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By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 61

MG Founder Cecil Kimber wanted to make cars that would be, in his words, 'affordable and fun to drive'. Well, this ZS model is a small SUV that claims to tick both those boxes while offering class-leading interior space and exceptional value for money. It all sounds promising and should deliver what ought to be the company's most credible contender yet.

Modelsword count: 5

5dr SUV (1.0, 1.5 petrol/EV)

Historyword count: 451

You probably won't associate the MG brand with SUVs, but that's what this Chinese-owned maker had begun to concentrate on by the end of this century's second decade. This was their most important one, the supermini-sized ZS. In first generation form (sold between 2017 and 2025) it was one of the most affordable models of this kind, but despite that you might not have considered it as a potential used buy. We're here to decide whether you should. Prior to 2017, the ZS badge had been used before on an MG - in 2001 when it designated a sportier version of the Rover 45 saloon that sold until the wind-up of the MG Rover business in 2005. Fortunately, this new-era MG ZS was nothing like that and it was made by a manufacturer that had very little in common with the way the company was back then. SAIC, the 'Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation', bought the remains of Rover and the MG brand in 2007 in a deal that included use of the once-great Longbridge factory in Birmingham. To begin with, SAIC used this plant to screw together models together from parts shipped over from China, thus imbuing them with a token level of 'Britishness'. By 2017, the brand had long since given up bothering with that. Like its only slightly larger SUV stablemate of the period, the GS (later replaced by the HS), this XS model was made and assembled in Shanghai - but that still didn't make it a completely Chinese product. MG claimed that the version of the car we got here had been re-engineered specifically for a UK audience and developed for optimal ride and handling on our appalling roads. What was certainly clear was that this ZS had one of the most spacious interiors in its class, offered the most comprehensive warranty from new and could be had at a price that saved original customers thousands over obvious rivals. This model was tasked with lowering the average age of MG buyers in this country - which back in 2017 was rather high at 45. And it sold well, shifting 102,000 examples to British buyers by late 2024, with a facelift along the way in 2020. The full-EV version, introduced in 2019 with a 44kWh battery and updated with a 51kWh battery in 2021, helped with these numbers - we've covered that car in a separate review. As part of the 2021 EV update, MG also introduced the option of a larger 72kWh Long Range version to sell alongside the standard model. That EV carried on for a year after the demise of the ZS combustion model in Autumn 2024 (when it was replaced by a MK2 model).

What You Getword count: 381

This MK1 ZS model aimed to showcase the future design direction for MG, expressing what the brand called an 'Emotional Dynamism' that was due to feature across all forthcoming models. The front end was certainly easier on the eye than was the case with the angled snout of MG's slightly larger compact SUV offering of this period, the GS. This smaller model got a proper conventional grille, with a chrome frame extending into headlights incorporating no fewer than 23 LEDs. In short, it all looked smart enough. But in the past with MG models of the Chinese era, it had been cabin quality that had let the side down. This ZS had to improve on that showing and to some extent succeeded. This was an interior that, at last in an MG, needed no major apologies. Part of that was down to more cohesive 'Europeanised' design. And part of it related to the fact that the Chinese bean counters here seemed to finally be getting the idea that it didn't do to try and make production cost savings in an area so crucial to the day-to-day experience of automotive ownership. Hence, for example, the carbon fibre-style trimming around the centre stack; the soft-touch coating for the upper dash top; the stylised 'jet'-style corner air vents; and the supple faux- leather that trims the steering wheel and gear knob. Talking of leather, you probably wouldn't expect to get it trimming the upholstery within the average budget assigned to a car of this kind, but that was a standard feature on the top 'Exclusive' ZS variant. As was quite a lot else, including a navigation system for the 8-inch centre-dash display. And the rear seat? Well with small crossovers, it's usually in this part of the car that you're reminded of their supermini origins. Not in this case. In fact MG claimed that the kind of room on offer in the rear of a ZS was much more comparable with the kind of space you'd have got from a Qashqai-class family hatch-based SUV from the next class up - and there was some truth in that. Out back in both combustion and EV models, there was a reasonably-sized 448-litre boot. Fold forward the 60:40-split rear bench and the capacity figure rises to 1,100-litres.

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