Living with the Omoda 9: my honest verdict after six months with this Chinese hybrid
Car changing is a big deal
Social content producer Tommy Allen has handed back the keys to his Omoda 9, and this is his final verdict after six months with this surprisingly powerful Chinese SUV.
When I took delivery of my Omoda 9 back in December 2025, I wanted to find out why owners love this car so much. It wasn’t as well-known then as it is now, but the people buying Omoda 9s seemed to be besotted by them on social media.
After six months and thousands of miles behind the wheel, I can see why this car is so popular. It’s by no means perfect, but for the money it’s hugely impressive. You can read all the pros and cons in my previous report, but here’s a summary of my time with the Omoda 9 as well as my final verdict.
Six months with an Omoda 9: should you buy one?
The Omoda 9 made a really good first impression when it was dropped off late last year. It certainly looks the part, with its imposing front end and sporty sloping roofline, and it gets even better inside.
The material quality is right up there with cars like the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC, but at around £45,000 it costs the same as cars in the class below such as the Audi Q3. There’s loads of soft leather trim and solid metallic switchgear, and then there’s the list of standard equipment.
It has heated and ventilated front and rear seats, adaptive cruise control, a self parking feature which I found to work very well and a panoramic sunroof – to name just a few.
It’s not perfect though. I found the infotainment system to be quite laggy at times, and some features are buried too deep in the menus. Turning on the heated seats requires one too many button presses, unless you use the voice commands. They work quite well, but it’s annoying to have to interrupt your music to do something so simple.
The driver aids aren’t great either. I found the adaptive cruise control to be a bit erratic, and if you do need to take back control it puts up a fight. I stopped using it after a while because I could never quite trust it.
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On the plus side, the hybrid engine is seriously impressive. It has a whopping 449hp, so it’s quick, and it’s really smooth and refined as well. The suspension doesn’t feel quite up to dealing with that much power, it’s rather floaty and the steering is vague, but in a straight line it’ll put a smile on your face. It’ll also do 93 miles on electric power alone, making it one of the longest-range PHEVs on sale.
So then, should you buy an Omoda 9? Well after six months with the car, I reckon it’s well worth shortlisting. It may not be as good to drive as European alternatives like the Audi Q5, but it’s around £7,000 cheaper than that car, comes with way more kit as standard and has an interior posh enough to match, if not beat it.
The Omoda 9 is the definition of champagne motoring for lemonade money, and now I can see why owners love them so much.
Pros and cons of my Omoda 9
On the whole, I’ve found the Omoda 9 to be a seriously impressive bit of kit. It costs a fraction of what a posh German SUV would set you back, but offers all the same luxury features. It’s not all rosy though, because there are also some annoying gripes.
Here are five things I love about the Omoda 9, as well as five features which get on my nerves. We’ll start on the positives.
Five things I love about my Omoda 9
1. The interior feels great
This car costs just under £45,000, around £10,000 less than a Mercedes GLC, but the interior feels more posh than it does in the Merc. I’m yet to find any scratchy plastics, nor have I noticed any creaky trim. The leatherette on the dashboard looks nice as well, and all the switchgear is nicely damped.
2. It’s really fast
I recently drag raced this car against the rest of Carwow’s long-term fleet, and it did the standing quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds. That’s quicker than the time we got from a Ferrari F40, although it couldn’t beat Darren Cassey’s Volvo V60. Still with 449hp on tap it’s more than quick enough to scare your passengers.
3. It has a brilliant sound system
All Omoda 9s come with a 14-speaker Sony stereo, and it’s really good. I like to turn up the music on a long journey, and the mid-range clarity is fantastic. It has a strong bass as well, it easily matches the premium German brands, if not beats them.
4. The cameras are great
This is quite a large car with narrow rear windows, so I find myself relying on the camera system quite a lot. Thankfully, they’re super high-quality. The definition is excellent, and they work well in low light conditions. You can even see what’s under the car, which can come in handy when you’re off-road.
5. It’s surprisingly economical
I’ll admit that I haven’t been driving this plug-in hybrid in the most efficient way, because I have nowhere at home to charge it. Despite this, it still acts as a normal hybrid car around town. This means I can pootle around at low speeds without using the engine, and I’ve averaged around 40mpg during my time with the car. That’s not bad for a massive SUV with almost 450hp.
Five annoying things about the Omoda 9
1. The suspension isn’t great
The Omoda 9 manages to feel jittery and wallowy at the same time, like it’s never really settled. It crashes over sharper bumps and leans though bends, and the numb steering doesn’t inspire much confidence either. It’s much better on the motorway, but something like a Volkswagen Tiguan is nicer to drive.
2. The adaptive cruise control
I love having adaptive cruise control for long journeys, but the Omoda’s system isn’t great. You can’t work with the car to keep yourself between the lines, it just wants to do its own thing. This is okay until it gets the road markings wrong, at which point you have to fight with it to take back control. I rarely use it anymore because I can never fully trust the system.
3. Infotainment woes
There are certain parts of the infotainment system which are hilariously bad. The heated seats are buried about three menus deep, and the screen itself is really laggy and slow to respond. The voice controls do work okay as a getaround, but I’d still prefer a more intuitive user interface.
4. Distracting tech
The driver distraction monitor is extremely distracting. How ironic. It’s triggered as soon as you look away from the road for a split second, leaving you staring at the screen trying to figure out why it’s beeping. This is annoying when merging on motorways, and when digging through the menus for your heated seats.
5. Annoying gear shifter
The Omoda 9 has a column-mounted gear selector, which I think is the perfect place for it. The placement isn’t the annoying part. You have to have to come to a complete stop and press the brake firmly before it’ll engage reverse, whereas other cars are faster to change gear when manoeuvring. It makes three-point turns feel like they’re happening in slow-motion.
So those are the pros and cons of the Omoda 9 which I’ve uncovered after three months. I still have three more months to go with this car, so keep an eye on our long termer reports page for updates on what it’s like to live with.
Living with an Omoda 9: an introduction to my new car
Speccing my Omoda 9 wasn’t very difficult, because there are no options to choose from.
Noble is the only trim level on offer, and it comes absolutely loaded with posh features. You get the usual big touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging, a surround-view camera and a head-up display, but there are also things which you’d expect to pay thousands of pounds for on other cars.
Things like heated and ventilated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, self-parking, adaptive cruise control, a full panoramic glass roof and a 14-speaker Sony sound system are all included – I was shocked by just how much you get for your money.
The only option you can pick is the colour, which in the case of my car is Onyx Black. It’s a £750 paint job, bringing the total cost of this car to £45,740.
That makes it over £7,000 cheaper than a basic Audi Q5, and around £8,000 less than a BMW X3, while offering way more kit as standard. It’s no wonder people are tempted towards these cars.
Under the bonnet is a 1.5-litre petrol-electric plug-in hybrid system with a whopping 450hp, meaning this massive SUV can do 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds. That’s more than 2.0 seconds quicker than a basic Audi Q5.
So it’s fast, well-equipped and the interior is also really nice. The materials all feel soft and premium and build quality is excellent as well.
What are the owners saying?
So first impressions are good, but what do owners think of the Omoda 9? I checked out some forums to get a feel for it.
One owner complimented the rear legroom, saying it’s far more spacious than their old Jaguar F-Pace. Another said they were impressed how comfortable the car is to drive.
Another common theme is people swapping their cars from established premium brands. One user commented: “I changed from a Volvo XC90 and [have] no regrets at all. So much car for the list price.”
The most common bit of praise people have for the Omoda 9 is the amount of kit you get for the money, but there are also quite a few people talking about issues with the DAB radio not being very good.
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.
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