Xpeng G6 review

It's pretty brisk. We’ve driven both the RWD Long Range and the AWD Performance models post-facelift, but we’ll kick off with the single motor as that’s the one you’re more likely to buy.

The accelerator pedal is smoothly calibrated, so you can depart without yanking anyone's neck. The eco mode is good for gliding through town. Then there's normal and sport modes, each stepping upward in the vigour of delivery. Floor it and the 0-62mph time is 6.7 seconds. That's plenty, and because it's not a draggy car it'll keep going well above UK motorway limits.

If you do want your family crossover to be able to outrun a Ferrari 355, the AWD Performance is the trim you need. It feels properly quick and there’s decent grip. Oh, and because you get the twin motors Xpeng also adds in a hill descent mode.

And the handling?

Much like the pre-facelift G6, there’s no feel at all to the steering in either the RWD or AWD cars. There are three different settings to choose from, but all have the same trouble and the weightiest sport setting has a ridiculous faux-heft to it.

Thankfully it doesn't induce messy body roll. The passive suspension setup is actually fairly firm, which it doesn't need to be as this isn't a car you'd want to drive sportily. And the damping allows the body to float a bit on big undulations.

The brake pedal is also extremely soft, which adds to the general numbness of the drive, and a fair bit of road and wind noise is transmitted into the cabin.

Xpeng makes a lot of its assisted driving. How is it?

We’re told that Xpeng’s new Xpilot 2.5 system uses 12 sensors and cameras for the driver assist.

Engaging the cruise control with its lane changing capabilities gave us mixed success. The car certainly knew what it was doing – at least 97 per cent of the time. As with the Tesla models, the display shows the driver where other vehicles are positioned on the road, inspiring confidence and trust... usually.

But usually isn't really enough is it? On one or two occasions it dived off course. Still, it is never intended to be eyes-off; no cars legally sold in Britain are such.

The calibration of the motorway lane assist is frankly annoying. Most cars act as a guide – the self-steering effect is gentle, building up as you veer to the edge of the lane so that you drive cooperatively with the car. The Xpeng's is like driving down a rail track. If you want to be slightly to the left or right of the position the car chooses, you really have to tug the wheel, making a jerky transition.

Finally, the steering wheel controls for this system are counterintuitive. There isn't a normal pause/resume switch. And when the system is paused (by touching the brake) the speed variation roller reverts to being the cabin air temp control. Really.

At least it's fairly easy to use the screen to switch off the lane and speed limit assist – which also gets it wrong at times. As do, frankly, all cars.