MG ZS EV vs MINI Countryman

The MINI Countryman is £490 cheaper to buy. The MINI Countryman is cheaper to charge, roughly £144 a year versus £192 for the MG ZS EV, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the MINI Countryman comes out roughly £730 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 199 miles for the MG ZS EV and 258 miles for the MINI Countryman - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The MINI Countryman goes roughly 60 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 29-36 minutes.

The MG ZS EV is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 34 mm narrower than the MINI Countryman. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 591 mm of total clearance for the MG ZS EV and about 557 mm of total clearance for the MINI Countryman.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the MG ZS EV and 84% for the MINI Countryman. That gives the MG ZS EV a modest edge in retained real-world range. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. The MINI Countryman has the longer battery warranty at 8 years, versus 7 for the MG ZS EV.