2026 BYD Atto 2 Dynamic Review: Cheap and surprisingly cheerful compact electric SUV makes ICE rivals redundant
BYD’s new Atto 2 might not look remarkable from a distance – indeed it looks like a design that might make the Nissan Qash-cry “plagiarism” – but it takes just one glance at its price, $31,990, to realise that this vehicle is doing something quite incredible.
Truly, it feels like just five minutes ago that every EV hater was bemoaning how expensive electric cars were, while the boosters for the industry were promising that price parity with petrol vehicles was just around the corner.
That parity did seem like the end of a rainbow, somewhere we’d never quite get. But BYD has now done what was previously implausible and seemingly impossible – selling a full EV that’s actually cheaper than its combustion-powered competitors.
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And there’s more to come. The Atto 2 is already the cheapest EV SUV, but the Atto 1 will launch in December as the cheapest EV of any kind, with this inner city silent-buzz box going for under $24,000.
But how much can we expect from such affordable EVs? Are they going to feel like the car equivalent of Fantastic Furniture (funnily enough, the Sydney dealership is in a home wares mall, right opposite a not-so-Fantastic showroom)?
We went to the launch of the BYD Atto 2 to find out.
2026 BYD Atto 2 Dynamic price and equipment
The price of the Atto 2 really is quite the headline grabber – at $31,990 for the entry-level Dynamic, with the smaller 16-inch wheels, less padded seats, smaller touchscreen and various other cut corners. Or pay $35,900 for the Premium, which I spent more time in, and would recommend as worth the extra $4000.
But there were lots of other impressive numbers mentioned at the launch by BYD COO Stephen Collins, like the fact that the company’s sales are up a whopping 148 per cent year-on-year, largely driven by the Shark 6’s spectacular 15,000-plus units sold.
Or the fact that BYD has now sold more than 80,000 cars in Australia in just three years (again, Shark 6 is an impressive percentage of that in a short time), or that BYD now has a 53 per cent share of PHEV sales in this country, ranking it top of the pile, with Mitsubishi a distance second on 11 per cent.
Then there’s the way it’s come after Tesla, at incredible speed, to become the second-biggest retailer of EVs, with a 23 per cent market share, just behind Tesla on 28 per cent… for now (behind that are Kia at 8.5 and MG at 6.7).
But if you think BYD has done remarkable things to change our market at record speed already, just think how much more is to come as it starts pulling EV prices down to the point where people run out of excuses not to buy one.
As the company’s chief product officer, Sajid Hasan, put it: “Yes, these prices are amazing, but we’ve spared no expense, because there’s so much style and comfort in these cars, with cutting-edge cabin tech and generous levels of equipment.”
Hilariously, he also did talk about the Atto 2’s approach and departure angles, as if anyone is actually going to climb boulders in one, but generally he’s not entirely exaggerating.
The Atto 2 should feel like an Aldi on wheels, but in fact the materials used, the general feeling of semi-solidity and the fact that, for once, we have a Chinese car that doesn’t smell like the run-off from a chemical factory is surprisingly impressive.
Keep in mind that everything I’m saying here should come with the caveat “relatively speaking”, but at this price, you don’t expect much, and the Atto 2 delivers more than you might imagine.
Some effort has been made to make the seats in the Premium variant feel pleasant, but unfortunately it seems as though they’ve shoved too much padding in around your shoulders and the base of your spine, so that it feels like you’re getting a weird massage while driving.
This is the one way in which the cheaper Dynamic variant is better, because the seats are less aggressively friendly. In every other way, however, it’s worth spending the extra $4000, because the 16-inch wheels are not as good as the Premium’s 17-inch ones.
Both models come with a 51.3kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, a front-mounted 130kW/290Nm electric motor and claimed WLTP range of 345km (sadly we won’t get the Euro-spec version with a 64.8kWh batter that boosts range to 429km).
BYD says the battery can go from zero to 100 per cent charge in just over eight hours on AC power, while a 10 to 80 per cent charge will take 38 minutes using DC.
The warranty is a six-year/150,000km offer, with a separate eight-year/160,000km battery warranty. Standard safety equipment is also impressive for the price, with most of it included on the base Dynamic, including Adaptive Cruise, AEB, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keep assist, rear cross traffic assist, traffic sign recognition, etc. Meanwhile, the Premium adds a Surround-view Camera and front parking sensors.
In terms of more modern tech, the Atto 2 also offers a Digital Key system, so you can throw away the physical key, or just lose it, if you prefer. This is becoming all the rage, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it at this pricepoint.
2026 BYD Atto 2 Dynamic: What we think
To say I wasn’t expecting much from the Atto 2 is an understatement, I think I would have expected slightly less from a Celine Dion concert, or a summer holiday in Melbourne, but only just.
I was instantly surprised by the relative solidity of the doors when I closed them, the non-nastiness of the padding on the armrests and the solidity of the steering wheel (at least the Premium, the Dynamic one feels less permanent).
Overall, the Atto 2 feels like a standard modern car inside, and doesn’t smell cheap either, rather than one built to a very low price. Indeed, my first thought was that I’m just not sure how BYD is making any money on these cars at this price.
Shockingly, things did not get worse once we went for a drive. Yes, the safety systems are occasionally annoying and the noises the indicators make are a bit silly/ They sound like an electric piano being played by a chimp.
But those few bothers – and the overly padded seats – aside, the Atto 2 feels almost, just about, Japanese-spec in most ways. Even the roof lining, often a place where car companies save money by fitting what feels like Chux dishcloths, doesn’t feel cut price.
And once again, the advantage of going electric with cars like this is clear. A combustion competitor car with the tiny engine this price would get you would feel wheezy and slow, and might struggle to climb hills. But the instant torque from the BYD Atto 2’s 130kW/290Nm electric motor makes it easy-breezy to drive around town.
It’s fast off the line, and punchy from 40 to 60 and 70 to 90km/h. The ease of acceleration eases off over 110km/h, but going faster than that is illegal anyway. Even on the freeway, however, the Atto 2 doesn’t feel entirely out of place, or under-powered. It’s capable, not exciting, not zesty, but absolutely capable.
It’s the same story with the ride and handling balance; not wonderful, but not at all awful, and nowhere near as woeful as what I’ve come to expect from cheap Chinese cars. Honestly, if the arc of improvement from cars out of China continues to be as sharp as it has recently, the rest of motor vehicle world is in real trouble.
I threw the Atto 2 at some winding country roads and it didn’t feel like it was going to topple over, it didn’t creak or rattle and shake and while it eventually fell into push understeer, you had to be driving at silly speeds – speeds no one who buys one will try – to induce it. Most of the time, it was just fine.
There is a but, of course, and a failing, and it is the steering, which is light in the same way the fairy floss and dewy Irish mist are light. It’s there, but you’re not entirely sure if it exists. Indeed, at times I wondered if the steering wheel was really connected to the wheels or if it was just a fly by wire, or fly by dental floss system. Again, it works, and again, I shouldn’t expect too much, but a bit more weight would be nice (the Atto 2 does offer two settings for steering, but they both felt the same).
Other than that, over all, I have to say I was surprised, and almost alarmed at how capable the Atto 2 is. I’m not sure I buy the claimed WLTP range of 345km, but we did drive it on a lot of freeways at the launch, and we managed to better the claimed economy figure, averaging 16kWh per 100km, according to the trip computer.
2026 BYD Atto 2 Dynamic: Verdict
It’s a BYD bargain, but it’s not entirely in the basement. Surprisingly good for what it is, and remarkably good for the price.
Score: 3.8/5
2025 BYD Atto 2 Dynamic specifications
Price: $31,990 (plus on-road costs)
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, compact SUV, FWD
Range: 345km
Battery capacity: 51.13kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 17.1 kWh/100km
Motor: 1 front, 130kW/290Nm
AC charging: 7kW, Type 2
DC charging: 82kW, CCS 2
0-100/km/h: 7.9 seconds
