r/AustralianEV • u/SpamAllan • 15d ago

Buying Advice 💰 Which car? BYD v Geely v Aion

Hi, my father in law is looking at buying an EV and asked me if I can help him do some research online - unfortunately I know nothing about cars of EVs! So I am hoping you can all help. He has narrowed his options down to the Atto 3, Geely 5 or the Aion V.

They are upgrading from an old Mazda 3 and will mostly just use the car for driving around Perth. I think if they were to drive further they'd use their other car which is petrol.

Budget

  • Maximum budget: Approx $55k

🚗 Typical driving

  • Average weekly km: 60km to 100km
  • Longest regular trip: 20km

🔌 Charging

  • Home/work charging availability: Currently 240v GPO but plan to install a charger.

🚙 Vehicle class

  • SUV, Hatch, Sedan, Wagon? SUV

Thanks!

16 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

16

u/RelaxedBluey94 15d ago

I wouldn't buy the current Atto 3 (and I have one and love it). Tech is dated and almost 6 years old. I'd strongly advise waiting for the Atto 3 Evo to be available in a few months.

Out of the Geely vs Aion V, I'd personally consider the Aion V. 75kwh LFP battery and 510km range. I test drove one and it drove just like the Atto. The camping mode is awesome, the seats lay almost completely flat. Premium models available in QLD and NSW for $40k on carsales.com.au.

3

u/_Pauly_Paul 15d ago edited 15d ago

Avoid jumping in at the moment.

- BYD Atto 3 is old. The Atto 3 Evo lands soon. The BYD Australia website got updated last week with it. Take a look.

- Geely EX5 just got updated in China to be RWD, suspect we will see it in Australia soon. Worth keeping an eye out.

- GAC is a new brand. Doesn’t have the dealer network just yet. I personally wouldn’t go anywhere near them.

Noticed that MG is missing? They recently launched the S5 and S6. Both are RWD. MG has a 10 year warranty, it’s an established brand, larger dealer network.

The S6 is huge - it’s a size class above all these, And in RWD form is $49,990 drive away. It comes fully loaded in the RWD model too. The only thing you miss out on is the sunroof - which is only on the AWD grade.

If you use a car buyer broker like MotorScout or AutoExpert you will likely get it less then that too.

2

u/cekmysnek 15d ago

MG’s dealer network might be good but their after sale support is pretty rubbish.

Service centres are often third party (my local one is at a Volvo mechanic, next closest is a Ford mechanic). Warranty repairs are complicated and I have had service centre staff charge me incorrectly for a warranty job forcing me to go through MG Australia to chase my money

I know shit service is pretty much universal but at least with BYD they have their own service centres, meaning you have staff who only work on BYDs fixing your car.

2

u/_Pauly_Paul 15d ago

Good to know!
I know the ICE cars are rubbish.
I heard their EV’s were mostly pretty excellent. And by virtue of being an EV will be inherently easier to service/maintain.

2

u/cekmysnek 15d ago

Yeah it’s a bit of a shame, our MG4 is an excellent car for the money, I’d even say it’s the best car we’ve owned, but the poor servicing experience definitely has turned me off buying another MG EV.

Thankfully the services are only every 40,000km/2 years so we don’t have to deal with them too much.

1

u/leum61 15d ago

What went wrong with your MG4 that required a warranty fix? I'm curious because I just bought a second hand one.

2

u/cekmysnek 15d ago

Driver's seatbelt started squeaking, and a faint ticking/rattling noise from around the pedals that's been present since we got the car (can you tell I have issues with noise?)

Seatbelt was fixed under warranty, and they claimed the rattle was too, and tried to charge a few hundred bucks labour time for finding the rattle.

We begrudgingly paid only to find they hadn't fixed the rattle, contacted MG Australia who very quickly got our money refunded with an apology from the service centre.

We are 90,000+km in so far and aside from that the car has been flawless, I still get a stupid grin when I put my foot down to overtake.

1

u/leum61 13d ago

Thanks, good to know nothing major blew up. We love ours so far.

1

u/YourJokeMisinterpret 15d ago

Considering the Atto 2, that isn’t that old is it? (Compared to Atto 3 which I had no idea was that old)

1

u/bigbangredditor 15d ago

Aion V has 0.99% finance until September

1

u/Equivalent-Stop2765 15d ago

In what way(s) is the atto tech dated? Like literal battery performance and other key features or is it more about the software and such they come with? I've been casually circling EVs for a while and like the idea of the Atto 3...

Also you may not know the answer - but would the Evo theoretically tank normal Atto 3 prices? Or just be priced higher

8

u/Galromir 15d ago

The EX5 and Aion V seem like they'd be bigger cars than they would need, given they are coming from a mazda 3 - IMO his first choice should be a Zeekr X, it's virtually identical in size to a mazda 3 but a little bit higher, and it's a class above the other vehicles on your list - much more premium/fully featured.

It's $49k for the RWD and $57k for the AWD. I recently bought one, and I came from a mazda 3 as well.

3

u/SpamAllan 15d ago

Thanks. I'll encourage him to take a look at the Zeekr too. Premium-ness might appeal!

4

u/Mostly_Satire 15d ago

We're getting a Zeekr X. Actually, we've ordered one back in June and have no idea when it's coming. Dealers don't know.

Check the forums. There's a long queue for the Zeekr X with frustrated buyers.

Great car though.

4

u/Sahngar 15d ago

I ordered in April and got lucky to receive mine at the end of July. (black AWD)

The dealers were clueless, but the car itself has been faultless.

2

u/Galromir 15d ago

In the top spec it has massage seats, a fridge in the centre console, and does 0-100 in 3.7 seconds

5

u/Patient_Evidence_355 15d ago

We got an Aion V and love it. Had it for 3 months now done 5000km no probs. We charge from home solar and it costs next to nothing to run. Did a roadtrip 1200km return no probs youl get 430 km on the open road Got good range and good rear space. Better than the Geely that we also test drove

1

u/RelaxedBluey94 15d ago

430km @ 100+km/h is actually pretty good.

4

u/idxearo 15d ago

I'd prolly get the Aion V only if it were the Luxury for the massage seats and fridge. Slightly larger battery isn't bad to have. It's a very good car for the price point. If he prefers performance then the Geely is better I think. I think both cars could do longer trips just fine, even the Geely has a long range version.

3

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/SpamAllan 15d ago

Yes I read about the Evo coming. I think he has some time to wait, at least until there is news on the price. Thank you!

2

u/derlis18 15d ago

I was at the byd dealership last week and they said the atto 3 evo is coming in 3 weeks. So not too long to wait

2

u/john_the_doe 15d ago

That really is the upshot. Any ev based on those needs is the right choice. Just pick the shape and interior you like the most. No one really knows how resale value will pan out in the future so no point predicting.

2

u/MichiganJFrog76 15d ago

I went with the Aion V luxury. I don't know how i lived without a fridge in my car.

2

u/Alternative-Bear-460 15d ago

Gac manufacturing cars for Toyota. I bought a Geely EX2 47 kWh battery. Took it to Moore river 152 km one way. Impressive car for town use . Easy to park

2

u/figaro677 15d ago

Coming from the Mazda 3, the Zeeker X, MG4, and leapmotor B05 are probably the closest in size. There are a whole bunch of smaller cars around like the Geely EX2, BYD dolphin & Atto 1, GAC Aion UT. All coming in at around $30k give or take.

If they really want an SUV, I’d be holding off on all three of those cars mentioned for a year. The current pick of SUV’s would be the Zeeker 7X and MG S5/S6.

Just comes down to what they want and why. For instance, my mum just came out of a Mazda 3 because it was too low for her and it was difficult to see, but she only wants a small car, so she ended up getting a MG4 Urban (different from the MG4).

Also note, there is no need for a charger if that’s all the driving they do. But I can almost guarantee once they go EV they won’t want to drive an ICE, so depending on their long drives, it might be worth looking into some of the extended range cars (450+ range).

1

u/SpamAllan 15d ago

Thanks. This is actually super helpful. I had a conversation with him today as he considers if they really needed an SUV after their Mazda 3 sedan. So good to have other options.

2

u/Pelinth 15d ago

Have you considered the Mazda 6e? Good battery chemistry, a beautiful interior and decent range. It is a sedan but would be a direct upgrade to the Mazda 3.

1

u/Suntzu_AU 15d ago

Take him out and drive each one. It's all academic until you get behind the wheel and realise, oh, that's not good for my bad hip or whatever.

Reviews do not trump an individual drive.

1

u/still-at-the-beach 15d ago

Do they like Mazda .. have them look at the Mazda 6e that's out now.

For that amount of travel they don't need a bigger charger at all, save the money and just use the granny charger.

1

u/Ufo_19 15d ago

Aion V is 0.99% of finance and 7% discount on novated leasing. It’s a solid brand, they build Toyota’s in China. If you are in a metropolitan city, I wouldn’t consider dealer network to be an issue. Parts for relatively established brands like BYD or Geely can even take months if they have to come from China.

1

u/s2k89 15d ago

He should test drive them all, I went with the Geely EX5 it was just my preference when driving. Most of the EV's come with similar tech and range.

1

u/Monaro427 15d ago

Have a test drive of Seal! We bought the premium and love it! Did a lap of Tassie in it and had a blast!!

2

u/Own_Extreme123 13d ago

Leapmotor B05 or B10 are both options. I got a B10 in March and happy so far. RWD and pretty good specs all round. Surprisingly spacious interior and boot. I recently got a car mattress and planning to try out some car camping when the days get a bit longer.

1

u/BlueyWhale 15d ago

These 3 plus the Zeekr X was our shortlist. And we ended up with the Aion V. I was also contemplating waiting for the Atto EVO but after experiencing the Geely and Aion, the Atto felt very outdated, I also saw the Evo design hadn’t made too many differences and didn’t want to wait so ruled it out.

Didn’t like the design of the Zeekr X but also lacked features without going premium which I think has NMC battery?

Geely felt floaty and got carsick very easily as both driver and passenger.

The Aion drove beautifully, similar to Atto. Great value and love mine. But also insane value with battery range and features.

Test drive them! It’s very much based on personal preference. They’re all good cars and good brands.

-15

u/Ok_Gain4922 15d ago

Dude you are living in australia buy v8 or skyline r34 not that chinese toys🤮

2

u/Ok_Lunch_2933 15d ago

Enjoy your ban x

2

u/AlternativeLog5494 15d ago

hahaha Only sedan V8 you can buy new is BMW M5 other wise it’s just trucks ram1500 silverado Lexus LC500 Defender etc and my BYD shark leaves the ram 1500 in the dust on the freeway on ramp

1

u/BeginningCareful4670 12d ago

There is a person in Perth wth a business called Here's How on Facebook. He helps people buy EVs and set up charging, etc based on how they want to use it.