In a market where the best-selling EV is $65K, does China's BYD look compelling?

If you’re looking at ditching your fossil-fuel-powered car for an electric vehicle (EV) in the near future, you will have heard of BYD. And that’s because the newly arrived Chinese brand promises to offer the best-value one out there.

The circa-$45,000 ACT driveaway price for their Atto 3 Standard Range SUV (in white) brings the EV entry point closer to more people, who previously were stuck with the MG ZS EV with its dismal 320 km range or a Nissan Leaf with its outdated, uncooled battery.

That’s how I was going to begin this review, but in the four days between when I picked up my test example from the Janrule Parts Warehouse in Fyshwick and dropped it off, the prices had risen by $3630. The Standard Range (345 km) now starts at $48,011, and the Extended Range (420 km) at $51,011.

Okay, so in Canberra’s market, where the best-selling EV is still a $65K-plus Tesla, it’s still not bad. But what do you get?

It’s relieving to see car manufacturers have finally worked out how to give an EV a face. Decades of internal-combustion engines left us with a grille for a mouth and headlights for eyes, but EVs don’t need as much air. So we had a few years of fake vents and blank patches, but there’s nothing awkward about the Atto 3. Except for the ‘Build Your Dreams’ lettering on the back.

Pleasing styling touches such as the shark-skin-textured brushed aluminium on the back pillars and racy 18-inch wheels set it off. I don’t know if it’s this or the still largely unfamiliar BYD badges, but passers-by look too.

However, it’s inside where the gasps really roll out.

It looks like one of those prototype cars that are wheeled out to cooing crowds at international motor shows, bristling with all manner of weird and wonderful whims from the design department. Two years later, however, and the buying public is presented with a shadow of the car’s former self, with the ejector seats and 52-inch touchscreen replaced by a “sophisticated interior trimmed in Graphite vegan leather”.

Yeah, not this time.

Take the door pockets, for example. They could have gone for the usual moulded plastic affair but no, there are literal guitars down there and a quick sound check with a smartphone app confirms that, when plucked, the three red cords sound a mix of A and E notes. Parents will love that. What the cords don’t do, however, is hold a 710 mL drink bottle. Fortunately, there are plenty of storage options everywhere else.

Apart from the inevitable strumming, it’s library-quiet inside – and I wasn’t expecting that.

I thought there’d be annoying squeaks, rattles and other quality issues. And it’s true the brake makes a curious clunk at times, but while driving through one of Canberra’s springtime blustery gales, the BYD was like the eye of the cyclone. Only a whirr from the electric motors lets you know you are, in fact, moving.

It also handles the road impeccably.

Back to the brake pedal to get the bad news out the way first: BYD knows most of their buyers will be coming out of fossil-fuelled cars for the first time, so they’ve tried to make the transition as smooth as possible. This means no single-pedal driving or regenerative braking, as other EVs offer. It’s also left the brake pedal with a slightly spongey feeling that isn’t confidence-inspiring in traffic.

It doesn’t bolt off the line as quickly as other EVs either, even though it’s far from sluggish, with a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 7.3 seconds. Everything else about it, however, from the deft steering to the pliant suspension – not to mention the soft leather seats – makes it a genuinely nice car to drive around town.

Then there are the cameras which form a 3D image of the car on the 12.8-inch rotating touchscreen for easy parking, and you’re left amazed by BYD’s party trick: cramming as much into a car as possible for the price. The difference with the BYD is that it doesn’t even feel that cheap.

Just checking … and yep, the price is still $51,011.

2022 BYD Atto 3 Extended Range

• $51,011 driveaway
• Electric motor, 60.48 kWh lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) ‘Blade’ battery, 150 kW / 310 Nm
• Front-wheel drive
• 0-100 km/h in 7.3 seconds
• 420 km estimated range

Visit BYD Automotive for more information.