NIO ET7 review: Can the luxury sedan convince in everyday life?

With the OIL ET7 the Chinese brand is bringing its first luxury sedan to the German market. But who exactly is NIO? We try to answer this question for you in this test report.

NIO is a Chinese automaker that has been in the market for eight years. Last year they started in Germany and try to clearly define their mission statement for all interested parties with the company slogan "Blue Sky Coming".

They present themselves as a strongly user-centric company. In doing so, they want to offer NIO buyers a first-class range of services and innovative charging solutions. NIO offers many new technologies in their vehicles in series. The design of the ET7 finds its home in Bavaria in the capital Munich. In doing so, they show that they want to distance themselves from the image of a "China brand".

tl; dr

With the ET7, NIO offers a genuine luxury premium sedan. This only becomes clear when driving. You sit in very comfortable massage seats that are heated and ventilated. In addition to the fast infotainment operation and the great functions that NOMI enables, you can see once again how difficult it will be for other manufacturers in the future. If you have the wherewithal to spare, the ET7 really is one of the best electric vehicles currently on the market. Apart from the charging power, the ET7 offers more than enough range in everyday life. Not to mention all the possibilities in everyday life. There is also an electric trailer hitch, which swings in and out electrically at the push of a button. The NIO ET7 can pull a whole two tons (braked) with it.

We really enjoyed the NIO ET7 and look forward to the future that NIO is pursuing in the European market. As the next NIO vehicle, we will extensively test the SUV model EL7 for you. Be curious and check our regularly YouTubechannel, there are now more videos about new electric cars online!

Design: Directly from Munich

The ET7, or rather all NIO vehicles, were designed in Munich by a former BMW chief designer and his team. You wouldn't notice this at first glance. Viewed from the front, the design is unique. From the rear you have a conventional continuous light bar as well as dynamic turn signals. But these are also present dynamically in the daytime running lights at the front. NIO calls this headlight design "Double Dash". It is already clear that this is a marketing term, but it still looks unique, especially at night.

The sensors from the NIO Aquila system are prominently mounted on the front part of the roof. This is what NIO calls their sensor range. Every new NIO is equipped with a total of 33 sensors and cameras. This means that autonomous driving will certainly no longer be a problem in the future. They use high-resolution camera sensors from Sony with 8MP image resolution. This is considered very high resolution in the automotive sector.

The so-called "Watchtower" is enthroned in the middle and contains the LiDAR sensor. A laser-based detection system that can detect obstacles or other objects up to 500 meters away. More on that later.

Interior: Futuristic lots of space

The interior of the NIO ET7 is definitely a space miracle that is second to none. But let's start with the driver/passenger seat. Both seats are fully electrically adjustable and have a massage function as well as seat heating and seat ventilation. This is replicated in the rear, where the lumbar support is also electrically adjustable and seat heating/ventilation is installed as standard. The entire headliner including side parts is covered with a velor fabric. This really looks very high-quality and you never have the feeling of sitting in a "not" high-quality vehicle.

In all seats of the NIO ET7 you sit very comfortably, even on longer journeys. Meanwhile, there is really enough space in the rear, as it should be for a sedan. If you don't have a passenger in the front, you can sit in the back on the right. And switch to the so-called "chauffeur mode". This moves the front passenger seat all the way up and forward. So you really have that living room feeling of excellence. The massage function is the same on all seats, can be dosed in two stages and also feels very good. Seat cooling and heating are pleasant and can be very useful in summer and winter respectively. There is also a very large panorama roof, which provides plenty of light in the interior and increases the feeling of space even more.

In general, the interior is very minimalistic, but NIO does not do without a head-up display or even a driver information display. Both are available with the ET7. I'll show you the head-up display in the interior check.

NOMI: Intelligent assistant with AI

NOMI is the name of the intelligent assistant that is currently on board in every NIO. In the ET7 it is the NOMI Mate as standard. So a moving ball with two eyes that actively looks at you when you talk to it. Very cute and really great for everyday use. The German voice in particular is convincing. In no car at the moment should such a “human” voice be installed as a language assistant. NIO did that really well.

Picture: TechnikNews

When you call "Hey Nomi" she will hear you from all seats in the vehicle. That means you can also say you want to be massaged if you are sitting in the back right. Thanks to the microphones in the ET7, NOMI can only hear the seat in the back right. This reduces incorrect entries and you can talk to NOMI in peace. This worked really well review. In short, NOMI can really convince in everyday life. In the interior check you can see in detail how NOMI and the other features work:

Infotainment: Banyan Software 1.2.2 is convincing

Only AMOLED displays are installed in the entire NIO ET7. This is really unique so far. The software on the 12,8-inch center display is also convincing. This is called NIO Banyan. We had installed version 1.2.2 on our test vehicle and of course the entire vehicle is OTA-capable. This means that bugs can be fixed or new functions can be added with a simple software update like on a smartphone. You can see how the software is structured in detail in our video here:

The infotainment system responds very quickly, although there were some noticeable slowdowns. NIO has already made improvements to this with version 1.3.1, as we didn't notice any delays at all. The computing power in the background shouldn't be the problem. This has the power of 100 Sony Playstation 5s. Currently supposedly the most powerful data center in a car? In the future, it will even be possible to wear AR glasses in the car, so that passengers can immerse themselves in new worlds, for example, to prevent boredom during vacation trips. Another advantage would be that the so-called supercomputer can also support Level 4 autonomous driving, should it ever be approved by the regulators. This means that NIO can rely on this hardware for a long time and can easily integrate new functions into the system via OTA updates.

Video streaming services are intended to expand the current, still rather weak, streaming offer at NIO. This is likely to happen this year. There are also users who would like Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay in the NIO. As another option, it definitely wouldn't be bad. Spotify and Tidal are currently available.

Sound system: Dolby Atmos and Tidal

You read that correctly, this station wagon currently only offers NIO on the European market in a car. They have specially developed a Dolby Atmos sound system to satisfy even the audio enthusiasts among their drivers. Of course, the system also sounds great via Bluetooth or Spotify. A total of 23 loudspeakers are distributed throughout the interior of the ET7. These are supplied with a 1000-watt amplifier in order to convey the necessary pressure from the speakers and the subwoofer to the ears of the driver and the occupants. NIO not only does this well, but is one of the best in this class. They are clearly on the level of Bowers & Wilkins and, thanks to the many setting options, possibly even better.

as so often proTry it out for yourself in a NIO House near you or during a test drive. This is the only way you can experience the amazing sound system with your favorite music.

Computing power: Supercomputer NIO ADAM as strong as 100 Sony Playstation 5.

What sounds a bit far-fetched is reality at NIO. The ET7 has about 1000 TFLOPs of processing power. That is, to put it simply, the power times 100 of the current Sony games console Playstation 5. Of course, this pure power is not only used for infotainment, but above all for autonomous driving, which will eventually become reality. Because NIO is certain, since they are already installing such state-of-the-art computing power in their cars, that as soon as it is allowed, they will be among the first to enable autonomous driving in Europe. Furthermore, AR glasses should soon be compatible with the NIOs. The passengers can then simply look at 100-inch screens in front of their eyes proand enjoy your favorite film in a relaxed manner.

Driving characteristics: As if on cloud (ET)7

Thanks to the four-axis air suspension, which can be adaptively adjusted in height, the NIO has really excellent driving characteristics. Due to the high weight of around 2,3 tons, it glides gently through the curves as if on rails and never breaks out even remotely. The power consumption at the pedal is a bit delayed, not too direct and you can keep the speed really well even without cruise control. Due to the 5,10 meter length of the car, you may reach your limits when looking for a parking space.

This is where the autonomous NOMI Pilot parking assistant can help. This works without cars being visible in a parking lot and using lines that indicate a parking space or gap. It should also work with cars. And to date, it's the fastest and most reliable park assist we've tested.

Everyday consumption: Not an efficiency miracle like Tesla

Despite the low drag coefficient, the NIO ET7 is not an efficiency miracle. In our test in the city-country mix, it consumed around 18 to 19 kWh pro 100 kilometers and on the motorway at 130 to 150 km/h around 20 to 23 kWh pro 100 kilometers. These are still good values ​​for the size of the vehicle

Charging: Unfortunately a bit too slow, but sufficient

NIO advertises the battery swap as a way to keep the battery full. Currently, there are only two of these swap stations in Germany. However, these are being expanded and more are to be built in Europe and Germany. On the subject of charging: It can recharge with AC at 11 kW and DC at 130 kW, which are by no means new record values. At least 150 kW via DC would certainly have been possible, especially if you have installed the large 100 kWh battery. Here you wait a good 40 minutes for a charge from 10 percent to 80 percent. That can definitely be done better in this price range. In everyday life, many people are likely to charge at their home wall box, which is why this is primarily only important for longer distances. And if there are one or two battery swap stations on the route, then the issue of charging on long distances no longer plays a role anyway.

Changing the battery: 90 percent charged in five minutes?

That's right. All current NIO vehicles can be used to perform a so-called battery swap at NIO's own Power Swap Stations. This usually takes a good five minutes. The "old" battery is removed from the underbody fully automatically and a new battery is installed in the vehicle with a 90 percent charge.

Picture: TechnikNews

We did this a lot during the test and even got through the Netherlands without charging, as four or five power swap stations have already been set up there. A NIO Power employee is currently available to help you if you have any problems getting started. In the future, the stations will run completely autonomously. Of course, it remains to be seen whether they have a future compared to normal charging. We think it is a good and faster alternative. And in the 15 or so battery swap processes that we carried out during the test period, there were actually no major problems that were not caused by "human error". In the future, we will go into the functionalities of a NIO power swap station in more detail.

Prices: Steep, but partly justified

Let's get to the prices that NIO charges for the ET7. Let's assume the purchase option without a battery. Then the NIO ET7 will cost you as we have shown it to you here Euro 69.900. NIO currently has hardly any configuration options because they always sell almost full equipment. This will remain so in the future. But for example with the smaller sedan, the ET5, there should already be packages where the trailer hitch is separate based on customer feedback.

The battery then costs you money every month when you buy a car. With the "smaller" with 75 kWh size you have to 169 Euros pro Month pay. You can then use and enjoy the NIO Power Swap Station to the fullest. The large battery that we had in our test vehicle then beats along 289 Euros pro Month to book. Of course you can also buy the batteries. When the little one is her then 12.000 Euros and the big one Euro 21.000. It is important to know that you cannot use the power swap stations in this case, as the battery becomes your property.

Would you prefer a subscription?

NIO has also thought of something for everyone who doesn't want to buy either the car or the battery. They originally started in Germany with the subscription model. This means you subscribe to the vehicle including the battery and pay a monthly fee. The prices for the ET7 for the large battery are included 1.269 Euros pro Month. With the smaller battery you are there 1.199 Euro a month. The subscription can either be booked for a longer period of time and is then a little cheaper, or it can be canceled monthly and then a little more expensive. You should not equate the subscription fees with leasing, since you do not have to make a down payment or a special payment to NIO. That's why the abortion rate is so high.

We hope that NIO will soon offer reasonable conditions for leasing offers or even financing models. That should correct the monthly costs down a bit again.

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