Fifth Gear Team Test Finds MG ZS EV Surprisingly Competent

The MG ZS EV is designed and built in China and related to the Roewe RX3 crossover.

By: Andrei Nedelea

Jan 30, 2022 at 6:42am ET

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It may wear the historic MG badge, but there’s absolutely nothing British about the new MG ZS EV that’s on sale in the UK. It’s essentially the same vehicle as the Roewe RX3 that’s exclusively sold in China, but in EV form, it’s apparently not as bad as you might think given its background.

In its latest version, the ZS EV has a 51 kWh battery pack (up from 44.5 kWh) that gives it a WLTP range of 198 miles (315 km), while if you opt for the Long Range model, that increases capacity to 72.6 kWh and increases claimed range of 273 miles (440 km) on one charge.

MG says you can charge the ZS at up to 76 kW, which will bring the battery from 10 to 80 percent state of charge in 38 minutes. Charging it from a 7.4 kW home wallbox will require a little more than ten hours for a full charge (to 100 percent).

Power comes from a single front-mounted electric motor that makes 156 hp and 280 Nm of torque, pushing the ZS EV to 100 km/h in 8.4 seconds and on to a top speed of 175 km/h. But these are just figures, and fairly competitive ones, and if you want to know if the revised electric crossover is any good, check out this Fifth Gear team test.

If you were expecting the four presenters to hate the ZS for its origin, specs and execution, you may be surprised to note that they actually really like it and actually give it higher marks than they gave some more mainstream (European-built) EVs. They really make it seem as if it’s a pretty good alternative to the more well known electric crossovers in its size and price bracket (you can get one for around €35,000 in Germany, for the Long Range model).