I've been curious of the NIO ET5 and had an opportunity for an hours test drive yesterday - it's surprisingly good!
Used to drive Audi A4 Avants (modded TFSI quattros) so I'm a big fan of the "high spec performance compact wagon" format. Well the NIO feels way upmarket from the 3 and has much of that Audi feel. The interior looks pretty good and everything you touch is so much nicer and more normal than my 2021 Model 3 Performance. Immediately noticed the lower sound level. It's considerably quieter than mine.
Overall impression from the cabin is much more normal than a Model 3, much more appealing than a Mustang, and way better than the KIAs. Apparently feels more airy and higher spec than Polestar 2. It has nice tactile steering wheel stalks. Screen isn't as responsive as a Ryzen, but perfectly fine. The first screen user experience I felt was a good as Tesla, with their own take and a lot of well thought out details and navigation. Surprisingly nice really. (Which for me is a real deal killer with current Audis for instance.)
Overall impression from the outside - well we both felt it looks great, even surprisingly well resolved and proportioned compared to the sedan. It's clean, restrained, great lines, great looking rear end. Looks wider and more aggressive in the flesh than I expected from the images I'd seen beforehand. Refreshing lack of vents, creases and design stuff. Loved the titanium window surrounds. Loved the tactile door handles. Not the most flattering color, looked even better in blue with tan interior.
It does not drive like a Tesla. It has more or less the same level of steering feel; so not exactly inspiring but perfectly fine. The handling has a setup towards understeer in balance, but it does grip well and maintains a nice clean line even on w\quite bumpy corners. Low speed ride quality is quite good, but high speed body control is not great. Handles smaller irregularities and even cobbles well, but it's not firm enough over bumps for my taste, and downright bouncy on the rear over larger bumps at speed.
It squats a lot under power. Objectively it feels like it has roughly Model 3 LR type power from the drivers seat (i.e. nowhere near a 3 perf) - but from the passenger seat if feels like it is accelerating like crazy. All that weight comes back up when you let off though, so it bounces on the front suspension and feels really floaty for a second. This body movement actually had my friend and co testpilot quite car sick in average traffic, where slowing down and speeding up after speedbumps seems to be the worst. I didn't even get to the roads I had planned to actually try the car out on. He drives a Polestar 2 performance (nice Øhlins) and mine is a 3 performance on KW v3s, so I suppose we're not your average Joe in this regard.
The driveline itself is not on Tesla level. Power is delivered in a more restrained way than the brutal throttle response of my 3P, and feels curiously flat as if it's been artificially capped at a level. Efficiency and charging performance on the 75 kwh battery is not comparable to Tesla. Also, no Supercharger access.
Yet dispite a those drawbacks I had a very positive impression of the car. While writing this I actually would like more time with one - right now I'd say top three on my list next to a YP and the facelift 3P.
In my opinion, it would be an even better match for me if they were to offer a suspension upgrade. I mod all my cars anyways so perhaps it's not even that much of an issue. If this car had Audi branding (and Audi would be proud of this car) they could probably sell it at a much higher price point than NIO can. It's pretty darn nice.
Used to drive Audi A4 Avants (modded TFSI quattros) so I'm a big fan of the "high spec performance compact wagon" format. Well the NIO feels way upmarket from the 3 and has much of that Audi feel. The interior looks pretty good and everything you touch is so much nicer and more normal than my 2021 Model 3 Performance. Immediately noticed the lower sound level. It's considerably quieter than mine.
Overall impression from the cabin is much more normal than a Model 3, much more appealing than a Mustang, and way better than the KIAs. Apparently feels more airy and higher spec than Polestar 2. It has nice tactile steering wheel stalks. Screen isn't as responsive as a Ryzen, but perfectly fine. The first screen user experience I felt was a good as Tesla, with their own take and a lot of well thought out details and navigation. Surprisingly nice really. (Which for me is a real deal killer with current Audis for instance.)
Overall impression from the outside - well we both felt it looks great, even surprisingly well resolved and proportioned compared to the sedan. It's clean, restrained, great lines, great looking rear end. Looks wider and more aggressive in the flesh than I expected from the images I'd seen beforehand. Refreshing lack of vents, creases and design stuff. Loved the titanium window surrounds. Loved the tactile door handles. Not the most flattering color, looked even better in blue with tan interior.
It does not drive like a Tesla. It has more or less the same level of steering feel; so not exactly inspiring but perfectly fine. The handling has a setup towards understeer in balance, but it does grip well and maintains a nice clean line even on w\quite bumpy corners. Low speed ride quality is quite good, but high speed body control is not great. Handles smaller irregularities and even cobbles well, but it's not firm enough over bumps for my taste, and downright bouncy on the rear over larger bumps at speed.
It squats a lot under power. Objectively it feels like it has roughly Model 3 LR type power from the drivers seat (i.e. nowhere near a 3 perf) - but from the passenger seat if feels like it is accelerating like crazy. All that weight comes back up when you let off though, so it bounces on the front suspension and feels really floaty for a second. This body movement actually had my friend and co testpilot quite car sick in average traffic, where slowing down and speeding up after speedbumps seems to be the worst. I didn't even get to the roads I had planned to actually try the car out on. He drives a Polestar 2 performance (nice Øhlins) and mine is a 3 performance on KW v3s, so I suppose we're not your average Joe in this regard.
The driveline itself is not on Tesla level. Power is delivered in a more restrained way than the brutal throttle response of my 3P, and feels curiously flat as if it's been artificially capped at a level. Efficiency and charging performance on the 75 kwh battery is not comparable to Tesla. Also, no Supercharger access.
Yet dispite a those drawbacks I had a very positive impression of the car. While writing this I actually would like more time with one - right now I'd say top three on my list next to a YP and the facelift 3P.
In my opinion, it would be an even better match for me if they were to offer a suspension upgrade. I mod all my cars anyways so perhaps it's not even that much of an issue. If this car had Audi branding (and Audi would be proud of this car) they could probably sell it at a much higher price point than NIO can. It's pretty darn nice.
