MG ZS EV 2021 Review

At $43,990 on the road, the 2021 MG ZS EV Essence is not exactly cheap for a small SUV from a mainstream brand. But there’s only one other full-electric model in this category, and that’s the Hyundai Kona Electric priced from $60,740 before on-road costs are added.

Kia will soon weigh in with the as-yet-unpriced Kia Niro, but don’t hold your breath for a starting point that threatens the advantage MG has with the ZS EV.

Other ‘affordable’ battery-electric passenger cars on the market include the Hyundai IONIQ Electric and the Nissan LEAF, but these are thousands more expensive than the MG – both priced close to $50,000 plus on-road costs.

What do you get for the price of the ZS EV? Sold in just one variant, Essence, the all-electric model comes as standard with 17-inch alloy wheels, an electric parking brake, panoramic sunroof, eight-inch colour touch-screen, six-speaker audio, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone integration and satellite navigation.

Naturally, the MG ZS EV also features the gear you would expect in any vehicle at this price: electrically-adjustable driver’s seat, electric windows/mirrors, a reversing camera, air-conditioning, cruise control and a multi-function steering wheel.

While the MG’s headlights do turn on automatically, the intermittent wipers must be actuated manually. That’s a little surprising…

Unlike its conventional internal-combustion counterparts, the ZS EV is covered by a warranty of five years rather than seven, although the unlimited kilometres will ensure that owners get their full five years’ worth.

Roadside assistance over that period sweetens the pot too, and the battery – that element of any EV that is cause for greatest concern – is covered by a competitive eight-year/160,000km warranty. Servicing is required every 12 months or 20,000km.

All driver assist safety systems in the 2021 MG ZS EV are gathered together under one umbrella, labelled ‘MG Pilot’.

These include traffic jam assist, intelligent cruise assist, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, speed assist, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and intelligent headlight control.

The adaptive cruise control system brings the car to a full halt in traffic, but not always smoothly. On one occasion, the brakes eased off just metres from the rear of the car in front before clamping down again.

Even set to normal sensitivity, the lane keep assist system wasn’t as acutely ‘aware’ of the line markings as some other EVs driven in recent times. Those other EVs are admittedly more expensive.

The AEB works well and the blind spot monitoring is one of the better systems around, particularly effective at night. It’s a fail-safe device to complement the MG’s commendable mirror design.

The MG has traffic sign recognition and will display an alert message in the trip computer display if the vehicle’s speed exceeds the ‘conditional’ limit. It’s preferable to an audible chime, in my view.

ANCAP rates the ZS EV a five-star car for crash safety. As we’ve reported, the regular MG ZS and the recently-launched ZST turbo models are both rated at a lower four stars, based on crash testing conducted back in 2017.

The five-star rating for the ZS EV was based on separate testing conducted in Europe in 2019.

The electric motor under the bonnet of the 2021 MG ZS EV is not as refined as some other EVs driven recently.

Even the IONIQ and LEAF are quieter around town. Still, once the MG has accelerated up to cruising speed the motor whine fades out.

The ZS EV will consume power at the rate of around 14kWh per 100km at a steady pace below 80km/h; on suburban arterials, for example. At freeway speeds it’s more likely to post a figure such as 17kWh/100km, which is still commendable.

On a late-night test, the MG finished with 69 per cent of the 44.5kWh battery capacity remaining. That equated to a further 178km of range, according to the trip computer.

Add that number to the 72km travelled on the test loop and you have a theoretical overall range of 250km, which is not too far off the WLTP figure of 263km. It is, however, 70km short of the 320km listed under local design rules (ADR).

The MG’s energy usage over the course of the test (with lights and climate control operating too) was 19.2kWh/100km, which was better than the Nissan LEAF managed over the same journey, a reasonably demanding run that includes plenty of uphill driving.

The 2021 MG ZS EV rides on Michelin 215/50 R17 tyres which are a good match for the chassis, but will protest loudly under heavy braking and hard acceleration.

While the ride is good most of the time, load up the ZS with four adults and the rear suspension does feel under-damped.

Steering weight is light enough for anyone, but delivers good response and feel. There’s very mild torque steer present in Sport mode with the accelerator pedal pressed all the way to the floor.

Roadholding is secure and handling is consistent, albeit helped there by the sensibly calibrated stability control.

We think the Hyundai Kona Electric, with its local chassis tune, is probably just ahead of the ZS for roadholding, even on its original-equipment Nexen tyres.

Jump on the brake pedal and the MG feels not altogether convincing, although there’s no doubt the brakes do the job, and the pedal reacts immediately when pressed lightly.

The MG’s headlights cast an adequate but yellowy beam of light on low beam. Although the automatic high beam system generally works well and is responsive most of the time, it did struggle to recognise cars on side roads.

While the seats are softly-cushioned and well-shaped, they could do with firmer side bolstering. There was no telescopic adjustment for the steering column, but otherwise the driving position gets a tick of approval from us.

The rotary dial for the drive selector is easy to use, and there’s a gauge that resembles a conventional fuel gauge to convey the state of battery charge. If you need a range-to-discharged number, you can toggle the switch marked ‘Battery’ ahead of the drive selector for an immediate calculation.

The major instruments – a speedo on the left and a power consumption dial on the right – are really easy to read, and the controls are readily found where they should be, with the exception of the indicator stalk on the left of the steering column.

The cruise control system reduces speed in bends on country roads for unexplained reasons. It’s not like the route-based speed adaptation system developed by Mercedes-Benz.

The satellite navigation is slow to load, but the voice prompts are natural and unaffected, and since the system doesn’t even try to name streets and roads, there is no mangling of place names.

Data entry for the destination has to be entered by hand, as the voice recognition system doesn’t work with the sat-nav system. The ZS EV does come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so plug your phone in and you can vocally call up a destination using that.

Among the quirks to fool the first-time driver is the ‘home’ button for the infotainment screen, which would be a power on/off button in most other cars.

MG doesn’t provide temperature numbers to set its heating and cooling, but the scale of temperatures is at least graded by colour to indicate when the system is heating and when it’s cooling.

The climate control system offers just one zone, and there are no adjustable vents in the rear.

Two USB ports reside underneath the ‘floating’ centre console. They’re hard to reach, but there’s room for the smartphone there, and the cabling can be tucked out of harm’s way.

Rear seat legroom is more than enough for adults. There’s a full-length panoramic sunroof with a woven sunblind that’s likely to let in some heat on stinking-hot days. The sunroof eats into the rear seat headroom as well, although only adults over 180cm tall will find the accommodation less than generous.

Both rear seat sections fold with the pull of a cord on the shoulder of each. They don’t fold completely flat, but the ZS was practical enough to transport a workout bench, two passengers and the driver home from a shopping centre without anyone feeling squeezed.

For our shopping trip – which involved visiting three different shopping centres with two adult kids and their mother on board – the 2021 MG ZS EV covered around 40km and used about one eighth of the battery capacity with the climate control operating.

It also accommodated all the purchased goods in the back, so it proved itself quite capable in the role it is intended to fill.

The wife liked the looks of the MG, and she was very pleased with the price. As a passenger she wasn’t so enamoured of the ride quality, the ZS bouncing a bit over speed humps.

The build quality seems admirable. You won’t find any of the little niggles like the sodden-newspaper feel of the headlining in light hatches, or the unpainted D-pillars under the tailgate of more affordable SUVs.

There are some nice materials inside, and even the harder plastics at least feel solid and are finished with a grained texture.

And while the indicator stalk operation is informed by the car’s development budget, it’s not downright nasty and cheap like one sampled recently in a Japanese SUV.

All in all, the MG ZS EV looks like it’s assembled properly, with the only let-down the occasional subdued squeak from soft fixtures rubbing together or a rattle from inside the centre fascia as the MG rode over sharp bumps.

So while one would never make promises about a car’s reliability based on fit and finish, the MG ZS EV does seem like a vehicle that promises to outlive its five-year warranty.

And taking everything else into account – even the moderately stingy range on one battery charge – it’s hard to see how the local dealers won’t sell this electric SUV by the truckload.

How much does the 2021 MG ZS EV Essence cost?
Price: $43,990 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Synchronous electric motor
Output: 105kW/353Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 44.5kWh lithium-ion
Range: 320km (ADR)
Energy consumption: 16.2kWh/100km (ADR)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)

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