MG ZS vs Chery Tiggo 4

At $30,350 the Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate undercuts the $33,990 MG ZS Excite Hybrid+ by $3,640, a real saving in this budget segment. Both are among the cheapest hybrid SUVs you can buy in Australia, so whichever you pick you're getting electrified running costs for small-SUV money.

Running costs flip the script slightly. The MG's 4.7L/100km uses about $1,340 a year over 15,000km at $1.90/L, versus roughly $1,540 for the Chery's 5.4L/100km. That's around $200 a year back to the MG, which slowly eats into the Chery's purchase-price advantage.

Warranty is the MG's trump card: a class-leading 10 years / 250,000km against Chery's 7-year, unlimited-kilometre cover. Both are strong, but the MG's is the longest in the class. The Chery counters with a longer 15,000km service interval versus the MG's 10,000km, so visits are less frequent.

This is a clear MG win on paper. The ZS holds a 5-star ANCAP rating dated 2023, with autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist and the full active-safety suite standard.

The petrol Tiggo 4 is also 5-star (2023), but at the time of writing the newer Tiggo 4 Hybrid grades were not separately ANCAP-rated in our data. If a current, confirmed 5-star rating on the exact variant you're buying matters to you, the MG has the edge until Chery's hybrid rating is published. Both come with comprehensive driver-assistance systems whose warning chimes can be eager until you set them to taste.

The Chery's headline strength is its cabin. In Ultimate trim the Tiggo 4 feels genuinely upmarket, with a large touchscreen, a clean modern dashboard, ambient lighting and soft-touch materials that punch well above the price. It's one of the nicest interiors at this end of the market.

The MG ZS answers with a well-equipped, sensibly laid-out cabin of its own and slightly more interior space, at 4,430mm long versus the Chery's 4,330mm. Neither is a class leader on outright rear-seat room, but both suit a couple or a small family comfortably. Both run big central touchscreens and digital driver displays; the software on both is functional rather than slick.

The MG also offers a small advantage in towing (a modest 500kg braked) where the Chery hybrid isn't rated to tow. Neither is a tow car, but it's worth knowing if you have a small trailer.

Both pair a petrol engine with an electric motor, but the MG's hybrid system is the stronger of the two. The ZS makes a combined 158kW and 465Nm against the Tiggo's 150kW and 310Nm. The torque gap is the big one, 155Nm in the MG's favour, and it shows in the 0–100km/h times: 8.7 seconds for the ZS versus 10.5 for the Chery. In day-to-day driving the MG simply feels punchier off the line and more relaxed at highway speed.

The MG is also the more efficient, at a claimed 4.7L/100km versus 5.4 for the Chery. Both are front-wheel drive and both drive through smooth dedicated hybrid transmissions that are at their best in stop-start city traffic, where these hybrids do most of their fuel-saving work. The Chery is no slouch, but on pure performance and efficiency the MG has the measure of it.