Better than British: MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort review

If you’re an older bloke, you’ll know just by looking at it that the MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort CVT is a different kind of MG.

Somewhere in the back of every car guys’ mind sits Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 1924, Cecil Kimber and the Morris Garages (MG) badge.

That was 102 years ago though.

And what actually greets you in 2026 is a thoroughly modern, Chinese-engineered commodity crossover that’s far better than many give it credit for.

SAIC Motor of Shanghai, picked up the Chinese-owned wreckage of MG Rover back in 2005 and folded it into its empire two years later.

The badge is more or less the only surviving artefact of that old British romance. As such, the MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort ticks a whole lot of boxes for just R397 600.

And when you spend time with it, you begin to appreciate what a genuinely excellent car it really is …

MG ZS PRO 1.5T COMFORT CVT

Firstly, just look at it, it’s clearly not trying to make a style statement.

At R397 600, the mid-range Comfort slots neatly between the non-Pro (starting at R289 900) and Luxury (R431 500) at the top of the range.

Parked on the high street, it disappears into a sea of similarly proportioned Chinese SUVs and crossovers.

It’s got something of the older BMW X1 about it, but its unremarkable creases and deliberately inoffensive styling draw zero attention.

Oddly, it’s at this exact point that the MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort started winning us over.

We don’t know, perhaps there’s a kind of relief in a car that isn’t trying to impress you all the time.

It’s just an innocuous shape wrapped around a genuinely competent set of mechanicals.

If it were clothes, it would be the automotive equivalent of that shirt and pants combo you wear most days because it simply does what you ask of it.

The chassis feels lighter than most. As a result, the steering is easy and impressively accurate, while the ride quality doesn’t feel brittle over road imperfections.

RIGHT-SIZED ENGINE

Under the bonnet sits a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder producing 125 kW and 275 Nm, sent to the front wheels.

On paper, that’s above-average output for this segment, zero to 100 km/h in less than 9 seconds.

But what impressed us more than the numbers themselves was how well judged they feel in practice.

There’s no manic overboost trying to compensate for a lack of displacement, and no flat spot leaving you stamping the throttle at a robot. It’s simply decent power and torque, delivered smoothly, exactly where and when you need it.

In a segment full of engines either straining to keep up or comically overpowered PHEVs, the MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort feels like Goldilocks.

It’s as if someone at MG actually sat down and asked what the car needed, rather than what would look good on a spec sheet or an influencers’ Insta reel.

Granted, we did have low expectations for the CVT, but MG’s unit is one of the very best examples of the breed we’ve sampled, full stop.

CVTs and turbo engines are usually a bad recipe for rubber-band throttle response and a droning four-pot din. But this is neither. It’s not loud or intrusive under load, and it responds to throttle inputs perfectly linearly.

THE VERDICT

The manufacturer claims an amicable 6.9 l/100 km for the MG ZS Pro 1.5T Comfort. However, we had a genuinely busy week of mixed driving – commuting, errands, airport runs, you name it.

And we landed on just 7.5 l/100 km. For a crossover that can hustle to 100 km/h as eagerly as this one does, that’s mighty impressive.

Even as nothing about this middling MG ZS asks to be noticed. Strip away the Oxfordshire nostalgia and what’s left is simply a well-judged commodity crossover.

Will you forget about it the moment it leaves your sight? Possibly. But it’s still car that gets on with the job of moving you around. And it does it exceedingly well.

MG ZS PRO 1.5T COMFORT CVT FIGURES

• Engine: 1.5-litre turbo petrol
• Transmission: CVT
• Power: 128 kW
• Torque: 275 Nm
• 0-100 km/h: 8.5 seconds (estimated)
• Fuel consumption: 6.9 l/100 km (claimed/combined) and 7.5 l/100 km (tested)
• Price: R397 600