2025 Zeekr 009 review

Forget the traditional idea that large, imposing sedans are the true mark of luxury. The 2025 Zeekr 009 people mover is where true luxury lives.

To an Australian audience, a minivan might seem like an odd choice for a flagship, but across Asia and increasingly across Europe, the sheer space and flexibility of a low-floor, high-roof van offers luxurious accommodation that a sedan or SUV simply cannot match.

Enter the Zeekr 009. It’s not alone in the luxury multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) market, but it’s still a largely untapped market here.

All the signs are promising. The Zeekr 009 is powerful, silent, features a long electric driving range, and has an interior fitout that looks like the business-class cabin on an international jetliner.

On the other hand, Zeekr is a new brand in Australia with no real history, and that can be a challenge when asking customers to hand over in excess of $150K on-the-road.

Zeekr isn’t a small company, though, being a brand under the larger Geely umbrella. As such, this new brand draws on the expertise of other Geely brands, including Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus (among others) for a car that feels mature, high-quality, and truly luxurious.

The Zeekr 009 is offered in two variants in Australia.

Both more or less offer the same level of equipment, but one offers six seats in a 2-2-2 layout, while the car we’re testing is a seven-seat model with 2-2-3 seating.

That means, no matter which variant you choose, the Zeekr 009 comes with electrically adjustable second-row captain's chairs, dual sunroofs, 20-inch alloy wheels, power-sliding side doors, nappa leather interior, 15-inch infotainment and 17-inch rear entertainment screens, and a 30-speaker Yamaha sound system.

There are some differences between the two, but these are mostly to do with the accommodation and access to the third row, plus additional second-row seat equipment like heated leg rests, fold-out tray tables, and different second-row storage options.

While the car we drove had a basic black-on-black exterior and interior, a range of no-cost two- and three-tone interiors and a choice of four exterior shades can be mixed and matched for a more individual look. 

Pricing for the seven-seat Zeekr 009 starts from $135,900 plus on-road costs, with a $4000 upgrade to the six-seat model.

The Zeekr 009 also holds the title of Australia’s most powerful people mover, by an incredibly large margin. The dual-motor electric powertrain’s combined 450kW output leaps ahead of the 273kW Lexus LM500h, 250kW Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX, and 216kW Kia Carnival V6 – the next runners up in the power stakes. 

In terms of likely competitors, the EV people mover segment is off to a surprisingly robust start.

LDV, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen all field competitors, while brands like Kia and Lexus have opted for hybrid solutions.

The more premium of those are cars like the Lexus LM, which starts from $163,530 plus on-road costs and stretches to $223,520 for the top-spec version. Like the 009, the focus is skewed more towards business-class amenities, rather than outright passenger capacity.

The Mercedes-Benz EQV starts from $162,797 plus on-road costs, and shares its body and cabin with the diesel-powered V-Class. Range is much shorter (430km NEDC vs 582km WLTP), and the 150kW EQV300 can’t match the effortless power of the Zeekr 009.

The people mover most likely to attract attention in Australia is the much cheaper Volkswagen ID. Buzz. The seven-seat model offers up to 452km range, but overall dimensions are considerably smaller than those of the 009, translating to a less spacious (and luxurious) interior.

The low-volume nature of the Zeekr 009, coupled with the build-to-order exterior and interior colour combinations, means that Zeekr isn't yet offering deals or packages on the 009.

Zeekr’s dealership footprint is only small in Australia so far, with showrooms in Perth, Geelong, Melbourne, Canberra, and two in Sydney. The brand also has pop-up locations in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, and another in Melbourne.

With Zeekr still adding new models to its range and building its presence in Australia, the best way to find the latest Zeekr news is to check it out here.

The Zeekr 009 takes up a lot of space on the road. It’s 5209mm long and 2024mm wide, making it around 54mm longer and 29mm wider than a Kia Carnival. It’s also 1812mm high, so it can squeeze into most multi-deck car parks fine.

Of course, those huge external dimensions mean huge space inside.

The front two rows are particularly generous, and the sliding second row can be pushed all the way back to allow the captain’s chairs to recline, with ottomans in each seat, for a true business-class experience.

The third-row seats are still nicely trimmed and comfortable, but if the second-row occupants are feeling selfish, they can all but remove third-row leg room.

The driver’s seat is positioned quite high, and prompts an upright driving position, which works well in a minivan like this. There’s a centre console between the front seats, so no walk-through access.

The soft nappa leather trim, padded soft-touch surfaces on the dash and doors, and glossy inlays with ambient lighting feel like what you’d expect to find in a Mercedes-Benz S Class or BMW 7 Series limo.

Dual-zone front climate control (plus a third zone for rear occupants), heated, ventilated, and massaging front seats with full electric adjustment, and a powered steering column ensure a high level of standard equipment.

Storage is via a shallow centre console, with a larger pass-through between the front seats down low, with door bins and a standard-sized glovebox.

Most vehicle functions run through the centre touchscreen, but the side door release buttons and front sunroof shade have shortcut buttons mounted on the interior light housing. For a car likely to be called into use as a chauffeur-driven shuttle, it would be nice to see those door buttons in an easier-to-reach place.

The second row of the Zeekr 009 is where you’ll really want to be, though.

The individual seats offer full electric adjustment, the passenger-side seat can be fully reclined with the front seat tilted forward and out of the way if it’s unoccupied, and a large 17-inch touchscreen can be electrically lowered and controlled via touch or remote control.

The screen also sits just high enough in the roof so as not to impede the rear-view mirror for the driver.

Each side door has controls for both left and right windows, and a small touchscreen display that provides quick access to climate controls, seat adjustment and memory, and massage settings.

Rear seat passengers can also access a ‘smart fridge’ that can cool as low as -6ºC or warm up to 50ºC. It also has a setting to stay running after the vehicle is switched off for a period of time… say goodbye to melted Magnums on the trip home from the shops.

The seven-seat 009 features a narrow walk-through to the third row with a fold-up table in between the seats. If you opt for the six-seat variant, the middle seats get individual aircraft-style tables that fold out from the armrest.

There are some surprising lowlights in the second row, like window blinds that are manual, incredibly fussy to fasten and release, and almost unable to retract themselves with assistance. The table between the seats is plasticky and flimsy feeling, which is at odds with the rest of the premium cabin.

Into the third row, seating is still quite good, but given how fancy the row in front is, it can feel a bit plain here.

Seating is a regular three-position bench, and it can be manually reclined and features a folding armrest with cupholders. The rearmost seat occupants get push-button air vent controls and manual window shades, but not much more.

Folding the second row for access is a one-touch button press, making it quick and easy to get to the third row. The last line of seats is manually folded, and the seatbacks only tumble forward, not flat into the floor, eating into cargo space somewhat.

With the third row in place, Zeekr quotes a 574-litre capacity, down slightly on the 627L available in a Kia Carnival, while folding the third row and pushing the second row forward opens up a claimed maximum of 2979L – a touch more than a Carnival’s 2827L claim. 

Despite a fairly pronounced bonnet up front, under-bonnet storage is quite small at just 29 litres. Without dedicated cable storage elsewhere, this is an ideal place to keep your Type 2 charge cable, but it’s not big enough to carry much more.

The Zeekr 009 uses its 15.05-inch OLED infotainment to run not only the infotainment system, but also as the access point to the full array of vehicle functions, settings, and driver-assist systems.

The infotainment system offers inbuilt navigation, FM/DAB radio, Bluetooth and Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It’s worth calling out the 30-speaker Yamaha sound system too. With a rated 3000-watt output, that’s a serious stereo, and while quality and sound reproduction are excellent, it’s a surprisingly soft system, lacking the volume you might expect from such a powerful sound system.

The 17-inch rear screen can be operated via touch or remote control, and the remote even has a flocked storage compartment in the left seat to keep it from rattling when not in use.

Like the front screen, this display can download apps and games, so you're never too far away from your TikTok feed, or a quick game of Beach Buggy Racing (you’ll just need to pair your own controller).

There is a selfie camera built into the rear display, allowing it to be used for meetings and conference calls on the go, and it even has a magnetic cover that you can flip over to ensure privacy.

Each seat has access to USB-C charging too, at a minimum of 60W – that’s as powerful as most laptop chargers, and gives you the flexibility to fast-charge a phone or top up your computer on the go.

One of the second-row ports goes further still with 100-watt power, which is enough to keep power fed into a high-powered gaming laptop.

The layout of the Zeekr infotainment system is more or less the same generic EV menu layout used by Chinese brands like Leapmotor and Deepal, which appears like an off-the-shelf solution that closely mimics Tesla’s infotainment software.

That’s no bad thing either, as it offers a row of easy-to-access shortcuts down the right side of the screen, and is laid out in easy-to-use menus. A customisable home screen also lets you put tiles and widgets for commonly used functions and apps within easy reach.

One of my biggest gripes is that when left in ‘auto’, the screen dimming barely illuminates the centre screen. It defaults to the darkest mode with the headlights on, meaning if you drive at dusk or dawn with headlights on, you need to manually tweak the screen to be able to see it – most other cars use ambient light sensing for this and adjust accordingly.

The digital instrument display is another generic component shared across multiple EV brands. It offers clear and simple speed and range info, and a trip computer window that can show navigation, trip stats, media, tyre pressures, and other info.

The massive 35.95-inch head-up display is actually surprisingly minimalist, and while it sounds like it might be overkill, the clear and simple info shown, and the well-spaced layout, make it easy and natural to use.

Five years of connected services are paired with the Zeekr 009, giving the car a range of over-the-air updates, plus online trip, search, and weather info.

A Zeekr app is also available, but we weren’t able to successfully pair the car to the app for remote charging control or door unlock functions. This was a big pain, with no access to charge status and no easy way to unlock the car or selectively open the sliding doors.

The 009 just needs a regular key rather than the included RFID card, which means you need to approach the driver’s door, unlock the car, then activate the door you need to open. This would be improved with app access, but could also easily be handled by a traditional key.

No crash tests have been carried out by Australian crash test authority, ANCAP, nor its European equivalent.

This leaves the Zeekr 009 with no relevant safety score to fall on. Given the low sales volumes likely for a car like this, that’s unlikely to change in the near future.

The interior is covered by seven airbags, including full-length curtain airbags that reach to the third row, and a centre airbag to prevent front occupant head clash in a side impact.

There are four ISOFIX child seat mounts (second and third rows) and five top-tether child seat mounts.

With Zeekr pulling from the same pool of Geely engineers as Volvo and Polestar, among other brands, it comes as no big surprise to find a comprehensive list of safety features.

Autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist with lane centring and departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, speed sign recognition, and front and rear cross-traffic alert are all included.

The Zeekr 009 also comes with automated parking assist, automatic lane change, rear collision warning (to visually alert of other vehicles if they approach too fast), steering wheel hands-off detection, 360-degree cameras with multiple views, and a digital video recorder that allows the cameras to be used like a dash cam and store incident footage.

A driver monitoring camera is also included. It’s quite smart – able to detect the difference between yawning and simply screaming along to your favourite Cold Chisel song. Better still, the safety settings are stored when you switch the car off, so driver monitoring or speed alert settings stay off if that’s how you want them, and don’t restart each time you start the car.

For the most part, the driver assist systems are well tuned.

The cruise control behaves smoothly and isn’t jerky, but the corner speed control reacts late into bends, then slows the car down far too much and is slow to accelerate out of bends. That’s not on tight curves either, but typical shallow-radius sweeping curves.

I also didn’t like the lane-centring system, which refuses to let the driver stray from dead centre in their lane, and is jerky and tiresome to use. Better to leave this system off, and just let the regular lane assist keep you in the right place with no need to fight against the car.

Zeekr’s warranty runs for five years with no limit on distance for private use. Commercial users (chauffeur services, rentals, delivery, etc.) get a much shorter term of three years or 120,000km.

Warranty coverage for the EV battery is eight years or 160,000km, whichever comes first. Five years of roadside assist is also included.

Zeekr has set service intervals at two years or 40,000km, but at this stage hasn't announced service pricing. A representative from the brand said these details will be communicated at a later date.

Insurance can often be a bit of an unknown for new brands, and the Zeekr 009 returned an expensive $3279 quote for 12 months of comprehensive cover.

Still, that undercuts the same quote for a Mercedes-Benz EQV, which came in at $6470 per year. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz was the cheapest at $2760 per year for the high-performance GTX, and $2665 for the Pro LWB.

All quotes were obtained using the details for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Zeekr is proud of the 582km WLTP range rating for the 009, though some of its marketing material points to a 682km claim, but that is based on the more lenient NEDC test cycle. WLTP is a closer match to what you can expect in the real world.

Official consumption is rated at 20.4kWh per 100 kilometres (which would actually give a shorter effective range of 568km from the Zeekr 009’s 116kWh battery), but in testing consumption was higher at 24.7kWh/100km.

That means real-world driving is a much shorter 470km on a single charge, and a long way off the claimed figure. Still great for city runs and airport shuttles, but less ideal as a long-range tourer. However, this total driving range depends on the specific driving conditions of the driver.

Charging downtime is also a worthy consideration. Zeekr says an 11kW charger will take 13.5 hours for a full charge, which you're unlikely to ever do, but even a 10–80 per cent top-up would take every bit of eight hours, while a 50kW fast charge would be close to two hours plugged in.

Maximum charge rate for the Zeekr 009 is relatively low too, at only 205kW. On a compatible charger that allows a 30-minute 10–80 per cent top-up, but also means you can’t utilise a 350kW charger for max output.

With the focus on rear seat comfort and luxury, the overwhelmingly good news about the Zeekr 009’s on-road demeanour is just how quiet and smooth it is.

The ride quality is absolutely superb. The air suspension at each corner floats over surface changes and makes short work of speed humps and potholes.

The adjustable suspension also offers height adjustment and can auto-lower for easier entry and egress. Along with the super-soft Comfort mode, a firmer Sport setting reduces some of the floaty rebound, but still keeps the ride quality incredibly supple.

There’s genuinely no reason for the dual-motor drivetrain’s combined output to hit 450kW, and yet it does. Given the size and heft of the 009 (almost 2.9 tonnes), it needs some power to feel swift, but a claimed 4.5-second 0–100km/h ability is really just thumbing its nose at rivals.

As is the case with a lot of Chinese EVs, acceleration response is more gentle at initial application, and pace builds up, rather than throwing occupants back into their reclining seats from a standing start.

Again there’s a Sport mode for more immediate acceleration, and settings for a kickdown mode that removes any buffer from sudden rolling acceleration, and just delivers full power when requested.

Some of these settings feel more like novelties rather than essential additions for a luxurious people mover like this, but Zeekr is showing that it has developed a car with real engineering credentials.

Its steering is light and easy to manoeuvre, and the turning circle is quite compact for such a long vehicle. Despite the big blocky shape, the Zeekr 009 feels stable on the highway, even in strong winds, and the steering isn’t twitchy or sensitive for long highway trips.

The 009 also offers a choice of weak and strong brake regen, or a one-pedal mode. The difference between settings is minimal, however. The one-pedal setting might be one of the lowest-regen modes we’ve used and takes an incredibly long time to bring the vehicle to a halt.

It feels like this may have been configured so as not to upset occupant comfort, but in reality it makes it almost impossible to use in traffic without needing to use the brake pedal, or upsetting other road users as you coast from 60km/h to zero while still hundreds of metres away from an intersection.

Of course, without a combustion engine, there’s no motor noise or vibrations to contend with, and wind noise is well isolated. Window glass is laminated for extra insulation, and only a hint of tyre noise creeping in on coarse tarmac.

The Zeekr 009 isn’t a car for everyone, and it’s not the kind of family all-rounder that a Kia Carnival would be. It’s an impressive luxury people carrier, and deserves to cut through into this niche segment.

For businesses like resorts, limo companies, and upscale holiday charters, it’s a no-brainer. The unbeatable ride quality and impressive refinement are the absolute height of luxury and sophistication.

It’s a real shame that the warranty is cut down so much for commercial users. It puts a big roadblock in the path of owners who would depend on that warranty assurance the most.

Of course, the 009 isn't just a business bus. It can work for older families, for all the same reasons.

Discerning luxury buyers who aren’t swayed by the lure of a three-row SUV will find everything they could hope for in the Zeekr 009, for less than the price of an entry-level BMW X7 or Mercedes GLS.

The core of this car is good, with comfortable ride and confident handling, stable infotainment, and a host of premium appointments. Zeekr still has some fine-tuning to do in a couple of small areas, but not in any way that stops this from being a stellar purchase in its current form.

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

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