Ranked #20 car in the UK · Crossover SUV · 23,127 units sold last year
The MG ZS is one of the best-value small SUVs on the market - keenly priced, well-equipped and offered as petrol and the popular ZS EV electric version. It's about value, space and warranty rather than driving polish or premium materials. Cross-shop the Dacia Duster, Vauxhall Mokka, Nissan Juke and Kia Stonic.
How these figures are sourced — the valuation is anchored to a researched used-market price for this model (AutoTrader median, 2023 at 30k miles). Reliability, mileage and variant data are real DVSA MOT records. Dimensions, tyre sizes and costs, servicing figures and the insurance group are segment-level estimates rather than sourced per car, and are being replaced model by model.
combined
The short version
Forecourt score
Value 41 · Reliability 35 · catalogue percentiles
The MG ZS holds its value about averagely and costs about average to run. Its MOT-based reliability is good — an MOT score of 72/100, ahead of 20% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 41% of models. The main things to check on a used one are the brakes.
The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20) — the from-new ownership picture. Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.
Estimates are tuned to the version you choose.
Fuel
Petrol · 1498cc
Power
116 ps
Drivetrain
FWD
Quoted MPG
42 mpg
Mk2 ZS (2024+) entry petrol. 1.5 four-cylinder NA, 116 PS, manual. Cheap and honest - the new ZS is much-improved over the Mk1. Cam-drive not flagged (SAIC).
Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.
Remembered as you browse other cars.
Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.
Estimated market value
How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.£14,900
Range £12,550 – £17,450
medium confidence
Past the steep drop — most of the depreciation is behind it.
At 24,393 miles it’s about the ~25,708 typical for a 3-year-old.
Seen one for sale?
A data-led guide from the depreciation curve, UK parc trend and reliability — not financial advice.
How a 2023-registration MG ZS loses value over time.
Based on the 2023 car with 24,393 miles you entered above — worth about £14,900 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 8,131 miles a year.
5-year total
£14,777
Per year
£2,955
All-in per mile
£0.36
Fuel per mile
15.8p
Best age to buy — around 2 years
A 2-year-old example loses roughly £2,150 a year — 64% less than the £5,900 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.
Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.
Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.
Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.
How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.
Cheapest hybrid SUV new in UK. Same hybrid drivetrain as MG3. SE Trophy is the volume spec. Mk2 a major step up from Mk1 in styling and quality. MG's value-pricing has reshaped the small SUV segment.
Watch for
Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 03/08/2026) · Petrol 159.9p/L, Diesel 179.2p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ
Group 15 of 50 (low — cheaper end of the scale) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB
Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.
Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39
£603/ year
Roughly £50 per month
Typical
Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.| Age band | Lower risk | Typical | Higher risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 17-25 | £1,375 | £1,719 | £2,234 |
| Age 26-32 | £718 | £844 | £1,030 |
| Age 33-39Selected | £531 | £603 | £712 |
| Age 40-49 | £450 | £500 | £581 |
| Age 50+ | £402 | £446 | £527 |
How we estimate this
Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.
Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).
Routine service
£185
Annual main-dealer service
Major service
£210
Every 2 years, annualised
Road tax
£200
Standard rate, post year-one
Fuel
£1,407
42 mpg, £1.60/L
Insurance
£603
Age 33-39, group 15
Clean-air zones
✓ ULEZ compliantBased on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.
Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).
What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.
0-30k miles
£80
per year · low risk
30-60k miles
£240
per year · low risk
60-100k miles
£520
per year · medium risk
100k+ miles
£900
per year · high risk
205/60 R16 · 215/55 R17 · 225/45 R18
What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 24,000 miles.
Budget
£300
set of 4, fitted · £60 per tyre
Mid-range
£440
set of 4, fitted · £95 per tyre
Premium
£620
set of 4, fitted · £140 per tyre
Factory options ranked by how much of their original cost they recover at resale. Anything above 70% return tends to make money back; below 40% is paying for your own enjoyment.
| Option | New cost | Added used value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
Tow bar (factory-fit) Niche, but the buyers who want one will pay for it. | £650 | £450 | 69% |
Parking sensors & reversing camera Near-expected now — its absence costs more than its presence returns. | £500 | £300 | 60% |
Heated seats / cold-weather pack | £450 | £200 | 44% |
Metallic or premium paint Almost universal — an unusual colour is the bigger resale risk. | £600 | £200 | 33% |
Panoramic / opening roof | £1,100 | £350 | 32% |
Larger alloy wheels | £700 | £200 | 29% |
Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 24,393 miles.
Watch now
Failure typically happens around your current mileage.
Upcoming
A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.
Already due
Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.
Recorded in 15.7% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 8.7% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 10.8% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 9.2% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 6.1% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 4.7% of MOT tests over 100k miles — from 559,396 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.
Euro NCAP's independent crash-test rating for the MG ZS, from its 2017 assessment.
The passenger compartment of the ZS remained stable in the frontal offset test.
Independent crash-test data from Euro NCAP. Star ratings reflect the test protocol of the year shown — newer protocols are stricter, so a 5-star from 2024 represents a higher bar than a 5-star from 2014. Euro NCAP ratings run for six years from publication; a lapsed rating means the protocol has moved on, not that the car performs any worse than it did on test.
How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 581,271 real DVSA test records.
MOT pass rate by age
A 3-year-old ZS passes its MOT 87.3% of the time; by 25 years that has slipped to 68.6%. The y-axis is zoomed to this model’s range so the trend is readable.
Longevity
From 5,336 vehicles registered in 2018.
Survival by registration year
Each point is one registration cohort. Older cars on the left, newer on the right. A flatter line means the model holds up over time; a steep drop means cohorts disappear from UK roads faster.
What’s on the road
The fuel-type split of every ZS with MOT history in the DVSA record. From 168,797 vehicles tested at least once - not the number on the road today, which is lower.
What fails at the first MOT
The defect categories a ZS registered 2020–2023 fails on at its first MOT, from 61,397 first tests. Every car here is the same age and the same generation, so these are the faults that show up first - not the wear a high-mileage older example collects.
Share of first MOT tests recording at least one defect in that category. DVSA test-item categories, not parts: “Driver’s view” covers mirrors, wipers and glass.
Typical mileage by age
The average odometer reading for a ZS at MOT, by age — measured from the same DVSA records, not assumed. A useful yardstick for whether a given car has done more or fewer miles than its age suggests.
Mean recorded mileage at MOT by vehicle age, from DVSA test records. Ages below three are not shown: the first MOT is due at three years, so the few cars tested earlier are a self-selected minority rather than a representative sample. Ages with at least 10 tests shown.
Good
First-MOT pass rate and defect rate for cars registered 2020 onward (61,397 first tests), with cohort survival — high confidence.
MOT outlook · age 5 years
20th percentile — Among the worst — investigate carefully
Based on 66,136 MOT tests · ranked against 248 catalogue models with comparable data
Where this car sits in the catalogue
Pass-rate distribution across 248 catalogue models
Safety recalls
Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the MG ZS, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.
Check on GOV.UKOpens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.
A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.
Whole-car theft
Higher
Desirable SUVs like this are relay-theft targets — keyless entry can be exploited from the driveway in under a minute.
Parts theft
Higher
Hybrid versions are a catalytic-converter target — a hybrid cat is rich in precious metals and can be cut out in about a minute.
Worth doing
Whether driving a MG ZS into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.
| City | Area | Daily charge | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | All of Greater London (within the M25) | £12.50 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Birmingham | Inside the A4540 Middleway | £8.00 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Bristol | City centre and part of the Portway | £9.00 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Glasgow | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Edinburgh | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Aberdeen | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Dundee | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.
How well-supported MG is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.
Franchised UK dealers
~150
Large network
Value mass-market
Network size relative to the UK's largest (MG is 3.3% of all franchised outlets)
Servicing, parts and warranty work are easy to find UK-wide, and most independent garages know the brand well — which keeps maintenance competitive.
For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.
Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.
These are segment estimates, not manufacturer figures. 296 of 325 catalogued cars share one of 14 identical dimension sets, so they describe a class rather than this particular car. Sourced figures replace them model by model.
Length
4,350 mm
Width
1,810 mm
Height
1,560 mm
Kerb weight
1,400 kg
Boot
420–1,300 L
Fuel tank
48 L
How the UK MG ZS fleet splits: taxed and on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, and gone from the register where that figure is available.
Currently registered
130,869
Currently taxed & on road
127,559
97% of all registered
SORN (off road)
3,310
3% of all registered
Scrapped or exported
n/a
not in this DfT extract
UK fleet trend — 2014 to 2025
+21.6% vs 2024Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 29 Jul 2026
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Common questions
Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.