MG ZS vs Toyota Corolla Cross

What's the difference?

The MG ZS Essence with the 1.5-litre petrol engine has many strengths - price and value for money, practicality and space, good looks… and the only area where it really struggles to match its rivals is its underpowered engine. 

The good news is the Essence also comes with a turbo engine and while this isn’t a race car by any means, turbocharging is a way to add the oomph needed in a car this size. 

Stepping up to the MG ZS Essence Turbo costs an extra $2000, but if you can make the budget stretch you’ll have the complete package of value, looks, practicality, safety and much better performance for more enjoyable driving.

The Corolla Cross is still an incredibly sensible car if you’re needing to buy a car, but you’re not a car person. Everything is intuitive and easy, allowing you to focus on driving.

This update has helped make this car stand out a bit more, but it’s still a bit vanilla. The Hyundai Kona, for example, offers more character. Also the asking price, especially at the top end, is creeping eerily close to RAV4 territory.

The ZS's good looks is another strength.

The new-gen ZS arrived in Australia late in 2024 and this petrol version landed in February 2025. The styling looks more expensive and premium than its price tag would suggest. The sleek nose, the refined tail-lights, a pleasing profile all make for a good looking small SUV.

There are many interesting elements in the design - the grille and its aggressively looking flanking 'air intakes', the crease through the door panels, the little fin that meets the tail-light.

Squint and it looks like a mini Ford Territory. Sort of…

The cabin of the ZS Essence is equally refined with a modern design and soft touchpoints throughout. It’s a minimalist and spacious place free from button clutter.

The ZS is 4430mm long, 1818mm wide and 1635mm high. Ground clearance is 161mm, in case you’ve been lying in bed wondering.

Toyota has put some effort into jazzing up the Corolla Cross’ exterior design. The pre-update car was arguably one of the more vanilla cars in its segment.

The most noticeable changes are up front. There’s a new grille set-up with hexagonal cutouts, as well as new LED headlights that are connected by a section that illuminates at night. This latter part looks quite tacky and feeds into the current trend of full-width light bars.

Around the side there are new 18-inch alloy wheel designs on this Atmos trim, as well as a revised LED tail-light set-up.

You can still tell this car is clearly a Corolla Cross from the outside thanks to the cladding around the wheel arches, but it no longer looks so boring, especially in top-spec Atmos guise.

Inside the design changes are more minimal. There’s a new centre console set-up that includes a chunkier gear selector, as well as an ambient lighting strip that wraps around the outside.

I prefer this centre console as it looks more substantial than the pre-update car’s, however, the glossy piano black is a big downside. After a week of testing it was already dusty and grimy, plus scratches are inevitable when you wipe it clean.

Beyond this there are no other obvious changes. I wish Toyota would include some differing colours and finishes inside as it’s a bit of a sea of black.

While there are some soft-touch materials on the dashboard and armrests, you don’t need to look far to find harsher, scratchier finishes. I expect better in a car that costs more than $50,000.

Practicality is a big strength, too, with a proximity key that’ll unlock the car when you touch the door handle, and a cabin with good legroom and headroom even for me at 189cm tall.

There's also a wonderfully simple charging pad for your phone - it's a large area on the centre console which works well in terms of connection but also in terms of wasy access. Many rivals will hide phone chargers away is small crevices that make them hard to extract or even pop in.

You'll find four USB ports, too plus a 12V charger, too.

Clever storage like a shelf built into the dash for loose objects, four cupholders and big door pockets are also on hand.

The boot is also a decent size for a small SUV at 443 litres which is bigger than many rivals, including the Subaru Crosstrek.

The front seats in this car are deliciously comfortable. The bolsters hug you nicely and there’s plenty of upper back and leg support.

I’m also a fan of the upholstery finish in this Atmos trim. It’s a combination of leather and fabric which is great because the front seats also offer heating and now ventilation.

The steering wheel is a classic Toyota unit that features synthetic leather wrapping and heating function. There are also plenty of clearly labelled physical buttons that are a treat to use.

Behind this there’s a 12.0-inch digital instrument cluster like plenty of other Toyota models now. It features a familiar set-up that allows you to change a number of widgets and save multiple pages of configurations.

Moving across, the 10.5-inch touchscreen multimedia system is high-resolution and has crisp colours. There’s not a heap to do in the native user interface so there’s no excuse to get lost.

Thankfully there’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Connection was immediate with my iPhone 15 Pro Max when starting up the car and it remained rock solid throughout known interference points.

Under the touchscreen I appreciate that Toyota has retained physical climate control buttons and dials. They’re very easy to understand and use, especially on the move.

In fact, there are a lot of physical buttons around the cabin. This is great because you don’t need to dive into touchscreen menus and sub-menus.

In terms of amenities up front there are two cupholders, a wireless charger, USB-C charger, centre console box with a 12V socket, as well as a glovebox.

Moving to the second row there’s a decent amount of space for a small SUV, though if you want to use the seats more, you’ll likely want to opt for something larger, like a RAV4.

At 182cm tall I have minimal legroom behind my own driving position, though toeroom is excellent. Headroom is fine though it is impeded due to the panoramic glass sunroof, which notably doesn’t open despite the thick crossbar.

You can easily get two adults in the back of the Corolla Cross, though pushing it to three would make things squishy. It doesn’t help that there’s a central hump in the floor.

Amenities include rear air vents, two USB-C ports, bottle holders on the doors, plus a fold-down armrest with cupholders.

Around the back there’s a hands-free power tailgate that’s handy if you’ve got your hands full. In classic Toyota fashion, it opens and closes with plenty of beeps, which may attract attention.

There’s 380L of boot space with the rear seats upright, expanding to 2000L with them folded. This is fine for the segment, but doesn’t stand out. Front-wheel drive trims get a touch more boot space as they don’t have the rear electric motor.

In the boot area there’s a light, some hooks and a load cover. Unfortunately all-wheel-drive trims don’t come with a spare wheel whatsoever. Instead they only get a tyre repair kit.

It’s worth noting two-wheel-drive trims get a space-saver spare wheel. This is important if you frequently do long-distance drives away from tyre repair shops.

The 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross line-up now starts from $37,440 before on-roads for the GX Hybrid trim, however, on test here is the flagship Atmos Hybrid AWD trim at $50,990 before on-roads. That’s a fair chunk of change for a small SUV.

For context, you can get a mid-spec RAV4 Cruiser Hybrid for around the same price as this Corolla Cross. Ultimately it comes down to whether you want a bigger car or more equipment.

Speaking of the latter, this top-spec Corolla Cross is stacked with equipment.

Highlights include new 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a panoramic glass sunroof, 12.0-inch digital instrument cluster, 10.5-inch touchscreen multimedia system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a nine-speaker JBL premium sound system, heated and ventilated front seats, as well as premium leather-accented upholstery.

One of the few things this car is missing over its rivals is the availability of a head-up display.

Okay, we've listed a lot of strengths for the MG ZS but the engine isn’t one of them. The 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine makes 81kW and 140Nm.

Really, power needs to be at least 100kW and torque closer to 200Nm in something weighing 1330kg otherwise acceleration is going to feel woeful - which it is.

Seriously, the first time I tried to overtake I looked down to see if the handbrake was still on.

Not helping performance is a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) which, while good for fuel economy, seems to have trouble getting power to the road effectively.

Like last year, all Corolla Cross trims now come with a hybrid powertrain. It’s unchanged with this facelift.

There’s a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with either one or two electric motors, depending on whether you opt for a front- or all-wheel drive version. Our tester is the latter so it has two electric motors.

Total system output is 146kW with drive sent through an electronic continuously variable transmission (e-CVT). Top speed is 180km/h.

It’s worth pointing out there is no power difference between the front- and all-wheel drive trims. Uniquely, the latter picks up a ‘Snow’ drive mode.

Official fuel consumption for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 6.7L/100km, which isn’t outstanding, especially compared to the hybrid version which can get 4.7L/100km.

Our own testing after city driving and motorways saw 7.9L/100km. Not the most efficient engine in the range, so if it’s saving petrol you want then go for the hybrid, or better still, the electric version of the ZS.

Toyota claims the Corolla Cross Atmos Hybrid AWD consumes an average of 4.4L/100km on the combined cycle. This is 0.2L/100km higher than front-wheel-drive trims.

During my week of testing I saw an average of 5.0L/100km, according to the trip computer. This is fine, but I’ve experienced better in other hybrid SUVs.

However, during one trip into the office with heavy traffic I achieved an average of 3.7L/100km. Now that’s frugal!

All-wheel-drive trims get a larger 43L fuel tank compared to the 36L unit front-wheel-drive versions have.

Using my as-tested fuel consumption, this car has a theoretical range of 860km.

All Corolla Cross variants require a minimum of 91 RON regular unleaded petrol.

The lack of oomph from the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine affects the driving experience of the ZS. This lack of accleration is hampered not just by the low outputs of the engine but also by the transmission, which is a CVT and these don't favour getting power to the road as effectively as torque convertor transmissions.

Handling is good for this class, with the ZS feeling stable under most conditions. Steering is excellent, with a nice weight and accuracy to it.

And while the ZS is no prestige car, the ride is comfortable, composed and better than many small SUVs at this price point.

Other pluses include its smaller size which makes it easy to manoeuvre in city traffic and park in tight spaces.

The final driving score however is dragged down by the engine and transmission which fail to provide the acceleration needed to easily overtake, merge or move quickly when needed at stop signs or out of car spaces on busy roads.

When you first start up the car it usually defaults to EV mode unless the petrol engine is bone cold. If this is the case it’ll fire it up to get the fluids warmed up.

Once the engine reaches operating temperature it typically switches off again, allowing you to cruise around exclusively on electric power. This never stops being fun and it’s almost a game to try and eke out as much electric juice as possible before the engine fires up again.

This is inevitable however once the battery charge gets low enough, or you press the accelerator that little bit harder. There’s no noticeable switch from electric to petrol that can be felt, but you do hear the petrol engine whirring away under the bonnet.

Despite this hybrid powertrain producing a total system output of 146kW, it doesn’t really feel like it from behind the wheel. Once you push the accelerator, the petrol engine tends to sound strained. It’s not a nice sound as it’s amplified by the fact there’s an e-CVT that doesn’t require gear shifts.

There’s great regenerative braking as standard which helps recuperate kinetic energy from slowing down back into the battery. This is helpful as it acts like engine braking down hills without actually using the brakes.

When you come to a complete stop the transition from the regen brakes to the traditional friction brakes can be a little grabby. You need to be prepared to alter the pressure you’re applying to the brake pedal.

The suspension in this car is a major highlight. It balances comfort and composure perfectly, allowing for an effortless driving experience. It soaks up virtually all road imperfections with ease, including harsher speed bumps.

This flows on to the steering which does err on the firmer side, but feels direct and a touch sporty. Overall this makes the Corolla Cross a fun vehicle to pilot even on the most dull roads.

On the parking front there are front and rear parking sensors, as well as a surround-view camera with great resolution. Even though this car is easy to park, there’s also a semi-autonomous park assist that can be handy if you’re not great at parallel parking.

Out on the open road the petrol engine does stay on more consistently. It’ll quickly flare the revs if you need to accelerate harder which makes me grit my teeth every time because it’s not the most refined sound.

Despite this there were moments when I was travelling at 80km/h and the petrol engine turned off, allowing the car to drive exclusively on EV power. This primarily only happens on flat roads as the moment there’s even a whiff of a hill, the engine kicks back in again.

There’s a fair bit of road noise that enters the cabin at higher speeds, which isn’t uncommon for small SUVs. However, there’s also noticeable wind noise that sounds like it comes from the sunroof or the side mirrors.

The Corolla Cross was awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2022 based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP. The two safety authorities have harmonised testing protocols.

Standard equipment includes eight airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, lane centring, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, as well as a reversing camera.

The AEB system activates from 5km/h and lane-trace assist (lane centring) can be activated from 0km/h.

Also standard is one year of complimentary access to Toyota’s connected services. This allows for SOS emergency calling, as well as a range of remote features via a smartphone app.

Stepping up to the GXL brings a surround-view camera, as well as vehicle detection for the low-speed front and rear AEB.

All three rear seats have top-tether points and the two outboard rear seats have ISOFIX child seat anchorage points.

It’s all fairly standard on this front.

Ownership costs are a strength, too. The MG ZS is covered by a 10-year/250,000km warranty.

MG’s ‘Precise Price’ service plan locks in the cost of servicing with 12-month/15,000km intervals and a cost of about $1200 over five years.

Like all Toyotas, there’s a five-year, unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty. However, if you service at Toyota dealers you get two additional years of engine coverage, bringing the total to seven years.

The high-voltage battery coverage can also be extended up to 10 years if you service at Toyota dealers.

Roadside assistance is available to purchase from $99 annually.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. The first five services are capped at $255 each, which is incredibly affordable. It’s only beaten by the likes of Honda.

Toyota has one, if not the, most prolific dealer networks in Australia. There are around 260 dealers and they span metro, regional and rural areas.