[Michaelvdl]

Hi all!
I’ve been doing some research and really like the MG ZS EV. I currently have a 2016 520d which does 45mpg average throughout the year. I made a spreadsheet looking up running costs to compare the ZS to the BMW. I was astonished when I worked out the difference. Even on our current tariff for 12ppkwh 12000 miles a year will save £91 a month. I’ve used an average consumption of 3.1 miles pkwh for the Zs. Would you say this is a fair average?

In my research I’ve come across some horror stories of MG warranty so anyone who has had any experience good or bad I’d love to hear it. One thing that concerns me is they seem to not give you a courtesy car?

I am due to go for a test drive this weekend. I was due last weekend but someone crashed their demonstrator the day before. They did let me have an MG5 for the weekend which was okay but felt like it was a bit small. I did average 3.7 miles pkwh over the course of the weekend which includes normal a road driving at 60 and occasionally hoofing it to 60 to annoy the boy racer behind me in a Citroen Saxo.
Thanks all 😊

 

[teepee]

Hi all!
I’ve been doing some research and really like the MG ZS EV. I currently have a 2016 520d which does 45mpg average throughout the year. I made a spreadsheet looking up running costs to compare the ZS to the BMW. I was astonished when I worked out the difference. Even on our current tariff for 12ppkwh 12000 miles a year will save £91 a month. I’ve used an average consumption of 3.1 miles pkwh for the Zs. Would you say this is a fair average?

In my research I’ve come across some horror stories of MG warranty so anyone who has had any experience good or bad I’d love to hear it. One thing that concerns me is they seem to not give you a courtesy car?

I am due to go for a test drive this weekend. I was due last weekend but someone crashed their demonstrator the day before. They did let me have an MG5 for the weekend which was okay but felt like it was a bit small. I did average 3.7 miles pkwh over the course of the weekend which includes normal a road driving at 60 and occasionally hoofing it to 60 to annoy the boy racer behind me in a Citroen Saxo.
Thanks all 😊

Welcome. I'm sure you will enjoy the EV experience.

I've ZS EV for a year now - really economical. I don't have home charging so rely totally on the public network. My 4200 mikes in a year has cost me a total of £175. That includes a monthly Polar plus (BP Pulse) subscription of £7.85. (free for first 3 months) To be fair, there has been a fair amount of free charging whilst shopping at supermarkets (about 40% of total usage).

I think you'll do better than 3.1 miles/kwh - my last 2000 miles have averaged 3.9 - mix of city driving and 150 mile round trips up the motorway. Yes, if you floor it you'll drop to 3.1ish but you should get around 3.4/3.5 for general use.

Courtesy cars - my dealer offers them but charges a £15 admin fee and I'm too far away for them to use their collect and return service so I swallow the fee and view it as the cost of convenience. No warranty issues to discuss though.

 

[Michaelvdl]

Welcome. I'm sure you will enjoy the EV experience.

I've ZS EV for a year now - really economical. I don't have home charging so rely totally on the public network. My 4200 mikes in a year has cost me a total of £175. That includes a monthly Polar plus (BP Pulse) subscription of £7.85. (free for first 3 months) To be fair, there has been a fair amount of free charging whilst shopping at supermarkets (about 40% of total usage).

I think you'll do better than 3.1 miles/kwh - my last 2000 miles have averaged 3.9 - mix of city driving and 150 mile round trips up the motorway. Yes, if you floor it you'll drop to 3.1ish but you should get around 3.4/3.5 for general use.

Courtesy cars - my dealer offers them but charges a £15 admin fee and I'm too far away for them to use their collect and return service so I swallow the fee and view it as the cost of convenience. No warranty issues to discuss though.

Thank you for the reply. The economy figure you’re getting certainly is reassuring. We will be doing a mix of driving but it will rarely see a motorway. A £15 fee doesn’t bother me really. The servicing costs to start with are a lot less than I am used to. I dare say if we we both like how it drives that will be that!

 

[Nickel]

Similar thoughts over mileage. I haven't kept scrupulous records of that, but normally see 3.8 to 4.1 after a long trip. I tend to aim for about 60mph and there are two of us in the car.

We went from South Wales to the Cotswolds and back last Friday, 180 miles round trip and returned 4.0 m/kWh.

 

[SueH]

For my test drive I cycled over to the dealer completely on spec and they let me test drive there and then for an hour. That was last autumn and having just checked I'm averaging 3.6: although I haven't gone far and a lot has been local pootling, on the local dual carriageways I haven't driven with regard to economy like I might do out of range of my home charging.

 

[Sandy]

That mpkwh figure seems a little low? That give less than 190mile range from the MG5, which as I keep hearing is a 200mile car all year round. Seriously though getting upper 3mpkWh in the ZS and the 5 should be relatively easy most of the year.

As for

annoy the boy racer behind me in a Citroen Saxo.

Well it'll be a VTR (the VTS is like rocking horse poo), so 90-115bhp (depending on which year it is) when new, or more like 80bhp now that its shagged out. So while the 5 might be twice the weight its also got double the HP the VTR will have now, and about 3x the torque. Really it was no contest. Better picking a race with a modern smokeless diesel and revelling at the fact they are miles behind even after their turbo spins up, and quite how these smokeless diesels can be called so when they dump what appears to be a kilogram of black shite out the back as they try to pull away quickly.

 

[Michaelvdl]

Thank you everyone for the responses! I think it’s definitely going to save me a fortune. My fixed tariff on electricity ends next month having looked so that will change the figures slightly. Still can’t believe how much difference there is. I have to say I think the mg5 was quicker than the 520 we have now. The front end didn’t half lift up though!! Does the Zs do the same? I am someone who will probably do 70 on the motorway as I have two kids and they will need to stop often anyway so can charge up. Any ideas what economy I can expect in cold and warm weather if I do this? Thanks guys 😊

 

[Rcc]

Hi all!
I’ve been doing some research and really like the MG ZS EV. I currently have a 2016 520d which does 45mpg average throughout the year. I made a spreadsheet looking up running costs to compare the ZS to the BMW. I was astonished when I worked out the difference. Even on our current tariff for 12ppkwh 12000 miles a year will save £91 a month. I’ve used an average consumption of 3.1 miles pkwh for the Zs. Would you say this is a fair average?

In my research I’ve come across some horror stories of MG warranty so anyone who has had any experience good or bad I’d love to hear it. One thing that concerns me is they seem to not give you a courtesy car?

I am due to go for a test drive this weekend. I was due last weekend but someone crashed their demonstrator the day before. They did let me have an MG5 for the weekend which was okay but felt like it was a bit small. I did average 3.7 miles pkwh over the course of the weekend which includes normal a road driving at 60 and occasionally hoofing it to 60 to annoy the boy racer behind me in a Citroen Saxo.
Thanks all 😊

They've always given me a courtesy car when it's gone in. They always say they will charge me £15 but so far out of 3 times, they never have. Probably have to wait longer as a result of requesting a loaner car. Its definitely not the same level of service as BMW ( I miss the collection service) but costs significantly less for service and repairs and arguably good enough

 

[Bigwheels]

When I picked mine up last week it was fully charged.
I drove 134 miles, mostly at 60mph on the motorway.
I got 4.46 miles per kWh if I worked it out right.

The servicing costs are hit and miss.
I got a quote for the first four years at 15,000 miles per year £681.58. Mot not include.
This was paying upfront, if paid monthly there is a £1 a month charge.
This was by calling MG direct ang giving my local dealers address.
Going direct to my local dealer would be £90 more.
But a five year quote is just over £920.00.
As the fifth year service is a small one the price is wrong By £100 or so.
2019-2020 ZS service schedule.

 

[MikeProcter]

Thank you everyone for the responses! I think it’s definitely going to save me a fortune. My fixed tariff on electricity ends next month having looked so that will change the figures slightly. Still can’t believe how much difference there is. I have to say I think the mg5 was quicker than the 520 we have now. The front end didn’t half lift up though!! Does the Zs do the same? I am someone who will probably do 70 on the motorway as I have two kids and they will need to stop often anyway so can charge up. Any ideas what economy I can expect in cold and warm weather if I do this? Thanks guys 😊

Short journeys in the freezing cold and wet expect a range around 100 miles. Summer range is better. During the heatwave last year we managed 94 miles and had 44% left when we plugged in. That was a M25/M1 trip. Lots of roadworks which are great for an EV. It was a bit to early to charge. Should ideally let it go to under 20% for best charge rates.

 

[MikeProcter]

The MG5 handles better than a standard ZS... unless you have my car which has Bilstein dampers all round.

 

[Michaelvdl]

I appreciate winter range won’t be anywhere close to summer. The sort of journeys we will do is work and back which is a 12 mile round trip up a B road. Office is due to move next year in august and will be 16 miles up the road on a B road. We’re in a rental property and can’t change the meter as it’s all boxed in. We wouldn’t be able to dismantle the boxing without ruining it. I will have to accept the standard rate while still here but still works out far cheaper than the 520. I have heard at the new offices there will be chargers but no confirmation that they will be free to use. Thanks Bigwheels for the service info. I had heard so low that I hadn’t given it much thought. I will have a chat with the local dealer. Thanks Mike for the handling info. I did find even the 5 swayed a bit so will make sure I am happy with the Zs handling as don’t really want to have to change anything on the car.

 

[LeakingElectrons]

I find the handling on the ZS to be very soft and 'floaty'. If you've ever driven a car in America then it's not too dissimilar to what you'll find there. It seems to be built for comfort rather than speed, but as my commute is mostly motorway, that does suit me. Horses for courses I suppose? The car is quick off the line if you put it in sport mode - I don't think you would be disappointed there.

Winter range on the ZS is poor for the size of the battery - 100 miles-ish is typical in the worst of conditions. Range now that temperatures have improved is much better - similar to the numbers advertised.

Ours hasn't had to be serviced yet, but service from the dealer when purchasing was absolutely fine. Have no reason to believe a courtesy car won't be offered, and the small charge that another poster has advised of is sadly becoming the norm at a lot of dealerships now - I've had to pay a £10 'insurance fee' at both Kia and Renault dealerships in recent years.

Very happy with the car so far though.

 

[Michaelvdl]

I find the handling on the ZS to be very soft and 'floaty'. If you've ever driven a car in America then it's not too dissimilar to what you'll find there. It seems to be built for comfort rather than speed, but as my commute is mostly motorway, that does suit me. Horses for courses I suppose? The car is quick off the line if you put it in sport mode - I don't think you would be disappointed there.

Winter range on the ZS is poor for the size of the battery - 100 miles-ish is typical in the worst of conditions. Range now that temperatures have improved is much better - similar to the numbers advertised.

Ours hasn't had to be serviced yet, but service from the dealer when purchasing was absolutely fine. Have no reason to believe a courtesy car won't be offered, and the small charge that another poster has advised of is sadly becoming the norm at a lot of dealerships now - I've had to pay a £10 'insurance fee' at both Kia and Renault dealerships in recent years.

Very happy with the car so far though.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I really think it could be the car for us.
I’m hoping to get booked in this weekend to take one out. I’m prepared for the winter range and anticipate I will be charging it every couple of days. I’ve yet to find an owner saying they haven’t been pleased in all honesty!

 

[Nickel]

We're very pleased with ours. The two areas I'm least happy with are the dashboard and infotainment screens and the Adaptive Cruise Control. I think the screens are carrying too much information in too small a space, making them difficult to read quickly, and the ACC doesn't warn you positively that it has slowed down to the speed of leading traffic. So I frequently find the car has drifted 10-15 mph down from my target speed, when I would simply have pulled out and passed. Irritating and wasteful of energy. But these issues are minor.

As you will have to charge via a granny charger at home, one thing that you should be aware of is that a full charge that way would take 20+ hours from empty. So you may want to keep the car relatively well topped up if there's any risk of having to make urgent unscheduled journeys.

 

[Michaelvdl]

We're very pleased with ours. The two areas I'm least happy with are the dashboard and infotainment screens and the Adaptive Cruise Control. I think the screens are carrying too much information in too small a space, making them difficult to read quickly, and the ACC doesn't warn you positively that it has slowed down to the speed of leading traffic. So I frequently find the car has drifted 10-15 mph down from my target speed, when I would simply have pulled out and passed. Irritating and wasteful of energy. But these issues are minor.

As you will have to charge via a granny charger at home, one thing that you should be aware of is that a full charge that way would take 20+ hours from empty. So you may want to keep the car relatively well topped up if there's any risk of having to make urgent unscheduled journeys.

I have had a call and they are letting me pick one up tomorrow morning to have until Monday morning. I will see how the granny cable does over night for the time being. There is a public charger a stones throw away from home so I will put it on there the odd evening for a few hours if need be. Thank you though it’s definitely something I have been thinking about and wondering if we can make it work.
I’ll definitely give the ACC a good go thanks for letting me know. We did have a 5 and in all fairness I didn’t find it too bad, I don’t know how different to the Zs it is though. Only really used apple car play which seemed to work pretty well

 

[LightningBolt]

@Michaelvdl Let us know how the granny charging goes, I am hiring one next week for a month from Elmo and will be trying to use mostly granny charging too. I should have access to fast chargers at work and I may be able to install one where I will live, but I want to trial the worst case scenario.

Regarding range in winter conditions, do you find yourself having to plan ahead weather-wise aswell as charge wise? Is it full winter thing, or is it rare that the weather is so bad that the range diminishes hugely?

 

[davidr1963]

My daughter has had hers for about eight months now and only uses the granny charger at home; she hasn’t got round to having a home charged installed yet and doesn’t really see the need for her use.

She generally does about thirty miles a day with the occasional longish trip where she uses rapids.

 

[Michaelvdl]

@Michaelvdl Let us know how the granny charging goes, I am hiring one next week for a month from Elmo and will be trying to use mostly granny charging too. I should have access to fast chargers at work and I may be able to install one where I will live, but I want to trial the worst case scenario.

Regarding range in winter conditions, do you find yourself having to plan ahead weather-wise aswell as charge wise? Is it full winter thing, or is it rare that the weather is so bad that the range diminishes hugely?

So we got the car this morning. It’s a red one which I really like but the wife isn’t so keen and says black looks better. As far as economy goes I’m a bit disappointed as despite being around 10c the car returned 3.0 miles pkwh. It was brand new with 14 miles on it and a full battery when we got it and it showed a range of 143 miles. Battery voltage is showing 439v so I think from what I have read the battery’s need to be balanced which could be the reason for the bad economy.
I really like how it drives and so does the wife. I’ve heard it’s not a fan of high speed cornering but personally it’s as I expected for a tall car.
As for charging, had the granny charger plugged in and checked it over a few hours and it seemed to average 6 miles charge an hour. I don’t know how far the low voltage will go towards this/hinder it maybe someone could shed some light if we can expect that rate to improve.
Overall very pleased with how it has been especially once lane assist was turned off! I do think we will be getting one however we never rush into anything and will stew on it whilst I continue to look into it more at the same time.

 

[Michaelvdl]

My daughter has had hers for about eight months now and only uses the granny charger at home; she hasn’t got round to having a home charged installed yet and doesn’t really see the need for her use.

She generally does about thirty miles a day with the occasional longish trip where she uses rapids.

That’s good to know, likely we will do the same until we move. The 30 miles you have stated is similar to us so it’s definitely good to know someone has managed it thank you.