Back in the day, we might've been surprised when we first saw a Japanese car on the streets. That must've been quite exotic then.
After that, the Koreans came, and look what they're building now. And now the Chinese are knocking on the door.
Again, I can understand why you'd be doubtful about that. But why would you be? Today we're going to find out.
We're putting this Lynk & Co 01 up against a Hyundai Tucson, both cars are plug-in hybrids and in this case the Tucson will act...
as the benchmark. So how does its Chinese rival hold up?
As you might now, Lynk is linked to Volvo. That's because Volvo is owned by the Chinese company of Geely, just like Polestar and Lynk.
So there's lots of Volvo-parts in this car. You can see that, but you can also feel that.
The interior looks really good. It doesn't remind me in the slightest of other Chinese cars, which were usually not of the highest quality.
The feeling and quality are very good in here. It looks good and it's easy to operate.
Just look at the seats. You can clearly see the similarities with Volvo. They don't only sit really nice, the shape is very similar as well
It even has integrated headrests. Also, the upholstery is made of recycled materials like used fishnets and such. An ecologically...
friendly choice. But it's all done very well. The concept itself is very solid too.
You can't get any optional extra's. You can only have this color, or a black one. The only additional feature is a tow hook, which...
is removable. I think it'll stay on for most of the time in the Netherlands. And if you rent this car, that'll cost you an additional €40 a month.
And that sharing-concept is one of the most important features of this car. If you don't buy it for €39.000,
you can rent it for €500 a month. And you can cancel your subscription anytime you like.
You won't be stuck with it for set periods of time, like one year, two years, four years, you name it.
And the idea behind it is that you start sharing your car with other people. All to reduce the amount of cars on the road.
You can do that through an app. It'll allow you to rent out your car to your friends or people you know.
It's not like an open community, in which everybody can rent your car. Those concepts have been around for a while as well,
if you want you can even rent out your own car. But in this case, you'll rent out your rented car.
And in theory, you'd be able to drive it yourself for free. If you'd rent it out for ten days in the month, at €50 a day,
you'd have €500. However, that also means it'll be doing more kilometres per month. And for €500 a month, you're only allowed to...
drive 1250 km a month. If you go over that amount, you'll be paying €0,15 per additional kilometre.
But what does someone who wants to rent a Lynk have to do? Well, when they open up their app and look for an available Lynk.
If it's available, the renter has to photograph all sides of the car to find possible damages and such.
And he has to do the same when he returns the car. That does raise the question of how that's possible when it's dark and raining, or...
when it's tightly parked. That makes it very hard to make pictures, so I don't really know the answer to that.
But you get the idea of renting and sharing a car.
So let's talk about the handling. I've already mentioned there's a clear connection with Volvo, and the drivetrain is no exception.
It's the same as the drivetrain in the XC40 T5 Plug-in Hybrid. That means it's got a system output of 261 horsepower.
Also, it's got a battery pack of 17,6 kWh, which should be enough for around 65 electrical kilometres. And it often drives electrically too.
You can't choose between drivetrains, only between Hybrid-mode or Power-mode. Having said that, the combination of 1.5-litre 3-cylinder...
and the electric motor makes this a very rapid car. There's a lot of torque, almost like you're in a fully electric car, and the acceleration...
is very good too. The handling has surprised me in a positive way, it's better than I initially thought.
The steering feels nice and heavy, whilst being precise at the same time. It works together nicely with the chassis, which feels very smooth.
Especially on roads like this. It doesn't feel too sturdy at all. It just feels nice and heavy with very decent steering.
A bit like you'd expect from Volvo, really. What I don't like about the drivetrain though,
and I'm talking about the 1.5-litre 3-cylinder here, is that when you're driving at around 120 km/h on the motorway, there's quite...
an annoying rumble at around 2.000 RPM. When you change down, the revs go up and the rumbling disappears again.
That's quite common with 3-cylinder engines really, but why would you constantly rev high in sixth when there's a seventh gear?
Additionally, you can pull the gear lever even further back. If you do, you'll put it in B-mode, which stands for Brake.
That makes the car regenerate a tad more thoroughly, so you'll be winning back more energy when you brake.
That means the battery charges more quickly during the drive. Overall, it's a surprisingly good drive.
It's nice and quiet, it feels solid on the road, the interior is very spacious, and even though the boot isn't as big as that of the Tucson,
it's still very usable. Unfortunately, there's no three-phase charging available, so you'll have to plug it in at a regular wallbox.
If you do, it'll charge up to 3,7 kW. That means it's going to take around four or five hours to fully charge the battery pack.
Right, configuring the digital instrument cluster and the multimedia screen takes some effort. You can do a lot of things with it.
Let's look at some remarkable features. There's a Scoreytell-app, which lets you play videogames with your fellow passengers.
Or, with other people online. If you want, you can use Co-lab, which lets you pitch mobility-ideas to Lynk & Co.
It'll be recorded and sent to a Lynk & Co-callcenter. There's a Journey-cam-function as well, which lets you record...
everything in front of you. Almost like a dashcam, but it allows you to make a selfie as well.
There's a planner in the screen as well, and a lot of other gimmicks. The instrument cluster itself can be configured...
to display a rev counter when you put it in Power-mode. Besides that however, the instrument cluster always displays...
all of the important information at the same time. It looks very logical and it's very easy to use.
First things first, the Tucson gets most of its attention through its remarkable exterior.
Just look at the front with all of its lights and the wedges. It's got three cars worth of them if you ask me.
However, it looks very distinctive, and that's a trend that continues in the interior.
It looks very good, with good finishing too. Especially if you compare it to its predecessor.
It's got a nice dashboard, a digital instrument cluster, a big screen in the middle that's easy to use. All as it should be nowadays.
It's easily reachable as well, because it's placed in an angle. Underneath the screen, there's a separate panel for the climate control, which is very nice.
You don't have to look all kinds of menu's for it. It looks very clear, it works pretty quickly, so there's not a lot to complain about.
The interior itself is about as spacious as in the Lynk. You can notice that when you sit in the back. The head- and legroom are about the...
same, so it's pretty good. Also, because this car is a tad squarer than the Lynk, the boot is slightly bigger.
If we take a look at this button cluster, it looks different than in the Lynk. You only get buttons to choose your driving direction,
or to park the car. It works very smoothly. In the Lynk, you always have to move the lever twice to put it in gear.
In here, it's just one button. Very simple and very quick.
The infotainment system can be connected to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but you'll have to use a cable to connect them.
That's quite strange, because most other cars do have wireless connectivity. Anyway, this doesn't. So you get to charge your phone...
once you plug it in, so it's not all bad. A difference with the Lynk is that you've got more driving modes.
You can choose an EV-mode as well, so if there's enough juice available in the battery pack, you can drive it fully electrically.
It's got a smaller battery pack than the Lynk, so the electric range is a tad smaller as well.
Over here, you've got a button which lets you select a terrain-function. That's right, this car is four-wheel drive,
so you've got different driving modes for mud, snow, sand, you name it.
You can choose all kinds of terrains with this button. The seats aren't only heated, but cooled as well.
That's very nice on hot days like this. Having said that, it's a very complete car this. And it should be, because it's the...
top-of-the-range version. The Lynk has everything as standard, so you can't equip additional options, whilst the Hyundai has different trim levels.
That does come with a drawback though, because certain safety features are connected to a trim level. You can't separately equip them.
Instead, you'll have to choose this Premium-version. Which also comes with an optional sunroof, which would be standard in a Lynk as well.
You don't get as much gimmicks in the Hyundai as in the Lynk, but you're able to have an ambient soundtrack on the background.
For example, if you're driving towards Paris and you want to listen to a frozen village, you can. Or if you like to listen to a crackling fire,
or a beach, you can select those too. It's all in there.
There's another fun gimmick hidden in the instrument cluster as well. Whenever I use my indicators, the dial in the direction I'm moving towards...
will turn into a camera feed. That's coming from the side-view mirror, and it's a nice additional piece of safety.
Right, the drivetrain. It differs from the Lynk because it's a 4-cylinder engine, but it produces around the same amount of power.
It produces 256 horsepower, and that's divided across all four wheels through a 6-speed automatic gearbox.
And it's quite a funny feeling actually, because if you set off fully electrically, you can still feel the gearbox changing gear.
Usually, you don't have that in an electrical car. But in here, you clearly change up.
The steering then. It feels a tad more synthetic than in the Lynk, there's just not as much feeling to it.
That's not immediately annoying, but it's not a car that invites you to have a nice drive with it.
The springs are smoother though. But on the other hand, there's more tire noise coming through the interior, so the isolation isn't as good.
Also, it doesn't have an additional recuperation-mode to win back kinetic energy from the brakes.
Sure, when you use the brake pedal, it'll start braking on the engine, which already regenerates a lot. However, it won't brake when you release...
the throttle. No one-pedal driving in the Tucson.
When we think of stuff from China, we usually think of badly made and cheap items. The first thing doesn't apply to the Lynk,
but the second thing does apply to the Lynk. As they stand here, the Lynk is over €10.000 cheaper than the Hyundai.
Or, you can rent the Lynk for €500 a month and share it with other people. So just looking at the financials, and taking the handling and such into...
consideration, the Lynk & Co doesn't make a bad impression at all.