Book your car

The MG5 2023 is about the cheapest way we rent a proper automatic sedan in Dubai, and we'll drop it at your door in one to two hours with the extra kilometre costing nothing beyond the 250 km a day already in the rate. This is the 1.5-litre petrol MG5, a five-seat economy sedan aimed squarely at the daily grind. Our take is that it's the right rental for one job in particular: an easy, no-drama automatic for someone spending the week driving around the city, where the low rate and the free extra miles matter more than badge or polish. It's modest under the bonnet, and we'll point out where that modesty shows.

The automatic, and how it drives day to day

The gearbox is the point of this car. In Dubai's stop-start traffic an automatic in this class earns its keep several times over, and the MG5's is smooth and undemanding at the speeds you actually spend your day at. Crawling through the Marina at rush hour or pulling away from lights, it's calm and easy, and you drive it without ever managing it. Ask for more and the modest output shows: 120 hp moving a full-size sedan means a quick overtake on Sheikh Zayed Road needs a run-up, and the engine gets vocal when you demand everything at once. Sitting at the legal limit, though, is no trouble at all. If you want eager punch in fast traffic this isn't the car, and that's the fair trade for the price.

Space for people and bags

At sedan size the MG5 carries a family without complaint. Two adults up front have room to spread, and three fit across the back for a school run or an airport pickup. The 479-litre boot is generous for the class, enough to swallow a family's cases and a big grocery shop on the same trip, so on a DXB or DWC run the luggage goes in the boot rather than on someone's lap. The cabin is plain, and that's the honest read: hard plastics, a simple touchscreen, basic seats. For a budget rental you're paying for the space and the low running cost, not the trim, and on that basis it delivers.

What a week actually costs to run

Here's where the MG5 makes its case. The rate builds in 250 km every day with no charge for going over, so a renter running between Sharjah, the office and the airport isn't watching the odometer the way a tighter mileage cap would force them to. The 1.5 sips fuel too, roughly 12 km/L in normal driving, and on the 45-litre tank that's several days of city use between visits to a station. It takes regular petrol, so each fill is cheap. For a week of errands, commutes and the occasional airport hop, the total running cost stays low and predictable, which is the whole reason to book this car over something plusher.

Staying cool, and the rules that fall to you

From May through September a parked car turns into an oven, so how fast the AC recovers is what matters. The MG5's system has strong front vents and pulls the cabin down within a few minutes once you're moving with the fan up. It's a conventional setup without rear vents, so on a 45-degree afternoon the back seats take a little longer to catch up, and with kids riding behind it's worth giving it a minute to clear the worst before everyone climbs in. A few Dubai basics before you set off: Salik tolls bill to you as you pass each gantry, any RTA fine or speed-camera flash during the rental is yours, seatbelts are mandatory in every seat, and a child seat is required for under-fours, which we can fit if you ask at booking.

Who should rent it, and who shouldn't

Rent the MG5 2023 if you're covering real distance on a budget and want a fuss-free automatic to do it. For a commuter or a family running the city all week, the 250 km daily allowance, the cheap fuel and the low rate are hard to beat, and it parks and drives without any drama. Look elsewhere if you want a quiet, refined cabin or genuine overtaking pull, where a Corolla or Elantra justifies the extra spend. And if your week means the desert or Hatta with four adults and their kit, size up to a crossover. For piling on cheap city kilometres in comfort enough, the MG5 is the sensible call.