What’s this new car all about then?
While Kiwis still love a good ute, SUVs still utterly dominate the New Zealand new car market. Between them, the small and medium SUV segments eclipse ute sales, so having options here is essential for any car brand. And many of them do.
Coincidentally, these same segments are also where the meat of hybrid, BEV and PHEV sales come from (I mean the Toyota RAV4 and Tesla Model Y sit in there), so if you are launching a new electrified vehicle, then it makes sense that it be a small or medium SUV.
Which, handily, is exactly what the upcoming BYD Atto 2 is. Roughly the same size as a Toyota Corolla Cross, the Atto 2 settles perfectly between the forthcoming Atto 1 small hatch and the extremely successful Atto 3 (which is either a hatch or an SUV, depending on what you want it to be, really) placing it directly in the meat of the market.
Styling-wise, the Atto 2 isn’t going to blow you away, but it is a handsome and well-proportioned small SUV that, in the right colour (ie; something bright) would look quite cute and chunky.
I don’t particularly consider our test car’s sales-friendly grey to be the right colour, but its chunky and conservative shape has a nicely European vibe to it, which will no doubt appeal to a broad audience.
Inside, the Atto 2 is notably more conservative than its siblings; while the Atto 1 is bright and cheery and the Atto 3 is, well, a bit weird, the Atto 2 is straightforward, conservative, and almost like a luxury sedan from about a decade back when they were effortlessly cool, rather than blinged up like they are now.
Everything you touch feels pleasant and high quality, while the controls are sensible and logically laid out and feature more physical buttons than previous BYDs, although the bulk of the operation is still handled by the touchscreen.
The screen itself is clear, attractive and responsive, but smaller than those found in other BYD models.
How much is it?
The Atto 2 will land here in two guises, Dynamic and Premium, with both sharing the same powertrain: a 51kWh Blade battery with a 130kW/290Nm electric motor on the front axle.
The Dynamic opens the range at $39,990 and is generously packed with standard equipment, including a V2L function with an included adaptor, a full suite of safety and driver assists, as well as a healthy list of standard features.
The Premium ups the ask to $45,990 and adds 17-inch alloy wheels with Hankook tyres, a 360 degree camera and front parking sensors, a panoramic glass roof, a power adjustable driver’s seat, a larger 12.8-inch infotainment screen and an 8-speaker audio system, and a 50W wireless phone charging pad.
What’s it like to drive?
The Atto 2 is a genuinely impressive car on the road in New Zealand. While I had briefly driven one around a car park in China earlier this year, the tight nature of the course didn’t allow the Atto 2 to demonstrate what it is good at, so it was quickly dismissed in favour of more laps thrashing the Seagull (or Atto 1, as it will be known when it arrives here).
It’s not fast, even when you hammer it, but it is fun because everything is so nicely responsive and predictable.
However, the Atto 2’s performance on open roads and motorways is absolutely superb. Boasting a wonderfully compliant ride, the Atto 2 is quiet and comfortable, and feels plush, well-controlled, and superbly composed.
At urban speeds, there is a slight, traditional EV brittle feeling in the secondary ride, likely due to high tire pressures, but most people will barely notice it. Otherwise its urban ride is every bit as plush and accomplished as its open road ride.
However, this fantastic ride does translate into relatively soft handling, and the Atto 2 does like a good lean through corners with an eventual slow, predictable default into understeer.
However it is superbly well controlled and telegraphs everything well in advance, and once you know where its limits are it is wonderfully intuitive and easy to maintain a nice flow through the corners.
Even when encountering an unexpected mid-corner bump, the Atto 2 lets you know what’s happening before simply shrugging it off and going about its business, demonstrating that it is a truly mature, well engineered car.
While it’s not a sports car - and shouldn't be - I found myself quite engaged by it on a winding road. It’s not fast, even when you hammer it, but it is fun because everything is so nicely responsive and predictable.
This level of refinement shows that BYD's cars are maturing nicely, and at an incredibly rapid rate.
In terms of driver assists and safety tech, the Atto 2 is a further refinement of the excellent systems BYD has been offering of late, meaning that they are extremely well-judged and almost entirely unintrusive, only chiming in with the occasional gentle, quiet beep if you cross a line without indicating or exceed the speed limit.
There are no dramatics, no nagging, and the stereo isn't muted just to shout at you. They simply do their job well, with the same able to be said about the adaptive cruise control that doesn't tug annoyingly away at the steering wheel or frantically nibble away at the throttle and brakes. This level of refinement shows that BYD's cars are maturing nicely, and at an incredibly rapid rate.
What’s the pick of the range?
It’s hard to definitively say at this stage, as we have only driven the top-spec Premium model, but given that the two are mechanically identical, with the same powertrain and suspension set ups, the $39,990 Dynamic model sounds incredibly convincing.
However, the extra kit you get for the $6k difference is also pretty compelling, particularly the larger 17-inch alloys shod with Hankook tyres, where the Dynamic gets 16-inch wheels with ZhongCe tyres, which I have not previously been a fan of...
It’s really going to come down to your budget, but either would be an excellent choice, although maybe with a tyre upgrade on the Dynamic model.
What other cars should I consider?
The term "well judged" perfectly describes the Atto 2, and BYD has successfully created a small electric SUV that performs every task extremely well. But then, it is also a phrase that describes the small SUV segment in general, so the Atto 2 does have plenty of competition. Just, not necessarily from other EVs.
There are, of course, the obvious ICE/hybrid competitors like a low-spec Toyota Corolla Cross ($44,990 to $55,990) or Toyota C-HR ($46,990 to $58,990), while its price also puts it firmly in the same area as the Kia Seltos ($33,990 to $44,850), Kia Niro ($45,990 to $60,490), Skoda Kamiq ($40,500 to $49,800), Hyundai Kona ($39,990 to $59,990), Ford Puma ($42,990 to $48,990) and GWM Haval Jolion ($34,990 to $37,990) to name a few.
Bear in mind here that all those cars are either straight ICE or hybrid, with fully electric competitors like the larger Leapmotor B10 ($42,990 to $47,990), smaller but more expensive Kia EV3 ($55,520 to $75,220) and the similarly-sized and priced Omoda E5 ($40,990 to $44,990) being a bit thinner on the ground.
But then it is likely that BYD has absolutely intentionally aimed for price parity with those ICE options and is looking for some happy hunting in petrol land.
