MG QS: Room for seven, but room for improvement too

0 0 September 24, 2025 Edit this post

by Chris Riley

What is it?

The QS is a car that is going to do big things for MG, or so it hopes.

The company's first seven-seat offering, we're told it has been designed with families in mind.

And MG says it's a true seven-seater, not 5+2, combining practical versatility with premium styling.

But don't expect an electric vehicle, this one's powered by a good old conventional turbocharged petrol engine.

What’s it cost?

There's two grades: Excite and Essence.

Both are powered by the same 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine.

Excite is front-wheel drive and priced from $46,990, while the Essence is all-wheel drive and priced from $50,990 -- both figures are driveaway for a limited time.

Our test vehicle was the better equipped, all-wheel drive Essence, finished in metallic black pearl, a colour that adds $800 to the price.

Standard kit includes pop-out door handles, cloth trim and three-zone climate air with rear air controls, a micro-fibre leather finished steering wheel, power-adjust front seats and multi-coloured ambient interior lighting.

There's also 20-inch alloys, adaptive cruise control, auto lights and wipers, LED head, tail and daytime lights, rear parking sensors, electric tailgate and a panoramic power-operated sunroof.

Along with all-wheel drive, Essence ups the ante with little extras like 21-inch wheels, adaptive dampers, six driving modes instead of three, leather trim, heated and cooled front seats, electric lumbar adjustment, wireless phone charging, auto dimming rear view mirror, auto high beam, LED fog lights, front parking sensors, as well as 12-speaker Bose audio.

Infotainment is supplied in the form of a 12.3-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, voice control, satellite navigation, AM/FM and DAB+ digital radio, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto and generic, eight-speaker audio.

Another 12.5-inch screen provides the driver instrumentation.

There's five USB-C ports, two in front, two in the rear and one in the third row, with 12 volt outlets in the front and luggage area.

Essence adds wireless phone charging and it accommodates two phones simultaneously, but the right buts up against the centre console and won't accommodate longer phones.

Access to iSmart connected services is valid for 12 months.

QS is yet to be rated for safety by ANCAP.

It comes with seven airbags, 360-degree camera, forward collision warning and auto emergency braking (no details on the latter).

A string of safety systems include lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane change assist, emergency lane keep, door opening warning, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert, drive monitor system, unsteady driver warning, traffic jam assist and intelligent cruise assist.

That said the driver is assaulted by continual warnings, the reasons for which are not always obvious.

Missing is head-up display.

There's ISOFix child seat anchors for the outer rear seats as well as three top tethers, but no provision for placing a seat in the third row.

QS is covered by MG's 10-year/250,000km warranty, provided it is serviced with MG -- otherwise it reverts to seven years/unlimited kilometres.

Service is required every 12 months or 15,000km.

What’s it go like?

At 4983mm in length, with a 2915mm wheelbase, QS is an appealing reasonably large vehicle, that makes smart use of the available space.

The front seats are comfy, with plenty of second row legroom, which is where you want it most, and some room leftover for luggage with the third row of seats deployed.

There's even a storage nook below the floor to stow the security screen when it is not in use.

But access to the third row is easiest from the driver's or traffic side of the vehicle which is not ideal from a safety point of view.

Our little one was distraught to learn that her car seat could not be placed in the third row.

Not happy, not by a long shot!

Trendy, welcome back door handles pop out when the car is unlocked, but remain extended and exposed to damage until the car is locked again.

A 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine produces 153kW of power at 5300 rpm and 360Nm of torque from 1750-3500 rpm, with drive to the front or all four wheels depending on the grade, via a nine-speed dual clutch style automatic.

There's no gear change paddles, nor for that matter can one change gears manually using the transmission lever.

However, there are six drive modes from which to choose: Normal, Snow, Off-road, Sport, Custom, and Eco.

All-wheel drive is a torque on demand system which means Essence operates predominantly in front-wheel drive.

The rear wheels come into play only when the system senses a loss of traction.

This delivers better fuel consumption.

The level of power offered by the drivetrain feels adequate, but this could change easily with the car fully laden.

Throttle response is at best erratic, bordering on downright problematic.

It takes a second for the transmission to hook up and another second or two before the turbo spools up, then the car surges forward.

Trying to master or feather the response is nigh impossible.

The brakes are abrupt too, kicking in quickly and sharply.

In contrast the electric brake lags when you put the car into park, which can be a worry on a steep driveway.

The soundtrack to this is provided by the bings and bongs from the safety assist systems, constantly warning of transgressions that are not always apparent.

It's enough to drive one troppo.

One of the benefits of stepping up to the more expensive Essence is the addition of variable, adaptive suspension.

We've got to say the ride, even with 21-inch wheels and low profile Michelin rubber is pretty good, erring towards comfort rather than handling.

At the same time it is no soggy biscuit.

Ride quality is better around town than in the back lots, but it should be borne in mind that the suspension is linked to whatever drive mode is active.

Sport obviously makes it stiffer, but the Normal setting works just fine.

Like many cars these days a pair of 12.3-inch screens, housed in a sweeping panel, forming the basis for instruments and infotainment.

You get satnav, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto and, in the Essence, premium 12-speaker Bose sound.

Both screens can be configured to taste, while swiping the touchscreen reveals other menus.

Learning what controls what on the steering wheel is a matter of experimentation.

The up and down arrows on the right side are for volume, but there's no labels to indicate this.

There's no central volume control either, but a row of toggles along the lower edge of the dash do provide access to fan and temperature settings.

The auto climate setting takes ages to cool the cabin and will have you reaching for the controls.

The specs suggest the car has rain-sensing wipers, but we could not find an auto setting on the wiper stalk.

The front USB and 12 volt sockets are located in the lower console where it is difficult to see and access them.

On the morning of our final day with the car the infotainment system decided to revert to Chinese (see pic).

Good luck making it revert to English.

The power-operated tailgate had a mind of its own too.

Sometimes it refused to respond to the keyfob, at other times it even refused to react when we pushed the close button located on the underside of the open tailgate.

Looking back across the road we were surprised to see it still open. Hmmm . . .

A mesh-style retractable screen filters light from the sunroof, but is liable to transmit heat during summer.

With a 65-litre fuel tank QS prefers premium 95 unleaded.

Fuel consumption is a claimed 8.4L/100km for Excite and 8.8 L/100km for Essence.

We were getting 9.2L/100km after close to 600km.

That's not particularly bad, but it's not particularly good either, especially in the context of hybrid and electric vehicles.

QS is rated to tow a 2000kg braked load and comes with a space saver spare.

This feels like a car that has been rushed into production before the engineers were happy to sign off on it.

This might for instance explain the legacy 'Ultimate' badge on the front three-quarter panel.

In the old days it took years for new models to come to market.