BYD eMAX 7 Review: Should Innova Be Worried?

After the Seal and repositioned Atto 3, BYD has a new car in the market. No, this isn’t a new generation of the e6 MPV the car that began BYD’s India innings. In fact, it is quite an extensive update or facelift. BYD has already received almost 1,000 orders for the eMAX 7, indicating there’s a decent demand for a slightly luxurious three-row electric MPV but how good is it?

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Design

The eMAX 7 just looks better than the e6. There’s this satin silver panel with the BYD lettering. You now also get these good-looking LED headlamps, but those intakes in the bumper may fool you into thinking it is an ICE car. It still gets those 17-inch alloy wheels like the e6 but it looks much better now. At the back, you get these sexy-looking taillamps with a light bar and you now get an electric tailgate. Open that and you see the surprise. Yes, it has been upgraded to a three-row MPV. 

The eMAX 7 follows the new Dragon Face design language that gives it a face similar to the Atto 3. BYD calls the headlamps ‘crystal diamond floating LEDs’ and they look superb. Though the silhouette doesn’t change, there are enough changes made to make it stand out. And yes fool you into thinking that it’s a new gen though it isn’t!

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Third Row

Getting in isn’t very difficult even though the second row doesn’t fold fully flat. Space here is pretty adequate honestly. You’d have a comfortable time back here. You sit knees up but it isn’t bad. Creature comforts back here only include these cupholders and these AC vents.

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Second Row

Unlike the e6, you now also get a choice of a 6-seater configuration with captain seats. The seats are comfortable and can be moved forward and back to create decent legroom. The headroom is good too and that fixed glass panoramic roof helps make the cabin feel more spacious. You can call the rear seats a bit spartan since you only get USB-A and USB-C ports, AC controls and a cubby hole. And while the front row seats get ventilation, why not give it here too since most buyers would rather be sitting here, isn’t it?

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Interior & Tech

We’ve seen this steering wheel earlier, haven’t we? Yep, it’s the same steering wheel as the Seal U DM-i that Siddharth drove in Germany and we brought you an exclusive review of that hybrid SUV. 

Apart from this steering wheel, what’s also changed is the touchscreen. Yes, you get a bigger and better touchscreen in this, a 12.8-inch unit with much better graphics and good response and being a BYD, it still rotates. How cool is that! And you get inbuilt apps like Spotify and you get wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. But if you go into settings, you go into system settings and more and into languages you can scroll down to see, it gets Hindi! Yes, just like it did in the BYD Seal U DM-i that Siddharth drove in Germany. But still, AC controls are embedded inside the touchscreen.  You know what, there are shortcuts. Use these three fingers to gesture up and down to change the temperature or you slide them left and right to change the fan speed. However, there is only one physical control for the AC and that is to turn it on and turn it off. 

The AC on-off switch is placed in the centre console and there are other physical controls too, like a volume dial, a few buttons, and two toggles for the drive and regen modes. Despite a facelift, the eMAX 7 still gets a semi-digital instrument cluster with a 5-inch screen, a slight miss we feel. But there’s a wireless charger and the front seats are power adjustable along with a cooling function. 

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Safety

BYD has given the eMAX 7 six airbags, that’s two more than the e6 and then you also have an anti-lock braking system (ABS), ISOFIX child seat mounts, 360-degree cameras, three-point seatbelts with reminders for all seats and all these are standard.

The Superior variant also gets 11 ADAS functions such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, and lane departure warning, among others. The ADAS isn’t very intrusive and the lane keep assist gives you decent feedback too. Don’t ask us about crash test ratings, we do not have answers there yet. 

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Battery & Charging

The eMAX 7 gets two variants – Premium and Superior – and both have different battery packs. The smaller trim gets a 55.4 kWh battery good for around 420 km of range and the top-spec one, that we’re driving, gets a larger 71.8 kWh battery with around 530 km of range. The smaller one supports 89 kW of DC charging, while the larger one supports 115 kW. Both take around 37 mins to charge from 0-80 per cent with an 80 kW charger. 

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Performance

The lower Premium trim produces less power but the same torque, even though it has the same electric motor. 

The 201 bhp and 310 Nm feel adequate in the eMAX 7. No earth-shattering performance here but being an EV it does push you back into your seats a little bit. And that’s ok because it's supposed to be a comfortable people mover. There's quite a bit of body roll and that's a bit strange because most of the weight is lower down because of the floor-mounted batteries. That's a slight trade-off you'd have to live with because of the soft suspension setup.

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Rear Seat Comfort

The passengers in the second and third rows would be very happy with the ride quality. Even though the ride is quite bouncy in the last row as you’re right on the rear axle, it is still very comfortable. The other half of that trade-off is the good ride quality that the eMAX 7 has to offer.

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Variants & Prices

Unlike the e6, the eMAX 7 comes in two trims and both are fairly loaded. The only things the Premium trim doesn’t have are ADAS, the glass roof, powered front seats with ventilation, a powered tailgate and roof rails. Yeah, you’re not really missing out on anything, which is great! The Premium trim is priced between ₹26.90 - 27.50 lakh, while the Superior trim costs ₹29.30 - 29.90 lakh for the 6 and 7-seat variants, respectively. Interestingly, the Superior trim is priced at just ₹15,000 more than the e6.

BYD eMAX 7 Review: Verdict

So the eMAX 7 drives like a comfortable people mover and that’s okay. It’s not meant to be a sporty car, it’s meant to be comfortable and be a mile muncher. Which it can do adeptly. And it’s going to give a stiff competition to the Toyota Innova Hycross and Maruti Suzuki Invicto. It will outsell the e6 which sold around 1,700 units but by how much, we’ll have to wait and see. 

Photography: Anand Malepu