NIO ET5 2023 Review – International

NIO is unusual among car producers in that it doesn’t really do trim levels. There is a base car that’s pretty much fully loaded and to which you can then add various options packages.

These packages are largely to do with appearance and comfort, with the only real exception being the option for a larger battery pack.

The 2023 NIO ET5 mid-size liftback sedan is currently the smallest and most affordable model from this Chinese start-up, which will begin producing right-hand drive cars during 2023 and promises to be in Australia by the end of 2025 at the latest.

We’ve already driven the impressive NIO ES7 SUV and the NIO ET7 large sedan that’s pitched at the Tesla Model S. We’ve also just been up close and personal in China with the incoming NIO EC7 coupe-style crossover and the new ES8 family SUV that has the Tesla Model X in its sights.

The NIO ET5 you see here is another one to watch, and perhaps the most important model for the brand as it prepares to take on the top-selling Tesla Model 3 – in Australia and all other global markets where EVs are gathering steam.

The starting price for the ET5 in China is RMB328,000 ($A69,730), and with the optional equipment on our test car the price was brought up to RMB430,900 ($A91,570). Tick everything and you’re looking at RMB462,300 ($A98,240).

In Australia, the ET5 will need to be competitive against the Tesla Model 3, which currently opens at $63,900 plus on-road costs for the single-motor Rear-Wheel Drive sedan, rising to $76,900 for the dual-motor Long Range and $89,900 for the Performance flagship (both plus ORCs).

Our test 2023 NIO ET5 came with a few option packs. The most expensive of these, bar the larger battery, was the Nappa leather pack at RMB22,500 ($A4780) which not only adds leather upholstery but also microfibre headlining – the standard car gets Haptex synthetic leather upholstery.

An additional RMB9500 ($A2020) pack adds front seat ventilation and massage, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats and fragrance dispenser.

There is an electric tailgate with kick opening, and all the doors are frameless with a soft-opening function.

Following Tesla’s example, many Chinese EV producers are now only offering models in very limited colours and, moreover, only one or two that are not cost options.

But NIO is bucking that trend.

The Stratosphere blue on our test model is one of four standard colours, while another five hues are available as an RMB10,000 ($A2125) option.

Also included is a Dolby Atmos immersive sound system complete with 23 speakers and total power of 1000W.

In China, the ET5 comes with a three-year/120,000km warranty along with a 10-year/unlimited-mileage warranty battery pack – for the first owner.

As yet, the 2023 NIO ET5 hasn’t been crash-tested by an independent agency such as Euro NCAP, but the car-maker expects to achieve a maximum five-star result under the European testing regime that’s closely related to Australia’s ANCAP.

Notably, the larger NIO ET7 – the first sedan built on the company’s latest NT2.0 platform, which also underpins the ET5 – achieved a five-star Euro NCAP rating last year, and in some ways the ET5 is a scaled-down version of this car.

The ET5 features a single-piece rear underbody cast with aluminium-magnesium alloy, which according to NIO increases torsional rigidity by 10 per cent compared to welded steel. What were previously 54 parts is now just one, which helps shave 13kg off the kerb weight.

On the active safety side there’s a variety of driver assist systems including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keeping assistance, forward and rear collision warning, door opening warning, both traffic light and sign recognition, blind spot warning indicators and driver fatigue monitoring.

And in case things go really downhill, there are a total of seven airbags including side airbags, air curtains and a front centre airbag. Front knee airbags, however, are a notable omission.

First off, the 2023 NIO ET5 is bristling with sensors – 33, to be precise.

The most noticeable aspect of the Aquilia tech suite is the watchtower housing at the top of the windscreen consisting of a central Lidar unit flanked by two eight-megapixel autonomous driving cameras.

Around the car, there’s an additional five HD cameras, four 3MP surround-view cameras, 5mm wavelength radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, two high-precision positioning units, a driver monitoring system and a V2X sensor.

Controlling everything is a NIO Adam supercomputer consisting of four Nvidia Orin X chips giving computing power of 1016 TOPS.

Inside, graphical information comes via a 12.8-inch AMOLED centre screen and 10.2-inch HDR instrument panel.

NIO’s second-generation digital cockpit is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip.

Being NIO, the car comes with the digital helper Nomi. In our test car this was the swivelling Nomi Mate 2.0 version, which is an RMB4900 ($1040) cost option.

Given all this equipment, though, the omission of even an option for a head-up display seems strange, especially given the price of our test car.

On the surface, the 2023 NIO ET5 seems to be closely aligned to the NIO ET7 and ES7.

However, the powertrain is a major point of difference.

One of the major criticisms we had of the ET7 was its front-wheel drive bias, despite having an all-wheel drive layout. Well, the ET5 switches things around in this department, offering a distinct rear-drive bias with its AWD system.

Powering the rear wheels is a 210kW electric motor delivering 420Nm of torque. When greater power or traction is required, the 150kW front motor adds 280Nm of torque.

Producing 360kW/700Nm combined, the twin-motor powertrain is down in total output from the set-up seen on the ET7 and ES7 (480kW/850Nm), but still manage to power the lighter ET5 from 0-100km/h in 4.0 seconds in Sport Plus mode, making it only a fraction of a second slower than the two larger cars.

The rear motor has a silicon carbide module which reduces the drive system’s power loss by 4-6 per cent, which helps with lower power consumption under urban and high-speed conditions.

A big selling point in China with NIO is that you don’t necessarily need to charge the battery; you can simply swap it out in about three minutes.

On the entry-level 2023 NIO ET5 you get a 75kWh battery, which on the standard 19-inch wheels enables a 560km range based on China’s generous CLTC measuring system.

The larger 100kWh battery on our test car costs an extra RMB58,000 ($12,328), extending the range to 710km (CLTC).

NIO also has a 150kWh semi-solid state battery, but this is currently only available for short-term rental and gives a range of 1000km.

DC fast-charging times for the 75kWh and 100kWh batteries are 36 and 48 minutes respectively to increase the state of charge from 10-80 per cent. There is no AC port on the ET5.

Two of the easiest ways of helping range are reducing weight and also making the car more aerodynamic. Notably, NIO has made efforts to reduce the weight not only by use of the single-piece rear underbody but also with extruded aluminium thresholds saving an additional 8kg.

Surprisingly, though, the ET5 by medium EV sedan standards isn’t particularly slippery, with a drag coefficient of 0.24Cd. The Model 3, by comparison, is 0.23Cd whereas the ET7 is much better at 0.208Cd.

One of our biggest gripes with the ET7 was how it drives, but luckily the 2023 NIO ET5 addresses many of those problems.

Despite the slightly slower acceleration time, the ET5 has a sportier feel. It has a 50:50 front/rear weight distribution and feels far more agile on the road than its larger sibling.

The rear-wheel bias definitely appears to have had a favourable impact in not only how the car performs but behaves as well.

So although the acceleration at 4.0sec from 0-100km/h is two-tenths off that of the ET7, once you throw in some curves the smaller sedan certainly feels quicker from point A to point B.

Another big improvement is the steering. With the previous second-generation NIO models, only with Sport+ mode did the steering give enough feel.

But with the ET5, even driving in Comfort didn’t have an overly light and vague feeling. Using the Custom mode you can choose between Comfort, Standard and Steady for steering.

Driving modes are selected via a button on the centre console, which brings up a screen menu. There are also Sport and Eco drive modes.

Braking regeneration is largely dependent on driving mode but comes in three flavours: very low, low and standard. With standard it is reasonably aggressive at reducing speed and brings the ET5 down to an 8km/h coast.

The multi-link suspension front and rear delivers a comfortable ride and cabin refinement is excellent, with NIO clearly going to considerable lengths to cut NVH.

The advanced semi-autonomous driving system (NIO Autonomous Driving) wasn’t activated on our test car – and in China requires an additional RMB680 ($A145) monthly subscription fee, which includes other extra features – but we did test the lane keeping assistance and automated lane change tech.

This works in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control, with the driver manually setting the desired speed via the left control cluster on the steering wheel – activation is via the button in the middle of this.

Once active, the system will maximise speed where possible and you can undertake automated lane changes by use of the indicators. Generally, it worked well but it didn’t adapt to a van aggressively cutting in.

Given that the 2023 NIO ET5 has all-wheel drive capability, the limiting factor off-road is going to be ground clearance. Certainly, a little bit of rough stuff isn’t going to hurt too much.

At first glance you’ll see that the 2023 NIO ET5 is broadly similar inside to earlier second-generation NIO models.

You may also wonder where the Karuun, the sustainable veneer made from rattan, has gone.

This omission, along with the lack of a head-up display, underlines the fact that this is the most affordable NIO available.

Having said that, materials are generally of a good quality, with plenty of soft-touch materials. And the panoramic glass roof ensures the interior allows lots of light in.

Speaking of lights, though, there is an unmarked button with a green light at the roofline, which looks as if it controls something to do with the roof, such as a blind. In reality, it’s the SOS button, which on the ET7 is marked as such and it really it should be on the ET5 as well.

Up front, the cabin has a very uncluttered feel about it, with little more than the two screens across the dash. On the centre console there’s a pair of cup holders, a wireless phone charger and a side-opening lockable compartment which houses a Type-A and Type-C USB port.

Given the low seating position, the leg rest of the passenger ‘queen’ seat doesn’t seem to extend out as far as other NIO models, which makes doing away with the glove box superfluous.

One noteworthy element is that there are six different interior colour combinations to choose from, and only four of them are an additional cost.

In the rear compartment, headroom is an issue. I’m 1.75m tall, but tend to sit pretty upright, and my head was resting against the headlining.

Legroom isn’t such an issue. The fold-down centre arm rest has two pop-out cup holders and there is a USB Type-C charge point and two air vents on the back of the centre console. Above each door is a light, a fold-out coat hook and a speaker.

NIO claims that boot space was boosted by seven litres thanks to the single-piece underbody casting, and it is certainly reasonably capacious at 381L. The tailgate is electric and the rear seats fold down via catches inside the cabin. The boot has a 12V outlet too.

One of the biggest disappointments with our drive was the Nomi digital assistant. Previous NIO models I’ve tested were pre-production and so didn’t have the English option for the system.

The ET5 test car, in contrast, was a production vehicle and so I finally got to test the system in English.

While in general the system has been translated in English much better than some Chinese cars, there seems to be a real issue with the voice assistant. On one occasion Nomi managed to both open and close the window when asked, the other time Nomi only managed to open the window.

As for anything else such as the seat massage, I had to resort to Mandarin as Nomi simply did nothing in English.

It was a similar story with the navigation. This was not entirely unexpected as most Chinese cars, even if they can have the system switched into English, tend not to be able to do the navigation in English.

However, with the ET5 it would speak Chinese about 80 per cent of the time and then suddenly say something like “rerouting” in English.

We’re hoping this will all be academic once Australian-spec cars begin arriving Down Under.

The current baby of the family, the 2023 NIO ET5 is a very good introduction to the Chinese EV brand, and the mid-size liftback sedan’s driving performance is better resolved than earlier second-generation models.

However, some of the omissions we’ve noted are questionable, particularly when you see what cheaper Chinese competitors are offering.

It is difficult to know how closely our test car represents NIO’s forthcoming export models, but Nomi as experienced in China desperately needs English lessons.

For a user experience-based company, NIO needs to do better here.

Nonetheless, the NIO ET5 has a lot going for it and should give the Tesla Model 3 and other rivals a good run for their money in terms of quality and performance.

2023 NIO ET5 at a glance:
Price: RMB328,000/$A69,730 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now in China, Australia in 2024/25 (estimated)
Powertrain: Front asynchronous induction motor, rear permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 360kW/700Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 100kWh ternary lithium
Range: 710km (CLTC)
Energy consumption: 14.1kWh/100km (CLTC)
Safety rating: Not tested