I Drove Zeekr 7X On My Daily KL Routine For 5 Days - It Feels Way More Expensive Than RM193,800

There are plenty of electric SUVs hovering around the RM200,000 mark in Malaysia now, so simply being fast, packed with screens and loaded with features isn't enough to make one special anymore. The Zeekr 7X, however, left me with a slightly different impression.

I spent five days with the Zeekr 7X RWD Long Range, using it exactly how I would use my own car. There was no curated media route involved. I collected it from Zeekr Mutiara Damansara, immediately joined the evening rush-hour crawl towards Shah Alam, drove to my gym in Petaling Jaya, made late-night runs towards Seri Kembangan, visited IOI City Mall in Putrajaya and even squeezed it through the spiral ramps at the Shah Alam Library.

Basically, normal Klang Valley life. And after five days, my biggest takeaway wasn't its 421 PS output, 615 km WLTP range or 800V electrical architecture. It was just how expensive the whole car felt.

First Impression: Yep, This Is A Pretty Big Car For A Petite Woman

My first impression upon getting into the 7X was simple: big, modern and expensive-looking. At 4,787 mm long and 1,930 mm wide, the 7X certainly isn't a small SUV. You notice that size, particularly when entering tighter Malaysian car parks.

Strangely though, I never found it intimidating to drive. The relatively tall driving position gives you a good view of your surroundings, while the cameras and parking sensors take much of the stress out of manoeuvring something this wide.

The best test came at the Shah Alam Library, where I had to take the 7X through its tight, winding spiral ramps. Normally, that's exactly where driving a big SUV can become slightly nerve-racking.

Instead, the 360-degree camera system and transparent chassis view made it easy to see where the car was in relation to the walls and kerbs. It's still a large SUV, obviously. Technology can't physically shrink it. But the 7X gives you enough assistance that I quickly became confident placing it around tight spaces.

Then You Put Your Foot Down...

My test unit was the RWD Long Range, which gets a single rear motor producing 310 kW, or 421 PS, and 440 Nm of torque. Zeekr claims 0-100 km/h in 6.0 seconds. Six seconds doesn't sound particularly outrageous in today's world of ridiculously quick EVs. But numbers don't quite describe the sensation.

Put your foot down and my reaction was definitely "woah". The acceleration is extremely smooth. There's this almost effortless sensation of being propelled forward, yet the 7X never made me feel like I was fighting to keep it under control.

It felt fast, responsive and almost like it was flying, but still planted and reassuringly stable underneath me. That's probably what I appreciated most about its performance. The 7X doesn't need to scare you to prove that it's powerful. Whether I was crawling through traffic or picking up speed on the highway, its responses felt predictable and easy to manage. 

Klang Valley's Roads Didn't Ruin The Experience Either

Ride comfort was another major highlight. Anyone regularly driving around KL and Selangor knows the road surface can change from perfectly acceptable to "who approved this?" remarkably quickly. Yet rougher and uneven surfaces rarely disturbed the cabin enough for me to pay much attention to them.

The 7X seemed particularly good at isolating me from what was happening underneath the tyres. Over longer drives, that made the whole experience feel considerably more relaxing. It's worth noting that the RWD Long Range I drove doesn't get the air suspension fitted to the more expensive AWD Performance variant. Even without that hardware, I came away very impressed with how comfortable it was.

Highway driving suited the car equally well. It was quiet, stable and composed, which combined with the effortless acceleration to make longer journeys feel easy. And that's where my "Continental" comparison started making sense.

It wasn't one specific feature. It was the combination of refinement, stability, comfort and the way the car responded to my inputs that reminded me of considerably more expensive European SUVs I've experienced.

The Cabin Might Be The 7X's Best Party Trick

Then there's the interior. This is probably where the Zeekr 7X did the most damage to my perception of what a sub-RM200,000 car should feel like.

The design is modern without trying too hard. There are screens and plenty of technology, obviously, but I never felt like Zeekr was throwing unnecessary design elements everywhere simply to make the cabin look futuristic. Everything is relatively easy on the eyes. More importantly, it's nice to touch.

The surfaces I regularly interacted with felt expensive, and the overall fit and finish gave me very little sense that Zeekr had gone looking for obvious places to save money.

The front seats were another highlight. They hugged my body nicely without feeling restrictive, and I found them extremely comfortable. After living with the car for several days, these are seats I could easily imagine spending hours in on a long-distance drive.

The Laundry Test Might Be My Favourite Part

At one point, I had laundry running at a self-service laundry and about an hour to kill. So instead of finding somewhere else to wait, I stayed inside the 7X, opened my laptop and turned the car into a temporary mobile office.

With the air-conditioning running, ventilated seat keeping me cool and massage function switched on, I spent the next hour getting work done surprisingly comfortably. It sounds like a small thing, but experiences like this tell you a lot about what living with an EV can actually be like.

Cars spend plenty of time stationary. We wait for people, appointments, food, laundry and countless other things. Being able to sit comfortably in a quiet, air-conditioned cabin without an engine idling away in the background is one of those EV benefits that doesn't look particularly exciting on a specification sheet, but becomes very obvious once you live with one. My sisters and friends who rode in the 7X were similarly impressed. The comments were consistently about comfort and how premium everything looked and felt.

The Sound System Made Me Hear Things I'd Missed Before

I also spent plenty of time listening to music, and the Zeekr Sound Pro system deserves a mention. Not because I sat there scientifically analysing frequencies, but because I started noticing little beats and details in familiar songs that I'd somehow never paid attention to before.

That's probably the easiest way I can describe it. The sound was crisp and detailed enough that songs I'd heard countless times suddenly had little elements popping out from the background. For someone who enjoys music while driving, it became one of those features I appreciated more as the five days went on.

Living With That Big Screen

Most vehicle settings are mainly accessed through the large central touchscreen. For some adjustments, you first select the relevant control on-screen, then use the steering-wheel multifunction controls where supported. That gives you something physical to interact with, but I'd still prefer less searching through menus. I want the experience to feel smoother and more intuitive even when I'm getting into the car for the first time.

Getting out was much simpler. In my time with the car, a press of the electronic door-release button made exiting easy.

But Please, Zeekr, Let's Talk About Those Air-Con Vents

Not everything about the cabin worked perfectly for me. My biggest annoyance was surprisingly basic: the front air-conditioning vent placement.

The central vents sit relatively low behind the large 16-inch display, and I found that the screen interfered with how nicely the cool air spread towards me.

The air-conditioning itself wasn't necessarily weak. My problem was the distribution of airflow. On a scorching Malaysian afternoon, I want cold air reaching me properly, and the layout made that less effective than I would have liked.

Ironically, I had almost the opposite impression in the back. Zeekr places rear air vents higher up around the B-pillars, directing airflow more towards passengers' upper bodies instead of relying solely on vents low down around the centre console. That's a thoughtful touch in our climate. 

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Five Days And I Never Charged It Once

Perhaps the most telling thing about living with the 7X Long Range was how little I actually thought about charging it.

When I collected the car, its display showed 605 km of available range. Over the next five days, I drove it through my usual routine around Klang Valley, including stop-and-go traffic, city driving, multi-storey car parks and highway journeys. I never plugged it in once.

When it was time to return the car, the display was still showing 216 km of available range.

Now, I wouldn't treat those numbers as a controlled real-world range or efficiency test. Driving conditions, energy use and indicated range can vary considerably, and this particular drive was about living with the 7X rather than chasing the lowest possible consumption figure.

But from an everyday ownership perspective, that experience was arguably more relevant to me: for my normal Klang Valley routine, charging simply wasn't something I had to think about during those five days. 

For reference, Zeekr officially rates the RWD Long Range at up to 615 km WLTP from its 100 kWh NCM battery.

And When You Do Need To Charge...

The 7X's electrical architecture is one of its bigger technical selling points. The Malaysian RWD Long Range uses an 800V system and supports up to 420 kW DC charging. Zeekr quotes a 10-80% charging time of 16 minutes under the appropriate charging conditions. It also supports up to 22 kW AC charging.

Those are impressive numbers, but there is an important real-world caveat: maximum charging speed depends on the charger you're connected to and the conditions at the time. Owning a car capable of accepting 420 kW doesn't magically make every Malaysian DC charger deliver 420 kW.

Still, for buyers intending to keep an EV for several years, having that level of charging capability gives the 7X plenty of headroom as Malaysia's charging infrastructure continues developing.

What About Practicality?

I didn't specifically put the boot through a proper luggage test during my five-day loan, so I'm not going to pretend I discovered how many suitcases, grocery bags or IKEA boxes it can swallow.

On paper, though, Zeekr lists up to 1,978 litres of expanded luggage space with the rear seats folded. More relevant to my own experience was passenger space and comfort.

With friends and family riding along during the loan, nobody was complaining about being squeezed inside. If anything, the comments tended to go in the opposite direction: comfortable seats, nice materials and an overall sense that the cabin belonged in something more expensive.

I also had three adults sitting comfortably across the rear bench, with generous legroom and headroom. For the friends and family I carried, the back felt properly spacious rather than simply big enough on paper.

What About All The Driver Assistance?

The 7X comes loaded with electronic driver-assistance systems, but I'm probably the wrong person to tell you that more intervention automatically means better. I generally prefer having more independence over the car I'm driving.

So where systems such as lane assistance could be adjusted or disabled, that was my preference. The important thing for me was being able to configure the car around how I wanted to drive rather than constantly feeling like I was negotiating with it.

The parking technology, on the other hand? That I happily accepted. When you're manoeuvring a 1,930 mm-wide SUV through Malaysian car parks, pride can wait. Give me every camera and sensor you've got.

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So Why Does It Feel More Expensive Than RM193,800?

This was the question I kept returning to after giving the car back. Part of it is undoubtedly the cabin. The materials look and feel expensive. The seats are superb. The sound system impressed me. The interior design is modern without being exhausting.

Interestingly, the 7X was created at Zeekr's global design centre in Gothenburg, Sweden, which perhaps makes my repeated "Continental" impression slightly less surprising. 

But the interior alone isn't what convinced me. The expensive feeling continues when the car starts moving.

It's quick without being difficult to control. Comfortable without feeling disconnected. Quiet on the highway. Stable when carrying speed. And despite its substantial dimensions, the cameras, sensors and visibility meant I didn't spend five days worrying about where its corners were. That's what ultimately separates the 7X from simply being another Chinese EV with an enormous equipment list. The features are impressive.

The experience tying them together is what sold me.

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The Car Impressed Me, But What About Actually Owning A Zeekr?

Zeekr is still relatively new in Malaysia, and five enjoyable days can't tell me what several years of ownership will be like. Before buying, I'd check how convenient the nearest authorised service centre is, ask about servicing costs and parts lead times, and work out where I'd normally charge.

There is local support in place. Towing for a manufacturing defect is free under its stated terms during the general warranty period; charges apply for issues such as running out of battery. That is useful support, but it is still worth understanding the conditions before you need it.

What Else Can You Buy For Around RM200,000?

At RM193,800, the 7X RWD Long Range isn't shopping in an empty field. These are two alternatives I'd put on the same test-drive list, with prices checked on 24 September 2026.

Tesla Model Y RWD: RM198,000 vehicle price. Tesla's Malaysian configurator places it close to the Zeekr, while the Long Range RWD is RM219,000. Tesla's integrated trip planning and Supercharger experience are worth weighing against the 7X's cabin comfort and equipment. Try the controls and seats in both; the Tesla Long Range also requires a bigger budget.

2026 BYD Sealion 7 Premium: RM188,800; Performance: RM203,800. These are official Peninsular Malaysia retail prices. The Premium RWD undercuts the Zeekr, while the Performance brings all-wheel drive and a claimed 4.5-second 0-100 km/h sprint for a little more money. Both now have a 91.39 kWh LFP battery and up to 230 kW DC charging, versus the 7X Long Range's 100 kWh NCM battery and 420 kW peak. That makes this a choice between price, performance, charging capability and how each feels to live with, rather than an automatic win for either.

Would I Actually Spend RM193,800 On One?

After five days? Yes, I genuinely would consider it. And that's probably the simplest verdict I can give. There are things I'd change. The front center air-con arrangement would annoy me during hot Malaysian afternoons, and buyers moving into an EV still need to consider whether charging fits their home and travel routine. But those annoyances didn't overshadow what I enjoyed about it.

The 7X looks distinctive enough to stand out on Malaysian roads without becoming ridiculous. Inside, the expensive feeling carries through in the materials, comfort and restrained design. And once you start driving, the combination of power, refinement and stability reinforces the impression that you're sitting in something costing considerably more.

It also challenges an assumption that has been around for a long time: that getting this level of perceived quality automatically requires a premium European badge and the price that normally comes with it.

The Zeekr badge might not yet carry the same recognition as BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Audi in Malaysia. But from behind the wheel, that mattered surprisingly little to me.

Perhaps the best indication of how I felt about the 7X came when the five-day loan ended. I didn't want to give it back. And after living with plenty of test cars that I'm perfectly happy to hand the keys back to, that's probably one of the strongest compliments I can give it.