30+ Million, 5-seater SUV, why not the ideal L7?
Part One
In the price range of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan, if you want to choose an SUV, many people’s first reaction is the popular SUVs of BBA’s GLC, X3, and Q5, which have been dominating the sales rankings in this price range for many years.
If we compare the Ideal L7, which is priced between 319,800 yuan and 379,800 yuan, with these few cars, what will the result be?
For most people, buying a car is nothing more than considering space, power, configuration, chassis suspension, and brand.
In addition to these aspects, if there is another consideration in purchasing a car, it must be smart technology.
Next, we will analyze and compare Ideal L7’s competitiveness one by one based on the above-mentioned points.
BBA 5-seater SUV VS. Ideal L7
First, let’s talk about space.
In response to the Chinese people’s obsession with large space, BBA has also followed the demand and introduced elongated versions of GLC, X3, and Q5 after domestic production.
However, even so, the Ideal L7 still has a crushing advantage over these three cars. After all, these three cars are just intermediate SUVs, while the Ideal L7 is a medium-to-large SUV.
According to Ideal’s official data, the maximum legroom, headroom, and shoulder room of the second row of the L7 are 1160mm, 992mm, and 1500mm, respectively. Except for the maximum legroom of the second row, which is 5mm smaller than the 2022 BMW 7 Series, all other data are greater than the BMW X5L and 2022 BMW 7 Series.
And the second-row seats that support 4/2/4 folding bring flexible and variable space combination forms to various travel scenes.
In terms of space, the superior L7 undoubtedly wins.
Next, let’s talk about power.
The GLC, X3, and Q5, the top models of these three cars, all have an acceleration time between 6.8 and 6.9 seconds for 0-100 km/h.
But the L7, with a one hundred-kilometer acceleration time of 5.3 seconds, can easily achieve a daily head start of six seconds even in non-ejection mode.
Even compared with the expensive Mercedes-Benz GLE AMG, Audi SQ5, and BMW X5M of the same level, the L7 is not inferior.
With a 5.3-second acceleration time, the L7 outperforms the GLE AMG’s 5.5-second acceleration time and ties with the SQ5’s 5.3-second acceleration time, only behind the X5M’s 3.9-second acceleration time.
Speaking of configuration, this is another strong point of the L7.
The L7 Max and Pro come with Nappa leather seats, AD-assisted driving, adaptive LED headlights, air springs, 7.3.4 panoramic sound, electric tailgate, keyless entry, heated steering wheel, electric steering wheel adjustment, seat massage, seat ventilation, heated seats, etc.
The only difference between the L7 Air and Pro models is that the former lacks the air spring configuration.
The advantage of standard configuration is that those with a difficulty in making choices don’t need to worry about which specific configuration to buy anymore. The only things left to choose from are the car paint, interior color, wheel size, and the version of the AD and intelligent space, with the difficulty of selection greatly reduced.
For the same budget, if you buy GLC, X3, or Q5, keyless entry is likely to be optional.
As for basic AD functions like lane keeping, don’t expect that they will be included in the standard configuration.
So who wins the configuration game, I won’t say, but I believe you already have the answer.
Next, let’s talk about the chassis suspension.The front and rear suspension of the Ideal L7 adopts the same independent suspension system with double forks in the front and five links in the rear as the Ideal L9 and L8.
In terms of hardware, both the Ideal L7 Max and L7 Pro come standard with air suspension, which is far superior to GLC, X3, and Q5.
Even when facing the GLE, X5, and Q7, the Ideal L7 shows no weakness and is fully equipped, which is not common for a car of this price.
As for the brand, many people think it is the Ideal L7’s weak point.
As a new car company that has been established for less than ten years, although every car they have released has strong product power and has achieved “explosive” sales, compared with the century-old companies such as BBA, they can only be regarded as immature younger generations.
For Ideal Auto, the road to brand building is long and arduous. Of course, it must also be recognized that new forces such as Ideal, NIO, and XPeng are overturning the pattern of the automobile market with their own products.
Because they are young, they are fearless and can create stronger products and provide users with better experiences. It is precisely because of this that new automakers such as Ideal are attracting more and more people to discover and experience new intelligent cars.
After discussing the brand, let’s move on to the strongest point of the Ideal L7, intelligence.
Regarding intelligence, I don’t want to elaborate on how fast the Ideal L7’s infotainment system is, how user-friendly its functions are, and how useful its driver assistance is.
I think as long as you show the above picture, you will understand the “generation gap” between the traditional car companies such as BBA and the new forces such as Ideal Auto in terms of understanding intelligence. The picture shows that even the most basic remote connection function, which is charged annually by Mercedes-Benz, is free of charge for Ideal L7.
After the above analysis, I dare to draw the immature conclusion: the product power of the Ideal L7 is the strongest among the mainstream and bestselling five-seater SUVs of the same price; and compared with the same level of mainstream and bestselling five-seater SUVs, the Ideal L7 has better overall product power and is also the cheapest.## What are the feelings of the Ideal L7 in terms of appearance and interior?
Let’s start with the appearance.
The appearance of the Ideal L7 continues the “copy and paste” design of L8 and L9, but there are some subtle differences.
The most recognizable feature of the front face is still the long strip star-ring light, but the star-ring light of L7 does not adopt the “suspended” design of L8 and L9.
At the same time, due to the regulations on pedestrian protection, the front hood of L7 looks like it is larger than the body, giving people the feeling that the hood is not closed properly. This is something that needs to be adapted to.
In terms of the side of the body, there are two significant differences compared with L8 and L9. Because of the five-seater model, there is no need to consider too much about the head space of the third row, and the sleeker lines can make the design of the middle and rear of the body more dynamic.
In addition, in order to ensure a larger space for the second row, L7 extends more space to the rear compared to L8, and the second-row doors are also made larger.
Therefore, the second-row doors of L7 adopt the same split wheel eyebrow design as the Idean ONE, instead of the integrated wheel eyebrow design of L8 and L9.
At the rear of the car, the auxiliary driving’s rear camera is placed in the center of the rear wing, and the button for opening the rear door is placed under the logo of the rear door. The rear camera for auxiliary driving is moved to the center of the rear wing, separating the rear brake lights into two.
Entering the car, the front row of the Ideal L7 interior remains basically the same as the Ideal L8, with the only difference being that the L7 has cancelled the hollow storage space underneath the wireless charging pad of the L8.
Of course, this design is not to save costs, but to ensure the comfort of the second-row air conditioning, Ideal L7 has placed the second-row air fan in this position.
Moreover, the air outlet of the second-row air conditioning has been moved from the top to the B pillar.
As a five-seater car, the essence of the Ideal L7 lies in its second row. Opening the second-row door, you can see that the Ideal L7 has been optimized for passengers getting on and off the car.
The fully-enclosed door reduces the distance between the side of the second-row seat and the body of the car. At the same time, the backrest of the second-row seat extends in a hugging style toward the door with elbow support, which allows passengers to get on and off more comfortably and ride more comfortably.
The seat behind the front passenger seat of the Ideal L7 is called the Queen’s seat. Just say “Open the Queen’s seat” to the voice assistant to automatically recline the seat to a 40-degree angle.
At the same time, the front passenger seat is moved forward, the back of the front passenger seat is straightened, and the electric footrest is reclined.
To avoid the headrest of the front passenger seat blocking the driver’s view of the rearview mirror, the front passenger seat will not be adjusted to the frontmost position.
In the case of removing the headrest, the backrest of the front passenger seat can be adjusted to a more upright angle, providing more space for passengers sitting in the Queen’s seat.
Sitting in the seat, open the second-row screen of the L7 Max, select a movie you like to watch, and start the seat massage. At this moment, you are truly the “Queen” in the car.
It is also easy to exit the Queen’s seat, you can simply say “exit the Queen’s seat” to the voice assistant.
Another aspect that deserves a good review is the enormous panoramic sunroof that extends over the second row of seats. When sitting on the back seats of the L7, you can’t even see the edges of the roof, providing an excellent view.
When folding the second row of seats, the backrests of the L7 form a slope with the trunk. If you want to turn the second row and the trunk into a large bed, you may need a special mattress to “level” it.
As for the trunk, there is no need to worry about space. You can easily place four large suitcases in the trunk.
What I envy the most is that the L7 finally has a trunk cover. Moreover, the cover can be stored under the trunk coverboard, without taking up any space when not in use.
Of course, the most important thing for a car is how it actually performs.
During the Ideal L7 test drive event last weekend, I had the opportunity to take a two-hour dynamic test drive.
I drove the Ideal L7 Max model, and the test drive included both suburban open roads and highways.
Starting from the test drive site, there was a stretch of bumpy suburban roads with various bumps and patches, but the Ideal L7 smoothly tackled each and every one of them. As for the highway road conditions, the Ideal L7 was even more calm and collected.
There was an obvious detail that I noticed. After I finished test driving the L7 in the afternoon and drove my own Ideal ONE back home from the airport expressway in Hangzhou, I noticed that the previously smooth surface suddenly became uneven, especially when passing road expansion joints, the car’s vertical bouncing became very noticeable.
At that moment, I suddenly realized that the reason for this feeling was because of my test drive experience with the Ideal L7. The L7’s chassis is so “stable” that after experiencing the driving of the L7, the difference becomes particularly noticeable when switching to other cars.Although the suspension of Ideal L7 is equipped with three modes of sports, standard, and comfort, overall, the suspension is more biased towards the comfortable tuning of family cars, and I personally quite like this style.
It must be pointed out that the feeling of the chassis suspension is relatively subjective, and it is recommended that everyone personally test drive to experience it and make their own judgments.
Following Ideal Motors’ consistent high efficiency, after yesterday’s press conference, the Ideal L7 exhibition car can be seen in stores today, and the test drive car is also ready.
If interested, you might as well scan the QR code above and personally test drive the Ideal L7.
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.