After 15 months going it alone, the D9 MPV is finally no longer the only Denza you can buy in Malaysia, because this leviathan has arrived – the Denza B8. It’s available in seven-seat Dynamic and six-seat Premium variants, priced at RM458,800 and RM518,800 respectively.
What this is, is a rebadged Bao 8, which is a flagship three-row body-on-frame 4×4 that BYD’s off-roader sub-brand Fangchengbao sells in China. At 5,195 mm long, 1,994 mm wide and 1,905 mm tall, with a 2,920 mm wheelbase, it’s bigger than the GWM Tank 500 in every way except height (which it equals). It’s even longer and wider than a Toyota Land Cruiser 300.
It’s a PHEV with BYD’s Dual Mode Off-road (DMO) Super Hybrid system. You get a longitudinally-mounted 197 PS/350 Nm 2.0 litre turbo four-cylinder engine, a dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT), a 36.8-kWh Blade LFP battery (115 km NEDC EV range; about 100 km WLTP) and two electric motors (272 PS/360 Nm + 408 PS/400 Nm). This 3,290 kg behemoth can do 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds thanks to a 612 PS/760 Nm total system output.
Like most Chinese PHEVs, battery power is used exclusively until there is around 25% SoC remaining, when the engine wakes up and works to keep the battery pack at this state of charge. The system operates seamlessly across Pure EV, HEV Series and Parallel driving modes.
The combined range is 1,040 km NEDC (nearly 900 km WLTP) thanks to a massive 91 litre tank (GWM Tank 500: 75 litres). Denza claims as low as 9.89 litres per 100 km fuel efficiency. Charge it at 120 kW DC (yes!) and you’ll go from 30-80% in 16 minutes. The max AC charging rate is 11 kW and there’s 6.6 kW vehicle-to-load (V2L).
The DiSus-P hydraulic suspension provides 140 mm of ride height adjustment, which not only boosts the wading depth to 890 mm from the standard 800 but increases approach and departure angles from 30 and 29 to 34 and 35 degrees respectively. The suspension can be raised or lowered from the boot area, but you’ll have to swing open the side-opening tailgate (which houses the spare tyre) manually. It’s also got ‘leopard turn’ – presumably this is what Denza calls tank turn.
Less off-roader-y items are the gloss black body cladding and hidden door handles, but they add a touch of urban class. China’s Bao 8 has 21-inch alloys, but we get these blacked-out 20-inch Y-spokers with 275/55 Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres. To these eyes, the Denza B8 is an imposing thing that’s not over-styled. It’s actually quite restrained in terms of design, which is hard to come by these days. Anyway, its size alone turns enough heads.
No matter the variant, you get four soft-close doors, front and rear locking diffs, a 12.3-inch instrument panel, a 17.3-inch touch-screen, (China’s Bao 8 has also a 12.3-inch front passenger touch-screen), a head-up display, twin 50W wireless chargers, heated and cooled armrest storage (basically a fridge), tri-zone air-con, powered front seats with heating, ventilation and massage functions, 18 Devialet speakers (first time Malaysia’s getting this French audio brand in a car), a digital rear-view mirror and a gear selector that rises when the car is started.
A multi-function switch on the rear doors lets occupants open or close either the window on the other side or the sunroof blind, and they can even activate a one-touch recline function that pushes the front passenger seat forwards for extra legroom. The second and third rows can both be folded and raised electrically.
Here’s how the variants differ – the seven-seater adopts a 2-3-2 layout (with a power-reclining middle row bench that’s both heated and ventilated) while the six-seater has a 2-2-2 layout (middle-row captain seats with massage, ventilation and Ottomans; Nappa leather throughout). Max boot space is 920 litres on the seven-seater and 902 on the six-seater; it’s 147 litres for both with all seats up. The six-seater has infrared night vision; the seven-seater doesn’t.
You can have your Denza B8 in Alpine White, Emerald Green, Nebula Blue, Dawn Gold or Eclipse Black, and your interior in either Jasper Brown or Onyx Black, regardless of the body colour chosen.
Warranties? Six years/150,000 km on the vehicle, eight years/160,000 km on the high-voltage battery and drive unit (motor, motor controller, motor controller with DC assembly and high-voltage electric control assembly). You also get seven times’ free maintenance service over six years worth RM10,000 and a free V2L adapter worth RM700.
Denza B8 Malaysia official images
The post Denza B8 launched in Malaysia – 2.0T PHEV 4×4, 612 PS/760 Nm, DiSus-P, 6/7 seats, RM459k to RM519k appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
