It’s getting quite difficult to keep track of the constantly evolving brands and sub-brands within the giant Chinese Chery group.
The most recent development is the establishment of what is effectively a new sister brand to Chery called Omoda Jaecoo, a premium brand that operates independently of their shared parent company.
We recently reported on the two Jaecoo models (J7 and J8) that are currently on sale in Australia. This time we’re reviewing the first of the dedicated Omoda vehicles, the Omoda 9 that went on sale here in August.
Now, just to confuse matters, it’s not the first time the Omoda name has been used by Chery. In fact, the first vehicle to arrive here on the company’s return to the Australian market in 2023 was called the Chery Omoda 5.
With the repositioning of the Omoda brand it has now been re-badged Chery C5 and E5 respectively.
The Omoda 9 is a family-sized plug-in hybrid SUV that combines a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with three electric motors.
It comes in a single Virtue variant priced from $61,990 before on-road costs together with an eight-year unlimited kilometre warranty for both vehicle and batteries.
STYLING
At just under 4.8 metres in length the Omoda 9 sits between five-seat hybrid competitors such as the RAV4, Kia Sorento, Subaru Forester, BYD Sealion 6 and Mazda CX-60. With more on the way.
Omoda 9 has an attractive cascading diamond-shaped grille that will be carried over onto future Omoda vehicles starting with the Omoda 4 small SUV and 7 SHS A full width light bar links projector LED headlights with narrow vertical LED daytime running lights. The rear also features a full-width light bar.
The various lighting components set off a light show when the car is unlocked and locked. At the same time pop-out door handles emerge and retract with large puddle lights turning on and off at night.
The standard panoramic sunroof has a slide and tilt function together with a powered sunshade.
Omoda 9 runs on 20-inch alloy wheels with Michelin 245/50 R20 tyres.
Four conservative colours are available: Silk White is standard, Ink Black and Dove Grey are a $750 option while the Shadow Grey matt finish that we tested adds $1500.
INTERIOR
The dashboard is dominated by dual 12.3-inch LCD screens, the infotainment touchscreen in the centre and the driver instrument cluster in front of the two-spoke steering wheel.
There’s leather trim with silver accents on the doors and dashboard.
Both the front and the rear outer seats are powered, heated, ventilated and can be reclined.
The driver gets an eight-way powered seat that can be extended to provide extra thigh support and memory settings. The front passenger has four-way power adjustment.
A clever feature that we found in the Jaecoo J8 was the speaker built into the driver’s headrest allowing them to take calls or listen to music in private.
Other features include an in-built fragrance system, colour selectable ambient lighting and intelligent voice command, activated by ‘Hello Omoda’.
Boot space to the roof is 660 litres with the rear seatbacks folded, expanding to 1783 litres with hem folded. No spare wheels of any variety beneath, just one of the much-maligned tyre repair kit.
POWERTRAIN
The Omoda 9 Virtue is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that the brand tags as a Super
Hybrid System (SHS) due to it using a 34-kWh battery to power three electric motors (two in the front, one in the rear).
The front electric motors produce 75 kW/170 Nm and 90 kW/220Nm with the rear motor adding 175 kW and 310 Nm.
Combined with a 1.5-litre 105 kW/215 Nm turbocharged petrol engine for combined output of 395 kW, a claimed WLTP electric-only range of 145km (NEDC) and a total range of up to 1100km in hybrid mode.
Zero to 100km/h time is listed at 4.9 seconds.
The engine generates 105 kW of power and torque of 215 Nm.
INFOTAINMENT
The 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen is sharp and clear with high-definition camera views including the 360-degree surround view and embedded satellite navigation.
There’s also a built-in dashcam which does require an SD card to store data.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both wireless with a 50-watt wireless smartphone charger in the centre console.
The voice control system is activated with the ‘Hello Omoda’ command for adjusting climate control, sunroof operation and multimedia.
Audio is through a premium 14-speaker Sony sound system that can be routed through the driver’s headrest if desired.
SAFETY
ANCAP has already tested Omoda 9 and given it the full five-star rating.
Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags, as well as a driver knee airbag, are standard. A centre airbag, which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes, is standard.
A suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems includes autonomous emergency braking (car-to-car, vulnerable road user, junction, crossing, backover and head-on) as well as various lane support systems, advanced speed assistance system with a speed sign recognition system are standard.
The vehicle offers low-level autonomous capabilities like traffic jam assist and integrated cruise assist.
There’s the usual option of deactivating a number of safety features such as lane departure warning, driver inattention alert and speed limit warning however they are far less intrusive in the Omoda 9 than in many other cars and we were able to go through our entire week-long test leaving each of them turned on.
DRIVING
We had a couple of issues getting into the Omoda 9. The limited height adjustment range of the driver’s seat required a bit more bending and head scraping than expected from a largish vehicle. Once in, the relatively narrow driver’s seat and heavy side bolsters made it difficult to get comfortable.
While most of the features, as expected, are controlled from the touchscreen there are three round physical knobs below it to switch from EV to hybrid as well as providing access to other key features.
In EV mode it’s typically sharp off the mark The drive is smooth and effortless with little road or wind noise.
For such a big, relatively boxy car it corners surprisingly well.
Seat adjustment is via the style adopted by Mercedes-Benz that uses knobs located near the top of the doors shaped like the base and back of the seats.
The 10.3-metre turning circle for a 4.8-metre vehicle is impressive and really adds to the vehicle’s manoeuvrability around town.
There are six drive modes: Eco, Normal, Sport, Snow, Sand, and Off-Road.
Typically, PHEVs come with a relatively small battery and so, unless they are frequently recharged, only provide around 50km of EV-only driving before reverting to normal hybrid mode. Omoda claims 160km EV only with a combined range of 1100km.
Knock off around 10 percent for realistic range and even 145km electric only will satisfy many urban commuters while EV + hybrid will get you between many capital cities without recharging or refuelling.
SUMMARY
The dramatic rise in the quality of Chinese vehicles continues unabated and for the third time in our recent reviews we’re hailing another ‘best yet’.
First up it was the BYD Sealion 7, then the Chery Tiggo 8 and now, the Omoda 9 has taken out the top spot.
For around $65k driveaway you’re getting a genuine premium luxury electric-biased SUV for a fraction of the price of its European and Japanese rivals.
RATINGS
Looks: 9/10
Performance: 8.5/10
Safety: 8/10
Thirst: 9/10
Practicality: 8/10
Comfort: 8.5/10
Tech: 8/10
Value: 8.5/10
