I have just ordered a new MG ZS Hybrid+, and I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life.

[PiotrIr]

I took it for a test drive at the dealer and loved the car. However, I’ve since started reading and watching more about it, and I’ve found some issues that make me wonder whether I’ve made a huge mistake.

I watched this video:
It was really worrying because the car seems like it could even be dangerous when overtaking, and MG’s service also looks very poor.

I also watched a video showing how the car behaves at top speed on a German motorway:


It looked terrible. It sounded like it was falling apart, and the lack of power at one stage was terrifying, especially when overtaking. When I watched other videos with hybrids on this channel, e.g. Hyundai Kona or Peugeot – they are way better.

I probably won’t drive at 170 km/h, but I may occasionally drive at 140–150 km/h.

On top of this, it seems to lose around 33% of its value in the first year, which I think may be because of unhappy owners wanting to get rid of the car.

Could any owners of this model comment on this, especially the over-revving issue and the noise when driving at 140–150 km/h?

 

[p3x289]

Welcome
You probably read my post on my purchase of an year old car
I am aware of the over revving issue in these motors
I wouldn't worry about it, just enjoy the car. There is a pod cast on you tube from the team at MGEVs which is worth listning.

 

[PiotrIr]

Welcome
You probably read my post on my purchase of an year old car
I am aware of the over revving issue in these motors
I wouldn't worry about it, just enjoy the car. There is a pod cast on you tube from the team at MGEVs which is worth listning.

Thank you for your reply.
I think I included the podcast in my post - if you mentioned different one, could you give me a link please? Actually this podcast makes me worry about the over revving issue and I wonder why you think I shouldn't?

 

[p3x289]

here you go link
This was over a year ago. I think theirs were 2024 models.
I have owned mine for over a week and have driven on smaller inclines and also at 70mph, no issues whatsoever.

 

[salty]

Wouldn't worry, most reviews are a load of cobblers. There's loads of happy customers of these cars. I've said before, and I know it's a different model. But if I had listened to reviews, comments etc.
I wouldn't have bought my X Power, but I've got a mind of me own, and bought it.
And it's been bloody brilliant! Some reviews can be good, but only so far.
Good luck with your purchase.

 

[PiotrIr]

here you go link
This was over a year ago. I think theirs were 2024 models.
I have owned mine for over a week and have driven on smaller inclines and also at 70mph, no issues whatsoever.

Thank you, I hope with 2026 version I will get a better experience than the podcast guest. They clearly were unhappy owners.

Wouldn't worry, most reviews are a load of cobblers. There's loads of happy customers of these cars. I've said before, and I know it's a different model. But if I had listened to reviews, comments etc.
I wouldn't have bought my X Power, but I've got a mind of me own, and bought it.
And it's been bloody brilliant! Some reviews can be good, but only so far.
Good luck with your purchase.

Thank you. I hope you are right, I'm swapping my Suzuki S Cross which I'm very happy off. only reason why I'm doing this is that the Suzuki has manual gear box. And only reason why I'm not buying a new Suzuki S Cross is that it has very difficult way to disable a new mandatory noisy security features. Otherwise it is a perfect car and I hope I won't be disappointed of the MG.

 

[salty]

I'm sure you won't. And don't forget pics, when you get it.

 

[OZZShybridmaybe]

I have owned at ZS H+ top spec in Aus for almost a year and it is mostly a brilliant little car. The highest speed where I live is 110km so cannot comment on those kind of speeds you are considering other than the 1.5lt engine will be reving very hard like any small ICE vehicle.
The ZS H+ hates long hills especially from a cold start at any speed. The battery becomes low then it will rev to 5.1 so clearly this is not ideal for the engine.
This car has 22,000km on it and the latest software as per 15k service. I have told the dealer/ service that this engine will not last due to this reason alone. Hello 10year warranty when it dies.
Servicing has been fine and cheaper than the Hyundai it replaced.
The car is efficient even with the stupid high reving on long hills with consistent 4.0lt/100km over a tank of fuel. It would be even better without the hills where I live if it did not rev as hard as it does.
It will enter full EV mode at up to 117km/hr on the freeway on cruise control then smoothly use ICE until the battery is fully charged again, then back to EV mode over and over.
It is brilliant for this use and city driving with a lot of dedicated EV use. The expensive Toyota and Hyundai cars at the time would not do this. Also the ZS has much more power around city streets due to its use of EV.
It is a cheap, cheerful and purposeful car and with lots going for it. Especially if you don't want a full EV at this time. Without the stupid reving it would be the perfect car!

 

[PiotrIr]

I have owned at ZS H+ top spec in Aus for almost a year and it is mostly a brilliant little car. The highest speed where I live is 110km so cannot comment on those kind of speeds you are considering other than the 1.5lt engine will be reving very hard like any small ICE vehicle.
The ZS H+ hates long hills especially from a cold start at any speed. The battery becomes low then it will rev to 5.1 so clearly this is not ideal for the engine.
This car has 22,000km on it and the latest software as per 15k service. I have told the dealer/ service that this engine will not last due to this reason alone. Hello 10year warranty when it dies.
Servicing has been fine and cheaper than the Hyundai it replaced.
The car is efficient even with the stupid high reving on long hills with consistent 4.0lt/100km over a tank of fuel. It would be even better without the hills where I live if it did not rev as hard as it does.
It will enter full EV mode at up to 117km/hr on the freeway on cruise control then smoothly use ICE until the battery is fully charged again, then back to EV mode over and over.
It is brilliant for this use and city driving with a lot of dedicated EV use. The expensive Toyota and Hyundai cars at the time would not do this. Also the ZS has much more power around city streets due to its use of EV.
It is a cheap, cheerful and purposeful car and with lots going for it. Especially if you don't want a full EV at this time. Without the stupid reving it would be the perfect car!

Thank you for your comment. I really like this forum as I can get constructive reply to my question. I've posted the same on reddit and I find it pointless as nearly all replies don't make any sense. Just to get to the point - if you would have a choice, would you buy this car again or rother you would search for something different?

 

[salty]

Trouble with that is if they've had a poor experience they'll say no. If they've had a
good experience they'll say yes. That doesn't really help you. You've already said you love the car, after a test drive. So at the end of the day, it's up to you.
My guess is, you've pretty much made up your mind.

 

[OZZShybridmaybe]

It is a great value hybrid. It ticked all the boxes at the time. No car is perfect but yes I would purchase again.

 

[mick78]

I have owned at ZS H+ top spec in Aus for almost a year and it is mostly a brilliant little car. The highest speed where I live is 110km so cannot comment on those kind of speeds you are considering other than the 1.5lt engine will be reving very hard like any small ICE vehicle.
The ZS H+ hates long hills especially from a cold start at any speed. The battery becomes low then it will rev to 5.1 so clearly this is not ideal for the engine.
This car has 22,000km on it and the latest software as per 15k service. I have told the dealer/ service that this engine will not last due to this reason alone. Hello 10year warranty when it dies.
Servicing has been fine and cheaper than the Hyundai it replaced.
The car is efficient even with the stupid high reving on long hills with consistent 4.0lt/100km over a tank of fuel. It would be even better without the hills where I live if it did not rev as hard as it does.
It will enter full EV mode at up to 117km/hr on the freeway on cruise control then smoothly use ICE until the battery is fully charged again, then back to EV mode over and over.
It is brilliant for this use and city driving with a lot of dedicated EV use. The expensive Toyota and Hyundai cars at the time would not do this. Also the ZS has much more power around city streets due to its use of EV.
It is a cheap, cheerful and purposeful car and with lots going for it. Especially if you don't want a full EV at this time. Without the stupid reving it would be the perfect car!

Very well said;

I think if this is the car for you or not, depends very much so on your user case, probably even more so than in the case of other cars, due to the limitations/specifics of the hybrid system;

As described, I think in urban use it is very pleasant, and very economic, and great value for the money; The well documented issues with uphill driving have been improved, though come at the cost of the not so nice rev behavior, so if you live in a very hilly area, it's probably less the car for you.

However, living in Austria, where we do take our 130 km/h limit rather liberal on some stretches (like we add VAT and some tipp on that ), I can also say that higher speed driving is no forte of this car, probably even less so than uphill driving, and again, it is down to the hybrid drive, and its tendency to charge the battery. On a recent drive to Hungary (where speed limits are taken even with more liberty), it is clear that if you stay around the 130 km/h mark, everything is fine, and it's also the speed where MG Pilot works. Above that, things are way less enjoyable though - if you want to use cruise control, the engine will immediately rev up, as it tries to charge the battery or offer maximum torque (its an NA engine after all), and remain in 2nd gear for minutes, revving its ass off. Switch off ACC (no more lane assist above 130), and things normalize, sort off. But anything above say 50% load will super quickly drain the battery , even with the latest (12/2025) update over PD052, and then it will actually loose speed briefly, or just refuse to go over 145ish for some seconds, whilst revving like crazy (and using only 40kw according to the power indicator, which would equal to what the generator can generate max., so trying to use the eclectic engine for no apparent reason); Even if the battery reaches a certain charge again, it will occasionally go into a nervous mode where it switches up and down between gears and charging/driving, again a rather unpleasant experience; Now of course this is to a degree present in many smaller hybrids, but in case of the MG the lack of a CVT or more gears makes this more present, and the good boost with a full battery also tempts you to occasionally drive faster, only to find out that the power is very short lived. In this respect I also find the advertised power figures problematic, as it is really not a proper 200hp car, and even less so a 465Nm torque car. Most car makers tend to quote a total power output much closer to the ICE engines max power figure, and they do so for a reason.

If you ignore this and tend to be a relaxed motorway cruiser or stick to urban and not so fast roads anyway, it is however really not much of an issue, and actually a pleasant car in terms of handling and great value for money. Just don't expect 200hp performance, at least not for more than a brief boost, and then live with the consequences

 

[PiotrIr]

It is a great value hybrid. It ticked all the boxes at the time. No car is perfect but yes I would purchase again.

Thank you!

Very well said;

I think if this is the car for you or not, depends very much so on your user case, probably even more so than in the case of other cars, due to the limitations/specifics of the hybrid system;

As described, I think in urban use it is very pleasant, and very economic, and great value for the money; The well documented issues with uphill driving have been improved, though come at the cost of the not so nice rev behavior, so if you live in a very hilly area, it's probably less the car for you.

However, living in Austria, where we do take our 130 km/h limit rather liberal on some stretches (like we add VAT and some tipp on that ), I can also say that higher speed driving is no forte of this car, probably even less so than uphill driving, and again, it is down to the hybrid drive, and its tendency to charge the battery. On a recent drive to Hungary (where speed limits are taken even with more liberty), it is clear that if you stay around the 130 km/h mark, everything is fine, and it's also the speed where MG Pilot works. Above that, things are way less enjoyable though - if you want to use cruise control, the engine will immediately rev up, as it tries to charge the battery or offer maximum torque (its an NA engine after all), and remain in 2nd gear for minutes, revving its ass off. Switch off ACC (no more lane assist above 130), and things normalize, sort off. But anything above say 50% load will super quickly drain the battery , even with the latest (12/2025) update over PD052, and then it will actually loose speed briefly, or just refuse to go over 145ish for some seconds, whilst revving like crazy (and using only 40kw according to the power indicator, which would equal to what the generator can generate max., so trying to use the eclectic engine for no apparent reason); Even if the battery reaches a certain charge again, it will occasionally go into a nervous mode where it switches up and down between gears and charging/driving, again a rather unpleasant experience; Now of course this is to a degree present in many smaller hybrids, but in case of the MG the lack of a CVT or more gears makes this more present, and the good boost with a full battery also tempts you to occasionally drive faster, only to find out that the power is very short lived. In this respect I also find the advertised power figures problematic, as it is really not a proper 200hp car, and even less so a 465Nm torque car. Most car makers tend to quote a total power output much closer to the ICE engines max power figure, and they do so for a reason.

If you ignore this and tend to be a relaxed motorway cruiser or stick to urban and not so fast roads anyway, it is however really not much of an issue, and actually a pleasant car in terms of handling and great value for money. Just don't expect 200hp performance, at least not for more than a brief boost, and then live with the consequences

Thank you for this comprehensive description — it was absolutely great.

If you had to choose the car again, would you select the MG ZS H+ again, or would you look for something else? Also, do you have experience with other full hybrids, such as Toyota? If so, how would you compare the experience?

I once rented a Toyota Corolla Cross while I was on holiday in Sicily, and I wasn’t really happy with the car, especially when driving fast. I’m wondering whether the MG ZS H+ behaves better or worse.

 

[mick78]

Thank you for this comprehensive description — it was absolutely great.

If you had to choose the car again, would you select the MG ZS H+ again, or would you look for something else? Also, do you have experience with other full hybrids, such as Toyota? If so, how would you compare the experience?

I once rented a Toyota Corolla Cross while I was on holiday in Sicily, and I wasn’t really happy with the car, especially when driving fast. I’m wondering whether the MG ZS H+ behaves better or worse.

I will be honest and say I would not get the ZS again in this current shape; The manual if sold cheap (I had it as a courtesy car once) is on the slower side, but no other big worries, an honest entry level car; However, at current prices, the manual 1.5 has a way tougher value position than the only marginally more expensive and in terms of ADAS way better equipped Hybrid, as in Austria it is undercut by a base Seat Arona or Renault Captur (and it's Mitsubishi version, which here even adds an eight year of warranty).

I believe that a facelift could fix quite a few issues, especially concerning behavior of the Hybrid system, but probably the limitation is the computational power of the ECU, so maybe that needs an actual hardware update. Maybe (I remember reading that somewhere else, though more of the rumor category) the ZS might receive the Hybrid+ system from the HS at a MY27/28 update, which as I understand is way more refined and less troublesome, again maybe because the Turbo charged petrol engine is in itself a lot more powerful, as is probably the motor generator;

MG is however at least taking complaints serious, as the quick adding of depth adjustment t o the steering column or amount of SW updates shows (though later also makes me feel like a Beta tester, and I think indeed the Hybrid+ was pushed a bit too early to the market, maybe to react to the shift away from EVs back in 23/24. Just saying that Hyundai/Kia E-GMP cars (most prominent Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6 which I also owned for a while) still have not fixed their ICCU problem that will leave you stranded without warning and without any 12V energy left, so you end up on the hard shoulder without hazards or ability to lock the car. SO I'll give it to MG that for a not so established car maker, they are trying, and thus I believe the ZS with an update will be a lot better.

As it is now though, I do run a bit too often into the car's shortcomings in my user case (I will include the rather so so usability of the driver display), and as a result, I would wait for a potential proper facelift/MY update that certainly will fix a lot of these things.

About Toyota: I do know what you mean; I owned an Auris Estate Hybrid for 5 years before the MG, and in urban driving or mildly pushed (or what you typically do on a test drive), the MG system does indeed feel (a lot) more powerful and more refined, as the Toyota feels more CVTish (even though the eCVT isn't a traditional one), especially in the lower powered versions, as a major difference in Toyota is that the ICE is the main engine, with the electric one being mostly a boost and really only low speed or lowest load electric driving; The 2.0 liter does improve things a lot, and I believe the most recent update to the 1.8 also gave it a bigger battery and more powerful electric engine (though claimed total power output remains similar, wink wink MG). It was however impeccably reliable, with no visits to the dealer other than yearly maintenance and seasonal tire changes (in Austria this is a thing), and it felt a lot more predictable and happy around 145-155km/h, even though again, the boost that the MG will occasionally provide a full battery was missing. But no nervous behavior, the eCVT allowing very low revs in the flat without high load (as low as 1800 at 130), combined with a lot better refinement form suspension (probably a lot down to factory Conti Premium Contacts vs. Gitis) and wind noises above 120, thanks to the lower and a lot more aerodynamic shape. The only thing going against a Toyota Corolla for me would be the "it's an Uber" vibe it has, plus that they have become really pricey. Back then I got a phenomenal deal on my Auris paying 22k in 2018, now a comparable Corolla and going for the 2.0 would almost double that.

But, again if you skip the fast driving (additionally, your model will have the telescoping steering wheel, a huge improvement for tall drivers), the ZS still remains a strong offer with good value and a very nice interior trim level, no comparison to say a Dacia Duster (which btw., also has a rather erratic hybrid system). After all, there is a lot to like about the ZS.

 

[PiotrIr]

I will be honest and say I would not get the ZS again in this current shape; The manual if sold cheap (I had it as a courtesy car once) is on the slower side, but no other big worries, an honest entry level car; However, at current prices, the manual 1.5 has a way tougher value position than the only marginally more expensive and in terms of ADAS way better equipped Hybrid, as in Austria it is undercut by a base Seat Arona or Renault Captur (and it's Mitsubishi version, which here even adds an eight year of warranty).

I believe that a facelift could fix quite a few issues, especially concerning behavior of the Hybrid system, but probably the limitation is the computational power of the ECU, so maybe that needs an actual hardware update. Maybe (I remember reading that somewhere else, though more of the rumor category) the ZS might receive the Hybrid+ system from the HS at a MY27/28 update, which as I understand is way more refined and less troublesome, again maybe because the Turbo charged petrol engine is in itself a lot more powerful, as is probably the motor generator;

MG is however at least taking complaints serious, as the quick adding of depth adjustment t o the steering column or amount of SW updates shows (though later also makes me feel like a Beta tester, and I think indeed the Hybrid+ was pushed a bit too early to the market, maybe to react to the shift away from EVs back in 23/24. Just saying that Hyundai/Kia E-GMP cars (most prominent Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6 which I also owned for a while) still have not fixed their ICCU problem that will leave you stranded without warning and without any 12V energy left, so you end up on the hard shoulder without hazards or ability to lock the car. SO I'll give it to MG that for a not so established car maker, they are trying, and thus I believe the ZS with an update will be a lot better.

As it is now though, I do run a bit too often into the car's shortcomings in my user case (I will include the rather so so usability of the driver display), and as a result, I would wait for a potential proper facelift/MY update that certainly will fix a lot of these things.

About Toyota: I do know what you mean; I owned an Auris Estate Hybrid for 5 years before the MG, and in urban driving or mildly pushed (or what you typically do on a test drive), the MG system does indeed feel (a lot) more powerful and more refined, as the Toyota feels more CVTish (even though the eCVT isn't a traditional one), especially in the lower powered versions, as a major difference in Toyota is that the ICE is the main engine, with the electric one being mostly a boost and really only low speed or lowest load electric driving; The 2.0 liter does improve things a lot, and I believe the most recent update to the 1.8 also gave it a bigger battery and more powerful electric engine (though claimed total power output remains similar, wink wink MG). It was however impeccably reliable, with no visits to the dealer other than yearly maintenance and seasonal tire changes (in Austria this is a thing), and it felt a lot more predictable and happy around 145-155km/h, even though again, the boost that the MG will occasionally provide a full battery was missing. But no nervous behavior, the eCVT allowing very low revs in the flat without high load (as low as 1800 at 130), combined with a lot better refinement form suspension (probably a lot down to factory Conti Premium Contacts vs. Gitis) and wind noises above 120, thanks to the lower and a lot more aerodynamic shape. The only thing going against a Toyota Corolla for me would be the "it's an Uber" vibe it has, plus that they have become really pricey. Back then I got a phenomenal deal on my Auris paying 22k in 2018, now a comparable Corolla and going for the 2.0 would almost double that.

But, again if you skip the fast driving (additionally, your model will have the telescoping steering wheel, a huge improvement for tall drivers), the ZS still remains a strong offer with good value and a very nice interior trim level, no comparison to say a Dacia Duster (which btw., also has a rather erratic hybrid system). After all, there is a lot to like about the ZS.

That was really helpful - many thanks for this!