MG ZS electric car 2021 review: EV

The new MG is full of surprises. Actually, now that Kia is done with its previous tagline: “The Power to Surprise” perhaps MG should take it, because it fits the now-China-based brand almost better than it ever fit the Korean giant.

The EV gets an 8.0-inch multimedia screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

Originally, MG talked about pitching its ZS EV at a price that would have placed it alongside the Nissan Leaf, but at the EV’s launch, it dropped a surprise price-slash from $46,990 to just $43,990 drive-away, securing its place as the cheapest option on the market for anyone wanting a full EV.

The ZS EV comes in only one spec, the Essence, which is equivalent to the highest-spec version of the petrol car. Even so, the electric version has some extra goodies.

It gets its own set of 17-inch wheels (which somehow look tiny, more on that later), it’s own 8.0-inch multimedia screen, a significant upgrade on the one in the basic ZS, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, built-in nav, faux-leather interior trim, a panoramic glass sunroof, keyless entry with push-start ignition, LED DRLs with halogen headlights, and a six-way, power-adjustable driver’s seat.

The ZS EV gets its own set of 17-inch wheels.

It's a decent amount of fruit for a mid-size SUV, although there are areas where it is obvious this car is built to a specific price-point. The synthetic, leather-look trim is pretty ordinary, as is this car’s software (a common MG theme), particularly its laggy sat-nav suite. Halogen headlights are also pretty lame on an EV, and work against this car’s otherwise snazzy design. The same goes for the lack of a digitised instrument cluster, but it’s almost a quaint touch to have analog dials for an electric car.

Still, it’s nice that the interior trims and multimedia screen have been upgraded significantly from the combustion ZS, making the EV feel a bit special, but not quite as special as the ZS T (a facelift which is sold alongside the old car).

On the topic of the ZS T, we have it on good authority that the EV variant you see here will be upgraded to the ZS T look and feel imminently. This is good for interior quality and the exterior looks, but it might also take a price hike, so keep that in mind before choosing to hold out for the update.

This is a small SUV, so it’s not huge on the inside. There are some areas where it shines, and others where it isn’t as good.

Not so great? The seating position. Like the HS mid-sizer, the ZS has a really high and slightly awkward seating position, which has you peering down on the instruments and the road. SUV like? Yes. Some people will probably like the commanding view of the road, but it wasn’t for me. The seats are soft and initially quite comfy, but offer limited support for longer journeys. Adjustability is reasonable, and I eventually found a position that suited me, with good visibility out the front and rear.

This is a small SUV, so it’s not huge on the inside.

Cabin storage isn’t bad. Because there’s no need for a transmission or anything under the floor, there’s a new cutaway with a large bay under the centre console, which also hosts two USB ports, a small tray area under the climate controls, a weird bottle holder cutaway deep-set in the raised console area, and a tiny console box armrest (at least it has one, some small SUVs don’t). There is a large bottle holder and a small bin in the door cards, too.

There are soft trims on the backs of the front seats if you’re tall and have your knees pressing up.

The rear seat isn’t bad. My 182cm tall frame fits behind its own driving position with a tiny amount of knee space, and there are soft trims on the backs of the front seats if you’re any taller and have your knees pressing up. The backs of the front seats feature pockets, and there’s a small tray and single USB outlet on the back of the centre console, although there are no adjustable rear air vents. I have enough headroom and the soft seats, clad in the so-so faux leather stuff, continue. There’s no armrest with bottle holders, but the rear doors have a single large one each. Outboard seats feature ISOFIX child-seat-mounting points, while the rear row has top-tether all the way across.

The boot comes in at 359-litres.

Again, if you want to see how much the ZS has improved over the years, check out our earlier reviews. It’s hard to recognise the dash and storage areas from the petrol version.

The boot comes in at 359-litres, which is impressive, not only because it compares well to the small SUV segment, but because it’s entirely unchanged from the petrol version. It just fit our entire CarsGuide demo luggage set with a little Tetris work, as the available space seems to be taller than it is wide. There are useful nettings behind the wheelarch on each side for securing small objects, but where the EV has had extra thought applied is in the under-floor area. There you will find a styrofoam bracket with little cutouts for storing charging cables. Few EVs have this sort of thing, strangely.

Sadly, the under-floor batteries mean you lose the spare wheel. Instead, you’ll have to make do with a repair kit.

The ZS EV has an electric motor capable of producing 105kW and a whopping 353Nm (not as break-neck as it sounds, more on that later) of torque. Again, this is a healthy upgrade from combustion versions of this car. It drives the front wheels via a single-speed reduction-gear transmission.

The ZS EV has an electric motor capable of producing 105kW and a whopping 353Nm.

Now the important stuff. The ZS EV is the cheapest EV in Australia, but it offers a range comparative to the Nissan Leaf at a claimed/combined 263km from its 44.5kWh battery pack.

The ZS has a European-standard Type 2 CCS port mounted centre front under the MG badge, and can charge at a maximum of 7.2kW on AC power, or 80kW on DC power.

This means estimated charging times from 10 to 80 per cent of 45 minutes on DC, seven hours on 7kW AC, or 25 hours on a 2.3kW wall socket.

With largely urban use my test car looked to achieve over 300km of range as-tested.

The ZS EV comes with a wall socket to Type 2 cable, although MG offers a Type 2 to Type 2 public charging cable (which we strongly recommend for convenience) as a $295 dealer option.

I charged the ZS twice in my week with it, both times at a public 11kW AC charger local to me, which is charged by solar and is therefore free. It added around 50km of range in an hour.

The ZS EV also offers three levels of regenerative braking, and I spent the majority of my time in the highest regen setting. The ZS EV’s official combined consumption figure is 16.2kWh/100km, and on my test week my car returned a figure of 14.6kWh/100km. Not bad, and similar or even slightly better than its Nissan Leaf competitor, in which I recorded 15.3kWh/100km. It was not as good as the Hyundai Ioniq, however, which has the honour of the best on-test consumption I’ve ever scored at 12.3kWh/100km.

My car looked set to get around 304km of range on a full charge at its as-tested consumption rate - well over the WLTPcombined claim.

The ZS EV is officially the safest ZS as the ZS T has not yet been rated, scoring a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating to the 2019 standards. Again, this is a huge improvement on the petrol version, which scored a four-star rating in 2017.

Standard active items include auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning with lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert, traffic-sign recognition, auto high beams, and adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist.

Improved out of sight from the petrol car on which it is based, the ZS also features the standard complement of six airbags and the expected traction, stability, and brake controls.