Make and model: Omoda E5
Description: Medium-sized SUV, single electric motor
Price range: £33,055 (plus options)
Omoda says: “The Omoda E5 brings futuristic design, intuitive technology, and exceptional agility, together with fast charging, and useable all-electric performance.”
We say: The overall feeling of the Omoda E5 is “good but not great”. The price undercuts most rivals, but there are too many places where it feels like a budget choice.
Introduction
You’ve probably never heard of Omoda, but that’s not surprising. It’s a new car brand from China that has only launched in the UK in Autumn 2024. Omoda is a division of the enormous car company Chery, which has been building cars in China for almost 30 years. This same car is sold in some countries as the Chery Omoda E5, so if you have travelled to Asia or Australia over the last couple of years you may have already seen it there.
The first two models that Omoda is launching in Europe are the Omoda E5 – the mid-sized electric SUV you see here – and its petrol-powered twin, the Omoda 5.
What is it?
The Omoda E5 is a mid-sized electric SUV/crossover, similar in size to a Peugeot e-3008. But it’s priced at the level of a smaller SUV, like a Peugeot e-2008. Like fellow Chinese manufacturer MG, Omoda is pushing hard on the value-for-money angle.
Despite this being yet another new EV, Omoda isn’t going all-in on electric cars. Chery believes there’s still plenty of business to be had in selling petrol and hybrid models, although we’re unlikely to see any diesels. As such, the E5 has a petrol-powered twin called the Omoda 5, powered by a 1.6-litre petrol engine.
Who is this car aimed at?
Electric cars are bought predominantly by fleets, and the Omoda E5 will probably follow this path. Employees who can take advantage of salary sacrifice will also benefit, as the net monthly payments are likely to be very competitive.
The attractive price tag will also appeal to families buying a car on traditional car finance, looking to switch to an EV for their next car at the lowest possible price.
Who won’t like it?
There’s a large element of anti-Chinese sentiment in certain quarters of the media at the moment, so there will be plenty of people who simply won’t consider an Omoda at any price. Beyond that, many car buyers won’t consider a brand they’ve never heard of, while others won’t consider an electric car. So an unknown Chinese EV will inevitably be overlooked by a large number of people.
Interestingly, MG has managed to swerve much (but not all) of such criticism thanks to its British name and heritage, while BYD is making headway through a massive marketing blitz and targeting fleet buyers to get lots of cars on the road.
First impressions
The easiest way to tell the difference between the electric E5 and petrol 5 is to look at the nose. While the 5 has an enormous cross-hatch grille, the E5 has a pointier nose with no grille at all.
Omoda’s brochure describes the E5’s styling as “futuristic”, but that’s overegging things quite a lot. It could easily be mistaken for about a dozen other mid-sized crossovers on the market, with only the shark-like grille-less nose that looks in any way distinctive.
Step inside and things improve. The Omoda E5 cabin ticks all the boxes for a modern SUV, although it’s still fairly derivative. It has twin high-mounted screens (like pretty much every other new car being launched this year), haptic heating controls (which look like they’ve been nicked from a Nissan Ariya) and a gear selection level mounted on the steering column rather than on the centre console (just like Kia and Hyundai EVs). But look a bit closer and quite a few of the materials don’t have the same level of quality as you’d find in other household-name cars.
What do you get for your money?
Once we’ve got the first impressions out of the way, it’s time to look a bit harder at exactly what you’re getting for your money with the Omoda E5.
There are two trim levels available; Noble, which starts at just over £33K, and Comfort, which starts at £34.5K. Rather than regurgitating the entire brochure, it’s enough to say that both models are very well equipped for the money. Wireless charging (including a cooling fan for your phone) with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as are auto lights and wipers, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, an eight-speaker Sony sound system and a full suite of accident avoidance safety systems.
The extra £1,500 for the Comfort grade gets you a sunroof, power tailgate, dual-zone climate control with better particle filtering, and a 360-degree parking camera system. You can also choose bigger wheels and some two-tone colours from the options list, which are not available on the Noble version.
Warranty is excellent, covering you for seven years or 100,000 miles (whichever comes first). Servicing is annually or every 10,000 miles, and you get a year’s RAC breakdown cover as standard. If you keep having the car serviced at an official Omoda garage, the breakdown cover is extended by another year up to a maximum of seven years.
We like: Very good standard equipment levels, including safety kit
We don’t like: There’s not much not to like in terms of value
What’s the Omoda E5 like inside?
There are twin 12-inch screens for driver display and central infotainment controls, plus LED mood lighting, wireless phone charging and a steering wheel copiously loaded up with buttons. The touchscreen menus are not as logically arranged as they should be, and are not the easiest to use on the move. The digital screen in front of the driver is similarly fussy and clumsy in layout, rather than being clear to read on the move, while too much information – like your speed – is easily blocked by the steering wheel and your hands.
Interestingly, the electric E5 is nicer inside than the petrol 5, which is surprising and makes you wonder why the petrol version gets a lower-rent interior. The twin screens are larger (12 inches each, rather than 10 inches), while the column-mounted gear lever frees up additional space on the centre console, which is better designed.
(Incidentally, this is why you should always test drive a new car before buying, as you could end up with a car that’s incredibly uncomfortable for your particular size and shape.)
We like: Plenty of standard kit, large 12-inch screens are an improvement on petrol model
We don’t like: Cabin is not as spacious as exterior dimensions suggest
What’s the Omoda E5 like to drive?
So, on the surface, the Omoda 5 seems a reasonable bit of kit. But how does that hold up once we get behind the wheel? The petrol 5 was pretty poor in this regard, but the electric E5 offers better news.
Performance is easily adequate for most day-to-day driving requirements. Even with four or five people on board and a boot full of luggage, you’re likely to enjoy decent acceleration to overtake or pull onto motorways comfortably. The only noticeable effect is likely to be a reduction in driving range.
Like the petrol model, there’s quite a lot of road noise coming from the tyres at all speeds, while wind noise is also higher than similar cars at higher speeds. Again, other electric SUVs are better in this regard. However, it’s still noticeably quieter than the Omoda 5 petrol version since there’s no racket from the engine and gearbox.
We like: Ride and handling much better than petrol Omoda 5
We don’t like: Still not at the same level as the best electric compact SUVs
How safe is the Omoda E5?
The Omoda 5 was tested by Euro NCAP in December 2022 and scored a top five-star grade. It scores well in all four categories (adult protection, child protection, vulnerable road user protection and accident avoidance technology).
Systems like adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, lane-keeping assist and rear cross-traffic alert are all standard, and all seemed to work perfectly well during our media drive around Surrey and Hampshire.
The only negative here isn’t of Omoda’s making, and that’s the new EU-mandated functions that cause the car to beep and bong at you pretty much non-stop for a variety of reasons: the speed limit has decreased, the speed limit has increased, there’s a school zone, you’re 1mph over the speed limit, you’re not looking at the road (because you’re looking at the screen to work out why it’s beeping at you this time) and so on. It’s awful, but most cars now suffer the same problem.
Even better, from our point of view, is that all the safety technology is standard on both models, rather than the best stuff costing extra. At this stage, the E5 scores an 8/10 for safety but we’ll review this once we have a Euro NCAP result.
Omoda E5 economy, battery range and charging
The Car Expert’s unique Expert Rating Index pulls running cost data from across the entire new car market, and the Omoda E5 performs very well here, scoring a B-grade from us – with the caveat that we don’t yet have servicing cost data.
One of the most important factors for an EV is its electrical efficiency – the equivalent of fuel economy for a petrol or diesel car. The Omoda E5 scores a B-grade here, which is good.
The battery has a capacity of 61kWh, which gives an official driving range of 257 miles on the official EU/UK government lab test. Call it at least 200 miles in real-world driving throughout the year and you should be pretty safe. The Noble-spec E5 also comes with a heat pump, which warms and cools the cabin faster than the lower-spec Comfort model and will also have less impact on driving range when in use.
The charging flap is located in the nose of the car, which means you will probably want to park nose-first into charging bays to connect the cable.
The Omoda E5 comes with V2L (vehicle-to-load) functionality. This means you can use the car’s battery to run external electrical equipment, like a fridge or kettle or even a TV, offering extra convenience for camping, road trips or any other outdoor activities. Not all EVs offer this, so it’s a point in the E5’s favour.
Verdict
The overall feeling of the Omoda E5 is “good but not great”. The headline prices and standard kit levels do undercut most of its rivals, but there are too many places where it feels like a budget choice.
If you’re looking at a brand-new Omoda E5, it’s worth comparing it to a near-new (one-year-old or so) Kia Niro EV. You won’t get that new car experience, and you’ll lose a year of warranty (although you’d still have six years), but you’ll be getting a better car that will also be cheaper to run.
Similar cars
If you’re looking at the Omoda E5, you might also be interested in these alternatives.
BYD Atto 3 | Citroën ë-C4 | DS 3 E-Tense | Fiat 600e | Honda e:Ny1 | Hyundai Kona Electric | Jeep Avenger | KGM Korando E-Motion | Kia Niro EV | Mazda MX-30 | MG ZS EV | Mini Countryman Electric | Peugeot e-2008 | Renault Scenic E-Tech | Smart #1 | Tesla Model 3 | Vauxhall Mokka Electric | Volkswagen ID.4
Key specifications
Model tested: Omoda E5 Noble
Price (as tested): £34,555 (including £500 for premium paint)
Motor: Single electric motor, front-wheel drive
Gearbox: Single-speed automatic
Power: 204 hp
Torque: 340 Nm
Top speed: 121 mph
0-60 mph: 7.6 seconds
Battery range: 257 miles (combined)
CO2 emissions: 0 g/km
Euro NCAP safety rating: N/A
TCE Expert Rating: N/A (coming soon)
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