Zeekr says it wants to attack the premium brands with the new 7x SUV. The brand does this with a lot of power for a low price. We know that strategy from somewhere. From Kia, which is doing more or less the same with the EV6 GT. We’re figuring out which premium attempt is the most successful.
When we tell the people at Zeekr that we are going to put the new 7x against a Kia, we seem to detect a slight disappointment. The brand itself thinks that the 7x should compete against the Mercedes, Audis and BMWs of this world. It does this by offering more than 600 hp, a power that until recently you really had to register with a very exclusive club of brands. For example, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, which then charged prices of more than a ton for it, because premium can cost something. However, Zeekr simply puts 639 hp in the Privilege AWD version of the 7x for €62,990. Ironically, that makes the 7x on paper not a competitor of the brands mentioned at all. With the premium brands you either get half the power, or it costs you twice as much as the Zeekr. A much more logical competitor is the Kia EV6 GT. It has been following more or less the same path for several years, as the GT version of the EV6 also has more than 600 hp and the price is at a similar level. So premium power for a modest budget.
Two SUVs with two electric motors and lots of power
Both cars therefore have impressive power and both get it from two electric motors, which means they both have four-wheel drive. In the case of the Zeekr, the front axle is driven by a 218 hp and 270 Nm strong copy, on the rear axle is a second engine that is good for 421 hp and 440 Nm. In total you have 639 hp and 710 Nm at your disposal, making the Zeekr bizarrely fast. Especially up to the Dutch speed limit on the highway, everything happens in the blink of an eye. By the way, it has to be dry, because on wet roads the front axle has quite a bit of trouble getting it all on the asphalt. That is the disadvantage of the Continental EcoContact tires under the 7x. The advantage of that choice is that you can still drive quite economically with it. In the more sedate modes, the response on the accelerator is very good and although you don’t have flippers to control the degree of recuperation, it is easy to drive without a brake pedal. In combination with the large battery of 95 kWh net, you can travel around 500 km on a full charge in practice. Even more impressive is what happens next when you connect to a suitable fast charger. The Zeekr slurps almost an entire village of energy. On paper you can charge 480 kW and although we don’t see that value, the limitation in this case lies with the fast charger. In addition: at 350 kW it is still bizarrely fast.
Then the 258 kW that the Kia EV6 GT sips from the DC charger suddenly seems almost slow, while in practice it is still a very serious speed. On alternating current you charge with 11 kW instead of the 22 of the Zeekr and because the battery is slightly smaller and the efficiency is slightly lower, you get around 400 km in practice. On the stopwatch, the Kia is the winner again, although you can also say that there is no real loser in both cases. Thanks to a 238 hp and 370 Nm electric motor in front and a 412 hp and 400 Nm electric motor in the rear, the EV6 GT releases 650 hp on all four wheels. By the way, that is with launch control enabled and you have to activate it via a menu. If you don’t, however, there is still 609 hp left, so the chance that you won’t win a traffic light sprint won’t get much bigger. In addition to the extreme performance potential, the EV6 GT has also had the simulated gearbox that the Ioniq 5N has since its update. With the flippers that you normally use for recuperation you then operate a ‘gearbox’, where you really have to shift on time, otherwise you will end up in the ‘rev limiter’. Yes, it’s all fake, but it gives you an extra data point to determine your speed. And it’s quite funny.
Kia EV6 GT feels really sporty, Zeekr 7x much less
The smaller battery of the Kia EV6 GT may result in a somewhat smaller range, but of course it also weighs less and partly because of this the Kia is about 300 kilos lighter than the Zeekr. In addition, Kia has clearly made an effort to give it a really serious sporty edge and they have succeeded. Despite its considerable mass of 2,100 kilos, the Kia EV6 GT dives into corners with a great deal of enthusiasm and feels surprisingly sharp. Especially with the adaptive dampers in the sports mode you can attack enormously hard. The front axle bites directly, the steering offers enough information to determine how much you have left and the rear wants to cooperate a bit with (half) disabled ESP. Great for a sporty car and in combination with the fake gearbox the fun factor becomes very high for an EV. Put the dampers back in the normal position and the GT is still reasonably comfortable. Without being stiff, but there is certainly no real harshness.
Yet the Zeekr 7x is more suitable as a long-distance missile thanks to its adaptive air suspension. There is simply more flexibility in the chassis and everything works a lot lighter. The combination of this with the much less sporty rubber is less suitable if you are going to use the full potential of the powertrain. Braking and steering is much less precise, making it more difficult to estimate exactly where the limit of the 7x is. And so you don’t really benefit so much from those 600+ hp. You would have been fine with 100 hp less and, unlike Kia, you don’t really get tempted to do it again in the Zeekr after the first few times.
Good ergonomics in the Kia EV6 GT, lots of space in the Zeekr 7x
Perhaps that is also a bit due to the interior, which, unlike that of the Kia, does not really exude sportiness. Instead, there is mainly a lot of peace. At least, in the physical world, because like so many Chinese brands, Zeekr also chooses to hide just about everything in a touchscreen. That system works well, but some extra physical controls would have helped the ergonomics a lot, especially since you often have to go through multiple layers or look at icons that are not entirely obvious. We also came across some strange translations and a female voice that repeatedly warned of existing or non-existent dangers such as school zones and merging lanes. When asked, Zeekr says that these are software bugs that have been fixed in the latest version that customers receive, but could not answer the question why that software was not on the test car. In any case, there is no lack of space. There is a large frunk in the front, 539 liters in the back and adults are fine in the back seat.
In this area, the Kia is at a slight disadvantage, although it doesn’t make much difference. In any case not in the back seat, because adults are simply fine in the Korean car too. The Kia is somewhat tighter in the back and in the frunk, although not disturbingly much. What is annoying is the rather flat A-pillar of the Kia. As a result, you have to adjust your seating position behind the wheel just a little differently than you might want, because otherwise your head will hit that pillar. No complaints about the ergonomics again. There are enough physical buttons and the layout of the infotainment system is easy to handle thanks to the necessary shortcuts.
Kia and Zeekr are affordable, but not cheap
And that for an amount that is still somewhat manageable. The Kia EV6 GT costs €68,495 and then the car is actually completely finished. Everything from (remarkably well-functioning) self-driving systems and seat ventilation to thick alloy wheels, adaptive dampers and electric seat adjustment is on it, on it and under it. The only options are a panoramic roof and a special paint color. This brings the test copy to €70,185 and although you don’t have pocket money, you do get a lot of car for your money.
But not as much as with Zeekr, because including options the 7x comes to €68,590 and then the Zeekr is even more complete than the Kia. Of course, it’s about things that are anything but essential, such as electrically opening and closing doors. Furthermore, the Zeekr is just as full as the Kia, including all kinds of sensors to be able to drive autonomously. By the way, that goes a bit less smoothly than with Kia, although the recent software update could also make the difference. And: we were looking at premium power for a modest budget, and you get that with both of these cars.