2025 BYD Atto 2 review: International first drive

BYD will soon have a new electric SUV in its Australian ranks.

Named the Atto 2, it’s essentially a jacked-up version of the Dolphin with a slightly longer body but a shorter wheelbase, which gives it a pudgy, slightly top-heavy look, an effect not helped by the somewhat undersized 16-inch alloys on our China-market test model. We’re likely to get 17-inch versions Down Under.

But it’s a neat thing overall, with blacked-out A-pillars and a floating C-pillar, chunky black cladding at the bottom of the doors, and attractive Chinese-knot tail-lights beneath a racy twin-ridge spoiler.

Size-wise, it’s a direct rival to the Kia EV3, its 4310mm length making it one centimetre longer. But when prices are announced for the Atto 2, we’re expecting it to come in a good $10,000 or more below the Korean model’s $47,600 base price, meaning it’s not quite as straightforward a comparison.

In that sense, it sits somewhere between the Kia EV3 and the Hyundai Inster, offering the space of the EV3 at a price somewhat closer to the brilliant, but considerably smaller, Inster.

And it’s inside where that space benefit will be most keenly felt, with the Atto 2 offering plentiful room in both the front and the rear, where foot, knee, and head room are all in abundance thanks to a more upright seating position.

Like in other BYDs, it’s a pleasant and well-built interior with soft-touch materials on most of the upper surfaces, though things understandably get a bit harder the lower you go.

Decked out in a two-tone scheme of black and cream, the interior ambience is quite uplifting, and makes good use of the large panoramic roof that lets a ton of light inside the cabin. Thankfully, it also comes with an electric sunblind to keep the sun out on the kind of hot days we’re quite used to.

The dashboard is typical electric car fare with a 12.8-inch central screen, or 10.1-inch if you opt for the Essential package rather than the Premium, sat proudly upon a virtually button-free console, and as in other recent BYDs this one rotates into portrait mode at the touch of a button.

This screen runs BYD’s DiLink 100 system, which features tiles on the main screen for quick access to key items, a toolbar along the bottom to adjust the two-zone climate control and access the seating menus, and a split-screen button too, which neatly lets you put two apps side-by-side depending on what you want to see.

While not available on our car, we will get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay built-in too, and intelligent voice control and over-the-air updates.

Beneath this, there are drive mode, parking, window demister, and volume toggles and switches if you need them, plus a button to turn the car off, which if you don’t drive a BYD, you’ll likely forget to do more than once. At least until you get used to it.

A multi-function steering wheel gives you access to your cruise-control settings, and the 360-degree camera if you specify the Premium edition, and it’s manually adjustable for reach and rake.

Behind the wheel is an 8.8-inch screen for your essential information, and above that is a head-up display. Not the largest we’ve seen, but nevertheless a nice feature to have at this price point.

Where you do miss out a little is on the speakers, of which there are only six on the Essential version and eight on the Premium version, so don’t expect concert-level audio here even if you can adjust the settings in the menu. You do, however, get a 50W vented wireless charger and two each of USB-A and USB-C sockets, one of each in the front and the back.

All seats come decked out in artificial leather, and in the front there’s heating too, though it’s unclear if both variants here will get this – and it might be limited to the driver’s seat. They’re six-way adjustable for the driver, and four-way for the passenger.

Overall, they’re quite comfortable and come with a stylish one-piece design with reasonable lateral support. The driver’s seat is more than adequately adjustable in the height dimension, meaning even tall drivers will be able to sit low in the car if desired.

While there’s sadly no frunk on the Atto 2, it does come with more than enough space in the trunk, a handy 400 litres with the seats up, and as much as 1340L with the seats down.

On the road, or more accurately on a coned circuit around a car park, it’s fair to say the Atto 2 isn’t going to be posting any fastest laps, with a fairly leisurely 0–100km/h sprint of 7.9 seconds (0.4 seconds slower than the Kia EV3).

Super-light steering means it’s a marvel for navigating tight urban streets, but keen drivers might appreciate a little more feedback. That said, while it’s not quite as agile as its little brother the BYD Seagull, it does offer up reasonable turn-in and has a touch of lift-off oversteer when pushed hard.

It rides pretty well too with shallow-ish speed bumps giving the Atto 2 no major cause for concern, other than a rattly parcel shelf, but it does roll a touch in corners thanks in part to those tiny wheels with big sidewalls.

Overall, it probably does as much as you’d want it to, and may well come with slightly different tuning when it arrives here. With 130kW and 290Nm driven through the front wheels, it’s sprightly at best with good traction, and sluggish at worst when driven in economy mode. It is, though, reassuringly stable under heavy braking.

We weren’t able to get any meaningful consumption data, but BYD claims it can go as far as 312km (WLTP) on a single charge thanks to the 51.13kWh LFP Blade battery, and will charge from 30 to 80 per cent in 28 minutes with up to 65kW DC fast charging. AC charging of 11kW is available for home chargers.

Obviously testing out the safety of the Atto 2 wasn’t part of the test, but it offers six airbags and a bunch of active and passive safety features, likely enough to get it a five-star ANCAP rating like the Dolphin before it, but we’ll await an official score on that front.

Overall, though, a very pleasant first impression. The Atto 2 scores well on the areas that count, such as value for money, space, and ease of use. Where it lacks a little compared to the Kia EV3 is on range, the EV3 coming with a far larger battery, and it isn’t so exciting to drive. However, it makes up for that with solid tech – including a Bluetooth key by the way – a solid standard kit list, and a good driving position.

If the price hits right, there’s every reason to believe our preference for SUVs will turn the Atto 2 into something of a bargain smash hit that we’ll soon be seeing everywhere.

After graduating from the Automotive Journalism master’s course at Coventry University, Mark Rainford embarked upon a career in and around the automotive industry that has taken in the UK, Germany, and now China. Residing in the latter for the majority of the last decade, he is our boots-on-the-ground expert for the world’s most dynamic automotive market.

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