[jagan88]

I'm in a dilemma for the past few months now.

Background: I drive a 2020 Hexa XTA. Pre-owned. Thanks to the amazing thread we have on Hexa and the beauty of later upgrades (my previous ride was Abarth Urban Cross). Hexa is currently at 80k on the odo. I drove about 40k in the last 18 months. We do cross country trips with family (I, wife and 6Y old) and love the comfort of Hexa to the core. I'm the only driver. And I anticipate to do such 4,000+ kms round trips once a year. I spent a lot of fuel and am thinking the Atto3 can get this cost down by a lot.

The confusing part:
- Sell Hexa, stretch the budget and get a new Atto3 to be an all rounder?
- Get MG comet as a 2nd car. I have the parking space, I test drove the comet and loved it as a city commute. Hexa can do the highway duties.
- Do nothing. Wait for the Atto3 prices to be revised/dropped. I didn't take a test drive of the Atto3, but I'm kind of sure I'll like this.

While I'm not in a hurry to buy an EV, there's a temporary 0 road tax in AP (until July). If I wait longer, even if Atto3 prices drop, it'll be negated by the hefty road tax I need to pay in TS/AP.


thoughts?

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by jagan88

I'm in a dilemma for the past few months now.


The confusing part:
- Sell Hexa, stretch the budget and get a new Atto3 to be an all rounder?
- Get MG comet as a 2nd car. I have the parking space, I test drove the comet and loved it as a city commute. Hexa can do the highway duties.
- Do nothing. Wait for the Atto3 prices to be revised/dropped. I didn't take a test drive of the Atto3, but I'm kind of sure I'll like this.

There is no scenario in which EV can be used for cross country touring in India today. Your choice of routes, destinations and accommodations becomes limited. You cannot explore the hinterlands or the mountains, or casually drive on modern expressways. EVs are brilliant for daily city usage, fine for occasional intercity use, but 4000km long distance touring is stretching things too far. Irrespective of the EV in question.

It makes sense to keep Hexa as your highway car and get a Comet or Punch EV as a daily driver. This is the ideal combination.

[volkman10]

BYD India update:

BYD India proudly announces it has received a homologation certificate from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) for the BYD ATTO 3. It further enables BYD India to cater to the increased demands and needs of Indian customers.

[mally2]

Originally Posted by jagan88

I'm in a dilemma for the past few months now.

Background: I drive a 2020 Hexa XTA. Pre-owned. Thanks to the amazing thread we have on Hexa and the beauty of later upgrades (my previous ride was Abarth Urban Cross). Hexa is currently at 80k on the odo. I drove about 40k in the last 18 months. We do cross country trips with family (I, wife and 6Y old) and love the comfort of Hexa to the core. I'm the only driver. And I anticipate to do such 4,000+ kms round trips once a year. I spent a lot of fuel and am thinking the Atto3 can get this cost down by a lot.

The confusing part:
- Sell Hexa, stretch the budget and get a new Atto3 to be an all rounder?
- Get MG comet as a 2nd car. I have the parking space, I test drove the comet and loved it as a city commute. Hexa can do the highway duties.
- Do nothing. Wait for the Atto3 prices to be revised/dropped. I didn't take a test drive of the Atto3, but I'm kind of sure I'll like this.

While I'm not in a hurry to buy an EV, there's a temporary 0 road tax in AP (until July). If I wait longer, even if Atto3 prices drop, it'll be negated by the hefty road tax I need to pay in TS/AP.


thoughts?

I was in the same boat as you. I have a Hexa XTA 94k on the ODO bought used 2 years ago after selling my Nexon Diesel bought in2017. I bought the Hexa at 56k so done close to 40k in last 2 years. After a lot of deliberation on fuels costs. I got myself a Tiago Ev last year which has done close to 18k kms as of now.
This is the best combo. The Hexa is irreplaceable. Since all my future upgrades will be a EVs. So I have decided to enjoy this diesel beast till its last breath for all my highway duties.

Fun fact with the Tiago EV I’ve done some interesting highway trips such as from Bangalore to Chennai / Ooty / Mangalore. Such won’t be possible in the comet EV

[newenergy]

Originally Posted by volkman10

BYD India update:



Attachment 2595725

This is great news. Now with a price correction and updated Atto 3 launch, it can fetch more volumes.

[Alive2Drive]

Hi All,

My cousin is on a lookout for a good electric vehicle. He has a daily running of 250 Kms and is lookout for a replacement for his Diesel Renault Fluence. I recommended him BYD Atto 3. Anyone has any idea on the deal we may have for BYD Atto 3 in Delhi/NCR or nearby areas. It will help him in making this decision sooner than later.

[GoBabyGo]

Originally Posted by Alive2Drive

Hi All,

My cousin is on a lookout for a good electric vehicle. He has a daily running of 250 Kms and is lookout for a replacement for his Diesel Renault Fluence. I recommended him BYD Atto 3. Anyone has any idea on the deal we may have for BYD Atto 3 in Delhi/NCR or nearby areas. It will help him in making this decision sooner than later.

Hi Alive2Drive - I may be wrong, but I am expecting price correction for Atto3 in next 3 to 4 months. The price of Atto3 may be down by 5 to 7 lacs. Buying Atto3 now at 36 lacs onroad is not recommended (from my point of view).

If your cousin is okay, he can go for MG ZS EV Excite Pro which is available at around 21.50 lacs onroad Delhi. If you try, you can get about 35K to 50K discount also. MG ZS EV can give range of 250km to 270km (100% to 15%), which is good enough for your cousin. If he can install 7kW fast charger at home, I think 6 to 7 hours are required to charge MG ZS EV from 15% to 100% daily with 7kW home charger.

Tata Nexon LR, in my view, is not reliable enough for such high daily use. I personally feel that MG EV is more reliable than Tata EV.

Alternatively, he can try for Maruti-Nexa / Toyota Full Hybrid (Grand Vitara or Hyryder), which can easily give real world FE of about 24kmpl.

[newenergy]

Originally Posted by GoBabyGo

Hi Alive2Drive - I may be wrong, but I am expecting price correction for Atto3 in next 3 to 4 months. The price of Atto3 may be down by 5 to 7 lacs. Buying Atto3 now at 36 lacs onroad is not recommended (from my point of view).

I heard they might launch a lower-spec version of Atto 3 with 49.92 kWh battery pack but no information on the current long-range version. I will check with the BYD dealership if they have any idea but I doubt they will tell me to be honest.

[newenergy]

BYD Atto 3 Carbon Edge version launched in Singapore and it has the frunk along with black detailing instead of chrome. I hope this comes to India soon.

Link:

https://youtu.be/tAIFnOOwF7k

[mohanphadnis]

Originally Posted by Alive2Drive

Hi All,

My cousin is on a lookout for a good electric vehicle. He has a daily running of 250 Kms and is lookout for a replacement for his Diesel Renault Fluence. I recommended him BYD Atto 3. Anyone has any idea on the deal we may have for BYD Atto 3 in Delhi/NCR or nearby areas. It will help him in making this decision sooner than later.

For that distance, I would recommend a Hyundai Kona. It will be cheaper by lot, seriously fun to drive, has ventilated seats for a dry back. and smaller battery means it will be charged every night. If you need anything bigger, Ioniq 5 would be the car to go to if GC is important, otherwise seal is amazing. Atto 3 is great, and if you are looking at something with that range and size, then the only choice in that 30ish lakh price point. I think their battery is the best in business. I don't think you will regret buying this vehicle.

As an ex-kona owner, that car is very close to my heart. It is the most fun car I have ever owned. Take a kona up a mountain and you will come out with a huge grin on your face. Only two problems with kona are a cramped rear seat and low GC (may be add a bad stock tyre), but if you can live with those, nothing being sold right now in country beats kona in fun to drive quotient.

[newenergy]

I have spoken to BYD dealer here in Pune and as per them the 50kWh (~49.92) version will launch in 4-5 months. This will also include the black color option with dark interiors. They did not comment on pricing though. They also did not confirm if the same updates will apply to 61kWh version too (I think it will surely be). Well, we will know soon enough.

In Singapore by comparison, the new model includes the following features:

1. Dark interior (only in the black and grey color model)
2. 15.6" screen
3. "BYD" badge at the back
4. Continental tyres
5. A frunk

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by jagan88

I'm in a dilemma for the past few months now.

Background: I drive a 2020 Hexa XTA. Pre-owned. Thanks to the amazing thread we have on Hexa and the beauty of later upgrades (my previous ride was Abarth Urban Cross). Hexa is currently at 80k on the odo. I drove about 40k in the last 18 months. We do cross country trips with family (I, wife and 6Y old) and love the comfort of Hexa to the core. I'm the only driver. And I anticipate to do such 4,000+ kms round trips once a year. I spent a lot of fuel and am thinking the Atto3 can get this cost down by a lot.

thoughts?

For your use case, a hybrid like the Innova Hycross makes much more sense. As others pointed out, it is not practical to do long highway trips in India on an EV, due to the pauicity of EV charging points on all except the top highways connectong major metropolitan cities. Even when you find them, the working condition of the chargers is often in question, due to power cuts and the like. The Hycross offers a solid 17-19 kpl highway mileage if driven sedately and can accommodate all the passengers and gear you may have. Compared to 10-11 kpl you probably get currently on the Hexa, this would be more than 50% more economical on fuel costs. And you will have no range anxiety to spoil your long trips, plus the same car can be used often for city duties without a mileage penalty.

[jagan88]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

For your use case, a hybrid like the Innova Hycross makes much more sense. As others pointed out, it is not practical to do long highway trips in India on an EV, due to the pauicity of EV charging points on all except the top highways connectong major metropolitan cities.

Originally Posted by mally2

This is the best combo. The Hexa is irreplaceable. Since all my future upgrades will be a EVs. So I have decided to enjoy this diesel beast till its last breath for all my highway duties.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

There is no scenario in which EV can be used for cross country touring in India today.

It makes sense to keep Hexa as your highway car and get a Comet or Punch EV as a daily driver. This is the ideal combination.

Hey thanks everyone for pitching in. This brought in some clarity. I'm keeping the Hexa for all my Highway reviews.

I booked my Comet Exclusive last week and got the delivery day before yesterday. Did a 100kms+ already in the and loving the ease of filtering the traffic.

[Akggn]

I am trying to be as unbiased as possible. I am one of the early buyers of the BYD Atto 3. Probably mine was the 1st Red coloured Atto in North India. I have a Nexon EV as well. I strongly recommend the Nexon over the Atto 3. BYD being a Chinese company has low quality and service standards and that reflect in their dealerships as well.

Firstly, the range rapidly goes down when taken on a highway. EVs have amazing pickup and on improved roads, you tend to drive them at a good speed. On the Gurgaon-Mumbai expressway, the Atto 3 couldn’t deliver even 270 km. To be fair, the speed was mostly around 120 km/h with minimal braking. For day-to-day city driving, the Nexon's range also suffices.

Now coming to the issue I faced. It may be an isolated case but as customer, I don’t think I was treated correctly by Kristan Auto or BYD.

Mail to Kristan that should give facts.

“Dear Sandhya,

Appreciate your response. Let us go through the chronology of the events. First time the car came to you last year (in July 23) for the problem of excessive wearing of tyres. Your team didn’t rectify anything and just rotated the tyres and communicated that issue is sorted. This was utter senseless and led to wearing out of all 4 tyres. Again in October car came to you and was with you for more than a month and your team members changed some steering parts and all tyres. Even after verbally accepting that the problem occurred because of some fault in car and those steering etc will be covered under warranty, I was forced to pay for tyres. It was conveyed that we cannot do anything as BYD is not agreeing to give any claim on tyres. Now, Within 4 months, again front tyres have worn out and this time, you are putting blame on external impact. There was no external impact and other than confirming that no insurance claim has ever been taken, there is no way to prove that. Within a year, 6 tyres have worn out and you have been putting the onus on me instead of rectifying a faulty product. I will again have no choice but to accept whatever you say. The car is already with you since 4 days now when I was committed a day or 1.5 days of car or give an alternative in case you need it for more than that. Still you haven’t abided by your words and car is with you. I am really stressed because of all mis-committments and business loss as the car is used for business purpose and this is giving a very bad experience.

You are requested to solve the issue and compensate for all the hardships and trauma we have gone through.”

In between they returned car and had some heavy noise in the steering. Their service guys keep changing and give verbal commitments. This has been really a huge headache. I am 47 and have been driving cars in India and internationally since age of 18. I have never faced such issue with any of the cars ever how so ever bad brand reputation was. This might be more related to dealer/service center than BYD itself but unable to figure out how to resolve this other than putting on public forum. My fuel savings are already gone by paying for steering, tyres and cabs.

AVOID CHINA. That’s all I can think of now

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by Akggn

On Gurgaon Mumbai expressway, Atto 3 couldn’t deliver even 270 km. To be fair, speed was mostly around 120km/h with minimal braking.

Within a year, 6 tyres have worn out and you have been putting the onus on me instead of rectifying a faulty product.

Let’s treat things as a car problem and not a country problem. Such instances happen across brands.

270km at 120kmph on the DME in this hot weather is very very good. My Nexon LR will empty out in 130-150km at such speeds in this heat. Speaking from experience. Even in daily local running, my car is only just about breaching the 200km mark nowadays. So, what you are getting is pretty great.

You haven’t mentioned the age of the car or the kilometers run. Is the tire wear issue only on the front axle or on the rear axle as well? Did this problem exist from Day1, or did it crop up over time. Most likely, it is a stubborn alignment related issue. Rare, low selling cars like this one, alignment data may not be available outside and you can never trust the dealer to have this corrected. From what you have said, my take is that an old fashioned manual wheel alignment using thread and weights will resolve the issues to a large extent. In case there is a suspension related issue, or perhaps a bent arm due to hitting a pothole at speed, a through inspection by an experienced technician will be able to identify if something is amiss.