There’s an actual altering tide within the auto trade proper now, with the rise of high quality, worthwhile Chinese language-made alternate options to what’s on provide from established European, American, Korean and Japanese producers. Manufacturers beforehand thought-about ‘funds’ like Hyundai and Kia have decidedly moved up-market to assist the decrease volumes and better expectations of the EV market, which has left room for Chinese language automakers to undercut principally everybody.
However Chinese language carmakers at the moment are additionally seeking to the premium market, and that is the area the Zeekr X is (pun meant) looking for to play in. It’s a automotive that may usually sustain with rather more costly alternate options – or it could, if not for quite a lot of minor however painful points that add as much as undermine a lot of its enchantment.
Zeekr is a Chinese automaker that shares DNA with its sister brands Smart, Volvo and Polestar. These companies are all owned by Geely, a Chinese auto giant. The underlying architecture the Zeekr X is built on – including its electrical and mechanical design – is shared with the Volvo EX30, which I reviewed back in late 2024, so on paper a minimum of, the 2 ought to be very comparable.
I used to be eager to see what a automotive from a special firm may appear like with the identical platform, significantly one concentrating on a extra accessible worth level – and I’ve been left disillusioned by a spread of perplexing points.
The Zeekr X finally suffers from lots of the identical issues because the EX30, however then piles much more of its personal on high. Volvo’s entry-level EV is kneecapped by its minimalism, with unconventional sticks behind the steering wheel and an amazing quantity of the driving expertise reliant upon the infotainment system, capped off with a Tesla-inspired design that unwisely axes the instrument cluster.
Whereas the Zeekr X does fortunately put the instrument cluster again (and certainly its cruise settings can largely be tweaked by way of the steering wheel), the infotainment system is a little bit of a chore to take care of. Intuitively laid out as its residence display screen could also be, the poor contrasting of its native navigation app and submenus with unimpressive layouts make Zeekr’s tackle the Volvo EX30 a little bit of a miss.
And that’s with out stepping into the automotive’s bodily points. Firstly, I discovered myself having to exhausting reset the automotive a number of occasions a day (involving urgent a mixture of buttons reasonably than a easy off/on) simply to get the infotainment system to function easily – in any other case Android Auto would merely be too laggy to depend upon.
Including to this, the automotive’s fob has a particularly worrying problem. The fob drains cost from its CR-2450 button battery alarmingly quick ambiently, with many customers reporting flat fob batteries inside months of buy. A fob is supposed to retain a battery for years on finish, not have its battery changed a number of occasions a 12 months.
The sum of all this stuff mixed left me feeling that the Zeekr X merely lacks the polish wanted to be a dependable premium automotive. It’s disappointing to should say this, as a result of on paper the X is kind of a aggressive EV, boasting a good battery vary and DC recharging pace, together with acceleration that punches your head again, however there’s simply an excessive amount of to the expertise that causes irritation.
Zeekr X specs
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Specs |
Zeekr X |
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Country of manufacture |
China |
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Price |
Zeekr X RWD: AU$49,900* Zeekr X AWD: AU$62,900 *The Zeekr X is unavailable in the US but is planned for future release in the UK, with a price and date to be announced |
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Range |
Zeekr X RWD: 446km (WLTP) / 277mi (WLTP) Zeekr X AWD: 400km (WLTP) / 248mi (WLTP) |
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Battery size |
66kWh |
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Power / torque |
Zeekr X RWD: 200kW / 343Nm Zeekr X AWD: 315kW / 543Nm |
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Maximum charging capacity |
7kW (RWD/AC) / 11kW (AWD/AC) / 150kW (DC) |
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Quoted recharge speed (DC) |
10% – 80% in less than 30 minutes |
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Drivetrain |
Zeekr X RWD: RWD Zeekr X AWD: AWD |
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Dimensions |
4,432 L x 2,025 W x 1,572 H |
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Boot capacity |
362L, 1182L (including rear seating) |
But first, the good stuff
We’ll have plenty of time to get into my problems with the Zeekr X in the next section, but I don’t believe the car is a total write-off. All of the problems I have with the X, are theoretically within Zeekr’s ability to change – there’s nothing systemic at fault here, and indeed the company is working off a good base platform.
Aesthetically, I really love what the X is doing. You can see how it relates to the Volvo EX30 just by pulling photos of both cars up; their designs share a prominent rear column and a hatchback-goes-SUV bodyshape, but the X also makes strides to prove itself unique.
A two-tone colour scheme is present across both the RWD and AWD trims of the Zeekr X, with headlights that I would say are entirely unique… if they didn’t share traits with cars from another Geely sibling, Lynk & Co. There’s also a satisfying subtlety across the car, without much branding save for ‘Zeekr’ written across the back and ‘X’ in the corner of the boot – a far cry from BYD’s excessive badging across all sides of its rival vehicles.
The X doesn’t sit far off the ground but is comfortable to get in and out of, and while offering a fairly decent boot capacity, it’s still quite a nimble car that’s capable of fitting into tight parking spots easily.
The interior is broadly satisfying too, and has some lovely touches that really make the car feel up-market, including an RGB lightbar across the dash. Similar to the Volvo EX30 and EX40, the rear windows are quite small, while a huge moonroof spans the entire seating area. The front seats are comfortable, with a decently sized infotainment screen and a capable instrument cluster situated on the steering column.
Every now and then the X reveals some unexpected tricks – though most tread close to gimmick territory. A good example is an LED screen on the outside of the driver’s side column that displays charging and battery information at a glance – and without needing to open the car. I like the idea, but considering most automakers get by communicating this information through a smartphone app, I can see why a column screen isn’t more common.
On the even more gimmicky side, the car can play sound effects. There’s an app installed from the get-go that can play noises from the car’s exterior speakers, including animal and sports car sounds, but also including phrases for other drivers and pedestrians – “thanks for giving way” and “make way please” for example, but if you so wish, you can use the car as a megaphone and simply talk out of the surrounding speakers.
This is a freaky thing to put into a car and it’s just begging for folks to be silly, but at the same time it’s kind of cool. The utility is poorly deployed – these sound effects can only be accessed via a full-screen app – but I see the vision, even if I personally would never use any of these sound effects unless I wanted to make my niece laugh.
On the road, the Zeekr X drives well, without much road noise and pleasant handling. The car feels well tuned for comfort and its cruise control is easy to deploy, though I would honestly recommend disabling the car’s driver monitoring system – it’s too annoying for its own good and will beep at you for the slightest things (such as if it detects eye motion away from the road in front of you, or if you go ever so slightly out of the middle of the road). Its recharging speed is respectable compared to similarly priced rivals, and is about what I’d expect for the price. A 2.4kW charger is also included with the car.
Acceleration is punchy and the steering wheel’s buttons are well laid out – the X displays just enough information on its instrument cluster and, on the whole, the cabin feels luxurious to sit in during a road trip.
So on the whole, there’s a lot of really good stuff to say about the Zeekr X and it’s a capable EV at first glance.
Unfortunately, after spending a week with it, my initial impressions started to sour.
It all adds up
I encountered a lot of issues with the Zeekr X. Having tested more than 30 electric vehicles over the years, I’m used to finding one or two odd things that might turn buyers off. Sometimes these are specific settings, other times related to the setup of the car. The Zeekr X’s problems aren’t deeply rooted, but they are both numerous and pervasive enough to add up.
I’ll start with the most troubling – the key fob that’s provided for locking/unlocking and boot controls. As I already mentioned above, a car fob powered by a CR2450 button cell battery should not be draining as fast as I observed when testing with a multimeter. By my estimate, the fresh button cell battery that I put into the fob would go flat within two to three months, considering the power it was consuming when hooked up to a multimeter.
This is, without mincing words, bad. It adds both additional costs and annoyance for something that’s simply a non-issue for other car brands. It also appears to be a widespread problem, if the Zeekr Australia owners group on Facebook is any indication. While a flat fob battery thankfully won’t immobilise the car, as the RFID chip will function without power (so you can place the fob against the steering column to unlock and against an RFID reader on the arm relaxation to energy the automotive) it’s finicky and much from very best, and will depart you tapping your fob towards the automotive trim attempting to get it to work. It additionally doesn’t assist that the fob feels low-cost and, on condition that it’s painted plastic, scratches simply.
We relayed the issues we had with the fob to Zeekr, and in a press release to TechRadar the corporate wrote: “We’re conscious of remoted experiences relating to key fob battery life in sure markets and are actively investigating this to find out if an adjustment is required. As a tech-focused model, we’re additionally working to advertise and improve the operation of our smartphone app as a key answer.”
The problems I had throughout my testing time sadly didn’t cease there. The infotainment system can be riddled with issues, probably the most outstanding of which is the intense slowness of some apps, particularly Android Auto, when beginning the automotive. To get Android Auto to work nicely with out laggyness, I’d must reset the infotainment system (which is separate from restarting the automotive) and wait about two minutes for the method to totally full. Once more, this ought to be fundamental stuff in any automotive manufactured in 2025 – how is a supposedly luxurious automotive, as it’s marketed in Australia, having this sort of downside?
Zeekr additionally addressed this in a press release: “We acknowledge that some customers have skilled occasional lag, significantly with Android Auto, and our engineering group is prioritizing stability enhancements in upcoming OTA updates.”
And also you may be considering – if the automotive is lush, why even trouble connecting your cellphone and utilizing Android Auto? One compelling purpose is that the built-in navigation app is so poorly contrasted that it’s exhausting to make out something on its map, whether or not you’re set to darkish or gentle mode. It’s borderline unusable on a vibrant day, in comparison with the clear format of Apple and Google Maps.
The infotainment system can be fairly spotty by way of high quality. Its quantity management is cut up throughout a number of sound classes (media, assistant, notifications and so forth), and at occasions in my testing it wasn’t clear which one I used to be turning up or down. Annoyingly, even when warnings had been muted, system beeps just like the overspeed chime would carry down the quantity of enjoying music, making for an excessive annoyance on the highway. I even noticed grammar points when the automotive prompted me about its loudspeaker setting. In its responses to our queries, Zeekr informed TechRadar Australia that it’s working to refine responsiveness based mostly on driver suggestions.
There are a few different issues that rubbed me the unsuitable means for a supposedly premium EV too. The interior door buttons would typically require a double press reasonably than a single press to register, for instance, and the bonnet would usually not fully catch and at occasions I’d discover it unlocked after a drive. The HUD additionally contains directional arrows which can be typically ambiguous and don’t clearly point out the highway you’re being navigated towards.
Most of those issues ought to be solvable with software program updates (a software program replace was deployed throughout my testing interval, however didn’t seem to resolve any of the listed points when utilized), and the remainder by a revision to the Zeekr X on the manufacturing line, however at current I’m hesitant to suggest the automotive over its more-genuinely premium Volvo EX30 sibling, and even its closest competitor, the BYD Sealion 7. There are simply too many small points that add as much as an total annoying expertise.
I really wanted to like the Zeekr X
I went into this review with very high hopes. In Australia, the Zeekr X balances a fairly competitive range, recharging speed and price with an attractive interior and aesthetic. My vision was that it would take the best of the Volvo EX30 and make it more accessible.
In reality, the Zeekr X is a disappointing product that demonstrates glossed-over cheapness more than committed luxury. One day, I hope the X is more impressive, but Zeekr needs to address a long list of little things before it’ll be ready to compete with better-established EV brands.
A new-to-market automaker having teething issues isn’t surprising, and indeed when BYD arrived in Australia (back in 2022) it had its work cut out addressing major customer complaints – and over the last three years, the increasingly popular Chinese manufacturer has made good progress. I’m quietly hopeful that Zeekr can make similar strides wherever it sells its cars, but it’s difficult to recommend right now, especially with the key fob battery issue that appears to be quite common.
If you’re shopping for something in the same niche as the Zeekr X, I’d recommend considering the Volvo EX30, BYD Sealion 7, Xpeng G7 or Volkswagen ID4.
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