BYD Atto 3 review: The best electric car you've never heard of?
This is the BYD Atto 3. And if you haven't been convinced by Chinese EVs yet, this might just be the car that alters your mindset.
But first, an important introduction. Very few people will have heard of BYD but you will hear much more about them soon. It stands for "Build Your Dreams", and the firm has actually been building cars since 2003. It also makes electric buses, trains and forklift trucks, and it's one of the largest manufacturers of battery technology and battery vehicles in the world.
Why take so long to bring cars to the UK, then? Who knows. But there are three models to choose from, the Dolphin, the Seal and the Atto 3. And it's the Atto 3, a rival for the Kia Niro and Nissan Qashquai that will doubtless be the big seller.
Its exterior is fairly conventional. You might even say forgettable. But that's fine, because the small SUV class is littered with forgettable designs, and they all sell strongly.
The interior, on the other hand, is far more distinctive. It's brimming with details you won't find in other cars, and I love it for that. From the unusual grilled air vents, to the guitar-style door pockets, it takes a while to drink it all in.
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The gear selector is styled like a dumbbell, the patterned, swooping dash is quite a thing of beauty, the door handles are a bit bonkers, and the seats are absolutely lovely.
And then there's that massive central display. In top-spec Atto 3s it's a 15.6" touch-screen affair with one of the best resolutions I've seen in a car. It also has a completely lag-free interface, so it works more like an iPad than an infotainment system.
While it's a shame to see all the car's main controls, including climate control settings, hidden away in menus, it's remarkably easy to navigate and makes using Android Auto and Apple Car Play an absolute dream.
And that's not even the best bit. At the touch of a steering wheel-mounted button the screen silently rotates into a portrait orientation. I'm not entirely sure why, it's actually easier to use in landscape format and you'll need it that way up for smartphone mirroring, but I do love a party trick.
The camera setup in my test car, piped to the main screen, is one of the best I've ever used, and I love the fact the much smaller driver display moves with the steering column.
Those chunky rear seats cut into the rear seat space a bit, but the legroom is still pretty good, helped by the flat floor. There's also plenty of light from the large rear windows.
Boot space is great at 440 litres, if slightly smaller than a few rivals, and there's lots of storage beneath the adjustable floor.
The ride quality is great. Soft suspension doesn't make for great handling, but it's good on bumpy B-roads, if perhaps a little bouncy at higher speeds. That said, I did a 200-mile motorway jaunt and it was a fine companion, effortlessly munching the miles.
That jaunt, incidentally, was a bit of a leap into the unknown in terms of range. BYD's official range is said to be 260 miles, but I did find I needed a top-up for the return leg.
Topping up the 60kWh LFP battery was easy enough, but its maximum of 88kw charging speed isn't all that impressive these days. The Skoda Enyaq, for example, can take on a 150kw load.
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But I managed to find a high-speed charger and a 15-minute stop-off was all I needed to very comfortably make it home, and I was able to plug it in to my three-pin household socket to top it right back up overnight.
In more important news, it's well worth mentioning BYD is something of a battery specialist, and the Atto 3 is fitted with an LFP battery, which is more reliable, longer-lasting and contains no cobalt. It also has an energy-saving heat pump system, among plenty of other tech innovations. BYD really does mean business.
There is only one drivetrain choice with the Atto 3, but its single 105kw motor has a healthy 201bhp which is enough to get you to 60mph in 7.3 seconds.
There are three trim levels to choose from; Active, Comfort and Design. The Active spec starts at £37,195 and Comfort is only a £500 leap. The plush Design spec weighs in at £39,695 but that is a very impressive package and, it's fair to say, the price point sits well alongside its rivals.
And then we confront the branding issue. BYD might be a massive company, but it's still a bit of an unknown in the UK. That said, we're a nation that's become far more comfortable with unknown brands. MG's huge success illustrates how quickly we can welcome a Chinese newcomer, once the product on offer is right.
And the Atto 3, BYD's most important car, absolutely does get it right. It's not perfect, and it's in a busy sector with some strong competition, but there's plenty on offer to make it stand out. And in this bold new world of EV dominance, standing out and being different is a fine attribute. One of many the Atto 3 possesses.
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