What is it?
Enzoom is the latest offering from the latest Chinese company to enter the Australian market, or was that last week — it’s become hard to keep track of them?
While the name may not be familiar, GAC has been around in one form or another since 1948 and was the fifth largest car manufacturer in China, with 2.144 million sales in 2021.
Emzoom is its fourth offering, a conventionally-powered, compact five-seat SUV with a turbocharged petrol engine under the bonnet.
And it’s priced to tempt even the most ardent naysayer.
What’s it cost?
There’s just the one model, Enzoom Luxury, priced at $26,990 driveaway. Yep.
GAC says this is a national driveaway price, with an end of financial year sweetener thrown in — $1000 cashback.
You’ve got until the end of the month.
At the same time, the fine print states that prices may vary by state, model, colour, and specifications etc.
The bonus is available to orders placed between May 15, 2026 and June 30, 2026 and delivered by September 30, 2026, unless otherwise extended.
Talk about a bet every which-way.
It’s a sweet-looking thing, with good fit and finish and an impressive equipment list that is frankly astound for the price.
The ‘Mecha Wing’ radiator grille is interesting, flanked by ‘Laser Eye’ split LED headlights and ‘Light Dart’ rear-light signature.
Features include artificial leather trim, single zone climate air with rear air outlets, cooled and power-adjust driver seat, leather steering wheel, automatic parking, multi-colour interior lighting and a powered panoramic sunroof with sunscreen.
There’s also adaptive cruise control, pop-out door handles, power-fold mirrors, rear privacy glass, auto high beam, auto lights and wipers, LED head, tail and daytime running lights, front and rear parking sensors, and a power-operated tailgate.
The rear view mirror is manual adjust.
The infotainment system is comprehensive, with a 14.6-inch touchscreen, 7.0-inch instrument cluster, Bluetooth, AM/FM radio, built-in navigation, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto and six-speaker audio with DTS sound.
There’s also wireless phone charging, USB- A + C ports in the front with a 12 volt outlet, plus another USB-A port in the back.
Missing is DAB+ digital radio.
Emzoom is yet to be awarded a safety rating in Australia, but GAC’s Aion V EV received a full five stars.
With six airbags and a 360 degree camera, Emzoom features an array of ADAS systems including forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane departure assist and warnings, panoramic assisted parking, blind spot camera (but no warnings) and a tyre pressure monitoring system.
The blind spot camera is more annoying than anything and there are no rear cross traffic alerts.
It’s covered by a 7-year unlimited kilometre warranty, with 5-year roadside assistance.
What’s it go like?
Emzoom seats five and is 4410mm long, 1850mm wide and ×1600mm high, with a 2650mm wheelbase.
Rear legroom is good with a good-sized boot that conceals a space saver spare.
Luggage capacity is 341 litres with the rear seats in use, or 1271 litres with the rear seats down.
Emzoom is powered by a 1.5-litre four cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that produces 125kW of power at 5500 rpm and 270Nm of torque from 1400-4500 rpm
Drive is to the front wheel through a seven-speed wet dual clutch auto, with Eco, Comfort and Sport drive modes, but no gear change paddles.
The dash from 0-100km/h takes 8.0 seconds, not slow not quick.
The shifter is more of a toggle, with a fancy plastic diamond and incorporates a separate Park button.
The effort required to turn the steering wheel can also be adjusted.
With a 47-litre tank, fuel consumption is a claimed 6.6L/100km.
We clocked up 390km at a rate of 7.0L/100km over the course of a week, with a low of 6.7L/100km on a quick fang over our favourite test loop (in the wet). Very creditable.
I can hardly believe we’re saying this, but the preferred option for driving this car is Eco mode.
Comfort and Sport modes are both too erratic and unpredictable.
At first we were ready to park the car and walk away, the drive experience was so awful.
Then we discovered the car was in Sport mode and found that after switching to Eco mode it became much more palatable.
But the next time we drove the car it was back in Sport mode again and the drive was once again terrible.
Surely it doesn’t default to Sport mode?
Further research revealed the car could be set to remember the preferred drive mode between starts, which begs the question — what was the previous occupant thinking?
That sorted we endeavoured to find out how to switch the lane watch camera. The one that turns on when you switch on the turn indicator.
If you happen to be in an unfamiliar area and navigating at the time it is problematic because it completely obscures the map, just as you’re looking to see what is coming up next?
Long story short, we couldn’t find the setting and at night the problem is exacerbated because the screen becomes a big, white, blinding light right in your face, temporarily blind you.
My God. How much thought do they put into these things?
On another occasion, waiting at the lights, foot on the brake, we went to take off when the lights turned green and nothing happened.
Somehow, the transmission had slipped into neutral, leaving the engine revving and the driver behind tooting us to hurry up. WTF?
Much of the car’s bad manners stem back to the twin clutch auto, which are notorious for misbehaving.
The basics are solid and the Emzoom has plenty of get up and go, it’s just getting there that’s the problem.
The setup is too aggressive, making it difficult to achieve a smooth take off.
Braking is likewise aggressive and abrupt, with the converse effect.
Once up and running, all is forgiven for a while as it slips into top gear, but it likes to stay there in the name of better fuel economy.
Time for a re-think perhaps?
Suspension is Mac strut front with a simple torsion beam setup at the rear, with 18-inch alloys and 225/55 profile rubber.
The tyres, apparently specially designed for SUVs, are Chinese Sentury Quirin 990s. They seem okay.
The ride is surprisingly good, even on secondary rural roads.
Other points of interest include the power-operated tailgate which seems to have a mind of its own.
Sometimes it responded to the key fob, sometimes it refused to — sometimes it took several attempts before it worked.
The 14.6-inch touchscreen is the starting point for most things, including drive modes and the tailgate release.
The separate instrument cluster has two display modes, one with a large digital speed display.
There’s no physical volume control for the audio, but there are separate controls for the air conditioning.
There’s also a shortcut button on the steering wheel to which two two functions can be assigned.
Our Pixel phone was slow to connect and failed to reconnect.
What we like?
- Sharp styling
- Well equipped
- Good build quality
- Competitive pricing
What we don’t like?
- Sport mode
- Erratic braking
- Jerky throttle response
- Phone disconnects
- Tailgate sometimes unresponsive
The bottom line?
The GAC Emzoom is a great car for the price, it just needs some refinement.
Drive modes, throttle response and braking, can all be fixed with over-the-air updates.
Because just about everything is electronic these days, it can be tweaked, uploaded and installed — ready for a reboot.
Being a new brand to our market, don’t forget to check out where you can get the car serviced — there’s about 30 dealers Australia-wide.
CHECKOUT: GAC adds #4 to the menu
CHECKOUT: Another Chinese brand about to hit town
GAC Emzoom Luxury, priced from $26,990 driveaway
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Looks - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Performance - 7/10
7/10
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Safety - 6/10
6/10
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Thirst - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Practicality - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Comfort - 7/10
7/10
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Tech - 7/10
7/10
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Value - 8/10
8/10
