2023 VinFast VF 8: Struggles on the launchpad

It's a brutal time to be introducing an electric vehicle brand from scratch in the U.S. Beyond the reservations some Americans still have with EVs, the increasingly crowded market has been roiled by surging raw material outlays, software bugs, and more recently vehicle price cuts and hikes, giving some consumers more pause and whiplash.

VinFast, the startup EV maker from Vietnam, is having a go at it and has begun leasing a electric crossover in the U.S.

The company's initial crossover is a limited version — the VF 8 City Edition — and available only as part of a $399-per-month lease, cut from $599 per month in February.

The VF 8, imported from Vietnam, is only eligible for a federal tax credit as a lease vehicle because of new incentive rules, and VinFast said the promotion was conceived "to stay competitive with other brands."

The VF 8 City Edition has a starting price of $50,200 with shipping.

Every VF 8 features dual motors and all-wheel drive, with Eco versions generating 348 hp and 369 pound-feet of toque and Plus versions getting 402 hp and 457 lb-ft. VinFast said those performance specs are good enough for the VF 8 to zip from zero to 60 mph in 5.5 to 6.5 seconds.

The VF 8 City Edition comes equipped with a relatively large 82-kilowatt-hour battery. A newer trim of the crossover, the VF 8 Standard Edition, comes with a bigger 87-kWh battery and will be delivered in June.

Still, the launch edition of the VF 8 has a limited range compared with similar EVs. The Eco trim has 207 miles of range and the Plus edition has 191 miles, VinFast said. Most competitors have around 250 miles of range and some have more than 300 miles, including the Tesla Model Y.

Filling the 87-kWh battery in the VF 8 to 70 percent from 10 percent will take about 24 minutes of charging time, the company said. VinFast also provides lessees the option of a free home charger in addition to a $1,000 credit for installation or three years of unlimited free charging at eligible public networks.

We've rounded up some early reviews of the VF 8.

"Just don't put it in Sport mode. In Sport, the accelerator pedal becomes so sensitive the car feels undriveable unless you are extremely ginger with your inputs. Small dips can make the VF 8 City Edition lurch forward, making it hard to be smooth or drive with any finesse. Leave it in Normal. There's more than enough power, and the car never feels jittery or amped up on amphetamines.

"Problems persist the longer you're behind the wheel. The brakes are very uneven, with seemingly nothing happening when you first hit the pedal. Then about halfway down, the brakes grab and the nose dips as the weight shifts forward. Again, it makes for a very uneven driving experience. While the VF 8 City Edition does offer regenerative braking and in theory one-pedal driving, the regen itself was so weak that we constantly used the brakes anyway.

"Steering and overall handling are no better. The steering is quick, so small inputs are all you need to change lanes or navigate a winding road. The problem is that it's completely devoid of feel, so you have very little sense of connection to the car. It's fairly easy to park, but the steering saps any sort of enjoyment from the driving experience.

"The VF 8 City Edition's suspension tuning feels simultaneously too stiff in a straight line and too soft in a corner. The vehicle's approximate 5,700-pound curb weight is a lot of mass to deal with, but rivals do a much better job of making their EVs feel smaller and lighter than they actually are. Turn in a corner and the VF 8 City Edition exhibits lots of body roll, leaning hard as the car struggles to manage its weight. On tighter roads it can induce a bit of car sickness. This EV feels quick, but we would prefer to drive just about anything else in this class."

— Reese Counts, Edmunds

"The majority of the VF8’s controls are housed in the 15.6-inch central touchscreen, which is Tesla-level lousy as far as user experience is concerned. To adjust the mirrors and steering column, you have to use a combination of a menu on the touchscreen and the physical volume/track controls on the steering wheel. At least the wipers are managed through a traditional stalk (that’s ripped from a late-model BMW, oddly).

The infotainment system’s menu structure is a mess, with some icons clearly labeled and others discoverable only through the ol’ guess-and-check method. Many inputs end up requiring repeated taps, and you need to be sure to hit the exact middle of each icon or the system won’t budge. Response times are slow, swipes are laggy, and god help you if you need to rely on the natural-language voice functionality.

'Hey, VinFast, what’s the weather like in San Diego?' Easy question, right? The car even displayed my exact words on the screen, meaning it definitely heard me, but then told me it couldn’t understand my request. This happened again and again. 'Hey, VinFast, roll down the passenger window' worked, miraculously, but only after a delay of 20 seconds, which is an absolute eternity in tech time. Happily, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

Other problems? The backup camera refresh rate is abysmal and the feed is super low-res. The head-up display washes out if you’re wearing polarized sunglasses, so you have to look over at the center screen to see your speedometer. The one-tap/three-blink turn signal function didn’t always work, but only while turning left. The climate control has a digital temperature gauge, but in practice, it only has two settings: freezing or surface of the sun. The electronic gear buttons look ridiculous and take up as much space as a traditional PRNDL shifter. The list goes on."

— Steven Ewing, Inside EVs

"With apologies to Charles Dickens, this is a tale of two City (editions).

"I spent my time behind the wheel of the 2023 VinFast VF 8 City Edition Plus as I maneuvered through a long and circuitous pass through the northern reaches of San Diego. It gave me a good chance to experience the all-electric EV under a variety of conditions, from winding country roads to busy city streets, as well as heavily trafficked highways.

"At one level, the VF 8 performed admirably, especially for a startup automaker's first offering. With 402 hp and 457 pound-feet of instant torque, the EV was responsive and quick, as one Tesla Model Y owner learned when he challenged me off a red light.

"Out in San Diego's backcountry, the SUV proved nimbler than I expected. Though the VF 8's steering was a bit numb, it carved through tight corners predictably and with minimal body roll, clearly benefiting from the improved center of gravity having its big battery pack mounted so low to the ground.

"My biggest complaint? VinFast's advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS technology. With features like lane centering and emergency steering assist, the cabin all but constantly echoed with one warning bell or buzzer after another. To start with, the requisite sensors are a bit too sensitive and trigger when you even come near the lane markings.

"More concerning, some of the active controls then try to 'stabilize' the VF 8. As several colleagues also experienced, the sudden intervention occasionally seemed to cause the EV to stutter as it tried to figure out exactly where to redirect the front wheels. It wasn't a real safety risk but could cause concern among a less experienced driver.

"The good news is that the VF 8 has the ability to download smartphone-style over-the-air updates. Eventually, that will allow VinFast to activate a semi-autonomous driving feature. For now, however, the automaker needs to upgrade its less advanced ADAS technology."

— Paul Eisenstien, The Detroit Bureau

"I may not like the way a turn signal sounds, but I expect it to work every time I use it. One of the VF8s at the launch event couldn't do that. Similarly, multiple VF8s (including our test vehicle, which had fewer than 1,300 miles on the odometer) had HVAC systems that would only blow cold air when set below 80 degrees and only blow hot air when set above 80, but never warm or cool air regardless of whether manual or automatic climate was selected. Another VF8 would reset the climate to 80 degrees every time the car was powered off and back on.

"Climate control wasn't the only malfunctioning system on our test vehicle. The embedded navigation system would display a map that jerked around on screen but was otherwise nonfunctional; it was always 'offline' regardless of location. Blind-spot monitoring was also functionally useless on our vehicle. Occasionally, it would work while stopped if another vehicle next to us was moving through our blind spot, illuminating both a light on the door mirror and a graphic on the Tesla-like single dashboard screen. Most of the time, though, it didn't do anything.

"Myriad other systems on the car did work, but in suboptimal ways. It starts the moment you get in and continues until you get out. Sit down in the driver's seat, and the screens come on, but no functions work until you buckle your seat belt and put your foot on the brake. So no listening to the radio or turning on the fan without your seat belt on."

— Scott Evans, Motor Trend

"The first thing I notice when I open the door of the VF 8 is the seating material. It's a faux leather that does a nice job visually of mimicking the real thing, but already the driver's seat shows creasing and general wear and tear. The odometer is reading less than 1,000 miles and I can't imagine what these seats will look like at 20,000 miles.

"The next thing that draws my attention is the plastic lever to raise and lower my seat. I notice it because it has broken off in my hand. It goes from bad to worse, as I realize that all the driver-assist safety features on my tester — blind-spot monitors, automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, active lane control — are inoperable and require servicing.

" 'And these are the production cars,' I think out loud. 'The ones that will be delivered to customers?'

"Vinfast was founded in 2017 as a traditional ICE automaker, but it pivoted to EVs in 2021. Amazingly, the company had a drivable prototype by 2022. In a world where legacy automakers take five or more years to introduce a new model, that is an insanely quick timeline.

That timeline will be its downfall."

— Emme Hall, Green Car Reports

"The drive route takes me to a twisty road. My speed is stymied by a large truck in front of me, but I can get going enough to tell that this thing has plenty of body roll and the suspension tuned to be pretty gosh-darn soft. Over rough pavement, the NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) reaches a timbre that makes my ears throb, but I'm a bit congested, too. The brake pedal is a floppy mess for the first half inch of travel and when it actually engages I have no idea how much pressure the calipers are actually putting on the discs. Every time I need to stop feels like a crap shoot. 'Maybe this amount will stop the vehicle? Nope, too much? I can't tell.' I've driven plenty of EVs and this is by far the weirdest braking experience I've ever had.

"But honestly, it's not the worst overall experience I've ever had. The steering is pretty quick and accurate and the wheel feels great in my hands. Visibility is good and I like the high brake regen setting, although I wish it would bring me to a complete stop instead of just creeping at 5 miles per hour or so.

"It's just that the car isn't really done yet. A bit of stiffness in the springs would do wonders, as would some chassis tuning to mitigate the annoying NVH. Scrap the brakes and start over and add the option of one-pedal driving. Just a few tweaks could greatly improve the ride quality and overall driving experience."

— Emme Hall, The Autopian