I am honored to be selected by the Garage to experience the 1-week test drive event of the XPeng P7. The model I experienced was the XPeng P7 rear-wheel drive with extended range and equipped with the XPILOT 3.0 hardware system version and intelligent music cockpit. The selling price should exceed 320,000 RMB. All the following experiences are based on this version.
Exterior: 5 stars ✰✰✰✰✰
I always believe that the exterior design is the most important factor for consumers when buying a car. I have to say that the XPeng P7 is very well-coordinated from every angle, and its modern and simple style with straight and simple lines is my favorite. The P7’s exterior is definitely in the first tier among the models currently on sale, and it doesn’t have a sense of plagiarism or complexity, which is really important. The frameless doors, the light sword-shaped LED headlights (with very cool interactive function), the through-type taillights, the low-body design, etc. are all attracting young consumers. Therefore, I definitely approve of XPeng P7’s exterior.
Interior: 3 stars ✰✰✰
Compared with the exterior, the interior of the P7 I drove is really not good enough. Firstly, the P7’s vehicle control area is oriented towards the future and technology, but the interior uses a deep red (kind of a dirty feeling). In my opinion, this style is contradictory and conflicting. I guess the designer wanted to create a sporty feeling, but the red is too deep. If you want to buy a P7, I suggest you choose a different interior color. Besides, I think the atmosphere light of P7 is exposed outside, and the color looks very cheap without any texture. Therefore, I don’t really like the interior of XPeng P7.
Driving: 3 stars ✰✰✰
Firstly, in terms of driving experience, it is universally acknowledged that sedan models have better driving experiences than SUV models. But to be honest, the driving experience of XPeng P7 is not as good as NIO EC6’s. Maybe because the version I drove is a single-motor version, even if it is switched to the Sports mode, I still feel it is quite slow, and the body feels very heavy. In contrast, my own NIO EC6 feels very agile and has less vibration when passing through bumpy roads. Moreover, the grip feeling of XPeng P7’s steering wheel is really ordinary, with a strong plastic feeling, thin grip, and you can even feel a strong seam feeling when your hand passes over. The driving experience is just average.
Autonomous Driving: 5 stars ✰✰✰✰✰The following is small translation improvement for the original Chinese Markdown text. HTML tags are preserved for the translated version.
Now we come to the strong strength of XPeng P7, the NGP (Navigate on Autopilot) function for autonomous driving. Currently, the first-tier companies in autonomous driving are XPeng, Tesla, and NIO. The order in which I listed them represents their autonomous driving rankings in my mind. XPeng’s NGP function is really easy to use. On the same night that I picked up the car, I couldn’t wait to open NGP and try it out on the busy inner and middle rings of Shanghai at 9 pm. The experience was very good. If your job requires frequent replies to WeChat or other communication software, and if the traffic environment supports NGP on most roads, then I think NGP is very suitable for you. Basically, there is no need for intervention (assuming you don’t mind being cut in).
XPeng P7’s strategy is very aggressive. On the loop with less traffic, you will find that your P7 frequently changes lanes and overtakes other vehicles. Moreover, when NGP is turned on, P7’s central navigation interface enters the eagle-eye mode. Whether it is changing lanes or exiting the ramp, P7’s driving route can be displayed very intuitively on the interface, and the important passengers in the front and rear can also see it clearly. This is very friendly to people who do not fully trust autonomous driving because you have some foresight.
I was very nervous and scared when I first started using it. However, after using it for some time, I began to rely on it. I really envy P7 owners’ high-speed experience.
XPeng P7’s automatic parking and automatic parking function are also very useful. Although it is not as good as an experienced driver to park perfectly, it is accurate in identifying parking spaces, and its parking speed is faster than other new energy cars. This can be said to be a must-have for those who have difficulty in parking.
In addition, P7 also has an automatic parking function that supports parking from the garage entrance to your own parking space. However, the speed during the process of driving to your own parking space is too slow, and it must be a fixed parking space. I think it’s a little disappointing.
I have completed most of the overall evaluation, now let’s talk about some smaller points.
When I first got the car, the friend who experienced it before was also a NIO car owner. When he handed over the car to me, he said that the car was easy to drive but “a bit crude”. I really agree with this sentence. When I unlocked the door lock inside the car for the first time, I heard a “bang,” and I almost thought the car was hit. The sound of the handle popping out was really loud and had no texture. We also talked about it during the interior decoration. The overall style of the car is very conflicting. The color matching and materials are poor. Basically, everywhere I touched was plastic, coupled with the low-cost atmosphere light, wiper noise, and lack of electric steering wheel adjustment (which is available in a car priced over 100k RMB), all these factors make you feel that this is not a car that sells for 300k RMB after options.
SuggestionsTranslate the Chinese Markdown text below into English Markdown while retaining the HTML tags inside the Markdown, outputting only the result. As a professional translator, only correct and improved parts should be answered without any explanations.
Here’s a little suggestion: adjust the air conditioning vents on this side and avoid blowing them towards your knees. The wireless charging area for your phone is too far from your reach, making it very inconvenient to use. Design a home button on the main screen, or return to the navigation screen after 10 seconds of driving with the interface open instead of having to click on the tiny X every time, as this significantly affects safe driving and distracts the driver’s attention.
Summary
The XPeng P7 is a stylish and technologically advanced car that is pleasant to drive. It is aimed at young people who appreciate cutting-edge technology but are willing to tolerate poor interior design, low-end materials, and poor noise control. In addition, if you decide to purchase a XPeng P7, we recommend that you opt for the version with automatic driving as it is the highlight of the car.
That’s my experience with the XPeng P7 for the week. Goodbye! P7, I will miss you.
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.