Artist / Channel: Deja Vu Magazine |
Runtime: 11:32 mins |
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I know that some will not like this review of the Xpeng Mona 03, lauded by many as a value-for-money alternative to leading EVs including the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 for reasons that I don't understand. Other reviewers perhaps spent too little time with the Mona 03 to find the faults that were exposed on my week long real world road trip out of Chengdu recently.
Even the hire car company proudly told me to look after this car as it is a new design and a new car. Pity they had not detailed the car, as it was filthy, but with that Yellow River beige coated on the outside, how could you even tell, right?
Never mind the colour palette, the Xpeng Mona 03 gets worse the more you drive it.
- Looking at the styling, you have accepted a sedan proportions and limitations on boot space only to find out that it's a hatchback??? Surely if you are going to the trouble and benefits of a hatchback, celebrate it and create a cavernous boot space! and make the car more saleable by making it immediately obvious when you LOOK AT IT.
- Long after you have figured out the thumb blunting technique for opening the doors, you are still having to reach over and open the passenger door for a partner who is yet to work it out for herself. Opening a door should be easy unless you are worried about car-jackers.
- Entering the car you have bumped your head on the sloping A pillar despite the electric seat (nice touch) has motored all the way back.
- What the! Just because Tesla have a single screen and no instrument cluster, does not mean it is a good thing. :-( If Xpeng were aiming this budget EV at "first time EV buyers," they have already made it hard to get in, and now befuddle ICE people with making sense of the where everything is and navigating the menu system for AC controls, let alone the overall lack of buttons - BUTTONS HAVE BEEN IN CARS SINCE THE 30's FOR A REASON.
- If you want to make it harder yet, Xpeng have introduced dual roles for the buttons that do exist. Instance of this is the left steering wheel scroll wheel. On a Tesla and here, scrolling up and down is for increasing or decreasing the cruise speed - When cruise is not engaged, the scroll wheel becomes a means to adjust the fan speed - WAY TO COMPLICATED and you find yourself blowing air on yourself instead of accelerating!
I could go on and on, but let's get to the biggest disappointment. Last year, I drove the Xpeng G6 in the Yunnan province and a nice drive in the mountains. I found the self-driving capabilities really lacking. The vehicles simply can't go around a decent curve let alone a gentle one. Teslas and other vehicles that advertise self drive are very much more capable than the G6 was. Defenders and video commenters on that video cited that software updates would soon solve the self drive shortcomings. Here we are in Xpeng's latest vehicle with the latest software and the self-driving capabilities are similarly terrible. It can't be defended because it's a "budget EV" either. BYD have introduced self driving into even their most basic budget vehicles, never mind it being available and working better in virtually every ICE vehicle globally. For whatever reason, Xpeng are way behind on this and it sucks out any leftover respect you might have for this car.
In summary, I think that Xpeng might have thought that the Mona 03 might be purchased by people who wanted a Tesla and the "way of Tesla" without the Tesla price. But then again, as things are now, who even wants a Tesla let alone the worst of their points of difference, done badly.
My real worry is that people might purchase the Mona as their first EV after a life of ICE car driving and really hate it.
Meanwhile, I can't wait for my next drive in something from Xiaomi, Zeekr, BYD or other EV maker - There are nearly 100 EV car brands in China, let alone what the rest of the world is doing. Xpeng Mona 03 is one of the most senseless, backward stepping cars to hit the curb.
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