Tesla’s Model Y Has a Really Big Problem: The 2026 Xpeng G6

The Sweet Spot of the G6 Lineup

Costing the equivalent of $55,400, the Xpeng G6 RWD Long Range has the same 218-kW e-motor at the rear axle, and the same 80.8-kWh battery pack. Removing the front e-motor adds 10 miles to the WLTP-rated range (taking it to about 294 miles on the EPA test) and 1.8 seconds to the 0–60 time. Unless you need all-wheel-drive traction and All-Terrain drive mode to cope with snowy roads or crave more of a gut punch getting away from lights, the RWD Long Range looks to be the best all-rounder of the refreshed G6 lineup.

Packed With Tech (Sometimes Too Much)

It’s a lavishly equipped SUV for the money, with 20-inch aluminum alloy wheels and high-quality 255/45 Michelin tires, a panoramic glass roof, double-glazed front windows, a power tailgate, automatic LED headlights, heated and cooled Nappa leather-trimmed front seats with massage function, a heated leather steering wheel, and a digital rearview mirror. But it’s the stuff you can’t see that’s perhaps even more impressive. Xpeng’s Nvidia Orin X-Processor–powered XPILOT 2.5 advanced driver assistance system not only includes the now common adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking features, but it also allows you to park the vehicle remotely while standing outside and controlling it via your smartphone.

The remote parking capability is cool, but if you like driving, you’ll hate the default ADAS interventions. Fortunately, you can turn the worst of them off, though safety regulations mean you must do it every time you wake up the G6, and it involves swipe-and-tapping through one of the dozens of control menus on the massive 15.6-inch central touchscreen.

Xpeng isn’t quite as absolutist in terms of touchscreens as Tesla—the G6 has some buttons and rollers on the odd-shaped steering wheel, slider toggles on the dash vents, window controls in the armrests, and light and wiper control stalks—but that central screen, impressively fast and fluid in its responses, controls pretty much everything else you want it to do. Fortunately, the “Hey, Xpeng” voice assistant is relatively quick and attentive and easily handles chores like switching between drive modes, changing the HVAC temperature settings, switching radio stations, and turning on the seat massages. The system is also smart enough to figure out which of the G6’s passengers has made a request.

How does the Xpeng G6 drive? “Generically” is probably the best descriptor. In terms of powertrain response, smoothness, and silence, it’s virtually indistinguishable from any number of electric SUVs of similar size and power. The suspension is relatively firmly sprung and damped, so the low-speed ride is a little skittish over broken tarmac, though the car settles down at higher velocities. There’s not a ton of feedback through the steering, but it’s more linear than in the AWD model, which has a very strong self-centering effect.

Four drive modes are available (Eco, Sport, Comfort, and Individual), and within each of those modes you can also choose three levels of powertrain response (Eco, Comfort, and Sport). There are also three levels of steering weighting (Light, Normal, and Heavy), three levels of brake pedal feel (Smooth, Normal, and Sensitive), and four levels of regen (Low, Medium, High, and XPEDAL, the latter enabling one-pedal driving).

Finding the optimal setup—we liked the steering weighting set to Light, the brake pedal feel to Normal, and the regen to Low—requires a lot of hunting and pecking on the touchscreen menu, but fortunately it can all be saved to your user profile, activatable with a single screen touch. Or you can configure the settings to the Individual mode and use the “Hey, Xpeng” voice assistant to switch between drive modes without taking your eyes off the road and your hands off the steering wheel. Speaking of which, the G6’s vaguely quartic-shaped rim might look cool in the design studio, but it’s annoying to use in your hands.