The Chinese carmaker XPENG is expected to release its new G6 electric SUV on the market this August. Can it compete with the Tesla Model Y and others in that segment? REV puts it to the test.
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00:00Today's test car is very well suited for a power nap.
00:04The new XPeng G6, a purely electric Chinese SUV that aims to compete with Tesla Model Y
00:11and others in that segment.
00:13How it performs, we'll check out right now.
00:15Welcome to Rev.
00:17One amongst the many Chinese EV makers that's made it to Europe recently,
00:22XPeng has made a mark with EVs that look good and tend to deliver more range than promised.
00:28But just what are they like to drive?
00:33The general driving impression in the G6 is really good.
00:38Way better than I would have expected for a Chinese car.
00:41You have very few wind noises.
00:44The noises of the tyres are also completely okay.
00:48So you have a very smooth and comfortable ride that you can expect from German manufacturer SUVs.
00:56The G6 has two different battery packs on offer, 66 and 87.5 kilowatt hours.
01:03The top version that we're testing is a 350 kilowatt all-wheel drive version
01:10with an 87.5 kilowatt hour battery and a range of around 550 kilometers according to WLTP.
01:18Now we all know WLTP is not exactly always a measure for everyday usability.
01:26Oftentimes you will get less range.
01:29But that is not true for XPeng cars.
01:33In a test conducted by the Norwegian Automobile Federation,
01:36the G9 and P7 achieved ranges that were 13 and 10 percent higher than their WLTPs respectively.
01:44But back to the G6.
01:46The entry-level version is a 190 kilowatt electric engine at the rear
01:52with a 66 kilowatt hour battery giving it a range of around 435 kilometers according to WLTP.
02:07The maximum range you can get for the G6 is the medium version that is also rear-wheel driven
02:13but has the bigger battery and 20 kilowatts more than the entry-level version.
02:18570 is what the manufacturer claims according to WLTP.
02:23So it should at least be that, maybe even a little bit more.
02:33The acceleration is a little more than four seconds for the powerful version that we test
02:39but still under seven seconds for the entry-level version.
02:42The top speed, by the way, is the same for all cars.
02:46200 kilometers an hour which is way faster than, for example, VW or Skoda cars.
02:52Of course, if you compare that to Tesla, depending on the version you get,
02:56that will drive way more than 200 kilometers an hour.
02:59But 200 is a very good figure, I think.
03:03And the G6 is part of the elite 800 volt EV tech circle.
03:09Let's talk about charging because in that aspect the G6 is also very, very good
03:15due to its 800 volt technology.
03:18Usually most other cars in that segment have 400 volts technology.
03:23The 800 volts is quite unique.
03:26And it doesn't matter whether you have the small 66 kilowatt hour battery
03:31or the bigger 87.5 kilowatt hours which, by the way, are net figures.
03:37So it's usable energy.
03:40And no matter which one you have, it will charge from 10 to 80 percent in 20 minutes.
03:46And that is really quick.
03:48Usually the 10 to 80 percent mark is around half an hour.
03:54The X-Peng G6's performance is also rather nimble and can hit the ton in just over four seconds.
04:02But do the insides meet our testers' expectations?
04:06The interior of the G6 is absolutely clean.
04:10You have no buttons at all in the middle.
04:13You have that huge touch screen.
04:15And that is also a thing you have to adjust the climate control with the touch screen.
04:24I don't like that.
04:25I'm not a fan of that.
04:27But, and that is a very clever solution by X-Peng.
04:31You can adjust the temperature with that roll right here.
04:37So simply putting it up and down will adjust the temperature to your liking.
04:42And that way you can do that without taking your eyes from the road,
04:46which is always a problem with touch screen use
04:48because you can't use touch screen without looking at it.
04:51Another thing is the vents.
05:01You can't adjust those manually.
05:05You have to do that via the touch screen as well.
05:08On the other hand, of course, you do that once and then you won't have to do that again.
05:13So it's okay.
05:14But the way it works, I mean, you press the vent you want to use
05:19and then you can swipe left, right, up, down.
05:22And you will have an animation that will show you where the airflow is approximately going.
05:26It would have been easier to just have it manually adjustable.
05:35The steering wheel is okay.
05:38It is flattened on the top and at the bottom.
05:40So it's not exactly round.
05:42The design is okay.
05:45I have seen better.
05:46I have seen worse.
05:48Behind the steering wheel, you have that lever that will allow you to put the car into drive
05:53or reverse and parking.
05:55One thing I would have wanted, though, is the adjustment of the recuperation.
05:59It is not possible with the steering wheel.
06:02You have to do that via the touch screen.
06:05Then again, on the other hand, probably you will set it to one setting,
06:09either low, medium, high or for one pedal drive.
06:13And then you will keep it in that setting and not change it very often.
06:18But pedals behind the steering wheel, like you have with many other manufacturers,
06:22would have been a nice addition to that.
06:26And the G6 has a few neat tricks up its sleeves, too.
06:31What you can also see is that the car does not have door handles.
06:35Instead, it has a button that you press, then the door pops open.
06:38That is also quite good in terms of safety,
06:41because if the car recognizes that someone comes from behind,
06:44then it will warn you and the door will not directly open.
06:54In the middle, you will find two wireless charging spots that also have a cooling.
06:59So you have these little vents that will blow air under the phone to keep it cool while charging,
07:04because sometimes those tend to get quite hot while wirelessly charging.
07:09And down here, you have two USB slots, USB-A and USB-C,
07:14to charge your smartphone if it doesn't support wireless charging.
07:21The adjustment of the side view mirrors is also done via the touchscreen,
07:26or at least you have to start the process of adjustment via the touchscreen.
07:31And then you can do the actual adjustment with the buttons at the steering wheel.
07:37Since you usually only do that once and then it is kept with your driver profile, it is okay.
07:44But finding that is not as easy as having it in the door like it used to be with most other cars.
07:55The G6 also has a 950-watt sound system, which is really, really good.
08:03Let's just listen to it.
08:07Wow!
08:24Crazy! I really like it.
08:26I mean, if you don't have sound with an electric car,
08:29then at least you will have some very, very good sounding music.
08:37Wow!
08:39The space in the back is ample.
08:42As you can tell, there is a lot of legroom,
08:44huge headroom left and a very nice view through the panoramic glass roof.
08:50Unfamiliar with the XPeng brand?
08:52Well, our testers got a quick history lesson for you.
08:59The brand XPeng is by no means new.
09:02It was founded in 2014, so 10 years old.
09:06The first car came out in 2018, the G3,
09:11which was a rather small car, but for the Chinese market.
09:14And then in 2021 and 2022, they came to Europe with Norway, Denmark,
09:21the Netherlands and other markets that were very well known
09:25for their good amount of purely electric vehicles.
09:30So they wanted to see how will the customers react to a Chinese car.
09:35And in fact, it worked out really good.
09:39The G9 was a big battery electric SUV.
09:43And in 2023, the G9 had a market share of more than 8%,
09:50which earned XPeng the third place in Norway for big battery electric SUVs,
09:56just behind Audi and BYD and even ahead of Mercedes and Skoda.
10:04Perhaps their pricing has something to do with it.
10:10Another thing that is very good about the G6 is the fact that everything is included.
10:18We're talking about the huge touchscreen.
10:20We're talking about the panoramic glass roof, about the seats, about everything.
10:25The only thing that you can get optional are different colors.
10:28For example, that orange, it's not standard.
10:30Standard is white and a deployable tow bar.
10:34And that's it.
10:36And I think that is quite an interesting approach.
10:39And considering the prices, that is very, very surprising that everything is included.
10:52Just as most other manufacturers nowadays,
10:55you will also get a smartphone app that you can use to unlock the vehicle and drive it.
11:02But you can also find it or honk the horn or preheat or pre-cool it.
11:10The entry-level G6 has a starting price of around €43,000 in Germany,
11:16while the top-end version costs around €51,000.
11:20All XPeng cars achieved five-star ratings in the Euro NCAP crash test,
11:25and even though the results for the G6 are not yet in, it will probably do just the same.
11:32To sum up my G6 experience, I really, really enjoyed driving the car.
11:38There are very nice features.
11:40It has some minor flaws, but which car doesn't nowadays?
11:45And considering that it is fully equipped for a price starting at around €43,000,
11:52that is a really, really good offer.
11:54I think one that most manufacturers cannot compete with,
11:59especially if you consider how good-looking the car is.
12:03The G6 is a sporty-looking, design-oriented SUV with a very good range and top-notch charging
12:09capabilities.
12:10Unfortunately, some features such as manual adjustment of the air vents
12:14and steering wheel buttons for the level of recuperation
12:17fell victim to the modern era's love of digitalization.
12:21So, what do you think of the G6?
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