. It’s just that, It feels really comfortable driving the RX5. The entire trip going to Baguio, roaming around Baguio, and then heading back to the city, I didn’t feel tired at all. The RX5 is just one comfortable car to drive. I didn’t feel my back aching from all that sitting compared to the other cars I’ve driven in the past.
I even asked my friends that accompanied me for the trip and they themselves told me, with smiles on their faces, that they enjoyed the comfort and the ride of the RX5.
There’s just something different when it comes to the comfort of the RX5, actually MG in general. Like I said in the beginning of this article,”if there’s one thing I won’t forget when it comes to driving an MG is how comfortable it is to drive one.” So to answer my question at the start of this article? Yes, it did meet my expectations. Don’t believe me? Test drive one now!
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