Kia Soul EV Takes on Electric MG ZS EV in UK Crossover Comparison

It's cut from the same cloth as all those other cars, but people are already saying it's the new golden standard in the segment. While the design of all the Soul models has been a love-or-hate thing, we've enjoyed all of them. So it's no surprise that the boxy new model is to our liking.

The square shape doesn't automatically make it simplistic, as there are more frills and decorative elements here than on most cars. You can't get red mirror caps on a Tesla, now can you? The shape also makes it quite a practical car and easy to get into, which is being particularly important for the older clients.

In the UK market, the Soul EV promises a range of up to 280 miles. Based on a recent real-world test we saw featuring the Kia e-Niro, the Soul should be superior in this regard to electric crossovers from premium companies, such as the Jaguar I-Pace or the Mercedes-Benz EQC.

Those are not its real rivals, though, and today we want to talk about something closer in size and price. Driving Electric was able to grab hold of a relatively unknown contender called the MG ZS. The MG brand is almost 100 years old and in the old days made some of the most iconic small sports cars in Europe. However, MG collapsed got taken over by a Chinese company.

Like the Soul, the ZS is a crossover that's also available with regular engines. However, the EV model swaps all the combustion parts for a 148 horsepower motor that they say is capable of pushing you to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. The battery size is only 45 kWh, but range is supposedly up to 231 miles for city-only driving.