In NIO's product lineup, if ES8 is the flagship and pioneering work of the brand, then ES6 is the cornerstone of the brand. Since its birth in 2018, NIO's sales model has completed the delivery of more than 120,000 units, and has successfully created a new segment of 350,000-450,000 intelligent pure electric SUVs.
Of course, in the past five years, this high-end segment has also ushered in many new pioneers, and these latecomers also have good strength in the environment of the intensifying tide.
In order to maintain product competitiveness, the new generation of ES6 based on the new NT2.0 platform has been officially taken over recently, and we will also talk to you about what it has changed compared to the previous generation model and what kind of driving performance it provides.
A new look of sophistication and simplicity
The new ES6 adopts NIO's second-generation design language in appearance, and the biggest change is that the iconic X-Bar elements are directly integrated into the front face as a whole, eliminating the original middle grille to form a closed shape, bringing a more concise and beautiful visual effect.
At the same time, a new watchtower sensor layout has been added to the roof part, which also better integrates the perception component into the body shape.
LED matrix headlights and through-side deflectors are combined into one to reduce wind resistance while making the design more pure
In terms of dimensions, the new car has a length, width and height of 4854/1995/1703mm respectively, and a wheelbase of 2915mm. Compared to the previous model, except for the height reduction of 55mm, all other dimensions have been improved.
The lower height and longer wheelbase make the new car look more harmonious from the side, show a more dynamic stance, and the D-pillar part is more rounded and simple than before.
The new car comes standard with 20-inch low-drag racing wheels and high-performance four-piston calipers
The rear part has also become more minimalist, and the original zigzag taillights have been replaced by slender through-beam taillights, with sharp curved surfaces and characteristic lines, the posture balances elegance and power, and also brings a high degree of rear recognition.
The material and sense of technology have been greatly upgraded
The cockpit of the new ES6 still adopts the "second living room" concept and wrap-around design, but the overall feeling is more refined, comfortable and full of technology, especially in some details of the upgrade and optimization also makes its high-end SUV positioning more deserved.
First of all, the craftsmanship and materials of the entire interior are very solid, and the places that can be touched by the body in the car are basically wrapped with soft materials, which is Haptex synthetic leather developed by BASF, which not only has the same skin-friendly touch as genuine leather, but also plays a significant role in reducing VOCs and odors in the car.
In addition to a large amount of soft leather, the renewable rattan wood decorative panels used in the center console, the regular double stitching process and the soft light trim in the same color of the interior also greatly enhance the sense of luxury and warmth of the entire cockpit.
The 10.2-inch LCD instrument cluster, 12.8-inch floating central control screen, and head-up display are now the standard equipment for highlighting the sense of technology in the electric vehicle industry, but the new ES6 has more than these means to enhance the sense of technology.
For example, the Nomi little robot in the center console, when interacting with the car machine, it has many intuitive interactive behaviors, such as turning its head to the person speaking, or making various small expressions according to different scenes.
Another very interesting black technology configuration is the N-BOX entertainment system, which can achieve up to four people watching movies, games and other entertainment experiences on the same screen. After actually wearing it, I feel that the resolution and display effect of the virtual large screen are very good, and with the in-car audio system, it can bring a great immersive experience.
However, the host and VR glasses of this system are optional, and the optional price of the host part is about 4,000 yuan, and it will occupy the armrest box space after the option.
The output port for rear passengers is located behind the rear center armrest
Of course, the Banyan 2.0.0 vehicle system equipped with the new car is also worth mentioning. In addition to the newly designed UI interface, the boot speed, operation fluency, application launch, and speech recognition rate of the entire system have been visibly improved.
According to engineers, they connected the intelligent cockpit computing power with the intelligent driving computing power, so that the 8155 and Orin X can work together when necessary, so with the support of additional computing power, the new vehicle system will no longer have stuttering when multitasking, and the execution will be smoother.
In addition to a comprehensive performance optimization, the new system adds two new features based on the user's daily convenience, one of which is "Calendar". This function can connect to Nomi to form an intelligent scene note, for example, you can say to it "get out of the car to remind me to take my phone", and Nomi will remind you by voice when you open the door.
The second is the "exclusive service" that was once applied to the mobile phone, which NIO directly synchronizes into the vehicle, so that when there is a problem with the vehicle, it can communicate with the service assistant in real time through the vehicle, and the occurrence of vehicle BUG can also be directly fed back to the service team through large-screen screenshots or screen recording. Both functions can feel that NIO's care for users is becoming more and more meticulous and intimate.
Polishing the high-grade experience from the details
In addition to the intelligent performance of the cockpit is more intimate and smoother, the new car has also greatly improved the driving comfort, and the two most intuitive parts are space and seats. First of all, in terms of space, although we mentioned earlier that the height of the new ES6 has been reduced by 55mm, there will be no depression or overhead feeling when actually riding.
This is because the roof and floor part of the car have been optimized as a whole, the roof has been reduced by 3mm under the premise of ensuring NVH performance, and the floor has also been sunk, so the actual seating height has not been compressed, and the front and rear headroom has been increased by 14mm and 75mm respectively.
In addition, the rear row has the advantage of 1538mm lateral space and 952mm legroom, even if three adults ride it will not feel oppressive.
The 1.3㎡ panoramic sunroof with a length of 707mm can be opened, which also brings more rear lighting
In terms of ride, the front seats with NIO's self-developed seat frame and Multi-Layer multi-layer comfort system do provide great comfort, and the soft and hard cushions and backrest support for the neck, back, shoulders, and outer thighs are very good.
As far as the high-end car of more than 300,000 yuan is concerned, the main and co-driver are provided with 20-way adjustment function is no longer a special highlight, in my personal opinion, the most commendable thing about the new ES6 is its front headrest, compared to most headrests that can only support up and down adjustment, the headrest of the car has a four-way adjustment range of 36mm front and rear, up and down 45mm, but also electric adjustment, which not only brings better support and comfort to the head, but also makes the seat feel of seniority further improved.
In terms of other seat functions, the new ES6 also comes standard with rich functions such as front ventilation, heating, massage, and rear backrest adjustment, and it also pays more attention to details.
For example, its seat massage provides two strengths, five modes, and also supports eight-point massage, each air bag massage point can achieve a large ejection volume of 85mm, which is more comfortable than the common 55mm massage. At the same time, seat heating and ventilation are controlled by seat cushion and backrest partition, when the back of the air conditioner is cold in summer, you can completely open the backrest heating and massage, and open the cushion down to ventilate yourself to do a comfortable therapeutic massage.
If the queen's co-pilot is optional, the headrest, cushion, seat cushion, leg rest and foot rest can be linked, and the passenger seat can be adjusted in up to 22 directions for a more comfortable lying position.
The rear seats are equipped with electric backrest adjustment as standard, which can be adjusted from 23-31°, which makes it easier for each passenger to find a sitting position suitable for each passenger than the traditional three-speed backrest adjustment. The rear row can also adjust the front seats through the touch screen, just like a "smart boss button".
In terms of cargo space, NIO has really put a lot of thought into it. Including the large storage space and armrest box under the center control armrest, a total of 22 storage spaces are designed throughout the vehicle, which are spread throughout the front and rear passenger compartments and trunks to meet different storage needs.
At the same time, it also has the largest trunk space in its class, providing 579L of storage space in the basic state, which can easily put down all kinds of luggage needed for a long week. It is worth mentioning that this trunk also has a three-layer storage design of upper, middle and lower layers, which can allow users to store them in layers according to daily use, camping, and privacy items.
Open the trunk floor, below is a hidden storage space of nearly 100L, and further down is a smaller privacy storage compartment, and NIO has intimately made a multi-level folding treatment on the trunk floor, so that it will be more convenient to access items.
If you want to load a lot of items, the rear seats can also be reclined, expanding the overall volume to 1430L.
The rear seat of the car supports 424 ratio reclining, in addition to placing items more flexible, it is also more convenient to store some long items, such as surfboards, snowboards, etc., only need to put down the middle backrest of the rear row, without sacrificing rear seating space, this design is still very intimate.
Better to control and more fun
As a high-end pure electric SUV, power can not be stingy, and the new ES6 still uses the standard equipment of the dual-motor four-wheel drive system as a high-performance power guarantee.
The front 150kW AC asynchronous motor and the rear 210kW permanent magnet synchronous motor can provide 360kW of comprehensive output power and 700Nm of comprehensive torque output, bringing greater explosiveness to the new car, so that its 0-100km/h acceleration is increased to 4.5 seconds, which is more than 1 second faster than the previous generation of sports models.
In order to make it easier for drivers to experience this acceleration excitement, NIO also specially set the quick start button for the sport + mode, as long as you press and hold the buttons on both sides of the steering wheel at the same time at 9 o'clock and 3 positions for 3 seconds, you will hear a special conversion sound effect, and the LCD instrument will also turn into a red interface.
At this time, the accelerator pedal response will become extremely sensitive, the power response and steering control of the whole vehicle will be pushed to the limit, the feedback of the suspension on the road sense will be more direct, and it will be more comfortable to accelerate, overtake and other actions.
In addition to Sport +, the vehicle also has four other basic modes to choose from: sport, comfort, energy saving, and personalization, in short, acceleration, steering force, and damping stiffness of shock absorbers will change significantly under different choices. In addition, the vehicle offers four field modes: snow, trailer, sand, and wet, which dynamically adjust the vehicle's power distribution according to different choices.
The new car also has highlights in terms of braking performance, in addition to the brake pedal response itself is more sensitive, there is no soft front section, the car also provides an ISS intelligent comfort brake function that can reduce the brake "nod" and greatly improve the riding comfort.
The braking range of this system is 0.1g-0.5g, within 0.5g, ISS will brake the vehicle smoothly like an old driver, if it is greater than 0.5g of emergency braking, ISS will not activate, ensuring driving safety.
In terms of chassis, the new ES6 adopts CDC dynamic suspension damping control system, the hardness of the suspension can be adjusted in real time according to road conditions, not blindly soft or blindly hard, its overall can still bring a more comfortable experience, but in order to ensure the sporty style of the vehicle itself, some small vibrations on the road surface will still be transmitted to the driver.
In addition to the basic driving experience, we also got a little feel for the smart driving function of the new car. Overall, this intelligent driving system consisting of 33 sensors and four NVIDIA Orin X chips, including lidar, is still very strong.
After turning on the NOP navigation assistance system on the highway section, you only need to put your hand on the steering wheel, and the vehicle will complete the operation of speed adjustment, lane change, entry and exit ramps and other operations according to the set navigation route and legal requirements.
At this time, the vehicle is more like an old driver, who will predict the road conditions in advance, the acceleration and deceleration are not abrupt, and the overtaking and changing lanes are also very decisive, and the action does not have any mud and water. Although it is a paid function, I personally feel that NIO's set of navigation assistance is indeed easier to use, in addition to improving driving safety during long-distance driving, it is also helpful to improve high-speed traffic efficiency.
epilogue
Overall, the new generation ES6 can be called an all-round hexagonal player, with a balance of performance, practicality, intelligence and other aspects.
And I personally feel that in this car, NIO's progress is still quite obvious, which is not only reflected in the workmanship materials and vehicle tuning, but also NIO's understanding of creating luxury brand cars. For how to reflect the luxury of a car, NIO is not a rigid set of configurations, but starts from the details to bring users a high-grade sense of experience.
At present, the new car has been officially listed, according to the battery configuration of 368,000 yuan and 428,000 yuan two prices, compared with the configuration of the previous generation of models not only better starting price but also 18,000 yuan cheaper, and then the car also provides a battery leasing program, can further reduce the price to 298,000 yuan, so it seems that in the better product performance and NIO's unique service and power exchange blessing, even if today's electric vehicle city volume has been very serious, ES6 market position is not so easy to be shaken. 【iDailycar】