NIO EL7/manufacturer
Price: NIS
555,000
Competitors: Audi Q8 E TRON, Mercedes SUV EQE, BMW iX, XFang G9
We liked:
performance, behavior, accessories
We didn't like:
human engineering, gimmicks, price
Score:
8/10
It seems that under the heavy pressure of the marketing drums and technological capabilities, in the automotive industry there is almost no concept left with clear sector boundaries and agreed definitions.
A coupé car can have 4 doors, an elevated station wagon is called a "crossover", the acceleration of a hot compact until a few years ago was the accepted standard for an electric family car, is it appropriate to drive a "recreational" vehicle also on the way to work?
But above all these, the words "luxury" and "premium" have become completely explosive in recent years.
In most cases it is simply a very convenient way for the manufacturers to explain the high price of their cars and for consumers to justify this expense.
Now take this not simple starting point and add to it the tremendous expansion that the Israeli market has experienced in recent years with the entry of a host of unknown Chinese brands that, to their credit - certainly shatter ancient paradigms in the perception of Mr. Israeli.
In the NIO EL7 that you see here, many of these points are put together for a crossover, very powerful, electric, equipped, certainly expensive, but can the word "luxurious" be included in the list of these facts?
The dimensions are like a BMW X5, the appearance is quite generic/Kenan Cohen
Design:
In a world that replicates itself in terms of visibility (eg our mobile phones) and in the midst of a tsunami of Chinese models and brands, it's hard to say that the EL7 stands out or is different in the landscape. Its appearance is completely generic, the same lines as if they were obtained as a result of a graphic artificial intelligence generator, an opaque front , narrow lighting units, a smooth body with sunken handles. It's fine if you're another one of the crowd of popular Chinese brands, not the desired effect from a vehicle that exceeds half a million shekels. Only the beam battery on the roof that houses the laser radar and cameras breaks the look, but even there, It's done in a gimmicky and effortful way - we'll meet that later.
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A gimmick or an engineering necessity that they couldn't overcome?
The lidar battery and cameras/Kenan Cohen
Cabin:
Upon opening the door, it's completely clear where the inspiration for the look of the cabin came from here - it's a full Tesla with a large screen, a dashboard in front of the driver and a minimum of switches.
The quality of the materials is high, as well as the level of finish and assembly, even in the critical places such as the lower parts of the passenger cabin and the rear doors.
The shades are warm and brown with an inlay of wood and metal-like materials in measure and taste.
Only the truncated ball in the middle of the dashboard where NOMI, NIO's voice assistant lives, clouds that luxurious atmosphere in the cabin.
It's like they did 95% of the way to a fair and mature cabin and then the Chinese jumped them with this ornate gimmick that fits a much simpler car, and it's a shame, because its function is excellent.
Space and quality of materials are excellent, the overall appearance is devoid of buttons and this is not a compliment/Kenan Cohen
Finding a driving position is done easily, there are many options for adjusting the seats and these also proved to be very comfortable for long trips, the passenger even has an opening footrest and an extension of the seat base.
Outward visibility is slightly limited due to thick front beams.
The space in front is excellent, and there are plenty of storage compartments except for a glove box which is missing due to the footrest for the passenger.
Even in the back, the living conditions are excellent, starting with the exceptional space, the comfort of the seats, their electric direction, the storage places, the separate control of the climate control, but why only one USB socket?
Trunk:
with 570 liters it is neither small nor large.
Total matches the overall size of the car and definitely fits.
Here, too, the car suffers from the lack of a full spare wheel, or a spare wheel at all, and is content with an inflation kit, we would also add a hamsa, a garlic head and a trained Nachman mascot - all of them can help you if you get stuck on the road.
I was very disappointed when it turned out that the vehicle arrived without a cover for the trunk, not rigid, not rolled and not plastered.
Sorry?!
And how much does this car cost?
The voice assistant does a good job, but all these effects are a bit trying, aren't they?/Keenan Cohen
Equipment:
The list of equipment in the EL7 is exceptionally long, from the soft-close doors, the double sunroof (here also with a face cover unlike the manufacturer's sedan ET models), the heated steering wheel, the 3-zone climate control, an air freshening system , electric retractable tow hook, overhead display, wireless charging surface, full electrification and heating for all seats, cooling and massage in the two fronts and no less than 23 speakers for the audio system.
If there are two things you can't avoid seeing in the cabin of the NIO EL7 - speakers and cameras, including a selfie camera and constant recording of the driving from all angles, the thoughts it makes in your head are yours, I personally got out of the car and walked away when I had a private conversation...
Spacious and useful, but why without a cover for the trunk?/Keenan Cohen
What is more, and as in other Chinese - for all the aviation compliments, the armament complicates acute problems in human engineering.
Something that ranges from puzzling things to what just looks like a disdain for intelligence or just the customer.
It starts with the sick evil of many new cars - the concentration of most functions in the operation from the large touch screen (12.8 inches).
Changing monitor brightness, mirror orientation, control of the charging port, direction of the air conditioning ports and the air conditioning itself, operation of the audio system, display of information on power consumption, and more.
The car does not have Android and Apple CarPlay pairing, but a bypass using third-party software, which does not always work smoothly and interface well with the system.
There are also oddities such as the buttons for opening and closing the windows (push closes and pull opens), the radio has interruptions in reception, the dashboard does not allow changing displays and the ones that are on it are almost useless, there is no average power consumption display at all, but only at 10 or 100 km The last ones and why on earth does the arc car require a password to reset the trip computer?
Excellent space, electric steering and separate control of the rear climate control/Kenan Cohen
At least most of the important functions like turning on the lights can be controlled from the voice assistant which is among the more successful of this technology and promises to improve in the future when it fails to do something.
What's more, if her OVER passionate nature could be moderated a bit, after all, we are not in a time for celebrations.
Safety:
As with the manufacturer's two sedans, there is also a battery of very advanced safety measures.
Automatic braking, lane departure correction (active and too sensitive for my taste), front and rear cross traffic warning, "dead zone" warning including door opening warning when a passing vehicle is detected, distraction detection and more.
The EL7 has a score of 5 out of 5 stars in the latest European crash test.
There are two engines, 653 horses but no front trunk/Cohen nest
Performance:
even in the electric world where hp has become very "cheap", a figure of 653 horses and 86.6 kg is a figure that is definitely worthy of consideration.
Also the way in which this business is translated into the movement of this not light vehicle which with an adult passenger crosses the 2.5 tons.
Two engines and dual drive means that every press of the pedal translates to the car bursting forward in any of the driving modes except ECO where it is restrained in order to save electricity, but flip to Sport and Sport Plus mode (or ask NOMI to switch to them) and you will discover a machine that will respond like a snake bite up to 3.9 seconds to 100 and without any real moderation up to the maximum speed.
I also personally lack the possibility of regeneration at a higher level than he offers, which would allow "driving with one pedal".
A front camera that records everything, including a connection to a search engine/Kenan Cohen
Power consumption, range and charging:
Since the average power consumption cannot be obtained from the car, our range estimates are mainly based on guesswork in light of the average needs per 100 km that we sampled throughout the test according to the different driving styles. So compared to the declared driving range of 501 km, We recorded a figure ranging between 420 and 460 km. This is still a decent range.
At NIO, at least technically, there is the possibility of changing the battery at dedicated stations, such as have not yet been established in Israel, there are plans for this, but there are also problematic aspects and issues on the way there, such as for example the question of ownership Who is the battery and who will guarantee that when replacing a battery you will not get one in a worse condition than "your" original, etc. In the meantime, you will be satisfied with charging performance at the medium level of capacities up to 125 kilowatts in fast DC charging and 11 kilowatts in AC charging.
Even from behind the appearance is not unusual or has an unusual presence in the environment/Kenan Cohen
Comfort and behavior:
EL7 has adaptive air dampers, in the industry, these dampers are considered the "magic solution" of the compromises required between ride comfort and chassis restraint.
Here, in terms of comfort, they are not performed at the high level that the best of these systems are capable of.
Even when the vehicle is in "comfort" mode, they don't leave out small disruptions in the way that the better ones "slide" them.
In regards to noise isolation, which is also a comfort component - the car does a fantastic job.
So we already said that power becomes "cheap" in the electric age, but the physics of dynamics is harder to trick.
We've already come across a Chinese or two in the market and it's hard to say that we came back from driving them with a good impression regarding the road behavior, in fact most of them were at best casual, mediocre or below.
But here I very quickly discovered a completely different material.
The EL7 exhibits excellent road handling.
Every component in the chain does a great job, starting with the powerful engine, through the power transmission system to the wheels in terms of controlling the distribution of power between the axles, and ending with the steering wheel and brakes that have a natural and direct feel.
The levels of grip and confidence in the car are very high and even on a very technical and crowded road like the climb to the entrance to Hama, the business worked eloquently and without unnecessary "scattering" and bending of the vehicle that lead to grip appeals.
There is also a selfie camera, which is how my daughter explained what should be done in these pictures/Keenan Cohen
The bottom line
We've written this before and it looks like we'll repeat it again in the future - the rate of progress of the Chinese car industry is the fastest we've encountered in the industry.
This isn't the decades-long slow polishing of the Europeans, these aren't the two decades of the Japanese type or the decade and a half of the South Koreans - these are manufacturers who, with each generation of cars and within a few years, have closed gaps from a backward automobile industry to one that is already challenging the Western manufacturers.
In the very last few days we encountered the first German manufacturer to place NIO in its presentations as a competitor, which took them years to do in the case of Lexus.
But slow development and establishment of status sometimes have advantages on the one hand and this run on the other hand has a price.
And this is also the story here, like all Chinese manufacturers, NIO is also stuck in the "too much" stage, a kind of over-enthusiasm for anything that smells of technology or progress to the point of drifting into the same kitsch and gimmick realms - it's fine as a folk brand that wants to make souls, it doesn't belong and doesn't suit a brand that wants to challenge the luxury manufacturers and entice their customers.
Among the buttons it doesn't have, it's also the magic button of the symbol on the front which for some customers is a real "money's worth".
We are also on the map/Kenan Cohen
And when it crosses the half million shekel mark, even though it is a good vehicle in itself and a good deal in terms of performance, equipment and quality, despite a decidedly prestigious service envelope of treatments without charge for 5 years, a 24/7 service center, a pick-up service, return and placement of a replacement vehicle During treatments and personal accompaniment for each client - at the product level it is still not the material of traditional quality products in the execution of the small things in the user experience (human engineering and more).
In this situation, at the current point in time, it may get stuck in the dead zone of not being a "desirable" enough brand for those who want to know that they put more than half a million shekels on the car on the one hand, and on the other hand not being "respectable" or "baked" enough for those who are used to spending Such amounts on cars.
First Chinese in the districts north of half a million shekels, who will he attract?/Keenan Cohen
On the technical side: NIO EL7
Engine, drive:
electric, two engines, double
Battery:
100 kWh
Power (hp):
653
Torque (kgm):
86.6
Gearbox:
automatic single ratio
Dimensions:
Length (m):
4.91
Width (m) '):
1.99
Height (m):
1.72
Wheelbase (cm):
296
Trunk (liters):
570
Performance:
Acceleration 0-100 (seconds):
3.9
Maximum speed (km/h):
200
Combined official range :
501 km
Range (test):
420-460 km
Safety:
European crash test score:
5 out of 5 stars (in 2023)
Active safety:
Automatic emergency braking, in forward and reverse travel, adaptive cruise control, maintaining Lane center, cross traffic warning, warning of a vehicle in a dead zone, warning of opening a door when a vehicle approaches, automatic high beam, warning of driver vigilance
Air pollution:
group 1 of 15
Warranty:
for the vehicle: 5 years or 150 thousand km.
For the battery: 8 years or 160 thousand km
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