MG ZS review - Reliability and Safety

The cut-price nature of the MG ZS starts to make itself felt in more significant fashion here, as clearly the safety aspects of the car have not been as well conceived or developed as many rivals.

The lack of any sort of automatic emergency braking (AEB) – or other systems designed to mitigate in accident scenarios – contributed to a low 3-star score in the Euro NCAP Safety Assist category, but arguably more worryingly the occupant safety scores look poor compared the rivals like the SEAT Arona. Where the ZS scores 71 per cent and 51 per cent for adult and child crash protection, the Arona scores 90 per cent and 80 per cent. As a result of all this, the MG ZS Euro NCAP score of just three stars looks pretty weak. However, the ZS EV was tested separately in 2019 and achieved a full five-star rating, with much improved individual figures for adult and child safety.

The ZS finished 55th out of a list of 75 cars in our Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, while MG itself placed 20th out of the 30 best manufacturers. 

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Warranty

MG offers a seriously generous warranty on the ZS. It runs to seven years and 80,000 miles – the same length but 20,000 miles short of Kia’s seven-year, 100,000-mile cover. Still, there’s nobody else even in the ballpark, so MG deserves significant credit. The warranty is transferable too, so can be passed onto a new owner if you sell. 

Servicing

MGs service intervals are annually or at 15,000 miles, and you can buy service plans from dealers to help spread the cost.