BYD ie Build Your Dreams, a Chinese car company wants to fulfill your dreams in India. Whether you have been hearing this BYD name for the past few months or a year, this car company is not new to India. It has been trying to dominate the Indian market for the last 15 years and before making cars, this company was trading mobile components, solar panels, battery energy storage, electric buses, trucks and chargers in India, but now For a year this company is launching its electric cars in India. First of all, the company launched its BYD E6 which was an electric MPV and initially it was launched only for commercial i.e. B2B but now it can also be bought by buyers using personal vehicles.
Now the BYD Atto 3 which is the second electric car after the E6 and we have been helped by Landmark BYD, Delhi to review it exclusively. The price of this electric car in the Indian market is Rs 33.99 lakh (ex-showroom), which you will get on-road Delhi for around Rs 37 lakh. Now the question in the mind of the people is that with such a high price, is this electric SUV really worth buying or not. You will get the answer to this question in detail in this review.
Looks and Design
See Chinese companies, especially four-wheeler and two-wheeler companies, keep strange names for their vehicles, the meaning of which will confuse your head. Although you are so used to Maruti’s Alto, you will not find the Atto too strange. But no, the name atto comes from the word attosecond, the smallest fraction of a second that you can currently measure. In this vehicle, you get to see the Dragon Face 3.0 design language which looks quite fresh and sporty.
In the front face you get beautiful headlights which are connected to each other through DRL. The thick silver stripe and BYD written on it look premium. Looking down, there are no fog lights here, but below you will definitely see a radar which does the autonomous level 2 features.
If seen from the side, the car will look very long. It is a compact SUV but it is longer than the Hyundai Creta and Jeep Compass. The length of the vehicle is 4,455 mm and here you also get to see beautiful 18-inch alloy wheels. The ground clearance is 175 mm and up front you can see the roof rails and D-pillar just like the E6. There is also an NFC tag on the outside rear view mirror of the drive side, which means if you have an NFC card, you can lock-unlock the car by tapping it. Coming to the rear profile, the car looks quite bold here. The LED taillights that are connected to each other and the big ‘Build Your Dreams’ written on it look much better.
Interior & Features
As soon as you enter the interior of the BYD Atto 3, you will find amazing and strange features in this vehicle. From the inside, you get a nice door handle to open and close the doors, in which you get to see speakers and ambient lights. The dashboard has been kept very clean and one can see the use of soft touch leather everywhere. The ACs are inspired by the dumbbells on the weights and the biggest party piece here is the 12.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system that you can turn vertically and horizontally with the help of a button on the steering wheel. Its touch response is well received. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not in it at the moment but according to the dealership, you will get these features wireless in the next update. In this, you can use some features of ADAS, air purifier and climate control. Looking at the bottom, here you get an aircraft inspired gear knob with a lot of buttons.
Now the bigger the infotainment system, the smaller you get the instrument cluster which measures 5 inches and comes with a full color display. In this you get a lot of information related to the vehicle. Interestingly, you get the instrument cluster linked to the steering wheel. You also get steering mounted controls and from here also you can control some ADAS features. The plastic found on the steering looks a bit worn out. The most amazing thing is that you get to see bass guitar strings on the doors, which not only work to hold the bottle, but you can also play them a little.
Talking about the seats, here you get race seats in the front. The comfort is decent here. Headrest is not adjustable. So some people will like these seats and some will not. Built on an electric platform, the center console is built like a bridge, so you get space at the bottom as well.
Talking about the rear seats, you get good space here. If there is a flat floor, then you can easily keep your feet here. There is enough space for three people. However, only two people can sit comfortably. Three well-built people cannot sit very comfortably in the back seats. Boot space is available at 440 litres. Here you do not get a spare wheel in the boot, which I think at the price the company has launched it, the company should have given a full size spare wheel and not a puncture kit.
Battery, Range and Performance
The Atto 3 is built on BYD’s new e-platform 3.0, due to which it gets many mechanical advantages. The biggest advantage is that the company has used blood cells in it and a 60.48kWh battery pack has been installed in it. According to ARAI, it gives a range of up to 521 km on a single charge. The front wheel drive Atto 3 uses a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor that generates 204 hp power and 310 Nm torque. It takes 7.3 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 kmph. There is a weight of about 1750 kg and you do not even feel this while running. There are three drive modes – Eco, Normal and Sport. Along with this, you also get regenerative braking system in two levels.
If you drive decently with this vehicle, you will find it quite satisfying. You get ample torque during the drive and if you like to drive decently, you don’t find it suddenly flamboyant on a light accelerator, which is a good thing. But, if you accelerate very fast, then you start seeing strong performance here. You get decent ride quality and braking is also great.
Talking about safety, BYD Atto 3 has received 5-star ratings in Euro NCAP. Apart from 7 airbags, you also get ADAS level features as mentioned earlier. Everything is fine but while driving, you do not get the feel of an SUV, this is because the driver’s seat is not very high and for this reason you cannot see the corners of the bonnet at all. You get good visibility all around. The company could have done a better job here.
charging time
If charged through 80KW DC fast charger, it takes 50 minutes to charge from 0 to 80%. At the same time, if you charge with 7KW AC home charger then you will have to wait for about 9 hours and it may take about 17-18 hours through 3KW AC portable charging box.
Our Verdict:
The price of BYD Atto 3 electric car is Rs 33.9 lakh (ex-showroom). On-road Delhi, you have to buy this vehicle for about 37 lakh rupees. Now at this price, it is proving to be really expensive, but if you want a smooth and decent performance and range with tremendous features in your vehicle, then you can buy Atto 3.