I drive Daniel Craig’s 1100hp Denza Z9GT

BYD isn’t doing things by halves. To launch its upmarket Denza brand to the world, it gets Daniel Craig, possibly one of the most famous faces on the planet, to ‘lend’ his image to several key vehicles being launched by the brand this year.

That’s expensive.

Then to get the Denza party started, it takes over the Palais Garnier in Paris, one of the most opulent, iconic and famous opera houses in the world. It invites celebrities and influencers to an event with ballet dancers, opera singers and BYD’s executive president Stella Li laying out her ambitions for the Denza brand.

That’s extraordinary.

Finally, it introduces its first car in Denza’s European line up. The safe option would have been to go with something familiar – maybe an electric SUV that is well equipped, well made but priced a bit lower than an equivalent model from Mercedes or Audi.

But, no. BYD opted to go for a £100,000, 1100hp electric powerhouse that’s difficult to pigeonhole.

That’s punchy.

So after all that razzmatazz and glamour, the new Denza Z9GT spearheading this global launch has a lot to live up to. So does it?

Remember, you can buy a brand new or used car right here on Carwow. And you can sell your car, too. We’re here to help you through every step of your car-changing journey.

What is the Denza Z9GT?

Denza Z9GT is a grand tourer, with a strong focus on tech, ultra-fast charging capabilities, and a premium interior.

The Z9GT will be offered as both a fully electric version and a plug-in hybrid, and both models will feature BYD’s latest battery and charging technology.

The all-wheel drive EV has a range of up to 372 miles, while the hybrid has an impressive EV-only range of 126 miles. A rear-wheel version of the EV will be on sale later this year, with a range of nearly 500 miles.

I’m focussing on the all-wheel drive EV here.

What’s the Denza Z9GT like inside?

This is a £100,000 car so inside is as lovely as you would expect. It’s all sumptuous leather or tactile alcantara that looks and feels high quality.

There’s a huge 50.0-inch augmented-reality head-up display stretching across the driver’s field of vision, backed up by a 17.3-inch Google-powered central infotainment screen. This is joined by two additional 13.2-inch displays – one for the driver’s instruments and another dedicated to the front passenger, allowing them to control media and entertainment functions independently.

So if you like your screens, you’ll love the Z9GT.

There’s a 20-speaker Devialet sound system. It leans towards a bass-heavy profile. You have to really crank it up to feel it however. The instrument separation is good, which is probably down to all those speakers. It’s impressive, but the Burmester system in a Porsche Panamera probably has the edge, if this is your thing. The system does have a profile for ‘Voice’ reflecting how more people are listening to podcasts these days as opposed to listening to music.

Oh, if you like your drinks extra cold, the fridge in the centre console cools – freezes – to -6 degrees C. Also on the console is a pair of 50W wireless phone-charging pads. One charged my passenger’s iPhone faster than a wired connection. Impressive stuff again.

Denza says it has put as much attention into rear-seat comfort as most car makers put into their front seats. And it shows. It’s super comfy in the rear. While I’m not the tallest of car reviewers, there were huge amounts of head and leg room in the back. The heated and cooled seats are really comfortable too, and like the front seats, come with a massage function. Rear seat passengers have a 50kw charging pad too.

The boot is OK – at 495 litres it’s a bit bigger than the boot in the Porsche Taycan and certainly big enough for the kind of weekends away GTs are designed for. There’s a further 53 litres of space in the front boot.

What’s the Denza 9ZGT like to drive?

Probably one of the best driving cars to come out of China. In town it is remarkably manoeuvrable thanks to clever tech, including steering motors on each of the rear wheels. This means the five metre long car has a turning circle of under 11 metres, which is pretty nifty.

The car can also do clever crab walking and pivot turning, where the rear wheels turn and steer while the front wheels remain static. It can also park itself using either screen prompts in the car or in the app on your phone. It’s impressive tech, though how often you will use it is debatable.

It has cameras instead of door mirrors and a rear view mirror. They take a little while to get used to and they lack the depth of vision the more analogue and humble mirror brings. But they work well enough to make driving around town easy. You won’t feel speed bumps or potholes either.

The electric Z9GT has a 0-60 time of 2.7 seconds. That’s a second quicker than a Porsche Taycan 4S. So it’s fun on a twisty road? I’m not convinced. The performance is astonishing and the steering feels accurate enough, but it’s a big, heavy – like nearly 2.9 tons heavy – grand tourer. I just think a lighter, smaller car is more fun to drive.

It’s far more at home on the motorway. Quiet, comfortable, a decent range and plenty of power to scoot down a slip road, it does the grand tourer thing of covering long distances quickly with a minimum of fuss.

Denza Z9GT Batteries and charging

‘Long distances?’ I hear you ask. Surely EVs are anathema to long-distance driving? This could be the most significant aspect of the Denza Z9GT.

It comes with BYD’s second generation of Blade batteries compatible with BYD’s flash charging system. This can charge a car at 1500kW. For context your home charger probably charges at 7kW and even the speediest ultra fast chargers work at between 300 and 400kW.

In practice, this means the Z9GT can go from 10% to 70% in five minutes and to virtually full in 9 minutes. I observed the car adding 80 miles within a minute of the Flash Charging starting. Really impressive.

BYD says it will install 300 Flash Charging units in the UK by the end of this year.

Denza Z9GT: My Verdict

It’s that last point that I’m particularly excited about. The electric version of the Z9GT comes with 1140hp and will cost over £100,000 when it goes on sale in the next couple of months. The plug-in hybrid version will cost more than £90,000 later on this year. These are niche cars that won’t sell in huge numbers. But I don’t think that’s the point. BYD is using the Z9GT as a halo to tell an exciting tech story.

You will start to see BYD models with Flash Charging tech in the near future. That means more mainstream models will be able to charge at speeds equivalent to filling up a petrol car at a fuel station. That could be a game changer for those who are yet to be convinced that an electric car is for them. And that – perhaps more than James Bond, or swanky Instagramable launch events – is the key point about Denza and the Z9GT.

Car change? Carwow!

Looking for a new set of wheels? With Carwow you can sell your car quickly and for a fair price – as well as find great offers on your next one. Whether you’re looking to buy a car brand new, are after something used or you want to explore car leasing options, Carwow is your one stop shop for new car deals.

Click here to follow us on Reddit, where you can keep up-to-date with all the latest news, reviews, advice guides and videos. You can also subscribe to our WhatsApp channel to get the latest news sent straight to your phone.