Everything feels expensive right now, whether it be the groceries, rent, insurance, and lately, petrol. New cars and SUVs are no exception, with many large seven‑seat SUV’s now commanding north of $70,000.
Naturally, this presents an opportunity for value-oriented brands like MG, with their newly-created seven‑seat SUV, the MG QS.
With a starting price of $49,990, is the QS the seven‑seater bargain of the decade? Or is it just a cheap compromise?
What We Like and Dislike About The 2026 MG QS Essence
| What we like | What we don’t like |
Quiet, comfortable cabin Good ride quality Standard equipment levels Practicality Superb value for money | Subpar gearbox tuning Poor throttle response Irritating ADAS systems Glitchy infotainment and other random ‘bugs’ |
What’s In the 2026 MG QS Range?
There are two variants of the MG QS available for buyers in New Zealand. The entry-level variant of MG QS is the Excite, while the top-spec variant is called the Essence.
| Model | Price |
| MG QS Excite | $49,990 |
| MG QS Essence | $55,990 |
Both variants of the MG QS are powered by 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder petrol engine, outputting 153kW of power and 360Nm of torque, connected with a 9-speed automatic (torque-converter) transmission.
The powertrain drives the front wheels of the Excite, or all four wheels of the Essence. In other words, the Excite is FWD and the Essence is AWD.
There are four shades available for the MG QS:
- Camden Grey Metallic
- Black Pearl Metallic
- Cashmere Silver Metallic
- Oxford White Metallic
The Essence also offers two interior colour options, while the Excite only has one option.
- Black with Woodgrain
- Beige with Woodgrain
To access the full specifications of the MG QS, head over the MG Motor New Zealand website.
How Does The 2026 MG QS Essence Compare To Its Competition?
In general, the MG QS is fantastic value when compared with many of its competitors, undercutting them by several thousands of, if not tens-of-thousands, of dollars.
Most of the competitors listed are the middle-spec model. In other words, each of them can get even more expensive if you go another model up.
It’s worth mentioning that many of the competitors are offered as a hybrid, or even plug-in hybrid powertrains. The MG doesn’t offer a hybridised option yet, so we’ve tried to compare with the closest equivalent.
| Make/Model | Engine | Power/ Torque (kW/Nm) | Fuel (L/100km) | Towing (Unbraked/ Braked) | Boot space (litres) | Price |
| Toyota Highlander Limited Hybrid | 2.5-litre 4-cylinder hybrid | 184/- | 6.2 | 750/2,000 | $79,990 | |
| Mazda CX-80 Homura Hybrid | 3.3-litre inline 6-cylinder mild hybrid | 209/450 | 8.4 | 750/2,500 | 258 | $78,990 |
| Volkswagen Tayron Elegance | 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine | 150/320 | 8.8 | 750/2,500 | 345 | $78,990 |
| Hyundai Santa Fe Elite | 2.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine | 206/422 | 10.1 | 750/2,000 | $69,990 | |
| Nissan Pathfinder Ti | 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine | 202/340 | 11.7 | 750/2,700 | 205 | $69,990 |
| Skoda Kodiaq+ TSI | 1.4-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine | 110/250 | 6.8 | 750/- | 340 | $64,990 |
| MG QS Essence | 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine | 153/360 | 8.8 | 750/2,000 | 203 | $55,990 |
First Impressions of The 2026 MG QS Essence
It was only seven years ago when MG relaunched itself in New Zealand, under the direction of its Chinese parent, SAIC. The modern MG was rebooting itself, this time as a commodity brand selling Chinese-made SUVs, instead of the roadsters which had characterised their past.
Sadly, unlike those roadsters of its past, the first iteration of MG’s SUV’s that graced our roads were essentially unstylised, inconspicuous blobs.
Still, a few of these inconspicuous blobs sold well, with MG breaking into the top-ten selling brands in New Zealand in 2022.
Of course, the automotive industrial base in China has seemingly made a multi-generational leap in the span of only five years, and arguably, few vehicles demonstrate as well as the new MG QS.
Compared to its last generation, the QS is almost unrecognisable. Its sharper lines with tighter radii, textured features and high-quality exterior lighting, all contribute to making the QS look more upmarket compared to the price on its window sticker.
Heck, I’d even say that MG may have overstylised it this time around. Although, the general fussiness of the design probably helps conceal its mass, because this MG is a rather portly machine, measuring at just under 5 metres long, and 2 metres wide.
Anyway, whatever your view of the styling is, the QS is certainly no inconspicuous blob.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2026 MG QS Essence?
As we’ve mentioned, MG’s is now a brand that pitches towards the budget-conscious, and this was certainly reflected in the material quality of some of their early cars. For example, the early generation MG’s such as the HS, ZS and MG3 were characterised by dull tones, cheap and nasty plastics and laggy infotainment software.
It was tolerable, but only for their price. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have wanted to spend much longer than you needed inside the cabin.
There were also signs of some quality issues, for example, the HS we tested in 2022 started to show signs of delamination around the plastic airvents, in a car which had barely touched 10,000 kilometres. I also lost count of the number of times the infotainment froze.
The interior of MG QS is an entirely different story, with massive improvements in design, features and material quality.
Its design is more cohesive, with improved ergonomics, greater usability, and better storage spaces. It’s also more aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. Although, the greatest uplift is in the quality of the materials. The nasty plastics and cheap trims have almost vanished, being substituted for wooden-look trims, textured metallic surfaces, and more.
Heck, even the carpets are thicker.
Although, I did say “almost” vanished. Certain pieces of switchgear, such as the indicator and wiper stalks, along with the buttons on the steering wheel, will remind you that the MG is prioritising value.
The enhanced sense of quality isn’t simply limited to materials either, with the cabin providing better isolation and NVH control. More on this later.
The technology is another area where MG has made strides in the last two years. The QS utilising MG’s latest infotainment software, or the same unit, that is found in the MG4, ZS, HS and others. This system is much better, especially when compared to the HS we tested, which appeared to use a rock for a processor.
Although, it’s only a middling system when compared to the competition. It has a friendly-to-use tile-based interface, decent resolution and is responsive enough to be acceptable in 2026. It’s also connected up to a series of exterior cameras, which are high-quality and have fast refresh rates.
That said, the orientation of the side view cameras is somewhat puzzling, because it doesn’t capture the blind spot. Instead, it provides a 90-degree aspect, or the same view you’d get if you simply turned your head to the side.
Also, did I mention that the QS has a massive cabin? Everyone has space, insofar as I actually had surplus headroom sitting in the third row. Leg room though? Not so much.
Despite massive improvements, some quality issues are still evident. For example, the infotainment software is still somewhat buggy. During our test, the system glitched and rebooted with the language in Mandarin. Finding the menu to translate it back was challenging, to say the least.
It was also made worse by the fact that I couldn’t turn off some of the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) when this happened, because, well, I can’t read Mandarin. But again, more on this in the next section.
What’s The 2026 MG QS Essence Like To Drive?
Although Chinese manufacturers have closed the gap on legacy manufacturers in many respects, there are still areas where they typically lag behind.
One of those areas includes optimisation of the drivetrain, particularly where there’s an internal combustion engine involved (Chinese EVs are fine). Another is the ADAS, or active safety systems, which are often overly sensitive and intrusive.
But, what about the MG QS? The QS is a purely internal combustion vehicle that’s made in China. Does that mean it’s still rough around the edges?
I’ll admit that it’s not perfectly polished. But there’s plenty about the QS that is good, if not, very good.
For starters, the MG QS’ ride quality is surprisingly good. From the cabin, the entire vehicle feels softly sprung, wafting comfortably over patchy urban streets or coarse state highways. It also manages NVH well, isolating the occupants from harsher road noises and frequencies.
Despite its softly sprung set-up, the MG QS still manages to have decent body control. It doesn’t get bent out of shape when the roads become twistier or faster. Although, its handling dynamics aren’t exactly class-leading, particularly when compared to others in the segment.
Anyway, the main point to impart is that the MG QS punches above its weight, where comfort is concerned.
But, what about those rougher edges which you’d alluded to earlier?
Well, the QS does have issues, which are related to the optimisation of the drivetrain (surprise, surprise).
The MG QS utilises a turbocharged 2.0-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine, providing 153kW of power and 360Nm of torque. This engine drives the front axle, via a 9-speed automatic transmission. The engine itself is quite a refined powertrain, but it does carry a body that weighs nearly 2 tonnes, before you’ve loaded it up with any fluids or passengers.
So, the MG QS relies quite heavily on its 9-gearbox to manipulate its torque curve, to provide any meaningful thrust when you demand it (say, for example, when approaching a passing lane).
Unfortunately, the gearbox tuning is the QS’ achilles heel.
For example, if you were to put your foot down when cruising above 60kph, the gearbox will noticeably lag before downshifting. This has a flow-on impact to the engine, which barely starts building boost before the downshift, resulting in a noticeable acceleration delay after touching the throttle.
Also, the gearbox would sometimes work itself into a funk, where it couldn’t seem to decide which gear to stay in. This was most noticeable when driving uphill at around 80kph. At least the gearshifts are smooth, I suppose.
It’s also quite a bit heavier on fuel in the real world. During our test, we achieved a fuel economy result of 10.8 litres per 100 kilometres, around 2 litres higher than the manufacturer’s claimed figure of 8.8-litres per 100 kilometres. The QS also runs on 95 octane, which doesn’t help the bill either.
In the interest of being balanced, the QS isn’t the only one in this segment that requires 95 octane. Competitors such as the Volkswagen Tayron and the Skoda Kodiaq also use 95 octane (and they’re on the table above).
Earlier, I’d mentioned that during our test of this QS, the infotainment crashed and rebooted with the language in Mandarin. This was irritating because I couldn’t find straightforward instructions to switch it back to English. But the worst part, by far, was that it became very difficult to turn off the ADAS systems.
The ADAS systems, chiefly the QS’ lane-keep assistance and its driver attention monitoring system, were particularly irksome. The lane keep assistance performed poorly when tested on the motorway, and the attention monitoring system was overly sensitive, or more plainly, just downright annoying.
Admittedly, many manufacturers struggle with the latter, meaning that it isn’t solely an MG issue.
Still, these systems are on by default every time you start the vehicle and being able to switch them off easily should be a must in my view. Annoyingly, there isn’t one unified place in the infotainment for these settings.
I also ought to mention that our test vehicle’s air conditioning decided to stop working briefly on a hot day, but this appears to have fixed itself when I shut off the car and left it for a while. The same happened for the ventilated seats.
While it seems that I’ve been critical of MG QS in this section, I can easily forgive its transgressions because of its price. And honestly, I suspect that many buyers would be prepared to tolerate some finicky settings and some sub-optimal tuning to have the extra noughts in their bank account.
2026 MG QS Essence – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | 7-seat large crossover SUV |
| Starting Price | $55,990 |
| Price as Tested | $55,990 |
| Engine | 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine |
| Power, Torque (kW/Nm) | 153/360 |
| Transmission | 9-speed automatic |
| Spare Wheel | Space saver |
| Kerb Weight (Kg) | 1,994 |
| Length x Width x Height (mm) | 4,983 x 1,967 x 1,778 |
| Boot Space (litres) | 203 (all seats in place) 517 (third row folded) 1,052 (second row folded) |
| Fuel tank capacity (litres) | 65 |
| Fuel Economy (L/100km) | Advertised Spec – Combined – 8.8 Real-World Test – Combined – 10.8 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity (Kg, unbraked/braked) | 750/2,000 |
| Turning circle (metres) | (not stated) Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 7-year/unlimited kilometre warranty |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – 5 stars Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – RFP956 |
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