2025 Zeekr X AWD review TechTricks365

Jeepers, what’s a Zeekr?

This relatively new electrified Chinese brand is looking to move into the more premium space, backed by its Geely parent which also owns the likes of Volvo and Polestar.

Kicking off proceedings is the 2025 Zeekr X AWD you see here, the flagship in its city-size small EV range that boasts the sort of power and performance claims you’d expect from high-performance luxury cars.

Zeekr also touts its European design influence, as well as its high level of standard specification and technology. Don’t forget, the Zeekr X is also very closely related to the Volvo EX30, which is a capable little EV in its own right.

In April the entire Zeekr X range received price adjustments, with savings of between $2000 and $7000 depending on variant – the flagship on test was subject to a $2000 reduction.

WATCH: Paul’s video review of the Zeekr X RWD

So while the vehicle itself hasn’t changed much since its launch late last year, the value proposition certainly has especially when you consider how quickly the EV market is moving.

Is this newcomer worth a punt?

How much does the Zeekr X cost?

Zeekr recently announced significant price adjustments for its X range, with the AWD variant on test here dropping by $2000. The base RWD had its sticker slashed by a massive $7000.

*As of April 2025

For reference, the Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range starts from $59,990 before on-road costs, with the equivalent Twin Motor Performance variant priced at $71,290 plus on-roads – almost $10,000 more than the Zeekr.

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

What is the Zeekr X like on the inside?

You definitely can’t accuse Zeekr of cost-cutting, because the cabin of the X presents very well from the get-go.

Soft and padded surfaces, contrast stitching, and subtle flashes of rose gold give the Zeekr X one of the nicer in-car ambiences at this end of the market, and it certainly feels ‘special’ rather than just ‘different’.

Particularly in our test vehicle’s optional Midnight Blue and Polar White ($500) colourway, the little Zeekr makes a great first impression. The fact you can also get this interior in the base RWD for some $13,000 less is pretty cool.

And despite its relatively compact dimensions, the Zeekr X feels quite airy and spacious, particularly compared to the Volvo EX30 with which it shares its underpinnings.

Key touchpoints and general tactility is of a high standard for the class, and the bright and crisp display technology only adds to the ambience. This certainly has a lot of showroom appeal.

Comfort and adjustability is pretty good too, with wide range of electric adjustment for the front seats, and there’s manual adjustment for the steering column. You should be able to find a comfortable perch irrespective of your dimensions.

Storage up front is a bit of a mix bag, with an odd modular row of cupholders lower down in the cabin, augmented by average door bins and a slot for your phone in the centre armrest with in-built wireless phone charger. There’s also a cubby underneath the aforementioned central armrest.

The fold-out plastic pocket under the infotainment display is interesting, though I’m not quite sure what best fits in it. Above it is a quirky pop-out hanger for a small bag or keys, but it’s not really a great spot to store much else.

Further quibbles start to surface once you start digging into the display tech and general useability of the switchgear, too.

Like a lot of new vehicle designs, Zeekr has gone for an almost buttonless approach for the X’s cabin. The only physical switches or toggles are the stalks behind the steering wheel, and the joystick-style controls on said steering wheel, which are accompanied by push buttons for voice control and cycling through the driver cluster widgets.

This more extreme level of minimalism impresses on the showroom floor but can be fiddly in the real world. You’re required to control most functions via the touchscreen or voice inputs, which requires a bit of a learning curve and some vehicle settings are buried in sub-menus which are impractical to toggle on the move.

Further, to activate the semi-autonomous driving system rather than standard adaptive cruise control requires a long press of the drive selector stalk beyond its detent, which I incorrectly attempted for days because the two downward arrow markings had me assuming it was two pulls not one hard one – get your mind out of the gutter.

There’s also limited breadth of displays in the 8.8-inch driver cluster, which despite looking like a similar unit to the one seen in Volvo and Polestar products, lacks the refinement and adjustability of its Swedish stablemates.

While there are some ergonomic and useability quirks I’m not particularly fond of, I am a fan of the Yamaha sound system. Standard in the AWD and boasting 13 speakers, it’s pretty punchy – I particularly like the ‘Concert Hall’ setting which is reminiscent of the Gothenburg Concert Hall profile in Volvo’s Bowers and Wilkins systems.

The ‘Ice Block’-effect LED ambient lighting is pretty swish, and the multi-colour accent illumination extends to the door trims as well, with a perforated effect to emulate the Ningbo skyline – Zeekr HQ’s home city in the Chinese province of Zhejiang.

You can summon the Zeekr X’s AI-powered intelligent voice assistance to perform various functions too, like audio, navigation and climate control. The little character representation of the assistant also pops up in a B-pillar-mounted display when you unlock the vehicle, giving a cheeky smile before displaying ‘Hi’. Cute.

The big 14.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system offers over-the-air updates, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It offers has graphics and really snappy load times, in addition to online connectivity, but the interface and menus have a few too many layers and can be convoluted when toggling vehicle settings.

Further, I had a persistent issue where Apple CarPlay would intermittently not play sound from my phone – whether it was music or call audio – through the vehicle’s sound system. It was impossible to fix on the fly, without stopping and deleting my phone’s profile from the infotainment and then reconnecting anew.

In the rear, the Zeekr X offers a more useable area to seat a pair of adults compared to its Volvo-badged cousin. There’s more head, leg and knee room, though this is still a relatively compact vehicle – it’s no limo.

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

What’s under the bonnet?

The Zeekr X AWD gets a potent dual-motor electric drivetrain that’s shared with the Volvo EX30 Performance.

As noted earlier, there’s a more affordable single-motor Zeekr X which makes a still-respectable 200kW and 343Nm, for a claimed 5.6-second 0-100km/h dash.

With the same 66kWh nickel manganese cobalt lithium-ion battery, the Zeekr X RWD quotes 540km of range on the ADR cycle – based on more lenient NEDC testing – compared to the AWD’s 470km.

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

How does the Zeekr X drive?

Having had a pretty positive experience in the Volvo EX30, I had high hopes for this little Zeekr.

There’s no denying this is a quick little thing. A firm stab of the accelerator sees the nose lift slightly and you’ll shoot towards the horizon – it certainly feels as eager as its sub-4.0-second claimed 0-100km/h time suggests.

But as I’ve found with a number of Chinese-branded electric vehicles with monstrous power and torque outputs, the chassis setup is a bit too soft for that level of performance. Understandably for what is billed as a premium vehicle, it’s tuned to be on the softer side, but that puts it in a grey area that makes it feel a touch confused as to what it’s meant to be.

I encountered a wide range of conditions while living with the Zeekr X AWD, including driving in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and various freeways and highways in various weather, and I often found it to be a touch wobbly over the sort of pimpled and undulating blacktop that is quite common in Victoria.

The big 20-inch forged alloy wheels shod in 245/45 Continental EcoContact 6 Q tyres returned a firm initial impact, and then the body would be a little unsettled, often taking a movement or two more than I’d like to settle.

Having dual-motor AWD should ensure good grip, and in a straight line it definitely hooks up and hustles. However, try to accelerate too soon out of a corner and the Zeekr X can feel like it’s got too much power for its own good.

It also leaned a bit more than I’d expect a performance-oriented vehicle to do during quicker cornering, so I guess if you adjust your lens to see this more as a luxury muscle car that can dart from the lights and do a quick overtake when needed, that’s probably more appropriate.

Keep in mind this small electric SUV weighs a smidgen under two tonnes, and doesn’t do a great job of hiding it. A heavy feel in a small car isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it feels lighter on its feet than its kerb weight suggests – but the X doesn’t really do that.

Further, the car’s general all-round refinement when it comes to sound insulation and fluid steering feel gives you this kind of vibe. Drive with a more sedate approach and it’s a pretty comfortable and easy thing to live with day-to-day.

I generally drove one- or two-up in this car, so didn’t get much of an idea of comfort levels in the rear on the move. However, videographer Sean Lander complained that during filming at the Lang Lang proving ground, the rear suspension was much firmer than at the front – which he found quite jarring over some of the private test roads.

The relaxed and premium ambience is also often interrupted by intrusive and annoying alerts from the suite of driver assistance systems on hand, which appear to be in need of another layer of polish.

The driver attention monitor is both overbearing and intrusive, constantly chiming at you to look ahead even if you’ve quickly averted your gaze to the side mirror, or over your shoulder to do a head check. Glance at the touchscreen for too long – which is home to just about every function – and you’ll get similarly annoying alerts.

As Matt Campbell found in his initial drive review in January, the speed sign recognition system often gets things wrong too, and the lane-keep assist can tug the wheel a little too hard, and at times can be inaccurate. Things get better when you activate the highway cruise assist function, which centres the vehicle in its lane when using adaptive cruise control.

All told, the Zeekr X is fine on the road in good conditions, but many elements can feel disjointed when you unleash the drivetrain’s full performance, and when the active safety tech is all-in. At least I managed to beat the quoted efficiency claim!

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

What do you get?

The Zeekr X AWD on test here gets a higher level of equipment than the entry-level RWD variant.

2025 Zeekr X RWD equipment highlights:

• 19-inch alloy wheels
• 235/50 R19 Continental EcoContact 6 tyres
• Two-tone exterior paint – black roof, mirrors)
• Frameless side mirrors:
  • Heated
  • Auto-dimming
  • Power-folding
  • Memory function
• Panoramic sunroof
• Vehicle-To-Load (V2L) functionality
• Semi-autonomous park assist
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Black/grey “leather-free” interior upholstery
• 6-way power driver seat
• 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster
• 14.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system
  • Apple CarPlay – wired, wireless
  • Android Auto – wired, wireless
• Wireless phone charger
• 7-speaker sound system
• Auto-dimming frameless rear-view mirror
• Dual-zone climate control
• Rear air vents (B-pillar mounted)
• 5G-WiFi hotspot
• Connected services – 5yr subscription
• Vehicle over-the-air upgrade capability
• Zeekr App functionality
  • Sentry mode
  • Pet mode
  • Rest mode

Zeekr X AWD adds:

• 20-inch forged alloy wheels
• 245/45 R20 Continental EcoContact 6 Q tyres
• 24.3-inch augmented reality head-up display
• 6-way power-adjustable passenger seat
• Driver’s seat memory
• 4-way power lumbar support
• Heated, ventilated front seats
• Heated steering wheel
• 13-speaker Yamaha sound system
• ‘Ice Block’ LED ambient lighting

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

Options

The only options on the AWD are different interior colours, while the RWD can be optioned with a package that brings its specification in line with the AWD.

Convenience Package: $4000 (RWD)

• 6-way power passenger seat
• Memory function – driver seat
• 4-way power lumbar support – front seats
• Heating and ventilation – front seats
• Heated steering wheel
• 13-speaker Yamaha sound system
• ‘Ice Block’ LED ambient lighting

Standalone options include:

• Midnight Blue/Polar White interior: $500
• Mulberry/Rose interior: $500

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

Is the Zeekr X safe?

The Zeekr X was awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating, based on 2024 testing by sister firm Euro NCAP.

Standard safety equipment includes:

• 7 airbags incl. front-centre
• Autonomous emergency braking
  • Pedestrian, cyclist detection
• Adaptive cruise control
• Automatic lane change capability
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Digital video recorder
• Driver attention monitoring
• Driver fatigue monitoring
• Evasive Manoeuvre Assist
• Front, rear cross-traffic alert
• Lane centring assist
• Lane-keep assist
• Pedestrian warning sound
• Surround-view cameras
• Tyre pressure monitoring

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

How much does the Zeekr X cost to run?

Zeekr Australia is backing its models with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty for private buyers, but commercial and fleet customers will only get a three-year, 120,000km warranty.

For reference, the Volvo EX30 gets five years of free scheduled servicing thrown in.

To see how the Zeekr X stacks up against its rivals, check out our comparison tool

CarExpert’s Take on the Zeekr X

There are a lot of good ingredients here, but they don’t come together as well as they could in the Zeekr X AWD.

It looks really cool, has a swish and practical cabin, and offers supercar levels of straight-line performance. But in the real world, the at-times unsettled ride and overzealous safety systems don’t reflect its $63,000 price tag.

For me, there’s just a bit too much going on and a lack of general useability. When compared to Volvo-badged vehicles with similar componentry and technology on board, it appears the Swedes have paid a little more attention to detail.

The RWD with the Convenience Package makes a lot more sense, at nearly $10,000 less for virtually the same spec minus the dual-motor drivetrain – which still gives you strong performance, plus more range.

But the Zeekr X is a strong first attempt from a new brand which, unlike a lot of other Chinese marques isn’t trying to mimic anything else on the market from a design standpoint.

If Zeekr leveraged the experience of software and chassis engineers from its friends at Volvo, this little EV would be a real cracker.

Interested in buying a Zeekr X? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here

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