MG ZS EV - Any Good?
Discussion
My Partner is looking at an MG ZS EV for her long commute, as it seems by far the most cost effective way of doing it. The commute is 75 miles per day, mix of motorway/A road and stop start traffic. She currently has a Qashqai 1.5 diesel manual, not a great car but about as economical as a crossover type thing can be. With the recent increase in fuel, she's now spending anywhere from £250-300 per month on diesel. The Qashqai is 5 years old, out of warranty and starting to get to the point where it feels like things will probably start to go wrong or need replacing.
She really wants an auto, and doesn't want anything smaller than a crossover as she likes sitting up higher than normal sized cars. I'd suggested electric as she can charge on a fast charger for free at work (where hopefully most/all charging will be done) and we will get a charger fitted at home. Some fag packet maths says a cheap electric car could be had for Qashqai (deposit) + current diesel spend per month, with the electricity spend being negligible due to free work charging and Octopus Go tariff left over from when I had a PHEV. That sort of puts it into no brainer territory.
We tried the Peugeot e-2008 but found the seats/driving position uncomfortable and she struggled with the small steering wheel/cockpit layout. We then tried the MG which she thought was perfect. It's got a massive claimed range of 270 miles, much faster than the Peugeot and most importantly she found it really comfortable.
Does anyone here have one and able to share what it's like to live with? I know they've only been out a couple of months but for £34k for the top model and 4.9% APR it seems like a bargain.
Outside of the commute and local trips into town, it doesn't really matter about the range as I have ICE cars that we'll use at all other times. Worst case it needs to be able to do 75 miles to her work and back on the coldest day of the year at motorway cruising speeds, that's about it. If the range is better than expected it might also turn into our airport car to save mine from carpark damage!
She really wants an auto, and doesn't want anything smaller than a crossover as she likes sitting up higher than normal sized cars. I'd suggested electric as she can charge on a fast charger for free at work (where hopefully most/all charging will be done) and we will get a charger fitted at home. Some fag packet maths says a cheap electric car could be had for Qashqai (deposit) + current diesel spend per month, with the electricity spend being negligible due to free work charging and Octopus Go tariff left over from when I had a PHEV. That sort of puts it into no brainer territory.
We tried the Peugeot e-2008 but found the seats/driving position uncomfortable and she struggled with the small steering wheel/cockpit layout. We then tried the MG which she thought was perfect. It's got a massive claimed range of 270 miles, much faster than the Peugeot and most importantly she found it really comfortable.
Does anyone here have one and able to share what it's like to live with? I know they've only been out a couple of months but for £34k for the top model and 4.9% APR it seems like a bargain.
Outside of the commute and local trips into town, it doesn't really matter about the range as I have ICE cars that we'll use at all other times. Worst case it needs to be able to do 75 miles to her work and back on the coldest day of the year at motorway cruising speeds, that's about it. If the range is better than expected it might also turn into our airport car to save mine from carpark damage!
We have one on order, a Long Range SE. I was able to get a reasonable drive of a friend's and an hour or so behind the wheel, it was much better than expected. We're buying it to replace a Kia Sportage, which has averaged 27.3mpg (computer) in the last 15k miles, so expecting huge fuel savings.
We had a Trophy on order but changed to an SE because we couldn't justify the extra cost, the only additions we will miss are the heated seats and leather would have been handy for kids mess, but not worth the £3500 uplift. Appreciate it's more than that, panoramic roof, etc. but we can live without those. SE is well specced with MG Pilot system, climate control, android auto will be plenty, and it has the same running gear and is almost identical visually.
Do you or any close family work in public sector, NHS, Police or Fire? If so, have a look at MG Affinity pricing. Gives you up to £3,800 discount on the top spec model. (EDIT - it seems they have reworded and you/partner have to be the employee, I could swear it used to include close family members too, but maybe worth asking).
Apologies, no long term experience, but I did note on my drive that the economy of that particular car (driven in cold January, and with little regard for efficiency) was averaging 2.4m/kWh over it's 1500 mile life. That would be c.163 miles from 100-0%.
There are the long term effects to consider of continuous fast charging, which can accelerate the deterioration of the batteries. I'm not too clued up on that but the MG EV Forum has some threads on that matter.
We had a Trophy on order but changed to an SE because we couldn't justify the extra cost, the only additions we will miss are the heated seats and leather would have been handy for kids mess, but not worth the £3500 uplift. Appreciate it's more than that, panoramic roof, etc. but we can live without those. SE is well specced with MG Pilot system, climate control, android auto will be plenty, and it has the same running gear and is almost identical visually.
Do you or any close family work in public sector, NHS, Police or Fire? If so, have a look at MG Affinity pricing. Gives you up to £3,800 discount on the top spec model. (EDIT - it seems they have reworded and you/partner have to be the employee, I could swear it used to include close family members too, but maybe worth asking).
Apologies, no long term experience, but I did note on my drive that the economy of that particular car (driven in cold January, and with little regard for efficiency) was averaging 2.4m/kWh over it's 1500 mile life. That would be c.163 miles from 100-0%.
There are the long term effects to consider of continuous fast charging, which can accelerate the deterioration of the batteries. I'm not too clued up on that but the MG EV Forum has some threads on that matter.
Mikehig said:
Have a look at:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Thanks, interesting reading although for the older lower range model so hopefully the new one is noticeably better. The salesman said it had only been out for 3 months and only a few in the UK so there isn't much real world experience of them yet.https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
What I'm finding really annoying is there are loads listed as 'in stock' on Autotrader, however when you call they say 'sorry, system issue, due in July/September'. A bit naughty of dealers to do this, I guess just the latest bait and switch scheme.
I've had mine since December. Put just over 3000 miles on it. It's been pretty good, range wise it was something like 180 miles in the depths of winter, more like 220 now.
I use mine for work, there's a good amount of room in the boot for tools and such, no front trunk though, which is a bit of shame. But yeah pretty good for space.
Quality wise I've not had much of an issue with mine, seems screwed together OK. I know some have had issues with infotainment bugs, but this mainly seems to affect the Trophy Connect, not the SE and Trophy. Only real issue with mine is a slight click on the HVAC fan, not had any other bugs.
Charging wise has been OK, I've only fast charged it twice but that was no bother. I have heard of some horror stories of broken chargers effectively bricking the car by disconnecting the hv system. Its a worry but not something I use often. The app is a bit rubbish too. Its just about functional enough for preheating to work though.
Speed an handling wise, it's pretty quick for its class, handling is a bit wallowy but perfectly adequate for town and motorway stuff. You could go b Road blasting but it's not the most fun.
The kicker really is that when I bought mine (it's an LR Trophy) the government grant still applied, plus a bit of discount for taking the finance. Essentially it made it £29500. I think it's good value at that, but at £34k you getting a bit close to things like the eNiro. Waiting lists are increasing at a pace too.
Certainly worth shortlisting anyway.
I use mine for work, there's a good amount of room in the boot for tools and such, no front trunk though, which is a bit of shame. But yeah pretty good for space.
Quality wise I've not had much of an issue with mine, seems screwed together OK. I know some have had issues with infotainment bugs, but this mainly seems to affect the Trophy Connect, not the SE and Trophy. Only real issue with mine is a slight click on the HVAC fan, not had any other bugs.
Charging wise has been OK, I've only fast charged it twice but that was no bother. I have heard of some horror stories of broken chargers effectively bricking the car by disconnecting the hv system. Its a worry but not something I use often. The app is a bit rubbish too. Its just about functional enough for preheating to work though.
Speed an handling wise, it's pretty quick for its class, handling is a bit wallowy but perfectly adequate for town and motorway stuff. You could go b Road blasting but it's not the most fun.
The kicker really is that when I bought mine (it's an LR Trophy) the government grant still applied, plus a bit of discount for taking the finance. Essentially it made it £29500. I think it's good value at that, but at £34k you getting a bit close to things like the eNiro. Waiting lists are increasing at a pace too.
Certainly worth shortlisting anyway.
We ordered one last Thursday. Anticipated delivery towards the end of June, early July. I drove it for about an hour and was quite impressed. It will be my wife's main car, she currently drives a full sized V8 petrol Range Rover and she was happy with the performance of the MG. We've gone for the Trophy version so you get a few more toys such as the 360 camera.
I saw one just the other day, not bad at all. It sounds like the OP's found the right car for the job although I'd spend the extra money and go for the Trophy, easy to clean leather, pan roof and 360 camera and a few extra goodies sound a little toppy at £3500 but I think I'd rather have them than not.
sean ie3 said:
I saw one just the other day, not bad at all. It sounds like the OP's found the right car for the job although I'd spend the extra money and go for the Trophy, easy to clean leather, pan roof and 360 camera and a few extra goodies sound a little toppy at £3500 but I think I'd rather have them than not.
The SE has the 360 camera too. Doesn't have heated seats and only has front door speakers and tweeters. Rather than a 6 speaker set up.It was the seats that pushed me to the Trophy to be honest.
Merry said:
The SE has the 360 camera too.
Not according to the spec sheets. I had to check - that (and the panoramic roof) was the only reason we went for the Trophy so didn't want to think we'd been robbed! 
https://www.mg.co.uk/new-cars/new-mg-zs-ev?gclid=C...
Edited by SlimRick on Thursday 24th March 11:37
SlimRick said:
Not according to the spec sheets. I had to check - that (and the panoramic roof) was the only reason we went for the Trophy so didn't want to think we'd been robbed!
https://www.mg.co.uk/new-cars/new-mg-zs-ev?gclid=C...
It does... https://www.mg.co.uk/new-cars/new-mg-zs-ev?gclid=C...
Edited by SlimRick on Thursday 24th March 11:37
I can't find the link right now but there was a review of the SE that was surprised it had it. Might have been James & Kate on YouTube.
I think for the money it's fantastic. I put an order in for the trophy standard range and only cancelled as I assumed it came with a heated steering wheel, wife insisted on one as its probably the most used feature in our NX.
Other than that it's pretty spacious for a small SUV, decent boot, loads of equipment (apart from HS), performance better than expected and the interior really isn't that bad, certainly no worse than a plasticky VW.
Other than that it's pretty spacious for a small SUV, decent boot, loads of equipment (apart from HS), performance better than expected and the interior really isn't that bad, certainly no worse than a plasticky VW.
I think for value for money and equipment it's fantastic. I find it hard to believe it's in anyway a 'good car' dynamically, or even a particularly modern car in terms of driving sophistication. That's not a criticism at all though, I'm sure the designers and buyers had no such ambitions in the first place.
It's good to see practical and well equipped EV's at this price point so soon imo.
It's good to see practical and well equipped EV's at this price point so soon imo.
jaydeeuk1 said:
wife insisted on one as its probably the most used feature in our NX.
There is an really interesting 'shift' in EV adoption it seems. People who normally would only consider BMWs etc are loving Kia/Hyundais, and Lexus owners jumping ship for an MG.......The EV drivetrain may well be the biggest leveler of the driving experience ever, after all a £5K used Nissan Leaf drives just as well in town/at the speed limit as a £150k Porsche Taycan, they both deliver a smooth, silent experience with near instant throttle responses.
gangzoom said:
There is an really interesting 'shift' in EV adoption it seems. People who normally would only consider BMWs etc are loving Kia/Hyundais, and Lexus owners jumping ship for an MG.......
The EV drivetrain may well be the biggest leveler of the driving experience ever, after all a £5K used Nissan Leaf drives just as well in town/at the speed limit as a £150k Porsche Taycan, they both deliver a smooth, silent experience with near instant throttle responses.
That's what really got me when we went to test drive the Peugeot then the MG. We run a large fleet of Pug 308/3008 at work, all with the 1.5 diesel engines. They're horrible to drive - noisy, rattly and slow. That's always been the problem with cars like these, no matter how good they look the powertrain is always poor, you always had to go to BMW etc to get a decent engine option.The EV drivetrain may well be the biggest leveler of the driving experience ever, after all a £5K used Nissan Leaf drives just as well in town/at the speed limit as a £150k Porsche Taycan, they both deliver a smooth, silent experience with near instant throttle responses.
EV well and truly is the great leveller, both cars were smooth and silent in a way no Pug or MG would ever be with one of their crap ICE's under the bonnet. I think it's a great thing for cars like this as it improves them no end, and for the average user I think they'll really notice the improvement.
The kicker though is the cost. I stumbled across the pricing of the standard, non EV MG ZS - they're on Autotrader with deposit contributions making them £15,245. That's a slightly bitter pill to swallow, effectively paying £15k for the EV powertrain, or to put it another way - you're paying £30k for what is really a £15k car with batteries.
The ride wasn't too bad, but as expected you can't call it in any way 'dynamic'. I did find it quite bouncy, I guess it's fairly stiffly sprung to counter the additional weight of the batteries.
Shrimpvende said:
The kicker though is the cost. I stumbled across the pricing of the standard, non EV MG ZS - they're on Autotrader with deposit contributions making them £15,245. That's a slightly bitter pill to swallow, effectively paying £15k for the EV powertrain, or to put it another way - you're paying £30k for what is really a £15k car with batteries.
I don't think that's quite fair. The petrol car starts at £19k if you want an automatic (and even if you don't, the cheaper naturally aspirated engine is truly awful); the EV starts at £27500 (after the government grant) so the difference to the buyer is £8500 rather than £15k. Plus the EV is considerably better equipped.It's certainly more expensive, but it's not £15k more expensive. Plus of course the residuals are vastly stronger on the EV versions and as you say, the biggest single "budget" point of the ICE vehicles is gone with the EV.
Edited by kambites on Friday 25th March 10:32
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