I am very fortunate to be invited to experience the FEV F7 Bach cockpit. I heard that it was at the Shanghai Glass Museum when I took my wife and children for a stroll. As an enthusiast of new energy and curious about this FEV F7 Bach cockpit, I was told that the experience is even better than that of the NIO ET7.
When I arrived at the Glass Museum, what surprised me was that not only did FEV display the F7, but they also placed a Mercedes S Class and a NIO ET7 next to it. My first thought was that the FEV F7 certainly has strength, but I had to experience and compare it myself to see if it is really that good.
Sitting inside the FEV F7 car, the most intuitive feeling is that the space is very large. As a gas-powered car, I think the Mercedes S Class has a very strong sense of space, but compared to an electric car, it appears somewhat ordinary. Therefore, I won’t compare the space between the Mercedes S and FEV F7. Next to the NIO ET7, with its length of over five meters, I thought its space should be larger than that of the F7. However, when I sat inside, the high sitting position of the ET7 shattered my imagination of a big space, although the legroom is still relatively comfortable. In comparison, the F7’s three-meter wheelbase, combined with a lying battery design, has a more normal sitting position, compensating for the sacrifice of the riding experience due to the battery replacement design. The headroom in the rear is indeed not large, and the design of the rear windshield has a significant impact on the headroom. If you are over 180cm tall, you may find it a bit uncomfortable. However, overall, FEV’s design of the battery replacement structure is something NIO ET series can learn from in the future!
Moving on to the Bach cabin focus of this review – the seats. The biggest feeling that comes from the seat design is the high level of comfort. The F7’s seats don’t have a sporty design; relatively speaking, I find them more akin to the comfortable design of a Mercedes S-Class. The seats are quite thick, and pressing down on them with your hand will produce a very comfortable rebound feeling. Being quite chubby myself, I found that when sitting in the front seats of the F7, I didn’t feel any squeezing on my buttocks or lack of support on my waist; I didn’t have any feeling of collapsing down either. Moving on to the rear seats, I believe the F7’s performance there is quite impressive, considering its price tag of over 200,000 RMB, even if the S-Class’ rear seats provide a million RMB-class experience. However, the F7’s elongated rear seat cushions make for a much more comfortable sitting experience. On this aspect, I’ve also tried the ET7 briefly. Due to my preferred seated position, I had to lie down. However, the seat has a more sporty feel, leading to a slight lack in comfort. And as a family car, comfort should always come first!
By the way, the Bach cabin experience of the F7 doesn’t just fall on the space and seat comfort levels; audio-visual experiences are also a bright spot. At first, I didn’t understand why there were so many screens in the car; it seemed a bit redundant. But as soon as you sit in the passenger seat of the F7, pick a TV, recline the seat, the experience is actually quite good. The small rear screen isn’t mounted on the roof like with the L7; it’s placed on the back of the armrest box instead. This design is more in line with the habit of sitting in sedans; when sitting in the back, you can watch movies directly from the seat backrest and enjoy a private audio-visual experience – the ultimate upscale experience! Compared to the NIO ET7, the landscape screen of the F7 allows for full-screen viewing, while the vertical screen of the ET7 doesn’t provide a great movie watching experience. So if you’re someone who values this point, the F7 is a good choice!
In summary, the BACH cockpit experience at the Shanghai Glass Museum was very good. The cockpit experience of the F7 is indeed more advanced than that of most new energy vehicles at present. I hope the F7 will be launched soon. My wife can’t wait to have one!
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.