First test Voyah Free – Will this Chinese electric SUV beat BMW, Audi and Mercedes?

With the Free, Voyah follows a long list of electric Chinese newcomers. Xpeng, BYD, MG, Seres, these are just a few examples of the tidal wave of Chinese brands that we have been able to get acquainted with in recent years. And while the introduction of a Chinese car was viewed with the necessary skepticism a decade ago, nowadays we take the arrival of a car from that country a lot more seriously. After all, with the rise of the electric car, the playing field has leveled considerably and with a suitable offer you can score very well, as MG proves. Yet Voyah takes a significantly different approach to the Free than MG. Instead of sitting at the bottom of the market, the brand from the Dongfeng stable is aiming for the top of the market. The Free has to compete against established premium brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

In any case, Voyah has not skimped on the square meters of screen in the car to be able to reinforce that a bit. From the left to the right A-pillar runs an enormous piece on which three separate screens are visually connected as one large screen. On the far left is the digital instrument panel, in the middle the navigation and entertainment system and the passenger also gets its own touchscreen for various settings. It looks modern and the non-digital part also makes a good first impression. They have clearly looked closely at Mercedes, although the use of materials certainly does not reach the level of that brand on closer inspection. Still, it doesn’t feel extremely cheap and although the touchscreen is certainly not of the same level graphically, it generally works quite well. However, this is still a pre-series car, so sometimes the system does not pick up a setting and every time you restart, you have to set the radio station again. That will be solved with the final cars. What we have more questions about is privacy. The car is equipped with a privacy mode, but nevertheless after a week of driving we find in an untranslated menu with Chinese characters various recordings of where we drove the car that week. According to Riva EV Mobility, the importer of Voyah in the Netherlands, this should also be resolved in the final production version. What we are more positive about is the space supply. The Free is a very strong boy and that pays off in a spacious back seat and a trunk where you can get lost.

Big screens, but it’s not as nice as say Mercedes.

Comfortable

If we still praise: the chassis of the Free exceeds expectations. Despite a car weight of more than 2,300 kilos, the SUV drives remarkably comfortably. The air suspension manages to keep the car weight under control very nicely, without the Free becoming plank hard. As long as you don’t go too fast, this results in a remarkably pleasant driving car with a steering that, while not overflowing with feeling, offers enough counter pressure to confidently lead the car around the corner. If you go faster, the weight will take its revenge quickly. The laws of physics can only be stretched to a certain extent and apart from air suspension, the Voyah does not have the chassis control systems to go further.

That in itself does not have to be a problem, were it not for the fact that it is rather easy and very fast with the Voyah. At the time of writing it is not yet entirely clear which versions will eventually come to the Netherlands, but we are pleased with the absolute top version. It has a battery with a net capacity of 100 kWh and two electric motors that together produce 483 hp and 720 Nm. Each motor takes care of an axle, so the Voyah has four-wheel drive. Nevertheless, the front axle in particular struggles to get the power to the ground from a standstill. The winter tires do not help with that and yet the measuring equipment indicates the 100 km / h after 4.5 seconds. That is two tenths above the manufacturer’s specification, which is very good given the circumstances. Speaking of tidal waves…

Nice: a frunk for your charging cable.

efficiency

Nice, of course, but in practice you often benefit more from an efficient powertrain than one with a lot of power. Unlike many other first acquaintances, we can use the Voyah for several days and we can therefore measure consumption. Then the Voyah turns out to reach 25.5 kWh per 100 km in Eco mode. This brings the Free to about 400 kilometers in practice, which may be 450 under better conditions. This makes the Voyah not really groundbreaking and the same applies to the charging options. On alternating current, the car neatly follows the current trend and can charge 11 kW, on direct current the Voyah comes up to 100 kW. It turns out that the car cannot reach that at 9 degrees, more than 75 kW is not possible in any case.

To what extent the above will be a breaking point will largely depend on the price, which is unfortunately not yet clear at the moment. The only thing the importer wants to say about it at the moment is that we should think of cars such as the Audi Q8 E-Tron, Tesla Model Y, Mercedes GLC and BMW iX. But that is a playing field between roughly €60,000-100,000. Moreover, it is not yet entirely clear which versions will be delivered exactly. Elsewhere in the world, the Free is available with two battery packs, of which this 100 kWh is the largest. Negotiations are also ongoing about the equipment, our test sample has everything from artificial leather upholstery and seat massage to a panoramic roof and all kinds of active driver assistance systems. Incidentally, you should not expect Mercedes or Tesla-like performance from the latter. The car keeps itself between the lines, but nowhere near with the precision of those brands. Nevertheless, the Free has it all and if this version with this powertrain ends up at the bottom of the thought bandwidth, you have a fairly complete and very spacious EV for it, with a decent range. We will know more during the year.

Despite the enabled privacy mode, the Voyah appears to be watching.