Behind the wheel of Lynk & Co 01: How does the Chinese Volvo drive on Czech roads?

The Lynk & Co 01 plug-in hybrid crossover is nothing new on a global scale. On the contrary, it has existed since 2017 and the first pieces reached Europe in 2021. Originally, the car was only supposed to be leased to customers as part of operational leasing or similar services, but the German website offers the possibility to buy the car as well, for a price of 46 thousand euros (1.16 million crowns). It is not a “price from”, there is only one version available in black or blue, and the only extra charge is a towing device for 1,010 euros (25,400 crowns).

However, the Czech Republic is not one of the handful of European countries where this car can be officially obtained, even though it was tested here years ago. It is therefore not so easy for journalists to ride with it, so I took the opportunity to attend the presentation of electric cars from all over the world, organized by the leasing company Drivalia.

With an interesting and distinctive design, the lynk – I’ll forgive the rest of its unnecessarily complicated name – is a compact SUV that does not seem outdated even after so many years since the start of production. The current design is the result of an upgrade, revealed in 2021; in China, since then the car has received new rear lights, which, however, have not yet reached Europe.

The interior will offer two relatively large displays, both of which have nice graphics. The central one does not stick out nicely into the space, it takes me a while to understand the controls on the right arm of the steering wheel for the one in the instrument panel. These look like touchpads, but they are buttons, you just need to get your bearings.

The central tunnel does not lack a few buttons, for example for controlling the air conditioning. You correctly guess the Volvo brand in the levers under the steering wheel or the window controls; lynk shares the CMA platform with the XC40. However, the gear selector does not have two steps from its basic position. When changing gears, I have to move twice to get through neutral to R or D. Another disadvantage is the not strong, but still present smell of plastics in the cabin.

Lynk & Co 01

Despite this, the materials in the interior are quite pleasant to the touch, it is not a festival of cheap plastics. You can also sit comfortably in the seats, which are covered in a rather pleasant fabric, and I have no complaints about the spaciousness in the front or back seats or the view from behind the steering wheel. The A-pillars don’t overdo it with thickness.

A noisy three-cylinder

Lynk is a plug-in hybrid and should be able to travel 69 km on a battery with a usable capacity of 14.1 kWh. When charged at around 90%, the display shows a range of over 60 kilometers. The electric motor, which drives the front wheels together with the petrol fifteen-cylinder, offers 60 kW – and for how little power it actually has, it seems quite powerful.

Even in Hybrid mode, which combines both drives for a total output of 192 kW, you can drive on electricity for quite a long time before the internal combustion three-cylinder kicks in. It’s a good thing, because just as the entire car is relatively well silenced, the same is not true of the three-cylinder. Its sound is by no means beautiful and you can hear quite a bit in the interior, especially under full throttle.

Lynk & Co 01

The relatively high performance means that the lynk can accelerate very convincingly. In addition to the mentioned Hybrid mode, there is also a mode for driving purely on electricity, when the internal combustion engine kicks in only at full throttle or at a speed above 130 km/h, and a Sport mode with earlier onset of the 180-horsepower three-cylinder and sharper mapping of the gas pedal.

However, the chassis seems to be in Sport mode all the time. It is quite hard and transfers shocks from the wheels to the body more than would be healthy. However, the wheels do not bounce on bumps; the suspension monitors their movements well and the ride is not unpleasantly bouncy.

Lynk & Co 01

Despite the good materials in the cabin and decent equipment, Lynk as a whole did not leave such a good impression. Especially since its price tag is well over a million crowns. Of course, you get a lot of equipment for your money, which I could hardly try during the half-hour test drive, but many other, not only European, cars with a similar price tag are faring much better with the chassis and interior wear, and not only with them.