Before You Buy a New MGZS EV

[EX MG Owner]

You won't want to hear my experience with the MG ...but to be fair lots of cars have issues.

 

[salty]

Guess with your forum name, you didn't like um. And yep let's hear your experiences.

 

[EX MG Owner]

if you are sure.....

What I don't mention here is how poor the service experience really was, the guys there were 'mostly' nice enough, but constantly being told that I should expect the car to be crap 'because it's cheap' and that 'MG don't really want us to make the repairs' (after the first steering rack was replaced....is far from ideal. As I say in my 'video', I actually quite liked driving the car but felt I needed to get rid of it before a. it needed another visit to the servicer centre, and b. it was worthless.
oh and before anyone quite rightly says 'why am I on this forum then'....I will leave it at some point having been a member before...but my advise of at least don't buy new I feel is worth sharing.

 

[MG steve]

Sounds like you liked the car but had a run of bad luck with faults coupled with poor dealer service so sold the car. Your gripe is how much money you lost but you got a fair price really considering you can get a new one for £26k. You overpaid hence suffered a big loss.

 

[Mgzs ev]

the grass always seems greener on the other side, our first MG, 4 years old, never had a single problem. My work car, a Renault E Tech, has had several things with it, neighbor has an E2008 too, Audi Etron from a family member has already been towed away twice. We love the MG, the first and now the second is also fantastic. Unfortunately, you are very unlucky. with the Bosch steering system.

 

[EX MG Owner]

Sounds like you liked the car but had a run of bad luck with faults coupled with poor dealer service so sold the car. Your gripe is how much money you lost but you got a fair price really considering you can get a new one for £26k. You overpaid hence suffered a big loss.

Yes your last statement sums it up unfortunately

 

[Bodgerx]

the grass always seems greener on the other side, our first MG, 4 years old, never had a single problem. My work car, a Renault E Tech, has had several things with it, neighbor has an E2008 too, Audi Etron from a family member has already been towed away twice. We love the MG, the first and now the second is also fantastic. Unfortunately, you are very unlucky. with the Bosch steering system.

I don't think this is a luck thing.

There are significant amount of these cars that have had to go back for steering column issues.

 

[EX MG Owner]

I don't think this is a luck thing.

There are significant amount of these cars that have had to go back for steering column issues.

I had one replaced then that one went wrong but they kept saying they could not replicate it , the truth was that they were struggling to get MG to approve the fix. This was the last straw for me hence I then sold it.

 

[MG steve]

I don't think this is a luck thing.

There are significant amount of these cars that have had to go back for steering column issues.

There were 3 issues therefore I’d say it’s a run of bad luck.

 

[Bodgerx]

There were 3 issues therefore I’d say it’s a run of bad luck.

Car quality isn't a slot machine, there are reasons why these problems occur...

 

[MG steve]

Car quality isn't a slot machine, there are reasons why these problems occur...

No but you can't tell that a particular car is going to have problems or not, therefore it is down to luck. The steering rack is a known issue but it is down to luck if yours has a problem or not.

 

[Jerry]

What a shame. My own experience with my local MG dealer is fantastic. Your treatment seems to have swung your decision making rather than the 3 faults. I couldn't afford to lose £15k so would have persevered and found another MG dealer. To any prospective purchasers don't be put off, I suspect the silent majority are happy with the service and car but we only see a few positive experiences on the forum

 

[Mgzs ev]

It's a pity that MG did not develop a steering rack itself, then it would most likely not have broken down We have been amazed for 4 years by how reliable the car is. I really didn't expect that 4 years ago.

 

[Lovemyev]

It's a pity that MG did not develop a steering rack itself, then it would most likely not have broken down We have been amazed for 4 years by how reliable the car is. I really didn't expect that 4 years ago.

TBH - I don’t recall many people having the steering rack assembly replaced ?.
The steering rack itself is a Bosch made product.
The problem customers are seeing tends to be in steering column assembly itself.
Not sure if this is a Bosch product or a third party supplied part though ?.
The issues that customers are presenting with, usually falls into two groups.
Either they complain of experiencing a vague feeling in the steering and constantly having to make manually corrections, to keep the car on the straight path down the road, and a knocking noise from the lower part of the column.
This has been found to be excess play in one of the universal joints ( usually the lower one).
This CAN be replaced without changing the whole column assembly.
The second and more common issue is a “ticking” noise being present and felt through the steering wheel when turning or when travelling over a broken tarmac surface.
This has been resolved ( in some situations ) by check tightening the upper column bolts and the pinch bolt for the drivers manual adjust lever.
If this fails to cure the issue, then the complete inner and outer steering column assembly is replaced.
My first and second ZS EV had / has the second fault.
The premature failure of the UJ joint is much more of a concern really.
Of course this is a MOT failure and rightfully so.

 

[Bodgerx]

No but you can't tell that a particular car is going to have problems or not, therefore it is down to luck. The steering rack is a known issue but it is down to luck if yours has a problem or not.

It's not down to 'luck'. It's down to if you have a specific version of the steering rack.

 

[MG steve]

It's not down to 'luck'. It's down to if you have a specific version of the steering rack.

Are all of a particular version going to fail and what about the other 2 issues.

 

[Gadget Geek]

I believe that all parts have batch numbers so that sub standard batches can be identified, and a recall of affected vehicles can be arranged.

 

[Mgzs ev]

What strikes me about the gen 1 and gen 2 is that if you steer to the maximum left or right, you will not feel any impact or blockage.
With most other cars you really feel a stop. Could it be that if you give even more steering force to the mg, something will become bent, for example?

 

[EX MG Owner]

Car quality isn't a slot machine, there are reasons why these problems occur...

No but you can't tell that a particular car is going to have problems or not, therefore it is down to luck. The steering rack is a known issue but it is down to luck if yours has a problem or not.

I was told that the door locks and steering racks were pretty much identical across all MG ZS shipped to the UK, so that would suggest it's not luck but more 'when' the parts are likely to fail. The rear seats as another example, if you fold them down and look at the mechanism it is really poorly made andI would also be surprised that most people would not eventually have them break like mine did, and In 12 months I must have only folded them down a few times.

TBH - I don’t recall many people having the steering rack assembly replaced ?.
The steering rack itself is a Bosch made product.
The problem customers are seeing tends to be in steering column assembly itself.
Not sure if this is a Bosch product or a third party supplied part though ?.
The issues that customers are presenting with, usually falls into two groups.
Either they complain of experiencing a vague feeling in the steering and constantly having to make manually corrections, to keep the car on the straight path down the road, and a knocking noise from the lower part of the column.
This has been found to be excess play in one of the universal joints ( usually the lower one).
This CAN be replaced without changing the whole column assembly.
The second and more common issue is a “ticking” noise being present and felt through the steering wheel when turning or when travelling over a broken tarmac surface.
This has been resolved ( in some situations ) by check tightening the upper column bolts and the pinch bolt for the drivers manual adjust lever.
If this fails to cure the issue, then the complete inner and outer steering column assembly is replaced.
My first and second ZS EV had / has the second fault.
The premature failure of the UJ joint is much more of a concern really.
Of course this is a MOT failure and rightfully so.

Mine was the knocking noise which you could also 'feel' at times. They replaced whatever it was needed replacing...but then the replaced one had the same issue within about 4 weeks.

What a shame. My own experience with my local MG dealer is fantastic. Your treatment seems to have swung your decision making rather than the 3 faults. I couldn't afford to lose £15k so would have persevered and found another MG dealer. To any prospective purchasers don't be put off, I suspect the silent majority are happy with the service and car but we only see a few positive experiences on the forum

I couldn't afford to lose the money either...however it was clear that by going back to an ICE car all be it an older one would slow down the depreciation. I dread to think what my car would be worth in the next two years, I wager that it will be lower than what the car iv'e replaced it with will be worth. I must add that this experience has not put me off getting an EV again , I do after all have the home charger now, but next time I a. won't buy new and b. will buy a make with a larger/better developed support network.

 

[MG steve]

I couldn't afford to lose the money either...however it was clear that by going back to an ICE car all be it an older one would slow down the depreciation. I dread to think what my car would be worth in the next two years, I wager that it will be lower than what the car iv'e replaced it with will be worth. I must add that this experience has not put me off getting an EV again , I do after all have the home charger now, but next time I a. won't buy new and b. will buy a make with a larger/better developed support network.

Hopefully you didn’t have it on finance and it cost you interest to add to the pain. Did you look at leasing at the time of purchasing? I think EVs will drop in value more than ICE as EVs are going to get a lot cheaper of the next few years.