Zeekr 009 2025 review - Track drive

If somebody told you that tomorrow you were going to Sydney Motorsport Park to drive around the circuit in something that puts out 450kW and 693Nm, your mind would start 'racing' before you even arrived there. 

An output of 450kW means it can’t be a Porsche 911 GT3 because that makes 'only' 375kW/450Nm. Ford Mustang? No, its 5.0-litre V8 makes 340kW/550Nm. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray? Nup, that has 369kW/637Nm. BMW M3? Nope, 390KW. You know the Ferrari Roma does have 456kW… surely not?

It wasn’t. Nope the mystery monster with 450kW/693Nm is a people mover - a Zeekr 009. And even though I’ve driven quickly around Sydney Motorsport Park in fast road cars and race cars, the thought of doing it in a people mover was still fun and daunting, but in a different kind a way - like a try-not-to-put-this-giant-loaf-of-bread-on-its-side kind of way.

Zeekr is another of the fully electric Chinese brands that’s arrived in Australia over the past year. I tested the Zeekr X small SUV at the start of this year but the 009 has only just arrived and not only hadn’t I driven it before, I didn’t know much about it. And you might not either, so here’s a quick round up of the specs.

So, the Zeekr 009 is a three-row people mover like the Kia Carnival but more than double the price with the entry-grade listing for $135,900. But it’s fully-electric and realistically up against the likes of the LDV Mifa 9 which is $129,000. I know, that’s lots of money.

But you do get lots of battery. Running under the floor is a massive 116kWh battery, which, at the time of writing, is the largest battery you can get with an EV and offers a range of up to 582km (WLTP).

Batteries are heavy and that means so is the 009 at 2870kg. But with more than 600 horsepower the dual electric motors can hurl this people mover from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds.

Which we did as one of the first exercises with the 009 on track. That sprint to 100km/h without a screaming combustion engine honestly doesn’t do much for me. Yes it’s as quick as a V8 Ford Mustang, but rapid acceleration in complete silence feels odd to this petrol head.

What was entertaining was the slalom set up which had us zig-zagging through the witches hats. I’ll be honest with you: I did knock down one, but in my defence I was going very fast and laughing the whole time.

I was surprised I didn’t hit them all, but more surprising was the 009's flatness during direction changes. I’ve done this same exercises in all sorts of cars and generally the faster you go the sloppier things get with body roll and understeer, but there wasn’t much of this in the 009 and that could be down to the fact that the big heavy battery under the car keeps the centre of mass nice and low. We saw that flat handling again when we had a chance to drive the 009 around the track.

Turn 1 is a fast sweeping left and I took the 009 through that bend at about the limit I know most ordinary cars can handle without disappearing into the sand and it held its line wonderfully, feeling planted, stable and making me want to try it again, but quicker. I decided not to push my luck.

Turn 2 is a tricky one. I’ve spun many cars out here because I’m impatient and tend to come in too hot or apply too much gas too soon, but again the 009 braked well, turned in nicely and powered out with controllable acceleration. No spinning out. No tipping over. And I went through at the same speed that caused me to come unstuck while piloting a couple of sports cars in years gone by.

And all in silence even the tyres didn’t protest much. But they did when we took the 009 to its next stop - the skid pan.

The bad news (or good news if you're on the open road) is that it's very difficult to drift or slide the 009 because there is an electronic army inside doing everything to keep the van from losing control. Skid pans are one of the only places where you can safely and legally lose control and I’m disappointed to say despite all my efforts a few screeches from the tyres was all I could get out of it. 

Normally first encounters with cars don't go like this. Typically we get the car in our own garage and do much more sensible things like drive it on regular roads, fuel test them and evaluate its standard features. Which we will be doing very soon with the Zeekr 009.