Xpeng L03 review: Tech-heavy SUV is competent but not compelling
The Xpeng L03 hopes to blow away rivals with its tech and power, but is there substance behind the hype?
Lacking the X factor
You won’t love it but you won’t hate it either. The Xpeng L03 is a likeable middle-of-the-road offering that ticks lots of boxes without excelling anywhere
The Xpeng L03 is quite a big deal for the Chinese tech-led car maker.
With its introduction, the brand instantly doubles its UK model line-up. More importantly, though, this mid-sized SUV coupe is expected to quickly become the brand’s best-seller, shifting more units than the modestly performing G6.
While the G6 is mixing it with the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6 and Nissan Ariya at the larger, pricier end of the C/D-segment, the L03 is aiming a little lower and more mainstream in terms of size and price.
And it’s doing that with promises of a premium look and feel, lots of fancy new technology and a bucketload more power than its competitors.
But is it any good? I headed out to Switzerland to find out.
Design and interior
Chinese car brands often get a tough time for generic or derivative designs and Xpeng is no different. It’s near-impossible to tell its larger G6 apart from a Tesla Model Y and, while more striking than most, the L03 definitely has cues “borrowed” from other brands.
Fundamentally, it looks as if a Polestar 4 and a Porsche Macan Electric got together and made a baby EV. The front end is pure Polestar with its plunging bonnet line and T-shaped headlights, while the rear with its smoothed-off lines and full-width light bar is all Porsche. That’s not a bad thing and, in combination, they make for a pretty handsome thing. Just don’t be surprised if lots of people start asking what it actually is.
The slippery shape, flush door handles and various active aero features also give the L03 one of the best drag coefficients in its class in pursuit of better efficiency.
Inside, Xpeng says it has focused on “premium comfort”. And it delivers on that, but in a largely characterless fashion. Cover the badge on the steering wheel and you’d be hard pressed to tell it apart from any number of alternatives. There’s a big central screen, a deep two-level centre console and a near-complete lack of physical switchgear.
Every element feels well constructed and there’s plenty of robust soft-touch materials to meet the premium ambition. Like the larger G6, it’s a pleasant, comfortable place to sit and eat up the miles. The pale faux-leather upholstery and massive sunroof give a light, airy feeling and there’s plenty of space front and rear in spacious, supportive seats. The L03 will easily accommodate four adults in comfort, although with just 367 litres of boot space, it might struggle with their luggage. To help a little, there’s also a frunk – 89 litres in single-motor models and 44 litres in dual-motor cars. There’s also a neat 10-litre drawer under the rear seats.
Technology and equipment
Like the design, the Xpeng L03’s tech offering is a familiar story – a slimline digital instrument panel and a massive central touchscreen to control every function.
And, like the G6 or any number of other recent imports, it’s a frustrating affair. The 15.6-inch display is largely taken up by a single app at any time, with tiny shortcut keys locked to the very bottom of the screen. <a href="https://myappsplus.com/openai-dot-vs-meta-muse-how-do-these-ai-agents-compare-2/” title=”OpenAI Dot vs. Meta Muse: How do these AI agents compare?”>These inevitably reveal multiple layers of menus to adjust everything from the door mirrors to the braking regeneration, headlight mode and, of course, the various ADAS settings.
I’ll keep saying it til I’m blue in the face, but I don’t want to have to use a menu to adjust my wing mirrors or headlights. And if you’re going to put controls on the steering wheel, don’t make them unmarked like Xpeng has.
There’s the usual selection of apps and connected services and, pleasingly, Xpeng has built its navigation system on Google Maps, delivering an easy-to-use and accurate setup.
Beyond the screen, there’s a head-up display which, among its various functions, shows images from the blind spot cameras when you indicate. It’s an interesting idea but one I found distracting rather than helpful.
Xpeng is making a great deal of noise about its Next Generation Pilot semi-autonomous driving system which takes a holistic approach to melding the various monitoring and control systems. Xpeng says this is “designed to understand and navigate highly complex real-world driving scenarios” and deliver a more human-like approach. The only problem is this level 3 system is not approved for use in Europe or the UK.
What we will get are the remote parking system and reverse assist that can retrace your steps along a previously driven route.
Range, battery and charging
Some markets are being offered a range-extender version of the L03, but for now, we’re focused on the pure EV version.
This comes with a choice of single-motor versions with either a 57kWh or 70.4kWh LFP battery, or a dual-motor variant that only gets the larger pack.
The standard range rear-wheel drive offers up to 276 miles from its 57.6kWh battery while the long-range version boosts that to 323 miles. The extra power, pace and weight, cut it back to 273 miles in the all-wheel-drive Performance version.
Those, of course, are official figures. On a couple of different test routes around France, Germany and Switzerland in the AWD Performance I saw between 3.4m/kWh and 4m/kWh and a promised real-world range of between 227 and 273 miles.
That’s fairly unremarkable but the L03’s charging speeds help make up for it, with the smaller battery charging at up to 193kW and the larger peaking at 236kW. In both instances, that should deliver a 10-80% charge in an impressive 20 minutes.
Performance and driving
Entry-level versions of the Xpeng L03 with the smaller battery get 219bhp, which covers the 0-62mph run in a very average 7.5 seconds. Opting for the larger battery also brings a bump in power to 245bhp and cuts the 0-62mph time to 6.6 seconds.
At the top of the range, the Performance dual-motor model gets all-wheel-drive, 325bhp and a 0-62mph time of just 4.5 seconds, which seems unnecessary for what is, effectively, a family SUV.
It certainly feels quick, getting up to motorway speed or pulling off a country road overtake are dealt with swiftly and smoothly. But my driving companion and I both questioned whether a car like this needs or benefits from more power than a 2014 BMW M3.
That’s doubly true because apart from its straight line speed, there’s not much to back up this car’s Performance tag.
The steering is accurate but lifeless and fails to instil any confidence, something not helped by the Giticontact tyres. Body control is actually surprisingly good and there’s relatively little lean in corners, but handling isn’t its strong suit. There’s a soft edge to the ride that means it’s generally very comfortable, but feels too spongy to lay any claim to being a “performance” model.
I haven’t driven the single-motor version yet, but I suspect its slightly calmer performance will be better matched to the comfortable ride and generally impressive refinement. It’ll also offer more range for less money.
Price, trim and rivals
Full UK pricing for the Xpeng L03 will be announced in November with orders opening around the same time.
Like the rest of Europe, the UK will get three powertrain choices and just two trim levels – the regular L03 and the Ultra.
While Xpeng is keeping tight-lipped on UK prices, we’d expect the range to start at around £33,000 and top out somewhere in the low £40,000s for the Performance model.
The regular L03 comes with plenty of equipment, from full LED lights and 18-inch alloys to heated and cooled electrically adjustable seats, 17 active safety systems, wireless Apple and Android support and wireless phone charging
Ultra adds 20-inch wheels, yellow brake callipers, more speakers and a massage function for the seats, plus the capability to deploy the NGP VLA 2.0 system if it gets approval. However, it’s not yet clear whether the AWD Performance model will be offered in this high trim level in the UK.
If it does come in priced as expected, the L03 will neatly undercut key rivals, which are likely to include the Skoda Enyaq Coupe, Ford Capri and Cupra Tavascan in that peculiar SUV coupe space somewhere between the C- and D-segments.
Verdict
The Xpeng L03 follows a similar path to its bigger G6 sibling.
It’s roomy, comfortable and refined, with build quality and materials to meet Xpeng’s ambition of being more than just another affordable Chinese brand.
It is a perfectly likeable and largely capable car but a little unremarkable. The power of the AWD version isn’t matched by its chassis, and its maximum range is some way behind the best in class, meaning the single-motor long-range version is likely to be the range’s sweet spot.
With a packed field of rivals from well-known brands, pricing for that mid-range rival could be vital in helping the L03 stand out from the crowd.
- Comfortable ride
- Spacious cabin
- Smart styling
Against
- Unimpressive range
- Fiddly infotainment
- Handling can’t match its power
Fact fileXpeng L03 Performance Ultra
Price
£TBC
Powertrain
dual-motor, all-wheel-drive
Battery
70.4kWh
Power
425bhp
Torque
lb ft
Top speed
mph
0-62mph
4.5 seconds
Range
273 miles
Consumption
m/kWh
Real-world range
250 miles
Real-world consumption
3.7m/kWh
Charging
up to 236kW
Boot space
367 litres
Insurance group
TBC
The rivals
Alternatives worth a test drive
Skoda Enyaq Coupe vRS★★★★★3.5
Cupra Tavascan VZ★★★★★3.5
BYD Atto 3 Evo★★★★★3
