Leapmotor B05 review
The Leapmotor B05 lacks any real form of excitement, but its price will undoubtedly appeal
Our opinion on the Leapmotor B05
The slightly generic look of the Leapmotor B05 is unlikely to put many off. While the all-digital interior isn’t class-leading, the high level of standard equipment is a plus, and the good passenger space compensates for a slightly small boot. However, the overly sensitive driver-assistance tech is a frustration, and detracts from what is already an anodyne driving experience. The B05’s appeal is more about price and spec than outright handling and enjoyment.
About the Leapmotor B05
Amidst the hordes of new SUVs landing in the UK from China, the Leapmotor B05 stands out for being a hatchback, of all things, at a time when more and more brands are abandoning the genre. Best thought of as a lower, slightly shorter version of the Leapmotor B10, the B05 is similarly keen on price, and comes with an impressive kit list that looks like it belongs on something more expensive.
It’s exclusively all-electric, with the lower bonnet meaning there’s no chance of a ‘REEV’ range-extender plug-in hybrid powertrain, as is available in the B10. That means it’s more of a rival for the Volkswagen ID.3 than the Golf, and also the Vauxhall Astra Electric plus its Stellantis cousins.
Stellantis is worth mentioning, because the car manufacturing giant majority-owns Leapmotor's European operation, allowing the Chinese brand to lean on its distribution and dealer network. That might make buying the B05 less of a leap (if you’ll excuse the pun) into the unknown than buying from one of the many other new brands from China.
Performance & driving experience
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We didn’t find the bigger Leapmotor B10 much fun to drive, and although it’s lower and a bit lighter, the B05 is similarly devoid of thrills. That’s fine, but the overactive driver assistance systems are less forgivable – they can make the driving experience especially frustrating, and they’re not easy to turn off. Clawing back some ground, the B05 is reasonably quick.
Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed
The B05 is available with a single powertrain developing 215bhp and a curiously modest 240Nm of torque. A Vauxhall Astra Electric develops 270Nm despite having quite a bit less power, for example, while a Renault Megane E-Tech makes 300Nm.
Regardless, the B05 gets up to speed nicely, as you’d expect for a car offering 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds. There’s even a launch control system, but we’re not sure what the point is. We don’t expect drivers of a value-focused EV to be using this feature, and in any case, when we tested it out, it didn’t seem to make much difference to the acceleration time.
Town driving, visibility and parking
Visibility at the front is generally pretty good, and although the rear window is small, it’s not much of a problem thanks to the inclusion of a 360-degree camera and rear parking sensors as standard. The turning circle is decent and the steering fairly light, making tight turns and manoeuvring easy enough.
Something that is a faff when you’re hopping in and out of the car between short trips is the NFC key card, which feels like it would work well as a supplementary way of accessing the car, rather than replacing a traditional key fob entirely, as it does.
Rather than a regular remote locking fob which can unlock a car from any direction, the NFC card has to be tapped on a specific place on the driver’s side wing mirror. You can unlock the car via a smartphone app instead, but we think most drivers would prefer a traditional remote central locking setup.
Country road driving and handling
On paper, the Leapmotor seems like an appealing package thanks to its reasonably low weight by electric car standards, plus its rear-wheel-drive layout, decent power output and a suspension set-up that includes a more sophisticated multi-link rear end. In reality, it’s a competent car in terms of ride comfort and handling, but it could be more engaging.
The B05 has 19-inch wheels as standard, and they’re shod with premium-brand tyres, but they do generate a fair bit of road noise on poorly paved surfaces. That aside, the suspension is well judged, with bumps generally getting soaked up easily without unsettling the car. It doesn’t roll much in bends, thanks in part to the battery lowering the car’s centre of gravity.
The lane assistance system really needs work, though. We wouldn’t expect a safety feature like this to be rearing its head so often on a country road, but in the B05, we found it would constantly intervene for no reason at all, and often quite aggressively. When you try to disengage it, you’re confusingly presented with multiple elements to turn off. You’re best off getting rid of them all, but ideally, you shouldn’t need to turn such systems off.
Motorway driving and long-distance comfort
The B05’s respectable power output means it’s easy to get up to speed when joining a motorway, and overtaking other cars won’t be a problem. Road noise, as mentioned, is a bit higher than we’d like, and it’s not the most hushed in terms of wind noise, but it’s not that bad either. Factor in the lack of engine noise, and you have a reasonably relaxing way to munch the miles.
| Model | Power | 0-62mph | Top speed |
| Leapmotor B05 | 215bhp | 6.7 seconds | 105mph |
“We can live with the fact the B05 isn’t hugely thrilling to drive, but we could do without the driver assistance systems being so poorly calibrated.” - Matt Robinson, special contributor.
MPG & running costs
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Like most EVs around this price, the B05 should be a very cheap car to run, particularly if you have an electricity tariff with a low overnight rate and can time your charging sessions to suit. It’ll make for a cheap company car, and the asking price is nowhere near high enough for the Leapmotor to incur the expensive car tax surcharge. Make sure to get some insurance quotes before committing, because the B05 could cost more to cover than comparable EVs.
Electric range, battery life and charge time
The B05’s 300 miles of range looks impressive compared to a lot of rivals. A Renault Megane E-Tech is good for 258 miles, the incoming Volkswagen ID.3 Neo manages 258, and a Vauxhall Astra Electric can do up to 281 miles. One of the few alternatives that exceed the B05’s range is the MG4 Premium Extended Range, but it costs more.
When we last tested the B05, we averaged about four miles per kWh during a mix of driving, which would give a real-world figure just under 270 miles.
The peak rapid charging time is a decent 174kW, which should be able to top up the battery from 10 to 80 per cent state of charge within 30 minutes. Utilise a 7.4kW home wallbox charger, and it’ll take around 10.5 hours to fully recharge the B05.
| Model | Battery size | Range | Insurance group |
| Leapmotor B05 | 67.1kWh | 300 miles | 34 |
Insurance groups
The single version of the B05 sits in group 34, which looks high compared to rivals, including the Vauxhall Astra Electric (groups 25 - 28) and Renault Megane E-Tech (25-26). Chinese cars often struggle in this regard, although the B05’s grouping looks high even compared to its compatriots, with the BYD Dolphin in group 30 and even the highest MG4 (ignoring the high-performance XPower aside) going up to 33.
Tax
With EVs no longer escaping the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), otherwise known as car tax, it’ll be the usual £200 a year for the B05. It’s well below the £50,000 threshold for the luxury car tax supplement, though, and as an EV, it’s in the lowest Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) company car tax bracket, making for very low monthly salary sacrifice.
Interior, design & technology
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Squint your eyes a bit, and you might see hints of the Volkswagen Golf Mk8 around the headlights, while the rear three-quarter view has a hint of Porsche Macan about it if you’re feeling generous. Those observations aside, the rest of the B05’s styling is subtle and inoffensive, with smooth lines and flush-fitting door handles.
Unusually for this segment, the B05 is equipped with frameless windows, which gives the design a slightly more premium look. But form overrules function at the rear, where the lack of a wiper is sub-optimal. Leapmotor is planning to incorporate one in the near future, we’re told.
Interior and dashboard design
Inside, the dashboard layout is almost identical to that of the Leapmotor B10 SUV. But as an electric hatchback, the B05 must accommodate its battery within a body that is only 1,520mm tall, resulting in a relatively high floor and a raised seating position.
Decent levels of adjustability for the steering column, combined with electrically adjustable seats as standard, mean finding a comfortable driving position won’t be an issue for most. The steering wheel has a Tesla-like look due to its controls, and ahead of that is a wide 8.8-inch digital instrument display. The font and information are on the small side, but useful for keeping an eye on the navigation prompts all the same.
Also found on both the B05 and B10 are the six holes milled into the passenger side of the dashboard, into which various accessories are available to slot in, but only on the Chinese domestic market. None are available here, which seems like a shame, but at least the slots make what is a not especially exciting interior marginally more interesting.
Materials and build quality
Material quality seems reasonable, with artificial leather upholstery – in light or dark grey – adding to the B05’s green credentials. There are plenty of soft-touch materials, and the cabin gives off a general sense that it’ll wear the miles well. It’s also good to see that the B10's flimsy-feeling flip-out cupholders aren’t here; the B05 instead uses a more conventional design, with cups and bottles slotting into recesses in the centre console.
Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo
A 14.6-inch touchscreen might impress showroom browsers, but the lack of any proper buttons isn’t ideal. You have to use it for climate functions, and the controls aren’t very large; plus, they’re mixed in with other menu icons, so they’re not that easy to use on the move. You even have to use the screen to operate the panoramic roof’s sunblind.
Leapmotor has improved its native infotainment system, including proper smartphone integration for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but it still takes effort to navigate the various menus. This is especially true when adjusting the driver-assistance systems. On the plus side, the screen is very responsive.
Boot space & practicality
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The B05 impresses with its interior space, which can often be quite limited in other family hatchbacks. Leapmotor boasts that the B05 has 25 “smart storage solutions,” which is good to see, but we wish the boot were bigger.
Dimensions and size
The B05 is slightly bigger than most rivals, which translates to more interior space, but not more luggage capacity. It’s not big enough to be unwieldy or difficult to park, though.
| Dimensions comparison | |||
| Model | Leapmotor B05 | Vauxhall Astra Electric | Renault Megane E-Tech |
| Length | 4,430mm | 4,374mm | 4,200mm |
| Width | 1,880mm | 1,860mm | 1,768mm |
| Height | 1,520mm | 1,441mm | 1,505mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,735mm | 2,680mm | 2,685mm |
| Boot space | 345 litres | 422 litres | 440 litres |
Seats & passenger space
The 2,735mm wheelbase does provide a fair amount of rear-passenger legroom, despite the high floor. The B05 is a wide car, so there’s plenty of elbow room, and three adults can fit more easily in the rear than in other similarly sized hatchbacks on the market. We found the large panoramic glass roof significantly adds to the sense of spaciousness in the back. Headroom is good, despite the lower roof compared to the closely related Leapmotor B10.
Boot space
The B05 falls slightly behind the competition in terms of boot space. At just 345 litres, it’s underwhelming. Despite being much shorter, the Renault Megane E-Tech has a much more impressive 440 litres of boot space, although the Vauxhall Astra Electric is similarly disappointing at 352 litres.
The Leapmotor's boot aperture is usefully wide, and the rear seats feature a 60:40 split that boosts capacity to 1,400 litres.
Reliability & safety
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The B05 was tested by Euro NCAP in 2026, scoring the full five stars despite an underwhelming result of 66 per cent in the ‘safe driving category’. On the other hand, crash protection was rated highly at 92 per cent.
Driving assistance features include lane assistance, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, a driver attention monitor, and a system that prevents anyone in the car from opening a door into the path of a cyclist.
As already mentioned, the lane assistance system needs work, but the driver attention monitor also deserves a dishonourable mention. Its warnings sounded constantly during our time with the car, even when eyes were fixed on the road, and seemed worse when sunglasses were worn. We wonder if it has difficulty picking up eye movements through shades.
As a new brand to the UK, the long-term reliability of any Leapmotor car is hard to know, but it’s somewhat reassuring to have the familiarity of Stellantis attached to it. A four-year warranty is a plus point, given that many rivals stick to the bare minimum of three, but a 60,000-mile limit seems a bit stingy.
It’s also worth knowing that some emerging Chinese brands in the UK go far beyond this offering - Geely’s warranty lasts for eight years and 125,000 miles, for instance. The B05’s battery, meanwhile, has the mandated eight years and 100,000 miles of cover.
| Euro NCAP safety ratings | |
| Euro NCAP safety rating | Five stars |
| Safe driving | 66% |
| Crash avoidance | 77% |
| Crash protection | 92% |
| Post crash safety | 89% |
Buying, prices and deals
Best buy: Leapmotor B05
The B05 is offered in a single specification costing £30,495, and it’s a generously equipped one at that. The standard kit list includes 19-inch alloy wheels, climate control, electrically adjustable and heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, wireless phone charging, a panoramic sunroof, a 64-colour ambient lighting system, a 14.6-inch infotainment system, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a 12-speaker sound system, rear parking sensors, and a 360-degree camera.
The only cost options are colours, charged at £575 each. The single no-cost colour is called Lightning Yellow, which looks a bit like custard. We like it.
Leapmotor B05 alternatives
The B05’s most obvious rivals are close to home, coming in the form of fellow Stellantis brands Peugeot and Vauxhall. The Peugeot E-308 and Vauxhall Astra Electric are similarly sized hatchbacks, and the Astra actually undercuts the B05 slightly, but only in its entry-level Griffin trim, which comes with a lot less equipment than the Leapmotor.
Even though it’s getting on a bit, the Renault Megane E-Tech is looking like a particularly strong alternative now it’s eligible for the full £3,750 Band 1 government Electric Car Grant (ECG), giving a starting price of £28,445. Fellow Chinese cars that rival the B05 include the MG4 (from £30,495) and the BYD Dolphin (£30,230).
You can save by building your new Leapmotor B05 with the Auto Express Buy A Car service. We also have a range of B03 leasing deals to choose from, and can even help you to sell your car.
Leapmotor B05 alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions
The Leapmotor is a good car, helped by its keen pricing and strong equipment levels, but there are better-rounded alternatives that don’t cost much more spec-for-spec.
Deals on the B05 and alternatives
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