When we first drove the VinFast VF8 , we weren’t impressed. Our headline said it was “simply not ready for America,” and the criticism only got worse from there. VinFast clearly rushed the development process and didn’t have a remotely competitive product to offer.
Supposedly, the Vietnamese automaker planned to improve the VF8 over time, so it should be better now than it was initially. Based on Consumer Reports’ recent experience , however, the VinFast VF8 is still half-baked, uncompetitive and also maybe worth leasing if you’re into that sort of thing. To be clear, Consumer Reports didn’t hate everything about the VF8.
In fact, it liked the styling, spacious cabin and long warranty. The list of complaints, on the other hand, is much longer, though, including the power delivery, brakes, regenerative braking programming, ride, steering and suspension tuning. And while it may look like it can run with the electric crossovers offered by the competition, Consumer Reports isn’t confident the interior materials will hold up.
Testers also plan to keep an eye on seat comfort, how the rear seats fold, excessive road noise, the actual functionality of the cargo area, the controls, the infotainment system and the driver assistance features. Software can eventually be updated and could hypothetically get better, but there isn’t much that can be done before a mid-cycle refresh if things start to wear out or break. Consumer Reports tends to keep its criticisms as profes.
