XPENG P7 Performance review: China's answer to the car country?

XPENG may not mean anything to some people. Well, this car manufacturer has existed since 2014 and is increasingly on everyone's lips in its home country of China. Officially, however, they still want to be considered a start-up. However, it is remarkable how you can set up a company like this in a relatively short time. You can guess three times who has now officially arrived in Germany!

We have for you the XPENG extension P7 Performance was extensively tested in everyday use. You can find out how it performed in everyday use in this test report.

tl;dr: Just good

What can you say after cars like the OIL ET5 or the BYD Seal came onto the German market. It was clear to us at least that these Chinese were here to stay. In addition to the high quality and good software, there were some minor problems depending on the model. Such as the fact that the assistants were not designed for the European market. Or that the translation was sometimes really bad within various menus. None of this applies to the models from NIO or XPENG. The P7 proved to be extremely good in terms of driver assistance and, as of now, offers probably the best autonomous parking assistant we have ever tested. But the P7 not only proved its strength in the assistants, it was also significantly better than the competition from Europe or even America in terms of other infotainment software.

Everything seems to have been perfectly integrated and coordinated. Nothing about the car seems "unfinished". But that could also have something to do with the fact that the P7 is actually the oldest model from XPENG. It was introduced in Europe at the end of 2020, in Norway to be precise. So they had some time to adapt the assistants from China to Europe, and you can clearly see that. The interaction is also very simple and easy to understand. Everything is where you would expect it to be at first or second glance.

The quality of the interior is almost at luxury class level. Some areas could have a little less gloss or less plastic. The seats made of black nappa leather are very comfortable and look extremely high quality. The speaker grilles of the Dynaudio surround sound system with Dolby Atmos technology are also made of real aluminum. All this and a lot more for a total price of currently 58.900 Euros including 19 percent VAT. We are aware that this is still a lot of money, but no other vehicle in this class offers this amount of equipment and features. Mind you, the "premium package" is currently free as part of an offer. This normally costs 3.960 euros. Nevertheless, the XPENG P7 Performance offers a lot for the money with a full house. Among other things, it also offers automatic soft close and seat heating on all 4 seats.

Video report:

Design: Monotonous? No way!

The look of many Chinese vehicles is now familiar. Thin headlights or separate main headlights with a thin light strip. Everything is somehow the same and doesn't seem very original. The Europeans are also catching up with this trend. Nevertheless, the P7's design is unique due to its interesting rear design, which looks a bit strange at first, but we really liked it on second glance.

The P7 comes with 19-inch alloy wheels as standard, even in the performance version. This is most likely due to efficiency. Nevertheless, it looks very harmonious together with the black Brembo brakes. The tailgate opens at least a little further than on other sedans. Nevertheless, we would have liked a larger opening for everyday use. We also have dynamic flashing lights at the front and rear. In terms of design, the XPENG P7 gets full marks from us. Even if a nice shade of blue is missing from the configurator.

Interior: High-tech everywhere

In the interior, we first find ourselves in front of a large 15-inch infotainment display. There is also a large 10-inch driver display behind the steering wheel. The resolution is very good, as are the colors. The infotainment system also proved to be responsive during the test period, more on that later. The black frame around the displays looks a bit old-fashioned, but you forget about it relatively quickly.

The tweeters of the Dynaudio sound system rise up from the dashboard when the car is activated. This has been seen in a similar way in Mercedes in the past.

Sound system: Dolby Atmos x Dynaudio par excellence

The sound system boasts 22 speakers and a total output of 840 watts. This ensures a rich sound with good highs, mids and lows. The bass is definitely there, but it is not all that pronounced. With the in-house XPENG concert hall, various Dolby Atmos demos can be "experienced". Only with these can the power of this system be seen.

Unfortunately, we are currently missing compatibility with Amazon HighRes Dolby Atmos songs or the complete TIDAL app, like the one NIO has in its car. With these options, you could get a lot more out of the system with native Dolby Atmos music tracks.

Infotainment: Fast, stylish & Tesla?

At first glance in the settings menu, you can see without a doubt where XPENG has copied the design of the software. But that's absolutely not a bad thing, because the software called XOS still seems very unique with some features that we haven't seen from Tesla or its Chinese competitors.

Like the new split screen mode, which was recently added to XPENG cars with the big 5.0 update. If you want, you can display selected apps in split screen on the large display in the middle. If you don't want this, you can simply swipe one side to the edge and you'll have an app in the center again. Oh, did I already mention that XPENG uses an Unreal Engine-like interface here? The car can be moved freely in the system (when stationary) like in a video game. This can also be used to activate some functions, such as opening the trunk or loading lid.

No Android Auto & Apple CarPlay "yet"

The system runs smoothly, we had no bugs in the two weeks with the P7. No crashes or other abnormalities. Here XPENG has definitely proven that they can do software and put a lot of focus on it. The only thing missing here is perhaps Apple Carplay or Android Auto, but these will be included in the 2024 model year from XPENG G9 or ex works in XPENG G6 to be available.

But in my opinion, you don't need all of that. XPENG delivers nice, unfussy software with lots of setting options right out of the box. Apps like Spotify, Instagram, or even Tik Tok and Apple TV+ are already available for download in the AppStore. You can also set all kinds of functions as favorites in the icon bar at the bottom, so you don't have to struggle through different menus.

There is really very little to complain about with the software. The only thing is that the voice assistant currently only responds in English. However, this is to be improved via an OTA update towards the end of 2024. Oh, and the friendly navigation voice can't pronounce an "r". So it often says "please turn properly".

Assistance systems: “Only” XPilot 2.5

While China is already working on fully autonomous driving at level 4 or even 5, in Europe we have to make do with XPilot 2.5 (level 2.5). This reliably steers through curves with your hands on the steering wheel or keeps the car stable in the middle on the highway. As with older Tesla models, it is activated via the gear selector lever.

Automatic parking either runs completely autonomously while you are sitting in the car. Or you simply get out of the car and park it using the app. Both worked extremely well in our test. Pretty much everything here seems very well thought out. The car can also be driven forwards and backwards a few meters using the app, similar to how Hyundai has solved this in the past using a key.

It is still unclear whether we will ever get more than level 2.5 for Chinese vehicles. This probably depends on how the EU deals with the laws.

The fact is that the XPENG P7, despite its age, is still at the cutting edge of assistance systems.

Driving: comfortable & sporty

That's roughly how I would describe the driving characteristics of the XPENG P7. With the Brembo brakes, it brakes reliably and sharply. It accelerates from a standstill to 4.1 km/h in 100 seconds. What more could you want? In addition to sporty driving characteristics, you can also drive it very relaxed in standard mode. The chassis is said to have been tuned by a well-known German car manufacturer.

That's how it feels in everyday life. So far, no Chinese vehicle has felt so good in everyday life on the road. At least in this price range, only the NIO ET5 or ET5 Touring comes close. But this also costs a bit more.

Charging & Range: Old Technology?

No way. Although the P7 can no longer compete with newer XPENG models in terms of charging speed, it still exceeds the stated 175 kW several times in our charging tests. We saw 188 kW at peak. On average it is between 130 and 155 kW with a charging boost of 10 to 80 percent.

We were able to determine an urban consumption of an astonishing 14 kWh per 100 km. On the highway, the sporty all-wheel drive model consumes 18-19 kWh per 100 km in summer temperatures.

We think everything is within reason. But it's about time to bring a facelift onto the market, isn't it? Whether there will be a facelift of the current XPENG P7 remains to be seen. First of all, the brand is introducing the XPENG P7+ at the beginning of November. Whether we'll get it in Europe remains to be seen. Especially since this is not a successor, but a completely different model. Much bigger, faster and probably much more advanced in terms of technology.

But even now, the P7 AWD Performance is a really first-class electric car. Last but not least, the charging planning is done directly in the onboard navigation system, which probably uses TomTom maps and traffic data. This works pretty quickly and well, with understandable charging stops and everything you could want from a modern charging route plan. Only this additional step could be annoying: when you set the route, the charging route planning does not start automatically. Instead, you have to press a small lightning symbol so that the car takes the charging stops into account.

We are very excited about the future of XPENG in Europe and also in Germany. With the first models they have definitely made a very good start, in our opinion. Let's see if they can maintain this level. Or whether we will soon be "flying" around in flying XPENG cars.

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