Mg ZS reliability: your experience please

[Mike Bg]

I really like the MG ZS , design, equipment, price...

I'm ready to buy now, but girlfriend warns me about bad reliability. I test drived the car, everything was fine (not the most powerful engine but I'm fine with that). 

If actual owners of this car could give me their honest opinion about their experience ti would be very helpful ????

Cheers!

[ezzra]

My close friend bought one 3 months ago and she's happy as a Larry with it, good value for money too, took it to CM and i didn't miss a bit and good on fuel consumptions, this car is a good seller all over the world, google it and read reviews, go for it, you'll not be sorry you did.

[blackcab]

I've used 4 different MG ZS cars (all hire cars). 3 were fine, but 1 had a problem with the charging port under the front grille. The vehicle would not accept a charge from the fast charger, so I ended up being driven 100+ miles back to the hire location in a recovery truck with the car on the back of the truck after waiting while the recovery service tried to fix the vehicle. I got back to the hire location at 2am, and not in a very good mood.

 

Since then I have only used the same vehicles for hires where I would be staying local to the place of hire.

[Madgee]

I was seriously looking at the MG ZS V (not ev) recently and eventually decided against it. 

The styling was good, equipment level good, warranty good and dealership exceptional. The 'feel' of the car was somewhat mediocre and it didn't give me any confidence driving it with the lack of power this car has at its disposal. I can live with a car that has a lack of horsepower but this motor felt like it would always give me doubts. 
Also, reviews are very mixed about the earlier models and many remarks about engine reliability after several thousand miles. (reviews from the West)

I believe these initial faults have been rectified with the new 2023 models but still .... I would think it could be a nice around town runabout for shopping etc. or as a second car.

I was impressed with Toyota Ativ top model as regards drivability, the little 1200cc lump actually felt quite nippy (its not) and it has high equipment levels with comfort for a bargain sedan but still .....  My quest for a replacement motor continues!   

 

[KhunLA]

23 minutes ago, Madgee said:

I was seriously looking at the MG ZS V (not ev) recently and eventually decided against it. 

The styling was good, equipment level good, warranty good and dealership exceptional. The 'feel' of the car was somewhat mediocre and it didn't give me any confidence driving it with the lack of power this car has at its disposal. I can live with a car that has a lack of horsepower but this motor felt like it would always give me doubts. 
Also, reviews are very mixed about the earlier models and many remarks about engine reliability after several thousand miles. (reviews from the West)

I believe these initial faults have been rectified with the new 2023 models but still .... I would think it could be a nice around town runabout for shopping etc. or as a second car.

I was impressed with Toyota Ativ top model as regards drivability, the little 1200cc lump actually felt quite nippy (its not) and it has high equipment levels with comfort for a bargain sedan but still .....  My quest for a replacement motor continues!   

 

So you have NO experience, except for a test drive .... maybe.

Edited April 27, 2023 by KhunLA

[transam]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

So you have NO experience, except for a test drive .... maybe.

It's a Chinese, uncomfortable, noisy engined (when accelerating) slug....????

The other similar Chinese ride, Chery, has a similar 1500cc engine but with a turbo, it buries the ZS in the HP department....????

[Chongalulu]

Really they’ve not been around long enough to make proper assessments compared to say the bullet proof proven reliability of Toyota/Honda over decades. They certainly aren’t as well engineered as those brands and maybe uncertain resale values.

For now I’d stick with those established Japanese brands many of which are still soldiering on over 10 years old. In U.K. my daughters 9 year old Yaris has only needed 3 wiper blades and sails through each MOT test. I reckon it’ll not be much different in another 9 years ! But here’s a survey 

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/mg/zs/reliability#:~:text=MG ZS reliability,fault in the first year.

[Aliflair]

I've owned a 2019 ZS for two years (got it when it was a year old). I like the way it drives much better than a Yaris (my ex had one so I drove that a lot). Its very practical and can fit a lot of stuff in it. Its never broken down, however it does have some "quirky" electrical "features", every now and again (completely random, in general every few months) the bluetooth won't work or the speakers wont work, one time even the indicator sound stopped working. The way to fix it, stop the car, turn if off for a few minutes and then it comes right. Because its so intermittent it would be a waste of time taking it to the dealer as by the time I would get it there it will be fine for a week/month/few months/whatever. I've spoken to another ZS farang owner here and he reported something similar, I reckon its a software glitch somewhere. Oh the other weird one (once again completely random, maybe once a month) sometimes to start it you'll put your foot on the brake and press start and nothing happens. I find I need to press the start button on and off a few times, then it will work, maybe takes a minute. So if you want the car for bank robberies perhaps not the best choice. But overall at the price point I paid I'm happy with it and don't have any intention to sell right now.

[Chongalulu]

7 hours ago, Aliflair said:

I've owned a 2019 ZS for two years (got it when it was a year old). I like the way it drives much better than a Yaris (my ex had one so I drove that a lot). Its very practical and can fit a lot of stuff in it. Its never broken down, however it does have some "quirky" electrical "features", every now and again (completely random, in general every few months) the bluetooth won't work or the speakers wont work, one time even the indicator sound stopped working. The way to fix it, stop the car, turn if off for a few minutes and then it comes right. Because its so intermittent it would be a waste of time taking it to the dealer as by the time I would get it there it will be fine for a week/month/few months/whatever. I've spoken to another ZS farang owner here and he reported something similar, I reckon its a software glitch somewhere. Oh the other weird one (once again completely random, maybe once a month) sometimes to start it you'll put your foot on the brake and press start and nothing happens. I find I need to press the start button on and off a few times, then it will work, maybe takes a minute. So if you want the car for bank robberies perhaps not the best choice. But overall at the price point I paid I'm happy with it and don't have any intention to sell right now.

If you’re getting those glitches within 2 years that doesn’t bode well for say 5-7years old when the likes of Toyota etc will not have experienced similar glitches within its first decade !

[sharksy]

In the UK, parts availability is generally a nightmare with MG.  This might be different in Asia, what with being much closer to China.

[HauptmannUK]

I can only speak from experience with ICE ZS in the UK market (although they are Thai built). These use a version of the GM/Opel SGE engine. Its not the smoothest but Ok. The same engine series is used in cars like the old Opel Adam, Chevrolet Cruze, Spark etc. SAIC (MG, Rowe etc are to all intents 'GM small cars China'). On earlier examples of the Chinese-made units the timing chains were made out of cheese and would quickly throw up a P0016 code (cam-crank sync error due to chain wear). Later ones had improved chains. The CVT autos were a Bosch designed unit but I heard that the latest ones are fitted with Aisin units - not been able to verify that though.

My limited experience of driving them is poor steering and quite a bit of body roll.

They are certainly built down to a price - evidenced by quite thin and hard plastic and thin paint in places.

Its fair to say that UK used car dealers are not great fans of MGs. They don't wear their miles well and not particularly sought-after by buyers. 

Product support in the UK is poor - big issues with parts supply and very limited technical support. Possibly Thailand is better.

IMHO there is absolutely no comparison between a Toyota or Honda product and MG. 

My general advice to buyers is that if you are not especially interested in cars and want something to get from A to B with minimal ownership hassle then look at the Toyota range. Toyota don't make many mistakes and when they do make a mistake they fix it very quickly. 

[MeHere]

I cannot comment on the ZS, but I've been renting a new(ish) HS for a month and a half so far here in Australia and I can say it's very mediocre.

It is not ergonomic or comfortable, it's loud and there's lots of sway on corners (as previously mentioned). I haven't actually measured the fuel economy, but it doesn't seem so great for such an underpowered vehicle.
As for power, I can get up to speed on the highway, but the transmission does wind out often when accelerating.
I find the console controls poorly designed and the display is slow and sluggish.
Steering radius sucks bigtime for such a small car.
The 'MG Pilot' is a total nightmare with false breaking and all kinds of unexpected surprises
The cruise control is utter crap and has a mind of it's own.
The car is loud and the aerodynamics have not been considered...

The window controls are erratic and difficult to 'crack' the window to your liking

When you are able to open the window just a bit, be prepared to not listen to music

Speaking of music, the sound system sucks
Oh, and the rear camera isn't protected well in the rain to the point of usefulness.
It might be cheap, but in my opinion cheap is all you'd get buying an MG. Caveat emptor (BTW, I wouldn't own this junk for free)

Edited April 29, 2023 by MeHere

[steve187]

I have had a 2022 zs model x  petrol for 18months 15,000km its the cvt model, so far no complaints, easy to drive, comfortable, quiet, nippy away from traffic lights, smooth gear changes all the way through the box, kick down smooth /responsive when required, no problems at all, averages about 16km/ltr, would i recommend 'yes', would i recommend to a Chinese hater 'no'. they will find something to complain about either in realty or in their minds

[KhunLA]

For other thinking about, owned the 2020 ICE version of ZS, loved it, no issues.  Liked it so much, bought the EV version, without even test driving.

 

Had the 2020 ICE version for 2 yrs / 40k kms, and those kms on the highways during covid exploring TH.  Again, loved it, obviously, since buying another.

 

Coming up on 1 yr of the EV version ownership (30 Oct), and shy of 20k kms, w/7-8k ish, I think, being highway kms, and still loving it ????

[GroveHillWanderer]

Had a 2020 ZS ICE for 3 years now. Had no problems with it regarding reliability.

 

In contrast to some other posters, I find it very comfortable - especially on long trips, where I suffer no driver fatigue or 'butt pain'(unlike the Isuzu I owned before). 

 

I don't find the engine noisy when accelerating (although I find putting it into Sport mode reduces the noise level when you really want to put your foot down). Once cruising, I switch back to regular D mode to reduce fuel consumption. As you can switch to S mode and back 'on the fly' just by pushing the gear selector sideways, this is really quick and easy to do.

 

The 2020 model isn't particularly good on fuel economy but I can still get 14km/l on longer trips (less around town, obviously).

 

The only fault it's had was that when I first got it, the battery kept going dead every couple of days, which they fixed at no cost (a wiring issue apparently) in under an hour at the local dealer.

 

In the three years since then, no faults at all. Overall I'm extremely pleased with my MG ZS purchase.

Edited November 23, 2023 by GroveHillWanderer