Returning from self-driving in Yangzhou, talking about my feelings about Arrieta FREE

During the National Day holiday, I asked my partner at Arashikaga to borrow an Arashikaga FREE for a self-drive in Yangzhou to get a feel for how it differs from the Ideal ONE. I've written n articles about the Lantu FREE before, but they're all just words on paper. I've also wanted to participate in a few test drives, but for various reasons I couldn't, so this time I finally got what I wanted. The car I borrowed was the last test version before the final production run, and the overall performance was basically the same as the production model. Also, although the Aratu FREE is sold in both extended-range and pure-electric versions, I think everyone wants the extended-range version as much as I do.

The first thing that struck me about the Arrieta FREE is that it's good looking!

The Ideal ONE is certainly majestic in my eyes, but in the eyes of my family's leader, the overall style is a bit too "straight". In contrast, the relatively long lines of the Aratus are more elegant and fluid, and its lower stance is more athletic than the Ideal ONE. Specifically, compared to the Ideal ONE, the Arashikawa FREE is more in line with our leader's aesthetic of "preferring a longer front end". However, we're not too keen on the champagne color of the Lantus FREE, but rather the blue color (Yunqing Blue) that was the main theme of the previous Lantus launch. As an aside, I hope that the exterior of Ideal's next car (X01?) will continue to be majestic while learning from Arashikage, with a little more of this soft elegance.

The exterior dimensions of the Lantu FREE (4905*1950*1660, wheelbase 2960) are slightly smaller than those of the Ideal ONE (5030*1960*1785, wheelbase 2935), but it can still be considered a large and medium-sized SUV (after all, the wheelbase is there). The interior of the car has a large five-seat layout, but when I sat in it, I felt that there was a significant difference between its interior space and that of the Ideal ONE: in the Ideal ONE, I would feel that the seats are quite empty all around, while in the Lantus FREE, there is a feeling similar to that of the Cadillac XTS sedan back in the day - mainly due to the difference in body heights! Not quite the same headroom? But the fact is that both models have a very generous degree of interior space.

Inside, the Araratu FREE also struck a similar chord with me:

If the 2021 Ideal ONE goes for simplicity (with details such as stitching removed compared to the 2020 model), the Araratu FREE is decidedly more luxurious. Needless to say, the various leather and wood-grain trim panels used inside the top-of-the-line version are extremely tech-savvy, as are the touch-sensitive lights and the electrochromic canopy. If I had to make a comment, I would like to see the Lantus FREE learn from the Ideal ONE and Tesla, and get rid of the ribbed START button...

The large triple screen design looks similar to that of Ideal ONE, which is both stylish and sci-fi. And the center screen on the Lantu FREE has a special lift function that automatically raises and lowers the screen every time the user gets in and out of the car or switches to sport mode. At first, I thought this operation was pure formalism, "design for design's sake", but after two days of actual use, I felt that this kind of design, which fully demonstrates the "sense of ceremony", is really quite touching. Through the lifting of the center control screen, the user will not be able to produce a "vehicle is ready" psychological implication, as if they are the first time to produce some kind of interaction with the car, and therefore deepen the sense of trust on the vehicle.

Thinking about it, whether it's the elevated Danner stereo in the top end of the Peng P7, or the BMW X5 power steering wheel I test drove in Inner Mongolia a few days ago (which automatically rises at startup), it actually does the same thing. Honestly, as long as Araratu can guarantee the reliability of the center screen lifting mechanism, I'm happy to accept this "ritualistic" design for now.

The Aratus FREE I borrowed was just test-driven by my friend @IdealKaBigD, who praised the massaging function on the front and rear seats. Although the Ideal ONE also comes with this function (four seats), the massage coverage and intensity are weaker than that of the Arashikaga FREE. Compared to the Arashikaga's massage function, the RISO ONE can only be gently kneaded. Additionally, I found the seats in this Arashiku FREE to be about the same level of softness as my 2021 Ideal ONE, but with slightly more wrap. This probably has something to do with the fact that the Arashikaga FREE is more sporty?

This Araratu FREE is also equipped with a Danner audio system, and the sound is even really good but doesn't seem to stand out in any way. I was able to give it a satisfactory rating for overall performance, while incidentally sighing again at the still weak low end of the 2021 Ideal ONE...

In terms of the car's performance, I'd say it's a mixed bag:

I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes to the normal owner's mode, since I'm only able to use the Raflatac FREE in guest mode. I'm not sure how much it differs from normal owner mode. But the features I've been able to use so far are quite varied. In addition to a variety of common functions similar to the Ideal ONE, it also has more face recognition from the in-car camera, wifi hotspot, in-car gaming, cell phone connectivity/Huawei hicar, infrared night vision, and other kinds of simply fancy (laughs).

Honestly, some of these features are really more practical: for example, its anti-fatigue driving feature not only detects whether the driver is yawning (my Zero Run is to see me yawn and say 'please don't fatigue driving'), but also according to the driver's eyes, movements, expressions to give different levels of I don't know why I don't go to my cell phone for a faster way to book a hotel. Why wouldn't I just use my phone to get the job done faster, instead of sitting in the car?

But despite the richness of the Lantu FREE, I have to criticize the actual performance of the car, and the main problems include:

1. Switching from one function to another, or scrolling through the pages, the Lantu FREE may lag, and sometimes the pages won't load, leaving only a progress bar. scrolling. In addition, if I switch to sport mode while driving, (at this time, the center control screen drops to reduce the screen display area), the system also needs some waiting time for switching between different UIs;

2. Weak intelligent voice performance and loss of network connection: probably because my Lantu FREE is not a production version, there was a case where the map couldn't be loaded on the road in Yangzhou when I was self-driving (the screen was blank and no destination could be found). blank, can't search for destination). When I pressed the voice button on the multifunction steering wheel to send a command, the system would reply with something like, "The internet connection is not working, and my IQ has gone down". Even with the network functioning properly, the intelligent voice system's performance was poor - the recognition speed was slow and the semantic comprehension was average. In addition, the intelligent voice is mechanical and not comparable to the Microsoft system in the Ideal/Small Peng. So, if I give 9 points to Xiaopeng's voice system, and 8 points to Ideal, then I can only give 5 points to Lantu's intelligent voice at most...

3, I feel that the designers of Lantu UI haven't found the balance between anthropomorphism and flatness - some interfaces use simple flat icons in the first level menu, but then click in to the second level menu with shadows and stereoscopic animation, and the overall sense of fragmentation is more obvious. Also, the hierarchical settings between menus need to be tweaked, and the layout of the different functions is questionable again. Even the design of the close/return button seems to be different from what we're used to... All in all, I don't think it's good enough to use Lantu FREE's smartphone, although it's very functional, and there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Next, I'd like to comment on the driving experience of the Lantu FREE:

The Ideal ONE has a 245kW motor with 455N.m of torque, and a 1.2T range extender; the Lantu FREE's front and rear motors have a total power of 510kW, and 1040N.m of torque, with a 1.5T four-wheel drive. with a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender (gasoline engine). The direct result of this doubling of figures is that the Arashikaga FREE, which is the same size as the Ideal ONE at around 2.3 tons, is extremely powerful! If the Ideal ONE's maximum acceleration of 6.5 seconds per 100 meters is already enough for practical use, then the Aratus FREE Extended Range version's acceleration of only 4.5 seconds per 100 meters can be described as "furious" in relation to its weight!

I wouldn't use the Sport mode in the city, as the Comfort mode alone is enough to give this mid-size SUV the power you need. On the highway, the power of the Aratus FREE when overtaking at full throttle really reminds me of the top-of-the-line BMW X5 40i I drove earlier - even though they cost three times as much!

Yes, I don't really need a lot of power, but the Lantus FREE is not only powerful, but it's also a very "stable" chassis. Especially when compared to the Ideal ONE's relatively soft MacPherson chassis, the Lantus FREE's front double-wishbone + rear multi-link + air suspension chassis feels much tougher and more supportive, so much so that it allows me to dare to do some relatively aggressive driving maneuvers. I rarely feel the urge to drive aggressively, and since replacing the Cadillac with the Ideal, I've become much more of a "Buddhist" driver - moving from point A to point B in peace and comfort is what the Ideal ONE does best. However, the situation has changed with the Rafale FREE.

It is said that the top of the line BMW X5 in Inner Mongolia is the top SUV in terms of "driving sense", but at that time, it was limited by the formation of the line, so there was not too much opportunity to "let yourself go". On the 600-kilometer round trip from Shanghai to Yangzhou, after a series of lane changes and overtaking (of course, on the premise of obeying traffic regulations), I actually found a little bit of excitement in the Lantu FREE, or found the so-called "driving fun"!

Every time I turned the steering wheel, or passed an uneven spot on the road, I felt like I was interacting with the Lantus FREE more than I would have in the Ideal ONE. Although the test car didn't have the driver assistance function on, I didn't get tired of driving at high speeds, but rather found the feeling of driving the Arashikaga FREE to be "quite exciting and fun". However, I still regret that I didn't get to experience the L2 driver assistance in the Aratus FREE on this trip, and I hope to have the opportunity to make up for it in the future.

By the way, I found both the RISO ONE and the Arriztec FREE's range extender to be good at highway speeds, and was never bothered by the sounds and vibrations they made anyway. In fact, wind and tire noise at highway speeds long ago overpowered all the movement of the range extender. At low speeds, both range extenders gave me a similar feeling: the sound of the range extender in operation could be heard directly, and there was a certain amount of body vibration as a result (strangely enough, the 4-cylinder Araratu FREE seemed to transfer vibration to the square disk a bit more noticeably than the 3-cylinder RISO ONE?)

But this sound and vibration are also within acceptable limits, and the performance is even better than most fuel cars I've driven!

By the way, the BMW X5 40i engine+transmission I drove in Inner Mongolia before was just so good at low speeds! It was so quiet, smooth and powerful, and with the excellent soundproofing, it gave me the illusion that I was driving an electric car! Of course, the engine growls horribly at high revs, and it instantly snapped me out of my "is this electric or fuel?

A final note on energy consumption:

The Arcto FREE comes with a 33-degree battery, so the theoretical electric range is said to be slightly higher than ideal. But since I'm using Fuel Priority and Intelligent modes, I don't have precise data on this. Anyway, it's certainly not difficult for these two models to run for 100 kilometers in purely electric mode, and if I have a stake in my house, I'll use them as purely electric cars on a daily basis;

However, the range extender on the Lantu FREE does consume a little bit more fuel than the Ideal ONE: I ran on the highway for a few hours on my trip to Yangzhou, and the fuel consumption of the Lantu FREE is around 12.6L on the meter, if I continue to drive at highway speeds of more than 110km/h. Fuel consumption is around 12.6L; if you slow down a bit (around 90-100km/h), the fuel consumption will be 10L, while at the same speed, Ideal ONE's fuel consumption is about 1-2 words less than that of Lantu FREE.

I asked some automotive media friends about the fuel consumption of the Arrive Free, and they said that apart from the difference in displacement (1.5T 4-cylinder vs. 1.2T 3-cylinder), the Arrive's range extender and charging strategy are different from the Ideal's: the Arrive Free's 1.5T range extender operates at a low efficiency in low to medium speeds to ensure good NVH, but the cost is a bit higher fuel consumption; while the Ideal ONE has a lower fuel consumption. At the same time, the Lantu FREE will aggressively recharge the battery in fuel mode, often increasing the battery capacity by a few percentage points after driving for a while. In contrast, the Ideal ONE is much slower to recharge, usually just staying at a constant value or continuing to slowly decline.

Of course, even though the Arrieta's range extender consumes a bit more fuel, it does deliver more performance - after all, a 4.5S start speed requires a strong power output! Considering that the 1.5T range extender on the Lantu FREE can eat "roughage" (92 gasoline) while the Ideal ONE needs to be filled with 95 gasoline, the difference in total fuel cost between the two isn't that big;

In the past few days of the long vacation, I've seen a lot of stories about pure electric car owners traveling to the city. "I've seen a lot of news about purely electric car owners traveling in large queues for charging, not daring to turn on the air conditioning in traffic jams, and even fighting over a charging gun. However, if these owners were driving the Lantu FREE and Ideal ONE, they would not have this kind of trouble at all! In fact, I never have to think about "where to charge along the way" before I go on a long distance run - after all, the price of commercial electricity on the highway, which is nearly 2 yuan a unit, has no price advantage over burning gasoline (and it takes more time), and both the Arriztec FREE and the Ideal ONE can be recharged at service area gas stations.


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So the conclusion is clear, if you want to feel the thrill of electric drive (e.g., quiet and smooth driving, quick start with high torque, etc.), and at the same time say goodbye to avoiding mileage anxiety, then Lantu FREE and RISO ONE are definitely the best choices right now. So what's the trade-off between the two?

Considering that the current price of the Arashikaga FREE (333,600 RMB) and the Ideal ONE (338,000 RMB) are basically equal, I think you have to consider the following before you take the plunge:

1. The Ideal ONE is available in six-seaters (and the older model also has a seven-seat version), while the Arashikaga FREE is only available in the big five-seaters, so users like me who often need to take a group on trips (or those with more family members) should still consider the following:

2.

2. The Ideal ONE pursues a smooth, comfortable and even "Buddhist" driving experience, while the Lantu FREE has a sporty and lively side. The former is the so-called "baby daddy's choice", while the latter is more youthful and a bit more athletic, which can bring more so-called "driving fun". So it's up to you to decide who you want to go for - and the same applies to the exterior of both cars.

3. Because it's more powerful, the Araratu's gas mileage will be higher than desirable. But I would personally suggest that you needn't mind this too much. On the one hand, if you have a stake in your home, you don't have to think about gas mileage because these two cars are basically purely electric; on the other hand, as I said earlier, the difference in gas mileage when running a long distance once in a while is also irrelevant after adding the difference in the price of No. 92/95 gasoline. Theoretically, these two cars should be on the same level of intelligent automation, but in reality, Lantu FREE is lagging behind in this area. To be honest, the hardware of the current Arrieta FREE car looks great overall, but the software shouldn't be its shortcoming. I hope that Lantu will invest more in this area, and learn from the new power players such as Ideal/Small Peng/Azalea, and improve this part as soon as possible. After all, the user experience of the smart car phone has become more and more important in this Internet + new energy era.