After a week of MG ZS EV ownership…

[Deleted member 10911]

After a week of ownership, this is what I have learnt.

The Dealer

Asked the steps to charge the car, told read the manual, but this is the button for the roof.

One of the selling points of the ZS EV is the nationwide dealer support network.

Unfortunately, I have contacted my dealer about 3 specific issues - crickets.
Rang another dealer, crickets.
Found the head office phone number - disconnected
Chatted online with ‘MG’ - advised them I had brought one last week etc, was told they’d call me straight away and asked for an email address as a back up - instead, 14 minutes later, I received a spam email from a local dealer offering to sell me one.

The Car

3 points
1. In Australia, the servicing requirements are every two years however, there is a small clause in the book which says if you don’t bring the car in yearly to get inspected for corrosion, your warranty for that component is void. Dealers comment was, we wouldn’t worry about that. When asked to put it in writing, no.

2. There is a spelling mistake on the infotainment screen, how is this notified to MG and how is it rectified?

3. The user manual says battery regeneration works under cruise control conditions. In using cruise control, I have not witnessed it utilise battery regeneration, nor have I seen comments on this forum to confirm same.


Other small things which make this less of a ‘luxury’ version of the car come down to options being selected on the dash screen/ infotainment not remaining when restarting the car. If I have a setting a particular way, I’d expect it to stay said way.

The App correctly states what colour my car is, so why does it keep showing a white version. It is not a difficult process to have a GUI show different coloured objects based upon certain inputs.

Last thing, so far, as this is getting long winded on my phone, if you’re selling a product, know your product. I was told by the dealer the boot release button didn’t do anything for the car. It was a superfluous button. Turns out, it does do something. Grrr.

Sorry, I have CoV and I am grumpy.

 

[Cocijo]

Love the ‘crickets’ comment! Nice to hear MG seem to going for worldwide consistency on customer service.
I hope that you get things sorted. Overall the ZS is not a bad car.

 

[ashleigh326]

What does the boot release button do?

 

[Deleted member 10911]

What does the boot release button do?

Hold down the button for two seconds and it unlocks the boot only.

 

[N2STY]

Boot unlocks by itself if you have the key on you so you don't need to press any buttons

 

[Deleted member 10911]

Boot unlocks by itself if you have the key on you so you don't need to press any buttons

Exactly.

 

[Bodgerx]

One of the selling points of the ZS EV is the nationwide dealer support network.

Well here in the UK at least, I don't think that would be a qualitative assertion. In the UK there are a lot of smaller MG dealers that were carry overs from the MG days. And then the rest are bigger outfits, typically with multiple franchises. They are basically two extreme ends. The bigger outfits tend to have iffy customer care in my experience. The smaller ones might be a bit limited in other ways. I wouldn't have bought this on the strength of the 'network'.

Anyway, as to your point about the 'spelling mistake'. It's not just spelling, it's general grammar and 'lost in translation' style stuff you'll find all over the system; it just isn't a quality localisation. You'll also find lots of UX oddities and inconsistencies. It's going to take intentional, sustained, effort to improve it. I doubt a quick fix is on the horizon.

 

[hmadsen]

3. The user manual says battery regeneration works under cruise control conditions. In using cruise control, I have not witnessed it utilise battery regeneration, nor have I seen comments on this forum to confirm same.

Regarding this.

If the manual says that, it is lying, the car uses the friction brakes to slow down the car when on Adaptive Cruise control.

The explanation i have seen is, this is because the braking/ACC system (Brake block, radar scanner etc) on the car is the same as on earlier petrol versions of this car (ZS EV is a converted petrol car, not bespoke EV platform) and this system is not able to use the regenerative braking, because of this, as a petrol car for some reason does not have regenerative braking.

Regenerative braking does work if you drive the car yourself, and let off of the go pedal.

If i am coming to a stop, while on CC, i just disable the CC and let the regen do its job, and then use the friction brakes to get the car stopped all the way. Regenerative braking is not very effective on the ZS EV, sadly, could have done with a lot more "bite"

 

[Bodgerx]

I'm over the fact the ACC doesn't use the regen now. There's energy benefits from just coasting in a lot of cruise/higher speed situations anyway, increasing the distance of the roll.

What's more of an issue is that the car leaves shed loads of energy on the table by its inability to bring the car to a stop on regen and that on steep hills the regen max's out to the point you need friction braking.

In similar scenarios in my old Ioniq 38 I could do a full decent of say Sutton Bank with zero friction breaking, recouping a few miles of range. It's almost as if they've no confidence in the battery to take the higher current generated under regen, and played it safe.

 

[hmadsen]

I'm over the fact the ACC doesn't use the regen now. There's energy benefits from just coasting in a lot of cruise/higher speed situations anyway, increasing the distance of the roll.

What's more of an issue is that the car leaves shed loads of energy on the table by its inability to bring the car to a stop on regen and that on steep hills the regen max's out to the point you need friction braking.

In similar scenarios in my old Ioniq 38 I could do a full decent of say Sutton Bank with zero friction breaking, recouping a few miles of range. It's almost as if they've no confidence in the battery to take the higher current generated under regen, and played it safe.

My guess was more on the reduction gear not being able to take the added load of regen braking beyond 20%

Puts stress on the gearbox and electric drive motor and their bearings.

 

[Deleted member 10911]

Regarding this.

If the manual says that, it is lying, the car uses the friction brakes to slow down the car when on Adaptive Cruise control.

The explanation i have seen is, this is because the braking/ACC system (Brake block, radar scanner etc) on the car is the same as on earlier petrol versions of this car (ZS EV is a converted petrol car, not bespoke EV platform) and this system is not able to use the regenerative braking, because of this, as a petrol car for some reason does not have regenerative braking.

Regenerative braking does work if you drive the car yourself, and let off of the go pedal.

If i am coming to a stop, while on CC, i just disable the CC and let the regen do its job, and then use the friction brakes to get the car stopped all the way. Regenerative braking is not very effective on the ZS EV, sadly, could have done with a lot more "bite"

Braking is one of the conditions under which regeneration is to occur.

Admittedly, in mine, when I apply friction braking, yes, regeneration to a greater degree occurs than under KERS, just none happens with ACC.

 

[N2STY]

So the manual is not lying then? Just miss read?

 

[Deleted member 10911]

So the manual is not lying then? Just miss read?

Either the manual is telling the truth and the car has a feature disabled or the manual is incorrect.

Based upon what I’ve seen thus far, I’d say it’s likely a combination of the two and getting it rectified will be a distant pipe dream.

 

[Bodgerx]

That page says nothing about regen under ACC.

Unless I've missed something.

The fact that regen is used when manually applying friction braking is a known thing.

 

[Deleted member 10911]

That page says nothing about regen under ACC.

Unless I've missed something.

The fact that regen is used when manually applying friction braking is a known thing.

ACC applies friction brakes to slow the vehicle.

Very first, non bolded, line of the page advises in what states the regeneration operates.

 

[Bodgerx]

ACC applies friction brakes to slow the vehicle.

Very first, non bolded, line of the page advises in what states the regeneration operates.

Yes, but I think that's only an assumption - given the ACC applies the brakes + this page tells you the brakes use the regen = ACC must use regen given it's braking.

But it doesn't explicitly say it, and it also says there scenarios where regen won't be there, where it gives an example list, which obviously isn't exhaustive, knowing what we know in practice!

 

[Deleted member 10911]

Yes, but I think that's only an assumption - given the ACC applies the brakes + this page tells you the brakes use the regen = ACC must use regen given it's braking.

But it doesn't explicitly say it, and it also says there scenarios where regen won't be there, where it gives an example list, which obviously isn't exhaustive, knowing what we know in practice!

One would assume, considering it is 27 year old technology (I think the first Prius with regen CC was in 95?)

The thing about assumptions in Australia is they are generally codified in law under the Australian Consumer Law and the requirement of the provider to not act in a false and misleading way.

The test comes down to the pub test, what would the average punter expect, based upon the information presented to them?

As an example of this, currently on the MG website, it advertises the ZS EV as having ‘true one pedal driving’

This is clearly a misleading statement. I do not know any driver who is able to drive with one pedal. Do you?

The CEO said they have their 7 year fixed price warranty with ‘no hidden exclusions’ for peace of mind. Yet their service manual has an exclusion if you don’t have it inspected every other year outside of the service regime “at your own cost”

in respect of the ACC regen, from what the service guy said, it’s likely an update issue, but we will see.

 

[Bodgerx]

Yeah, that one pedal driving statement is a nonsense, for sure.

 

[legollas]

It looks like their customer service doesnt exist and they can do whatever they want and get away with it.
Really annoying... I am having the same problems with MG.
They do not reply to anyone because they just dont care.

There should be legal consequences

 

[JCFlippen]

One would assume, considering it is 27 year old technology (I think the first Prius with regen CC was in 95?)

The thing about assumptions in Australia is they are generally codified in law under the Australian Consumer Law and the requirement of the provider to not act in a false and misleading way.

The test comes down to the pub test, what would the average punter expect, based upon the information presented to them?

As an example of this, currently on the MG website, it advertises the ZS EV as having ‘true one pedal driving’

This is clearly a misleading statement. I do not know any driver who is able to drive with one pedal. Do you?

The CEO said they have their 7 year fixed price warranty with ‘no hidden exclusions’ for peace of mind. Yet their service manual has an exclusion if you don’t have it inspected every other year outside of the service regime “at your own cost”

in respect of the ACC regen, from what the service guy said, it’s likely an update issue, but we will see.

On KERS 3 and Normal it is quite close to one pedal driving - good enough for me.