I drove Chinese car giant BYD’s £36k Atto 3 – it’s fast, handles well and has a very unusual feature on the doors

LISTENING to music at the wheel is one of our favourite things to do.

Ever since Chevrolet invented the car radio in 1922.

But how about making music in a car?

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With your clothes on, you filthy lot.

Here’s an electric car with guitar strings on the inside of all four doors.

So you can jam in a traffic jam.

Or play something from The Doors, on the doors.

I’m sure you can think of lots more.

We have absolutely no idea why Chinese giant BYD decided to use red guitar strings as door pockets in the £36k Atto 3.

But they do work.

And they’re different.

Much like the rest of this car.

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Cocktail bar vibe

That giant touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard rotates 90 degrees, so you can switch it upright or widescreen at the touch of a button.

The gear selector is supposed to remind us of a kettlebell at the gym, with free-weight-style air vents, barbell-style door handles, and a treadmill-inspired centre armrest hiding a wireless charging dock for your smartphone.

I’m worn out just writing that.

Multi-coloured mood lighting gives the place a cocktail bar vibe and even reacts to the rhythm of the music you’re playing.

Not for me. But the sound system is very good.

Also, the seats are vegan leather if that’s important to you, and the base car is loaded with all the kit you want and need.

Except maybe a cattle prodder to stop junior twanging the guitar strings all the time.

Now for some driving impressions.

As with everything electric, Atto 3 is a fast car. Tracy Chapman reference for you there.

Ride and handling, on the long and winding road, is decent. The Beatles.

Just don’t add Cyndi Lauper’s I Drove All Night to your playlist. Because it won’t.

You’ll be lucky to get much more than 200 miles on a full charge. Although it would go a bit further if it had more regenerative braking force when coasting.

Other than that, Atto 3 is the most convincing Chinese car I’ve driven.

It’s on sale now at major dealers like Arnold Clark and will be joined shortly by Dolphin and Seal.

Dolphin is a £28k electric hatch and Seal is a serious Tesla Model 3 rival, with the top version (the highest BYDer?) being 530hp and AWD.

Never heard of BYD? Let me fill you in. BYD stands for Build Your Dream and it is one of the biggest manufacturers on the planet.

Last year BYD sold 1.86million cars. I repeat, 1.86million. More than every single car brand in Britain added together — plus another 250,000 on top.

BYD designs and manufactures all the key components for its cars — including batteries, electric motors and semiconductors — so it has full control of production and supply.

BYD also makes electric London buses and most likely the batteries in your laptop and smartphone.

China in your hands. T’Pau.