Geely Starray EM-i long term review

Seemingly every month there’s a new car brand from China launching in Australia, but Geely is bigger than many others, and is likely here to stay. 

Truth is, the Geely parent company already has a solid footing in Australia, as owner of premium European badges including Volvo and Polestar, plus sportscar specialist Lotus and its Smart joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. 

Geely dipped its toes in the water with premium Zeekr brand and is looking to introduce commercial vehicles from its Farizon sub-brand in the future. 

Yet the greatest volume potential for now comes from Geely’s core range, including the impressively affordable EX5 electric SUV and the Starray EM-i, a family-size plug-in hybrid SUV with nearly 1000km driving range. The price? Under $40,000 before on-road costs. 

Our job is to live with Geely’s new entrant and see if its low price makes this the bargain of the decade, or if there really is a hidden cost to such an affordable family car.

Navigate this long-term Geely Starray EM-i review

• Month 1: Surprising goodness
• Month 2: Hot weather testing

Month 2: Hot weather testing

• Kilometres: 1213km
• Energy consumption: 5.2L/100km
• Costs this month: $96.03 (fuel)

With summer holidays and a record-breaking heatwave, the Starray EM-i was thrown a set of typically Aussie challenges this month, schlepping south from Sydney to the coast, up The Blue Mountains and to our fine capital.

Consider this a hot weather highway guide to the Starray EM-i, which continues to provide adequate transportation, though not without some frustrating faults.

The first month was spent mostly in blissful quietude thanks to the Starray EM-i’s largely EV-only operation and a battery that was regularly topped up. And so our first trip down Mt Ousley Road’s fierce grades at 100km/h was… enlightening.

Essentially, long-distance touring is not the Geely’s star quality.

Like many PHEVs from China, there’s a power source performance imbalance. In this case, relying on a piddly 73kW/125Nm petrol four-cylinder to keep charge in the battery which is supplying a 160kW/262Nm front electric motor. That’s quite the power delta!

The petrol motor can directly drive the front wheels, but only under heavy load at high speeds.

And so, on said long grades, the noise grating as the petrol motor strains like a geriatric weightlifter to drag the Starray EM-i uphill. In these conditions, we also noticed the battery percentage would briefly drop below 20 percent. Road noise on coarse-chip motorway surfaces is quite loud, too.

Windy conditions in January and February revealed another Starray EM-i highway issue: crosswinds. With light steering that’s imprecise off centre and over-soft suspension this Geely requires managing in gusts. That the lane-keep assist continues to grab at the wheel only makes the situation more challenging.

There’s another problem with the Starray EM-i in summer, and it’s the hot cabin. Without tint on the front passenger windows and with plenty of horizontal surfaces, the Starray EM-i is glary inside. When it gets particularly hot inside we’ve noticed an acrid, bug spray-like smell in our Starray EM-i.

Aftermarket tint and window shades would help cut cabin heat. The Geely’s smartphone companion application also allows one to send climate control commands remotely but it seems to be hit-and-miss whether the instruction takes in the car.

Thankfully, the white vinyl-appointed seats are ventilated, because if they weren’t, I would’ve been sweating even more — for this reason alone, the Inspire is worth the upcharge over the base Complete.

If only they were more comfortable. The Starray EM-i’s seats desperately lack lumbar support and under-thigh tilt, so I’m constantly shifting and wriggling on long drives.

Driver assistance systems continue to be a bugbear. This month, it’s the inconsistent follow distance of the adaptive cruise control and the unpredictable inputs it makes — heavy braking when a car pulls out a long way in the distance, but sometimes the opposite.

Also, the cruise automatically slows down for curves. This isn’t a negative on its own but the Starray’s system is too sensitive, overslowing even on the motorway — a trait that’s incompatible with Australian driving standards. It had me wishing for simple ‘dumb’ cruise control more than once.

There’s a silver lining, though. Geely recently announced an over-the-air software update for the EX5 electric SUV, which will simplify the way you disable driver assistance features you might not want.

We understand this will make its way to our Starray EM-i before it goes back — perhaps Geely can roll-out some updates to the car’s adaptive cruise control logic, too.

Another win for the Starray EM-i this month was its long-drive efficiency. With barely any battery charging going on and lots of time spent at 100-110km/h in hot weather, we’re happy to see an average of 5.7L/100km at the bowser — that’s roughly what we’ve seen from a previous-gen Toyota RAV4 hybrid in similar conditions.

Month 1: Surprising goodness

• Kilometres: 1213km
• Energy consumption: 5.2L/100km
• Costs this month: $96.03 (fuel)

What is it?

The Geely Starray EM-i is yet another Toyota RAV4 competitor. It’s a family-size SUV with five seats powered by a hybrid system — though this one is a plug-in hybrid, leaning more on electrification. 

Therefore, the Starray EM-i is a direct rival for the Chery Tiggo 7 SHS, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and BYD’s incoming ultra-cheap Sealion 5, which is following up on that Chinese brand’s Sealion 6 success. 

European and Japanese brands are entering with PHEVs, with Volkswagen, Toyota and more set to fight in this segment but none can compete with China’s circa-$40K price tags. 

Compared to the regular crop the Starray EM-i is on the large side, measuring 4740mm long, 1905mm wide, 1685mm tall and rolling on a 2755mm wheelbase. 

For motivation the Starray EM-i’s numbers are modest, with 160kW/262Nm from its single electric motor supported by a 73kW/125Nm 1.5-litre inline-four petrol engine. The ICE runs mostly as a generator when the battery’s charge is low but can also drive the wheels directly at certain speeds. 

The Starray promises 83km of electric-only range (NEDC) and keeps about 20 percent charge in its battery at all times. 

Charging the battery not using the engine can be done using a wallbox at up to 6.6kW AC (from 20-100 percent in less than three hours) or using a DC fast-charger at 30kW, for about 20 minute to go from 30-80 state of charge. 

Impressive is the 2.4L/100km rated fuel consumption, though this includes battery charge in the figure. The truth from a full tank should vary widely, and that’s one of the things we aim to find out. 

How much is it? 

The Starray EM-i starts at $37,490, before on-road costs, and our Inspire wearing Jungle Green paint ($600, only Alpine White is included) is $43,988 drive-away in NSW. 

That’s cheap. For context, a base model RAV4 GX Hybrid is now $45,990, before on-road costs, with a Tesla Model Y — Australia’s most popular electric car — is $55,900. 

That said, BYD’s new Sealion 5 undercuts the Starray with the Premium trim costing $37,990, before on-road costs. We predict these price wars will wage long into this decade, so don’t feel too bad you didn’t get the cheapest hybrid SUV. 

What’s the spec of our car?  

The Starray in our possession is finished in quite trendy green over a white interior and looks handsome. Slim LED lights were democratised fast and have become ubiquitous, lending even affordable machines a hint of Porsche (Cayenne, in the Starray’s case) chic. 

Over and above the Complete, the Inspire gets a large head-up display, 16-speaker ‘Flyme’ sound system, ventilation for the front seats, and a panoramic sunroof.  This feels like great value, so basically skip the Complete and go for this one. 

Geely Starray EM-i Inspire, with the following features as highlights. 

• 19-inch alloy wheels 
• Heated and ventilated front seats
• Synthetic leather upholstery
• Power-adjust front seats
• Heated steering wheel
• Connected services with companion app
• Navigation
• Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
• Wireless phone charging
• 15.4-inch multimedia touchscreen
• 360-degree surround view camera
• 16-speaker Flyme sound system

Geely has come in swinging with aftersales promises, backing its Starray EM-i with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre new-car warranty and an eight-year/unlimited kilometre guarantee on the high-voltage electrics. 

For everyday interaction, the Starray EM-i has a companion app for smartphones allowing remote control of climate, lock/unlock, location services and a few other goodies, but it is not a digital key. 

Maintenance is due every 12 months/20,000km and the Starray EM-i’s capped price service plan costs $1487, with the fourth year the most costly at $671.

How long is it sticking around for? 

We’re keeping the Starray EM-i for three months, which will take in the hot Aussie summer. Should be a good test for the vinyl seats and bright white interior. In this time, we’ll be covering over 5000km to get our heads around the Starray EM-i. 

What are we going to do with it? 

First and foremost, we’re living with this car everyday — just like you would as an owner. This means suburban commutes, carrying people, shopping, dogs, and general stuff. 

We’ll be keeping a close eye on key metrics, including energy use and deterioration over time. 

As the Starray EM-i is a plug-in hybrid, we’re also covering off all kinds of charge scenarios — fully charged urban running, a mix for suburban and petrol-heavy highway driving. The point is to get an idea of how the Starray responds to different use cases, which should help you make your mind up. 

Initial performance

As a mode of transport the Geely has, so-far, been fine. It is largely inoffensive, quiet and smooth with a marshmallow soft ride. 

We have been put at ease about any dramatic power loss on a discharged battery as the Starray EM-i keeps about a fifth in reserve, even when the dash reads ‘0km’ EV range.

To put this theory to the test, we ran acceleration testing with the battery at about half full, then empty. Ambient temp was a toasty 35 degrees but the Starray EM-i put down consistent 0-100km/h runs of 8.5 seconds. 

Braking performance is adequate thanks to name-brand Goodyear tyres on the 19-inch alloys, with the Geely stopping from 100km/h in 37.4 metres.

Inside, it’s spacious and quite practical (save for tiny cup holders) with a sense of solidity in the build. The squishy cabin materials are a cut above base model Mazdas and Hyundais, too, if not reaching into the luxury segment. 

The big complaint so far is a combination of poorly calibrated active safety systems and an overloaded touchscreen. 

The Starray EM-i’s adaptive cruise slows dramatically when entering tunnels, the lane-keep sends through loads of false positives, the speed sign detection is often inaccurate, and the driver attention monitoring is overactive. 

To turn the annoying systems off, it’s 15 taps total on the touchscreen to get all that done and navigate back to wireless Apple CarPlay. 

So far fuel economy has been good, at 5.2L/100km on both the trip computer and calculated at the bowser. With a mix of hybrid, electric and petrol running, we don’t have a concrete electron use figure yet. 

A decent, but not perfect start. The Starray is worthy of a deeper look, that’s for sure.