In recent years, whether it is true off-road or fake off-road, whether it is heavy off-road or light off-road, those hard-core SUVs that are box-shaped and retro in style have really become a common practice, and the number is increasing. Regardless of joint venture, import or domestic production, many manufacturers have launched such products in this market according to their own understanding of consumer preferences, trying to occupy a place in this market with many participants.
Among them, Chery brand is obviously a conspicuous package. After hanging the Chery logo and the Jiejie logo, it has created a brand-new "Tide Box" SUV——iCAR 03 for its brand-new new energy brand. Different from the above two, it also has a label: pure electricity. What is the charm of this pure electric SUV, which is good at "square", takes "electricity" as its heart and has certain off-road properties?
It should be noted that our test drive is still in the state of engineering vehicle, and the future production version will be different and adjusted in internal and external details and vehicle system.
Tide, the appearance is really trendy.
As the first model of Chery’s new energy brand iCAR, you can get a glimpse of the design and evolution direction of this brand’s future models on iCAR 03. This brand-new car with a brand-new logo is really conspicuous in its style. As a pure electric SUV, it has a classic "square box" shape, and many parts of its body are convex and angular. It seems that it is a work that can only appear in a science fiction movie. It is no wonder that it also has a special version of "Landing on Mars".
The front face is simple and elegant, but its style is extremely strong, and Cyberpunk’s style is remarkable. The enclosed grille is embedded with the I-shaped luminous brand LOGO；; The design of the lower enclosure is also very off-road, and with the tough black front bumper, the shape is relatively hard. The whole front profile is very vertical and square, which also has a sense of straightness that is rare in this type of car, showing a high degree of recognition.
Vertical daytime running lights and horizontal main lights are used on both sides. In the car, the style of the light group is like the big supporting column of the house, which adds a lot of strength. The shape of this LED daytime running light also adopts the "I" letter style, and echoes its "I" LOGO. The internal structure of the cavity is complicated, and there are many patterns like jigsaw puzzles, which are quite exquisite.
The side of the car body adopts a very straight waistline design, and it also has the popular hidden door handle design, so the lines become very tough and bright. In terms of body size, iCAR 03 positioning is a compact SUV, its length, width and height are 4406/ 1910/1715mm respectively, and its wheelbase is 2715mm. It doesn’t seem to grow much after adding a small bag. The small size looks more like a "toy box".
The tail design of iCAR 03 is also highly unified with the front style, and it is still a straight and square design. The small bag of Founder is not a spare tire, but a storage box. The iconic side-opening tailgate of the hard-core off-road vehicle is not absent, and it is opened on the left side. The taillight group is also consistent with the headlights. It is also a vertically arranged LED taillight, which also shows the visual characteristics of "I" after lighting.
The black wheel eyebrows are matched with a strong cross-border style, and the toy atmosphere is remarkable. The stout five-spoke wheel hub is full of sports sense, and it adopts the 225/55R19 tire of RADIAL RP76 series under Chaoyang brand, which focuses on comfort and silence.
Interior: Hardliners are not only in appearance.
This is a car that looks the same. The interior and appearance of iCAR 03 are the same design style. It also uses a lot of square elements and is decorated with rose gold metal to create a tough atmosphere, but the R angle is more rounded to enhance the gentle feeling. The center console adopts the conventional T-shaped symmetrical layout, which well balances the needs of science and technology and practicality. The whole cockpit is made of a lot of soft plastics and leather. Although it is tough, it does not have the high cold feeling of rejecting people thousands of miles away.
The steering wheel adopts a three-piece design, and a large area of leather material is used to wrap it, supplemented by bright stitching, which has a good performance in texture. The button areas on the left and right sides adopt the layout of wheels with physical buttons, and there are few buttons, so it is very easy to get started and do not need extra learning.
The 15.6-inch floating central control panel is the core of human-computer interaction of the whole vehicle, which supports OTA upgrade and two kinds of chip selection. The car machine and Tencent have made customized development based on Android system, and the interface is more concise and refreshing, integrating commonly used online maps, love listening, car WeChat, Huawei Hicar and other functions. In terms of voice control, iCAR 03 is equipped with i-VA intelligent interactive system, which can carry out humanized in-depth communication and entertainment interaction, with remarkable recognition and response logic. Regardless of response speed logic and timbre, "human taste" is stronger than similar products.
In the aspect of driving assistance, the new car uses the strategy of visual intelligent driving assistance, which has the driving assistance ability above L2 level. On the basis of this, it can realize the driving assistance functions such as forward safety assistance, emergency lane keeping, lane departure warning, lane departure assistance, and the start reminder of the preceding vehicle, which is mainstream and practical.
In terms of air conditioning, the dual-zone automatic air conditioner includes CN95 car air conditioning filter element, negative ion generator and AQS air quality management system to ensure the air quality and physical comfort in the car.
Through design is adopted under the center console, which expands the storage space in the front row, retains some practical buttons, and the crystal design knob with advanced section can switch driving modes. There is also a wireless charging panel with air cooling on the side, which supports 50W fast charging.
Space: compact but not small.
ICAR 03 adopts a chair with a conventional shape, which has good support and wrapping, and the filler is tough. It refers to a large number of human model data to fill different areas in a targeted manner. The wide headrest can reduce the fatigue caused by long-distance riding, and the surface is covered with delicate leather. Functionally, the front seats are electrically adjustable with heating and ventilation.
However, the design sense of the thick armrest on the front side of the central armrest is greater than the practicality, which further enhances the wild style in the car.
The rear seat maintains the same design and comfort as the front seat, the long cushion supports the thighs better, and the rear middle platform is relatively flat, which does not affect the riding comfort of the middle passengers. It is equipped with three independent headrests in the rear row, three sets of three-point seat belts, and the rear air outlet and charging interface ensure comfort. Compared with the front row, there is no difference in the overall riding experience in the back row, and even the hip point is lower. Whether it looks or feels, it is quite good to sit up and the space is very decent.
The storage space is quite satisfactory, and many items with you can find the corresponding storage space in the carriage.
The real shot vehicle is equipped with a large panoramic skylight with a sunshade, which has good lighting ability and the front section also supports opening.
The test drive adopts the tailgate with side opening, and the inner side also has an angle locking mechanism. The electronic opening button is at the left handle, which is very convenient to use.
The conventional space in the five-seat state is average, but the very neat internal structure improves the utilization rate of the whole space. If more loading space is needed, the 4/6 split back seat can be dumped to expand to a larger volume, while the chair back and floor have no big angle and are less constrained to use.
In addition to its attractive appearance, the external small plastic schoolbag has another advantage that it does not occupy the passenger space. Generally speaking, it is the volume level of a 20-inch boarding box. The interior is not only sealed, but also has a net bag stopper, which can store items that need to be isolated from the passenger compartment.
Test drive: Multi-driving mode is the highlight
In terms of power configuration, iCAR 03 provides two power options: single-motor rear drive and dual-motor four-wheel drive. Among them, the maximum power of the single motor version is 135kW, and the double motor version is the first 70kW plus the last 135kW. Both the front and rear are permanent magnet synchronous motors.
As for batteries, iCAR 03 will be equipped with lithium iron phosphate battery from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. In terms of cruising range, according to different models, the official cruising range of iCAR 03 is 401/472/501km. It is worth mentioning that the new car is equipped with an intelligent temperature control system, and the battery system will be maintained in a suitable temperature range to achieve high-efficiency energy output. Even in the face of low temperature, the endurance performance can be guaranteed to the greatest extent, which is very beneficial. Improve the endurance performance of the vehicle under normal use in the northern low temperature environment.
We have seen the same power system in many pure trams of Chery Group, and their personalities are relatively unified. In normal mode, you can feel the unique direct feeling of initial acceleration from the moment you step on the accelerator pedal. The whole acceleration process is very smooth, and the continuous acceleration can give people a strong feeling of power, and the power output is quite linear. When you accelerate twice in the middle, a strong continuous push back feeling can also give you.
Let’s focus on its changeable personality. The new car has iWD intelligent electronic control four-wheel drive and 8+X mode, that is, economy/comfort/sport/bump/wet/muddy/loose/all-road/user-defined driving mode. Users can switch flexibly according to road conditions and personal preferences. In the user-defined mode, pedal response, energy recovery and steering mode can be customized, and dozens of driving mode schemes can be assembled at most, with high degree of freedom.
However, too many choices will definitely make you have a choice phobia. In most road conditions, the difference in power output in economy/comfort/sports mode will not be too obvious. The main difference is only the response of the accelerator pedal, because even if you are willing to step on the accelerator pedal in economy mode, the power can still give you a strong sense of pushing back in a short time, and if you enter sports mode, the power point will be there. You can start gently or accelerate grumpily.
There are four gears to choose from in the kinetic energy recovery mode. Personally, I prefer a strong state. Although there will be a short delay in braking when collecting oil, I can feel the dragging feeling that is more like the kinetic energy recovery of new energy vehicles in the stereotype, even heavier than the general single pedal logic. As for the weakest mode, the deceleration G value is very small, which makes people feel no different from the loosening deceleration of fuel vehicles.
Born on an aluminum-based platform, iCAR 03 uses the former McPherson independent suspension and the rear H-arm independent suspension. In design, it has been optimized and improved in many mechanical parts such as the "second suspension" with the "Land Rover Homologous" engineers, and the hydraulic bushings with higher cost are used before and after. Under the adjustment of engineers, the dynamic performance of the vehicle chassis has reached a good balance between comfort and support. The European style in the overall stereotype of chassis adjustment is very supportive, and the sense of road is very clear, which is rarely seen in SUV, but there are a little more ups and downs, but this will probably be improved in the subsequent production version.
Lightweight and flexible steering is absolutely wonderful. Moderate steering wheel size brings excellent and delicate steering feel. It is an SUV, but its body follows well, the turning radius is extremely small, and even the inside wheels of the brakes can be used to "turn around the tank", which is very convenient for extreme driving or daily urban roads. However, the sound insulation is limited by the square box shape, mainly because the wind noise of A-pillar in high-speed driving is obvious.
In most cases, iCAR’s four-wheel drive system is obviously designed to improve the driving quality and prepare for crossing on occasional unpaved sections. How does it face several mild off-road subjects?
In fact, the driving experience of urban SUV on paved and unpaved roads is quite different. Because of the aluminum-based body-in-white with embedded girders, the rigidity of the body is greater than that of the general urban SUV, and the suspension shock absorber also adopts a longer stroke structure, which has a longer absorption time and more sufficient rebound absorption when experiencing some uneven roads, and there is no sense of looseness when sitting in the car.
Therefore, when encountering some bad road conditions on unpaved roads, it is not obvious when passing quickly to the driver, but the driving control feeling is also more fun than the performance on the highway. Facing the light cross-country track with the attitude of running tension, iCAR 03 is very comfortable in the less severe cross-country field, and it is very interesting to drive even when facing the curve.
In the central control room, you can also know the first-hand road condition data information in real time, such as the slope and direction, and you can also know the ground condition through the image of the central control screen, which is helpful for off-road.
Cutting into different modes is suitable for short-term light off-road sections, and it is more emboldened to face unpaved ramps, and the driving force has different changes in different modes. However, in such a light off-road venue, you can actually face the whole process calmly when you enter the concave-convex road mode.
Including the small challenge of wading at a depth of 50 cm, in fact, with the long suspension stroke and good sealing, iCAR03 can ensure four-wheel landing in most cases, thus reducing the possibility of power loss. The more powerful four-wheel drive system is safer to pass here.
At the cannonball pit and the cross axle, we will encounter the situation that one or two tires lose grip from the ground. iCAR shows obvious slipping phenomenon in the face of various inclined cross axle sections, but it seems that it has no influence on the passing subjects of the whole vehicle. The large approach angle, departure angle and high ground clearance play a big role, and it can also effectively deal with these extreme off-road conditions for urban SUVs.
The steep slope descent function can automatically help drivers control the downhill speed. The steeper the slope, the slower the speed, which reduces the driving difficulty for novices. However, iCAR 03 adds intelligent speed regulation to the steep slope descent, and the newly added "flexible downhill" system can automatically adjust the speed within the range of 3-12km/h according to the pitch angle and other information. On our steep slope with a gradient of more than 40, the vehicle keeps driving at a constant speed of less than 5 kilometers per hour when going downhill, and we just need to hold the steering wheel well.
Summary: SUV craze has been going on for more than ten years, but the style is almost the same. Just like a few years ago, all kinds of SUVs got together to play cross-country and cross-border, today’s SUVs began to get together to play with square boxes, and among them, iCAR03 became the most square one I have tried so far. Based on this, it has a very high degree of topic.
Back to the beginning, this tidal box shape, perhaps this is its biggest competitive point.
