MG ZS newbie- hit and miss- is it me?

J

Jarvo

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MG ZS EV
Hi everyone, what a great forum- thanks.

I’ve got a new trophy long range (Jan, 24) and disappointed. Trying to love it.

Charging: most I’ve had is 160, should be 270 (heard this might be cold weather?)

Tyres: constantly alerting under- inflated (heard this is normal in cold weather?).

Interior lights: don’t come on when turn engine off (probably my error -but can’t correct it).

Phone : connects via CarlinKit now and again, it was worse before I connected with genuine apple lead. Random, I can/can’t hear someone on hands free/ someone can hear me/not hear me.

Apple Music sometimes works.
Google maps sometimes works.
The MG app - almost useless, been getting tyre alarms day after day.

The list is endless and the theme is sometimes the car apps etc work and sometimes hit and miss. I’ve been driving since the 80’s and never experienced such a bug ridden car.
 
Until you get some driving history under your belt you won't get a good estimate on the GOM. and yes you will be down about a 1/3 in the colder months. But then in the summer we had an estimated peak of 316miles with our ZS TLR, so swings and roundabouts.

Try pumping ups the tyres. 41 psi, unless Im mistaken ( which I'ms sure I am!!)

Interior light is the switch in the right position

USB lead I purchased these, on recommendation form another forum member, and they work flawlessly : https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B091KGZ4Z2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I think if you stop looking for faults, they will go away, We have had our ZS since June last year and apart from BGas/Hive charger issues and a very few minor issues the car has been 1st class.
 
DBedford said:
Until you get some driving history under your belt you won't get a good estimate on the GOM. and yes you will be down about a 1/3 in the colder months. But then in the summer we had an estimated peak of 316miles with our ZS TLR, so swings and roundabouts.

Try pumping ups the tyres. 41 psi, unless Im mistaken ( which I'ms sure I am!!)

Interior light is the switch in the right position

USB lead I purchased these, on recommendation form another forum member, and they work flawlessly : https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B091KGZ4Z2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I think if you stop looking for faults, they will go away, We have had our ZS since June last year and apart from BGas/Hive charger issues and a very few minor issues the car has been 1st class.
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Thank you for all your points, reassuring.

You make a wise point, what you focus on is what you notice! I did mean to add that the phone charger pad is uneven, so it doesn’t charge without holding it down:) A lead would be useful for this also so I have just ordered one.

I will ask my husband to pump the tyres up, he has just bought a tyre gauge thingy bob. I didn’t mention that it is super easy to drive and the panoramic roof is nice!
 
Hi Jarvo, and welcome to the forum.

As DBedford mentioned, range varies with the seasons and the type of driving you do.

The "lights on" button is one of those on the ceiling, but I can't remember which one. Just give them a push until you find the right one.

Do you know what the tyre pressures are? You can press the right and left arrows on the steering wheel to cycle through the displays. (Mine areall at 2.7 Bar)

The software is a bit flakey at times, but on the whole works OK. I invested in an Android Auto Wireless device so I can leave my phone in my pocket, and it connects every time.

You were lucky to get the sky roof, as they stopped production in July 23. It is brilliant in the summer. :)

Enjoy your car.
 
I'm a MG ZS newbie too. Had 3-4 months now and I'm impressed for the price paid.

At 80% battery I get around 218 miles. I try not to drop the battery too much beyond 40% so tend to charge regularly in small bursts.

I find the range is pretty spot on, unless I have heated seats, air conditioning/demister on. It drops a bit more with these items on and the GOM isn't true accurate too. I've only done short journeys ( up to 30miles).
 
Enjoy the car is the main thing. I went to Tenby from Cardiff approx. 100miles last September. When I arrived I still had 68% charge.
Like I said just enjoy the car, I still have a smile on my face especially leaving Merc's and Audi's at the traffic lights :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
I love my ZS now - nearly a year. Initially it had lots of messages pop up, some of which I worried about. Most of them are actually easily resolved. Are many that arise if the brake pedal is not pressed firmly enough when starting, changing driving mode, etc....I am not tall, and it took a while to work this one out.
 
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We're on our second ZSEV - traded the Mk I in for a Trophy LR to get the extra range. Happy with both of them. Took the Mk I to the Dordogne and the Mk II has been to Cognac.

Have you driven an EV before? If not there are a few things to remember for good range.
  • Pump your tyres up. If they are so low that they are regularly tripping warnings, they are probably impacting your range. (This'll quieten down the app as well...)
  • Make sure you are not in a higher mode than you want. Sports mode is battery heavy.
  • Use the regen braking. The brake pedal is for the final phase of braking to stop you bumping into something. :) Turn the KERS up as much as you're happy with.
  • In an ICE car, your heater is using waste heat from the engine. In an EV, it's coming from the battery. Put a jumper on if you want max range.
  • Wet weather is not good. The rolling resistance is higher so your range goes down (This happens to an ICE too, but you don't notice so much.)
  • Same applies to lights, windscreen wipers, heated windows, etc. You notice their effect more. A cold wet windy night on the motorway is death to good range.
  • On the subject of motorways, slow down. You can bowl along at the legal limit and a bit over if you want to, but your range suffers. Kinetic energy goes as the square of speed so it takes 36% more energy to reach 70mph as it does to reach 60mph, and you won't get it all back. Depending on your journey, in an EV you can reach your destination faster by driving slower if it saves you a charging stop. Counter-intuitive, I know.
Like @DBedford, we've had a 316 mile estimate in the summer, and I think we're reporting about 250/260 miles estimated range right now on a full charge.
 
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Hi Jarvo, My wife is on her second MG ZS EV, currently she has the long range version also with the panoramic sun roof. In the summer she was getting charges of 342 miles with a 99% charge, which was reassuring, its down to around 258 miles per charge this time of year which also is pretty good. Just enjoy using your car, there will be some small problems I can imagine but so far after 18 months of use faultless.
On the other hand my Kia Nero had a problem that lasted over two months and finally it looks like the technician has fixed it. I would go to my car and try to open the door and find that the service battery was flat, without the 12 volt battery nothing works. This caused great inconvenience, the phantom battery drain was finally tracked down to a faulty rear boot switch. This after changing the two year old battery and a rear boot lock switch. I even bought a small 12 volt lithium battery booster, this would provide enough voltage to allow me to start my car. Once started the main traction battery will charge the small 12 volt service battery.
Hope this reassures you with your MG.

As an aside, My wife will be travelling to Tewksbury tomorrow, the round journey is 220 miles, with reasonable weather and driving sensibly, the ZS will make the whole journey on a single charge from our home charger. We try not to use the motorway services if at all possible, they put up the unit charges when Covid affected the petrol and diesel prices (to around £2 per litre) but when the prices reduced to around £1.50 per litre. Guess what, the kWh price we pay did not come down, the likes of Shell are conning us, I believe.

Hi again, I cant believe the overnight charge, last night was cold but even so, the range indicated this morning is an unbelievable 326 miles, this will get my wife up to Tewksbury and back on one charge. I will attach photos of a summer and last nights charge. We do seem to have a very good battery and with sensible driving the car gives an incredible range. Please check that you have the long range version of the ZS, our first ZS would have the range you have indicated in the winter.
 

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I would not rely on getting anything close to that 326 miles of range on the GOM to be honest.
This is a PREDICTED range, that is totally based on previous historical data, stored by the car.
This has likely built up by previous careful low speed driving covered over the last few weeks etc.
So, unless you can 100% replicate the route / road speeds / weather conditions etc etc then 326 miles is not really an achievable range, regardless of how good your traction battery condition.
The actual 220 miles of the journey, in right weather conditions and with a steady driving style, should be no problem.
 
Lovemyev said:
I would not rely on getting anything close to that 326 miles of range on the GOM to be honest.
This is a PREDICTED range, that is totally based on previous historical data, stored by the car.
This has likely built up by previous careful low speed driving covered over the last few weeks etc.
So, unless you can 100% replicate the route / road speeds / weather conditions etc etc then 326 miles is not really an achievable range, regardless of how good your traction battery condition.
The actual 220 miles of the journey, in right weather conditions and with a steady driving style, should be no problem.
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Although I share your doubt about achieving 326 miles, I must admit to have been pleasantly surprised by the GOM's accuracy on our Trophy LR. Better than the Mk I, but perhaps that's because the extra range lets variations be smoothed out.

On at least one occasion when 316 was reported on our car, I was shocked the next time we charged when I realised that we had indeed used charge equivalent to a 316 mile range from a full charge.

I've never had a range that would put a 220 mile journey in jeopardy, but I freely admit to topping up to make sure we weren't stranded. I like at least a 45-50 mile buffer on a long journey, in case something closes the South Wales section of the M4 and I have to divert via Merthyr...
 
Nickel said:
Although I share your doubt about achieving 326 miles, I must admit to have been pleasantly surprised by the GOM's accuracy on our Trophy LR. Better than the Mk I, but perhaps that's because the extra range lets variations be smoothed out.

On at least one occasion when 316 was reported on our car, I was shocked the next time we charged when I realised that we had indeed used charge equivalent to a 316 mile range from a full charge.

I've never had a range that would put a 220 mile journey in jeopardy, but I freely admit to topping up to make sure we weren't stranded. I like at least a 45-50 mile buffer on a long journey, in case something closes the South Wales section of the M4 and I have to divert via Merthyr...
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We had the Gen1 for four about two years and 20,000 miles and the Gen2 LR is in a very similar position.
By and large, I found the GOM on both models to reflect a similar 1 for 1 basis in average weather conditions.
The figures reported are a "best guess" value TBH and should be treated with a little bit of "tongue in cheek " way.
The Gen2 LR does remove a lot of range anxiety, purely because of it's much larger traction battery.
The long range is going to return more actual miles in the worst case situation, than the Gen1 can even hope to match on it's best day of the year :ROFLMAO: .
 
Never touched the tyres , they always showed between 27 and when warmed up 29. Always drove with the radio on, heating / cooling being used, radio blasting, wind screen wipers when it rained, lights on when it was dark 😂 in the summer last year I once drove 340 miles following a full charge to and from work over a couple of weeks (no motorways, average speed I would think around 30) , so not sure why people are saying it’s not possible….in the coldest of months however it went as low as just under 200.
 
I'm guessing you mean 2.7 and 2.9 bar. That's more or less spot on - they are supposed to be at 2.8 bar (41 psi) when cold.

I suspect the major contributor to your range is the 30mph average speed. Even in Wales, that's low for all but very local journeys. And we have hills, in a way Berkshire doesn't, of course. ;)

BTW - I put the lights on in the dark. as well. It saves delays waiting for crash trucks and ambulances and so on...:cool:
 
I am pleased to report my wife actually travelled 143 miles and when she stopped she still had a 61% charge with an indicated 173 miles to use for her return journey. The weather was fine and she drove using ECO, there were some very long steep hills on route. So if the return journey is the same, she could have around 22% charge left in the traction battery, I feel this is pretty good, total journey 286 miles and still have this amount of charge is good. Better that my KIA Nero 4 +, with the weather forecast to be very wet tomorrow it may be sensible to make a brief motorway stop for a coffee and a quarter hour charge.
 

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Back home without a charge on the motorway, wipers used part of the way home, the GOM mileage indicates there is another 16% of battery still available. Around 49 miles using the ECO setting, even at this time of year our ZS EV is achieving at least 286 actual miles on a single charge.
So Jarvo you can see that the MG ZS EV Long Range can achieve a good range driven sensibly, enjoy your car, spring is in the air and your charges will improve.
 

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David MG said:
Back home without a charge on the motorway, wipers used part of the way home, the GOM mileage indicates there is another 16% of battery still available. Around 49 miles using the ECO setting, even at this time of year our ZS EV is achieving at least 286 actual miles on a single charge.
So Jarvo you can see that the MG ZS EV Long Range can achieve a good range driven sensibly, enjoy your car, spring is in the air and your charges will improve.
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That’s very impressive. I’m doing a 330 mile journey at the weekend and was planning on 5 mins stop at about 100 miles, 30 mins at 170 miles and another 5 mins at 260 miles. I averaged 3.3 miles per kW last time but it was freezing, wet and dark.
 
Hi!
My best advice: ignore the GOM fully - we call it Guess-O-Meter for a reason ;)
Try and understand how many miles/km you do with 1% and take it from there. Or use 2km for every 1% and you should be fine.

The only I look at the GOM is after charging to 100% for any reason and I can see how efficient my latest driving has been because of a better or worse estimate. That’s it:)
 
Driving a 245 mile journey to Liverpool, I regularly stop at the 195 miles mark (Tesla charger) with 24% charge left.
I top up whilst having lunch, then do the rest. It breaks up the journey nicely. (y)

This is at 4C, 2 people, large case, wheelchair hoist and chair.
 
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