MG ZS review - Reliability & safety
MG's score for owner satisfaction isn't the strongest and safety is only average
MG lags behind its European rivals when it comes to safety technology – an area where the Chinese-owned marque would be wise to pull out all the stops in future. Meanwhile, the brand's reputation for owner satisfaction is rather in the doldrums at the moment, with a low Driver Power ranking.
MG ZS reliability
Out of the 32 brands covered by our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, MG finished bottom of the table. Value for money was praised, but the brand failed to impress in other areas, came last for overall quality, and 33% of MG owners reported a fault in the first year.
While it didn’t appear in the latest results, the MG ZS itself came 61st out of the top 75 cars in the survey in 2022, with poor results for reliability and build quality. Its infotainment also ranked near the bottom, which may be improved in time by the updated system fitted in newer cars.
Safety
Independent expert body Euro NCAP has put the MG ZS through rigorous tests, and it failed to match European rivals – particularly in the Safety Assist category (where it scored 29%) because of an absence of crash-mitigation technology like autonomous emergency braking. Perhaps even more worrying are lacklustre scores for adult and child occupant protection of 71 and 51% respectively. These figures compare poorly to the 90 and 80% scores of a rival like the SEAT Arona.
The MG ZS does get a reasonable amount of safety kit as standard, including two ISOFIX child seat mounting points in the back, seatbelt reminders and a host of airbags. The Exclusive trim adds blind spot and rear cross-traffic monitoring, along with a 360-degree camera to make manoeuvring easier and safer.
