Rent MG ZS 2024 in Dubai

The MG ZS 2024 available for rent in Dubai is the older-shaped ZS, the version MG sold across the GCC before the redesign that landed in March 2025, and that actually works in its favour for a rental. It runs the same naturally aspirated 1.5-litre automatic this shape has used for years, so there's nothing new to figure out about how it starts, cools down or handles a tight ramp. We get it to your door in one to two hours of booking, no counter visit needed. The real appeal here isn't a long feature list. It's a car whose behaviour is already settled, and that predictability, not the spec sheet, is the case for booking this one over the newer shape.

What's under the bonnet, and how it drives

MG sold this shape of ZS in the GCC with a single naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four. No turbo option was offered until the redesigned car arrived, so there's no confusion about which engine you're getting. It makes 118 hp, sent to the front wheels through a CVT automatic, and it's tuned for smooth, unhurried progress rather than any sense of urgency. Around town, pulling away from lights and looping through a Marina car park, it never feels out of its depth. Take it onto Sheikh Zayed Road loaded with people and bags, though, and the CVT holds a higher note while the engine builds speed, so give yourself more room than you would in a turbocharged rival before you pull out to overtake. That's not a fault so much as what a simple, well-worn engine and gearbox combination does, and it's also part of why this car asks so little of a mechanic during a rental.

The boot, the back seat and a week's worth of bags

At 4,314 mm long and 1,809 mm wide, this is a genuinely compact SUV, closer to a tall hatchback than the wider, longer ZS MG introduced for 2025. That smaller footprint is an asset once you're actually parking it. Marina tower bays and mall multi-storeys that force a longer SUV into a three-point turn take this one straight in. MG hasn't published a separate boot figure for this shape, and it trails the redesigned car's 448-litre boot by a real margin, so plan on one large case and a soft bag rather than a full family's luggage for an airport run. The back seat holds two adults comfortably for a day out, and three kids across works fine for the school run. Put a fourth adult back there with everyone's cases loaded for a DXB or DWC transfer, though, and knees start meeting the front seatbacks, which is the honest ceiling of a compact SUV this size. Ground clearance isn't separately confirmed for this exact shape either, but in daily driving it clears a standard speed bump or a steep mall ramp without drama. It's still a front-wheel-drive road car on regular tyres, so keep Hatta's dirt tracks for something built for them.

Fuel, tolls and keeping the cabin cool

MG quotes combined economy of around 6.5 litres per 100 km for the 1.5, and on the 45-litre tank that's a theoretical range near 690 km. A week of real Dubai driving, stop-start traffic with the AC working against the heat, brings that number down in practice, but it stays a cheap car to keep fed either way. The rental allowance on this car is 250 km a day, with anything past that billed at AED 0.5 per kilometre, which covers ordinary city driving comfortably and only needs a second look if you're planning a day trip out of town. Salik tolls and any RTA fines during the rental are the renter's responsibility, the same as on every car here, and you need to be 25 to take the keys on this one. Seat belts are mandatory in every seat, and a child seat is required for anyone under four.

The front vents pull a baked cabin down quickly once you're moving again, which matters more than any other AC detail once a car has sat in a parking structure at 45 degrees. This pre-facelift shape predates the rear AC vents MG added to the redesigned ZS, so back-seat passengers rely on air pushed through from the front rather than an outlet of their own. Our fleet car's white paint helps a little here too, reflecting more of the midday sun than a dark colour would and keeping the worst of the heat soak down before you climb back in.

Who the ZS 2024 fits, and who should pay for more

Rent the MG ZS 2024 if you want an SUV rental you don't have to think about twice, a car with a known engine, a known gearbox and years of the same setup behind it in this market. A couple or small family doing city errands, school runs and the odd airport pickup gets everything they need here, and the smaller body makes daily parking genuinely easier than it is in most SUVs this size.

Pay up for a mainstream name, a Kicks, a Creta, a Seltos, or the redesigned MG ZS itself, if you need rear AC vents for kids on hot afternoons, a bigger boot for regular airport runs, or a turbo engine with more shove for merging onto Sheikh Zayed Road. None of that makes this older-shaped ZS a worse car for what most rental weeks actually involve. It just means the newer shape is worth the extra if your week asks for more than city driving. For a straightforward, predictable week around Dubai, the 2024 ZS still does the job it was built for.