First edition MGZSEV 1st MOT

Well, that's 3 years with 17600 miles on the car and it just passed it's 1st MOT with Red immediate attention items as follows,
Front brake pads
Front brake disc corroded
Rear brake pads
Rear brake discs corroded
I assume the brake pads are because of the grooves worn around the discs. Not a good sign for a low mileage 3 year old car.
I honestly thought it would fail due to grooved discs. These are NOT covered by the 7 year warranty.
I have also noticed the front drivers side seat base at the side of the base has started to split, so not such hard wearing vinyl after all. Even 10 year old Fords I've owned didn't do that.
I have also discovered the rear wheel arch interior plastic covers (both sides) are split, looks like the seatbelt buckle got stuck when the seat back was pushed back up and this is the outcome. I don't think I did it but can't be certain.
Battery fully charged and equalised at -6c temperature shows full range of 140miles.
I know the range in cold weather is reduced quite a bit so hopefully range will improve in the summer.
I still like the car but I am now getting a bit wary about it's longevity.

 

[Ayoull]

Our MG ZS EV MK1 went through its MOT in November and passed with flying colours an advisory on brake discs, which are a consumable socnot covered by the 7yr warranty, and also worth noting the ZS EV MK1 uses the brakes when you use adaptive cruise control, opposed regen braking.

Our has done 41k miles so no issues with longevity and have a dealer who is proactive and helpful when issues arrise

 

[Malcolm Anderson]

If your car passed its MOT your brakes are working correctly, they are obviously a major part of an MOT. If they required immediate action you would not have passed the MOT. Having been an MOT tester/Mechanic I can tell you one of the most profitable jobs a garage can do is brakes! As EVs use regen quite a lot this means the normal scouring of the brake discs by the friction brakes on fossil cars doesn't happen any where as much, so EV owners should clean their brake discs by braking without regen occasionally (weekly?) just brake heavily from say 50/60 on a clear road and so keep the brake discs rust free.

 

[RobinH]

The ZS should be less prone to disc corrosion than other EV's. On others pressing the brake pedal increases the regen before the friction brakes kick in at higher braking levels. On the ZS there is no increase in regen when you brake, so hit the brake pedal and you are using friction brakes straight away.

 

[Tiny Tim]

A few years ago I had a 'free' mot on my Leaf at Halfords and they put an advisory on the brakes. About 10 months later I took it to a trustworthy garage and they said the brakes had several thousand miles still left. Sure enough, next mot, not at Halfords, not even an advisory!
My advice - brake heavily every now and again and certainly before you go for the test - the rest of the time, regen as much as you can - and be careful which testing centre you take it to. Also get a visual inspection at another garage before the test if you're not sure.

 

[Kithmo]

The ZS should be less prone to disc corrosion than other EV's. On others pressing the brake pedal increases the regen before the friction brakes kick in at higher braking levels. On the ZS there is no increase in regen when you brake, so hit the brake pedal and you are using friction brakes straight away.

Nonsense, watch the regen gauge when you brake.

 

[Cocijo]

Well, that's 3 years with 17600 miles on the car and it just passed it's 1st MOT with Red immediate attention items as follows,
Front brake pads
Front brake disc corroded
Rear brake pads
Rear brake discs corroded
I assume the brake pads are because of the grooves worn around the discs. Not a good sign for a low mileage 3 year old car.
I honestly thought it would fail due to grooved discs. These are NOT covered by the 7 year warranty.
I have also noticed the front drivers side seat base at the side of the base has started to split, so not such hard wearing vinyl after all. Even 10 year old Fords I've owned didn't do that.
I have also discovered the rear wheel arch interior plastic covers (both sides) are split, looks like the seatbelt buckle got stuck when the seat back was pushed back up and this is the outcome. I don't think I did it but can't be certain.
Battery fully charged and equalised at -6c temperature shows full range of 140miles.
I know the range in cold weather is reduced quite a bit so hopefully range will improve in the summer.
I still like the car but I am now getting a bit wary about it's longevity.

Travelling low mileages each year with a lot of standing, can increase corrosion on your brakes - even on an ICE. It’s a general issue with EV’s too as the friction brakes don’t get used as much, because of regen. The rears can be the worst hit.
Give the brakes a good workout now and then - hard braking when it’s safe to do so, will help remove surface rust.
As others have said, if it was that bad the car would have failed the mot. The test includes a rolling road brake test, which it must have passed.
If you’re worried then perhaps get a second opinion - you might be surprised.
As far as the other stuff, nothing major it seems.

 

[BarryH]

If your car passed its MOT your brakes are working correctly, they are obviously a major part of an MOT. If they required immediate action you would not have passed the MOT. Having been an MOT tester/Mechanic I can tell you one of the most profitable jobs a garage can do is brakes! As EVs use regen quite a lot this means the normal scouring of the brake discs by the friction brakes on fossil cars doesn't happen any where as much, so EV owners should clean their brake discs by braking without regen occasionally (weekly?) just brake heavily from say 50/60 on a clear road and so keep the brake discs rust free.

I would also suggest selecting KERS 1 to reduce the regen effect and use the friction brakes more heavily. EVs are more prone to sticking brake calipers than ICE cars since the friction brake less than ICE cars. Without regularly operating the friction brakes, there is little to no movement of the pads in the caliper or the calipers on their sliding pins. Teslas are very prone, so I understand, to corrosion on the calipers making the pads stick.

 

[BarryH]

Well, that's 3 years with 17600 miles on the car and it just passed it's 1st MOT with Red immediate attention items as follows,
Front brake pads
Front brake disc corroded
Rear brake pads
Rear brake discs corroded
I assume the brake pads are because of the grooves worn around the discs. Not a good sign for a low mileage 3 year old car.
I honestly thought it would fail due to grooved discs. These are NOT covered by the 7 year warranty.
I have also noticed the front drivers side seat base at the side of the base has started to split, so not such hard wearing vinyl after all. Even 10 year old Fords I've owned didn't do that.
I have also discovered the rear wheel arch interior plastic covers (both sides) are split, looks like the seatbelt buckle got stuck when the seat back was pushed back up and this is the outcome. I don't think I did it but can't be certain.
Battery fully charged and equalised at -6c temperature shows full range of 140miles.
I know the range in cold weather is reduced quite a bit so hopefully range will improve in the summer.
I still like the car but I am now getting a bit wary about it's longevity.

Oops. My Gen 1 ZS is due for its 1st MOT at the beginning of January!

I do hope my brakes are ok? I've not noticed any untoward braking performance and I haven't any visible disk scoring having done 21,000 miles. I think that driving style can make a big difference here because if you always drive on ECO and KERS 3 and try to always use the one-peddle technique the friction brakes could corrode far more than if you had used Nor S mode and the brake peddle or lots of ACC and or MG Pilot which operate the friction repeatedly.

Regards to 140 miles for a full charge at -6C I'd say that was pretty good I've seen 135 miles typically on mine at around freezing.

Oh and yes I have got a small 4 to 5 mm split on the driver's seat side panel. 1, I spoke to a car upholstery specialist who said yep you're going to get that with PU Leather and said at least I hadn't paid £120k for a Merc and had it happen because Mercs are terrible for it. 2, speaking to an MG dealer about trading in and I mentioned it and he wasn't at all phased as long as it was only one spilt and less than 6 to 7 mm.

 

[Lovemyev]

A few years ago I had a 'free' mot on my Leaf at Halfords and they put an advisory on the brakes. About 10 months later I took it to a trustworthy garage and they said the brakes had several thousand miles still left. Sure enough, next mot, not at Halfords, not even an advisory!
My advice - brake heavily every now and again and certainly before you go for the test - the rest of the time, regen as much as you can - and be careful which testing centre you take it to. Also get a visual inspection at another garage before the test if you're not sure.

If anybody offers you a free MOT - Then run .
You get nothing for nothing in this world.
They are looking for work !.
You may think that you are saving on the price of the test, but wait until they give you the list of work they have found !.
Main dealers love carrying out MOT’s for this very reason.
Oldest trick in the book.

 

[Kithmo]

Personally I think low mileage does not cause the problem of rusty brakes, I think it's more to do with how long the car is stood unused.
I only do around 2.5K miles a year but use my car every day and have never had problems with corroded or scored brake discs on any car I've owned.
Compared to SWMBO who does about the same mileage, but often doesn't use her car for several days at a time and she had to have the rear brake discs on her previous Prius replaced twice (and had advisories on the fronts) in the 10 years she owned it.

 

[RobinH]

Nonsense, watch the regen gauge when you brake.

With respect, I have been. That's how I came to this conclusion. On regen 3 the max it goes to on lift off is 19%. Press the brake, still 19%. Same on regen 1 at 6% (from memory).
Happy to be proven wrong if someone has data.

 

[N2STY]

With respect, I have been. That's how I came to this conclusion. On regen 3 the max it goes to on lift off is 19%. Press the brake, still 19%. Same on regen 1 at 6% (from memory).
Happy to be proven wrong if someone has data.

I would say your looking at wrong gauge you need to look at the Amps when you use brake you can easily see -90 amps

 

[Lovemyev]

We need to be comparing on a “like for like” basis here folks.
Gen 1 ZS EV and Gen 2 models have different strengths of regen capabilities regardless.
The Max Regen strength on the Gen 1 is much stronger than the Gen 2 model.
A small benefit here, could be that the brake discs don’t suffer from as much premature pitting / corrosion due to the lack of use I guess .
Roundabouts and swings folks !.
Maybe get a bit more wear out of the pads before they are prematurely replaced at the same time.

 

[Bodgerx]

We need to be comparing on a “like for like” basis here folks.
Gen 1 ZS EV and Gen 2 models have different strengths of regen capabilities regardless.
The Max Regen strength on the Gen 1 is much stronger than the Gen 2 model.
A small benefit here, could be that the brake discs don’t suffer from as much premature pitting / corrosion due to the lack of use I guess .
Roundabouts and swings folks !.
Maybe get a bit more wear out of the pads before they are prematurely replaced at the same time.

Which I think make sense, but....

My Ioniq electric's brake pads and discs were like new after 3 years, so I'm not sure what MG are doing different.

 

[Cocijo]

Personally I think low mileage does not cause the problem of rusty brakes, I think it's more to do with how long the car is stood unused.
I only do around 2.5K miles a year but use my car every day and have never had problems with corroded or scored brake discs on any car I've owned.
Compared to SWMBO who does about the same mileage, but often doesn't use her car for several days at a time and she had to have the rear brake discs on her previous Prius replaced twice (and had advisories on the fronts) in the 10 years she owned it.

Yes - good point. It’s not just about low mileage, it’s about frequent use. Still, a lot of cars that do low mileage do tend to stand around more.

 

[Tiny Tim]

If anybody offers you a free MOT - Then run .
You get nothing for nothing in this world.
They are looking for work !.
You may think that you are saving on the price of the test, but wait until they give you the list of work they have found !.
Main dealers love carrying out MOT’s for this very reason.
Oldest trick in the book.

I only used Halfords it because I knew it couldn't fail! It was free with any purchase (air freshener!) at Halfords - I replaced the tyres and drove it straight to the test centre (Mwhahahaha).

But generally I would agree - finding a trustworthy garage is worth so so much. BTW - the trustworthy garage deserves a shout out - it was ATS in Leicester - they turned me away several times, telling me to come back after a few thousand miles - their honesty made them lots of money in the end. Formula 1 Autocentres and halfords in Leicester, on the other hand.....

That Leaf was bought off me by someone who used to be on this forum, actually. I hope it's still going well. We loved it, except for the limited range.

 

[Lovemyev]

I only used Halfords it because I knew it couldn't fail!

The only way to be 100% certain of this, is if you are testing it yourself ! .
As somebody who has carried out many pre / MOT's tests in the years gone by.
It's the guy who has the authority / licence to sign the ticket that is in the driving seat.
Right or wrong he / she is never going to change their opinion.

 

[Tiny Tim]

The only way to be 100% certain of this, is if you are testing it yourself ! .
As somebody who has carried out many pre / MOT's tests in the years gone by.
It's the guy who has the authority / licence to sign the ticket that is in the driving seat.
Right or wrong he / she is never going to change their opinion.

True enough. Well, at least I knew it would pass the emissions test.

 

[N2STY]

At least you didn't get advisory could not complete emissions test lack of engine
Joking aside actually get advisories for cars because the under tray fitted from factory it seems some MOT testers just protecting them selfs