2024 Chery Omoda E5 EX review

12/30/2024 08:00 AM

2024 Chery Omoda E5 EX

You don’t need to spend big dollars on electric power anymore, thanks to a slew of recent new arrivals.

All hailing from China, and often from fledgling brands for the Australian market, there is a band of options that so-called legacy car makers seemingly cannot match pound-for-pound in the value stakes.

The ground was laid most recently by the likes of the MG 4, BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora as electric offerings underneath the $40,000 watermark, but now we are seeing a lot of action in the next rung up the size-and-spend ladder.

Less hatchback, and more of a small SUV overall, the Chery Omoda E5 is one of the latest entrants to this part of Australia’s EV world, and follows on behind the successful BYD Atto 3 and MG ZS EV.

But there are plenty more coming into this space as well, with cars like the Leapmotor C10, Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq coming, so this segment is only going to heat up even further.

For those who want a cost-effective electric SUV, there’s no doubt that this Chery Omoda E5 will be in the crosshairs. Let’s see what it’s like.

How much is a Chery Omoda E5?

There’s a simple two-model range for the Omoda E5. It kicks off with the BX at a respectably sharp $42,990 plus on-road costs, while the top-spec EX goes up to $45,990 plus on-road costs.

For the extra $3000 spend, you get an upgraded interior with additional synthetic leather (in place of charcoal fabric), electric adjustment for the driver, and heated seats for the front and rear outboard seats. There’s also a leather-wrapped and heated steering wheel, interior ambient lighting, an upgraded eight-speaker sound system, puddle lamps, sequential rear turn signals, a sunroof, electric tailgate, rear privacy glass and front acoustic glass.

This comes atop a solid range of shared equipment, like twin 12.3-inch displays with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, LED headlights, tail-lights and daytime running lights (DRLs), heated and power-folding mirrors, and dual-zone climate control.

Another thing that’s shared is the powertrain, with a single 150kW/340Nm electric motor at the front and 61.1kWh lithium iron phosphate battery. Claimed driving range is 430km according to the WLTP test regime.

The Omoda E5 also comes with a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty, along with an eight-year, unlimited-kilometre battery warranty.

How big is a Chery Omoda E5?

Compared to the arch-nemesis BYD Atto 3, the Chery Omoda E5 is slightly shorter in length, narrower and not as tall. The BYD also has a decently longer wheelbase, with a 110mm longer footprint.

One thing that the Atto 3 cannot match is a full-sized spare, with a matching wheel and tyre provided in the boot of the Omoda E5. This means you’re not taking a backward step when you swap the spare on, and could even undertake a five-tyre rotation to get some additional life out of the factory-fit rubber.

The flipside here is that – combined with the shorter wheelbase – the Omoda E5 has a relatively small boot of only 300 litres with the rear seats in the upright position.

For reference, the BYD Atto 3 has a 440L boot. So if you prefer an honest-to-goodness spare wheel or a larger load space, choose your poison.

Up front, the Chery provides a well-made interior that feels solid in its construction and is quite glossy in its design. There’s good storage available underneath the floating centre console, where you’ll find a USB-A and USB-C power outlet. This is on the passenger side, something that probably hasn’t been flipped over for our right-hand-drive market.

On the driver’s side is a 12V plug, and you’ve got another USB point for your dashcam mounted up near the rear-view mirror.

There’s a wireless charging pad at the front of the centre console, along with a flocked lidded compartment, two cupholders and a central storage bin. You’ve also got room for bottles in the doors.

In the second row, you’re greeted with a decent amount of space and good overall amenities like air vents and power outlets. Visibility isn’t so good, with a high exterior hip line and relatively low seating position providing little glass for the second-row occupants to look out of.

This is made worse by the bucket-style sports seats up front, which rob rear passengers of light and forward vision. This would be a minor issue for some, but I could see it being a problem for kids in the back who want to look around and see what’s happening.

The seating isn’t so comfortable for adults here, with a lack of rake in the backrest and high floor bringing your thighs up and off the seat cushion.

Does the Chery Omoda E5 have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?

A 12.3-inch system houses all of your infotainment needs, with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto running via either a wired or wireless connection. The wireless connection can often be patchy, however, and sometimes takes a long while to form a connection with your phone.

There’s also AM/FM and digital radio reception, along with an upgraded eight-speaker sound system. It’s Sony-branded, and is comprised of four speakers and four tweeters. There’s no quoted watts of power to reference, but to my ears the system’s performance is quite lacklustre.

There’s no companion app for Chery owners to remotely interact with and control elements of their car.

One complaint that I have with the Omoda E5’s user interface is the lack of physical buttons to control common features and elements. It’s all the rage these days among designers and car makers to create a sleek-looking dashboard that’s visually uncluttered by buttons and controls. But the flip side here is that if you’re one who likes to fettle with certain controls, then the user experience is marred.

This is managed somewhat in the Omoda E5, with climate controls being accessed through a single swipe up from the bottom of the screen. However, it’s still not as intuitive to control temperature, air direction and fan speed as good old-fashioned buttons. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned?

There are also no volume controls, save for the buttons on the driver’s steering wheel. So if you’re the passenger, you’re straight outta luck. There are some volume controls on the driver’s side of the instrument cluster, but these are (perplexingly) for controlling the volume of warnings, chimes and bongs. You can adjust the brightness of the instruments as well here, which is a handy feature.

Is the Chery Omoda E5 a safe car?

The Chery Omoda 5 was awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on 2022 testing. The Omoda E5, which shares its key body structure with the petrol version, is covered by this same five-star rating.

The car achieved an 87 per cent score for adult occupant protection, 88 per cent for child occupant protection and 83 per cent for its safety assistance features. The Omoda 5 only achieved a lower 68 per cent score for vulnerable road user (pedestrian) protection.

There are seven airbags including dual front, front-seat side, full-length curtain, and a centre airbag between front occupants.

What safety technology does the Chery Omoda E5 have?

There’s a good range of active safety equipment included in the Omoda E5, and it’s shared between both BX and EX specification levels.

However, the Omoda E5 does have its foibles in this regard.

The traffic sign recognition falls for the same traps as most other systems: highway off-ramps, school zones at the wrong times, and signs directed at trucks and buses can give a false reading to the driver. At least the Omoda E5’s system can be kept permanently quiet, if you so wish, between drives to reduce the instances of audible interference.

The driver monitoring system, which is fast to label you as a ‘distracted driver’, can get on your nerves with its quick-draw accusations.

And while such technology might be nice to have, the implementation of it does make it less useful to the end user.

The lane-keep assistance system of the Omoda E5, and lane-departure warning as an extension, is a hit-or-miss affair and can be difficult to depend upon too much.

And unless you turn on all of the semi-autonomous driving systems, the driving experience isn’t too bad in terms of being interrupted by inaccurate or overzealous systems.

How much does the Chery Omoda E5 cost to run?

Capped-price servicing for the Omoda E5 is cheap, even across the full seven years of the warranty period. Services are required every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first.

Three years and 60,000km costs $540, while five years and 100,000km gets you to a very reasonable cost of $950. The sixth service is a big one at $511, while the grand total after seven years is $1586.

For comprehensive insurance, we were quoted $2759 as a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

What is the range of a Chery Omoda E5?

The Omoda E5 has a claimed driving range of 430km against the WLTP testing cycle, with a claimed consumption of 15.5kWh per 100 kilometres. It’s not as efficient as the best out there, but we at least did get pretty close in terms of our real-world useage with 16.0kWh/100km recorded.

Our driving did consist of some long bouts of highway driving, which is the natural enemy of electric car efficiency. So with a closer balance of town driving, and all of that regenerative braking that it brings, that efficiency would likely be improved.

That being said, a claimed total driving range of 430km from a 61.1kWh battery would indicate that a net efficiency rate better than 15.5kWh/100km would be required.

What is the Chery Omoda E5 like to drive?

The biggest disappointment of the Omoda E5 comes from the ride quality, especially in areas where it’s likely to spend most of its time: suburban streets. Below highway speeds and on the regular range of pockmarked and potholed roads we all know, the Omoda E5 can feel unsettled and jostling as it refuses to settle down.

There’s a more sophisticated multi-link rear suspension employed here, along with struts at the front. So from an engineering and component point of view, Chery hasn’t gone down the cheaper path of torsion bars and beams. But unfortunately, you do get an improved ride quality from most other small SUVs on the market.

As speeds rise on highways and country roads, ride quality does improve. However, steering feel and feedback can be tricky to master. It feels too darty at times, especially after turn-in and being adjusted mid-corner. It’s not dynamically composed or enjoyable, but I also don’t think it ever aimed to be. It’s also worth noting that we got a few instances of shuddering through the steering wheel (something that can be referred to as ‘rack rattle’) when encountering mid-corner bumps.

It’s worth noting here that the Omoda E5 is noticeably less impressive on this outing, compared to the first drive. We’d put this down to the different roads we drove on, putting the electric Chery through its paces on some more challenging surfaces this time around.

Its performance, with 150kW and 340Nm on offer through the single electric motor, allows the Omoda E5 to be plenty potent enough in terms of straight-line performance. Like most EVs, it’s particularly brisk from take-off, allowing you to inject yourself into traffic confidently.

However, full-blooded presses of the accelerator pedal will see the front wheels ungraciously chirp and spin, so be a little progressive with your applications. As your speed increases, this acceleration gets blunted by the reduction gearing of this electric motor, and the near 1.8 tonnes of heft comes more into play.

And typical of most other electric cars, the driving experience is serene, quiet and mostly smooth. Jacking up the regenerative levels of braking (which is annoyingly only found through a sub-menu in the infotainment display), does give an increasingly harsh feel to the braking. It comes on quite hard in modes two and three, and I found it difficult to balance smooth driving through the accelerator. You’re much better off in the least aggressive mode.

The driving experience is also marred by squeaking sounds from the brake pads, as you roll off the stoppers and onto the throttle for take-off. It’s noticeable – unless you actively avoid it with gentle and slow inputs – and is even worse if you turn the auto-hold feature on.

Can a Chery Omoda E5 tow?

As you might expect, a small electric SUV doesn’t stand up as a viable tow vehicle with a maximum towing capacity of 750kg. This is regardless of whether the trailer is braked or not, which means you can tow a light box trailer but not a lot more. And whatever trailer you are hitching up, you need to be sure that the weight of the trailer (and whatever is loaded into it) doesn’t exceed 750kg.

Should I buy a Chery Omoda E5?

If you’re looking for ultimate electric bang-for-buck in a small SUV format, then the Chery Omoda E5 seems to be the sharpest tool in the kit currently. It has some unique benefits as well, like a full-sized spare wheel, which could appeal to some buyers even more.

However, the BYD Atto 3 would need to be closely cross-shopped against this model, especially as it provides a more supple and comfortable ride quality, along with a more spacious boot and second row. It’s similar in terms of pricing and electric value for money, but also quite different in its nature, cabin and interior design.

And, of course, you’d also need to consider hybrid, plug-in hybrid, petrol and diesel variants of other makes and models to get the full picture of suitability.

How do I buy a Chery Omoda E5? The next steps.

While the Omoda E5 does lack polish in some regards, it still battles hard for overall value for money as a small electric SUV. You can get a cheaper electric car, sure. But options like the MG 4 and BYD Dolphin are more of a compact hatchback, with significantly less overall size than the Omoda E5.

If it were me buying, I would be cross-shopping this Omoda E5 against the BYD Atto 3. But I’d also be considering the likes of a Hyundai Kona, Toyota Corolla Cross or Nissan Qashqai, all of which can be had with a fuel-saving hybrid powertrain.

You can find Cherys for sale at Drive Marketplace. We strongly recommend taking a test drive at a dealership before committing because personal needs and tastes can differ. Find your nearest Chery dealer via this link.

If you want to stay updated with everything that’s happened to this car since our review, you’ll find all the latest news here.

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