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MG ZS EV First impressions

frb123

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Location
Norwich, UK
Driving
MG ZS EV
I thought I'd share my twopence with those still waiting for delivery.

I got my hands on a low mileage (sub 1000) ZSEV LR Trophy which I collected from the south coast and drove from nr. Bournemouth to where I'm based in the Norwich area, around 240 miles on the route I ended up on (the M25 had a meltdown and got rerouted via the Ascot neck of the woods).

In terms of efficiency - I was quite pleased. The GOM said 210ish (Normal mode) before I reset it based on prev driver style. I drove the car as I would have in my old ICE with nil regard for speed/efficiency effort/not using heater etc as I may in future as needs be. I drove "confidently" at motorway speeds and ... put the vehicle through its paces, experimenting with the torque and regen etc. I got 2.9 average m/kWh at finish. This was at 2.8 and 3.0 for other reasonable periods of the journey. I am confident I could have got a significant improvement on that number if I had tried.

I had a brief wobble/squeaky bum moment at Baldock servs (A1M) - forgot to switch vehicle out of ready mode which seemed to immediately freak out the ionity chargers (which went "out of service" immediately on connection to veh, for about 5 mins then came back online). Figured out switching car off might help. Whoops. After this minor tweak it charged fine at speeds up to around 75kw. (I went from around 30>55% to get me just enough to get back). In the time it took me to go in to use the loo, go to the shop, call my wife and ponder what to eat it had delivered enough juice before I'd even ordered anything, which was reassuring for any future longer required stops.

I figured I had roughly just over 100 miles per 50% of battery on that journey.

The temp was around 9deg when I left and around 7 when I got home. So reasonably chilly.

***

I love the car overall. My experience I think is similar to a lot of the balanced reports out there. Is it perfect? No way. Are there frustrating niggles? Absolutely. Could it be improved? You bet. But my bottom line is it is great value for money (compared to competition if you have your heart set on an EV). Whilst imperfect, I found, to my own suprise, that due to the (relative) cost, I was quite able to forgive the things that would ordinarily have potential to be quite deeply frustrating. If for example I had parted with £45k for an ioniq 5 (a previous iteration of my master plan) I would have been spitting feathers at the any/many imperfections. But you can forgive it with the ZSEV, at least I can. Which I found quite personally surprising as I have quite high expectations in these regards!

A word on the build quality. It very much feels Chinese built. It appears pretty decent overall in its brand new condition, but I can't say I'm not concerned by how it will cope with the medium term, say 5 years+. It feels/looks pretty nice but I'm intrigued to see how it goes in this regard, as well at the battery, over time. It feels like it's trying to be a premium car but on a budget. Which it basically is in fairness! I think they will age pretty quickly and things might get a bit ugly in years to come! Also intrigued to see how they hold their value. Again not overly confident as things/technology progress (so rapidly).

Having said all of that, the journey was very stress free, I was very pleased overall. Smooth, fast, comfortable, warm. Actually better than I expected. I felt way less tired on arrival, the driving is just generally so much more straightforward. The ACC worked really well, no complaints.

Early days but no buyers remorse yet and thoroughly satisfied overall. Hold your nerve if still waiting!

Things I love
Sun roof
Acceleration
General comfort level
EV ride style
Android auto interface

Room for improvement
Sound system (it's actually totally ok but I like above average + blasting music in good quality in my cars) - anyone know of any reputable/recommended EV audio upgraders?
Rattly panelling
Infotainment - responsiveness totally adequate but design / layout / general organisation leaves a lot to be desired

PS I have another identical Trophy (LR, black) arriving in the next few months, which I will probably sell immediately with 0 miles. PM if interested!
 
Wow well done on tracking down a Long Range Trophy! I remember trawling the nearly new ads this time last year, and basically you could get any combination of range and spec except that one, which was the one I wanted. I came close whilst looking at one particular dealer's stock, I refreshed the search and a long range Trophy had just been listed over 200 miles away, but in the few minutes it took me to get my credit card to reserve it someone beat me to it!
 
I've had my SR Trophy for two weeks now and I would echo pretty much everything you've said. It's our first EV and my wife loves it. Ours was a pre registered model at our local dealers with 10 miles on the clock. We got a really good deal from them and so far the car has performed perfectly. There are little things I don't like / could be improved but nothing yet to take away the enjoyment of the drive. A lot of that is to do with driving an EV rather than ICE but that's why we picked this car and we're very happy.
 
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