Mat Watson reviews the SU7 Ultra: "My favourite car from China so far"
Mat Watson opens the Carwow video by calling the SU7 Ultra "the fastest mass-produced four-door EV sedan with over 1,500 horsepower", and then admits the car has him "slightly worried". The next 30 minutes are him trying to figure out whether the worry is justified — and whether £50,000-equivalent (about £80,000 once it reaches Europe) for this much performance is genuinely the bargain it sounds like.
Watch original ↗- →Frames the SU7 Ultra as the fastest mass-produced four-door EV sedan: production lap of 7:04 around the Nürburgring vs Tesla Model S Plaid 7:25.
- →China starting price equivalent to ~£50,000; Mat estimates ~£80,000 expected for an eventual European launch.
- →Tested 0-60 mph at 2.79 s vs the manufacturer-claimed 1.98 s — still calls it "pretty incredible".
- →Praises the yellow leather / Alcantara / carbon-fibre interior, the responsive central screen, and the steering as "the best in any Chinese car so far".
- →Criticises the brake feel as inconsistent ("sometimes it's like it just holds on the anchors") and notes the cold track tyres need warm-up; concludes "value-for-money you cannot fault it".
The framing is straight out of the gate. SU7 Ultra recorded 7:04 around the Nürburgring as a production car, against the Tesla Model S's best of 7:25. Mat treats the SU7 Ultra as a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT alternative — "a quarter the price" in China — but knows the European retail will land closer to £80,000 once duties, certification, and dealer margin layer on.
On the walkaround, the Porsche references come thick: door handles "quite Porsche" but touch-sensitive instead of flush-flip, a side profile he calls "very Porsche-y", a font on the badging that's "very Porsche-y". The headlights, by contrast, get tagged as McLaren 720S inspiration. He notes carbon-fibre door mirrors and an optional carbon roof on a £50,000 car. Carbon-ceramic brakes are standard, the optional rear wing is hydraulically adjustable, and the rear diffuser flap moves electronically — features Mat keeps flagging as remarkable for the price.
Inside, two-tone yellow Alcantara contrasts with carbon fibre across the steering wheel, headlining, and dashboard. Material quality is "generally pretty good", though he notes the lower plastics get a bit budget. The car ships with a key card rather than a fob: place the card on a small display next to the brake, the display rotates to become the digital driver's cluster. The whole infotainment is in Chinese by default; Mat shows an undocumented hold-press hack to switch the screen to English.
The performance section is where the doubt creeps in. Manufacturer-claimed 0-60 mph is 1.98 seconds. Mat's measured time on a UK runway is 2.79 seconds — still extraordinary, but a meaningful gap between marketing and reality. The car wears Pirelli-class semi-slick tyres that need warm-up, and Mat notes the brakes feel inconsistent under hard use: "sometimes it's like it just holds on the anchors." None of this is enough to take him out of the camp of "this is incredible" — but it stops the video from being a one-note rave.
The steering, by contrast, gets unambiguous praise. Mat calls it "the best in any Chinese car so far" — a noteworthy benchmark coming from someone who's tested most of the recent Chinese-market launches end-to-end. He frames the SU7 Ultra not as a budget Porsche, but as a car that, if you ignore badges, would be cross-shopped against vehicles costing two to three times as much in Europe.
The closing line is the one to remember: "value-for-money you cannot fault it." That's the tightest summary of his verdict. The Ultra's flaws — brake feel, tyre warm-up, the gulf between claimed and measured 0-60 — exist, but they sit inside an envelope that costs less than half of what its closest performance rivals cost in the same market. For Mat, that's enough to make this his "favourite car from China so far".
“This is the new Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, and it is the fastest mass-produced four-door EV sedan with over 1,500 horsepower.”
“The most amazing thing about this car. It's the price. It starts from the equivalent of £50,000 in China — a quarter the price of a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.”
“Carbon fibre, the steering wheel, and Alcantara. It's amazing.”
“This is, so far, my favourite car from China.”
Mat references the production Nürburgring lap (7:04.957), the £50,000 China price equivalent, and the manufacturer-claimed 1.98-second 0-60 — all of which we track on our specs and sources pages with confidence labels. The Ultra-specific build (active aero, carbon ceramics, three motors) lives on the dedicated Ultra page; the broader pricing context across markets is on /price.
Different reviewers reach different conclusions on the same car. Here are the seven other videos we've watched and summarised — including at least one critical view if you want to balance the picture.
MKBHD (Marques Brownlee)
MKBHD: "Are we cooked? Not yet"
Doug DeMuro
Doug DeMuro: "A bargain Chinese luxury sport sedan" — Doug Score 69/100
Inside China Auto
Inside China Auto first-look at the updated SU7
Everything Electric (Elliot Richards)
Everything Electric (Elliot Richards): "Puts a fizz in your pants"
Out of Spec Reviews
Out of Spec: "Best driving Chinese car I've ever been in"
Business Insider
Business Insider: Xiaomi's affordable $29,000 Chinese EV
The Electric Viking