Neta X Review: Space Race
The Neta X triumphs in space and interior appointments, but is lacking in driving pleasure and polish.
It is getting increasingly difficult to tell apart newcomers to the market. They usually employ similar design cues or dimensions, and most of them being EVs the drivetrain is usually pretty undifferentiated.
The Neta X comes precariously close to being too generic with its design, but it at least knows its strengths and plays them up well. One of these is the amount of room you get for the money. With a 2,770 mm wheelbase (50 mm more than the BYD Atto 3), the legroom you get especially for rear passengers is incredible. Short of a full MPV like the Aion Y Plus, the X has got to be one of the most spacious cars among the more affordable range of EVs.
The other core competency of the X is its interior. With extensive use of soft touch materials, suede and copper coloured parts, as well as offering a brown option, sitting in the X feels cosseting and comfortable. Of course, there are some nasty hard plastics if you go looking for them, but at least the X attempts to rise above the drab black interiors we have seen way too often.
Being softly damped and with the aforementioned merits, the X feels very much geared towards pampering its passengers, but less so the driver.
With a 62 kWh CATL battery and a 100 kW electric motor powering the front wheels, the X feels reasonably endowed but there are some tell-tale signs that the car is not quite made for driving pleasure. The steering is too light, the brakes feel awkward to modulate and the overall dynamics lack polish. And then there are the annoying driver assistance systems that feel more unhelpful than anything else. The Chao Yang tyres do not help too; fitting proper tyres would perhaps help to soothe some of the teething issues mentioned.
The X feels like it is not quite finished. The doors for example feel very light and seem stubbornly unwilling to close fully, while the drive doesn’t particularly inspire. However, it certainly has potential, as shown by its clever packaging and well-appointed interior. Give it a generation or two and it may prove its mettle yet.
Photos by James Wong
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