BYD Han Test: Traditional EV Sedan - MotorTrend In China - video Dailymotion

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MotorTrend Testing Director

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00:00The BYD Han is a very popular car in China.

00:13It's interesting, it doesn't seem like the SUV craze has hit quite like it has in

00:17America or even in Europe.

00:20Sedans are still really popular here and you see that with the vehicles that NIO and Zeker

00:25and Xiaomi and BYD are building.

00:28Yeah, there's plenty of crossovers, Tesla Model Y might be the best selling vehicle

00:32here, but sedans are alive and well and something like this BYD Han feels like it's got the

00:39substance in it to be taken seriously in the U.S.

00:43I guess that would require American car buyers to take sedans serious.

00:51Shall we do it?

00:51Zero to 60 in a Honk.

00:55Whoa!

00:56Zero to 60 in 3.9 but man it launches harder than that.

01:00Numbers are great at telling you a lot about a vehicle but they don't tell you everything.

01:04The speed with which this thing delivers torque when you lift off the brake and it just goes

01:11makes it feel just as quick as a car that does zero to 60 a second quicker than that.

01:16That's why you gotta watch a video like this.

01:17I am a sucker for cheap thrills like the quick initial hit of torque.

01:23Quarter mile in 12.6, that's quick, just as quick as a Tesla Model 3.

01:28This car to me doesn't have the kind of minimalist sleekness that we've seen in a lot of the

01:35other Chinese EVs.

01:36This feels almost more traditional, like something you would expect a GM to build and maybe that's

01:42because BYD has been in the game longer than many of these other Chinese EV startups.

01:48This layout here feels very traditional with this gauge cluster kind of set down in there.

01:53Lots of different layers on the dash, different trim materials, quite a bit of bright work

01:59and then obviously this matte faux wood which is quite well done.

02:04The center console has a very traditional feel to it, like it's got a little bit of

02:11feel to it, like it came out of a vehicle with a transmission tunnel.

02:15Seats are pretty great, really like the bolstering on it, the shape, the headrests.

02:25All right, let's cool the brakes off a little bit.

02:27You can smell them, they need to be cooled off.

02:30How does it handle?

02:31That's what Motor Trend's Figure 8 test is for.

02:34Stability control, there's an off switch but it turns back on above a certain speed so

02:40that's going to be inhibiting.

02:42It's a very intrusive stability control program.

02:47When I'm exiting these corners it does not want to give me full power until about now.

02:52Try your best to work around it but really there's only so much you can do, right?

02:56I don't want to come around this corner slowly at the end but there's several seconds there

03:01where it's just not giving me full power when I'm flat on the accelerator.

03:07It's frustrating.

03:08It's interesting because it feels like if you lift it will rotate a little bit but then

03:13it just won't give you power.

03:14Unnecessarily aggressive stability control system, it's not even saving you from anything.

03:20It's not like power is going to put you in jeopardy at that point.

03:23It's pretty well balanced in the middle of the corner.

03:25It's just right there where you want to be going back to power, it starts to cut it out.

03:30Good body control though and like I said, fairly neutral handling.

03:35The BYD Hon to me feels like one of the more solid Chinese industry offerings when it comes

03:43to electric sedans.

03:44Really nice ride quality, good body control, great power delivery.

03:50The one thing that I think would hold it back is how traditional this interior is.

03:55I think EV buyers, especially in America because we're still looking at early adopters and

04:01fast followers being the buyers, want something that feels more novel, more stylish, more

04:07modern.

04:08And this car, aside from this tablet center screen that's kind of hanging out here, feels

04:14exactly like a GM vehicle.

04:16If you took this out and replaced this with a screen that was more integrated into the

04:21dash, I would tell you we're driving in a Buick.

04:24That's what I would think we were in.

BYD Han Test: Traditional EV Sedan - MotorTrend In China

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