New Denza D9 luxury MPV: range, technology and ride review
Denza’s plug-in hybrid people carrier looks to take on the new batch of premium MPVs
Aiming to secure a spot in the lucrative premium car market, BYD is bringing its high-end Denza brand to the UK. Central to this plan is the Denza D9, a luxury MPV with plug-in hybrid power and a £70,000 price tag that we’ve just experienced for the first time.
The first Denza to reach the UK will be the Z9GT shooting brake, which has already gone on sale in Europe. Following shortly after, however, will be the D9. This model will take aim at an emerging market of posh people carriers like the Lexus LM and upcoming Mercedes VLE.
The D9 is already available in other markets in both pure electric and DM-i plug-in hybrid forms, but only the latter will arrive in the UK to start with.
Denza has also confirmed that the MPV will have a 2-2-3 seating layout, with a second row of luxurious captain’s chairs and a traditional three-seat bench in the third row. There’ll still be plenty of space for luggage, though, because the boot will be able to squeeze in seven carry-on bags, plus backpacks for each of the car’s occupants.
The DM-i plug-in hybrid system uses a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, an electric motor and a battery pack, which Denza says will be capable of up to 130 miles on electric power alone on the European WLTP cycle. With a full battery and a full tank of fuel, the car can travel up to 589 miles, it’s claimed.
Specific technical information for European models hasn’t been revealed, but we do have information from the variants available in other countries. This suggests the plug-in hybrid’s battery pack is a 40kWh LFP unit (rather than the 20kWh unit available in other markets). Power is sent to two electric motors with a total output of around 400bhp. Both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants will be offered, the latter capable of hitting 62mph from rest in around 6.2 seconds.
Denza D9 luxury MPV ride review
Ahead of the D9’s arrival in the UK, we had the opportunity to be chauffeured around in Denza’s premium MPV in a style befitting its expected customer base.
As you might expect from a car looking to take on the finest from Lexus and Mercedes, are plenty of luxurious touches to help transform every trip in the D9 into an event. Electric sliding doors open up a cavernous interior - though that’s to be expected considering the D9’s 5.2-metre length and near two-metre height.
Settling into the two captain’s chairs in the middle row is a pleasure in itself, and there’s a huge amount of adjustability - done either through the physical switches on the chair sides or the dedicated 5.5-inch touchscreens on the armrests. Those screens, which look suspiciously like early iPhones in terms of their interfaces (no bad thing) can also control heating, ventilation and massaging functions, plus the sunroof, lighting and music.
You can even remotely open the fridge on the back of the centre console. It's big enough to chill five small bottles but can also warm food because its temperature adjusts between -6°C and 50°C.
Directly in front of the middle row passengers are two big touchscreens which do the usual touchscreen things. Apart from streaming movies, music or even taking important, and suitably business-like, video calls via the in-car WiFi, however, there’s a karaoke function to let your hair down at the end of a busy work week. And yes, there’s an on-board, hand-held microphone too.
On the move the D9 is as quiet as most luxury limousines thanks to double-glazed acoustic glass and extensive insulation. We’d imagine there’s more wind and road noise when you're sitting up front, though our experience was limited to the middle-row.
The ride of the D9 belies its van-like shape. Adaptive air suspension with electronically controlled damping does a fantastic job of smoothing out significant imperfections in the road. Prioritising electric propulsion makes for silent running, too.
Several updates have come the way of the D9 to adapt it for European tastes, such as removing the many chrome notches in the huge grille and fitting a high-end Devialet stereo system with 16 speakers.
This is a genuine seven-seater (the third row holds tall adults no problem) but the D9 will actually sit below the new Z9GT in the Denza line up with pricing expected between £70,000 and £75,000. That might seem like a lot for a people carrier from an unknown brand, but there are impressive levels of luxury here and the D9’s plug-in hybrid system should help it stand out in the segment.
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