Yangwang U8: 1200 HP Chinese Super SUV

No vehicle can do it all, but some can certainly do more than others, such as a vehicle with the space of a large SUV and the power of a Supercar that can also swim. Meet the Yang Wang u8, the all-electric Chinese

super

SUV that costs $55,000, welcome. to Wheels boy, where we cover the newest, coolest, and craziest vehicles on the Chinese car market. Be sure to subscribe and ring the bell. You may not have heard of the Yangong Wang brand, but you've almost certainly heard of its parent company. the Chinese electric car company that keeps executives like General Motors and Volkswagen up at night, this is their Halo brand, the spearhead when it comes to their design and technology, they press us, that means they have invested quite a bit in manufacturing This is as impressive as possible, starting with its appearance.

Yes, it's huge with very similar dimensions to the Land Rover Defender 110 if you don't include the 30cm spare wheel mount at the rear, but there's more to making a luxury SUV. Beyond size, there's also the small matter of design, from the diamond-shaped grille insert to the massive daytime running lights. The front of the u8 is a mass of visual jewelery according to chief designer Wolf Gang Edgar. This design language is called time gate and is inspired by none other than the universe itself, with each of these individual dots representing a star within that universe and there is a deeper meaning behind that glow, daytime running lights.

They recall the Chinese character ding, which can mean Throne or, more metaphorically, the concept. of state power itself. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this is an undeniably beautiful design, but I do think it is undeniably distinctive; There is no deeper metaphorical meaning to those three humps on the windshield, right there, the middle one that is One of the three lying units in this vehicle, the one on the left and the right, well, they are empty, that's because which Yangong Wang says they put them there to give owners the option to install whatever they want - auxiliary lights, for example, of course.

Auxiliary lights are illegal here in China as they are in many other places around the world, but it is not illegal to give yourself a place to put auxiliary lights. There is also a lying unit on each flank, but that's not the first thing you're going to do. Note about the U8 from the side Don't, instead you'll probably notice that the profile looks quite similar to a Land Rover Defender, credit where credit is due; However, that only applies to the general shape and not the details, for example the Yangong Wang team uses these strakes on the back of the front and rear wheel arches, as well as that silver element found in front of the D-pillar to give the car a sense of forward momentum, these black strakes also have the added benefit of helping to improve the integration of the lying unit here as well as this camera, the silver ones at the back also have some very subtle LED strips which can be used to display the charging status, the battery level of the vehicle when the u8 you are looking at right now is charging.

It's the luxury version, which means it has standard 22-inch forged wheels wrapped in 275 R50 all-season tires, front and rear. If you bought the all-terrain version, you would get 20-inch wheels wrapped in larger all-terrain tires. The rear design of the u8 does an admirable job of echoing the same themes as the front note, the repetition of the stars in the LED taillights, as well as the overall shape of that Chinese character I mentioned before, the giant wheel mount. 30cm thick full size spare will be optional at some point, but for now you can't remove it from the u8 Yang Wang also says they will eventually offer a tow hitch package, but they haven't done that yet, it seems like a pretty big deal For a vehicle like this that's supposed to go off road you might want to bring a trailer while I'm back here.

You could also talk a little bit about the Yang Wang brand and the logo. The word or phrase Yang Wang in Chinese means look up, so look. towards the sky, for example, but in a more metaphorical way to look upward, perhaps towards greater power, perhaps because at Iration the logo is actually the ancient Chinese character for electricity, which makes sense for an electrical brand behind of that spare wheel is a cargo area. It measures 10,031 L with the rear seats up and 2050 when you fold them down, which you can do with the touch of a button. There's also a button here to lower and raise the suspension of the vehicle, which you're going to want to do because this is a really high load because on the left is a 12 volt outlet and on the right is a 220 volt outlet.

There's a reason the cargo floor is so high and it has to do with what's underneath the Yang Wong u8, starting with the E4 electric motor powertrain, which is the same E4 system found underneath the

super

car. Yang Wang electric, which means four electric motors, two in the front and two in the rear. In this application, each of those motors produces 220 kw, if you keep count, that's a total of 8.80 Kow and 1280. New meters of torque, aka

1200

horsepower and 950 lb-ft. Thanks to all that power, the UA can launch its 3,460 kg, roughly 7,600 lb curb weight, to 100 km per hour or 62 mph in just 3.6 seconds, unlike the yangong Wang u9; however, the u8 is not. a pure electric vehicle.

It is actually an extended range electric vehicle, which means that at the front it has a 2L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that acts as a generator, it does not drive the wheels, but only generates electricity for the four electric motors and a 49.0 5 KW motor. lfp blade battery pack according to yangong Wang, this thing is capable of a pure EV range of 180km on the cltc cycle, which isn't a terribly impressive number, no doubt due in large part to that gigantic curb weight, but add 75L fuel tank and Yang Wang says you can achieve a combined range of 1,000 km thanks to those four electric motors.

The UA can control each wheel independently, meaning it can do tank turns. If you're wondering if this chews up your tires, the answer is yes, but you know. You have to pay the cost to be the boss, but as someone very smart probably once said, power is nothing without control, so the Yangong Wang u8 combines all that power with a dual wishbone front and rear suspension, but That's not what makes it special. What makes it special is its adjustable hydraulic suspension called disp. Yes, I said hydraulic suspension, not pneumatic. The DSP can adjust the vehicle's height by up to 15cm and can change its stiffness in a matter of milliseconds based on the information it gets by scanning the road, but that's not particularly unique among Chinese vehicles which is unique among all the cars on the market.

The biggest selling point today is its ability to compensate for things like sudden tire blowouts. It's like the hydraulic system in the Citrin DS of the 1960s, only smarter and more adjustable. The combination of E4 and DSP. It also allows for the UAT's other flashy ability, swimming. Once the U8 detects that it has entered deep water, it will automatically activate emergency float mode which shuts off the engine and closes the air intakes and windows, but opens the sunroof allowing for quick exit. In this mode, the u8 can stay afloat for up to 30 minutes and move through the water at up to 3 km per hour using the rotation of its wheels for propulsion and steering.

Obviously, Yang Wang doesn't recommend using the system daily, so the u8 won't be replacing your daily ferry ride anytime soon, they recommend getting your UA inspected at a Yang Wang dealership as quickly as possible after each time you activate the float mode, and since float mode shuts down the four-cylinder generator. front, make sure you have enough power in the battery before going swimming. A 30-minute float time will probably feel even shorter once you're stranded without the power to turn the wheels. I've heard of a Focus driver's cab before, but the U8 is the first Focus with a driver and passenger cab I've seen.

Just look at the way the dashboard wraps around the two front seats. It also has an extremely unique central screen, not because of its size, which is 12.8 inches, but because it has a convex surface. or curved outward, this is not the type of screen you can simply pick up from a parts supplier's catalog and I imagine Byd spent a lot of money developing it to fit seamlessly on this curved Dash. The same goes for the 23.-in instrument cluster and matching 23-inch passenger display, both of which have been designed to complement and not conflict with the design of the dashboard, the left side of that instrument cluster It's also a touchscreen where you can control functions like the lights and the standard head-up display.

As with the front design, I'm not going to sit here and say it's undeniably beautiful, but it feels special, it also feels luxurious. Almost every surface you can touch is covered in real leather or Alcantara, including the entire headliner. There is also a wood called sapelli that apparently comes from tropical regions of Africa, there are huge chunks of it on the door and here on the center console, what I'm trying to say is that this is not one of those that looks like Bloomingdale's, it feels like Walmart, the steering wheel. The Y·wangu's steering wheel is a fairly standard affair in terms of design, except for two areas: the first are these paddles here at the rear that are used to activate the vehicle's driver assistance system and which actually appear not do nothing more than that and both sides do the same thing honestly I think it would have been easier to have it all controlled here on the steering wheel and maybe use them to change the driving modes or regen settings but hey what I get and, In fact, what I do.

I love them, these two wheels here at the bottom of the steering wheel, they are used to change the driving modes. On the left you have the road driving modes. Let's see, sport mode, eco mode. Comfort mode and then on the right you have another wheel. that is used to switch your sand, snow and mud modes to your off-road modes. I love these because, first of all, you don't have to take your hands off the wheel to change the driving settings and you can also change them from the back or from the front so it's a very creative solution to this problem below this beautiful curved screen there is a set of physical buttons on the far left we have the e E4 button if I press it that opens up your options for your different off-road modes, it also allows you to do tank turns and enter competition mode.

Competition mode is the only way to get the fastest 0-100 km per hour time in this vehicle, next to it is the auto park button and then here. you have some

chinese

characters, this is yunen yunen is the

chinese

name for the desus suspension system, so yun means cloud and nin is the ancient chinese character for a vehicle, more specifically for the emperor's chariot, the vehicle that would have the emperor or, rather, the carriage that the emperor would have. I've been transported here, you only have a few buttons for your air conditioner and the on/off button for your screen.

If I press the Union or Deus button, it brings up a menu here to set the suspension, specifically the ride height, so that will be displayed. Not only the current height of the vehicle in that current suspension setting, it will also show you the maximum ground clearance in that setting. Next we have another series of toggle switches that have more to do with the off-road configuration of the vehicle. off-road equipment, so you have the locking front differential, the locking rear differential, here's the adjustable height here and then this is to turn off the ESP traction control in the middle, you have an on and off button for the engine, which interestingly isn't really necessary once you get in the car, like most modern electric cars it will turn on itself if you have the key with you, but if for example you were camping and wanted to use the v2l or the vehicle charging system which is a maximum of 6.6KW then you would need to start the engine and you could use this button to do that, working backwards here we have two 50W wireless charging pads, cup holders not very exciting, but behind it is the center console cubby, which is not just a cubby, it is actually a heated and cooled storage area that can go from 6 to -6°C, that is, about 21 to 43°C.

It has a sound system developed by din AIO its name is evidently not a great name for the senses. I'm not going to lie byd they have another series called confidence which makes sense to me evidence it doesn't sound particularly premium in any way in this luxury version it has 22 speakers in the The off road version has 18 yesIf you really want to impress your neighbors, then you better get the optional roof-mounted drone mount, co-developed with DJI, it can not only store your drone, but also charge it and then swap it out for one of the three batteries. packages you keep ready, start it next to the screen and it will follow your UA from any angle you prefer when you are done filming, press the return to base button and the Drone will automatically land in the hangar.

The price of this is not known. option, but considering the fact that the much simpler drone package in the M hero 917 costs $14,000. I guess the number will finally make you tear up before we check the back seat. Let me show you a little Quirk if you want, this is the visor which is very large, very nice for blocking the sun of course, but it also has a second visor like this in case you were to take this car off road, maybe a high altitude place with a really bright sun and it was in the right position. to hit you from the left and from the right or from the front, or rather, you could block both.

Ah, the back seat of the young Wong u8, this is a vehicle with a 3m wheelbase, so I'm not surprised to tell you that there is plenty of space. Back here, both in terms of legroom and, as you can see, headroom, a tremendous amount of headroom, this thing is also equipped with the luxury model specifically with two 12.8 rear entertainment screens, one for each side, as far as I can tell these are exactly the same screens that were on the denza D9 MPV we reviewed, that's not a complaint, they are pretty good, very easy to use UI and everything, there are more screens too However, if I fold down the center armrest, there is what appears to be a 7-inch center touchscreen here where you can control your seat functions and there are plenty of heated, cooled and massaging seats in this back row.

There's also a smaller screen down here. between the seats, if, for example, you had someone sitting in the middle, you couldn't access that screen, you can still access the functions of your air conditioning through this small lower screen before you get behind the wheel. I had the opportunity to sit while an instructor took control. The u8 through a series of obstacles that illustrated its off-road abilities with an approach angle of 36.5 De, a departure angle of 35.4 De and a ventrulation angle of 25.5 De, not to mention a maximum distance to the 31CM ground, the u8 managed to address these particular obstacles.

Challenges without drama We are now sitting at a 26 angle. I found the seat to be quite supportive at this point. I didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal because this isn't a sports car, but it turns out to be an off-roader. -roader you still need some really big boosters, the u8 has front and rear electronic locking differentials, but thanks to its ability to manage power independently through each corner, it doesn't really need them, as far as I could see, the instructor just pointed it in its intended direction and let the u8 do the rest, so now we're going to go up this hump and, uh, this is using hill assist, the driver is not touching the brake, he is not touching the accelerator at all, the vehicle is completely in control, it is using its electric motors. to gracefully pass this hill, so now we are doing hill descent control again, the driver does not touch the brake or the accelerator, I love the accelerator, no, it does not accelerate either, it is an electric vehicle, what is it called before the electric accelerator pedal?

We get behind the wheel of the Yang Wang u8. I want to show you a small detail that I really love and that is the key to this vehicle. Look at this beautiful piece of solid metal right here, Wolf Gang told us. Edgar, a smooth ebony stone like this was actually one of the design inspirations for the design language of the Yang Wang u8 and the entire Yang Wang brand, so it makes sense that they would have the C and the key in this shape . to tell you how it feels and especially the weight in your hand, this thing is probably one of the nicest keys I've experienced behind the wheel of the Yang Wong u8.

Finally, this is good news, bad news, great news. situation the good news is that I turned on the massage seats and I realized that they not only massage the back but they also massage the bottom cushion and it feels fantastic the bad news is that we are only going to be able to drive the u8 in this area of parking closed today the big news doesn't matter because about a month ago I got behind the wheel of a Yang Wong u8 in the city of Shanghai and drove it on public roads. so I can still tell you what driving is like in the real world.

The first and perhaps least surprising thing I'm going to tell you is that this is actually very fast. I've obviously driven a lot of fast Chinese cars over the past few years. channel, but this is man, there's something special about going so fast in such a heavy truck, it feels just I don't know, uh, uh, incredibly fast, this is an absolutely huge SUV and it drives like one even with the Advanced DSP hydraulic system. suspension there is still a lot of body roll there is also a lot of nose rise and sag when you hit the brakes or step on the accelerator and just take away what it also has going for it though is the comfort, this suspension hydraulics is on a completely different level from, for example, Well, the only thing that comes close to competing with this when it comes from other Chinese brands is the m hero 917 that we tested now, which is also a very expensive pure electric off-roader, but it is a lot, maybe 30 or 40,000 us cheaper than this car and you can say that they just aren't on the same level when it comes to the level of comfort and control you have behind the wheel.

The steering effort, as you can imagine, even in this sport mode is very, very light, but there is almost a surprising amount of feedback, not feedback about what level of contact or GRP the wheels have, but like the surfaces on which What's up, I didn't expect that to be useful when you were going off road, I'm sure I've driven it. On public roads I can say that the nbh levels are very impressive, you can't really hear the front mounted 2L turbo 4 much unless you are in true competition mode which is when it makes its most power , even then he is kind. from a drone in the background, it's not really an obvious noise, wind noise, plus at a very low level this thing has double glass everywhere so it's as quiet as you'd expect.

There's one area where I think they could use some improvement and that's when you're pushing it to the limit when I was driving it on public roads in Shanghai, obviously it wasn't on a race track, I wasn't pushing it that hard, but when You turned a corner you could really feel those electric four. The motors run fine, they don't necessarily work together the way you would have expected. There was a little more conflict between what one wanted to do and the other. I suspect this is a software problem. This is a very early production vehicle and we're going to smooth that over, as is the case with so many cars, but for now there's room for improvement with the way they've tuned those four engines just to work together, does it feel like a driving experience? driving worth $155,000, yeah, yeah?

It definitely is and now, as we wrap up this video, I'm going to answer the one question I'm sure many of you have wanted to ask: when will the Yang Wong u8 go on sale outside of China? The answer is: I really don't know, b and d say they have no specific plans on when this brand will be exported, all you can do is look forward to it.