Translated English Markdown:
I have been driving the Ideal L8 for two days, and have already covered 400 kilometers. Many friends have been asking me about how it performs. Here, I’ll offer my subjective insight.
The exterior design is simple, with the front-end being identical to the L9’s – I like it. The side is 90% identical, and it’s unlikely that the average person would notice any differences. The only difference at the rear is the star-ring taillight, with the 9 looking more luxurious and the 8 looking more athletic.
(If you disagree, make your own judgements.)
The front-row interior looks exactly like the L9’s, with the back of the front seats being wrapped in leather instead of being hard plastic, freeing up 2-3cm of legroom. However, the trial car that I drove did not have enough padding and the stitching technique needed further improvement. Nonetheless, I’ve heard that the official production cars have already made significant improvements. If you’re particularly concerned about seam details, I suggest choosing either the orange or coffee interior.
The leather seats of this L8 are exactly the same as my L9, with similar ventilation effects and almost identical comfort. However, the massage function has become a traditional lumbar massage. The overall third-row seating space is similar to that of the 2021 IDEAL ONE, but the comfort of the third row has been greatly improved compared to ONE.
(The third-row cushion is softer than the first and second row, and with the addition of electric backrest adjustment, I guess the product manager would have wanted to add ventilation and massage if it weren’t for the need to consider the flatness of the trunk after folding down.)
As subjectively perceived, the LCD screen in the front row displays better than that of the Tesla Model Y. The main driver can hardly see any reflection on the central screen, while the passenger side screen may reflect strong light. There is no edge light leakage in normal viewing conditions at night, but if you watch widescreen movies at night, the edges may appear whitish.
(This is mainly due to the excellent black control of the OLED screen on the L9 big brother.)
The screen of L8 currently only has a light color mode, but it should be updated with a dark color mode after delivery, which can be freely switched or automatically switched between day and night.
(L9 currently only has a dark color mode, and the next version should update a light color mode.)
As for the driving experience, I invited two L8 reservation owners to test drive. Friend P had waited for the L8 from Ideal ONE, and ordered it on the day of the release. The next day, they test drove the L9 and locked in the order. After driving 20 kilometers in the L8, Friend P thought that it was basically the same as their previous test drive of the L9, and the experience was similar.
(This should also represent the reservation experience of many friends.)
Friend W also reserved the L8 as soon as it was available, but did not lock in the order. They had been paying attention to the changes in delivery time and wanted to test drive before placing the order. Friend W drove both the L8 and L9 for 17 kilometers each, taking the same route from the city to the elevated loop. They felt that there was a slight difference between the two, but could not determine which one was better. Both had comfort beyond their previous vehicle, a Lexus RX. By the way, they placed the order after the test drive because they wanted to select the 21-inch wheels, with only two days left for the 5000 optional fund entitlement.If there’s no strong demand for the electric pedal, choosing a 21-inch wheel hub for 5000 worth of equity won’t be a loss. This may be the closest I’ve come to large wheel hubs, and I probably won’t buy a 22-wheel sports car.
I have driven 9000km on the L9, and about 400km on the L8. Personally, I feel that both cars drive similarly, both being comfort-oriented and designed with the comfort of passengers and drivers as the primary goal for the chassis. The ideal name for this type of suspension would be “magic carpet” suspension, which is slightly exaggerated but unbeatable within the same price range, and even has the power to compete with more expensive models. The difference in detail is that the L9 has a 10 cm longer wheelbase than the L8, making it more stable on undulating roads. However, because the L8 is shorter, it is more confident when changing lanes (these points may be in my head).
I think there’s no problem with this type of suspension on the L8/L9, but I hope the ideal L7 can be more sporty. (If all else fails, just set the L7’s sport mode to the extreme.)
By the way, I finally got used to the fuzzy feel of the turn signal lever on the Ideal L9, but I didn’t expect the L8’s turning signal to be clear to the touch. I wonder if future batches of L9s will be updated in sync? (How about a hardware OTA update?)Almost forgot to talk about energy consumption. Personally, I feel that the energy consumption in urban areas for the L8 is slightly lower than that of the L9, while the energy consumption on highways is about the same.
(Maybe the longer body is more conducive to reducing wind resistance on highways, as the L8’s wind resistance coefficient is slightly higher than that of the L9, and the ET5’s wind resistance coefficient is also higher than that of the ET7.)
Yesterday, I drove from Hangzhou with 98% battery capacity and was forced to run on pure electric power until 3% battery capacity, covering a distance of 150 kilometers, approximately 35 kilometers in the city and 115 kilometers on the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway. I believe everyone’s pure electric range should be able to exceed this after taking delivery of the car, and I did not intentionally control energy consumption while driving.
(The display shows 1% battery capacity because during the warm-up period of the range extender after reaching 3% battery capacity, the battery will assist for a short period of time at a lower speed, after which it will be recharged.)
The ideal L8 has indeed removed some comfort configurations on the basis of the L9, but also stubbornly retained the configurations that Li Xiang believes are necessary, such as electric suction doors, electric folding of the third row, and air suspension. Previously, I thought that at least some of these configurations would be included in the Max version. When the product manager told me that these were also standard in the Pro version, I blurted out, “Then how will the Max version be sold?” The product manager replied that in the Max version, everyone only sees more laser radar and Orin platforms, as well as a rear entertainment screen, but there are actually some added core costs that everyone cannot see, such as steering control redundancy, brake control redundancy, and power safety redundancy, which are actually very expensive.
To sum up, the Ideal L8 is indeed a new generation of Ideal ONE in terms of car size and interior space, but it is a smaller version of Ideal L9 in terms of appearance, interior design, and powertrain. If practicality is the top priority, choosing the Ideal L8 Pro is definitely the right choice. The Max version is suitable for those who have limited parking space and a desire to explore advanced driving assistance. Finally, if you have the option to choose 5000 accessory benefits, choose the 21-inch wheels. You’ll need more than 5000 in the future, and don’t worry about the slightly increased energy consumption. Being stylish is all that matters!
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.