The AION S is a car with a small reputation that sold 434,056 units from January to November, almost 20,000 of the BYD Qin plus EV’s sales. Many people may not be familiar with the AION brand, but when you see the logo, you’ll understand that it’s the GAC Legend’s logo that’s hanging above the car. GAC AION is GAC’s new energy brand, and this model sells very well. Is it worth getting? What is the true range of the GAC Aion S? And what are its pros and cons?
AION S Vantage Point
Let’s talk about the advantages of the AION S. First of all, the appearance of the AION S. The model is beautifully designed, and the AION S is built with a new design language. The front face is a closed style typical to pure electric vehicle models, the two sides of the headlight group adopt a split layout, while the Radiant Star River headlights have split LED headlights, and the bottom of the front surroundings have a flattened air intake so that the front face looks more personal.
The body side shape is smooth, and the AION S body side is relatively low, only 0.23Cd. 18-inch rims with five-spoke petal-shaped wheels look more stylish. AION S also provides a variety of body colours and personalized appearance accessories to choose, from so that consumers can personalize according to their own preferences. The interior also uses a lot of soft material wrapping to create a spacious and luxurious driving space, the space performance can be said to be very good.
The AION S This model is perfect for families. The dimensions of the car are 4863x1890x1515mm, and the wheelbase is 2760mm, giving it a lot of interior space. The air-conditioning in both the front and rear rows is very generous, and even for a 180cm tall person with the front seats in the lowest position and in a proper seating position, there is still one fist of headroom. The front seats are also heated, although the rear seats are not heated as a plus, but the human body space is well designed, and the sitting position is still quite comfortable. The rear configuration is complete for a family car at this price, with rear air vents, two charging ports, and a centre armrest for the seats.
AION S boot volume of 453L, large space reserve trunk has an advantage over rivals. Professionals measured can be loaded with two 28-inch suitcases; such loading capacity to meet the daily household has been no problem.
Next is the range performance, in accordance with the latest test standards, using a more stringent high-speed range test. The measured AION S version can run a 472-kilometres range achievement rate of 78.4%, compared with the same price rivals, AION S is the best in terms of range and achievement rate. To achieve such good results can not be separated from its being equipped with a large battery, 69.9 degrees of electricity is only a little smaller than Xpeng P5, close to 70 degrees of battery capacity even in all compact cars are also considered very large. Measured 100 kilometres of power consumption under comprehensive road conditions is 13.3 kWh, and even under highway conditions the power consumption is only 16 kWh, which is quite a good control of energy consumption.
The AION S urban energy consumption test has also been further reduced, and although it doesn’t beat the Xpeng P5, the energy consumption of 10.5kw/h per 100km is still a small advantage. According to this energy consumption, it can drive 666 kilometres in urban areas. Charging test in the 180kw rated power charging pile, from zero power to 99%, AION S a total of 94 minutes, and compared with the Xpeng P5 AION S battery capacity is more advantageous.
Chassis suspension, the use of the front McPherson independent suspension, rear longitudinal arm torsion beam non-independent suspension, and chassis tuning is more in favour of comfort, after the pothole section, can effectively filter unnecessary vibration while taking into account a certain degree of road feedback, in the high-speed cornering, the support performance of the suspension is also good. Static experience is absolutely value for money, less than 150,000 yuan price can buy a 510km range version, has very highly cost-effective.
In terms of power, equipped with a 204 hp permanent magnet/synchronous single motor, the total power of the motor is 150kW, the total torque of the motor is 235Nm, the battery type is a ternary lithium battery, and the acceleration time of the AION S 100km is 7.5 seconds. In the test process, the vehicle did not appear body large bouncing and other dangerous situations, emergency avoidance when the electronic stability system will quickly intervene, deceleration efforts are accurate timing, can be very good to help you successfully complete the avoidance.
AION S weak point
With the comprehensive test results, we can see that the Aion s performs well in terms of exterior, interior, configuration and power. But it also has a few bad points: GAC Aion has high sales but far less popularity than BYD, mainly because most people buy it to use as a taxi, and many people just don’t like the fact that their private cars and taxis are of the same style, which is both a plus and a minus. For this phenomenon, AION S, with a variety of body colors and personalized appearance accessories to choose from, can avoid this problem.
There’s also the point that the Aion S range is overly simplistic in terms of primary and secondary safety features, with just two airbags in the lower trims and four in the higher trims. There are no such features as active brakes, L2-level driver assistance or heat pump air conditioning across the range.
The last one is that there are few convenient features behind the tailgate, hooks and anchors are missing, which takes a toll on practicality.
Summary
A comprehensive analysis of the AION S, from the exterior design, power performance, and interior design to range performance and safety performance, etc., the AION S shows excellent quality and advanced technological configurations, with low energy consumption, so if you plan to buy it in the urban area for transport is very suitable, and it is not difficult to see from the sales of it, indicating that the majority of consumers are still able to accept AION S product power.
