I'm so glad i stumbled on this forum, thanks for all your honest views on your real life experiences of this otherwise fine car, let down by poor backup.
I drove the original ZS four years ago, quite basic and crude then, but the latest ZS hybrid+ tested last week is a significant step up from that - on the surface! And the HS is a real beauty, loaded with features and oozing apparent quality and alure. However, would i want to live with running issues, and poor warranty backup for 3 years? I don't think so. It seems the brand still has a long way to go to shake off the reliability, parts shortage and whole backup confidence issues.
Contacting MG customer service about this power loss issue gave no result, a week later and no reply. And the MG dealer staff don't know when asked specifics about running issues or warranty backup - they just want to make a sale and will say almost anything to clinch a deal and secure their monthly bonus!
I went through the 'impressive' 7 year warranty with their service manager and concluded that apart from the mass of 'wear and tear' exclusions, most parts are barely covered for 3 years, the only thing covered for 7 years is the body. This is all very sad as I was almost sold on the brand this time round, but - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
I'm sorry to hear that MG is disappointing even before the purchase. However, this seems more like a lack of interest and competence from some dealership employees in the UK, who should be providing support and having confidence in the cars they sell.
I'm picking up my car in February. Initially, I was also worried about negative comments. But I know that an update was released within 1.5 months of the issue being reported and showcased by CarSauce, and based on feedback from French Facebook groups, it appears to be largely effective (if it doesn't work for someone, it's worth disconnecting the battery terminals for 2 hours to clear the system cache after the update—apparently, this helps in some cases).
Of course, critical voices are valuable as they push manufacturers to take action. But on the other hand, I wonder how serious the problems really are, and to what extent they are just complaints from individual users. Many of them don’t really understand how hybrid cars work and have habits from driving diesel or petrol cars. Today, I saw someone complaining about fogged-up windows. Fortunately, he posted a video showing that he were driving on a wet day with the air recirculation on and the AC turned off… Yet, of course, the user first blames the car instead of understanding the basics of its (or every car actually) operation.
The MG ZS has already sold in thousands of units since its European launch (in December alone, around 3,000 units were sold in the UK). On forums, I’ve seen only a handful of complaints, mostly from users driving in mountainous terrain. I don’t see any mass hysteria. Negative comments on forums or under YouTube videos often come from the same users. Usually haters that do not own the car or driven it at all. MG acted very quickly. Unfortunately, as people, when something bothers us, we are eager to complain publicly. But when we are satisfied with something, we rarely feel the urge to express it on a forum. That’s just human nature.
Eight years ago, I bought a Citroën C3 right after its release. When I purchased it, the dealers assured me that an update enabling Android Auto support would be released soon. I waited and kept checking for updates for months. The update finally arrived about 1.5 years after I bought the car. Later, more problems with the PureTech engines surfaced. Did the manufacturer listen to me? Did they take responsibility for the defective engines? No, and I don’t think they ever will. I am now forced to sell the car at a significant loss because no one wants to buy it, knowing about the issue.
My other car is a Škoda Octavia IV, less than two years old. I’ve already had three breakdowns that practically immobilized the car. In two of these cases (a failure of all systems), the manufacturer did nothing significant—just cleared the errors and supposedly installed an update. But the problem returned over time. I managed to fix it again by briefly disconnecting the battery, and I didn’t go back to the dealer because the experience wasn’t pleasant. I also don’t feel like I was taken seriously by the service.
Problems most likely affect all cars, especially new ones, fresh after release. They need to be reported to dealers so manufacturers can introduce fixes. But at the same time, we can’t expect every single issue to be addressed—when selling hundreds of thousands of units, it’s simply impossible.
As for the warranty, I’m not sure what applies in the UK. The European MG website lists the warranty terms for cars from 2021 onward. According to it, everything is covered under warranty, including wear-and-tear parts like wipers, for the first two years. Exclusions apply only to multimedia, driver assistance systems, and paint which are covered for three years (although corrosion protection lasts longer). So, what you mentioned might not be entirely accurate if the rules in UK are same as in the whole Europe.
Once I pick up my car in a few weeks, I’ll try to write a more detailed review, including both positive and negative impressions.
