Major and minor things that could possibly be solved through an update

[diwat123]

Hello everyone,
I hope you're all doing well! I'd like to start a discussion about the MG ZS Hybrid+, specifically focusing on potential updates and fixes for its system. This thread can serve as a central place for us to share ideas, experiences, and suggestions about what can be improved or updated in the car's system. I noticed that there are multiple threads addressing these topics individually, so I thought it would be helpful to gather all ideas in one place.

I am not sure if all the issues mentioned below can be resolved with a software update, but it’s certainly worth exploring.

Major Improvements:

1. Performance loss while driving uphill for long distances or in a dynamic manner
This is likely a rare phenomenon and won’t affect 99% of users. However, it’s better to bring it to attention. I know that MG Australia has stated that MG is working on a fix. They declared an update would be released in early December, but I haven’t heard any confirmation that it has been issued yet.

2. High revs while driving at 140 km/h with cruise control
This issue has been reported on two channels by Polish YouTubers, one of whom demonstrated the problem clearly. While driving at 140 km/h (and possibly other higher speeds) with cruise control enabled, the car reduces the gear, resulting in excessively high revs (around 4.7–5.0 x1000). Turning off cruise control while maintaining the same speed allows the car to shift up, lowering revs to around 3.2–3.6 x1000. This appears to be a software error, leading to an unpleasant driving experience, unnecessary wear on the car, and high fuel consumption (above 8 l/100 km or 29 mpg). The current workaround is to avoid using cruise control above certain speeds.

3. Climate control buttons not working while Android Auto/Apple CarPlay is active
Pressing the buttons below the screen or on the steering wheel (if a shortcut is set up) does not override Android Auto/Apple CarPlay. Users have to exit AA/CP, access the main climate control menu, and then return to AA/CP. Pressing a button should directly open the climate control interface.

4. No graphic equalizer for sound control
Adding a graphic equalizer would allow users to customize the audio profile to their preferences.

5. Better control over temperature settings
It would be helpful to set the temperature in smaller increments (e.g., 21.5°C, 22.0°C, 22.5°C) for more precise control.

6. Adjustable levels for seat and steering wheel heating
Currently, the heating works as an on/off system, and users report it overheats quickly, requiring frequent manual adjustment. Adding intensity levels (e.g., 1/2/3) would improve comfort.

7. Text overlay on the 360-degree camera view
When the rear camera is active, unnecessary text at the top of the screen covers a significant portion of the view. Removing or repositioning this text would enhance usability.

8. Overspeed warning - turning it off from the drop down menu would be nice.

Closing Notes:
The first two points seem to be the most critical at the moment. Feel free to share your thoughts and add to this list! The more input we gather, the better we can understand how to improve the MG ZS experience for all users.

I also encourage everyone to share the ideas and feedback we compile here with local dealerships, so this information can reach the manufacturer. By doing so, we can increase the likelihood of these issues being addressed and improvements implemented.

Looking forward to your insights!

Best regards,
David

 

[David38]

Do MG read our Forum also perhaps the FB Group. ( when I got my new car 3 weeks ago Google directed me to both.)
I'm in a few Forums covering other aspects of my life and sometimes the Provider of a Service will jump in and help.
I think your post is very helpful.

 

[mick78]

Agreed on all of those (though I haven't experienced the power loss yet, but probably down to European winter and the engine kicking in more often to heat and as a side effect keeping the battery always topped up);

I will say the 140km/h thing is truly annoying, especially as otherwise MG Pilot works IMO surprisingly well. Must be solvable by Software, and even charging shouldn't be an issue, as at that speed, the electric motor is no longer supporting due to gearing.

Concerning the power loss has been brought up more in Australia so far, I wonder whether they get a different tune altogether, given that the ZS Hybrid is rated at 158kW in Australia and 143 in Europe, a not so insignificant difference of 15kW out of an otherwise identical set up, or if that is down to different measuring by say EU norms (like DIN hp vs SAE in the old times)

 

[diwat123]

Agreed on all of those (though I haven't experienced the power loss yet, but probably down to European winter and the engine kicking in more often to heat and as a side effect keeping the battery always topped up);

I will say the 140km/h thing is truly annoying, especially as otherwise MG Pilot works IMO surprisingly well. Must be solvable by Software, and even charging shouldn't be an issue, as at that speed, the electric motor is no longer supporting due to gearing.

Concerning the power loss has been brought up more in Australia so far, I wonder whether they get a different tune altogether, given that the ZS Hybrid is rated at 158kW in Australia and 143 in Europe, a not so insignificant difference of 15kW out of an otherwise identical set up, or if that is down to different measuring by say EU norms (like DIN hp vs SAE in the old times)

Could you give more info about the 140 km/h "bug"? Is it specifically 140 km/h? What speeds above/below that trigger this shift down and rev up? I do not own MG ZS yet, it should be delivered around February, so I cannot investigate it further

 

[mick78]

Could you give more info about the 140 km/h "bug"? Is it specifically 140 km/h? What speeds above/below that trigger this shift down and rev up? I do not own MG ZS yet, it should be delivered around February, so I cannot investigate it further

It is, just as described before, that around 140ish km/h, as long as you are using active cruise control(the lane centering is not available above 130, so then MG Pilot basically becomes ACC), the gear box will not use top gear, at least is very reluctant to do so. Which means that instead of a little over 3.000 rpm, which the engine revs without using cruise control, it will rev somewhere below 5.000, with all the noise and consumption associated with that. Generally with MG Pilot the car seems to hang on more to lower gears, but at this speed it is really obvious. Especially given that without MG Pilot, the "normal torque converter gearbox" in the ZS is way less prone to droning rev ups at slightest press of the pedal compared to eCVTs used in say Toyotas.

Given 90% of my driving is city highways or urban commute, and I've had the car little over a month, I don't have much experience with MG pilot on our Autobahn so far, but 140ish is what traffic tends to travel in Austria, certainly at some point the cruise will have to go into top gear as speeds above probably 150/60 would run out of revs for sure, but that would quickly become expensive here (also, the ZS seems to have a very precise speedo, like very little difference to GPSS speed, bare in mind when passing speed cameras). And below 120, the electric engine is supporting, so probably less of an issue in total, so I guess that is why the 140 Speed window seems so prominent.

It really seems like some miscommunication between cruise control and gear box at some points/rev ranges, that should easily be fixed with an update (hopefully). Given the petrol engine alone has it's maximum torque at 4.500 rpm, probably cruise always wants maximum acceleration available (which would be at max. torque), but that is certainly not necessary when cruising at a steady speed.

 

[DMeine]

I've only had mine for a day but I can confirm that when I'm going 135 km/h in ACC the car suddenly goes to 4500 rpm for 5-10 seconds. According to the manual you shouldn't drive at more than 3000 rpm for the first 1500km, which is annoying when the car suddenly decides to go to 4500 rpm for a short time. As I also have a Dacia Jogger Hybrid I have a few comparison values. I'm going to observe what it's doing for a month and then give all the errors I find to my car dealer so that he can pass them on to MG. My car dealer said that this is normal procedure as there is no direct contact at MG.

 

[DMeine]

@diwat123
what are the videos called about the problem with the 140km/h? I would like to show them to my car dealer because I have the same problem and it is quite annoying, as it makes the cruise control almost unusable on the motorway

 

[DMeine]

I drove the car today. According to the speedometer it can do 180km/h. German Autobahn

 

[diwat123]

@diwat123
what are the videos called about the problem with the 140km/h? I would like to show them to my car dealer because I have the same problem and it is quite annoying, as it makes the cruise control almost unusable on the motorway

It is in Polish, but you can see first with the ACC on the revs at 140 km/h are 4.700, then the driver turns the ACC off maintaining the same speed and revolutions drop to 3.300

 

[David38]

Keep reading of this 140 km/h and wondering if in the future it might get to me so I've converted to mph it is 87 mph.
As the highest legal speed in UK is 70 mph and I try not to exceed speed limits so I should and other UK owners be ok.

 

[diwat123]

Keep reading of this 140 km/h and wondering if in the future it might get to me so I've converted to mph it is 87 mph.
As the highest legal speed in UK is 70 mph and I try not to exceed speed limits so I should and other UK owners be ok.

That is not exactly a solution to the problem In other countries the limits can vary - in Germany on some highways there is no limit

 

[DMeine]

I had the revving issue today at 80km/h 50mph. I just have the feeling that it doesn't want to shift into the next gear when the ACC is activated. It also happened to us that the battery was empty and we could hardly accelerate. This happened in the city on a long incline at 40km/h 25mph. At 40km/h it runs purely on electricity until the battery is empty and when you then accelerate because you're allowed to drive faster (100km/h 63mph) then nothing happens because the combustion engine isn't running optimally and the battery is empty. The vehicle was in Normal mode. I noticed that it works a little better in ECO mode as the combustion engine switches on differently. Can anyone else confirm this.

 

[deltasigma]

Nice post! I'm not entirely sure what you meant in your third comment about CarPlay and AC, but I can confirm that I’m able to use the physical button to turn the AC on or off while using CarPlay.


That said, I’d really love to have a battery level indicator that’s always visible, similar to how the fuel tank level is displayed.


Thanks, and greetings from Greece!

 

[diwat123]

Nice post! I'm not entirely sure what you meant in your third comment about CarPlay and AC, but I can confirm that I’m able to use the physical button to turn the AC on or off while using CarPlay.


That said, I’d really love to have a battery level indicator that’s always visible, similar to how the fuel tank level is displayed.


Thanks, and greetings from Greece!

Thanks I meant what has been demonstrated on this video, around 10 minute - once in Carplay the buttons do not respond

 

[Noel]

A really good idea, and thanks for posting such a useful thread.
I’ve been posting my concerns etc in posts on this forum, and therefore believe it wouldn’t be of any advantage to duplicate them here.
However I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

 

[diwat123]

A really good idea, and thanks for posting such a useful thread.
I’ve been posting my concerns etc in posts on this forum, and therefore believe it wouldn’t be of any advantage to duplicate them here.
However I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I'm glad to hear you find it both useful. I'll make sure to update the first post whenever any issues are resolved or if users share additional ideas or concerns about the software. I noticed in another thread that you mentioned the upcoming update version V08.17_HEV. That's a rather specific version number—could you share where you came across that information?

 

[FromParis]

As far as I know the major issue is about the drained battery when asking too much effort and when the internal combustion engine can't charge the battery + give the amount of power required to keep a normal speed on a highway (climb hill , mountain roads) etc.

Always keep in mind that the system isn't yet able to deal with an empty battery.

The problem is that MGmotor is aware of the solution, they try to adapt the ECU/MPU software and published another update in december. But still, some people reported that the issue is still here.
The problem is less pronounced for MG3's Hybrid cars which are 100+ kg lighter and have a better fuel efficiency (tyres / aerodynamic)

I guess the day someone will get armed / killed in an accident because passing a car and lost the power all of a sudden... mgmotor will be sued and people will finally get answers. (yes I know this sounds scary but things like that could happen, and at the moment MG doesn't warned any of the buyers, neither when buying nor in the manual, that will remain a very big potential risk for owners)

 

[DMeine]

MG just needs to see how it's done by competitors (Dacia/Renault). After all, the Chinese are great at copying .

 

[FromParis]

they didn't copy, they just had their own inspiration here. Otherwise they would have chosen something less difficult to implement.

Their hybrid system tries to innovate and offers like an electric car from 0 to 100+kph (if your battery is charged enough + your right foot is light enough etc) and at the moment your car decides it's time to engage the IC Engine , the power is combined... here is the "+" effect, and from 60 to max speed you have that cumulated power. Except some others (maybe Nissan Quashqai Epower ?) the Etech from Renault or Hybrid from Peugeot 208/2008/308 or Yaris don't have the same technologies. So they did something quite different this time

 

[Noel]

I'm glad to hear you find it both useful. I'll make sure to update the first post whenever any issues are resolved or if users share additional ideas or concerns about the software. I noticed in another thread that you mentioned the upcoming update version V08.17_HEV. That's a rather specific version number—could you share where you came across that information?

Honestly, I’ve looked at just about every review/posting, since taking delivery of mine. I’m a bit sad like that. It was included in one, but I can’t remember which.
When I have a moment, I’ll have a search.