Author: Chubby with Twin Turbo
Enough to “amaze”, but not to “surprise”
New energy, intelligent cabin, and intelligent driving are the main development directions of current automobiles. As an “old player” in the domestic new energy market, and a brand that has just become independent not long ago, GAC Aion will officially launch an upgraded version of AION S Plus on June 23 this year.
This time, I came to Zhuhai to bring you the test drive experience of this model before the official launch of AION S Plus.
Compared with AION S, the upgrade of AION S Plus includes four aspects: appearance, power, safety, and intelligence:
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Appearance: The design language of concept car ENO.146 is used, and the overall style is more concise;
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Power: Still using the front single motor layout, the motor’s maximum power has been increased to 165 kW or about 225 horsepower;
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Safety: Equipped with ibooster electronic control braking assistance + ESP9.3 dual braking system, and replaced with GAC Aion’s bullet cartridge battery;
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Intelligence: Equipped with ADIGO0 intelligent driving interconnect ecosystem and ADiGO2.5 automatic driving system.
The test drive I experienced this time was still a trial installation car, and some functions cannot be used at present, including the ADiGO2.5 automatic driving system and the electrically controlled panoramic sky that can change colors.
Sprinting on the “Mechanical Wind” Road with All Effort
From AION S/LX to AION V/Y, and now to AION S Plus, GAC Aion is still very good at grasping the appearance. I have always called this design style “mechanical wind,” which is sharp while having a strong sense of technology and is quite popular among young people.
AION S Plus uses the design language of concept car ENO.146, and the main changes in appearance are reflected in the front bumper and taillights.
The overall exterior design is more concise than AION S. Of course, the new styling of the front bumper is also very similar to the previously launched AION Y.
It is this new design language and the addition of the adaptive intake grille that have improved the aerodynamics of the AION S Plus, reducing the drag coefficient to 0.211 Cd.
Although there were not many changes to the appearance of the AION S Plus, it suddenly enhanced the style of the entire car, making it more futuristic and sporty.
Looking at the domestic new energy vehicle market, many people think of GAC AION when they hear about mecha-style design, which has become a prominent feature of GAC AION.
The biggest improvement is still the intelligent cockpit
The interior design of the AION S Plus has not changed much, with the same integrated seats and separate suspended central console island. Overall, only some details have been optimized, such as the central screen and the steering wheel.
There are five main ways to interact with the cockpit: touch screen, physical buttons, virtual buttons, voice interaction, and active interaction based on DMS.
The 14.6-inch central screen undoubtedly brings a better user experience, especially for viewing maps and videos. The larger screen size can also accommodate larger card UI and functional icons, making touch operations more convenient and reducing mis-touch rate.
The Dock bar at the bottom of the central screen includes Home, Apps, Driving settings, and air conditioning adjustments. On the left side towards the driver, there are sliding cards that can be scrolled to the bottom to click the plus button to add, delete, and drag and drop functions.
The physical buttons and knobs in the cabin of AION S Plus are not many, basically including the window switches on the door panel, rearview mirror adjustment, and the gear shift knob, driving mode switch, automatic air conditioning, and front windshield defogger located in the center console.
The control buttons on the steering wheel not only support physical button pressing, but also the left steering control button supports sliding operation of virtual buttons, which can quickly switch different display information on the instrument panel.
AION S Plus has good voice control performance, supporting wake-up and modification of wake-up words through voice. In actual experience, the voice system can be said to be relatively complete, supporting control of most software and hardware in the car, such as air conditioning, windows, and multimedia. It also supports natural semantic understanding, context understanding, multi-round interaction and interruption, and multi-path navigation planning.
At the same time, AION S Plus uses dual-array four-microphone matrix, supporting the recognition of the dual sound zone of the main and co-pilot. For example, after the main and co-pilot give the instruction “open the window” respectively, the system will open the corresponding window at the corresponding position.
However, this voice assistant also has a small problem. When faced with unsupported or unexecutable instructions, the voice assistant will continue to react for more than 10 seconds and then exit directly. According to common sense, in this case, the voice assistant should immediately judge whether it can be executed, and promptly give feedback of “cannot be executed” before exiting.
The built-in functional applications in the car system are still sufficient to meet the needs of the vast majority of consumers’ driving scenarios, including Gaode Map Car Edition, QQ Music, Himalaya, Kugou Music, and Huoshan Car Entertainment. In the application market, users can also download Kuwo Music, iQiyi, Lazy Reading, and Tencent Video.
The DMS infrared camera installed on the steering column can capture the driver’s behavior, and will actively remind the driver in case of smoking or fatigue driving. The DMS is also used for face recognition account login on the car’s system.
Balanced Driving Experience
The AION S Plus will offer three ranges: 410 km, 510 km, and 602 km. Although the maximum power of the electric motor on the AION S Plus is increased by 30 kW (about 40 horsepower) compared to the AION S, the overall driving experience is not significantly different.
Even in SPORT mode, there is not much of a strong acceleration sensation at the start, but power gradually builds up from the mid-range. This is different from the setting of many electric cars that “shoot off” instantly from a stop.
The feeling of acceleration in the 6.8 seconds zero to 100 km/h is similar to that of a fuel car equipped with a 2.0T engine, only that the entire acceleration process is smoother due to the characteristics of the electric motor without a gearbox.
Thanks to the application of the ibooster electronic brake assist + ESP9.3 dual brake system, the AION S Plus has a very good braking effect, and the foot feel of the brakes is also relatively comfortable. The AION S Plus uses a front MacPherson and rear torsion beam suspension, which is tuned more towards comfort.
The AION S Plus offers 5 driving modes including ECO, NORMAL, SPORT, I-Pedal, and ECO+. Different driving modes directly affect the power output of the electric motor, but the steering force of the wheel remains unchanged.
Conclusion
Compared with AION S, the AION S Plus I experienced this time, though a trial car, has indeed made great improvements in exterior design, intelligent cockpit, and other aspects. Especially the intelligent cockpit, the interaction logic, voice control, hardware layout, and content ecology are just right.
However, for me, AION S Plus seems to be a car model that has eye-catching exterior and interior designs, excellent technological performance, but is somewhat too “honest” when driving.
Even so, in 2021’s standards, I believe that AION S Plus still has the ability to become a mainstream pure electric car model among self-owned brands.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.