MG ZS EV Review

Price: £25,995 - £28,495

While it isn’t sporty to drive like you might expect from a car wearing an MG badge, the ZS EV is a practical family electric car. Its strong points are a good range and a long warranty, both of which give you peace of mind.

Watch Nicki's video review here.

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Battery size: 44.5 kWh

Miles per £: 22.3

Battery warranty: 7 years / 80,000 miles

Emissions: 0g/km

Range: 163 miles

You don’t have to be a car nut to know of the name MG. Ask anyone to name a sports car and the chances are one of MG’s quaint little two-seaters would be their answer. The MGB, most likely.

The MG brand of today is very different from the one that existed 15 years ago, let alone the company that built the MGB back in the 1960s. Since 2005, MG has been owned by a Chinese company and over those 15 years the brand hasn’t just become less British with every passing year, but turned into a car company that builds value-orientated cars like superminis and SUVs rather than sports cars.

MG can also be called an electric car maker. Based on the petrol-engined MG ZS, the ZS EV is a small SUV built not in Longbridge, Birmingham (like those famous MGs of the past), but in China. This is not a bad thing, as the Chinese are bang-up-to-date with electric car technology.

The ZS' relatively compact shape puts the MG up against other small crossovers like the Hyundai Kona Electric, the Kia e-Niro and its more quirky brother, the Kia Soul EV. However, there are two key differences between the MG and those three South Korean SUVs.

Firstly, it’s what lies underneath. The ZS EV is powered by a 141bhp electric motor and a 44.5kWh battery pack giving a range of 163 miles – some 100 miles and 60bhp less than the Hyundai and the two Kias offer. While normally that would be an instant black mark against an electric car, the MG fights back on price. The most basic ZS EV costs £25,495 – roughly £10,000 cheaper than the Hyundai.

And it certainly isn’t a basic car. The £25,495 Excite model gets 17-inch diamond-cut wheels (which means they are polished metal rather than painted), adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and an eight-inch touchscreen with smartphone connectivity. The dashboard looks smart and isn’t that badly made, either.

There are some gripes, though, like the charging flap that makes it difficult to plug in a cable and a sat nav system that doesn’t feature local charging stations (you can search for petrol stations, though).

The lack of technology to allow pre-heating or timed charging is a big oversight too - these were on the Nissan Leaf when it was launched a decade ago and are essential for many EV owners. It isn’t especially thrilling to drive either and doesn’t have a fun factor you’d expect from a car wearing the MG octagon badge. That said, it’s quiet, comfortable and easy to live with which for most people is all they want.