50,000 km with a 2022 ZS EV: My list of likes & dislikes so far

This was our first EV and we are converts. My brother liked our car so much he also bought the same car.

BHPian Chrome6Boy recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I have recently completed 50,000 kms in my 2022 ZS EV Exclusive. It has been a great experience so far with no real problems in the car. I was a little skeptical because this was my first Chinese car, but to their credit the car doesn't feel cheap or Chinese.

I have a solar setup at home which makes driving the car very cheap (almost free). My charging is done almost always at home with the 16A plug. We decided to install the 7kw charger which came with the car at our work place which is 120 kms from home to which I go once a week.

The range I get is around 320 to 340 and for my usage it is more than sufficient. We have made about 5 - 7 family vacation trips in the car. The trip distances range from 240 kms to 1200 kms. What we really appreciate during these trips is the range and the charging speed of 70 kw to make use of the 60 kw chargers in South India.

Some likes

• The acceleration keeps a big smile on my face and it hasn't gotten old in 2 years and counting. I have tried hypermiling a couple of times and extracted more than 400 kms, but I don't enjoy driving like that.
• Car still feels new, the interiors are still in good condition (one ac vent adjuster came loose but we fixed it.).
• I never thought I would enjoy the sunroof, living in Chennai, but I have started regularly using it in the early mornings when I drive on the highway.
• The speed warning chime is not intrusive, if you are listening to music you barely notice it.
• For our family size, the car is large with a reasonable boot. Also we do not have any issues with the floor height in the rear.
• The seats are a little firm but have proven very comfortable and the back pain I had with my old Vento has disappeared.
• "OK Google" and Android Auto work flawlessly.
• "Hello MG" is surprisingly good at understanding my Tamil accent. Use it all the time to adjust the AC temperature, but only use it for that.
• Driver seat power adjustment is nice.
• The app is surprisingly good. It is slow, janky and a little gimmicky. However, the little information it provides is reliable and useful. TPMS, SOC, charging time left for 100%, location and geofence are all useful features. I wonder if they will start charging for the app in another year.
• The cabin space is good in the front, the driver and passenger never rub shoulders and the center console is roomy with plenty of space for storage.
• Proper TPMS is really useful.
• The buttons in the HU are really nice to press, but I almost never use them, only the ones on the steering wheel and voice control.

Some dislikes

• The sunroof creaks a little while opening but cleaning the dust out of the beading makes it silent again.
• A couple of creaks have crept into the cabin and are made more prominent due to the silence of the car. I haven't put in the time and effort to identify the source of these creaks.
• One litre bottles don't fit perfectly and upon aggressive braking or acceleration they move, sometimes noisily.
• The HU takes a minute to start up when we start the car. This is a very poor design and we often need to wait for it to boot up if we need to use the rearview camera.
• Another bad design is to put the alarm / sos button on the steering wheel which automatically calls the MG call center. This is in addition to the other sos button on the rearview mirror. Luckily we have been training ourselves not to touch the button and the accidental button pushes have become very rare.
• The speaker quality is less than ideal.
• It takes almost 25 hours to charge the car from 0-100 using the 16A charger. But you get used to it, and it has become like charging my phone. We have had only one or two instances in two years where we have had to take our Venue because the MG doesn't have enough charge.
• The suspension is very harsh. We live in an area where the roads are small and in very bad shape. We feel every single bump and have to drive it really slowly over these roads.
• The service experience has been hit and miss. We had really bad experiences and also really good ones.

This was our first EV and we are converts. My brother liked our car so much he also bought the same car. In future it is very unlikely we will buy another ICE. Our experience with the MG EV has been good and we recommend them to our friends and family.

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