BYD Atto 3 Evo review

Our opinion on the BYD Atto 3

Some worthwhile improvements have been made to the BYD Atto 3 Evo over its Atto 3 predecessor, namely in terms of its practicality, thanks to both a bigger boot and the inclusion of a handy ‘frunk’ under the bonnet. The infotainment system is also easier to navigate and gets some slick Google-based apps for better functionality.

However, while we welcome the extra driving range and faster DC recharge times, we’re not sure the dramatic increase in performance (especially in Excellence form) was all that worthwhile. Despite its more sophisticated rear suspension, the Atto 3 Evo doesn’t have the poised handling to warrant acceleration that would embarrass a Porsche. It also costs more than before and doesn’t ride as well as the class best, which is a bit of a shame in a family car.

About the BYD Atto 3

The Atto 3 mid-size SUV was BYD’s first car available to order in the UK, making it the brand’s oldest design. To keep it fresh, its facelift is much more than skin deep, with every area getting some tweaks. So extensive are those changes that they’ve decided to give it the new name of Atto 3 Evo to signify all the work that’s gone into it.

In terms of where it fits in the brand’s line-up, it’s above the electric version of the BYD Atto 2, and below the likes of the BYD Sealion 7. Two versions of the Atto 3 Evo are available, with the entry-level Design being rear-wheel drive, and the pricier Excellence being four-wheel drive.

Used - available now

2018 Nissan

Qashqai

48,661 milesAutomaticDiesel1.5L

Cash £12,290

View Qashqai

2022 Vauxhall

Corsa

8,161 milesManualPetrol1.2L

Cash £13,025

View Corsa

2024 Vauxhall

Grandland

17,780 milesManualPetrol1.2L

Cash £15,539

View Grandland

2022 Nissan

Qashqai

20,076 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L

Cash £19,301

View Qashqai

We’ve pitched the pre-facelift BYD Atto 3 against the stylish Peugeot E-2008, and we also ran a BYD Atto 3 Design as a long term test car. 

Like a lot of EVs, the Atto 3 Evo emits a noise at low speeds to alert other road users and pedestrians of your presence. However, it’s not pleasant, with a tone that sounds like an open telephone line. Thankfully, the artificial sound generator falls silent once you get beyond 20mph.

The Atto 3 Evo only offers two levels of regenerative braking, and while we preferred the stronger of the two, it fails to provide one-pedal driving like the Kia EV3. 

Along with the conversion from front to rear-wheel drive, the latest Atto 3 Evo has a revised five-link rear suspension set-up, which is also shared with the four-wheel drive Excellence model. 

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

The Atto 3 Evo has also had a significant performance upgrade, with the entry-level Design now powered by a 308bhp rear-mounted electric motor (up from 201bhp), which lopps 1.6 seconds off the 0-62mph sprint, bringing it down to a very swift 5.5 seconds.

If for some reason that isn’t enough for you and you wish to challenge the likes of the Skoda Elroq vRS, the Excellence has a dual-motor set-up with 443bhp and 560Nm of torque. Its 0-62mph time of 3.9 seconds is only slightly behind the much pricier Tesla Model Y Performance and matches genuine performance cars like the Porsche 911 Carrera, which is an impressive feat for a near two-tonne family SUV.

The latter Atto 3 Evo is so quick that you can easily find yourself breaking the speed limit if you indulge in a little foot-to-the-floor action. You only really need to use a fraction of the accelerator pedal’s travel to keep up with traffic. In our view, the less potent Design is our pick because it's more than fast enough.

Town driving, visibility and parking

While the latest Atto 3 Evo has no trouble nipping into gaps in the traffic thanks to its snappy acceleration, and its standard 360-degree camera system and front and rear parking sensors make parking easier, it isn’t the best electric SUV to drive in town.

The steering in the Atto 3 Evo is much heavier than rivals such as the Skoda Elroq, even in the Atto 3 Evo’s comfort drive mode. The Elroq also has a much tighter turning circle of 9.3 metres compared with 10.8 metres for the Atto 3 Evo. We’re also not fans of steering in the BYD, which has a propensity to self-centre at slow speeds.

The ride isn’t brilliant either. While it seems to deal with the harsh impacts of potholes quite well, it isn’t particularly settled in either its Design or Excellence trims, and tends to pitch and dive unnecessarily if you’re a bit too hard on the accelerator or get caught out by the car’s grabby brakes. Remarkably, we found that the lighter rear-wheel-drive version has a harsher, bouncier ride than the four-wheel-drive model.

Country road driving and handling

Driven in a steady fashion, you’ll initially think that the Atto 3 Evo has good body control, but find yourself on a twisty country road and drive with a bit more enthusiasm, and you’ll notice that the Atto 3 Evo feels like a big, heavy SUV, with a fair amount of body lean in corners, and vague feeling and lazy steering. 

The Atto 3 Evo’s lack of composure compared with rivals like the Renault Scenic and Skoda Elroq is disconcerting in the standard Design trim, but is a little alarming in the much more powerful Excellence model.

We were surprised to learn that the Excellence trim Atto 3 Evo doesn’t receive any further suspension tuning compared with the less powerful Design model, despite having to cope with 50 per cent more power. The less powerful Skoda Elroq vRS gets revised chassis tuning and adaptive suspension as part of its transformation into the Skoda brand’s quickest car yet.

Motorway driving and long-distance comfort

At higher motorway speeds, cruising comfort is fine. We found there to be more wind noise present than we would like, and this drowns out most of the tyre noise.

As part of the facelift for the Atto 3 Evo, its battery capacity has been increased from 60.4kWh to 74.8kWh. That has improved the maximum range from 261 to 316 miles for the rear-wheel drive Design version. Go for the four-wheel drive Excellence, and the range drops a little to 292 miles

While that is more competitive than before, it can still be outclassed by the likes of the Skoda Elroq, which in 85 form has an even higher capacity 84kWh battery and a range of up to 370 miles. 

During our test of an Excellence Atto 3 Evo, we achieved an efficiency of 3.6 miles per kWh, or around 270 miles to a charge, which isn’t all that far off its official figure. Also, the Atto 3 Evo comes with an energy-efficient heat pump as standard, which is a pricey £1,100 option on the Elroq, or is only available with the range-topping GT-Line S EV3 as a £900 option.

Another benefit of the updates is that the maximum charging speed has been increased from 150kW to 220kW, helping to reduce the 10 to 80 per cent state of charge top-up time from 35 minutes to a much more competitive 25 minutes. Utilise a typical 7kW home wallbox, and it’ll take nearly 10 hours to replenish the Atto 3 Evo’s battery.

Insurance groups

Arranging insurance cover for the Atto 3 Evo will possibly be more expensive than you might think, with the facelifted car starting in a higher insurance group than before thanks to its extra performance. The entry-level Design is in group 40, while the Excellence is in group 42.

In comparison, the Skoda Elroq starts in group 23 and only goes up to group 37 in its swiftest vRS form. The Kia EV3 starts in group 33 and goes up to group 37.

Tax

Electric cars now attract the standard rate of VED road tax, plus they may be liable for an eVED pay-per-mile tax if the scheme goes ahead in 2028. At least Atto 3 Evo buyers will be able to avoid the £50,000 luxury car tax surcharge for EVs.

Business buyers will enjoy another big benefit, though, as EVs attract the lowest applicable Benefit-in-Kind company car tax rates.

Depreciation

After a typical three-year ownership period, the BYD Atto 3 Evo is predicted to hold onto around 40 per cent of its original value. In comparison, the Kia EV3 holds on to between 47 and 51 per cent, while the Skoda Elroq is predicted to maintain between 47 and 50 per cent of its value over the same period.

The Atto 3 Evo’s styling is best described as neat and inoffensive. It’s a pretty anonymous-looking family SUV, albeit with some details along the flanks that look similar to the flourishes on the Volkswagen ID.4. At least the somewhat tacky ‘Build Your Dreams’ slogan written across the tailgate of pre-facelift Atto 3 Evo’s has been removed, and in its place is a much simpler and more elegant BYD logo.

Trim lines have been streamlined to Design and Excellence, with all versions coming very well equipped. Our preferred Design trim comes with:

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• LED headlights with auto high beam
• An electric tailgate
• Privacy glass
• An electric tailgate
• Electrically adjustable heated and ventilated front seats
• Wireless smartphone charging
• Front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree camera system

The range-topping Excellence trim doesn’t seem like great value at first glance because it costs an extra £4,000 and only adds a panoramic glass roof with an electric retractable sunblind, a head-up display, and rear seat heating. However, it’s the only Atto 3 Evo with four-wheel drive, and it’s a lot more powerful to boot.

As before, the only option you can add is the metallic paint colour you want. We think the free iris blue is a rather nice shade, but you can also pick between obsidian black, time grey, atlantis blue, ruby red, or skiing white for an extra £750.

Interior and dashboard design

You can choose either black or beige for the interior of your Atto 3 Evo for free, though we prefer beige to brighten things up. You used to be able to order a blue-and-cream finish, but we can understand why it’s no longer offered, because some might have found it a little too lurid.

The sculpted lines and intricate details of the Atto 3 Evo’s cabin help it stand out from rivals, and it certainly doesn’t feel cheap. We still have an issue with the elasticated bands used for the door cards. While the marketing material says you can ‘strum to relax’, we’re not sure parents would agree if their children are tempted to play with them, as we found to our chagrin during our long-term testing of the pre-facelift Atto 3.

The kettlebell-style drive selector on the early Atto 3 has been replaced with a large wireless phone charging pad, a pair of cup holders, and a Mercedes-style column shifter. The internal door release pulls remain, and we quite like that feature because they have been neatly integrated into the tops of the speakers.

A larger 8.8-inch screen has been introduced for the digital driver’s display behind the steering wheel, and its increased size makes it a little more useful because it’s easier to read and can display sat-nav mapping, which helps you avoid missing navigation instructions when your passenger is using the central touchscreen.

Materials and build quality

On the whole, the build quality of the Atto 3 Evo is up to the standards you’d expect, with plenty of soft-touch materials and a solid 'Thunk' sound when closing the doors. We’re not huge fans of the imitation leather on the steering wheel that isn’t as smooth as we’d like, and the cover over the airbag just feels cheap.

Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo

Along with the styling tweaks, the infotainment system has also been overhauled. The main touchscreen used to rotate from landscape to portrait, with the latter apparently better for navigation. We always thought of it as a needlessly complicated gimmick, and it seems BYD agreed, because the new system no longer rotates. Instead, the company has provided a larger 15.6-inch infotainment system as standard, with the added benefit of built-in Google software.

It’s not a full Google system like you’ll find on the Renault Scenic, but it is a step on from what came before, including apps such as Google Maps and Google Assistant to make it easier to program the sat-nav or use the voice activation system. Of course, both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity are included should you need to use apps from your phone instead, and a cooled wireless smartphone charging pad is provided as standard.

The screen is responsive, and we quite like the customisable widgets you can organise in a menu that appears when you swipe down from the top of the screen. That all helps when trying to turn off some of the more distracting driver aids.

We would like the climate controls, which are on permanent display at the bottom of the screen, to be a little bigger and given extra real estate on the screen. They’re a little too small and fiddly to use on the move, which is perhaps why BYD has introduced a workaround. Use three fingers to swipe up and down on the screen to adjust the temperature, and do the same three-finger motion side to side to adjust the fan speed.

It’s difficult to say how well the Atto 3 Evo’s interior – especially some of the fussier design elements – will handle life as a family car, but the small family SUV is certainly spacious and features some neat touches, such as doors that close over the sills to keep them clean. The range-topping Excellence features a panoramic sunroof that lets in lots of light.

Rear visibility could be better, though. The tailgate glass is quite narrow, and its position means that there isn’t a direct line of sight from the driver’s seat via the rear-view mirror.

There are two sets of Isofix points in the rear, plus another set on the front passenger seat, while top-spec models include accessories such as floor mats and a rubber boot liner as standard.

Dimensions and size

Seats & passenger space 

The Atto 3 Evo has the slightly elevated driving position of an SUV, without ever approaching full off-roader status. All versions feature electric front seat adjustment with adjustable lumbar support, plus the headrests are no longer fixed in place, all helping to make it easy to find a comfortable driving position. The latter is a big step forward because we found the previous seat design pushed our heads forward in an uncomfortable manner.

In the back, there’s a completely flat floor, so there’s decent legroom behind its large front seats – even for the middle-seat occupant.

Overall, it’s very spacious inside, given the Atto 3 Evo's footprint, and there’s room on board for five six-footers, even with the standard panoramic glass roof fitted. However, we found that the rear seat bases are set a little low, so under-thigh support could be improved.

Boot space 

The 490-litre boot of the Atto 3 Evo means it certainly has the edge over its Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq rivals when the seats are up. However, the tables are turned a little when the 60:40 split rear seats are folded, because the Elroq provides a cavernous 1,580 litres of space, whereas the Atto 3 Evo has only 1,360 litres. The location of the car’s battery doesn’t compromise space, so there’s a deep hidden compartment underneath, plus there’s a level load lip.

One major improvement over its predecessor is that there’s now a front boot or ‘frunk’, which provides a handy storage area for your potentially wet or dirty charging cables away from the main luggage area. It's a rather large 101-litre well, which is significantly bigger than the 25-litre ‘frunk’ in the EV3.

“The previous BYD Atto 3 wasn’t rated to tow, but this latest Atto 3 Evo is. It can lug around up to 1,500kg, which is better than the Kia EV3 (1,000kg, but not as good as the Skoda Elroq (1,800kg).” – Max Adams, online reviews editor

The pre-facelift Atto 3 has achieved a five-star safety rating from industry experts Euro NCAP, with a 91 per cent score in the adult occupant protection category, and 89 per cent for child occupant protection. 

Like many electric cars, the Atto 3 Evo is loaded with safety and driver-assistance systems, including blind-spot detection, adaptive cruise with lane and traffic-sign assist, forward-collision alert, and a rear cross traffic warning system.

According to the most recent 2026 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, BYD has risen from the doldrums and featured mid-table in the best manufacturer rankings. It ranked 16th out of 30 brands, which is much better than fellow Chinese brand MG, which remains near the bottom of our survey. BYD owners rated its affordable running costs above all else. They were less impressed with their cars’ fidgety ride and unresponsive driving experience. They also didn’t like the air con controls or the overbearing safety assistance systems. 

Best buy: BYD Atto 3 Evo Design

The on-the-road price for the BYD Atto 3 Evo starts from around £39,000 for an entry-level car in Design trim, and rises to around £43,000 for the four-wheel drive, high-performance Excellence range-topper.

There isn’t much of a decision to be made when it comes to the Atto 3 Evo, because there are just two trim levels to choose from, and the powertrain you get is dictated by the trim you go for. We prefer the least expensive Design model because it has the most electric range and still comes with all the equipment you’d need.

If you’d like to save some precious pennies, you can build your perfect BYD Atto 3 Evo through the Auto Express Buy a Car service. Don’t want to buy? You can also find the very best BYD Atto 3 Evo leasing deals. 

BYD Atto 3 alternatives

The Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia EV3, and Skoda Elroq are obvious rivals to the Atto 3 Evo, with higher-specification models priced similarly. Some buyers might also look to the extra space and practicality of the entry-level Skoda Enyaq or Volkswagen ID.4, while a sizable price cut of the Vauxhall Grandland Electric and its qualification for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) means our preferred mid-range GS trim undercuts the entry-level price of the Atto 3 Evo by a healthy margin.

BYD Atto 3 pictures

21