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Shadowing practice: Driving Xiaomi's Electric Car: Are we Cooked?

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  1. Alright, so there are a lot of hot takes in the tech world.0:00
  2. And I see a lot of them in the comments section and articles all the time.0:02
  3. And one of the most common ones is, have you seen these Chinese electric cars?0:05
  4. If they ever came to the US, they would cook everything that we have here.0:11
  5. They are too good, they have too much tech, and they are too cheap to not dominate everything.0:15
  6. And so I figured, I should get my hands on one and actually figure out if that's true or not.0:20
  7. And, uh, yeah, you could say there's a little something to it.0:25
  8. There are so many crazy things I've learned about this car while I've been testing it, but let's just start with the basics.0:36
  9. This car here I've been driving for the last two weeks is called the Xiaomi Su7.0:41
  10. Yeah, that's Xiaomi.0:45
  11. So the Xiaomi that makes basically everything in China, tablets, headphones, robot vacuums, printers, appliances, and smartphones.0:47
  12. And they even refer to the trims of this car as the Su7, Su7 Pro, Su7 Max, and Su7 Ultra.0:55
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  1. So this here is the Su7 Max, and this retails for about 299 ,000 Chinese Yuan, which actually converts to about $42 ,000 US, which is going to be a1:02
  2. lot more impressive in about five minutes.1:15
  3. So base specs.1:18
  4. This is a fully electric four -door sedan, 101 kAh battery, dual motor all -wheel drive, 673 horsepower and 320 miles of range.1:19
  5. Already those are specs on paper on the level of like a Tesla Model 3 performance, which today costs like $55 ,000.1:29
  6. Now looking around the outside of this car, it looks like a pretty reasonable car.1:37
  7. I think a lot of people would agree, but that's the thing.1:41
  8. This is Xiaomi we're talking about making this car.1:44
  9. And they're not a car company, which means they don't have any previous designs that they have to pay homage to or any traditional lines and shapes that they have1:48
  10. to keep around, which means a little bit less prestige, yes, but also a little bit more freedom.1:57
  11. Because I see them taking stuff from all over the rest of the car industry in this car.2:03
  12. Like these headlights, for example, that is very much a McLaren looking headlight, and they have lotus lines on the hood here.2:08
  13. And then as you get back even more, it kind of looks like a Porsche Taycan from the side profile.2:14
  14. If I'm not crazy, it has these thin bezels like the Polestar and then a thicker tail light across the back, which kind of looks maybe like a Lincoln or2:19
  15. some others.2:26
  16. And then there's a fully active wing on the back that kind of looks like a Mercedes AMG GT.2:27
  17. All of these are more expensive cars from more premium brands.2:32
  18. And so they kind of meld them all together into one car with this kind of unique purple color that honestly, I think looks pretty good.2:35
  19. And we're not even on the inside yet.2:42
  20. So the inside here is where they really start to stack the winds.2:50
  21. This is a nice car, not just in like a nice with an asterisk type of way, like, oh, this is nice for a $45 ,000 car or, oh, this2:55
  22. is nice for a car I've never heard of.3:02
  23. No, this is a nice car.3:04
  24. It's got this pretty clean design all around the interior, again, bringing in inspiration and premium features from a bunch of different places.3:06
  25. Like these are comfortable, heated and ventilated leather seats.3:13
  26. This heated steering wheel looks and feels a lot like a Porsche steering wheel to me with the shape and the simplicity and just a few buttons with stocks at3:17
  27. the bottom.3:24
  28. There's a big, bright and automatically aligning HUD in front of me right in front of the road at all times.3:25
  29. And that's right above a small display behind the steering wheel and then a 16 inch primary display in the center.3:31
  30. And then there's storage everywhere.3:37
  31. There's here in the middle between the front seats, where they've also cleverly stored a flashlight powered by the car's battery, kind of like Rivian.3:38
  32. And believe it or not, a tasteful amount of real hardware controls here.3:45
  33. There's a power on -off button right here.3:49
  34. There's temperature controls up and down, fan speed up and down at my fingertips.3:50
  35. You can also put the wing up or down at the back of the car.3:54
  36. And there's a lift height because there is, of course, an adjustable air suspension.3:58
  37. Up at the top, there's a pair of air -cooled 50 watt wireless chargers because, you know, if you've got a Xiaomi car, you might as well have a Xiaomi4:02
  38. phone with 50 watt wireless charging to match.4:09
  39. So those go up there.4:11
  40. There's also a huge tinted glass panoramic sunroof over my head.4:12
  41. Very nice feature.4:16
  42. The headliner is all Alcantara everywhere.4:17
  43. And there are 25 speakers in this car that sound really good.4:19
  44. And ambient lighting everywhere that pulses to the base of your music in the colors of the album art of the song that's playing, because it's connected to the car4:24
  45. and it just knows that type of thing.4:34
  46. And that's not even mentioning the backseat experience of this car, which is also really nice.4:36
  47. Those screens for the rear passengers are Xiaomi tablets, because of course they are.4:39
  48. I haven't even driven it yet and it's already feeling like a $60 ,000, $65 ,000 car.4:44
  49. But there are not one, but two really cool features I've never seen in any other car that are in this one.4:48
  50. So number one is the software.4:57
  51. The software is so good.5:01
  52. This feels like a preview kind of of like what Apple might have done if they'd made an Apple car.5:03
  53. I say that because it's super smooth, just like a smartphone.5:09
  54. But also it's a car made by someone who makes a phone.5:12
  55. And so the car plugs right into the Xiaomi ecosystem in so many ways.5:17
  56. There is a wireless charger, but also wireless screen mirroring.5:21
  57. It connects to various other Xiaomi smart home accessories like security cameras.5:25
  58. You can sign into them with the car with your account.5:29
  59. So everything from text messages to map directions are all syncing from your phone.5:31
  60. And hey, if all else fails, thankfully as a backup, this car also happens to have wireless Apple CarPlay.5:37
  61. And it's nice.5:42
  62. I think it is the biggest, nicest window of wireless CarPlay I have ever seen in a car.5:43
  63. I think probably my favorite example of the software being incredible in this car is you see the speaker and the headrest behind me.5:49
  64. When I'm driving and my phone is paired to the speakers in this car and I'm navigating, you know that part where like you're driving and the music is getting5:55
  65. pretty good and right as the bass is about to drop, the navigation voice comes on and interrupts it.6:02
  66. That never happens in this car because it separates out the voice from the navigation and puts it just in that speaker behind me while all of the rest of6:08
  67. the music in the sound in the car stays exactly the same.6:19
  68. So as a driver, I hear the voice saying turn left, turn right.6:22
  69. But everything else, including the music for all the passengers, stays sick.6:25
  70. That is my favorite software feature I've seen in a car in a while.6:30
  71. So the software being awesome is the one thing, but the second awesome thing is the modules because this is a modular interior because hidden around this car are a6:34
  72. bunch of various mounting points for modular accessories.6:44
  73. There's one over here in the corner and another over here in the center, all the way around the back of this center display.6:48
  74. And so on these mounting points, you can attach various accessories that Xiaomi makes like this extra speedometer and trip display or this magnetic car mount in the corner of6:54
  75. the car or this super useful USB hub that gets full power and can pass it along through a cable to passengers in the backseat or wherever they want.7:06
  76. There's also high quality microphones that pair to the car for a karaoke experience or even long range walkie -talkies for some reason.7:14
  77. If you need to maybe shoot a video with the car and communicate with the camera car.7:21
  78. What other car does this?7:25
  79. I've never seen the ability to customize exactly how much hardware or how little hardware you have in the interior layout like Xiaomi does.7:27
  80. I mean, they're not a car company, clearly, but they've come up with some really innovative things to make the car uniquely your own.7:35
  81. You can make it maximalist, you can make it minimalist, you can do as much or as little as you want.7:43
  82. And that'll of course fluctuate the price you pay, but hey, that's up to you.7:47
  83. I think that's pretty sick.7:51
  84. All of that is without even mentioning all the little stuff like the active noise cancellation in here, the quality of the speakers, the surround sound, all of the other7:52
  85. things that the software does really, really well.7:59
  86. And I haven't even gotten to driving it yet.8:02
  87. So this is obviously a standard issue four door electric car, right?8:14
  88. But the superpower of electric cars is that they can have multiple personalities.8:18
  89. That's what makes these interesting.8:23
  90. So in its default mode, which is comfort mode, it's pretty nice actually.8:25
  91. It rides super soft, it's chill.8:30
  92. The air suspension is actually pretty incredible.8:33
  93. I feel like this is on the same level of absorbing all these bumps and all these potholes and the things on the road as the lucids that I've driven.8:35
  94. Like this is really quite good and it never gets too unsettled.8:42
  95. The accelerator pedal, it's responsive enough.8:46
  96. It's not like super twitchy and aggressive.8:50
  97. It's obviously the comfort mode.8:52
  98. So you feel like you have all the power you need, but it rolls it on nicely and eases off when you remove your foot from the pedal.8:53
  99. And what a lot of other EVs don't have is this really high degree of customization over exactly how that feels.8:59
  100. Like there is a full on power delivery slider.9:06
  101. You can move it to be a fully rear wheel drive vehicle all the way to a fully front wheel drive vehicle.9:09
  102. And then the lift off region is nice and secure and assuring.9:14
  103. This is a, you never have to take the car out of this mode if you never wanted to.9:19
  104. This is a very reasonable thing to expect from a four door electric car.9:23
  105. But there's also a drive mode knob down here.9:27
  106. If I just turn it one notch to the right, everything turns red.9:30
  107. The graphics in front of me change.9:35
  108. I get my estimated range and my speed and how much power I'm using.9:37
  109. And then I rotate it again and it's sport plus mode.9:42
  110. And there's a g -force meter now.9:45
  111. And now all of a sudden the accelerator pedal is way more responsive and twitchy.9:47
  112. And everything firms up.9:51
  113. And the steering is definitely heavier.9:52
  114. So this feels much more like a fun type of drive.9:55
  115. And it's not quite on the maxed out level.9:58
  116. Like I know people want to compare this to Porsche Taycan.10:01
  117. This is not Porsche Taycan levels of sporty, but it's like one notch below that, which is still really good.10:03
  118. It's got all the EV party tricks, zero to 60 in under three seconds, launch control, and even a little boost button where if you press the drive mode button,10:09
  119. you get this crazy graphic on the screen.10:20
  120. And then that's all of your power, which is sick.10:23
  121. So obviously it does great in a straight line with 600 plus horsepower, but it kind of handles on the same level of model three performance or BMW i4.10:27
  122. This is a really capable car.10:35
  123. It's kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothes type of car where you see it on the road and it doesn't necessarily look like something that has Porsche 91110:37
  124. Turbo S horsepower, but it does.10:46
  125. And so yeah, it kind of just gives you this confidence of being able to place the car wherever you want on the road.10:49
  126. And that is the superpower of electric cars.10:54
  127. Plus it's got these active bolsters.10:57
  128. The seats are hugging me when I go around turns.11:00
  129. So when I turn right, the left bolster kind of like hugs, like catches me a little bit.11:02
  130. This is something those very expensive G wagons have done and popularized for a while now.11:07
  131. It's a little weird, not going to lie, but it just makes you think it's doing something.11:11
  132. It's also become much more apparent as I'm driving this car, how well built it really is.11:15
  133. It does not feel anything like the $42 ,000 price tag might suggest.11:20
  134. Like obviously the materials are one thing and you've got these leathers all around and the stitching and these different contrasted materials, but also just in general, like it's quiet11:25
  135. in here.11:35
  136. I don't hear motor noise.11:36
  137. I don't hear wind very much.11:38
  138. I don't hear other cars or noises around me outside the car.11:40
  139. Like I can verify that there are there are noises out there that I'm not hearing.11:44
  140. It's it's sick.11:50
  141. And then there's the active noise cancellation on top of that.11:51
  142. So it just feels like a really serene, calm experience just because it's so well built.11:53
  143. And you might have also noticed the lidar box right above me on the top of this car here because the other button on the steering wheel is Xiaomi's full11:58
  144. self driving, which doesn't work on every road here in the U .S.12:06
  145. But in China, you have Pilot Pro and Pilot Max.12:09
  146. And those will take care of almost all of the driving on almost all of the roads the same way something like a Tesla Model 3 might here in the12:13
  147. U .S.12:19
  148. So I've turned it on on this road.12:19
  149. This is a smaller single lane road and it's totally fine.12:21
  150. And there's all sorts of things like obstacles that it has to avoid and it handles that.12:24
  151. It's never really done anything to give me pause or seem kind of weird.12:27
  152. And it's not even designed for these roads or this market.12:31
  153. So I imagine in China, it's even better than this.12:33
  154. I'm honestly trying to think of like a negative now that I've been living with this car and I've been driving it for weeks.12:36
  155. I've driven and reviewed many, many other cars the past couple years.12:42
  156. And usually the downsides are so obvious.12:46
  157. Like, oh, the tech is usually pretty bad, like the software is bad.12:48
  158. But while this is Xiaomi, like they make smartphones, they make all this tech already.12:51
  159. The software is great.12:56
  160. The self driving works.12:57
  161. The cameras are great.12:59
  162. The displays are great.13:00
  163. All the tech is there.13:02
  164. And then all the EV fundamentals are also still there.13:03
  165. It has the 300 plus miles of range.13:05
  166. It has the quick charging and it has the split personalities.13:07
  167. It has the super chill, calm, cruiser mode and the 600 horsepower brutal launch control, 0 to 60 in two and a half seconds, sporty mode.13:11
  168. And then on top of all that, it's built super well.13:21
  169. Like it has all the sound isolation and all of the hardware features and creature comforts and physical buttons and all the modules and all this.13:24
  170. And it's like, this feels nothing like a $42 ,000 car, which I guess conveniently brings me back to the title of this video.13:32
  171. So are we cooked?13:44
  172. Not yet, clearly.13:46
  173. This car is not available here in the US.13:47
  174. But you can see how we could be soon.13:50
  175. I genuinely, I'm not exaggerating when I say this, this is a $42 ,000 car that feels like a $75 ,000 car if it were made here in the US.13:53
  176. And that's the thing that's most impressive about the Xiaomi SE7.14:03
  177. And that's just this one.14:07
  178. So really now that I've gotten to live with this and drive this here in the US, among all the other cars I test, here's my take.14:09
  179. It's not that there is any sort of crazy bleeding edge tech in this car that's impossible to replicate.14:15
  180. Obviously the software is really good and the modularity and some of the features are kind of sick and we haven't seen them before.14:21
  181. But like if you took this car apart, you wouldn't find anything inside any like bleeding edge battery tech or anything that's impossible to replicate.14:26
  182. This is a car made of normal car parts, but it's the putting them all together in one car.14:34
  183. That's so impressive.14:40
  184. It's not often you see a car with great software, great features, great build quality, great versatility, great range and a great drive and all stacked together.14:41
  185. Like that's pretty elite.14:53
  186. There is basically no question in my mind that if a car like this was available in the US for $42 ,000, that it would crush.14:55
  187. Of course.15:03
  188. The fact that it isn't is of course inherently political and there's all the tariffs and import fees and all that.15:04
  189. That's super variable.15:09
  190. And we may never get a car like this available in the US for $42 ,000.15:10
  191. But Europe will allegedly in 2027.15:14
  192. And I would say that the competition over there is at least in a little bit of trouble when that happens.15:18
  193. The idea that the competition is getting stronger and that cars like this actually exist some other places in the world is really exciting and heightens the ceiling for all15:22
  194. EVs.15:32
  195. It raises the ceiling up for all cars to get better and more impressive and more complete like this one.15:32
  196. So lesson learned.15:39
  197. It's going to be fascinating to keep an eye on this stuff in the future.15:40
  198. If you want a more raw like daily living with this vehicle type of video, check out the autofocus channel where I shot a video on the Xiaomi phone of15:43
  199. the Xiaomi car.15:50
  200. Thanks for watching.15:52
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American Accent Training with a Fast Tech Review

This clip is Marques Brownlee testing the Xiaomi Su7, a Chinese electric car, and asking whether the online hot takes about it are true. It runs at 211 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, in a clear American accent, which makes it good material if you want english speaking practice built around a real, unscripted opinion piece rather than a slowed down lesson recording.

The level is B2, so you already need to follow ideas, not just words: he opens with a claim, states his own doubt about it, then moves straight into base specs and design comparisons. That mix of casual talk and dense factual detail is exactly the kind of pace you meet in real american english shadowing practice, where a speaker switches from opinion to numbers without slowing down for you.

The Hedges and Long Sentences in This Su7 Review

A few lines here are worth slowing down for. Early on he says, "And I see a lot of them in the comments section and articles all the time," a plain declarative run with no pauses marked, which is how a fast talker actually strings a sentence together.

Right after stating the claim he hedges it: "And so I figured, I should get my hands on one and actually figure out if that's true or not." Then later, once he starts liking the car more than expected, he undercuts his own certainty again: "And, uh, yeah, you could say there's a little something to it." That small "uh" before the concession is worth noticing if you want to improve english speaking that sounds natural rather than rehearsed.

  • "And I see a lot of them in the comments section and articles all the time.": a long run of connected clauses with even stress, no dramatic pauses.
  • "And so I figured, I should get my hands on one and actually figure out if that's true or not.": self correcting mid sentence, a habit of unscripted commentary.
  • "And, uh, yeah, you could say there's a little something to it.": the filler "uh" sits right before he softens his opinion.
  • "a little bit less prestige, yes, but also a little bit more freedom.": a balanced contrast, stressed evenly on both halves.

A Line by Line Order for Practising This Clip

Work through this recording in a fixed order rather than jumping around. Each step below points at a specific line so you build up from short, plain sentences to the longer ones.

  • Start with line 1, "Alright, so there are a lot of hot takes in the tech world." Say it a few times until the rhythm feels automatic, then shadow this line at full speed against the audio.
  • Move to line 6, the hedge sentence. Practise the pause after "I figured," since that is where the self correction happens.
  • Take line 16, the specs list: "101 kAh battery, dual motor all -wheel drive, 673 horsepower and 320 miles of range." Read the numbers aloud slowly first, this is where english speaking practice for numbers and units pays off, then match his pace.
  • Practise line 21 and 22 together as one unit, since the sentence carries across both without stopping, ending on "a little bit more freedom."
  • Finish by shadowing lines 1 through 25 in one pass with the video, no pausing, to check whether your speed still matches his 211 words per minute pace.
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