Leapmotor B05 2027 review

Leapmotor has struggled to make its mark in a market swamped by affordable Chinese electric vehicles.

At a time when rivals are experiencing explosive growth, the brand has attracted just 1166 buyers in the first nine months of the year. By contrast, BYD sold more than 8000 vehicles last month alone.

But two well-priced new models hitting showrooms could turn the tide for the Chinese newcomer.

The B03X compact SUV made headlines recently when the brand announced it would arrive in local showrooms in November with a $29,990 driveway pricetag, making it the cheapest electric car in the country.

But prior to its arrival, the larger and more expensive B05 hatchback will test the waters with Australian buyers.

What are the B05’s features and options for the price?

The B05 range starts at $35,990 driveaway for the Style model, while the longer range Design LR costs $39,990 driveaway. Both are loaded with gear for the price.

Standard fare on both models includes a 14.6-inch touchscreen, 8.8-inch driver display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with a wireless, cooled phone charger, satellite navigation, voice-activated commands, a 360-degree parking camera, dashcam recorder and 21 electronic driver assistance features.

Both cars can be accessed with a smartphone and pincode that can be shared with another driver, while there are over the air updates for software.

Unlike some rivals, the B05 comes with two charging cables, allowing you to top up from a standard power point or a wall charger.

The Style model, which wasn’t on the media launch, has a 56.2kWh LFP battery good for a claimed driving range of 401km. It can be charged from 30 to 80 per cent in just 16 minutes.

The Design LR ups the ante with a 67.1kWh battery that delivers a claimed 482km of range and charges from 30 to 80 per cent in 18 minutes, or around 25 minutes for the more frequently used 10-80-percent measure.

The B05 will reach 100km/h in a quickish 6.7 seconds.

Aside from the bigger battery, the additional $4000 buys you artificial leather seats (heated up front), a heated steering wheel, a glass roof with full-length shade, ambient lighting, rear privacy glass, auto folding exterior mirrors and a premium 12-speaker audio system.

It’s an alluring package on paper, but some of the technology can be frustrating to deal with.

Within minutes of driving, I’d renamed the B05 the Bleepmotor…

The central screen has a mind-boggling multitude of menus that are less than intuitive to navigate. Had there been a swear jar in the cupholder, it would have been full in the first half hour.

To be fair, if you buy a Leapmotor, you’ll probably take the (considerable) time to work your way around its idiosyncrasies, but the operating system appears counter-intuitive – and distracting – at times. I also found the driver display hard to absorb on the run, with small fonts and unnecessary information that took your eye off the road.

Then there are the driver aids, which take nannying to a whole new level. In particular, the lane departure warning tugs at the wheel constantly and unnecessarily. You can dive into the menu to turn it off, but it turns itself back on at the slightest provocation.

On the second day of our drive, the Leapmotor techs disabled it and the car was a lot more relaxing everywhere on road. It begs the question, though: if the safety systems are so overbearing and annoying that drivers switch them off, what good are they?

Leapmotor says it can tweak the systems with over-the-air updates and will do so if it gets customer feedback, but it would be better if they did the job properly out of the box.

It’s not all bad news. A lot of the driver assistance functions work well and the list is exhaustive: front and rear cross traffic alerts with braking, automatic lane change, drowsy driver and distraction warnings, adaptive cruise and more.

There are 14 sensors and cameras working full-time to keep the car on the straight and narrow and seven airbags in the event of an accident, including a centre airbag to stop the driver and passenger bumping heads in a side impact. Aside from the overactive safety aids, the B05 is an impressive car for the price.

On the road, with the lane departure warning switched off, the rear-drive B05 feels solid and composed.

The 160kW/240Nm motor delivers impressive acceleration both off-the-mark and when overtaking. There’s no scrambling for grip on launch, despite the instant torque of the electric motor.

The steering has reasonable feel and the suspension deals well with mid-corner bumps and corrugations, although you can feel the weight of the car – it weighs 1780kg, almost 400kg more than a Toyota Corolla hatch – when changing direction and braking.

In a twisty section of road, the brakes held up pretty well and the tyres delivered reasonable grip for what is essentially a city runabout.

Leapmotor appears to have struck a good balance between comfort and cornering ability. A lot of EVs can float over larger undulations and thud harshly into smaller bumps, but this hatchback feels both composed and reasonably plush.

You can change the driving feel of the B05 through the centre screen. Acceleration and steering can be set to comfort, standard or sport, while the brake pedal feel is switchable between comfort and sport. You can also adjust the regenerative braking feel from weak to strong.

Over a mix of city streets, highways and country back roads we averaged less than 15kWh/100km, which suggests the claimed range is not overly optimistic. We’ll save a definitive verdict on the B05 until we’ve done a comprehensive road test of the car.

The interior design is neat and uncluttered and the materials feel more expensive than the price tag would suggest, with soft-touch surfaces at eye level and matte metallic finishes that lift the cabin presentation.

The driver seat offers good support and plenty of adjustment, while the legroom in the rear is generous for the size of the car. The wheelbase, which dictates interior space, is longer than a Toyota RAV4.

The boot is a reasonable size for a hatchback at 357 litres – about the same as an MG5 and noticeably bigger than petrol-powered rivals such as the Mazda3 and Corolla.

There’s a false floor that allows you to store the charging cables and tyre repair kit out of sight.

An integrated Leapmotor app allows you to monitor key information about the car – including its location – and gives you remote access to climate control. You can also set parameters for the digital key, including geofencing and speed limits for younger drivers.

Ownership wise, the Leapmotor is backed by a six-year/150,000km warranty, while the high-voltage battery warranty is eight years or 160,000km.

The B05 also comes with eight years of capped price servicing and roadside assistance. Servicing costs are reasonable, at $2980 for eight services. Over-the-air updates are free for the first three years at the moment, but the brand says it will review this at a later date.

The honest verdict

At first glance, the B05 has the ingredients for success. The price is sharp, the cabin doesn’t feel cheap and the level of equipment is impressive.

The driver aids need recalibrating and the centre screen takes some getting used to, but it’s not alone in that regard compared with Chinese rivals.

It’s hard to give a definitive verdict after a few hours behind the wheel, but it does all the basics well. The suspension is well sorted and it has the grunt and cabin space of a larger conventional petrol car.

If you’re in the market for a relatively cheap entry into electric motoring, the B05 deserves to be on the shopping list.