MG makes room for the family

PHOTOS: DAVID THOMSON

BY: DAVID THOMSON

Road Test

What is new?

The QS model marks MG’s first foray into the seven-seater SUV segment.

It’s a big step up both literally and figuratively for a brand which — in its modern Chinese-owned iteration — has established a credible presence here with a range of compact cars and crossovers.

Evidence that MG is branching out and upwards comes with both the QS tested here today, and MG’s recently launched U9 utility. Measuring up at 4983mm long and 1967mm wide, the QS is only bested size-wise in MG’s line by the ute. But the ute, of course, is designed to carry loads, whereas the QS is designed to carry people, in what is the normal seven-seater 2-3-2 three-row seating configuration.

The vehicle we see here as the MG QS is a facelift of a vehicle that was launched as the Roewe RX9 in China in 2022. Outside of China it is sold as an MG, with sales having commenced in the Middle East late last year, and on both sides of the Tasman in mid-2025.

Power comes from a 2.0L turbocharged petrol engine producing peak outputs of 153kW and 360Nm and requiring a minimum diet of 95-octane fuel. Power delivery is via a nine-speed automatic transmission.

With the cheapest comparable seven-seater alternatives costing $70K, and most rivals priced at a chunk more than that, the MG QS strikes hard with its pricing: the base-variant QS Excite — a two-wheel-drive — is stickered at $49,990; the flagship QS Essence — as tested here — lists at $55,990, and comes with all-wheel-drive and a swag of extra equipment.

Adding to this value-based appeal and sharply priced package there’s also MG’s unequalled private buyer warranty, covering up to 10-years or 250,000km of motoring.

What comes as standard?

Even the base-mode Excite ships with a standard equipment list that includes LED exterior lights, keyless entry and push-button start, dual 12.3-inch digital display screens, factory satellite navigation, wireless Apple and Android smartphone mirroring, a panorama sunroof, tri-zone climate control, power-adjusting front seats, a 360-degree surround view camera system, rear parking sensors and a power-operated tailgate.

Along with all-wheel-drive, the Essence adds adaptive suspension, snow and off-road drive modes, leather trim, power lumbar adjustment, heated and cooled front seats, tri-zone climate control, a 12-speaker Bose sound system, a wireless phone charger, front parking sensors and auto-dipping headlights.

The MG QS holds the maximum 5-star Ancap safety rating and so has a fulsome safety specification. Active safety features include adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and lane change assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and assist, speed limit recognition and driver attention monitoring.

What does it look like?

Standing tall and wide, with a massive front grille flanked by sleek driving lights, the MG QS is visually imposing viewed from the front and side angles. The rear is conventional by current large SUV and crossover standards, with a full-width LED light bar and twin exhaust pipes two distinguishing features.

A rising waistline and interesting creasing along the vehicle’s flank adds dynamic poise, helped further on the Essence by having 21-inch rims rather than the 20-inch alloys fitted to the Excite variants. Those wheels, incidentally, are shod with 225/45 R21 Michelin tyres.

Exterior detailing includes light chrome garnishing and standard roof rails, along with patterned inserts on the rear pillars. Flush-fit wand-style door handles are also fitted; while they look great and add aerodynamic efficiency, they are also a little awkward to use.

Oddly, while the variant tested is the QS Essence, the small chrome strip on the leading edge of each front door is emblazoned with the word "ultimate".

Overall, the exterior design is balanced and quite attractive, though without much visual connection to the rest of the MG passenger car range.

What’s it like inside?

The cabin of the test car impressed for its spacious and airy, premium feel.

Sure, there are some hard plastic trims low down, but the upper surfaces are all soft touch, and there is evident attention to detail in the provision of grippy rubber mats for the dual wireless charge pad and all key storage bins and compartments.

Judicious use has been made of the somewhat plasticky wood grain features across the dash and on the doors, accented with attractive patterning and chromed highlighting. Finished in grey like much of the trim, the seats have perforated inserts and solid bolsters with cream-coloured contrast stitching. Fit-and-finish seemed very good on the test car.

In-cabin storage needs are well met up front, with a large space under the high-set floating centre console, a big centre bin, generous door bins and the phone charging tray and dual cupholders on the console. That said, it’s an awkward reach to the USB-C and 12V plug points, which are located in the area under the floating console.

The second seating row is 60:40 split and adjusts for legroom as well as back angle, allowing a mix-and-match for space with the rear seats. There’s a fold-down centre armrest, cupholders, and USB plug points. When the rear seats are set as far back as they can go, rear legroom is plentiful.

Thanks to the one-touch folding middle row seats, access to the back seats is easy. While the back seats are best suited to children or small adults, the rear pair of seats provide decent accommodation, albeit with a slightly knees-up position.

Luggage capacity behind the third row of seats is a tightish 203 litres, but this expands to 517L when the rear seats are folded down, and 1800L when the middle row seats are folded and cargo is loaded to the roofline.

What is it like to drive?

Settling in behind the wheel, the test car impressed for the adjustability of the seating position, good visibility, a largely intuitive layout of key controls, and the quality feel of the switchgear.

As is so often the case these days, the adjustments for many of the key comfort and convenience features are located within various centre touchscreen menus. While the digital interface is not state-of-the-art for clarity, most of what will be routinely required is easy enough to access via the menus. There’s also a handy row of conventional shortcut buttons beneath the screen.

While straightforward to drive around town, when dealing with confined spaces such as tight carparks one cannot help but be aware that the QS is large. That said, its turning circle is reasonable, and the surround-view camera system and parking sensors very helpful.

The major portion of Drivesouth’s QS test was a return run from Dunedin to Christchurch. Heading north during daylight hours in moderate traffic, it was a supremely easy and undemanding highway cruiser, fully capable of covering flat and gently rolling terrain at a decent clip. Noise levels were muted, and the compliant suspension delivered a pleasingly comfortable ride.

Straight-line performance is adequate rather than invigorating, with a 0-100kmh time of 9.1 sec. The engine is reasonably refined unless working hard and, with nine forward ratios to choose from, it shouldn’t be too challenging for the system to keep the engine in its torque sweet spot. When loafing along under tight throttle loadings, gearchanges are smooth and unobtrusive, but turbo-lag and a jerky response was evident when a more urgent mechanical response was sought at low speeds.

Fuel consumption is rated at 8.8L/100km and, while I have seen comment about the QS being considerably thirstier than that in the real world, the test car was close to the money with an 8.9L/100km return on the extended highway haul and a 9.9L/100km result for the full Drivesouth test.

Towing is rated at 750kg unbraked and up to two tonnes braked.

Handling reflects a comfort-oriented ethos, with noticeable body roll when pressing on through tighter twists and turns. Unsurprisingly, given its size and mass, the QS is not particularly nimble, but it is surefooted, with a tendency to benign understeer when pushed hard into bends. The test car’s all-wheel-drive added a layer of assurance when homeward bound on damp and slippery roads.

I played around with the various drive settings on test. With its adaptive suspension, the flagship Essence felt firmer and better composed for cornering in Sport mode, but in all honesty, normal mode seemed better suited to the vehicle’s nature and intended function.

Though classified as an SUV and equipped with an off-road drive mode, the QS’s ground clearance is a modest 180mm and it is fitted with road-oriented tyres. It’s therefore more of a crossover equipped for gentle adventuring on gravelled and fairly smooth unmetalled trails. The test car indeed proved comfortable and composed negotiating a short portion of lightly corrugated gravel.

Amid a generally pleasing all-round driving experience, two elements of the QS irked.

One element was the perennial bugbear of over-zealous driver "assist" system that can only be disabled by diving into touchscreen menus, and which then defaults to the maximum annoyance mode setting when the car is stopped and re-started. An issue on test was the speed limit warning system, which picked up advisory speed signs such as the 25kmh warning at a speed hump, and then continued chiming an "overspeed alert" as I drove on, only deactivating when "seeing" another speed sign.

The other annoyance was the lack of an (obvious) setting to dim the digital instrument cluster for night driving. It was possible with some fiddling to get the centre-screen dimmed, but despite spending some time exploring the touchscreen menus and searching for an online answer, I could not find a way to do the same with the instrument cluster. The chosen solution to deal with a hugely distracting glare of white light while driving beyond city limits on a dark, wet night was to cover the display with my jersey; hardly ideal, but needs must.

Given that the next generation of MG safety software allows for much easier deactivation of unwanted assist systems and the dimming is already achievable on one of the two displays, it is hoped these matters will be addressed.

Verdict

Despite the aforementioned odd and rectifiable foibles, the QS Essence impressed in its designated role as a family-friendly seven-seater crossover. It is roomy, nicely finished, dynamically competent, and superbly well-equipped given its sharp price.