Thank you to the team at OMC Motor Group in Oldham for the loan of their new Changan Deepal S07. OMC represent Ford and Kia as well as Changan which has recently joined their franchise portfolio and OMC are one of the oldest independent dealer groups in the country.

First Impressions

As you walk up to the car with the keys in your pocket the car opens by itself (and locks when you walk away) so that is a nice start!  The car looks good, probably the best looking of the latest crop of Chinese SUVs to hit the road with its angular front end and the interior impresses when you open the door, which also shuts with a satisfying clunk – almost BMW like! Inside there is some nice black leather upholstery and red stitching around the seats, dash and steering wheel and the large pan roof is a very welcome feature throwing a lot of light into the car.

I don’t like the voice welcoming you to the Deepal when you get inside though – maybe it can be turned off?

Electric seats and your phone piped into the head rest are a nice touch and the car is well equipped with electric windows, head up display, adaptive cruise etc. The fake off white coloured wood surface to the 4 door pulls is a retrograde step, in my view, and spoils the otherwise excellent ambience inside the cabin.

Controls etc

There are no conventional dials in front of the driver and everything is controlled by the touchscreen display in the centre of the dash which angles itself towards you ready for the drive. I am not a fan of everything being controlled by touchscreen as you have to take your eyes off the road to use it, however there are 2 buttons on the steering wheel which can be programmed with 2 favourite features each.

The head up display (HUD) is standard which shows your speed, speed limit, navigation instructions and lane keeping. However you can turn off Lane Assist completely (unusual nowadays) and the speed limit bong is not too obtrusive. The seat base does not have enough thigh support for me (I’m 6 foot) although is probably ok for a shorter driver but other than that the seats are comfortable with plenty of adjustment.

The speed is only shown on in the top right hand corner of the centre display (too small numbers though) so you have to concentrate on the HUD to be aware of just how fast you are going.

I only used Android Auto for navigation and phone use but it connected seamlessly with my phone and the Home screen shows range, battery percentage, tyre pressures etc.

To open the doors there are no manual levers, you have to press the electric door release which foxed me at first!

Driving

Having accessed the car and set up the mirrors (through the touchscreen which is a bit of a faff), the car is ready to go and you pull the right hand stalk down to access Drive. Up for Reverse and press down twice to switch on Adaptive Cruise (up to turn it off). Press the button on the end of the stalk for Park. However even though Lane Assist was switched off when you use the cruise function the car also tries, not very successfully as it’s a little inaccurate, to keep you in lane – I stopped using it even though its something I use all the time in my BMW.

The ride is supple, not too soft and the car handles well for quite a large vehicle. Performance is good when you put your foot down from around 20mph up to c60mph but the car’s rate of acceleration slows markedly after then. Certainly good enough for normal day to day driving. The car is quiet around town but there is quite a lot of wind noise on the motorway. The motor drives the rear wheels so it is quite a sporty drive when you start to push the car through the bends, but there is quite a lot of body lean when you do.

Visibility behind you is poor as the rear window is very small so you have to use the mirrors and cameras when reversing, but even then it was difficult to place the car accurately in a parking space.

Everyday use

There is plenty of leg room in the rear, and no transmission tunnel of course and the pan roof makes it a comfortable place for rear seat passengers. However the boot is disappointing – it would only just take my golf clubs and trolley, a battery and shoes and even then the rear shelf had to be fully retracted meaning my clubs were on show. There is a usefully sized “frunk” under the bonnet for your charging cables etc.

Having no charge point at home I plugged the car into a 13 amp plug to charge overnight and it took 11 hours to go from 70% to 100% but of course charging via a 13 amp socket is significantly slower than using a dedicated home wall box or public charger. Most manufacturers recommend an optimal charge level of around 80% for everyday use and charging from 80% to 100% typically takes longer and isn’t always advised unless required for longer journeys.

The Changan app is useful allowing you to see the state of charge, control locking, lights etc. However there is no map in the app to show you where the car is located.

At 100% charged the car was showing 290 miles range and the range seems to correlate well with the mileage covered as you drive the car.

Summary

The car is well equipped and appears good value for money at just under £40k. Looks good with a sporty appearance, in my view probably the best looking Chinese SUV on the market at the moment. Comfortable and a quality interior, lots of space for rear seat passengers but let down by the touchscreen, driver’s seat base, for me, and a poor boot. Some quirky features as mentioned.

Ideal for someone who wants a comfortable way to get from A to B but not for the keen driver, although you can say that about most electric cars in my view!

Colin Smith – Managing Director, UK Prestige Car Brokers