BYD Atto 1 vs BMW 428i

What's the difference?

Back in 2010, Mitsubishi released Australia’s first mainstream electric vehicle (EV) in nearly a century.

That model, the i-MiEV, was a four-seater city-sized Kei car from Japan that cost $48,800, before on-road costs, or from roughly $70,000 in today's money. Little wonder it bombed. That was four times more than petrol-powered equivalents of the time.

Now, in 2026, the new BYD Atto 1 is the first EV sold here since the i-MiEV’s 2013 departure to be considered a four-seater city car.

It’s also the least-expensive EV money can buy, being even cheaper than many internal-combustion engine alternatives like the Mazda 2 and Toyota Yaris hybrid. The fact is, there’s nothing remotely near the Chinese supermini’s base price that’s electric.

But is the Atto 1 any good?

Tim Robson road tests and reviews the BMW 4 Series with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

Following on from the mid-life tweaks to BMW's mainstay 3 Series in December 2015, the spin-off 4 Series line has now been updated along the same powertrain and equipment lines.

Based on the same mechanicals as the 3 Series, the three-year-old 4 Series was ostensibly formed to give BMW's nomenclature some sense of logic by designating its two-door machines as 'evens' (2 Series, 4 Series and 6 Series) and its four-door cars as 'odds'.

Three variants currently make up the 4 Series range, including a two-door Coupe, a two-door Convertible and – oddly, given the naming regime – a four-door Gran Coupe that also sports a hatch-like tailgate.