Leapmotor B10 review

Leapmotor B10

Leapmotor B10 review.

****
£31,495
For – ready-made dealer network, great quality, amazing price, much kit.
Against – clunky interface, usual EV range negatives.
Competition – Renault 4, Jaecoo E5, MG S5, Ford Puma Gen-E, Skoda Karoq, Volvo EX30, Jeep Avenger

Leapmotor is yet another Chinese automaker selling electric vehicles (and others) you’ve probably never heard of, but this one starts with a big advantage.

Leapmotor is an affiliate of global brand giant Stellantis and comes with its ready-made dealer network. Not all Stellantis brands will offer Leapmotor sales and service but many larger ones will. That means Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Jeep and Alfa Romeo dealerships near you might well be available. That gives Leapmotor a big advantage over even giant Chinese interlopers like BYD, MG, Chery and Geely. 

I’ve been driving the Leapmotor B10 and it’s delightful in many ways, with a couple of big negatives. It looks understated and appealing. It drives well. It’s well equipped. And it’s priced to go. When I first climbed into this B10 I’d guessed that prices might start at around £40,000, but I was about £10,000 too high. 

So it’s great value, but the negatives might make you hesitate. The first hurdle is the credit-card-like entry key. My first thought was the many ways that I could lose it. I’ve become used to the key in my pocket automatically opening the doors and preparing the car for action. But the B10 makes you brush the card against a part of the wing-mirror. The next step requires a two-handed effort to open the door because the inset handles fail to ping out. When you get inside, the screen tells you to “place the card in the reader”, which turns out to be a little flat spot in the driver’s armrest. The screen then prompts you to press it, then enter the car’s code. 

SatNav a clunky mystery
The B10 also came with a phone attached, buried in the glove-box, which turned out to be the entrance hall to many of these functions, like keyless entry. 

The SatNav was a clunky mystery. I managed to insert postcodes but only discovered by accident how to set the thing in motion. Then I failed to remember exactly how it was done. Intuitive it ain’t. I devoted an afternoon to crack this but failed. I did find out though, courtesy of ChatGPT, that this is a common problem with Leapmotor SatNavs. I made the music work once, but only once. Leapmotor describes the 14.6-inch infotainment system as “intuitive”. Not so in my opinion. The steering wheel-warming seemed to have a mind of its own. The car’s interior temperature would get colder when you asked it to get warmer. The screen on the steering wheel would occasionally give safety advice warnings, but by the time you’d made sure the road was clear to read it, the advice would disappear. Obviously, it wasn’t warning of an emergency, or I wouldn’t be writing this.

 Probably after a couple of weeks these actions would fall into place, so they are not really deal-breakers. That’s good because on the road the B10 is terrific. The car feels rock-solid at motorway speeds. The very firm suspension keeps it nicely flat through the corners. The steering is precise and reassuring. The quality of the interior was excellent. The rear was roomy and the trunk golf-friendly.

Chinese EVs are poor on the motorway
And then there’s the very poor high-speed motorway range. It does seem to be a weakness of Chinese EVs because 110 to 120 km/h is often a motorway maximum there. Enforcement is, not surprisingly, draconian. Chinese EVs are not designed to handle the range depletion incurred by 130 to 140 km/h. Neither are Europeans, but they seem to perform a little bit better.  My motorway test routes pointed to a 50% motorway range penalty on a good day with a 134.5-mile range. My range estimates are all very conservative too because they don’t include the 80% battery charge maximum on some EVs (not this LFP one), or the need to recharge before you breach 50 miles range left that any sensible person would decide. 

The regenerative braking wasn’t very effective. There was no way to opt for varying degrees of application. It did feel very effective, but wasn’t, with one 80-mile trip on country roads removing 96 miles of range. My uphill route to the Devil’s Dyke behind Brighton removed 30 miles of range on a 17-mile journey (19 miles back).

The B10 is very well equipped. The only extra is a superior paint job. The panoramic glass roof is neat. Leapmotor talks at length about the many impressive aspects of the car, but one section had me flummoxed.

“Additionally, the B10’s intelligent, 64-color ambient light system synchronizes with music, creating an immersive visual and acoustic experience. This eye-catching set-up features three modes that help create either a vibrant ambience or a relaxing environment, depending on your mood:

• Light and Shadow Mode: Create captivating visual effects with dynamic light and shadow interplay
• Dynamic Mode: Energise your space with vibrant, ever-changing light patterns
• Canon Mode: Enjoy a classic, timeless lighting experience with our specially designed Canon mode.”

I have no idea what this means.

What to buy?
If you are buying a new car, job one is to find your nearest dealer. Then make a choice. These irritating problems with EVs (and any new car currently) mean an efficient and close dealer is essential in this age of the software-dominant car or SUV. As internal combustion engine engineering progressed over the years, having a close relationship with a dealer was a waste of time because everything worked and was intuitive. The EV and its amazing computer power has changed all that. Dealers should remember to make sure EV buyers are given at least an hour’s tutorial into setting up their cars and making the most of this extraordinary power.

As for the Leapmotor B10, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which would be much easier given my week’s learning experience. However, given the poor long-distance performance I’d go for a plug-in hybrid. Leapmotor is introducing range-extender plug-in hybrid models to its lineup – the Leapmotor C10, and B10 hybrid EV. The C10 has a claimed electric range of 90 miles and the B10 hybrid EV about 50 miles.

My claims that Leapmotor had a big advantage because of its ready-made dealer network fell at the first hurdle. I responded to a Leapmotor invitation to find the nearest dealer to Worthing. That showed Chichester was closest, 21 miles away, just like my BYD dealer. Eastbourne, twice as far away to the east was the nearest in that direction. But in Sussex there are numerous Peugeot, Citroen, Jeep and Vauxhall dealers. That should square the circle. 

Leapmotor B10