2026 AION UT

Carwow's UK test found the UT's active cruise control witless on the motorway, easily confused and braking to avoid cars that were not present. Parkers' UT review says the driver aids go beyond aiding into overbearing, chiding the driver constantly, and The Car Expert logged rather a lot of assistance intervention making the experience busy. No DVSA recall sits against AION as at October 2026, so treat it as calibration you can check and potentially improve at the dealer — but do check it, because phantom braking on a motorway is the most serious complaint levelled at the UT so far.

Symptoms: Unexpected regenerative braking on motorway with open road ahead, Constant warning chimes from the driver-monitoring camera...

Est. repair cost: £0–£150 (firmware reset or camera/ADAS recalibration under warranty)

The UT pushes almost everything into its 14.6-inch touchscreen and it is not always coherent. Carwow noted the customisable shortcut sidebar — a genuine strength — is unavailable while Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is mirroring, forcing you to exit navigation to change settings; The Car Expert found mirror adjustment buried in menus with no dedicated switch; Parkers flagged unlabelled steering-wheel controls and the counterintuitive habit of setting cruise speed with the gear selector. There is no component failure here, but ergonomics like this are exactly what used buyers should trial before parting with money.

Symptoms: Shortcut bar disappears the moment phone mirroring starts, Door mirrors adjust only through the screen menu...

Est. repair cost: £0 (software/ergonomics); £80–£120 dealer diagnostic time if a module is genuinely at fault

Carwow says the UT's steering is too sensitive at speed, so the car feels as though it is always drifting side to side on the motorway and tramlines through ruts, and rear visibility is very poor through the small taillight aperture. The Car Expert reports the opposite end of the journey — over-light, over-sensitive steering around town that settles down as speed rises. The two opinions split means this is calibration reviewers disagree on, so UK buyers must drive it on both their own road types before judging; check tracking and tyre condition on used examples since wandering can also be damage.

Symptoms: Constant small corrections needed in straight running on the motorway, Front end wanders into tramlines and ruts on rough A-roads...

Est. repair cost: £0 (calibration); £60–£90 wheel alignment if a pothole strike has genuinely knocked it out

The UT pairs the V's 204hp/210Nm front motor with a car roughly 200kg lighter, and Parkers says it is prone to a fair bit of wheelspin away from a standstill — likely to chip away at tyre life — suggesting the calibration needs work or less power. Carwow agrees it is all too easy to spin a wheel pulling out of a junction. In a wet, salted UK winter that means traction-control intervention on ramps and gravel, and replacement 17-inch tyres are the main wear item buyers should inspect and price on used stock.

Symptoms: Front tyres spin momentarily on normal junction pull-aways, Traction control cuts and stutters when launching on damp marks...

Est. repair cost: £95–£170 per replacement 17-inch tyre fitted

The UT's 60kWh LFP pack accepts only 87kW DC — official figures are 10–80% in about 32 minutes and 30–80% in 24 — and Electrifying.com openly challenged Aion's claim of adding 214 miles in 20 minutes, estimating closer to 35 minutes for that much range. Carwow rates it slower than a Renault 4 or Kia EV2. This is a specification limit, not a fault, but it reshapes motorway planning in a car sold as a do-it-all hatchback, so a working charge port and honest peak rates still need verifying on a used example.

Symptoms: Charging session power plateaus around 87kW even on 150kW+ chargers, Cold-battery sessions take noticeably longer to hit peak rate...

Est. repair cost: £0 (hardware limit); budget roughly 30–40-minute 10–80% public stops

Carwow's verdict on the UT cabin is blunt: it looks like leather but almost everything you touch is hard, scratchy plastic, with a centre-dashboard box that is ugly and awkward to open and a phone shelf with no grip, so your phone goes flying when you pull away. The Car Expert reached for the same qualifier — some cheaper plastics around the cabin, though panels fit neatly — while Parkers judged the materials more positively, so wear and finish opinion is mixed. Check high-contact areas on any used example and confirm the wireless-charging pack actually holds a phone.

Symptoms: Door cards and lower dash feel rigid and scratchy rather than soft-touch, Phone slides off the charging shelf under normal cornering...

Est. repair cost: £0–£25 (non-slip mat for the charge shelf; trim clips are warranty items)