MG’s rise to sales stardom in the Australian new car market has been nothing short of gobsmacking. A big departure from the former-British MG that folded in 2005, “MG 2.0” under Chinese ownership has been flying up the sales charts since it relaunched locally in 2016, with over 50,000 units sold in 2024 alone.

Unlike the MG of old, new MG’s chief appeal has been its strong value equation. Nowadays, it’s disappointingly difficult to find a new car for under $30,000 but MG offers three, in the process claiming buyers who used to be lining up for new sub-$20k Toyota. Considering that the cheapest new Toyota now asks comfortably over $30,000 to drive away, it’s no surprise to see a strong value-for-money brand like MG doing so well. While many manufacturers don’t want to hear it, there’s clearly demand for cheap new cars.

But MG is only just getting started in Australia. Until last year, it was selling first-generation products that were cheap but a bit rough around the edges. Cars like the first MG3 light hatch and ZS small SUV sold largely on value – a South Korean or Japanese competitor drove better, but was it worth at least $5000 more? Many buyers said no, and as a result, the ZS has been the best-selling small SUV in the land for a long time.

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Now we’re in the second phase of the brand’s rollout, with more sophisticated products on the floor of MG’s showrooms. They’re more expensive to buy, granted, but they’re also much better cars – for
example, the new HS mid-size SUV is worlds apart compared with the model it replaced.

New MG’s talent in making a car is reflected in the fact the new-generation ZS recently won multiple categories in the recent Wheels Best Small SUV awards for 2025, including the overall award. That’s thanks to its newfound all-round capability, yet it still offers the strong value that the brand is known for. It’s this capability that we were keen to explore more of by taking an MG ZS Essence Turbo on a long drive out of the city and out of its comfort zone.

Could the MG ZS handle such a trip? My father Jeff and I decided to find out by driving one from Sydney to Broken Hill in far western New South Wales, then down to Mildura through the NSW Riverina region to Albury before heading back home to Sydney. An almost-3000km trip – or more than 10 weeks of
motoring for the average driver – but in just five days. Could the ZS back up its recent accolades?

Day 1: Sydney to Cobar: 725km

Day one starts nice and early. Dad arrived in Sydney the night before and is up at dawn’s crack to inform me that the weather is less than favourable. Put simply: it’s pissing down. We get away from home just before 8am with a good 725 km of driving ahead of us. Rain or shine, we had places to be. Unsurprisingly with such bad weather, the traffic isn’t great – is it that hard to switch on your headlights on rainy days? – but even in this weather, the ZS copes well.

With our average speed barely touching 20km/h, we’re hardly exploring the ZS’s ability to conquer the Australian terrain. But the seats are comfortable so far, and the adaptive cruise control works well in stop-start traffic. Heading along the M4 motorway towards the Blue Mountains gives us a chance to experience the ZS Turbo’s 125kW of grunt. Unsurprisingly, it’s no powerhouse and the dozy CVT transmission zaps some power, but it gets up to speed totally fine for its target market. The long hill at the end of the M4 is no match for the ZS Turbo, and it effortlessly powers to the top.

The Blue Mountains pass quickly and quietly and suddenly we’re going down the Mount Victoria Pass towards Lithgow. I hope that once-planned tunnel comes to fruition because this piece of road can be scary. While the ZS’s brake feel is good, we’d love to see paddle shifters for more manual control, particularly for more engine braking. The non-turbo models get a manual mode on their transmission selector, so why not the gutsier turbo?

We pass through Mudgee with a quick detour to Kmart – note to self: always pack a jumper for a road trip – and head slightly out of the way north to Dunedoo. Dad tells me that the pies at the Dunedoo Pie Shop are “bloody beautiful”, and I’m not one to turn down a nice pie. I reckon it was a solid 7/10.

Another reason for detouring to Dunedoo is the beautiful silo art. Painted by artist Peter Mortimore, the eastern side depicts local jockey Hugh Bowman with his winning racehorse Winx. On the southern and western sides, the silo depicts the landscapes of Dunedoo, including Black Swans flying overhead. It’s gorgeous, and really adds to the local scene.

Next stop: Dubbo Bunnings, because somebody – me, again – forgot to bring an umbrella and considering some of the weather we soon experience the rest of that day, it becomes a wise purchase. The sheer size of Dubbo surprises me, as does the 15-storey building that is being constructed there, which is a real point of difference from the otherwise flat terrain. I imagine the locals are outraged.

Leaving Dubbo, you get the distinct impression that it is the final point of civilisation heading west towards Nyngan. A quick stop to see the famous ‘Dubvegas’ car wash – shame we don’t actually need to use it – and then an hour or so later, Nyngan is our first fuel stop and gives us a chance to see the ZS Turbo’s efficiency: 8.2L/100km. Not brilliant, but then again, the first section of the trip was quite hilly.

After a quick detour to both the Iroquois 1022 helicopter donated to the town after the 1990 flood and the Big Bogan statue – Dad just had to get a shot in front of it – we leave and head further north-west towards Cobar. It’s only 131km but proves to be one of the more challenging parts of the drive thanks to torrential rain. The ZS takes it all in its stride with barely a fuss: it feels mature, planted and solid.
A well-earned steak and sleep awaits us that night.

Day 2: Cobar to Broken Hill (via Silverton); 482km

Day two starts early with a quick trip to Fort Bourke Hill Lookout to learn about the copper and gold mining, which started in Cobar in 1870. Afterwards, Dad makes sure to get a donut from the Cobar Hot Bake and if you’re ever in town, they are delicious. A quick toilet stop just outside of town reveals that one of the public toilets was recently bowled over by – I assume – some sort of large vehicle. Hopefully nobody was in there at the time…

After seeing endless goats and a few kangaroos that thankfully stay off the road for the next few hours, we reach the town of Wilcannia for a fuel stop – this tank was a better 7.4L/100km – and a bite to eat at the Wilcannia Cafe, which turns out to be the only cafe in the town. The local school principal gets talking to Dad and before long, he knows why we’re in town and pretty much the story of our lives. Cheers, Dad…

After a great schnitzel burger, we head towards the EV chargers for a look – there’s no reception, so if you’re looking to charge there, make sure to take your charging card – and then we’re back to the Barrier Highway looking at more goats for the next few hours.

The further we travel, the more I realise just how beautiful the outback landscape is, with only plants, rocks, sand and a single piece of tarmac as far as the eye can see. Aside from a few drivers and many goats, there’s nobody around. We stop at the Little Topar Roadhouse for a break to find it closed that day, but it still gives us a great opportunity to just stop, breathe and take in a whole lot of quiet. It’s serene.

After checking out the Mullockers Memorial and the view of Broken Hill, we check into our motel in the centre of town and decide that a little journey to Silverton is in order. Only 26km north-west from Broken Hill, Silverton is famous thanks to the discovery of rich silver deposits – hence its name – and, of course, acting as the backdrop to many Australian films, most notably Mad Max II.

Outside the Silverton Hotel, established in 1884, is a pumped-up original Volkswagen Beetle as a homage to the film that has brought many tourists in Silverton’s direction. It’d be rude not to have a cheeky schooner and we sit down for a moment of reflection. Dad then suggests a drive further north-west to the Mundi Mundi Lookout – my favourite view of the entire trip.

Put simply, it’s breathtaking, especially at the late afternoon time of day that we’re there, with moody clouds overhead. Want to get a real sense of the vastness of the Aussie outback? Head up to here for a view over the endless Mundi Mundi Plains over towards South Australia – then turn around for a close view of wind turbines on the hills north of Silverton. It’s a surreal and stunning location, and I could’ve kept staring forever. But quite quickly, the moody clouds turn into rain and we’re back in the ZS on our way back to Broken Hill.

Travelling out of Silverton at about 50km/h, a kangaroo – who I later name Angus – jumps out in front of us. I slam on the brakes – the ZS thankfully stops quite quickly and effortlessly – but there’s no avoiding the poor ’roo. I get out of the car, pick him up off the road and move him over to the shrubbery where he passes away in my arms. I’m absolutely gutted.

Thankfully, the MG escapes its brush with Angus quite well. Just a cracked lower lip and a lower grille that’s been moved a bit out of place. Unless you were standing very close to it, you’d never know what happened and we were impressed at how well the car took the impact.

But soon we realise the air-conditioning feels different on the drive back to Broken Hill and an engine emissions warning light makes itself known later that evening. Thankfully, an under-bonnet check has revealed no damage or fluid lost, but instead, the engine air sensor (we discover later) has been knocked about and damaged in the impact.

Needless to say, our mood is not great for the rest of that day, but we decide to try and enjoy our only night in Broken Hill, and we do so at the Astra Hotel with another tasty steak – cooked medium rare, of course. After a few drinks watching the youth of Broken Hill doing their endless ‘blockies’ on Argent Street – with everything from a few MG3s to utes, V8 Commodores and Falcons being hooned – we head to bed as tomorrow is another big day.

Day 3: Broken Hill to Echuca: 665km

Dad and I are up nice and fresh, and over breakfast decide that while there’s nothing seriously wrong with the ZS, we should probably try and fix the broken air temperature sensor. The only motoring-related place open on a Sunday in Broken Hill is a shop called ‘7 Day Spares & Accessories’ – the closest MG dealership is in Mildura – so we see if they can provide some solutions. Without a soldering tool handy, the sheared pins prove difficult to tape together, so we’re forced to tape it all up into its spot and hopefully we’ll find a place to help along the way.

We leave Broken Hill with news that my sister is in hospital in Albury and we’ll need to spend a night there instead of the originally planned lunch stop. After a fuel stop, we head south down the Silver City Highway into scenery packed with huge power line towers, more goats and a slightly different view with more sand than rock. The air sensor issue means that the ZS has no idea what the weather is like outside, and the automatic climate control doesn’t want to work properly too, so it gets pretty hot in the cabin – especially with the synthetic leather trim, lack of a proper sunroof blind and hot air protruding from both of our mouths.

A quick stop at the Popiltah Lake Rest Area introduces us to people who were almost carbon copies of my parents; I nicknamed the bloke Dad’s new best friend, as they didn’t stop talking for a good 45 minutes. Soon we’re back on our way towards Wentworth on the mighty Murray River. By the time we get there, the restaurants are closed for food – I didn’t realise how hangry I got until then – so we keep driving, this time towards Mildura. After some food, we’re back in the car towards our next stop: Tooleybuc, which is on the NSW side of the Murray, and in particular, the cool Country Club Hotel. My parents visited here not long ago and Dad told me that it was a “must see”. He wasn’t wrong. Sitting in the beer garden at sunset brought a classy, chilled vibe, interrupted by the fact we had another few hours to drive.

After a tasty chicken salad, we’re back on the road and heading towards Echuca another 203km away, giving us the first opportunity to check out the ZS’s night driving capability. I’ve driven a lot of Chinese cars with below average headlights, but the ZS’s are better than expected – though the auto high beam loves to blind other drivers. Best to keep that switched off.

Previous-generation MG products had a lot to learn with their active safety features – the new ZS is much better having received more tuning. The lane keeping assistance is noticeably better than the ZST it replaces, though the adaptive cruise control is still too sensitive for our tastes and slows down quite far from other cars, even at the closest set distance. The speed limit warning is also infuriating, particularly because it gets it so wrong at times but also because one must press the touchscreen a few times to switch it off. We pull into Echuca at about 10pm after a largely dark drive, Dire Straits blaring from the ZS’s reasonably punchy six-speaker sound system.

Day 4: Echuca to Albury: 230km

By far the easiest day of the trip, driving 233km for a day in Albury. After a casual stroll along the Echuca waterfront, we head to ‘Westside Auto Electrics’ to see Vinnie, who solders the air temperature sensor and we cross our fingers that the ZS is back to mint condition. Starting the engine gives us reason to celebrate: the cold cycle has returned, having been absent since the accident. The air-conditioning also feels much colder. Thank goodness for that… We tuck the sensor back into its spot behind the bumper and pray that’s the last we see of it.

The trip to Albury through the Victorian countryside is far more interesting than outback New South Wales. The Katamatite Silo Art en route is impressive, painted by artist Tim Bowtell and celebrating the rich local history. It’s a great place to stop and admire – especially from under the panoramic sunroof of the ZS. The last hour of the drive to Albury is covered in lovely greenery and many wineries trying to tempt us away from the road.

The chance to have a slower-paced afternoon in Albury further emphasises the ZS’s strengths as an urban runabout. Even though it’s less congested than somewhere like Sydney, the ZS still deals admirably with its version of traffic. The extra grunt of the turbo variant is also welcomed during the trip up Monument Hill to the Albury War Memorial.

Day 5: Albury to Sydney (via Lake Hume): 580km

After a very pleasant overnight stay with Aunty Sue in Albury, we have breakfast and give the ZS a well-deserved wash. Therapeutic is the perfect way to describe debugging the ZS, and it actually looks like a new car now thanks to Dad’s car washing skills.

We head out towards the Hume Dam – a place I’ve wanted to visit since seeing it used as a backdrop for Wheels tests – and over the Bethanga Bridge to check out the view. Located just 16km east of Albury, the Hume Dam was finished in 1936 and is one of the largest dams in the world with a huge 2982GL capacity. As well as irrigation, the dam supplies stock and household needs for towns and landholders along the Murray River across three states, and is used for flood mitigation and hydro-electricity.

We stop at the dam for a good hour or so, enjoying a chinwag with a local and his mutt, and then we have a final fuel stop and head back to the Hume. On the five-hour slog back to Sydney, the ZS Turbo’s mile munching capability is further proven thanks to its low-ish road noise levels and solidity at higher speeds, making it a pretty good highway cruiser.

We make a quick stop at Holbrook for a sandwich, to buy a chicken kitchen ornament – or “wife pleaser and dust gatherer” as Dad puts it – and to see the awesome Submarine HMAS Otway that’s been in the ground there since 1995. Whoever managed the logistics to get it there is much smarter than I am.

Back in the car, both Dad and I start pondering the trip and the now re-bug-splattered ZS. It’s clear that the new MG knows how to make a good car – aside from the little incident with Angus, the ZS didn’t put a foot wrong in the almost-3000 km we’ve driven.MG adds petrol-powered ZS SUV to lineup.

After showing the ZS love throughout the trip, Dad is still impressed by it by the time we finally get home. He likes how well equipped it is, how solid it feels at higher speeds and how inexpensively it’s priced – plus, its 10-year warranty. Will he be trading Mum’s Skoda Karoq for it? Not just yet, he says, but their Karoq cost significantly more than the ZS Turbo’s $33,990 drive away asking price, and it’s not much better equipped. In this regard, it’s easy to see why the MG brand has become so popular.

When the ZS was selected, I had faith that it would be able to make the trip fine without breaking down or falling to pieces – but would we have been driven mad by road noise, ergonomic quirks or general discomfort? Thankfully, the answer to that question is a resounding no, because the ZS is quite comfortable and the noise levels were surprisingly low despite the awful roads we drove on.

What do we still have reservations about? Well, more shortcut buttons to better access the touchscreen would be great. The part-digital driver’s display relegates the speedometer to the left in a small non-digital area. And the fuel consumption of 7.9L/100km over the whole trip is just too high, especially considering that a lot of the trip was cruising at 100km/h+. It also needs premium unleaded fuel.

But overall, we think that the MG ZS has backed up its recent Wheels Best Small SUV award on this challenging long drive. Its appeal comes from more than just its great value equation: it drives and rides well, it’s refined and practical, it’s loaded with standard equipment, it’s quite comfortable and it’s built tough enough to withstand a kangaroo attack. Over to you, small SUV buyers of Australia, I’m off to plan my next road trip.

This article originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of Wheels magazine. Subscribe here.