Li Auto L9-Hybrid REEV

Exterior: I chose the silver paint finish, and I really like it¡ªit has a very futuristic feel. The car is tall and imposing, and the star ring lights are beautiful. I personally think the exterior design is quite avant-garde; when the star ring headlights are on, it exudes a strong sense of luxury. It¡¯s like getting a lot done with a small budget, giving Chinese people exactly the feeling of a big car they want.

Interior: All the areas my hands can reach are leather, paired with orange, which gives a very high-end feel. The materials and overall interior texture are excellent. To say something I probably shouldn¡¯t¡ªpersonally, I feel the texture is better than lower-trim X7s and GLSs. I know the prices aren¡¯t comparable; this is just my personal impression. The design is also my favorite tech-sleek style. The HUD is especially cool, like piloting a spaceship, and it¡¯s clear most of the time.

Configuration: This is the absolute top of the line. If I had to mention a downside, maybe it¡¯s missing some features¡ªjokingly, like no toilet. Seriously, it would be even better if the rear seats had zero-gravity seats like the M7, though seatbelt constraints would still be an issue.

Range: The dashboard shows 180, and pure city energy consumption is 17-20 kWh/100km. Even if I stay in the car for an hour or two occasionally, the range doesn¡¯t drop much. It¡¯s really impressive.

Intelligence: The NOA assisted driving is quite useful, but it performs just average in heavy traffic or when there are no lane lines ahead for short distances¡ªit sways a bit left and right. There¡¯s still a gap compared to Tesla¡¯s Autopilot. Li Auto¡¯s voice assistant is also great, though it occasionally doesn¡¯t understand me, but it¡¯s much better than Tesla¡¯s, haha. Getting in and just telling the Li Auto Assistant to turn on massage, ventilation, and fragrance is incredibly comfortable.

Driving Feel: Let¡¯s start with the drawbacks. The steering wheel has poor feedback. It¡¯s light to turn, but there¡¯s no driving fun involved. The chassis quality is mostly excellent, almost smoothing out all small road bumps, feeling very premium¡ªno worse than an X7. However, over larger bumps, potholes, or speed bumps, the rear axle has slight aftershocks. A minor flaw, simply put, it doesn¡¯t feel fully integrated. But when I lower the air suspension to the lowest setting and set it to the stiffest mode, the chassis feels much more cohesive, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a serious issue. The throttle and brake feel are pretty good¡ªproduction car brakes feel much better than the test drive vehicle. Power delivery is responsive, making overtaking effortless. The power is definitely strong, but passengers might get motion sickness if driven a bit aggressively, so drivers should be careful.

NVH (Noise Insulation): It¡¯s decent. Below 100 km/h, it¡¯s comfortable. Above 100, wind noise becomes noticeable, and tire noise is the most prominent. Strangely, it¡¯s much quieter than the test drive car. I¡¯ll have to test the demo vehicle again sometime.

Audio: It¡¯s not the final version yet, but even with my untrained ears, it sounds pretty good.

Passenger Experience: Absolute praise. The space is huge, configurations are high-end, and with massage and ventilation on, it¡¯s incredibly comfortable. At this price point, there¡¯s really no competitor. I hope more rivals emerge in the future to boost competition, bringing prices down and quality up! Consumers will ultimately benefit.

Range (again): So far, pure electric city driving energy consumption is 17-20, and the dashboard display is accurate. In the city, from 100% to 20% battery, it can run about 130 km. Air conditioning doesn¡¯t consume much power¡ªeven staying in the car for an hour or two only drops the range by a few kilometers. My friend drove an L9 on the highway using only gas, and¾Ý˵ covered 720 km on a full tank at 100-120 km/h. I¡¯ll test this myself later.

Exterior: I blindly chose the gray paint on the app, and unexpectedly, it later became the top 1 paint color chosen by the public. The first time I saw the actual car, I fell deeply in love with the two-meter-long star ring headlights (it's said that this star ring light alone was jointly developed by Li Auto and the powerful supplier Hella with an investment of 200 million yuan; the visual effect is excellent, the light strip is pure, no¿ÅÁ£¸Ð even when viewed up close, and there are no breaks in the middle, which can be regarded as an industry first). It looks like a spaceship from outer space, full of a sense of the future, directly hitting my heart ??, just like the charming smile of a first love, making me³Á×íÆäÖÐ...

Body size: In terms of body size, the L9 has evolved a lot compared to the Li Auto ONE because it is positioned for three generations living together and family travel. The length, width and height are 5,218 x 1,998 x 1,800 mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 3,105 mm. The body length is already the same as the Mercedes-Benz GLS, and the wheelbase is comparable to the BMW X7. It can be described as a master of space and handling. For a full-size SUV, the width is relatively friendly to underground garages, and the height of 1800mm will not cause unnecessary roof scraping problems for most underground garages with a height limit of 2 meters. The absolute length of 5.2 meters brings an unprecedented new experience to the riding space and comfort of the third row, which can be called the "space master" in the automotive industry.

Positive aspects:

? Proactive OTA updates
From July 1st to July 31st, there have been 3-4 OTA updates based on sales feedback. A new OTA notification popped up after the test drive last night, indicating continuous improvement and optimization of features within this month.

? Customizable HUD content
According to the latest HUD display settings, a new feature has been added to turn off EID display (environmental perception). It is hoped that the improvement of customization features will be accelerated in the future, such as displaying currently playing songs, enhancing navigation information, etc.

? Lightweight charging pile
The electricity meter at home has just been installed, but the charging pile hasn't been installed yet. I˳ÊÖ picked up the charging gun at the rear of the test drive vehicle yesterday. Previously, I had the impression that fast charging piles outside are very heavy. I originally thought that home slow charging piles would be lighter, but not by much. However, it was a pleasant surprise¡ªit's very light, and my wife can easily hold it with one hand. Combined with the L9's automatic cover opening function, even daily charging won't feel troublesome; charging has become convenient and effortless.

? Convenient entry and exit with electric side steps
I finally got the complete configuration yesterday, including the gray body and electric side steps. During the last test drive, I'm 170cm tall, and I needed to tiptoe a bit to get in and out when using the standard height. This time, there were 4 of us with heights ranging from 159cm to 170cm, and using the electric side steps was really comfortable, making getting in and out effortless.

? Comfortable second and third-row seating
Last time, I didn't experience the three suspension modes: Comfort/Standard/Sport, and only used the Standard mode throughout. According to my wife, the bumpiness was obvious. This time, I specifically tried all three modes and found that the Comfort mode offers a very good riding experience. If the second and third rows are occupied by the elderly or children, it is highly recommended to switch to Comfort mode.

? Ultra-clear rearview imaging
Yesterday, I drove at night and intentionally turned on the streaming media rearview display on the center console screen. The ambient lighting looked normal to the naked eye, but through the 2-megapixel rearview camera, the imaging was clearer than what human eyes could perceive (similar to how a smartphone takes clearer photos in low light through algorithms and sensors).

? Push video from front passenger entertainment screen to second-row screen
If the second-row screen is off, you can directly select to push a video from the front passenger entertainment screen to the second row. The second-row screen will automatically turn on and play the video without needing to manually turn it on first.

? Turning radius of two and a half lanes
When making a U-turn at a traffic light with a median strip, turning the steering wheel to the maximum requires approximately two and a half lanes in the middle. Therefore, if there are three lanes in one direction, making a direct U-turn is not a problem.

? Automatic parking is very worry-free
When returning to the parking lot this time, I finally experienced automatic parking once. I really admire Li Auto for providing commonly used assisted driving capabilities at the time of delivery. This was a standard parking space, and the reversing efficiency and accuracy were excellent. From now on, I'll let the car park itself when I get home (hoping that in the future, it can support automatic parking after getting off the car; after all, the car is large, and getting in and out after parking in the space is not particularly convenient).

? Gray color looks good and is dirt-resistant
The color I've always wanted is gray, but I hadn't seen the actual car before. This time, I accidentally test-drove the gray one. The appearance feels textured, atmospheric, and gray is dirt-resistant, making it a safe first choice recommendation.

Areas needing improvement:

? Repeated login for entertainment app accounts
When sitting in the third row and using Li Xiang Tong Xue to control, I said "Play a Jay Chou song". The system responded on the central control screen, but the music app on the central control screen prompted "VIP membership required", even though the account was already logged in on the entertainment screen (playing Jay Chou songs through the entertainment screen is possible). According to sales feedback, currently the central control screen/entertainment screen/second-row screen have three independent account systems (such as iQIYI, NetEase Cloud, etc.), so each screen needs to be logged in separately. This issue has been feedback, and it will be optimized in the future.

? Weak surround sound experience when listening to music
Not sure if it's due to individual differences in the test drive vehicle, but when the volume is between 10%-25%, passengers in the second and third rows feel that the singing is coming from the first row, not a surround sound experience. When the volume exceeds 25%, surround sound can be felt. It is hoped that future audio tuning will focus on optimizing the surround effect for the second and third rows.

? Difficult gesture operation on the second-row screen while driving
While driving, I wanted to adjust the massage mode on the second-row screen, but when driving on urban roads with braking and turning, the accuracy of gesture operations is low, and small icon buttons are difficult to control. I have always strongly suggested adding a remote control function in the Li Auto App.

? Second-row seat ventilation settings cannot be controlled via the second-row screen
Currently, the second-row screen can control the seat massage mode, but lacks the more commonly used seat ventilation activation and gear settings. It is suggested to improve the control of various second-row functions on the second-row screen (voice control is available, but improving the interface or at least status display on the second-row screen would be more intuitive).

? Position and size of streaming rearview image cannot be adjusted
After activating the streaming rearview image, it is displayed by default in the upper right corner of the central control screen, which covers key navigation information and affects map visibility. It is suggested that in the future, card-level components should be used more flexibly, providing more combinations, and allowing adjustment of the position of the streaming rearview image.

? The off-screen display of the front passenger entertainment screen cannot be customized
Currently, the front passenger screen can be set to turn off, but since it's an OLED screen, it is hoped that in the future, off-screen mode customization will be added, such as displaying time/clock, currently playing song, etc.