Test Driving the Xiao mi YU7: A Glimpse Into the Future of Affordable Luxury EVs
I recently had the opportunity to test drive the Xiao mi YU7electric S U V ahead of its official launch in China—and I came away feeling both impressed and a little frustrated. Let me explain why, and also why legacy automakers, especially in the West, should be paying close attention.
A Childhood Thought Turned Reality
As a kid, I once asked my dad why exotic supercars had to be so expensive. Couldn’t automakers just build cool-looking, aggressively styled cars with ordinary materials and average performance, but at a price normal people could afford?
While he did his best to explain concepts like production costs, volume economics, and brand value, we both agreed it should be possible in theory. Fast-forward to today—and that’s basically what Xiaomi is doing with the YU 7. Their corporate slogan, “make innovative technology accessible to everyone,” is more than just talk in this case.
all-electric, with Xiaomi tech, and more affordable so hundreds of thousands of people could experience it?” It turns out that, yes, it would be nice. Xiao mi YU7 electric SUV Specs Xiaomi is calling it an “SUV” due to the true meaning of the word: “sport utility vehicle,” but it doesn’t look like your average SUV. When you lift the air suspension to the max (3″ of travel), it does look like more like one, but most of the time, it looks like a sporty wagon, which I love. Xiaomi hasn’t been shy about going after the Tesla Model Y with the YU7, which is not a bad target considering it’s the best-selling vehicle in the world. The goal is drawing a lot of comparisons, so here are the dimensions compared with Tesla’s SUV
Xiao mi YU7Wheelbase 3,000 mm (118.1 in) Length 4,999 mm (196.8 in) Width 1,996 mm (78.6 in) Height 1,600 mm (63.0 in) Kerb Weight 2,140 – 2,460 kg (4,718 – 5,423 lb)
Tesla Model Y (2025) Wheelbase 2,891 mm (113.8 in) Length 4,751 mm (187 in) Width 1,920 mm (75.6 in) Height 1,624 mm (63.9 in) Kerb Weight 1,884 – 1,998 kg (4,154 – 4,404 lb) As you can see, it is about a foot longer than the Model Y, 3 inches wider, and a little shorter. It’s also quite a bit heavier, but that’s because it’s equipped with a significantly larger battery pack. Tesla doesn’t officially disclose the capacity of its battery pack, but in the latest Model Y, they are estimated to be about 62 kWh for the base version and ~80 kWh for the long range version. As for the YU7, it features a 96 kWh battery pack with LFP cells from BYD in both the standard and Pro versions. The YU7 Max, the version I tested, is equipped with a 101 kWh battery pack with NMC battery cells from CATL. The result is that the base YU7 achieves 835 km of range on a single charge, while the Max version achieves 760 km. The base version is equipped with a single RWD motor, making it the most efficient and therefore, the longest range. Here are all the ranges of the different variants compared to Tesla’s own CLTC range in China: Xiaomi YU7 (RWD) – 835 kilometer Xiao mi YU7 Pro (AWD) – 770 km Xiaomi YU7 Max (AWD – 760 km Tesla Model Y RWD – 593 km Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD – 719 km The CLTC standard is based on the average driving cycle in China, which is more city driving-based than most other markets, and the range would be slightly lower on the WLTP or EPA cycles. It is a heavy vehicle, but Xiao mi countered that with significant energy capacity. In my experience with the performance electric SUV, you could easily get 500 km of highway driving on a single charge with the Max as long as you don’t go too much over the speed limit. I looked at the energy stats of the YU7 Max that Xiaomi let me test, and it had consumed 1,113 kWh over 4,868 km: However, the vehicle had been used as a press car, with people, including myself, driving it quite aggressively up and down mountain roads, mostly in “sport mode,” for the last week. Even then, it still achieved an efficiency 4.3 km per kWh. I could see the efficiency improve by double digits if driven more normally, with a higher mix of comfort or eco modes, and with the smaller wheels. But if I only get a few hours with a vehicle, I’m likely to spend most of my time in sports mode. If you run out of range, charging can be extremely fast with the YU7. Xiao mi claims a 5.2C peak charging capacity, which on the highest capacity chargers will result in charging from 10 to 80% state-of-charge in 21 minutes for the variants with LFP cells (Standard and Pro) and only 12 minutes for the Max, which is powered by NMC cells. Xiaomi YU7 Driving Impression A little further down, I’ll talk about all the technology, connectivity, and user interface in the YU7. As Xiaomi is known for its consumer electronics, I had high expectations in that regard, and I was confident that they would impress me. The vehicle aspect is where I had more doubts, but I kept an open mind. After all, Xiao mi didn’t even have a vehicle division 5 years ago, and now they have the best-selling premium sedan in the world’s largest auto market. As I write this, I haven’t had the chance to test the SU7, but I’m trying to get some time in the vehicle before leaving China. Talking to other journalists who have driven it, I’m told that it is a fun and impressive vehicle to drive, but that Xiao mi has also managed to make significant improvements and refinements with the YU7 in a short period of time. The YU7 is heavy, but with the Max’s more than 500 kW powertrain, the weight disappears instantly when you need to go. The vehicle feels solid and planted to the road, thanks to its low center of gravity, especially at the lowest suspension setting. Speaking of the suspension, it features a double wishbone in the front and a 5-link independent setup in the back, paired with standard air suspension, which adds 3 inches of adjustable height. For this price point, it’s hard to beat. We mostly drove the car up and down mountain roads about 3 hours outside of Beijing. I couldn’t reach anywhere near the car’s 253 km/h (157 mph) top speed, but I was able to experience some cornering and handling, and the suspension’s active dampening was useful. A documentary crew has been following me on my travels in China, and they attempted to film me in a Land Rover Evoque equipped with a crane camera. However, the SUV kept overheating before reaching the top of the 4-km hill climb, whereas the YU7 managed to complete the climb repeatedly all afternoon without issue. The battery cooling system would be a bit loud, but you would only hear it from the outside, as the cabin isolation is incredible in this car. Xiao mi used double-paned glass everywhere, complemented by active noise canceling. It is exceptionally quiet, which is a big part of a luxury car experience in my book. Another thing that I’ve found extremely impressive with the YU7 is the level of customization. Even something as simple as regenerative braking can be customized. You have a low, normal, and custom mode. In the custom mode, you can choose to have regen braking anywhere between 0 and 100%. At 100%, it is pretty much one pedal driving. You can also customize your own driving mode with a ton of different options, including your power distribution from front to back, making the dual motor Max variant a RWD vehicle if you want: I suggest watching my video about the YU7 for more details on customizing the driving modes. The head-up display is also highly customizable. It’s not a typical HUD like augmented reality projecting onto the windshield – something the Xiao mi SU7 is equipped with. The YU7 is instead equipped with a meter-long display that appears to be mounted deep into the dash. It’s an interesting feature that’s genuinely well-implemented. You can set it up to have your instrument cluster information on the driver side, and the position of the display, which almost appears to be floating between the dash and the windshield, is right at the bottom of your field of vision when driving. The advantage is that everyone inside the car can actually see, unlike an augmented reality heads-up display. With the level customization, it can be useful to all passengers – although primarily the front passenger. The high level of customization, both at the software level and at the accessory level, makes me feel like YU7 owners could really tune the vehicle to their liking over time, and your experience would get a lot better over the first few months as you learn more about the car. At the accessory level, Xiaomi even offers a seamless add-on that snaps at the bottom of the main display to add analog buttons for climate control and a media volume dial. The seats are perforated, ventilated, and extremely comfortable. Both front seats have massaging functions as standard, and they can lie back into zero-gravity position. Yes, even the driver’s seat. The level of comfort is pretty impressive for a vehicle in that price range. There’s also a lot of room in the back seats, which are also reclining, albeit not as much as the front seats, but they still go back to 135 degrees: From the back seat, you can also access an optional mini fridge that fits under the center console. There are also optional mounting systems for tablets to fit behind each of the front seats. Since Xiao mi has many smart home devices, YU7 owners can also purchase magnetic customizable buttons that can snap onto the center console or the B pillars and they can link into the Xiaomi app to initiate functions inside your car or your home if you have smart devices. Honestly, there are too many tech and connectivity features in this car to list them out, but I do go through a lot of them in my video review. The last piece of tech I’ll discuss is the ADAS system, which it is Xiao mi HAD. Xiao mi has packed the YU7 with an impressive ADAS hardware suite that includes one roof-mounted LiDAR with a 200-metre (660 ft) range, one 4D mmWave radar, 11 cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, and uses an Nvidia DRIVE AGX Thor-U chip capable of 700 TOPS.
Xiao mi i is not talking about achieving unsupervised self-driving capabilities with this yet, but it is future-proofing with the extensive hardware suite and this is currently only sold in China, which currently doesn’t allow level 3 and up automated systems in consumer vehicles. We were able to test the current level 2 capacity, which includes automated lane changes on the highway, traffic-aware cruise control, and lane keeping, to a level similar to what I’ve experienced with Tesla Autopilot. They even have a feature in beta that lets you see what the lidar sensor sees around the road in real-time. The ADAS system also provides all the active safety features that you expect from a modern vehicle. While it’s too early for the YU7 to have a safety rating, the SU7 had the highest overall score for any vehicle tested with the 2024 standards in the C-NCAP safety testing results. For the YU7, Xiao mi developed its own ultra-strong steel alloy to reinforce several parts of the vehicle: We won’t know until there’s indepent crash testing, but Xiaomi appears to be confident that the YU7 will perform well in those. Xiao mi YU7 Pricing and availability I drove the YU7 almost a week ago now, but we had an embargo until the launch event today, and Xiao mi didn’t want to elaborate on the price until CEO Lei Jun took the stage. However, we had a fairly good idea based on the SU7 pricing and Xiaomi’s apparent attempt to target Tesla’s Model Y in the Chinese market. Here’s the Xiao mi YU7 pricing per variant: YU7 Standard: 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD) YU7 Pro: 279,900 RMB (equivalent to $39,000 USD) YU7 Max: 329,900 RMB (equivalent to $46,000 USD) As for availability, deliveries are starting now. I visited the factory yesterday and I saw hundreds of them coming out of it. For now, the vehicle is only available in China, but Xiaomi is aiming to expand globally starting in 2027. Thanks for watching