At the Guangzhou Auto Show, the Xingtu Xingyuan ES announced its pre-sale price, and it will officially be launched in December. The car will come standard with air suspension and CDC shock absorbers, and there will be single-motor and dual-motor versions to choose from, focusing on comfort, luxury, and sportiness. Before the official launch, we had the opportunity to test drive the Xingtu Xingyuan ES and experience its charm.
Before starting the test drive, let’s take a quick look at the exterior and interior design of the car. The Star Era ES features a sleek, low-drag design, with a fully enclosed grille that is standard on many electric cars. The flat design of the front end not only adds a sporty look, but also visually widens the body of the car.
The new car will feature a through-type headlight design, with sleek and stylish headlights that seamlessly connect with the middle through-type light strip, adding a sense of hierarchy and overall feel to the front of the car. The high-end models will be equipped with ISD wind and rain interactive lights, which can be controlled through the central control screen to display text, images, animations, and more, making it very cute and futuristic.
The Star Road Star Era ES adopts a sleek body design, which is currently very popular. It not only increases the use of space inside the car but also makes the whole car look younger and more athletic. The new car measures 4945x1978x1467mm in length, width, and height, with a wheelbase of 3000mm.
The new car will be equipped with 20-inch low-drag wheels, featuring a two-tone design and red calipers for a sportier look. Paired with 245/45 R20 tires, it effectively balances vehicle performance and comfort. To improve aerodynamics, the Star Traveler Star Era ES also features hidden door handles.
The rear of the car features a simple design style with a continuous taillight group that has a direct display, adding depth to the rear and giving it a personalized and futuristic feel. The trunk opening switch is placed in the taillight group, and the black part on the trunk lid is the rear camera.
The high-end model also features an electrically adjustable rear wing, which can be adjusted in two stages from 0-15° and automatically raises and lowers with the vehicle speed. When the speed reaches 90km/h, the wing opens to the first stage; and when the speed reaches 110km/h, the wing opens to the second stage. Additionally, the wing can be controlled through the screen, voice commands, and a mobile app to open, close, and adjust the angle.
The interior design of the Star Journey Star Era ES reflects the car’s interpretation of future technology. The new car will use the Galaxy AI cockpit, with almost no physical buttons in the entire cockpit. Most of the vehicle’s functions are integrated into the floating central control screen.
The new car’s steering wheel features a two-spoke design with only two rollers, giving it a strong sense of technology. The steering wheel also has an excellent feel, using an oval shape and dual-tone colors, balancing sportiness and adding luxury to the entire car interior.
The new car’s LCD instrument panel is designed to be very simple, with a small overall area but comprehensive information displayed. The screen shows the vehicle’s speed, range, entertainment information, gear position, time, vehicle status, and driving and navigation information can be observed through the car’s HUD.
The central control screen of the ES in the Star Road era reflects the integration of humanity and intelligence, integrating all the control information of the vehicle. The UI design of the entire screen is practical and humanized. Commonly used functions such as air conditioning, seats, navigation, vehicle settings, panoramic imaging, and entertainment are all located at the bottom of the screen, making it very convenient to operate.
In addition, the car’s seat adjustment, electric tail wing, driving mode switch, suspension height and hardness, lighting, ISD interactive light setting, assisted driving, head-up display and other functions can be adjusted through the screen, and the classification of these functions is also very precise, and it is easy to find them after a little familiarization. The car’s multimedia system also supports online navigation, online entertainment, app downloads, OTA upgrades, voice interaction, mobile phone connectivity, remote control, and more.
Below the central control screen is the wireless charging panel for the phone, divided into two areas. On the left is the charging area with a cooling vent, and on the right is a regular storage space. At the back is a retractable cover that can be pulled up when not in use to keep the vehicle looking clean and tidy.
The Star Era ES adopts a frameless door design, with seat adjustment buttons designed on the door panel for easy and elegant operation. The new car uses electric switches to open the doors, enhancing the sense of technology and convenience. However, to ensure safety, a mechanical switch is retained in the door storage compartment.
In terms of comfort, the Star Era ES definitely achieves the ultimate, especially in the configuration of the seats. The front seats not only support electric adjustment, but also have functions such as seat ventilation, heating, massage, memory, and easy entry. The support for the waist and leg wings of the seat is also sufficient, combined with the use of a newly designed headrest, not only looks more luxurious, but also more comfortable and enjoyable to sit in.
The comfort of the rear seats is just as good as the front seats, thanks to excellent ergonomic design and ample materials. The rear floor is flat and there is plenty of legroom.
The new car will be built on an 800V high-voltage platform, which can increase the range by 10%, increase the charging speed by 50%-100%, and reduce energy consumption by about 4-5% per 100 kilometers. Due to these inherent advantages, the car’s energy consumption per 100 kilometers is only 11.7kWh, achieving the lowest level in the same category. In terms of charging time, the car can increase the range by over 200km in just 5 minutes of charging, and it only takes 15 minutes to go from 30% to 80% charge.
In addition, the Star Era ES will also be equipped with intelligent air suspension + CDC electromagnetic damping shock absorption system. The air suspension system can adjust the body height according to the vehicle speed, driving mode, etc. The entire suspension travel is also from -10mm to +50mm to meet different scene requirements. The CDC electromagnetic damping shock absorption system can make millisecond-level damping adjustments according to road bumps, thereby increasing the comfort of the occupants in the car.
During this test drive, we conducted targeted tests on the track, including testing the suspension system. First, we tested the car on a staircase road, which is not commonly done for a sedan. However, the Star Travel Star Epoch ES is equipped with air suspension and CDC electromagnetic shock absorption system.
At the beginning, raise the suspension of the vehicle to the highest, and then go down a staircase road to test the passability and suspension performance of the entire vehicle. The Xingtu Xingjier ES performed very easily when passing this obstacle, although the vehicle may feel a bit bumpy, there is no bottoming out at all. Next is to test the continuous bumpy road section of the CDC system. Here, our speed is about 30-40 km/h. When the vehicle passes through, there is no extra vibration inside the car. The whole process is smooth, really like walking on flat ground. This is all because the CDC of the vehicle has millisecond-level processing speed, so when detecting road bumps, it can handle them at the fastest speed, thereby obtaining better passability and comfort.
The bumpy road also tests the overall performance of the suspension, not only the passability, but also the rebound, shock absorption and softness and hardness of the suspension. We can clearly feel the performance of the suspension in the car, and we can feel that the suspension is constantly dealing with bumps and vibrations, so there is only normal swinging in the car, and there is no excess rebound.
In the 0-100 acceleration test, it demonstrated the advantages of a dual-motor electric vehicle. When we press the accelerator pedal, the vehicle will have a very obvious lifting motion, bringing a strong sense of push back. The official 0-100 acceleration time is 3.7 seconds, and the Star Journey Star Era ES does have this capability.
The continuous bend test is a test of the suspension’s support. The owner of this car emphasizes luxury and comfort, so the overall adjustment of the suspension is on the soft side. Despite being soft, the addition of CDC electromagnetic shock absorbers allows the car to maintain good lateral support when passing through continuous, high-speed bends, with only normal centrifugal force inside the car and not excessive leaning.
While driving on the road, we also experienced the quietness of this car. Despite the frameless doors, the glass sealing is still very good. In addition, the front row uses double-layer laminated glass, so the overall quietness is also very high.
In terms of handling, the vehicle’s performance is quite satisfactory. In economy and energy-saving mode, the steering wheel and brakes are very light, making for a comfortable and pleasant driving experience. When switching to sport mode, the steering wheel becomes noticeably heavier and the brake pedal also becomes firmer, increasing driving enjoyment. Summary: Currently, the Xingtu Xingjier ES has only announced the pre-sale price, which looks to be around 240,000 yuan (33450$). The configuration and comfort of this car definitely reach a leading level in its class. Although the test drive model is still a prototype, the performance in acceleration, suspension, and comfort has pleasantly surprised us. This car will be officially launched this month, and we are very much looking forward to its final price. We are eager to see how much unexpected surprises and joy this electric car, which combines sport, luxury, and comfort, will bring us.