On June 21, the Ideal Auto officially released its new flagship full-size SUV, the Ideal L9. The week before the launch event, I was invited by Garage 42 to have an early static experience of the Ideal L9.
After the press conference, finally released from the constraints of the confidentiality agreement, I can now talk about my static experience with the Ideal L9 with everyone.
The real car looks much better than the photos
Before the official release, the appearance of the L9 has always been a controversial topic. Many people criticized the design of the front face as too abrupt after seeing leaked spy photos online. But after seeing the real car, I have to say that the real car is much more beautiful than the photos.
Even the official promotional photos couldn’t capture the imposing presence of the actual car. I highly recommend that everyone go to the L9 tour exhibition site or Ideal retail centers to see the real car. After seeing the real car, I believe you will change your previous perception.
After the release of the Ideal ONE, the starry headlamps and tail lamps instantly became the most recognizable feature of the entire car. And on the Ideal L9, the design language of the starry headlamps has been upgraded once again.
The length of the starry headlamps on the front face of the Ideal L9 exceeds 2 meters, and there is no break in the middle. The brightness of the lamp strip is very uniform, and there is no visible granularity.
On both sides of the starry headlamps are two special “US DOT-style” triangle-shaped yellow turn signal lights, which are very eye-catching when illuminated.
Why design such “American” lights for a car sold in China? Irresponsible guessing, does Ideal L9 have plans to enter the US market?
Unlike the starry lamps and front face of the Ideal ONE on the same plane, the starry lamps on the Ideal L9 are embedded in the front face.
I guess it may be because the outline of the starry lamps on the front face is too three-dimensional, and the photo cannot show the three-dimensional lines, which caused misunderstanding among people about the appearance design.
The Ideal L9 adopts a split-type headlamp design, and the headlamp with high beam and low beam integrated has a lens. Under the headlamp is a reflective curve assistance lighting, and the long strip-shaped turn signals are located at the bottom of the lamp group.
Above the turn signal lights are the auxiliary driving status indicator lights, which are the same size as the turn signal lights. There are a total of five blue-green auxiliary driving status indicator lights on the Ideal L9, with two additional ones located at the position of the yellow outline lamps on the front face.
Another one is located centrally below the star-shaped lamp band at the rear of the car.
Unlike the design of the Ideal ONE front face, the enclosed front face of the Ideal L9 feels more like an electric vehicle.
The middle cooling and air intake area is located at the bottom, which is a controversial part of the front face design. Some people think that the black area is too conspicuous and does not match the overall design.
But in reality, it doesn’t seem to be a problem as people’s line of sight tends to go from top to bottom, so this area doesn’t look particularly noticeable.
Personally, I think that the bare and variable air intake grille in the middle of the bottom area makes people more uncomfortable. Did the designers really not consider adding another grille on the outside?
The overall shape of the Ideal L9 side profile is similar to the design style of the Ideal ONE, and even passersby can easily associate the two cars together as brothers.
Perhaps because the car is too high, the Ideal L9’s roof has done away with the shark fin and exterior luggage rack design, and replaced it with a hidden luggage rack.
On both sides of the front face star-shaped lamp belt, the waistline extends along the star-shaped lamp from both sides of the car to the rear, echoing the design of the front and rear stars.
There is a raised area that runs through the bottom of the front and rear doors, which makes the body appear more powerful.
Of course, this design is not just for looks. There is also a reinforced structure on the inside of the door, which can improve the safety of vehicle side impact.
The door handles on the Ideal L9 have been redesigned to be hidden. The popping out of the door handle is electrically controlled, while the opening of the door is the same mechanical opening as on the Ideal ONE.
Why did the previously criticized hidden door handles suddenly appear on the L9?I learned that the force of the electrically popped-out handle of IDEAL L9 has been strengthened, ensuring normal opening even in winter weather.
Now that the issue of inconvenient use has been resolved, it can be applied rightfully.
In addition, I also asked on-site about how to open the door if the vehicle has no power or if the electric pop-out malfunctions.
The answer is to manually press the front part of the door handle, and then pull the popped-out handle outwards from the rear to open the door.
Like IDEAL ONE, the charging and refueling ports of IDEAL L9 are still located on the rear sides of the vehicle, with the refueling port on the driver’s side and the charging port on the front passenger’s side.
Moreover, the charging port of IDEAL L9 has also become electrically open, so you no longer have to worry about forgetting to close the charging cover (IDEAL ONE owners envy it).
In conjunction with the new charging pile, the charging cover can be electrically opened when the charging gun approaches the charging port, allowing you to perform the processes of picking, opening, and inserting in one go.
Following this charging operation process, it seems that the plug of the charging port has become a burden.
Therefore, the plug of the charging port of IDEAL L9 is not equipped with a hanging rope like that of IDEAL ONE, but adopts a design of an independent plug.
But with this, a new problem arises: where to store the plug?
Don’t worry, the designer has thought of this problem a long time ago. IDEAL L9 has specially designed two storage compartments for plugs under the trunk cover so that you won’t lose your plugs.
IDEAL L9 is equipped with 265/45 R21 tires, and the 20-inch tires that have appeared on the catalog of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have not been used on the mass-produced vehicles.
For a full-size SUV, 21-inch wheel hubs must be used to highlight the car’s aura.
The rear wheel arch of IDEAL L9 is different from that of IDEAL ONE. The rear wheel arch adopts a full-coverage design, so there is no need to worry about mud and water splashing into the door seams.
Of course, visually, I still prefer the design of IDEAL ONE.
Compared with the personality of the front face, the rear of IDEAL L9 is relatively “conventional.” The biggest highlight of the rear is the hidden design of the rear wiper.
The rear wiper of the Ideal L9 is hidden inside the spoiler at the tail of the car, and the rearview camera for assisted driving is also integrated into it.
In addition, after canceling the shark fin antenna on the roof design, the various antennas of the vehicle have also been integrated into the spoiler at the tail.
What deserves special praise is that the electric tailgate of the Ideal L9 is very soft when closed, and the sound is also very small, almost imperceptible. The owners of Ideal ONE once again envy this feature.
The position of the foot-activated tailgate switch has also been changed to the side of the vehicle body on the driver’s side, which can open or close the tailgate by sweeping the area behind the rear wheel.
Inside the car, it’s still a familiar formula
Opening the car door and entering the car, although faced with a brand-new interior, there is still a familiar feeling. In a trance, there is even an illusion of sitting in the Ideal ONE.
Why does this illusion occur? I think the main reason is that the design concepts of Ideal ONE and Ideal L9 are both designed for family cars, so the atmosphere created in the car is very similar.
HUD is a configuration that many Ideal ONE owners really want. Now, this configuration is finally available on the Ideal L9.
After adding HUD, the Ideal L9 canceled the design of the instrument screen and transferred the content originally displayed on the instrument screen to the HUD.
Because of the setting of the exhibit mode, the HUD of the Ideal L9 exhibit car on-site can only be felt through demonstration animations.
From the experience of the demonstration animation, the HUD of the Ideal L9 is large in area, and the display of vehicle speed, assisted driving information, navigation, and other contents is very complete, and the display effect is also very clear.
Although I haven’t test-driven it, from the animation demonstration, this HUD can basically replace the function of the instrument screen.
On the steering wheel of the Ideal L9, a rectangular touch screen has also been added. The left side of the screen displays range information, which can be clicked to switch energy modes. The middle is the vehicle speed, and the right side is energy consumption information, which can also be clicked or slid to switch the display contents.In terms of operation, the screen doesn’t feel awkward to the driver at all. It’s easy to set up functions comfortably. When swiping, it feels like using a smartwatch.
The steering wheel of the Ideal L9 has evolved from a mechanical induction system to a capacitive induction system. When driving, you can feel it by simply resting your hands on the steering wheel, unlike the Ideal ONE, where you need to apply force on the steering wheel for it to be recognized.
The layout of the steering wheel buttons of the Ideal L9 is similar to that of the Ideal ONE, except that the number of custom buttons has been increased to two, and the 360-degree panoramic button can also be customized.
In addition, the airbag cover of the steering wheel is made of leather, giving a soft-touch feeling and visually enhancing the luxurious feeling.
At the same time, the steering wheel also supports four-way electric adjustment, which the Ideal ONE owners envy.
The Ideal L9 adopts a gear selector on the right side of the steering wheel, which also serves as the switch for controlling driving assistance.
The left side of the steering wheel is a gear lever used to control the vehicle’s lighting and wipers.
There is also a storage box on the left side of the steering wheel for storing items such as a driving license or a fuel card.
During the Ideal Automobile Changzhou Base Open Day in 2019, Ideal ONE reservation owners asked Li Xiang why there was no small storage box on the side of the steering wheel.
Li Xiang replied that the storage box, when opened, poses a safety hazard by hitting the driver’s knees when getting out of the car.
However, the Ideal L9’s storage box has been carefully adjusted so that it won’t hit the knees even when open.
The vehicle head unit of Ideall L9 is equipped with two 15.7-inch screens. Notably, the borders of these two screens are as thin as those of tablet PCs.
In addition, the four corners of the screens are designed with rounded edges, enhancing the overall visual elegance.
Like Ideall ONE, the operation of the vehicle head unit of Ideall L9 is easy to use. On the left side of the central screen, there are navigational, music, and 360 surround view menus, while at the bottom, there are buttons for the air conditioning, lighting, and energy settings.
By tapping the central fan icon at the bottom, the air conditioning settings will appear. Apart from the temperature, wind speed, and airflow adjustments, the screen also allows control of the ventilation and heating for all six seats in the vehicle, as well as the foldability of the third-row seats.
In the vehicle settings menu, various options are also as clear and easy to navigate as those of Ideall ONE.
Notably, since the display of the vehicle head unit is wider on Ideall L9, the screen can now display the view of all four tires at the same time.
This feature was long awaited by Ideall ONE’s OTA beta testers, and is now available on Ideall L9.
Moreover, the 360 surround view of Ideall L9 now supports the transparent bottom chassis feature, bringing tears of joy to Ideall ONE owners once again.
The entertainment screen on the right side of the central screen is still the exclusive screen of the front passenger. By tapping the icon in the dock at the bottom, QQ Music, iQiyi, and Quanmin K Ge apps can be opened.
Of course, to watch movies or TV series, the display can still be mirrored to the central screen by gesture controls.
Moreover, if the front passenger wants to share a movie with the back seat passengers, they can easily use a downward hand gesture to mirror the display to the second-row passengers.
Due to the installation of two large screens, the position of the double flash light on the Ideal L9 is placed in the center of two interior lights on the roof.
Another detail that may have gone unnoticed is that the Ideal L9’s rearview mirror is trapezoidal in design, the opposite of the inverted trapezoidal rearview mirrors commonly seen in the Ideal ONE and most other cars.
According to Ideal’s staff, the design of the rearview mirror is similar in shape to that of the rear windshield, providing a better view of the rear.
In addition, I was concerned that the second-row entertainment screens might obstruct the view of the rearview mirror while driving. However, after my actual experience, the second-row screens only obstruct a small section of the rearview mirror, which does not significantly affect the observation of the rear of the car.
The new air vent deflectors on the L9 are integrated into the air vent switch, and the air vents can be closed by switching the deflector all the way to the right.
Due to the use of a shifting lever, the center console area has more space for additional features. In the front of the center console, two 15W wireless charging spots for phones have been added.
Behind the phone charging area, there is a small compartment for car keys that also supports wireless charging.
In addition, the wireless charging device in the Ideal L9 can be replaced with a higher power one later on.
Also, there is a hollow storage compartment below the center console that can be used to store bags and other small items.
At the rear of the wireless charging area, there is a cup holder and a centralized armrest compartment, which adopts a dual-opening design similar to that of a missile silo.
Due to the second-row air conditioning and heating box occupying some space, the depth of the central armrest compartment is relatively shallow, making it suitable for storing small items.
The door of the Ideal L9 is still covered with a large area of leather, and the metal speaker cover on the upper part of the door panel is specially chamfered, giving a smooth and comfortable feel without any sense of being pricked.
The control area of the window lifting switch on the door panel is exactly the same as that of the Ideal ONE, which is sure to make Ideal ONE owners smile.
The window glass is also optimized with attention to detail. The window glass of the Ideal L9 slows down particularly gently in the last section when rising to the top, providing a more luxurious user experience.
At the enthusiastic invitation of the staff, I also tested the anti-pinch function of the window glass of the Ideal L9. When the glass is raised and pinches the arm, it immediately starts to lower, and the pinching force is small enough to ensure that children will not be injured.
Of course, if you are careful enough to look for it in the car, you will find that there are other accessories that are the same as those of the Ideal ONE. For example, the air outlets and reading lights in the second and third rows use the same model of accessories as the Ideal ONE.
The seats of the Ideal L9 still use Nappa leather and environmentally friendly leather, and the wrapping, softness, and support of the seats have been greatly improved compared to the Ideal ONE.
Special mention goes to the massage function of the seats in the first and second rows, which has a spa-level ten-point massage intensity.
We highly recommend that owners of the 2021 Ideal ONE go experience the seat massage function of the Ideal L9. We believe that after experiencing it, you will want to take the seat apart and install it in your own car.
The Ideal L9 is also equipped with fragrance function, with three fragrances to choose from. The fragrance outlet is designed to be relatively hidden, located above the wireless charging position. At first glance, this outlet is easily mistaken for an air outlet designed for wireless charging to dissipate heat.When you open the co-pilot armrest, you can see the installation position for the fragrance bottle is at the top of the armrest. The fragrance bottle has a magnetic suction design, just insert the bottle into the hole and it will automatically attach.
In addition, there is a small detail with the seat. The fixing device for the soft pillow of the L9 seat has been changed to the same structure as the BMW X7, and a buckle ring is designed at the top of the headrest to fix it using the headrest strap through the buckle ring.
Moving on to the second row, the second-row seats behind the co-pilot are definitely the most luxurious seats in the L9, equipped with boss keys, leg supports, and small tables.
By clicking on the button on the side of the seat, you can lift the leg rest, which can achieve four adjustments, and can also be extended forward at the same time. However, if a foot pedal could be added behind the first-row seat, that would be even better.
When lying on the second-row seats with the seat reclined and leg support raised, it is extremely comfortable. Ask a friend to open the second-row screen and play a Dolby movie on iQiyi, and follow the vibration of the 4D seat, it’s just like being in a movie theater.
At this point, you may wonder how to control the second-row screen? Of course, not through a remote control.
On top of the second-row screen of the L9, there is a sensor that can recognize passenger gestures. The second-row screen can be controlled through gestures.
With a clenched fist, the screen can be dragged. After clenching the fist again and releasing, a new page can be opened, while a downward swipe with multiple fingers is the gesture for exiting.
Of course, the most magical thing is not the gesture operation mentioned above, but that L9 innovatively combines gesture recognition with voice control.
Pointing at the window glass and telling the friend in the L9 to “open this” can open the car window. If you have kids at home, remember to turn off the second-row voice control function, otherwise, the child will definitely exhaust the L9 friend.
The ideal L9’s second-row screen can also connect to external video sources like gaming consoles and computers. I wonder if the car owners will connect their Nintendo Switch in the car and play some games before going home after parking in the garage?
To make gaming in the car more convenient, the ideal L9 also thoughtfully designed a 220V socket with a maximum power of 1.1kW under the third-row seats. Even if you bring the PS5 into the car, there is no pressure.
When you are tired from gaming, you can also open the built-in refrigerator in the car and have a cold coke. Moreover, this car refrigerator also has a heating function, which is suitable for warming milk for children.
The four seats in the second and third rows of the ideal L9 are still equipped with ISO FIX interfaces, and all use external interfaces, which is more convenient for installing a child safety seat than the hidden type interface.
Like the seats in the first and second rows, the third-row seats of the ideal L9 are also comfortable, and the third-row seats also have heating and backrest electric adjustment functions.
In my personal experience, the comfort of the third-row seats can basically reach 80%-90% of the comfort of the MPV’s third-row seats, and there is no pressure to sit on such a third-row seat for a long-distance trip.
Moreover, I feel that sitting in the third row and watching the rear entertainment screen is better than sitting in the second row. Everyone can feel it themselves when experiencing the ideal L9.
The length of the ideal L9’s body has increased by 20cm compared to the ideal ONE, and it seems that the added length has been given to the third row.
Therefore, the capacity of the trunk does not seem to have significantly increased. From a visual point of view, it should be similar to my 20 model ideal ONE.
The three-row seats of Ideal L9 support electric folding, and with the support of the central area controller, if interference with the second-row seats is detected when folding the third-row seats, the vehicle will automatically adjust the posture of the second-row seats.
Suspension, power, and driving assistance are also fully equipped
The suspension of Ideal L9 adopts the structure of front double wishbone + rear five-link, and is also equipped with air suspension and CDC damping, which thoroughly solves the problem of driving too much like a boat that Ideal ONE owners often complain about from a hardware structure.
The air suspension can achieve a height adjustment of ±40mm. It is worth mentioning that the speed of height adjustment of Ideal L9’s air suspension is particularly fast. It can basically complete the height reduction of the trunk loading mode within 5 seconds.
Of course, if you still feel inconvenient to get on and off the car, don’t worry, Ideal L9 also supports optional official electric pedals.
In terms of power, Ideal L9 still has a configuration of front and rear dual motors, providing a maximum power of 330 kW and a maximum torque of 620 N·m, and the 0-100km/h acceleration time is 5.3 seconds.
The battery uses a 622 ternary lithium battery pack, and the total energy is up to 44.5kWh. Under the WLTC standard, the pure electric cruising range reaches 180 kilometers.
Moreover, Ideal L9 also supports compulsory pure electric mode, which can use up to 5% of the battery capacity before starting the range extender.
That is to say, if I understand correctly, the pure electric cruising range of Ideal L9 under the WLTC standard, which is close to actual driving conditions, can reach up to about 170 km. Such a cruising range is more than enough to cope with over 99% of daily use scenarios.
Ideal L9 uses a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender independently developed and produced by Ideal Xincheng, a subsidiary of Ideal Automotive Holdings, with a maximum thermal efficiency of 40.5%.The total range of WLTC has reached 1100km. Although I haven’t driven the Ideall L9 yet, I believe the power of this range extender is not ordinary.
One detail can prove my guess. On the Ideall L9, the oil-electric hybrid mode on Ideall ONE has been cancelled, and only pure electric and hybrid modes are set. The hybrid mode of Ideall L9 is functionally similar to the fuel priority mode of Ideall ONE.
The point of the oil-electric hybrid mode on Ideall ONE is to reduce drivers’ and passengers’ perception of the range extender at low speeds and when parking.
Since Ideall L9 is confident to cancel the oil-electric hybrid mode, it naturally indicates that the vibration and noise control of this four-cylinder range extender must be very excellent.
Not surprisingly, Ideall L9 still comes standard with an advanced driving assistance system. In terms of driving assistance hardware, Ideall L9 is equipped with 1 forward 128-line LiDAR, 6 8-million-pixel cameras, 5 2-million-pixel cameras, 1 forward millimeter-wave radar, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.
Yes, you read it right, Ideall L9 is only equipped with one forward millimeter-wave radar. Besides LiDAR, visual perception of the surroundings of the vehicle will mainly rely on cameras.
I am curious whether the driving assistance ability of Ideall L9 will be greatly affected in bad weather.
Conclusion
At the end of the press conference, Li Xiang said that he welcomed everyone to compare and experience Ideall L9 with vehicles such as the Tesla Model Y, Maybach GLS, and BMW X7.
This super product manager is still very confident in the strength of Ideall L9.
After the press conference, a surging crowd flooded into the Ideall Car APP, causing the ordering page to crash for more than half an hour, which is the biggest proof of users’ recognition of the product.
This makes me even more looking forward to the driving experience of Ideall L9 and looking forward to the Ideall L9 test drive in July.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.