Does this rival to the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer bring anything new to the electric estate car segment?

Nio ET5 Touring review

August 7, 2024 Russell Campbell

Does this rival to the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer bring anything new to the electric estate car segment?

Is the Nio ET5 Touring an electric estate car?

Indeed it is. Nio has bravely resisted the urge to produce yet another electric SUV, giving us this instead the ET5 Touring, an electric estate car that sacrifices some boot space in the name of style. It’s not the only electric estate car; the MG5 and Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo sandwich the market, with the new Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer serving as the filler.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Nio brand – and you probably will be because it doesn’t currently sell cars in the UK – it’s another EV-only Chinese brand with a six-model strong line-up composed of a saloon, SUVs and a luxurious flagship.

Nio’s USP is its ability to swap batteries rather than waiting to charge them. You book your battery, turn it up at the swap shop, and let the robotic fitter do the rest, unscrewing the used battery and slotting in a freshly charged replacement, saving you significant time compared to hanging about recharging. You can watch our experience with the battery swap station in the video below.

Watch the Nio battery swap station in action

Design, interior and technology

The Nio sticks out for the mere fact that it’s an electric estate car in a time when estate cars are a dying breed with many of the big players pulling their wagons from production, although Volvo recently confirmed its V60 and V90 will go back on sale after a brief hiatus.

The Nio is a far sleeker machine than the Swedes, though. There’s a strong whiff of the Tesla Model 3 upfront, but scowling LED headlights and large air breathers ahead of the front wheels make the Nio look more purposeful. In profile, it’s almost like a shooting brake, thanks to the car’s recessed door handles and a sloping roof that drops down to meet the wraparound light bar at the back.

Frameless doors are a sporty touch, and the car’s 20-inch wheels and coloured brake callipers give it the appearance of a compact Porsche Taycan Turismo.

The company has done an excellent job on the inside, too. The design is clean, with a centre display and a small driver’s binnacle with sharp and colourful graphics. The lower half of the dashboard swoops down into the doors for a cocooning feel, and you get attractive ribbed rubber trims and multi-colour ambient lighting. It misses the high-end touches of a Mercedes or BMW but gets surprisingly close to their overall feel.

Nio’s not trying to be too clever; indicating is done using a conventional stalk – no annoying Tesla-style steering wheel switches, here – and the autopilot is activated using a simple button on the steering wheel.

The interior USP is its Nomi personal assistant, a little robotic head that lives on top of the dashboard. It welcomes you aboard before updating you with a local weather forecast. It sounds like a gimmick but has a practical use, swivelling to face you when you speak – so you know you’ve got its attention – and transcribing your commands onto the screen. It helps that the voice recognition is scarily accurate and does everything from operating the sat-nav to heating seats and closing windows.

If you prefer to do it the old-fashioned way, the touchscreen is easy to operate and controls you often use, like the ventilation system and the ‘off’ button for the irritating speed-warning system, are always displayed on the home screen.

The only thing we don’t like is the driving position, which feels unnaturally high; you slide onto the car rather than into it, making the driver’s seat feel oddly claustrophobic. Our car’s glass roof – a €1,500 (£1,270) option – stops it from feeling too gloomy and turns opaque at the touch of a button.

Battery, motor and performance

You can have your NIO ET5 Touring with either a 75 or 100kWh with a range of 277 or 348 miles, respectively; we tested the latter, and its quoted range seemed completely plausible.

Buy a Nio, and you can access Nio’s charging network and the company’s subscription-based battery-swapping scheme. Pre-order your battery via the sat-nav, pull up to a battery swapping centre, instruct the car’s autopilot to line you up in the bay, and your current battery is robotically unbolted and swapped for a freshly charged replacement. The process takes less than five minutes.

Whether you go for the standard- or long-range model, the Nio comes with a motor on the front and the back axle delivering a combined output of 483bhp and 516lb ft of torque. As you’d expect, performance is rapid; floor the throttle, and it’s like you’ve latched onto a steam catapult as the car digs in and unceremoniously launches you towards the horizon, hitting 0-62mph in four seconds. This official figure actually feels conservative.

The car’s chassis specs are encouraging, with conventional five-link suspension front and rear and four-piston brakes on all corners, but the reality could be more convincing.

The ET5 Touring’s low centre of gravity keeps it planted on the road, and there’s little body roll, but vague steering that’s slow to self-centre lets the side down. It can feel too ragged if you get carried away, scrabbling its front tyres out of slow corners like a hyperactive rally car. Factor in suspension that sometimes struggles to keep a tight grip on the car’s 2,285kg weight and, it’s fair to say, the handling is in need of polish.

It’s best to forget any idea that the Nio is a genuine performance car. Driven sensibly, it’s quiet and relaxing with all the power you’ll ever need to make swift overtakes. On the motorway, its autopilot keeps you dead centre in the lane and behaves predictably, while in town, the car’s standard 360-degree camera makes up for the poor rearward visibility.

Price and specification

The ET5 (or any Nio, in fact) isn’t sold in the UK, but in the Netherlands, prices start from €63,900 (£54,117) for the Standard Range or €72,900 (£61,740) for the Long Range with a battery included.

The other option is to buy the car and pay a subscription for the battery, giving you access to the company’s battery swapping centres. Go this route, and both models cost €51,900 (£43,955) up front with a monthly subscription of €169/£143 (Standard Range) or €289/£245 (Long Range).

Standard equipment levels are generous and include the full infotainment suite, a 1,000W stereo, 12-way adjustable electric heated front seats and dual-zone climate control. The €1,500 (£1,270) comfort pack adds kit like a heated steering wheel, 14-way adjustable cooled and massaging front seats, a fragrance dispenser and heated rear seats. The Nomi robotic personal assistant is a €600 (£508) option that replaces the standard Halo speaker.

Verdict

The NIO ET5 Touring feels like one of the most complete offerings of a wave of Chinese cars set to hit UK shores in the not-too-distant future. It’s staggeringly good coming from a manufacturer that has been just ten years in the making, with smart looks and an interior that feels a rung or two up the ladder from a same-price European offering from the likes of VW.

Generous specs and the impressive innovation of its battery-swapping scheme will help take UK buyers’ minds off the fact that it could be more engaging to drive. Perhaps that will be sorted with the new-generation platform due in two years and the car that will likely be sold here.