Motoring Discussion > MG - Chinese-built British EV
Thread Author: Lygonos Replies: 57

 MG - Chinese-built British EV - Lygonos
For the benefit of Smokie and anyone else interested.

Have had a white MG ZS EV Excite (cheaper spec - Exclusive is the plastic seat/giant sunroof/more gizmos one) for a year and nearly 12,000 miles.

What is it? Small SUV style FWD electric car - 145bhp, 44.5kWh battery - looks like a mix of old Mazda and Korean styles - inoffensive enough.

Performance: Quick as per most EVs - on paper 0-60 8.5s, on the road warm hatch to 30mph then about the same as a good 2 litre turbodiesel - pulls well to the limiter (96mph indicated) - much better than LEAF/ZOE at fast overtakes.

Handling: Fairly soggy - has 215/50x17 Michelins which grip well in dry but quite a lot of spring travel, under-damped, and torsion beam rear means fast bends on rough roads show up its limits.

Build: Anything you touch is decent material including soft-touch dashboard - door caps/panels/etc usual hard plastic. Well screwed together, doors close with a decent clunk. Panels are quite thin/flexible on roof/doors though solid structure and 5* NCAP

Interior: Excite = cloth seats (unheated), electric mirros (unheated), one-touch windows, infotainment ok - only front speakers and tweeters, and built in Nav is a bit crap, does have AA/A Carplay standard.

MG Pilot: effectively autosteer/brake/lane keeping like Tesla's autopilot but not as good - works well on motorways. Rarely use it though.

Occupants: flat floor so 3 adults can fit across rear bench - no middle rear headrest though. Driver seat lots of adjustability, steering for rake only though I can fit comfortably (which I can't in LEAF as the wheel sits on my lap)

Boot: very good size, adjustable floor - can have a space saver but needs bought separately if you don't want the gunk/compressor.

Range: 120-130 miles winter, 150-170 miles summer driven reasonably quickly - better through towns, worse on fast roads as per all EVs

DC Charging: I rarely use rapid chargers - seems to be variable depending on various factors and luck - 45-60mins empty to 80% is typical - peak charge is around 75kW but this isn't sustained and some chargers seem to struggle to break 35kW - probably still software tweaks to be made.

AC charging: 7kW single phase, so empty to full in ~7 hours (20 hours plugged into a 3-pin)


Overall - decent car - for under £19k 70-plate with delivery miles and metallic is an absolute steal for a family-sized EV (can you even get a Focus automatic for that these days?).

Currently a few of the Exclusive spec variants for £20.5k in stock - adds fake leather, rear speakers, big opening pano roof, heated front seats and mirrors (missed the heated mirrors last winter but never need heaters with cloth seats), some extra safety gubbins inc blind spot monitoring.

MG can manage the numbers unlike Hyundai/KIA/VW - they deserve to get some recognition for their EVs IMO.
 Messages Author Date
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 6 Nov 20 17:00
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new No FM2R 6 Nov 20 17:22
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 6 Nov 20 19:59
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new No FM2R 6 Nov 20 20:56
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 6 Nov 20 21:30
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new smokie 8 Nov 20 13:00
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Oldgit 9 Nov 20 08:59
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Boxsterboy 9 Nov 20 17:17
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Runfer D'Hills 9 Nov 20 17:56
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Clk Sec 9 Nov 20 21:09
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 9 Nov 20 21:35
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Runfer D'Hills 9 Nov 20 21:45
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new bathtub tom 9 Nov 20 22:46
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new No FM2R 10 Nov 20 00:12
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Runfer D'Hills 10 Nov 20 03:40
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new CGNorwich 10 Nov 20 12:26
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 10 Nov 20 23:11
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new tyrednemotional 11 Nov 20 09:05
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 11 Nov 20 09:23
 MG - Chinese-built British E.. new tyrednemotional 11 Nov 20 09:39
 MG - Chinese-built British .. new Runfer D'Hills 11 Nov 20 09:46
  
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new tyrednemotional 11 Nov 20 09:52
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Runfer D'Hills 11 Nov 20 10:05
  
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 10 Nov 20 23:09
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 10 Nov 20 23:24
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new VxFan 10 Nov 20 12:09
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Dave_ 10 Nov 20 22:42
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 10 Nov 20 23:58
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Duncan 11 Nov 20 14:09
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 11 Nov 20 14:31
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new R.P. 11 Nov 20 14:47
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 11 Nov 20 23:00
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Zero 11 Nov 20 23:20
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new VxFan 12 Nov 20 11:42
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Bromptonaut 12 Nov 20 12:00
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new bathtub tom 12 Nov 20 12:29
 MG - Chinese-built British E.. new Bromptonaut 12 Nov 20 13:25
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new sooty123 12 Nov 20 13:10
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new VxFan 12 Nov 20 14:07
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Duncan 12 Nov 20 12:30
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Zero 12 Nov 20 13:27
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 8 Aug 22 23:10
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new smokie 9 Aug 22 00:37
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 9 Aug 22 00:43
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new zippy 9 Aug 22 00:41
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 9 Aug 22 00:44
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 22 Aug 22 11:20
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new legacylad 22 Aug 22 11:31
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 22 Aug 22 12:07
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new CGNorwich 22 Aug 22 12:31
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Zero 22 Aug 22 13:55
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new CGNorwich 22 Aug 22 14:03
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Dog 22 Aug 22 16:25
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new CGNorwich 22 Aug 22 18:46
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new legacylad 22 Aug 22 18:56
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new VxFan 2 Sep 22 13:12
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new car4play 2 Sep 22 14:41
 MG - Chinese-built British EV new Lygonos 3 Sep 22 00:42
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