Xpeng G6 review

It feels glassy, with big windows and a glazed roof. Rear and three-quarter visibility is hampered by bulky seats and the tapering roof, so you rely on the surround cameras when manoeuvring.

Still, all this light emphasises the roominess. There's bags of legroom in the back, and the compact battery package gives enough foot space too, which is absolutely not a given in EVs. There should probably be an intercom to speak with those in the back seats. The back seat reclines a few degrees too.

The boot has a big floor area, but it's a bit shallow versus rivals, especially because the roller blind – a flimsy contraption – lies lower than it needs to. And there's no froot.

The front seats are comfy enough, but you might take a while to find that out because some of their adjustments – including lumbar, heating and venting – are buried deep in screen menus. The base doesn't tilt either.

Also screen-only are the aim of the door mirrors and the air vents. Even in the screen, there's no stereo volume adjustment the passenger can reach. You really are paying a huge price for the visual simplicity. Discovering that it has actual electric window switches is like finding an oasis in the desert.

The steering wheel has rollers and buttons. But their operation is unintuitive and shows you're really not supposed to go against what the car thinks is best. The roller on the left-hand spoke normally adjusts cabin temperature, and whenever you touch it, it turns on the air conditioning, even if you've previously turned the AC off because you just want fan-assisted ambient air rather than chilled. And you might operate it by accident because at certain times it becomes the cruise control speed setting. Aaaargh.

The virtual voice assistant is a cheery animated robot on screen. But it doesn't assist much. "Navigate to Barnet Wood Road" is not an ambiguous destination instruction, is it? Despite our clearest BBC enunciation, it failed repeatedly to understand.

Still, the navigation is quick-acting and you get built-in apps such as Spotify that use your existing subscriptions. Connecting Apple CarPlay, which is wireless, proved slow and frustrating on two different phones, needing several reboots and lengthy waits. Ah well.

There are two fan-cooled wireless charging pads, even though the car will allow only one bluetooth connection at a time, so you can't stream music from one but take calls on the other.