2026 Geely Starray EM-i Inspire Review: A bargain PHEV for the white good brigade
Geely’s behaving like the automotive equivalent of Route One football.
No nonsense, just hoof it upfield and hope a bit of the obvious produces goals.
Here’s how. The Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid is cheap at $40k plus on-roads, offers almost 1000km total driving range through petrol and electric, and plays in the ever-popular family-friendly medium SUV segment.
READ MORE: BYD Sealion 5 is Australia’s cheapest plug-in hybrid SUV, undercutting Chery Tiggo 7 and Geely Starray EM-i
READ MORE: Chery Tiggo 7 CSH Urban Review: Is Australia’s cheapest plug-in hybrid worth the money?
The Chinese brand’s EX5 does likewise in the full EV medium SUV space. Low price is king.
If plug-in is your bag, this Starray goes into battle with the BYD Sealion 5 and 6 PHEVs, Chery’s Tiggo 7 PHEV, and pricier Haval H6 PHEV, MG HS PHEV and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
This Geely’s made a decent first impression on the market, shifting over 1000 in 2025 despite it only being on sale in the final quarter of the year.
2026 Geely Starray EM-i Inspire price and equipment
It’s no longer a surprise to see a low-price Chinese SUV kicking the stuffing out of legacy brand rivals when it comes to included kit. Our Geely conforms to type.
There’s a Starray Complete for $37,490 which is nicely loaded, but the extra $2500 to hop into our flagship Inspire is a no-brainer. The luxe really arrives.
As in panoramic sunroof, power tailgate, driver’s seat memory, ventilation for front seats, 13.4-inch head-up display, wireless phone charging, pumping (and surprisingly impressive) 1000W 16-speaker Flyme audio, front parking sensors and 256 colour ambient lighting.
That’s atop the basic Starray EM-i’s faux leather trim, 18-inch alloys (the Inspire gets 19s), LED headlights, 15.4-inch touchscreen, digital driver display, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, in-built sat nav, dual-zone climate control and power and heated front seats. No poverty-spec here.
There’s five-star ANCAP safety with seven airbags, adaptive and intelligent cruise control, rear cross traffic alert and brake, lane keep, traffic sign information, blind spot monitor, driver monitor and a surround view monitor with 3D vehicle view.
Chuck in vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality (6kW maximum output), a camping mode, two years complimentary Geely Connected Services (Geely app remote functions and OTA updates) and a seven year unlimited kilometre warranty (eight years the high voltage battery) and there are plenty of dangling carrots.
Considering the soon-arriving Toyota RAV4 PHEV in entry-level XSE 2WD guise is $59,515 before costs, the similar-sized Starray EM-i Inspire is comically cheaper.
No doubt the new RAV4 will prove superb and have rock solid resale, but this Geely has one hell of a headstart at $20k less to drive away.
Okay, now the powertrain. I’ve left it to last because I figure Starray shoppers will be more excited by the cabin features than what motivates this PHEV.
There’s a 1.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder petrol under the bonnet, a one-speed transmission and two e-motors. One of these gives power and torque to the front wheels, the other is used to charge an 18.4kWh battery pack.
The petrol engine’s no firecracker with 73kW and 125Nm offered, but the e-motor brings 160kW/262Nm to the party. The way it works, the combined output’s a fair 193kW.
Pure electric range is an impressive 83km on the WLTP cycle, giving a claimed overall range of 943km when the 51L petrol tank’s brimmed.
AC charging’s up to 6.6kW and DC charging’s up to 30kW – use the latter and the battery goes from 30% to 80% in 20 minutes.
As expected, not a spare wheel to be found, while five years of servicing costs $1932.
2026 Geely Starray EM-i Inspire: What we think
Do you love driving? As in you get tingles when a car sits sweetly through switchback turns, the steering feels perfectly connected, and the driving position and controls seem as though they’re the masterwork of an interior artisan?
Then sorry. Our Starray EM-i is not the soul provider you seek.
If you couldn’t care less about such automotive enthusiast silliness, the Geely presents and performs as a good value white good.
And that’s no slur.
I want my fridge and washing machine to do their thing and no more, and if you feel the same about a car, the Starray’s a plug-in hybrid that does its duties while you bathe in cabin goodies.
It just does most things with a notable lack of charisma, including how it presents itself.
Thing is, it looks absolutely fine and there’s nothing I could find I’d deem ugly or fussy. But the Starray looks as “generic medium SUV” as they come.
See one from a distance and you’d have no clue what it was. “Something Chinese and probably electrified” would be my response. But such design pragmatism is the correct move to appeal to the A-to-B driving masses. It just won’t break any hearts.
The interior adds a dash more flair. The leather-like seats don’t feel terribly premium, but are comfy and multi-adjust, there are plenty of soft cabin plastics and the sweeping centre console display is a rare flourish with patterned lines running its length.
The non-circular steering wheel shape is odd and the cup holders too small, but there are some appreciated proper buttons to press, but of course, too much functionality is buried in the touchscreen.
But it’s an impressive big monitor and the user interface praiseworthy. But when driving at night and using smartphone mirroring, the screen is way too bright, even when set to its dimmest setting. Like, intolerably bright.
Otherwise it’s a pretty nice place to travel.
Great light through the massive glass roof, ventilated seats in a Queensland summer’s a blessing, there’s smart rubbery phone holders, while there’s decent rear seat space for the kids. Boot’s well shaped too, and at 528L ticks the family-friendly box.
You can easily see this car’s showroom appeal. There’s no obvious barrier to buying.
Well, unless we go back to that love of driving stuff.
Good bits first. It’s pleasant enough to pilot in town, silently rolling on electric only while occupants can soak up a belting sound system while warming or cooling their bums.
It’s smooth and relaxing as the daily chariot, and when you put the boot in there’s lovely electric surge. Feels pretty rapid actually, and even when pushing on the car feels happy enough to rely solely on electrons.
The serenity crumbles when the Geely decides you’ve asked enough of the batteries and fires up the petrol four-cylinder. It revs hard and loudly – not in a welcome way – but thankfully settles into a rhythm or shuts itself off completely soon enough.
But the biggest gripe is the Starray’s inherent wobbliness. Hold any sort of speed in a corner or roundabout and it leans too much, then over poor surfaces things get too bouncy and unsettled.
Steering feel’s not really a thing, and changing direction too quickly is not this car’s forte.
But whispering along in town or cruising smooth highways is its likely playground, and Geely’s done the right thing in prioritising abilities here. Even so, many rivals balance the ride/handling setup much better, so throwing a few more dollars at chassis honing would be of mighty benefit.
Better calibrated driver assist is also on my wish-list. Alerts, beeps and bongs are ludicrously ever-present, while the lane keep system is poor enough to make turning it off before every trip a non-negotiable.
It may be fine on the highway or straight roads, but as soon as there’s a corner it panics, pulls you away from the road edge and towards the centre line. Not ideal.
Another gripe is no start/stop button. Unlock the car and it’s “on”, then when you put it in Park there’s no switching it off. The sound system therefore remains on when you exit (embarrassing if your kids left K-pop on again), and only shuts down when you lock the car. Just strange.
Geely claims an electric range of 83km (WLTP), but this can’t be fully tested. When it reaches roughly 20 per cent battery remaining, the petrol engine automatically fires up, ensuring you always have some electric help. Good idea, as the combustion engine’s measly 73kW wouldn’t conquer many hills if working solo.
Fair play to Geely, I managed 64km before the 20 per cent cut-off arrived, so after a bit of mathing, the 83km range claim looks accurate. And for many medium SUV PHEV owners, that’ll cover your daily drives for a few days, with overnight top ups meaning you’ll rarely need the petrol to fire up.
With battery exhausted, we saw just over 7L/100km… solid performance for a heavy-ish medium SUV.
2026 Geely Starray EM-i Inspire: Verdict
The Starray is an absolute head-over-heart purchase. It’s cheap, well-equipped, roomy enough and has a decent warranty, while that 83km electric range means many can use it strictly as an EV in town.
It’s a PHEV medium SUV at a combustion SUV price, which will convince many. But this Geely really needs something to get buyers excited to help it stand out amongst an ever-growing number of Chinese electrified rivals.
You’ll struggle to find much driving joy and the safety tech needs a reprogrammed rethink, but if you love a pragmatic “that’ll do” PHEV for not much coin, this Starray is a white goods hero.
SCORE: 3/5
2025 Geely Starray EM-i Inspire price and specifications
Price: $39,990 plus on-road costs
Basics: PHEV, 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, FWD
EV range: 83km (WLTP)
Combined range: 943km (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 18.4kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate
Battery warranty: Eight-years/Unlimited km
Energy consumption: 14.7kWh/100km (WLTP)
Fuel consumption: 2.4L/100Km Combined (WLTP)
Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder 73kW/125Nm
Motors: 1 front, 160kW/262Nm
Combined output: 193kW
AC charging: 6.6kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 30kW, CCS2
0-100km/h: 8.0 seconds
