Maxus Mifa 7 review: This MPV makes sense for one reason
[SINGAPORE] Quentin Tarantino gave us The Hateful Eight, but if this Maxus were a movie, it would be The Sensible 7.
Like many electric cars sold here, the once-British-but-now-Chinese brand's Mifa 7 now comes in detuned form to duck under the Category A Certificate Of Entitlement bar. That brings its starting price to S$204,999, making it a good S$14,000 cheaper than the Category B version.
Under the floor sits a 90 kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, which is happier at full charge than nickel manganese cobalt packs, so you can top it up to 100 per cent with less fretting about degradation. It delivers a claimed 480 kilometres of range, which works out to less than one plug-in a week for most drivers here.
As you might expect, unlike Inglourious Basterds, the Category A Mifa 7 isn't full of explosive action. But also unlike the movie, it actually makes sense. It's a seven-seat electric multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that's big enough for a big family, but small enough to make easy work of our narrow roads and tight car parks. At 4,910 mm long and 1,885 mm wide, it's about the size of a Mercedes E-Class. If you can handle that, you can handle this.
And you can definitely handle the amount of excitement the Mifa 7 dishes out, given how it takes a leisurely 14.7 seconds to reach 100 kmh. That said, even though it sounds like driving the Maxus puts you at risk of being overtaken by the odd glacier, the car does get up to speed with a sense of duty.
The motor still biffs out plenty of torque, enough for you to chirp the front tyres if you floor it out of a slow corner, and in the city the Mifa 7 doesn't struggle to keep up with other traffic.
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If it's no fun at all to drive, at least it's easy. Visibility is good, the steering is light, and it doesn't feel like a runaway stagecoach. Instead, its medium-sized footprint means that corralling it in a lane isn't a serious test of skill and concentration.
If you do need help, the car comes with lane-keep assist, blind spot monitors, adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking. It also has a little camera that watches you vigilantly, then bongs at you if it senses distracted driving. Annoying? Yes, but admittedly useful.
It nagged me whenever I took my eye off the road for too long while looking for something on the 12.3-inch touchscreen. Yet, there are no zero-layer controls, meaning essentials like the climate panel or 360-degree camera view aren't always on screen. If you're bopping along to Spotify with Apple CarPlay, you'll need to exit it just to change the fan speed. And then you get bonged at.
While the driver is forced to stay alert, life on board for everyone else is reasonably cushy. At town speeds, the springs and dampers cope with the car's 2.2-tonne mass well, and the air-con system doesn't struggle to fill the vast cabin.
The rear has its own climate control panel, plus ceiling vents to keep everyone cool. There is a glass roof for those who love sunshine, and a roller shade for those who hate it.
You're meant to fit three people across the third row, and a compact suspension design leaves enough space back there to make it just about doable, although the available width works best for kids.
While the second row gets individual chairs, they're not the business class seats that bigger MPVs offer. In fact, the Mifa 7 comes without a flip-down entertainment screen, folding tables, a refrigerator, massaging chairs or flip-up leg rests, all of which are becoming standard fare in the world of Chinese luxury MPVs. To move or recline the middle row seats, you have to use your biceps.
Given how the Mifa 7 is much cheaper than bigger, plusher MPVs, the lack of frills is understandable. It's obviously more for family men than businessmen. Yet, the boot space is quoted at just 270 litres with all seats up, and there's no frunk.
There's enough capacity for some shopping, a stroller and, apparently, a wheelchair, but when you fold the third row seats you're left with the bench in place. That's one reason the car doesn't feel like it has a proper boot – just some room behind the passengers.
Ultimately, the Maxus is a solid people mover that has uniqueness on its side. It isn't as compelling as The Magnificent Seven, but the Mifa 7 is your only ticket to a seven-seat electric MPV with sliding doors in Category A.
Maxus Mifa 7 Luxury Motor power/Torque 145 hp / 350 Nm Battery type/Net capacity Lithium-ion / 90 kWh Charging time/Type 8.5 hours (11 kW AC), 40 minutes 5 to 80 per cent (120 kW DC) Range 480 km 0-100 kmh 14.7 seconds Top speed 170 kmh Efficiency 20.5 kWh / 100 km Agent Cycle & Carriage Maxus Price S$204,999 with COE Available Now
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