When some car brands are still emphasizing speed as their selling point, some brands have made their cars slower and more comfortable. Before purchasing the Ideal ONE, I owned a BMW 3 Series and a Golf GTI. In that era, a zero-to-hundred acceleration of over 6 seconds was considered fast, with most cars taking around 10 seconds or more, so “speed” became a big selling point for car products. In the current era of increasing popularity of electric cars, a zero-to-hundred acceleration of just over 6 seconds is only the “passing grade,” with numerous electric cars boasting accelerations of under 4 seconds. But, can “speed” really still impress the general consumers?
Comfort or Performance?
In the era of gasoline-powered cars, fast equals expensive. Almost no car in the 3-second club costed less than a million RMB. Therefore, the pursuit of performance by the general public consumers (excluding car enthusiasts) was roughly equivalent to the pursuit of expensive. In the era of electric cars, cars costing just over 200,000 RMB are capable of reaching a zero-to-hundred acceleration of 4 seconds, so when performance is no longer exorbitant, do we still need to pursue it?
As a result, we see more and more brands making their cars slower, and Ideal ONE has even created slower power options. “Slow” does not mean meaty or stupid, but comfortable. Even, Ideal ONE removed the word “sport” from the description of the steering and suspension mode in order to fully implement the concept of comfort.
In fact, it is not easy to make an electric car comfortable, the difficulty lies in making the throttle less sensitive, acceleration not abrupt, energy recovery not too strong (a small number of people like strong recovery and can adapt to it), and braking coordinating well with energy recovery. Otherwise, the result might be that the driver and passengers get motion sickness together.
Therefore, Ideal ONE chooses not to be too sporty, but to make the whole family’s journey comfortable. After understanding the above considerations and key points, let’s take a look at the choices Ideal ONE made in tuning and vehicle settings.
Combination logic of vehicle driving settings
There are four driving preference settings in Ideal ONE, which are power, steering, suspension, and energy recovery. Different combinations of these settings in the menu can deal with different scenarios in your driving life.
- Power
There are three options for power settings: Comfort, Standard, and Sport mode. Comfort mode was added to the OTA in April this year. In terms of power, Sport mode is higher than Standard mode, which is higher than Comfort mode. In terms of energy conservation, Comfort mode is superior to Standard mode, which is superior to Sport mode. In fact, these three modes correspond to three different types of car owners with different personalities.
If your previous car’s zero-to-hundred acceleration was between 5 and 7 seconds, you will probably prefer the Sport mode. The initial torque of the throttle has been released, and the power response is fast. If you do not feel that the Sport mode is fast enough, then it must be because your reaction time is too sharp. People who choose Sport mode are passionate in life and work, straightforward, sociable, and could easily be a crazy dad.If your car’s zero to sixty acceleration is between 7 and 9 seconds, the standard mode is the most reliable. Moderation is actually the choice of most people, putting the power in standard mode, attacking when necessary and retreating when necessary. If someone challenges you on the road, just stare back at them with your eyes. People who choose standard mode understand the way of moderation, understand that gray is the highest color, have high emotional intelligence and follow the principle of “gain what I desire, lose what I must”. For you, balance is the most important.
If your car’s zero to sixty acceleration is over 9 seconds, comfort will make you feel easy and comfortable. In Comfort mode, the initial throttle will be slower, and the acceleration will never feel abrupt. At this point, the Ideal ONE is like a luxury yacht, leisurely and comfortably. People who choose comfort are not in a hurry. Emotional management is their expertise. They think twice and act afterwards. Accumulating slowly and striking hard is their life philosophy.
The above personality comparisons are purely coincidental.
- Steering
Steering is mainly divided into two modes, standard and comfort. For steering, I seldom use the standard mode myself. Overall, the steering precision and ease of use of the Comfort mode at high speeds are just right, so I recommend that everyone use the Comfort mode.
- Suspension
The suspension is divided into standard and comfort. The Ideal ONE’s standard mode is benchmarked against the previous generation BMW X5. From the perspective of suspension tightness, this suspension system is still relatively well-done. From the perspective of handling, as a former performance car owner, I am really satisfied with the Ideal ONE. After all, this is an SUV over 5 meters long.
The deficiency of the suspension is that the lateral shaking when encountering potholes is not handled well enough. But a few days ago, I tried a certain joint-venture brand’s large SUV, to be honest, the chassis performance is really not as good as the Ideal ONE. So as the saying goes, no one is perfect, and no car is perfect.
The Comfort mode of the Ideal ONE is benchmarked against the Lexus RX. It is recommended to choose comfort when multiple people are riding. The suspension will handle road joints and slight road bumps in a more advanced way, and the ride will be softer overall.
- Energy recovery
Energy recovery is a function that gasoline cars do not have. The specific feeling is that when the accelerator is released and the vehicle is gliding, there will be a slight braking effect. The principle is to recover the energy generated by the vehicle’s braking into the battery. This energy can be stored and used when needed for acceleration, thereby achieving energy saving purposes. An electric car can even charge the battery while driving downhill for an extended period.
The intensity of energy recovery in Ideal ONE can be divided into two modes: Comfort and Standard. Some people may ask why Ideal ONE doesn’t offer a stronger energy recovery mode. This is because most people are not used to strong recovery mode, especially passengers who are prone to carsickness. Therefore, the current two modes are just comfortable enough.
The Standard mode for energy recovery is highly acclaimed and almost all car owners who switch from traditional fuel vehicles do not need to adapt to it. They can also enjoy the energy-saving benefits brought by recovery mode. It is recommended to use this mode for daily driving.
If you really like the feeling of long coasting after releasing the accelerator, just like in traditional fuel vehicles, the Comfort mode can satisfy you. If there are elderly people or passengers who are prone to carsickness in the car, it is recommended to set the energy recovery mode to Comfort, because the Standard mode may still have some deceleration feeling.
Next, based on my own daily driving experience, I will provide some recommendations for the setting combinations.
- Most fuel-efficient setting: Comfort for power and steering, Standard for suspension and energy recovery.
- Most sporty setting: Sport for power and Comfort for steering, Standard for suspension and energy recovery.
- Setting closest to traditional fuel vehicles: Standard for power, Comfort for steering, Standard for suspension, and Comfort for energy recovery.
- Most comfortable setting: Comfort for power, steering, and suspension, and Comfort for energy recovery.
In addition to these recommended setting combinations, in actual driving situations, you may encounter the following scenarios:
1. I want to unleash the maximum power of Ideal ONE, 240 kW. How do I adjust it?
Turn on the Launch Mode, and adjust the power to Sport, then you can feel the maximum power of Ideal ONE. Note that the Launch Mode is only available when the battery level is above 60% and the battery temperature is above 15℃.
2. I want to make the car immediately feel very sporty while driving.
Click the bottom-left corner of the air-conditioning screen to open the extended area, and select One-Click Sport. After opening it, power will be set to Sport, steering to Standard, and suspension to Standard. When it is turned off, the driver preference settings will return to the state before turning it on.
3. It’s raining and the road is slippery. How can I drive more safely?
Click on the special road conditions on the right side of the air-conditioning screen, and select Wet Road. After opening it, the power output strategy will be adjusted to produce a softer torque output to prevent the vehicle from slipping caused by excessive acceleration.
4. I want to go for outdoor activities, but I accidentally got stuck. What should I do?
Click on the special road conditions on the right side of the air-conditioning screen, and select Off-road Recovery. After opening it, the system will control the power distribution to the wheels to provide better traction so that the vehicle can be rescued more easily.The following is about driving preferences and some practical car usage recommendations. If you find it helpful, you can bookmark and share it with your friends. Any questions can also be discussed with me in the comment section.
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.