BMW iX1 vs MG S6 EV

The BMW iX1 is £930 cheaper to buy. The BMW iX1 is cheaper to charge, roughly £136 a year versus £184 for the MG S6 EV, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW iX1 comes out roughly £1,170 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 267 miles for the BMW iX1 and 232 miles for the MG S6 EV - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BMW iX1 goes roughly 35 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 29 minutes in the BMW iX1 and 38 in the MG S6 EV, so the BMW iX1 loses less time at each stop. That makes the BMW iX1 the stronger long-distance car.

The BMW iX1 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 67 mm narrower than the MG S6 EV. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 555 mm of total clearance for the BMW iX1 and about 488 mm of total clearance for the MG S6 EV. The MG S6 EV also turns in a 0.8 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 BMW iX1 and 84% for the MG S6 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. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.