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Review: BYD Atto 3

Chinese EV giant BYD has arrived in Europe with the Atto 3—an acceptable and good-value alternative to better-known rivals. But beyond the funky interior there’s little to get truly excited about.
BYD Atto 3
Photograph: BYD

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Rating:

6/10

WIRED
Striking interior is full of fun design and feels well made. Comfortable ride with adequate performance. Proper buttons in place of haptics. Lots of kit fitted as standard. Good value in its category.
TIRED
Charging should be faster. Bland exterior. Handling lacks sophistication at speed. No one-pedal drive mode. Same nagging and inconsistent driver assistance systems as many other new cars.

Turn left as you exit Buckingham Palace, cross Piccadilly by the Ritz Hotel, and you’ll find Mayfair’s Berkeley Square, home to car dealerships for Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Range Rover, Bugatti, and … BYD.

BY-who? They’ll tell you it stands for Build Your Dreams, but that’s just a convenient backronym for Bǐyǎdí, which itself is the romanization of China’s biggest EV company.

Founded in 1995, BYD also produces masses of electric buses—including those red double-deckers you may have just spotted in London—and builds half of the world’s iPads. Warren Buffett invested back in 2008, and in 2023 it overtook Tesla by selling more than 3 million electric vehicles worldwide.

It isn’t just the biggest EV maker you’ve never heard of. BYD is the largest EV producer in the world, period, and a giant in the global battery market, too. Much of its success can be attributed to the enormous scale and rampant growth of the domestic Chinese market, but BYD also sells cars overseas. Sales in Australia and Europe are accelerating, but a 25 percent tariff for Chinese-made cars means the US market remains off the table, at least for now.

But that doesn’t mean BYD should be ignored. Because if its growth continues—and if Europeans maintain their newfound willingness to try novel, cheaper alternatives over the century-old stalwarts—then it doesn’t take much imagination to see what comes next. We’ve already seen Kia evolve from the butt of the joke to near-as-dammit rivaling Range Rover, so who’s to say the Chinese can’t do the same?

Entry-Level EV

Photograph: BYD
Photograph: BYD

Here, we’re driving the BYD Atto 3 in the UK. Its name comes from the attosecond, an incomprehensibly tiny measurement of time (one quintillionth of a second, to be precise), and it sits below the Atto 4, which is called the Seal in the UK. While we’re on unusual badging conventions, BYD has taken early British feedback onboard and, thankfully, no longer writes “Build Your Dreams” in chrome letters across the rear of its cars.

The Atto 3 is offered with just two trim levels, and the top-end “Design” model driven here costs £39,695 (the base model is £2,000 less). That’s about $49,000 at the time of writing, but US/UK car prices tend not to mirror the current exchange rate. For example, the Kia Niro EV starts at £37,000, which is about $47,000, but in the US it actually starts at $41,000.

Photograph: BYD

A five-seat small SUV, the Atto 3’s dimensions and general packaging are very similar to that of the Kia. It’s powered by a 60.5-kWh battery pack that drives the front wheels through a 150-kW (201-hp) electric motor. Maximum torque is 310 Nm, range is 260 miles using the European WLTP standard, and the 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time is a claimed 7.2 seconds. These are also close to the Kia, although the Niro’s range is a more impressive 285 miles WLTP, or 253 miles when using the stricter EPA standard. An EPA test of the Atto 3 would likely see a similar reduction, to around 230 miles.

Although its specifications aren’t much to write home about, BYD makes a big deal of its patented “blade battery.” It’s a lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery where the cells are arranged into flat rectangles, hence the blade name, in a bid to improve cooling efficiency and preheating performance. BYD also claims the design helps prevent thermal runaway if the battery is penetrated by a nail—a test it conducts to simulate the pack being struck and punctured by a sharp metal object in a high-speed crash, and short-circuiting.

BYD also says it benefits from designing and manufacturing much of the EV drivetrain itself, including the battery, onboard charger, drive motor, transmission, heat pump (fitted as standard), and more.

Photograph: BYD

With all that in mind, it’s a shame that the Atto 3 is limited to 400 volts when the slightly pricier Kia EV6 ($42,600) and Hyundai Ioniq 5 ($41,800) operate at 800, and have far faster charging as a result. The BYD’s maximum charge rate is 88 kW. This is higher than the less impressive 72 kW of the Kia Niro EV, but leagues away from the 200-kW-plus of Kia's EV6.

Charging aside, the Atto 3’s specifications are roughly par for the EV course at this price point, but buyers may have rightly expected more from a company with so much battery know-how. BYD says the car will charge from 10 to 80 percent in 44 minutes, and vehicle-to-load tech means the Atto 3 can be used to charge other devices, like laptops, and power domestic appliances including camping equipment.

So far, so average, and the exterior design doesn’t exactly light the afterburners, either. It’s mostly fine, with a small yet colorful selection of no-cost paint options, but there’s only one choice of 18-inch wheel and little to truly get excited about. The scalelike texture on the C-pillar is distinctive, and the sharp, shallow headlight design gives the face a bit of athleticism. So too does the shapely contouring across the doors, but it’s otherwise forgetful.

Barbell Door Pulls?

Inside, things are far more interesting. Although there’s just a single colorway available, it blends blue and various grays with splashes of orange to create a sophisticated palate.

BYD says the cabin was inspired by gym equipment—bet you haven’t heard an automaker say that before—and there are lots of fun details. The door pulls are said to be inspired by barbells, while the gear selector is supposed to remind the driver of a kettlebell; the central armrest is inspired by a treadmill and the air vents are meant to look like free weights.

It’s unusual, but, astonishingly, it works. The door handles, which rotate around a speaker and a circular LED, are a particular highlight, and so too are the doorbins, which hold your drinks bottle in place with orange bungee cords styled to look like guitar strings. Yes, guitar strings. It all sounds wacky written down, but there’s a surprising level of cohesion here, and everything remains just the right side of intuitive.

BYD has sensibly shunned the touch-sensitive controls loved by other manufacturers, and has instead fitted proper physical buttons to its steering wheel. Hurrah! There are buttons for the cruise control and a scroller under your right thumb for changing music volume, plus another in the center console.

We shouldn’t be impressed by this, but in a world where manufacturers think diving into a touchscreen interface to control the windshield wipers is a good idea, a spattering of proper switchgear is very welcome.

Speaking of touchscreens, the Atto 3 has a 12.8-inch dashboard display as standard, or a massive 15.6-inch panel in the Design trim driven here. It’s bright and clear with a high resolution, integrated Spotify, an attractive navigation system, and one of the most responsive user interfaces we’ve ever seen on a car—it really does feel like an iPad.

Swivel Screen

Photograph: BYD
Photograph: BYD

This display also has a trick up its sleeve: the ability to rotate between landscape and portrait with the press of a button. BYD suggests portrait is best for navigation, but we found its generous size meant landscape worked equally well. Still, it’s nice to have the choice.

Less welcome is the lack of physical climate controls, and worse still is how they are not shown permanently on the display. There’s plenty of room, but instead you have to tap the temperature in the lower-right corner (which can be obscured by the steering wheel depending on your seat position), then tap on a set of small arrows to adjust the temperature or fan speed. Failing this, which you will, another tap opens a full-screen view of the climate controls, with larger icons for tapping or swiping. A customizable shortcuts page is accessible with a swipe down from the top of the screen, but there’s no indication it’s there unless you go looking for it.

It’s all a bit of a faff, especially for the unfamiliar, and the climate controls are completely hidden when using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto (both wired-only, sadly). It’s also unclear why BYD thinks the screen needs to constantly show indoor and outdoor air quality, along with a Bluetooth status icon and the incline of the road.

A small driver display sits behind the steering wheel for your speed, energy use, battery life, and range. It’s attached to the steering column, so handily moves when you adjust the reach and rake of the wheel, and is therefore always fully in view. But the UI is cluttered and its icons are on the small side.

These are all things that can be addressed with software updates, and given how BYD wasted no time removing its Build Your Dreams branding to please British buyers, tweaks to the infotainment could feasibly happen if there’s enough customer feedback.

The cabin feels well made and spacious thanks to the completely flat floor and standard-fit panoramic glass roof, and the seats are comfortable with good rear legroom. The 440-liter trunk is decent enough, but falls slightly short of the 470-liter Kia Niro EV. And while the Niro has a tiny 20-liter frunk for storing charge cables, the Atto 3 has no front trunk at all.

Softly Sprung

Out on the road, it’s clear that BYD has opted for softness and comfort over sporty precision. Add the soft suspension to tires with a fair bit of squishy side wall, and the Atto 3 copes well with our broken British roads. It’s comfortable, quiet, and relatively refined for an EV at this price point.

There’s a bit of roll in the corners, but it’s clear BYD isn’t trying to pretend it makes sports cars. At a time when some European brands are guilty of fitting stiffer suspension and larger wheels to keep the marketing division happy, BYD’s pursuit of soft-sprung comfort is a noble one, but the execution lacks sophistication at higher speed.

Photograph: BYD

BYD also isn’t chasing straight-line performance goals, with the Atto 3 accelerating to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 7.2 seconds. Leisurely by today’s EV standards, but perfectly quick enough for a car like this. Remember, it’s supposed to be a good-value family car designed to slot into your everyday life; too many EVs have the sort of rocketship performance that your passengers, dog, and groceries simply won’t stand for. The Atto 3’s acceleration is adequate, and we’re here for it.

Range, of course, is far more important. BYD’s claim of 260 miles (WLTP) is 25 short of the Kia Niro EV and 23 behind the £45,000/$44,000 Tesla Model Y, but 11 ahead of the similarly-priced Škoda Enyaq. Take driving style and temperature into account, and you should expect a real-world range closer to 220 miles. Not bad, but you’ll still long for faster charging every time you plug in.

The brakes are fine, although the pedal is spongy, and the switch from regenerative braking to using the discs and pads is nicely judged. There are two strengths of regeneration to pick from, via a toggle switch on the center console or by diving into the touchscreen, but neither is particularly strong and, sadly, one-pedal driving isn’t an option.

This being a new car built to comply with Europe’s latest safety standards means the usual frustrations are all present and correct. You are told off every time you exceed the speed limit, even by just 2 mph, and because the road sign recognition system makes mistakes, you’ll sometimes be scolded by the car’s voice assistant when it has misread a sign. Bafflingly, sometimes the navigation screen and the driver display disagree on what the speed limit is; other times they don’t show a limit at all.

There’s no Tesla Autopilot-style hands-off driving, but the Atto 3 still has lane-keep assist among other driver assistance systems. It usually issues a bit of gentle feedback if you stray over a lane marking, but on two occasions during our 90-minute drive the car grabbed the wheel like a panicked driving instructor. The first time it happened was a real shock, as the steering wheel was tugged at for no obvious reason, and, as with these systems on almost all new cars, the first intervention plants a seed of doubt that never really goes away. As ever, it’s best to turn these systems down to their least invasive setting.

Taste of Things to Come

What to make of the BYD Atto 3? The question could equally be, what to make of the approaching flood of electric cars built by Chinese firms who are giants at home but unheard of in the West?

This is not a car for driving enthusiasts, clearly. And while also not groundbreaking, the Atto 3 is perfectly good at being an electric car. It has a fun, spacious, and nicely designed interior that’s packed as standard with kit often hiding in the options lists of pricier German cars.

The touchscreen software needs some work, and permanent climate controls are a must in our book. Performance and range are both fine, and ride quality is decent, but we wish all that battery expertise had resulted in faster charging.

Ultimately, the Atto 3 does little to stand out from what is quickly becoming a crowded segment of the EV market. It feels well made and represents good value, but while that glittering Mayfair showroom promises a lot, the unknown badge asks buyers to take a leap of faith.