2023 MG ZST Essence Review

Ever since returning to the Australian market a few years ago, MG has enjoyed lots of sales success – this year so far alone, the brand’s 8,378 sales are a 14.7 per cent improvement on 2022, itself a big success for the brand too. For such a new brand to have such success is very rare – despite using a legendary name – so we decided to see if the product is as good as the sales suggest a few years on from launch. We got behind the wheel of the 2023 MG ZST Essence, MG’s top-selling product locally, to find out.

Rivalling with the likes of the Hyundai Venue, Mazda CX-3, Toyota Yaris Cross and Mitsubishi ASX, the MG has some stiff competition but can it offers a lot to consumers: a low price, a practical and spacious cabin for its size, a long warranty and a long standard equipment list. Is that enough?

Price & Equipment: 8.5/10

The 2023 MG ZST range kicks off with the entry level Core that is priced from $26,990 drive away and while there are four different ZST variants, the model we tested here is the range-topping Essence that costs $34,990 drive away.

Standard equipment in the 2023 MG ZST Essence includes 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED lighting, auto wipers, synthetic leather upholstery, a six-way electric driver’s seat, heated front seats, a 10.1-inch touchscreen with inbuilt satellite navigation, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a digital instrument cluster, keyless entry with push button start, heated and auto-folding mirrors, a leather steering wheel, five USB ports (including one mounted near the rear mirror for dash cams), a panoramic glass sunroof, front and rear fog lights, chrome roof rails, red brake callipers and a six-speaker sound system.

Safety kit includes six airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, auto high beam, intelligent speed assist, a 360-degree parking camera, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, an alarm and rear parking sensors.

The only standard colours available are ‘Pebble Black’ and ‘York White’ while ‘Diamond Red’, ‘Horizon Orange’, ‘Sterling Silver’ and our test car’s ‘Brighton Blue’ add $700 to the price. Black upholstery is the only option.

In comparison the main rivals to the 2023 MG ZST Essence are the $28,500 plus on-road costs (around $32,500 drive away) Hyundai Venue Elite and the $32,090 +ORC (around $36,500 drive away) Mazda CX-3 sTouring. Compared with the MG, both the Venue and CX-3 have single-zone automatic climate control, while the Venue has a remote services, live traffic for the navigation and a wireless phone charger and the CX-3 has a heads-up display, front parking sensors and larger 18-inch wheels.

Over its rivals, the ZST Essence adds LED lighting and adaptive cruise control to the Venue Elite, as well as heated seats, a panoramic sunroof and a 360-degree camera to both the Venue and CX-3. Although it costs around $1,500 more than the Venue – though $1,500 less than the CX-3 – the ZST Essence is good value for money, especially in today’s market. We still think it should feature equipment like automatic climate control air-conditioning, rear air vents, a power tailgate and wireless phone charging, however.

Performance & Economy: 7/10

Powering the 2023 MG ZST Essence is a 1.3-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine that produces 115kW of power at 5,600rpm and 230Nm of torque between 1,800rpm and 4,400rpm. The only transmission available on the turbo ZST variants is a six-speed torque converter automatic and like a lot of competitors, all ZSTs are front-wheel drive only.

The engine in the MG does feel a little underdone. There is a decent amount of vibration in the cabin and while it does sound fun (we love a three-cylinder thrum), it can be a touch loud. It offers good grunt though, especially in comparison to its naturally aspirated rivals that require more revving to extract less performance like the Venue, which only pumps out 151Nm of torque.

The one thing about the driving experience that bugged us the most was the transmission. With the way it behaves, we thought we were driving something with a dual-clutch automatic transmission but the ZS T does use a torque converter. There is low-speed uneasiness when taking off and it occasionally will shift up but then realise it doesn’t have enough grunt to do so and will shift down again. Some extra refinement to the transmission would help drivability and potentially fuel economy too.

The claimed average fuel consumption figure of the 2023 MG ZST Essence is 7.1L/100km with CO2 emissions rated at 162g/km – 0.5L/100km more than the CX-3’s claimed economy but strangely, 0.1L/100km less than the Venue. In our time with it, we achieved economy of 8.7L/100km in mixed driving. The ZST requires only 91RON fuel to fill its 45-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 6/10

While we’ve welcomed the addition of a more powerful engine, the ZST’s larger engine has exposed the ZS’ shortcomings in the dynamic department. Introducing more power to the chassis has further emphasised the need for an MG Australian tuning program in the same way that Hyundai Kia’s local program transformed the dynamics of every product that they sell here.

Like the regular ZS, taking corners with reasonable haste feels like you’re sitting on top of the ZST and not sitting in it – this is partially due to the flat seats but also due to the body roll and the poor body control from the suspension. Around town, the ZST’s ride is not great thanks to this lack of body control, and at higher speeds it floats too much. There’s a lot of lateral movement from bumps and the suspension never settles either.

Credit where it’s due though, there is definite improvement compared with the cheaper ZS. MG claims to have added rigidity to the subframe and suspension with results of 50 per cent increased rigidity and, it does feel more solid on the road, which is good. There now needs to be a local suspension tuning program to further enhance the ZST’s road manners.  

The steering is better than the suspension though, with reasonable feel and quick weighting that aides parking and gives the driver some confidence for highway driving. Ride quality aside, it’s not a bad car to chuck at a corner thanks to grippy Michelin Primacy 3ST tyres. Road noise levels aren’t bad – certainly way less than the CX-3 – and the visibility is good with large windows, though it can be hard to judge in car parks. Thankfully, a 360-degree parking camera is standard equipment.

Interior & Practicality: 7/10

Compared with the older ZS that the 2023 MG ZST effectively replaced, the cabin of the ZST is more modern, functional and better quality with a new infotainment screen, better quality materials and more practicality. The faux leather on the centre console near the driver and passengers knees is a nice touch and the dash has a portion of soft touch material across it too.

Storage inside the ZST Essence is good, with reasonable cupholders with a cover in the centre console, a reasonable storage box underneath the centre arm rest, a tray in front of the gear selector to put your phone, and big door bins as well. The driving position is solid as well, though the driver’s seat is a bit high, it doesn’t adjust for under thigh angle and the steering wheel doesn’t telescopically adjust either – adding more driver’s seating position adjustment would make the 2023 MG ZST more comfortable.

One gripe with the cabin, however, is that the panoramic sunroof doesn’t have a proper blind to huge the sun – in Australian summers especially without automatic air-conditioning and vents for rear passengers, the ZST’s cabin gets quite hot.

Centre of the ZST’s dashboard is a 10.1-inch touchscreen that does not feature the new infotainment system that the ZS EV has. The infotainment system itself is slow and unresponsive at times and fitting the quicker and more intuitive new infotainment system from the ZS EV in the ZST would help. For now, it features wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as inbuilt satellite navigation and digital radio. The six-speaker sound system is fine but could use more oomph. The camera quality for the 360-degree surround view camera could use upgrading too, though we are grateful it has one.

The rear cabin in the 2023 MG ZST is actually rather roomy for its size and has more than enough room for two adults or three children. The rear also features two USB-A charging ports, map pockets and door bins that can fit small bottles in them, though there is no centre arm rest or rear air vents (despite there being a hole in the back of the centre console for them).

The boot of the ZST measures 359-litres of cargo space with the rear seats in place and folding them down opens this space up to 1,187L – that’s bigger than both the CX-3 (264L/1,174L) and Venue (355L/903L). There is also a dual-level floor, netted storage either side of the boot floor and a warning triangle but no hooks or nets to hold fragile items. Under the boot floor is a space saver spare wheel.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like other new MG products, the 2023 MG ZST Essence comes with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is more comprehensive than the five-year warranty offered by Hyundai and Mazda for the Venue and CX-3. Seven years of roadside assistance also comes with the ZST.

Servicing the ZST occurs every 12 months or 10,000km, which are the same intervals of the CX-3 but behind the 15,000km/yearly intervals of the Venue. The cost to service the 2023 MG ZS T Essence over the span of five years or 50,000km is $1,566 (an average service cost of $313.20). In comparison, the Elite costs $1,495 over the span of five years/75,000km and the CX-3 costs $1,839 over five years/ 50,000km

The 2022 MG ZS Essence DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.8/10

It’s easy to see why the 2023 MG ZST Essence has sold so well in Australia during its short two year run. While the ZST is not perfect, it is a good offering in the small SUV segment. It allows buyers to get into a top spec model for the price of a mid-spec model in other established brands. We like how the ZST looks and on paper it looks like a great value proposition, with a big level of showroom appeal for buyers.

In person, it’s not quite as positive with a loud drivetrain, a soft ride quality that needs improvement, a complicated infotainment system that needs a refresh and active safety equipment that needs retuning in some instances. But regardless of those negatives, the ZST’s appeal is obvious for its target market and it’s definitely worth consideration.