u/Sweet_Word_3808

I've mentioned in other posts that I'm in the process of upgrading an Atto 3 to a Zeekr 7X. The number of EVs available in both segments has absolutely exploded since we bought the Atto 3 back in 2024.

I chose the 7X so quickly I missed out on all the fun of test driving, so I've been going around and doing a lot of tyre kicking anyway, looking mostly at models that are competitors to either the Atto 3 or the 7X.

(With the caveat this is curiosity driven, so I'm just hitting up the cars I can try out in a lunch hour)

Tried out the IM6 recently. If I was buying this (which I'm not), I'd go for the Platinum (long range, single motor) with optioned air suspension.

For the test drive they put me in a Performance since that was the only one they had available for test drives but pointed out the interior, inclusions and suspension setup was identical.

The sales consultant came in the car with me but (unlike J5 earlier) let me choose my own route and drive around for ~30 minutes.

Sharing my unfiltered thoughts and keen to hear from anyone else whose ruled one of these in or out, or knows something I'm missing.

The good

• The air suspension is so comfy. Most of my test drive was through backroads over speed bumps and around tight roundabouts. The long range 7X doesn't come with air suspension. The 7X was tuned better than my Atto 3 but the IM6 with air suspension was better yet again. I haven't owned many cars but I've test driven a lot of EVs now and the IM6 was hands down the best one I've tried for suspension. The ability to option air suspension onto the single motor version is probably the biggest positive for me and the main reason to consider an IM6 over alternatives.
• Throttle tuning is excellent. They put me in the Performance model but the drive was really smooth. The sales consult told me a story about another customer trying out launch control and puking.
• Interior looks nice and clean, seats are comfy.
• No beeps and boops. I asked the sales assistant whether he'd done anything to make it quiet and he said "yes, I dialled it down to low sensitivity".
• I couldn't really test out cornering and handling in more spirited conditions, but my test drive closely mimicked what I'd actually be doing with a car day to day. Just really comfortable.

Not so good

• Touch your thumb and index finger together on your left hand to make a pinching gesture and keep them together. Now do the same thing on your right hand. Now bring the tips of your pinched fingers on both hands together so you make small diamond shape between your those four fingers. Stand in the middle of the road, turn around, hold the finger-diamond up to your eyeball and squint through it at the traffic coming up behind you. That is the rear view you have in the IM6. The space between the head rests is tiny, the mirror is tiny. Put a tall teenager into the back seat and the view would be even further compromised. At this point why bother? I haven't tried a Polestar 4 but I can understand now why they just went with a digital mirror. There's a button to bring up the rear view camera but I'd rather have a digital mirror than retrain my brain to check the dashboard camera.
• The arm rest doesn't have a handle for you to hold when you're pulling the door closed. You have to kind of wrap your hand around the whole arm rest and grip on to pull it shut. Perhaps if you have bigger hands it's not a problem, or maybe I'm just being dumb. But this seems like a really silly design. It just felt really awkward to pull the door closed.
• No HUD in any trim! If I'm paying $70K for a car I want a HUD.
• While most of the drive was free from ADAS intervention I did have it beep at me once, quite urgently, and flash up a message saying "collision imminent". I was alone on a road with no other cars in any direction except parked alongside. Not sure what triggered that.
• The boot is meant to be larger than a 7X but I think they probably copy Tesla and measure to the roof. There's a false floor but it's less useable than the 7X LR because half of it is taken up with machinery. (The sales guy said it was the battery but I don't think that's right. I googled online and I think that was the air suspension gear I was seeing)
• No accessories included. Not even a charger. You have to add that all in at sale time. The dealer said if I was buying off the lot they'd throw in some stuff, and if I was ordering a new build there was a special to get $500 worth of accessories. But the granny charger alone was $425. That doesn't leave me enough left to add in a manual sun shade.

In summary

I'm not sure who would buy one of these. I don't mean that in a disparaging way, I'm just not seeing the value proposition myself. It was really lovely to just sit in and drive, but I think not enough so that most people wouldn't go with a Sealion 7. Alternatively, if you did want to spend the extra money - the 7X is right there, with slightly better specs, more thoughtfully packaged, and with a HUD and a motorised blind.

Perhaps if you were really sold on air suspension but didn't want to lose any range going up to the performance? Or if you were nervous about Zeekrs' brand presence and servicing?

I'm currently in an Atto 3 trying to decide what to do when my lease expires. We've been really happy with the Atto 3 except that on road trips the boot size, range and charge speed are a little short of what I'd like. And when carting around a car full of teenagers having 3 full size humans in the back row is a little squishy.

I have a refundable deposit placed on a 7X LR already but a 3 month wait time isn't good for people who have a habit of 2nd guessing their choices.

I've been... encouraged to check out the cheaper end of the market to make really, really sure the 7X is worth the splurge. It helps that Jaecoo and Geely dealerships are next to each other and walking distance from my home, so I could knock them both over in a lunch break.

TL;DR

I can tell where the money goes in the Zeekr 7X and I won't be changing my order. If I was buying my first EV I would probably wait for the Atto 3 Evo rather than pick either EX5 or J5, but I can absolutely see reasons to love both of those options.

Jaecoo J5

The test drive was very short and controlled. Salesman sat in the car with me and directed me on a short course. Never got to go over 60km/h but did test the suspension on some speed bumps.

The good things

• The price!
• Size and value! Everything felt spacious and roomy. Boot looked quite useable. Has a frunk.
• Adjustable headrests! Really miss this in the Atto 3.
• Proper rear windscreen wiper.
• I quite like the styling! Feels quite airy
• 3D camera seems to be good enough
• Compared to the Atto 3, suspension is less "bwoomp bwomp" when you go over a speed bump.
• Strong regen is not as refined as Tesla but much stronger than Atto 3.
• Rear window visibility was good.
• Driver profiles!

Not so good things

• I think I understand what people mean by "numb steering" now. Atto 3 isn't great in this regard but J5 is even worse.
• Even though I quite liked the interior styling, the construction felt quite cheap compared to the Atto 3. Atto 3 looks weird but feels really good day-to-day. J5 looks good but feels quite ordinary.
• The one opportunity I got to test acceleration I chirped the tyres. The Atto 3 did this in the rain on stock Batmans, but I haven't had this since replacing them with Michelins. Pretty sure this was in 'normal' mode too. (I'd changed it to Sport while I was playing around but I'm pretty sure the sales guy set it back to normal before we went out)
• No app! (Salesperson said it was working its way through an approval process and maybe a year out)
• Screen felt a bit laggy when I was playing with the settings waiting for my license to be photocopied. No navigation. Didn't get to try Android Auto, but I wonder if it might also feel laggy.
• Seats were super firm. I feel like this might get uncomfortable on very long drives, but just guessing.
• Boot has a false-floor and beneath it is space that is scooped out in the shape of a spare tyre but salesperson said it doesn't actually fit a spare. So this space below the liner is much less useable than other models I've seen.

Geely EX5

The test drive was more accomodating, they gave me the car to drive around on my own for 15-20 minutes. I didn't have any longer to spend, but in comparison Zeekr in Sydney give you a whole hour even when they're busy. This place was empty on a weekday and still they set a short time limit.

The good things

• Has a decent HUD. I'm shallow with some tech gizmos but I do like the HUD.
• Beats the Atto 3 in size and is slightly better on paper in pretty much all dimensions.
• Regen is stronger than Atto 3, similar to J5 I felt.
• Acceleration is a lot more brisk compared to the Atto 3. It really lays down the power from standstill. (But compared to the Zeekr 7X it felt a little less refined. More like "boom there it is!" instead of a smooth, controlled surge.)
• In my very limited test drive, the steering feel was better than J5. Unsure if I'd like it better than Atto 3 long term or not.
• Seats were less firm than the J5 and more comfortable with less fiddling than the Atto 3.
• Driver profiles!
• Rear window visibility also very good.
• I liked the space under the boot floor.

The less good things

• Similar to the J5, the interior looks superficially good and less weird than the Atto 3 but the materials are fairly standard.
• The steering wheel in particular felt quite hard. The Atto 3 has soft touch materials on the steering wheel and I've gotten really used to that.
• In my short test drive I couldn't find a comfortable driving position that didn't result in the steering wheel obscuring some of the instrument cluster. (Atto 3 avoids this problem by mounting the instrument cluster onto the steering wheel column). Luckily the HUD is there.
• The combination of sport more / high regen was really jerky. I recently rented an older Model Y quite recently and feel like I got the hang of opd within a few minutes. Compared to the Tesla the high regen tuning is different in some way that made it hard to get to grips with in my very short test drive. Probably long term I'd adapt to it and this would be fine.

Overall impressions

Before test driving these two I'd was happily recommending EX5 and J5 in comments over the Atto 3 just based on the specs. Having sat in all 3 in rapid succession I realise current Atto 3 is probably the nicest and most refined out of these three options in terms of cabin feel, ergonomics and driving dynamics. It's just let down by being on an older platform and sitting at slightly higher price.

The J5 is the car my wife - who cares only about boot space, price and rear windscreen wipers - would tell me to buy. EX5 would have seriously tempted me on the HUD and brisk acceleration, but not been an automatic slam dunk over the Atto 3.

If the Evo arrives before the 7X I've ordered I'll probably check that out as well.

(I'd already exhaustively researched the more direct 7X competitors and ruled them out for one reason or another)