Omoda E5 Review

To start at the beginning, Omoda is a recently launched brand from Chinese car-making giant, Chery. It’s aimed at the European and UK markets, and it’s starting with this – the Omoda E5. At just over 4.4m long, it’s a similar size to the Renault Scenic, BYD Atto 3, Kia Niro EV, and MG ZS EV, but it’s priced very competitively, with a price starting from £33,055. It’ll be sold from well established car dealership chains such as Peter Vardy and Listers, so you’ll be able to go and physically see, touch and test-drive the cars. Something that I know I would want to do before committing to a big purchase like this, especially when it’s such an unknown brand. It will also mean the company can benefit from a well-established customer base.

Range, Battery & Charging

The Omoda E5 uses BYD ‘Blade’ batteries. These use LFP cell technology, and are also used by Tesla and MG, as well as BYD itself, so it’s a tried and tested tech that is also well known for being very safe, and offering decent efficiency and longevity. Useable battery capacity is 60.7kWh usable, with a total capacity of 61.7kWh, making for an official WLTP range of 257 miles. Not bad, even if others – including the MG4 and VW ID.3 – offer a bigger battery and longer range option. We drove the car on mixed roads for an hour at an ambient temperature of 14.5C and were impressed with the efficiency - it averaged 3.8 miles/kWh which gives a real world range of 234 miles. 

As for charging, the E5’s peak DC charging rate tops out at 80kW, which is good enough to rapid charge the battery from 10-80% in around 45 minutes, but a lot of rivals can add a similar amount of range in more like 30 minutes. The Omoda uses CCS and Type 2 sockets mounted at the front of the car behind a large flap. This will suit some perfectly, but bear it in mind if you have to reverse into your regular parking spot.

Plug into a 7kW home wallbox, and the E5 will be fully charged in roughly 10 hours. It can accept 9.9kW from a three-phase charger too. That's lower than the 11kW of most rivals but will give a useful boost at a supermarket or office charger.

Practicality & Boot Space

Rear passenger space is on the good side of acceptable, so a couple of average-sized adults will be comfortable, although headroom is a bit tighter than in the ID.3 or Kia Niro EV and there’s very little foot space beneath the front seats. It’s on a par with the MG4 EV, though, so still perfectly usable for small families. The door openings aren't huge though, so getting in could be a struggle for less-mobile passengers and the size of the front seat backs and high window line will make it feel slightly claustraphobic too, even with the big sunroof fitted to the posher 'Noble' models. You do get a rear centre armrest, which some rivals (I’m looking at you, MG…) don’t have. There's a couple of charge ports in the back too, along with generously-sized door pockets and even seat heating on the top model.  

The boot has a 380-litre claimed capacity, which is on the small side of average in this class. However, that shrinks if you factor in a truly unusual option – a full-sized spare tyre! I thought I’d never see the day when we got a full spare tyre in an electric car, as it’s very difficult to package around the battery in the floor, but I’m pleased that Omoda has done it. I’m not so pleased that it means the boot is small, but I’d take that figure with a pinch of salt as, in practice, the boot is big enough for most every day needs. 

Don’t get me wrong – all of those rivals we’ve mentioned are probably better choices if you’ve got a chunky buggy to lug about, or if you’ve got a big dog to lug around. But if you’ve got more luggage-light existence, you’ll probably be fine. And there’s a tiny ‘frunk’ for your cable, too. 

Fold the seats down and the floor isn't completely flat, but if you're carrying something heavy like a wardrobe the cushions will compress enough to give you a level floor.

Interior, Design/Styling & Technology

The Omoda E5 is a cheaper option compared to rivals such as the Kia Niro EV and VW ID.3, but Chery intends for it to eventually be seen as something of more premium brand. You can tell that from the generally classy-looking materials which seem to be close copies of something from Mercedes. There are some nice touches too, like a vanity mirror that offers changeable warm or bright-white lighting. and a wireless phone charging pad that is also ventilated to prevent your phone from overheating. The back seat passengers generally get the same quality of the trim too. The top-spec Noble prototype test gets shiny, chrome speaker covers, and the trim is all soft touch or classy-looking dark grey glossy wood effect. 

I really like the screen brightness controls on the panel next to the steering wheel. I have very light-sensitive eyes; it’s a pet hate of mine when it’s difficult to turn down screen-brightness at night, so having permanently visible controls for that is a winner. Less of a winning idea are the back-lit, touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel, which are impossible to see if you turn the headlights on when it’s still daylight outside, as they dim right down automatically.

Twin, 12.3-inch touchscreens stretch across the dashboard in front of the driver and offer all the into you need, with the central screen switching to CarPlay or Andriod Auto wirelessly. But the infotainment system is infuriatingly tricky to use, making you go through multiple menus to do simple tasks such as adjusting the heater.  It’s hard to find some of the settings that are buried in many menus, and the graphics aren’t the best, either. The alternative is to try and run the entertaining gauntlet of getting the voice activation to understand you.

Most of the time you will shouting at the car for a different reason though. The incessant bings and bongs are no doubt needed to get the best safety scores and are an unfortunate part of modern motoring, but the Omoda's seem particularly irritating and imprecise, finding phantom lane markings on country lanes and misreading speed signs. Combined with a loud indicator 'click' it is enough to make you stop to try and find a way to turn it off in the menus. And probably fail as they are too confusing....

Then there are the screens. When the indicators are operated, the E5 displays the view from the 360 degree cameras to make sure you're not going to squash someone. But the footage is extremely distracting and takes a few seconds to disappear and revert back to the nav view. If you are in town or on a roundabout, this is long enough to make you take a wrong turn. 

Hopefully Omoda can fix all this in an update. We hope so, because the tech is bad enough to put us off the car entirely.

Motors, Performance & Handling

The way it drives isn’t why anyone’s going to buy the Omoda E5, but this is not a car enthusiasts will flock to. The 204bhp electric motor powers the front wheels (there’s no four-wheel drive version) and will get the E5 from 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds, which is spritely enough by any standard. But it is a difficult car to drive smoothly. The brakes are sharp with very little pedal travel, meaning most drivers on their first outing will have to peel themselves off the dashboard after tapping the pedal for the first time. After a few minutes you adapt and learn to use the first micro millimetre of travel to moderate the braking effort.

It's not quite as bad with the throttle, but it's easy to spin the wheels when pulling out of a junction even in the dry. Push the throttle hard when attempting an overtake or joining a motorway and the E5 will lurch to the right like a 1980's hot hatchback. It seems to be the same if the car is set to any of the three drive modes. Add in the lane keep assist's intervention and you never feel completely in control. 

The suspension is firmer than you might expect on a car of this sort too, and despite relatively small 18-inch wheels, it feels unsettled on broken road surfaces. The general refinement is broken by tyre noise too. 

It’ll do the job, is a phrase that springs to mind when summing up the driving experience in the Omoda E5. 

Running Costs & Pricing

There are two trim levels on offer; Comfort or top-spec Noble. The £33,055 Omoda E5 Comfort is still well-equipped with all of the infotainment stuff that you expect, as well as 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera, part leatherette upholstery, electric driver’s seat adjustment and more.

The Omoda E5 Noble adds £1,500 to the price add features included a contrasting roof colour, as well as an opening sunroof, ambient lighting in the back, a powered bootlid and a 360-degree parking camera. 

Those prices include a seven year, 100,000 mile warranty on the car, and an eight year, 100,000 mile warranty on the battery. You can test drive them in 64 dealerships across the UK, with a target of 100 outlets by the end of 2024. Naturally, a critical factor will be the PCP finance and lease deals, and we’ll update this review when we’ve got further details. 

Omoda also realises that it needs to make the E5 insurable, so has worked hard with the industry in the UK to ensure it is cheaper to repair and parts are available. This has helped keep the grouping down, but a ranking of 35 is much higher than rivals such as the Vauxhall Mokka (25) and MG ZS (28). 

Verdict

I wouldn’t say that the Omoda E5 is a car that you’ll ever buy because you love it, but it is a car that you shouldn’t overlook if you’re after an electric family car with a decent range, low purchase costs, and a long warranty. My advice would be to test drive it first though, as a lot of the showroom appeal disappears once on the road as it doesn't have the polish of a European rival - especially around the dynamics and infuriating tech. The brand has work to do if it’s to establish itself quickly in such a competitive market, but with a few tweaks and the right costs the E5 could be a solid start. 

Like the Omoda E5? Try these...

BYD Atto 3 Review

Hyundai Kona Electric Review

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