The new MG 5 is Australia’s cheapest sedan, undercutting even the smaller Mazda 2. Just how MG has accomplished that is easier to understand when you look at its list of safety equipment.
Apart from autonomous emergency braking (AEB), now required on new vehicle launches in Australia, there’s no active safety equipment available.
AEB is essentially the bare minimum for a new car in Australia in terms of active safety tech, as under Australian Design Rule 98/00 all new vehicle launches from March 1, 2023 must have it.
Even the top-spec Essence lacks additional safety assists, which means features like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, and rear cross-traffic alert aren’t available on any MG 5 in Australia.
That’s despite a suite of active safety and driver assist features being available on the same model in both Thailand and China.
While the MG 5 betters the cheaper MG 3 and ZS in offering standard AEB, it’s a far cry from even other MGs like the ZST which offer a comprehensive suite of active safety and driver assist technology under the MG Pilot name.
The MG 5 is priced at $24,990 drive-away in Vibe trim and $28,990 drive-away in Essence trim. For context, the Kia Cerato starts at $27,890 drive-away.
While that’s considerably cheaper than all its rivals including the Cerato, and MG has demonstrated with its popular MG 3 that many buyers don’t necessarily want the latest in safety tech, the MG 5 is alone in its segment in lacking features like lane-keep assist.
Even the base variants of the Kia Cerato, Hyundai i30, Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla sedans feature this.
The Australian Government accepted submissions for input in 2022 on a new Australian Design Rule that would make lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist systems mandatory in our market.
The proposed ADR 107/00 would make this feature mandatory on all light vehicles introduced after March 1, 2024, and all light vehicles already on sale from March 1, 2026.
MORE: Everything MG 5
