First Drive: Denza D9 Premium AWD – Luxurious All-Electric Behemoth!

We recently had a go with Malaysia’s top-selling luxury electric MPV, the all-new Denza D9, in its top-spec Premium AWD guise…

In the recent months, our local EV marketspace has been flocked by several new luxury EV MPVs, all hailing from China. In the midst of these new luxury box-on-wheels, the new Denza D9 stood out as the most popular option amongst Malaysians—the Denza MPV was recently crowned as one of the top-selling luxury EV MPVs in our market.

Brought in by BYD Malaysia as the official distributor, the D9 has etched its way into the Malaysian market, thanks to its familiar yet elegant design, top-notch interior space with tons of amenities, and decent all-around performance.

To put things up to the test, we were recently invited by Denza Malaysia to a special media drive trip with the Denza D9 in its top-spec Premium AWD form. After driving this luxury behemoth for two days from Kuala Lumpur to Desaru, Johor, here’s our first impression of Malaysia’s top-selling luxury electric MPV…

The Car

As the brand’s first and only model to date, the new Denza D9 is an instant eye turner, but not in the same way as some of its adversaries. That is because, compared to its immediate rivals, the D9 stood as the most conservative-looking, in a good way, that is.

Compared to its bolder rivals, the Denza D9 gets a more conservative yet elegant exterior design.

At first glance, the D9 adopts the same simple, boxy design made popular by its popular, combustion-powered Japanese rivals. Despite this, the D9 does carry its own design cues to make it unique, including the sharp LED headlights with elongated DRLs, full-width LED taillights with distinct arrow-shaped signatures, 18-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, and many more.

Dimension-wise, the D9 also slots in perfectly amongst its adversaries, spanning 5,250 mm long, 1,960 mm wide, 1,920 mm tall, and with a wheelbase of 3,110 mm. Elsewhere, three exterior colour options are available for customers to choose, namely Arctic White, Whale Sea Blue, and Cosmos Black.

Things get more interesting as we get inside the D9, as the cabin is laced with tons of space and premium amenities one expects to see in a premium MPV. For the top-spec Premium variant, the D9 innards are engulfed in pure Nappa leather upholstery that comes in two shades, while accompanied by an equally smooth suede headliner and real wood veneers.

Featuring a 2-2-3 seating configuration, the second row of the D9 is easily the best place to be, as it features two captain-style seats that are brimmed with luxurious functions. Not only are the two seats powered and ventilated, but they also come with massage functions, while each features a dedicated 50-watt wireless charger, a USB-C port, and an individual touch control panel—granting passengers access to most of the car’s functionalities.

Third-row space is also quite decent in the D9, where we find the space to be enough for three adults, while the USB-C ports and dedicated third-row air vents will keep rear occupants comfortable enough. Even with the third-row seats up, the D9 boot space is quite decent, measuring between 410 litres and 570 litres.

Other key amenities primed here include two panoramic sunroofs, built-in sunshades for the rear windows, a built-in refrigerator that can also heat up foods at up to 40 degrees Celsius, stowaway table-tops for second-row passengers, powered sliding doors, a large 15.6-inch central infotainment screen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a 21-speaker Dynaudio sound system, and many more.

While some of its rivals may boast some additional equipment over the D9, it is hard to deny that the Denza MPV still gets a pretty comprehensive list of interior equipment, and from our experience, we certainly felt there were more than enough things inside here to keep us occupied during the long drive. Speaking of which…

The Drive

Our drive started at the Denza Old Klang Road showroom, where we made several rest and charging stops along the way to our final destination in Desaru, Johor. While on-paper specs showed that we could make it all the way from KL to Desaru without any charging stops, our drive was intended for us to experience the comfort and performance of the D9 in long-distance journeys, rather than a simple range test.

As mentioned prior, the specific D9 unit we tested was the top-spec Premium AWD variant, which uses a peppier dual-motor AWD setup rated at 369 HP (275 kW) and 470 Nm, which is enough to catapult this behemoth from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds. Energy is provided by a large 103.36-kWh BYD ‘Blade’ LFP battery pack, enough for up to 480 km of WLTP range, Denza claims.

Starting our journey at the D9’s second-row seats, the first thing we noticed was how quiet and smooth the whole cabin felt, as we barely noticed any wind or tyre noises from outside. Even when we were hitting highway cruising speeds, the D9 did a stellar job in lowering the cabin noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) level—which is important in such a luxurious MPV.

Another important factor that makes a good luxury MPV is in terms of ride comfort, and we’re happy to report that the D9 also excelled in this front. Compared to other EVs we’ve tested before, the D9’s ride and comfort levels surely felt one level above, thanks to BYD’s proprietary DiSus-C adaptive dampers it underpins.

With that being said, the D9 was still susceptible to minor head toss and swaying—which are the Achilles’ heels in many EVs we’ve tried so far. Gladly, we managed to mitigate these problems slightly by lowering the tyre pressure of our car while putting the adaptive dampers in their firmest settings to prevent further swaying.

What surprised us was how familiar the Denza D9 felt once we were behind the wheel. Those who are familiar with driving a large MPV will feel right at home, and dare we add that dual-motor setup did help to further elevate the driving experience in this large behemoth.

Thanks to the dual-motor setup, accelerating in this behemoth felt quite effortless, and it didn’t take too long before we went beyond the highway speed limits. The DiSus-C adaptive dampers also helped in masking the large size and hefty weight of the D9, which made driving this seemingly intimidating and powerful behemoth a walk in the park experience, even for less-experienced drivers.

In terms of energy consumption, dual-motor EVs aren’t exactly known for being frugal on the juice, and that’s exactly what we experienced during this long-distance trip. Given our heavy-footed driving that took place mostly on the right-hand side of the freeway, we only managed to clock in between 22.8 kWh per 100 km and 26.7 kWh per 100 km.

Thanks to its fast 166 kW DC charging speeds, the Denza D9 makes for a pretty reliable long-distance travel companion for you and your family.

Luckily, the D9’s decent charging performance provided some saving grace during this trip. By default, the D9 can accept DC charging at up to 166 kW, allowing the large LFP pack to be charged from 30-80% in 30 minutes. With more and more DC fast chargers now installed along or nearby major highways in Peninsula Malaysia, drivers will be having less range anxiety when travelling with the Denza D9.

Conclusion

From our short yet meaningful stint, we learned that the Denza D9 Premium AWD packs enough punch to not only make it one of the most viable luxury MPV options but also solidify its position as one of the most popular luxury EVs out there.

Priced at RM309,900 for the top-spec model, the D9 also comes with a comprehensive warranty package. Included with said price are a 6-year or 150,000 km vehicle warranty, an 8-year or 160,000 km battery warranty, a separate 8-year or 150,000 km warranty for the drive motor and motor controller, plus a first-of-its-kind cross-border after-sales warranty programme, covering Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

Given its well-packaged product, a comprehensive warranty package, plus a fast-growing network of dealerships and service centres across Peninsula Malaysia, it comes as no surprise that the Denza D9 has managed to capture the crown as Malaysia’s top-selling luxury electric MPV.

SPECIFICATIONS

2025 DENZA D9 PREMIUM AWD