Denza Z9GT review

Our opinion on the Denza Z9GT

With unrivalled charging capability and a competitive range, the Denza Z9GT makes more sense as an electric car rather than the upcoming plug-in hybrid. The crazed tri-motor power output doesn’t turn this big, soft grand tourer into a sports car but the promise of a longer-range, less powerful and most importantly, cheaper variant certainly has our attention. Either way, for a new brand, the Z9GT is a real statement of intent. 

About the Denza Z9GT

Denza might not be a name you’ve heard of before, but as the premium sub-brand of the BYD empire, it has the backing of one of the largest car manufacturers in the world. Various ill-fated attempts from DS, Genesis, Infiniti and Maserati all attest as to how hard Denza’s objective is however.

The Z9GT launches the brand in the UK and is aimed directly at the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. Unlike the Porsche though, a plug-in hybrid version of the Z9GT is coming to broaden its appeal.

Denza has packed the Z9GT with the latest technology and with incredible range and performance figures to hand, Denza has also given the Z9GT a punchy price tag of £105,000, with the plug-in hybrid costing £95,000. 

The Denza Z9GT aims to blend supercar performance with a family estate bodystyle. Its ‘e3’ platform (pronounced ‘e cube’) caters to a multi-fuel approach, but whatever Z9GT you go for there’s ridiculous straight-line power on tap. 

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

We first drove the Z9GT in DM-i plug-in hybrid form last year and curiously for a PHEV, it has three electric motors alongside a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine for a total of 775bhp and 1,035Nm of torque. 

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As you’d expect, the punch from that combination is brutal and all the more impressive when you factor in the Denza’s near three-tonne kerbweight. 

The four-cylinder engine is only used to drive the front wheels once you go beyond about 60mph. The rest of the time it generates energy for the battery and three e-motors. 

Our incredibly brief test drive of the Z9GT Super DM-i took place on the Vairano test track outside Milan, so we could experience what the car was like at higher speeds. Unsurprisingly for such a hugely powerful car it accelerated to more than 110mph like it was rolling out of bed, with the numbers on the speedo climbing at a stupendous rate. 

We’ve had more experience of the EV, which also features a tri-motor powertrain, with one electric motor on the front axle and two at the rear. The tri-motor system produces 1,140bhp and 1,210Nm of torque, and its 0-62mph sprint time is right up there with those of the Porsche Taycan Turbo, the Audi RS e-tron GT and fellow Chinese brand Xiaomi’s SU7.

Town driving, visibility and parking

At low speeds, all the Z9GT’s controls feel well calibrated – in particular the steering. At 5.2 metres long and two metres wide, the Z9GT might not seem the best fit for urban areas, but there’s rear-wheel steering here up to 8.5 degrees, and this gives the big Denza a supermini-like turning circle. 

The Z9GT can also perform pivot turning, where the front wheels lock in place and the rears turn and steer, for occasions when incredibly tight manoeuvres are needed. There’s also a ‘crab-walk’ function, where the car will drive diagonally up to 8.5 degrees. We experienced these from behind the wheel and the Denza completed the manoeuvres as quickly as we could do them ourselves.

There’s also a self-parking feature that can be activated through the dashboard or even an app on your phone – although if you have to use all those features regularly, you might want to reconsider if a huge shooting brake is the right car for you.  

We’ve tested the optional £1,600 digital door mirrors, which work just about as well as any others we’ve tried, but still take time to get used to. Due to the swoopy shape of the Z9GT’s back end, visibility is poor through the rear view mirror. Thankfully the digital door mirror is standard-fit, although unlike the one used in the Polestar 4, there’s no scope to pan across when indicating or adjustability of any sort. 

Country road driving and handling

Denza says the Z9GT’s name takes the ‘GT’ part very seriously, and true enough it doesn’t take long to realise this big EV has been set up to prioritise a comfortable ride. There are numerous driving modes to allow you to set up the Z9GT to your tastes, from the core ones (Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow) to the ability to change the ride height via the standard-fit, dual-chamber air suspension. Under the ‘DiSus’ menu on the central screen, there are further options to alter the suspension’s stiffness, and ‘Vehicle Motion Control’, which counters braking, suspension and steering in as little as 10 milliseconds. 

The Z9GT’s technology all sounds very impressive and on the move it is, but considering the depths of the various settings, the tangible changes to the driving experience are surprisingly small. While it certainly does a great job of hiding its weight through clever chassis technology, the Denza is no sports car.

In Normal mode, the power is limited (although Denza doesn’t provide a specific figure) and most will find this more than enough to explore the Z9GT’s dynamic capabilities. In Sport mode, you get the full-fat power output and the straight-line performance is simply breathtaking – as in you can quite easily forget to breathe while your lungs are shoved to the back of your rib cage. However, this is something we’ve experienced in plenty of other fast EVs.

What did take us by surprise is how floaty the Z9GT felt in its stiffest modes; there’s noticeable pitch on acceleration and while there are large carbon-ceramic brakes, the brake pedal requires a good stamp to slow the big Denza down if you’re driving hard. At this point, more often than not it’ll whack the hazard lights on. 

Corner hard and the Z9GT won’t reward you with the same engagement a Porsche Taycan will; your best option is to aim for smooth, steady progress. The steering set-up is just quick enough to counter the minimal slip from the rear that you can expect even with the traction control on. 

Motorway driving and long-distance comfort

We found the Z9GT to largely be a comfortable and refined thing. The floaty suspension didn’t quite glide over a rough farmtrack, but it was just as composed as, say, a Taycan Cross Turismo. Likewise, big bumps and potholes are dispatched with ease. At higher speeds, you can get the occasional thud and road noise is more prevalent than we’d like from a six-figure car, but it’s never overly intrusive.

“The ‘active side bolsters’ on the driver’s seat were extremely ‘handsy’ in our test car.” - Ellis Hyde, News Reporter.

Whether you go for the all-electric or plug-in hybrid, the Denza Z9GT comes with some astonishing figures based on its electrical underpinnings. The PHEV comes with a battery size similar to what you get in most full-electric hatchback like the Volkswagen ID.3 Neo or MG4. As a result the PHEV’s huge electric range means most could easily run it as a pure-electric car and enjoy the benefits of EV ownership. 

Electric range, battery life and charge time

The source of the Z9GT’s power and in part its weight is a huge 122.4kWh battery that uses parent company BYD’s second-generation ‘Blade Battery’ technology. You’d expect a fairly sizeable range too, but the Z9GT tops out at 372 miles. However, real-world range seemed pretty reliable. When we set off, we saw our car had a 369-mile range at 98 per cent before dropping to 226 miles at 60 per cent. Later this year, a single-motor model that will use the same battery will join the line-up with, in all probability, a lower price and a greater range.

While the Z9GT’s range is pretty competitive, ‘Flash Charging’ looks set to blow its opponents away. Flash Chargers will be able to put out a 1,500kW charge – way more than the current leading EVs such as the Taycan, which tops out at 320kW. This essentially means a 10 to 70 per cent top-up of the Denza battery can be completed in five minutes, with a 20 to 97 per cent charge taking nine minutes. 

BYD says it’ll have 300 Flash Charging sites in the UK by the end of 2026. As the design of the charger is a T-shape with two charging cables, essentially there will be 600 points of charge in the country. Z9GT customers will get 12 months’ free Flash Charging, with an additional six months for first customers. 

Insurance groups 

Insurance groupings for the Denza Z9GT EV and plug-in hybrid have yet to be announced. 

Tax

As with all EVs, the standard rate of VED road tax applies to the all-electric Denza Z9GT. This car’s premium pricing also means that it crosses the £50,000 luxury car tax threshold, adding an additional £440 to your annual bill between the second and sixth year after first registration. 

As for the plug-in hybrid, the emissions haven’t been revealed so tax figures aren’t available, but a huge electric range and what should be low CO2 output should be good news for company car owners.

Depreciation

There is no data on the Denza Z9GT for residual values yet.

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When starting off in the Z9GT, the first thing you notice are its electric doors. All four open and close at the touch of a button, and then the driver’s seat slides back to ease access – all of which adds a bit of flamboyance (albeit slowly) to the start-up process. 

There’s only one trim level, but there’s a tremendous amount of kit as standard. As you’d expect from an expensive premium car, there’s the typical things such as massage and heated seats, but they’re complemented by fun items such as a refrigerator, electric-folding rear seats and passenger-side screen (with built-in karaoke, no less). Overall space is excellent, too, with the real highlight coming in the form of rear legroom, although given the 3.1 metre-long wheelbase, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. 

Interior and dashboard design 

Compared to cars from its parent company BYD, the Denza immediately looks like a big step in a premium direction inside. The swooping dashboard gives off a cocooning environment for the front two occupants. Something that brings the tone down slightly inside is the massive touchscreen, it’s just slapped onto the dash seemingly without much care. 

Materials and build quality

The cabin is also of the quality you’d expect from this price bracket. There are no horrible plastics to be seen anywhere, and the materials used, especially the wood and leather elements, all feel plush and robust. The stitching is tidy enough, too. Overall, we wouldn’t imagine customers coming from BMW, Mercedes or Porsche being anything less than impressed. 

Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo

That 17.3-inch touchscreen dominates the dashboard. With so many of the Denza’s functions located via the main display, you’d hope there would be no issues with responsiveness and the menu layout. Unfortunately, it’s a little fiddly to use on the move - it’s quick enough to react to inputs, but shortcut buttons are small and then there’s simply too much information on screen at one time. 

“The Denza clearly takes inspiration from the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo for its design, but it’s not as well proportioned as the German car.”- Alastair Crooks, senior news reporter.

If you want an EV or PHEV that does the family car duties, the Denza Z9GT doesn’t compare to more traditional estate shapes served up by the Audi A6 and A6 e-tron Avant or the BMW i5 or 5 Series Touring. 

Seats & passenger space

Despite measuring over five metres long, the Denza Z9 GT isn’t as roomy inside as you’d think. The reclining rear seats and extra long wheelbase does mean that rear passengers won’t be at all unhappy, but headroom is a little tight all around, surprisingly so given how much taller it is than the sleeker Porsche Taycan. 

Boot space

Again, boot space is far smaller than you’d expect of a five-metre behemoth like the Denza. The Z9GT has 381 litres of boot space with the rear seats up and that swooping roofline means large dogs might prefer the rear space of a humble hatchback like a Volkswagen Golf instead. 

Towing

While the Z9GT is rated to tow up to 2,000kg, it appears that UK-bound cars aren’t offered with tow bars. 

The Denza Z9GT EV’s cell-to-body technology, which integrates the battery into the chassis, not only enhances rigidity, but according to Denza it improves safety too. There’s the usual mix of high-tech safety features on board such as automatic braking, lane centring, adaptive cruise and collision avoidance, but there’s also ‘high-speed blowout stability’ which helps keep the Z9GT driving straight in the event of a tyre blowout. There’s also Level 2 driver assistance as standard.

Despite all this the Z9GT has not yet been tested by Euro NCAP so it has no safety rating as yet. 

In terms of reliability, the Z9GT has no data here in the UK because it’s a brand-new model. The same applies to the fledgling Denza brand, although huge BYD backing should give those first customers peace of mind. 

Denza says the warranty period for its passenger vehicles is eight years or 100,000 miles with a state of health percentage for its battery of over 70 per cent. That said, this policy doesn’t specifically state the Z9GT just yet.  

Denza Z9GT DM-i plug-in hybrid

There’s only one trim level for the Denza Z9GT, which is fine because it really has everything you could ask for in terms of equipment. The choice between the plug-in hybrid and the EV is tough because they both offer incredible performance. Electric range in the PHEV is class-leading, however, and it’s £10,000 cheaper, plus it should drive just as well on UK roads.

Denza Z9GT Alternatives 

The obvious challenger to the Denza is the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo and the Taycan Cross Turismo. For the PHEV there’s the plug-in hybrid ‘e-Hybrid’ version of the Panamera - although the Sport Turismo version was axed in 2023. The Porsches have classier cabins with far better interior ergonomics, even if the Denza has them beaten on party-piece equipment. The pure-electric Denza’s charging bests the Taycan’s by a factor of four, although they’re fairly similar for real-world range. As for driving, you’ll have to get a range-topping Turbo to compete with the Z9GT’s punch, but for cornering fun the Porsche leaves the Denza far behind. 

Denza Z9GT pictures

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