I saw the DENZA X test drive event hosted by Garage 42 in my WeChat moments and without hesitation, I quickly signed up since it was happening in Shanghai. Luckily, I was selected.
My First Impression of DENZA
Before this event, I knew very little about DENZA, and I can’t even say I had a good impression of the brand. The first time I saw a DENZA was during my third year in college when I joined a school-organized internship program and saw a DENZA 500 at a Mercedes-Benz 4S store in Nanjing. What left a deep impression on me was the blue water-droplet-shaped logo.
I believe most people are also unfamiliar with this brand. According to Baidu Baike, DENZA Motors is a joint venture between Chinese new energy vehicle leader BYD and the world’s luxury car manufacturing giant, Daimler.
In an instant, the brand image was shining and its technical strength and foundation were well backed up. However, the product’s final presentation still needed to be debated since DENZA 500’s performance in the market was less convincing.
With the concept of new energy vehicles being increasingly hyped up in the capital market today, both traditional host factories and new carmakers have released many eye-catching products. In comparison, DENZA’s first car launched in 2014 was not very popular. DENZA X, launched in November 2019, was considered an early bird and a latecomer at the same time.
Driving Experience
Regarding electric cars, I am still in the early stages of having only test-ridden the Tesla Model S and test-driven the XPeng P7. I have never had the experience of using a pure electric vehicle for a long time. This time, I took advantage of the test drive opportunity to experience this new thing.
The car I got this time was the pure electric flagship model, a mid-size seven-seater SUV. After studying the technical parameters of the entire vehicle carefully, I found that it was almost the same as the Tang pure electric flagship model, with the same tire specification of 265/40R22, and even the same key shape. It makes sense that it is called the Tang EV with a new skin.
First, I paid attention to several parameters closely related to the dynamic performance of the entire vehicle:
Suspension form: Front MacPherson rear chopsticks three-link. The following figure shows the rear suspension form with two horizontal links and one long longitudinal link, which is a commonly used suspension form for BYD.
The curb weight is 2330kg, and the maximum allowable total weight is 2855kg, which is all about the battery.ContiSportContact5 tire specification 265/40R22 106V, load index 106 corresponds to a load capacity of 950kg, speed symbol V corresponds to a maximum speed of 240kph. The maximum tire pressure is 3.4bar, and the normal use pressure is 2.6bar. Equipped with a flat tire design, it can improve tire side stiffness and enhance handling stability. However, the increased rigidity may lead to reduced buffering performance and sacrifice some comfort.
Below are some brief driving impressions from the past two days. Typically, we should start by introducing basic EV properties such as range and charging speed, but the range and charging speed were decent during the two-day test drive, and suitable for daily city trips, so we will not elaborate further. We mainly focus on seven aspects (some of the evaluative working conditions may be too harsh, and interested car enthusiasts should try it themselves).
Steering performance
The steering assist mode can be adjusted in the driving assistance feature (with Comfort and Sport modes).
Both in-place and low-speed (20km/h) turning modes are easy, with a 10% – 20% increase in effort when using the Sport mode compared to Comfort mode. The steering feel is delicate and clear, and the transient response damping in the central area at medium to high speeds is slightly stronger with weakened self-centering, resulting in a good quality sense.
There is a small angle dead zone in the middle position of the steering wheel, but the linear force feedback is established. In the nonlinear zone of the large lateral deviation angle, there is obvious wheel jumping and jitter when turning, with torque steering during acceleration and deceleration.
In electric vehicles, torque steering is quite common and manifests as the vehicle being pulled to the left or right while braking or accelerating on a smooth surface. Overall, the steering performance is relatively good.
Handling performance
The stability control during cornering is excellent, despite the relatively large lean angle, with good damping and a linear and natural synchrony of front and rear roll.
Comfort
Each link in the path of road shock transmission, from the road → tires → suspension → body → seat → body, has an impact. Tires have a comparatively significant impact and thus the internal structure design, including the stiffness and angle arrangement of the belt layer, require repeated adjustment during development.
At 50kph, the sensation of road copying is strong, with harsh shock jolts on bumpy roads, and significant audible impact noise. Compression is soft and rapid, with a quick response and European style texture for moderate uneven road stimulation. At 20kph, there is significant lateral sway, causing the body and head to shake strongly when encountering uneven roads on the left and right sides. This may result in complaints about comfort.
Braking performanceIn the driving assistance system, the strength of energy feedback can be adjusted (standard mode & enhanced mode), and the brake pedal feeling mode can be set to standard mode or comfort mode. In enhanced mode, when releasing the accelerator pedal, a strong dragging feeling can be felt after about 1 second, which may not provide a good experience. It is not recommended to enable this function unless the battery power is insufficient.
However, in standard mode, there is no sudden intervention feeling, and the driver will get used to it after a while. The overall setting of the brake pedal feeling is light in pedal force and short in travel. When braking, there is a low-pitched linkage noise generated by the combination of the push rod mechanism and the spring.
The braking force generated in medium pedal travel is very linear with slightly slower response, but it is quite easy to operate in urban congestion conditions. When braking with maximum force, the body pitch amplitude is relatively large, although the vehicle is equipped with a comfortable parking function in the driving assistance system, the compression damping of the front shock absorber is set to be small, resulting in a relatively large head nodding.
Exterior & Interior
The overall summary of the exterior is round and full, with smooth curves from any angle, without any sharp edge feeling. The prominent Mercedes-Benz logo on the side proves the great effort devoted in creating the brand image. Opinions may vary on the exterior, but after two days of test driving, it is certain that it is quite eye-catching.
The interior has a strong Mercedes-Benz style, as evidenced by the “Styled by Mercedes-Benz” logo. The turbine-shaped air conditioning vent is of good quality in both texture and feel. The 7-color ambient lighting in the car creates a high level of playfulness. Although there is a large central screen, all physical buttons come with it. A bare display screen alone cannot create a luxurious feel.
Entertainment System- Operating Logic: The integrated Android system on the large screen has clear and easy-to-understand basic settings, without obscure and difficult terminology. Using the car version map makes it possible to completely leave the phone behind.
- Visual Effect: The interface is clear and the large screen can rotate, horizontally or vertically arranged according to personal preferences. It won’t cause dazzling while driving, very friendly.
- Button Quality: The force setting and rebound feedback of all buttons are good, and the practice of not omitting physical buttons is emphasized. The placement and operability of button arrangement are very good.
- Sound Quality: There are 12 speakers in the vehicle, and the number of sound fields can be set inside the vehicle, so that the sound emphasis can be placed on different seats. When lying in the rear seat to rest, it can also provide a very good enjoyment.
Human-Machine Arrangement and Field of Vision
Sitting posture: steering wheel + seat + backrest + lumbar support adjustment. It is easy to adjust the angles of various joints to get a suitable sitting position. The horizontal support of the thigh on both sides of the seat cushion and the lateral support of the thigh on both sides of the backrest are in place.
Field of vision: From my personal experience of driving, the high seating position of SUVs can generally easily obtain better visibility. Combined with the inside and outside rearview mirrors, it is easy to obtain the dynamics of surrounding vehicles.
Operability: (operational space & ease of understanding & control range), the steering wheel, door trim and central control buttons are very rich, and the graphic identification of buttons is clear at a glance. Traditional controls can be completed through buttons, with both practicality and design sense.
Small Details
- The steering assist light is very practical when returning to a narrow road in the community at night. When turning the steering wheel, a separate bulb group in the direction of the turn will illuminate, which can detect road conditions in advance.
- The yellow triangle warning light is set in the edge area of the rearview mirror, which can timely remind when a vehicle overtakes from the side and take care of some blind spots.
- The back seat is equipped with a 220V power supply interface, which is quite friendly for self-driving tours.
Conclusion
From DENZA 300/400/500 to DENZA X, we can see the improvement in product quality. The appearance and interior design created by Mercedes-Benz are of good static quality. BYD’s three-electric technology and chassis architecture, as well as the solid dynamic perception quality produced by careful debugging.
Compared with the previous products’ casual attitude, this product launch is at least sincere. When the project was initiated for DENZA X, the commodity planning manager should have analyzed and positioned it round after round. With the design of Mercedes-Benz and the driving chassis technology of Tang EV, how much recognition can it get higher than Tang EV? The answer to this question, the market is slowly revealing.
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.