FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSMG ZS
Top three failure systems, annotated from 1,248 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
What fails a MG ZS: a tyre seriously damaged, 437 times in a year
13,341 inspections in a single year make the ZS one of the better-documented electric car. Tyres cause 37.2% of its failures; lighting take 1.7× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs five-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD8.9%
ZS failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT FIVE YEARS OLD11.7%
ZS failure rate, against 10.7% for petrol.
At three years old the MG ZS fails 8.9% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 5 years that reaches 11.7%. Tyres cause 37.2% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // HEADLAMP UNIT348 certificates in 2024
The lamp that fails the test
Lighting take 27.9% of the defects that fail this car, 1.7× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED", recorded 348 times in 2024.
SECTION // LIGHTING CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the ZS's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Check headlamp aim and every lamp before the test. It is the cheapest failure on the list and the easiest to avoid. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Headlamp aim and every lamp
✓ Wipers and washers
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 13,341
- Passed
- 11,617
- Failed
- 1,248
- Passed after repair
- 476
- Failure rate
- 9.4% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.6 years
- Best year
- 3 yrs · 8.9%
- Worst year
- 5 yrs · 11.7%
- Top cause
- Tyres 37.2%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 37.2% | 1.6× more | |
| Suspension | 5.8% | 2.3× less | |
| Brakes | 11.3% | 1.7× less | |
| Visibility | 10.0% | in line | |
| Lighting | 27.9% | 1.7× more | |
| Steering | 2.8% | in line | |
| Body | 1.3% | 3.2× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre seriously damaged437
- A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED348
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements197
- A tyre cords visible or damaged195
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen128
- Headlamp aim unable to be tested68
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (5.8% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (11.3% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.3% of defects vs 4.1%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (37.2% vs 23.7%)
- Lighting take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (27.9% vs 16.5%)
- At three years old it fails 8.9% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- ZS EXCLUSIVE EV9,650
- ZS EXCITE EV1,711
- ZS TROPHY EV888
- ZS SE EV603
- ZS TROPHY CONNECT EV466
- ZS23
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Audi e-tron9.1% fail · 14,319 testsMini Cooper SE9.6% fail · 9,945 testsSmart EQ8.3% fail · 2,590 testsMercedes-Benz eVito9.1% fail · 593 tests
OTHER MG ELECTRIC CARS
Three things the data shows
- 13,341 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
- Lighting take 1.7× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 8.9% at 3 years to 11.7% at 5: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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