Family Car Review: 2024 BYD Atto 3 EV

How big is the boot of the 2024 BYD Atto 3?

The boot of the BYD Atto 3 is a practical size for family use. The boot floor is nice and flat for an emergency nappy change and can be removed…

… giving you a much deeper boot space to fit prams, dogs, etc. There is also a netted storage area behind both wheel arches, perfect for storing kids' shoes, etc on the way home from the beach or park!

The 2024 BYD Atto 3's boot space fits nine shopping bags when empty, which is comparable to the MG ZS, Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, Nissan Leaf+ and Hyundai Kona EV, which all hold nine shopping bags too and the Kia Niro EV, and MG4 which hold ten shopping bags.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…

…will fit in the boot of the Atto 3 with one shopping bag.

The Thule Urban Glide 2 single is the ultimate all-terrain stroller…

… with the back wheels removed, it will fit in the 2024 BYD Atto 3 boot with two shopping bags.

The Thule Spring, lightweight and one-handed folding stroller…

…fits in the boot of the BYD Atto 3 with five shopping bags.

The BYD Atto 3's boot can also hold one 90L and two 40L Thule Chasm duffle bags.

Or a medium-sized dog.

How good is storage in the 2024 BYD Atto 3?

The storage inside the BYD Atto 3 cabin is eccentric but practical, too!

In the front of the 2024 BYD Atto 3, there are musical guitar string door bins that you can pluck and make music while driving along, we loved them in our family! They are practical, too and will hold an iPad with the water bottle.

The central console has two cup holders, each holding a reusable or disposable coffee cup, but not both at the same time. Behind the cup holders is a large central console box.

In front of the gear lever is a wireless phone charging pad.

Underneath the central console bridge is a large storage area, great for your handbag, iPad, or wallet. There is also a USB and USB-C sockets for charging.

The glove box is a practical size, holding a wallet and iPad and more.

Rear passengers have good storage in the BYD Atto 3 with cup holders in a fold-down armrest in the central seat back. Coffee cups and kid's drink cups fit well.

There are multiple map pockets on the back of the front seats. The large pockets will hold and conceal an iPad, and the smaller pockets are good for phones, toys, books etc.

In the back of the central console box, there is a storage area for phones and a USB and USB-C charging socket.

The rear door bins in the BYD Atto 3 are smaller than the front, and they will hold a refillable water bottle.

How noisy is the 2024 BYD Atto 3, and how easy is the media screen to use?

The BYD Atto 3 is not a noisy car to drive unless you are plucking guitar strings as you go!

Being fully electric it is lovely and quiet and smooth. You can drive your kids to sleep and sit with the aircon running if you get caught out with a napping child without churning through fuel, polluting the local environment and no noisy engine.

The BYD Atto 3 has a large media screen and a bright and modern media system, just like the BYD Dolphin and BYD Seal. You can control nearly everything in the car through its large media screen.

The enormous screen can be rotated landscape or portrait to suit your preference.

The screen needs to be in landscape mode to use Apple CarPlay, which allows you to access your phone's messaging, navigation, and listening apps while driving.

You can customise many aspects of the car, including the sound, so those with noise-sensitive kids can turn things down or off.

You can also customise the car's driver and safety assist system to turn off the ones you don't want.

The energy screen in the BYD Atto 3 allows you to monitor your battery usage and see exactly how much range you have left. The climate controls are within the media screen too but it would be much easier to have them as physical dials on the dash.

When you put the car in reverse, the camera images are lovely and clear and fill the lovely large screen.

There are lots of angles you can choose to view from…

… and there's a 3D surround camera too.

The Atto 3 has a voice function too. You can say, “Hey, BYD,” and ask it to do something like turn the fan speed up, etc. Which is great entertainment with the kids onboard!

The 2024 BYD Atto 3's indicator sound was not too loud, so it did not disturb my kids while they were sleeping in the back.

The windows and doors in the BYD Atto 3 are not too loud or noisy to open and close, and they do not baby-wake!

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The BYD Atto 3 is a quiet and smooth drive, and there are no real baby-waking noises. Unless you are making them with the door bin guitars!

How many child/baby seats can you fit in the 2024 BYD Atto 3?

When it comes to installing child seats in the 2024 BYD Atto 3 EV, there are ISOFix points in both outer rear seats. They are within plastic guides, and they are nice and easy to connect to.

All three rear seatbacks have top tether anchorages, which are easily accessible through the boot.

The combination of three Infasecure child seats I tested fit across the rear seats of the 2024 BYD Atto 3. I installed the Infasecure Achieve More and Liberty Onyx Booster Seat, both forward-facing and the Infasecure Cocoon Go Infant Capsule, rear-facing behind the driver. You couldn't fit three forward-facing child seats in the back of the BYD Atto 3 because the rear seat isn't wide enough across the shoulders.

Two child seats will fit nicely in the back of the BYD Atto 3, with room beside them for a passenger. The rear footwell is completely flat, which improves legroom for rear passengers. Legroom is good in this little electric car, with room for about a 180-cm driver in front of the rear-facing Infasecure Cocoon Go Infant Capsule.

There is room to insert Bub into their child's seat from outside the car and from inside and there is room to feed Bub in the back if there is only one child seat installed.

Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

How comfy is the 2024 BYD Atto 3 EV?

The BYD Atto 3 EV's back seats have air conditioning vents in the back of the central console box, so rear passengers do not have to rely on the front vents to keep them comfortable while driving along.

The rear seats are comfortable for passengers not in child seats, with good legroom with a flat floor.

The upholstery is colourful throughout the Atto 3 with contrast panelling and piping and perforated patterns of cream upholstery! They are such fun but may need seat protectors underneath your child seats, to protect them from kids' spills and mess.

The front seats are equally as comfortable and joyfully and colourfully upholstered.

There are four air-conditioning vents across the front of the dashboard, two below the media screen and one at each end of the dashboard. They look a little like the portable speakers which is fun.

The air-con controls are within the media screen…

… and along the bottom of the media screen. I found them a little tricky to use while driving. I prefer a physical button or dial because of how frequently they need to be used.

There are no built-in window shades in the 2024 BYD Atto 3, so you do have to add your own after-market rear window shades. There are handles above both the rear doors so you can hang a child's toy.

Visibility in the BYD Atto 3 is compromised with three Infasecure child seats installed in the back. When there are only two child seats in the back then you can see out of the centre of the rear windscreen.

Excellent cameras in the BYD Atto 3 compensate for the lack of rear visibility, making maneuvering and parking easy.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually, I dread parking in our tight apartment block carpark, but the BYD Atto 3 is easy to reverse park!

The interior of the BYD Atto 3 is not to everyone's taste. It is colourful, fun, and eccentric while still practical, and we loved it!

How safe is the 2024 BYD Atto 3 EV?

The BYD Atto 3's standard range and extended range variants, built from 21 November 2022 (after VIN LGXCE4CBXN2131695), have been given a five-star ANCAP safety rating, scoring 84% for child occupancy protection and 91% for adult occupancy protection.

Of models built before this, ANCAP wrote:

The BYD ATTO 3 was introduced in Australia in July 2022. This ANCAP safety rating applies to Standard Range and Extended Range variants sold in Australia and built from 21 November 2022 (after VIN LGXCE4CBXN2131695).

This rating also applies to Australian-supplied ATTO 3 vehicles built from May 2022 that have received brand-initiated updates to the centre rear seating position to expose the top-tether child restraint anchorage, and to the front passenger seating position to disable use of this seating position for the transport of young children, including removal of the airbag disabling switch.

Vehicles built prior to 21 November 2022 that have not had these updates applied are unrated.

Of the child occupancy testing, ANCAP wrote:

In both the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection was GOOD for all critical body areas for both the 6 year and 10 year child dummies.
BYD ATTO 3 vehicles built from 21 November 2022 are fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages for the two outboard seating positions in the second row, and top-tether anchorages for all three second- row seating positions. This child restraint anchorage configuration is also present on vehicles built from May 2022 that have received brand-initiated updates to the centre rear seating position (to expose the top-tether child restraint anchorage), and to the front passenger seating position (to disable use of this seating position for the transport of young children, including removal of the airbag disabling switch).
NOTE: Vehicles built prior to 21 November 2022 that have not had these updates applied are unrated.
With the above child restraint configuration, installation of typical child restraints available in Australia showed that all of the selected child restraints could be accommodated in all three of the rear seating positions.

Seven airbags are standard:

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting (curtain) airbags are standard. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is also standard.

The BYD Atto 3 EV comes with adaptive cruise control (ACC), anti-lock braking system (ABS), autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – Car-to-Car Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – VRU Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – Backover Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – Junction Assist. Blind spot monitor (BSM), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), event data recorder (EDR), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), emergency stop signal (ESS), forward collision warning (FCW), lane departure warning (LDW), lane keep assist (LKA), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), reversing collision avoidance (camera), roll stability system, secondary / multi-collision brake, speed assistance – auto / intelligent speed limiter, manual speed limiter, speed sign recognition and warning as standard.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub’s asleep!