New Car

[briztoon]

Does anyone here own an EV?

We are looking for our first. At this stage we're looking at either a BYD Sealion 7 or a Zeekr 7X.

 

[Crimso]

Does anyone here own an EV?

We are looking for our first. At this stage we're looking at either a BYD Sealion 7 or a Zeekr 7X.

I personally don’t own one but I’d probably go for the zeekr, no reason that comes to mind, I just like the look more than the byd.

Check out the electric Viking on YouTube, he does some pretty good assessment's on all the ev’s.

Don’t be talked into a hybrid.

 

[MSB ROYS]

I don't think that buying a new petrol or diesel standard family car anymore is worth it IMO. Not going to be worth much at all in five years other than for parts. Hybrid is only worth considering if you need to do a lot of driving, especially rural. Just for city driving, EV is the way to go.

However, new cars come with a small but significant risk of cyber issues - data gathering, new subscriptions, potential for manufacturer and third party control of car etc. if you're conformable with a Chinese made car in these circumstances, then go for it as they are good value. TBF, not sure I fully trust the other manufacturers either.

 

[briztoon]

I don't think that buying a new petrol or diesel standard family car anymore is worth it IMO. Not going to be worth much at all in five years other than for parts. Hybrid is only worth considering if you need to do a lot of driving, especially rural. Just for city driving, EV is the way to go.

However, new cars come with a small but significant risk of cyber issues - data gathering, new subscriptions, potential for manufacturer and third party control of car etc. if you're conformable with a Chinese made car in these circumstances, then go for it as they are good value. TBF, not sure I fully trust the other manufacturers either.

So we’re probably going the Zeekr. Did a google search of the company. They own Volvo, Lotus, Polestar and Geely.

How many other European brands are now owned by Asian conglomerates?

 

[notliondown]

So we’re probably going the Zeekr. Did a google search of the company. They own Volvo, Lotus, Polestar and Geely.

How many other European brands are now owned by Asian conglomerates?

Came in here to say pretty much that mate, Geely owns Zeekr and Volvo - there are some similarities to the Volvo in the design and even some parts in the 7X. I've had a couple of performance Volvos and they are hugely underrated (actually their EV's are worth a look they just dropped the price) so if any of that guidance has seeped down the Zeekr will be great.

Having said that, we own a BYD Shark 6. That thing has blown me away. The performance, build quality, equipment list, refinement... and a UTE!! BYD are one of the biggest automotive groups in the world, having also overtaken Tesla as the largest EV maker (and that's without access to the North American market). Fair to say that they also lead the way in "available (not pie in the sky)" battery tech with their blade batteries. BYD have stated they want to be in the top 3 brands in Australia and thier product range keeps expanding (they also have Denza which is like Lexus is to Toyota, Denza is to BYD).

I'd say you will be happy either way, let personal choice and price sway you not so much the company. Either are here for the long haul and both are leaders in the field. Buy what makes you happiest

 

[briztoon]

I personally don’t own one but I’d probably go for the zeekr, no reason that comes to mind, I just like the look more than the byd.

Check out the electric Viking on YouTube, he does some pretty good assessment's on all the ev’s.

Don’t be talked into a hybrid.

I've seen him my research. Turns out he owns the AWD variant of the Zeekr 7x. Our budget doesn't extend that far, unfortunately.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

After-sales is going to be a bit of a crapshoot with a lot of these Chinese brands. Just picked up an BYD Atto1 as our second car, but only after talking with a bunch of friends with BYD's - none of them had a bad word to say.

My advice after test driving a bunch of cars in the past few months - make sure you can live with whatever safety bing-bongs your chosen car has (and they all have them these days). It may seem like a small thing, but when you're dealing with them every drive... Most you can change the settings for a drive but not as a default.

 

[briztoon]

After-sales is going to be a bit of a crapshoot with a lot of these Chinese brands. Just picked up an BYD Atto1 as our second car, but only after talking with a bunch of friends with BYD's - none of them had a bad word to say.

My advice after test driving a bunch of cars in the past few months - make sure you can live with whatever safety bing-bongs your chosen car has (and they all have them these days). It may seem like a small thing, but when you're dealing with them every drive... Most you can change the settings for a drive but not as a default.

I get it.

My 2018 Hyundai Tucson hates parked cars on an inside bend. Crash avoidance siren starts going off, and if the roads natural bend doesn’t doesn’t get the parked car out of line of sight soon enough, then the emergency brake engages. PItA.

Oh, we looked at the BYD Sealion yesterday. Wife didn’t like it.

We know Zeekr has their own service centre at Springwood.

 

[notliondown]

If you like the Zeekr have a look at the X not the 7X - it's a little smaller but they have just slashed the prices, maybe that would work?

Huge price cut for updated Zeekr X electric car, plus more tech and power

Zeekr has slashed the price of its smallest EV to boost modest sales and take the fight to BYD, Kia and MG.

www.drive.com.au

 

[briztoon]

If you like the Zeekr have a look at the X not the 7X - it's a little smaller but they have just slashed the prices, maybe that would work?

Huge price cut for updated Zeekr X electric car, plus more tech and power

Zeekr has slashed the price of its smallest EV to boost modest sales and take the fight to BYD, Kia and MG.

www.drive.com.au

Wife definitely wants a larger, medium sized SUV. We looked at the BYD Sealion first, and the first thing my wife said, was that it wasn’t big enough inside (and my wife is small).

So we’ve put a deposit down on a Zeekr and have joined the 2 to 3 (to 4) month wait list.

 

[notliondown]

Wife definitely wants a larger, medium sized SUV. We looked at the BYD Sealion first, and the first thing my wife said, was that it wasn’t big enough inside (and my wife is small).

So we’ve put a deposit down on a Zeekr and have joined the 2 to 3 (to 4) month wait list.

That's awesome... given the Volvo connections I reckon you've made a great choice... congrats!!

 

[Morbidly_Obese]

If you need an EV now I would get the zeekr 7x, I rode in one the other day and it's quite a ride but if you can wait, I would delay until next year they are coming up with some crazy solid state and ultra dense batteries in china that will double the range. I'm holding out for the xiaomi yu7.

 

[briztoon]

If you need an EV now I would get the zeekr 7x, I rode in one the other day and it's quite a ride but if you can wait, I would delay until next year they are coming up with some crazy solid state and ultra dense batteries in china that will double the range. I'm holding out for the xiaomi yu7.

Yeah, we're buying now. Waiting doesn't really make sense for us, and I can not convince the wife about the Xiaomi or the the Zeekr 007 GT. She wants a large interior, medium SUV.

Ideally, we'd have preferred for Zeekr to bring the updated 2026 7x model to Australia in the second half of the year. But that doesn't look like happening. It has an updated exterior and interior, bigger battery and longer range.

Zeekr is prioritising the the 8x and 9x later this year, and 007 GT next year.

I'm not sure we'll see sodium ion solid state batteries will be in cars in Australia in the next couple of years. I do know CATL has said they are starting to mass produce their new battery.

 

[Morbidly_Obese]

Yeah, we're buying now. Waiting doesn't really make sense for us, and I can not convince the wife about the Xiaomi or the the Zeekr 007 GT. She wants a large interior, medium SUV.

Ideally, we'd have preferred for Zeekr to bring the updated 2026 7x model to Australia in the second half of the year. But that doesn't look like happening. It has an updated exterior and interior, bigger battery and longer range.

Zeekr is prioritising the the 8x and 9x later this year, and 007 GT next year.

I'm not sure we'll see sodium ion solid state batteries will be in cars in Australia in the next couple of years. I do know CATL has said they are starting to mass produce their new battery.

I would also check out the new BYD Atto 3 2026 model apparently it's a massive upgrade on the 2025 model and it's got more interior space and the new Blade 2 batteries.