BYD Atto 2 review

Is the BYD Atto 2 a good car?

The BYD Atto 2 is a very solid effort, which might sound like we are damning it with faint praise, but the compact electric SUV is nice to drive, comes with lots of technology as standard and features some quite clever touches. Practicality and interior quality are good, too, but the cabin lacks the quirkiness of other BYD models, which would help the Atto 2 stand out more in this overcrowded segment. Certain rivals also offer more range, faster charging speeds or are simply available for less money, but on the whole, this is indeed a good car.

How much does the BYD Atto 2 cost?

BYD was the fastest growing car brand in the UK last year, although that’s hardly surprising when you remember the Chinese giant only started selling cars here in 2023 and was offering just one model, the Atto 3 family SUV. Now, however, it has a diverse line-up of five electrified models, which will expand once again this summer, when the all-new, all-electric BYD Atto 2 compact SUV lands on our shores.

The timing couldn’t be better – or worse, depending on how you look at things – because a new wave of compact electric SUVs has just arrived, including the value-focused Citroen e-C3 Aircross and Vauxhall Frontera siblings, the funky MINI Aceman, and the simply excellent Skoda Elroq and Kia EV3. Needless to say, the Atto 2 has its work cut out.

UK pricing is still being finalised, but we do know that at launch just one specification will be available to order here in the form of the Atto 2 Boost. Considering this particular variant will cost €31,990 in Europe, it’s likely to start from under £30,000 on our side of the Channel. That would position the BYD in between the Vauxhall/Citroen and the more futuristic-looking Kia.

BYD is promising a generous kit list, particularly in regard to tech, as it will include a 12.8-inch rotating touchscreen, an 8.8-inch digital instrument panel, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless charging pad, panoramic glass roof, heated front seats and steering wheel, a 360-degree camera set-up and more than a dozen driver assistance systems, such as blind spot detection and adaptive cruise control.

The Atto 2 also benefits from all of BYD’s latest EV know-how. For instance, underneath is the same e-Platform 3.0 that underpins the aforementioned Atto 3 and the BYD Dolphin hatchback, which the Atto 2 will bridge the gap between nicely. Meanwhile the company’s ‘Blade Battery’ is integrated completely in the car’s chassis to improve interior packaging and boost body rigidity.

Euro-spec cars get a 45.1kWh battery and 194 miles of range. In the UK, however, the Atto 2 Boost will come with a bigger 50.1kWh battery that we expect will provide up to 210 miles. Later this year, the Atto 2 Comfort will arrive with an even larger battery and up to 261 miles of range.

31

Although the BYD Atto 2 is supposedly “built for city life” and “tailored to urban streets”, we didn’t get this impression while driving the car on the busy roads of Madrid. For starters, there’s no one-pedal driving mode for the regenerative braking system, which even in the ‘high’ setting takes a long time to bring the car to just a crawl. Then when you try to pull away from the traffic lights, the throttle response feels slow, and at times jerky.

The steering wasn’t as light as we’d expect from a city-focused car, either, although it certainly wasn’t heavy. Similarly, the Atto 2’s turning circle was reasonable for a compact SUV, but not as remarkable as the Skoda Elroq’s, especially considering that it’s bigger.

Visibility is good at least, thanks to large side windows, a decent sized rear windscreen and short bonnet. The lofty driving position helps too, plus there’s a dedicated button to access the 360-degree camera, which could come in handy in tight car parks or side streets.

Once we left the city, however, the Atto 2 started to come good. The electric motor driving the front wheels produces 174bhp and 290Nm of torque, meaning 0-62mph takes a sprightly 7.9 seconds. There’s still plenty of oomph left at high speeds, so overtaking is effortless. 

Once up to speed, the Atto 2 feels stable and the cabin is very isolating, with the only intrusions some wind noise caused by the side mirrors and a faint whine from the electric motor when accelerating. The latter can easily be covered up by the radio or passengers’ chatter. Meanwhile, the spongy ride absorbs bumps well, although we’ll have to wait to see how it fares on Britain’s more pockmarked roads, rather than silky Spanish tarmac. 

The Atto 2 is a pleasant car to drive on twistier roads as well, as the brakes feel natural and predictable, smoothly blending between the regenerative braking system and physical discs – which isn’t always the case with hybrid cars and EVs. The steering is also predictable and feels natural, and we didn’t notice too much body roll when we chucked the car into corners. 

The driver monitoring system was something of a nuisance, however, as it seemed to reprimand us even for the briefest of glances at the map to check our route. It was also difficult to deactivate, because the settings are hidden in a different menu from the other safety features – something we only discovered after a good deal of hunting around in the touchscreen.

31

As mentioned, the BYD Atto 2 Boost will come as standard with a 50.1kWh battery in the UK, which is 10 per cent bigger than the 45.1kWh unit it gets in mainland Europe.

A range figure for the UK-spec set-up hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we expect it’ll be able to deliver around 210 miles, seeing as the European models are supposed to do 194 miles from a single charge, or 288 miles if you were to drive exclusively in town. Either way, the Atto 2 easily beats the 186-mile range offered by the standard e-C3 Aircross and Frontera Electric.

The Atto 2 Comfort coming later will boast a 261-mile range, beating the bigger-battery variants of the Vauxhall and Citroen on paper. If you’re willing to spend a bit more money, however, the Skoda Elroq offers between 250 and 360 miles of range, while the Kia EV3 can cover up to 375 miles in one go, in the right guise.

We managed to average 3.3 miles per kilowatt-hour when we drove the Atto 2 across a mixture of roads. Much more impressive was that we achieved 4.8mi/kWh during a long stint on the motorway and on twisty roads through the hills outside Madrid.

The Atto 2 is also fitted as standard with a heat pump, which is uncommon for this class of EV, and BYD claims it can extend the driving range by up to around 20 per cent in the winter months.

However Atto 2 lags behind rivals when it comes to charging speed, with the Boost model topping out at 65kW, and as a result, a 10 to 80 per cent top-up takes nearly 40 minutes. That’s disappointing as the Vauxhall and Citroen can at least reach 100kW, and the Kia and Skoda reach even faster speeds. We’re told the longer-range Comfort model will be able to charge quicker, but we don’t know exactly how fast just yet.

31

The BYD Atto 2 doesn’t have the beefy proportions of the Citroen C3 Aircross, nor the futuristic flair of the Kia EV3, but to our eyes it’s still a handsome-looking compact SUV. 

The design borrows some elements from other BYD models, such as the flowing LED headlights and black bar with silver trim at the front, plus the full-width light bar at the rear that connects the complex, intertwined ‘Chinese knot’ tail-lights.

Other details include a floating roof design, plenty of black plastic cladding to provide a slightly tough SUV aesthetic and flush door handles, plus every Atto 2 rides on 17-inch alloy wheels.

BYD’s Atto 3 and Dolphin have unique and quirky interiors that help both stand apart from their established rivals. The Atto 2, on the other hand, has a more conservative, rather bland interior, especially with the almost all-black colour scheme. You don’t have to search very hard to find cheap-feeling plastics either, but build quality is solid and there are some squidgy materials across the dashboard.

The centre console includes a small selection of physical buttons for key functions such as the drive mode selector and regen braking mode, a crystal gear selector and grab handles, which are a bit like those in a Mercedes G-Class – despite the Atto 2 not having any obvious off-road inclinations. A panoramic glass roof is also fitted as standard.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

In the UK, every Atto 2 will be equipped with a large 12.8-inch central touchscreen that can rotate between portrait and landscape orientation – a familiar BYD party trick – while behind the steering wheel is an 8.8-inch digital instrument panel. Both units are sharp and responsive, although the small, thin font and the sheer amount of information on the driver’s display can make it hard to read at a glance. 

Thankfully, the touchscreen is much easier to read and use, partly because of large on-screen buttons and toggle switches. Drivers can also organise the shortcut buttons along the bottom of the display, depending on what your most used functions are and how close you want them to be. You can also pick out which functions are available on the drop-down menu, which is just like a smartphone’s. 

But probably the most convenient new feature is the ability to adjust the cabin temperature by placing three fingers anywhere on the screen and dragging them up or down. Going left or right, meanwhile, changes the fan speed. 

While the Atto 2 doesn’t offer lightning-fast charging speeds, BYD does provide plenty of ways to keep you and your passengers occupied during charging sessions. For instance, you can stream YouTube videos through the central touchscreen, or use it to attend Zoom meetings. You can even buy a microphone accessory to sing karaoke, which has been developed with specialist firm Stingray. 

There’s potential for more apps and functions down the road, too, as like a lot of electric cars, the Atto 2 can receive over-the-air software upgrades.

31

The Atto 2 measures 4,310mm long, 1,830mm wide and 1,675mm tall, and has a 2,620mm wheelbase. Those are very similar dimensions to the Vauxhall Frontera and the Kia EV3, but both manage to offer an additional 60 litres of boot space and the Frontera is even available with seven seats – as is its Citroen sister car.

That said, the Atto 2’s 400-litre boot capacity is more than you get in a Volkswagen Golf hatchback, so it should be ample for a lot of people, including small families. There is a sizable load lip, but the height-adjustable boot floor takes care of that and helps when you need to haul longer items. Luggage space expands up to 1,340 litres when you fold down the rear seats, plus there’s room under the boot floor for storing the charging cables.

In the rear, there’s enough legroom for six-foot tall adults and space under the front seats where they can tuck their feet. The tall roofline also provides a generous amount of headroom, but the Atto 2 doesn’t feel wide enough to comfortably seat three adults in the back. Kids should be more than happy, and there are also two sets of ISOFIX child-seat mounting points.

We noticed during our testing that the Atto 2’s door bins are particularly small, and can’t accommodate larger water bottles. At least there will be no squabbling about who can charge their phone in this car, because it comes with a 15W wireless charging pad in the centre console, as well as a super-fast 60W USB-C port and an older-style USB-A port, plus two more USB sockets in the rear. 

The Atto 2 also offers Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) charging capabilities, like you get in a Hyundai Ioniq 5. It means you can use its large main battery to power electronic devices from a coffee machine and even a vacuum cleaner, according to BYD, via a 3.3kW socket.

31

The BYD Atto 2 doesn’t have a Euro NCAP crash safety rating just yet, but we’re pretty sure it’ll receive the industry body’s maximum five-star score, seeing as all of the brand’s other models have managed this – even the larger Atto 3, which was heavily criticised for how some of its driver assistance tech behaves. 

The Atto 2 comes with an extensive array of driver assistance systems as standard, including adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind spot detection, a driver monitoring system, lane-keep assist, hill descent control, rear cross traffic alert and traffic sign recognition. There’s also a 360-degree parking system, front and rear parking sensors and intelligent high-beam control. 

None of BYD’s models has been in the hands of owners long enough to make their way into our Driver Power satisfaction survey just yet. However, the brand does provide future customers with peace of mind thanks to an impressive six-year/93,750-mile (150,000km) warranty.