Changan is a large Chinese carmaker who has been making cars for over 40 years. Realising that Europe has the best car designers & engineers, it opened a design studio in Turin in 2001 & an engineering centre in Birmingham in 2010, giving it a strong base to attack the European market.
We drove the larger S07 last year & it does what most new Chinese cars are doing, in offering amazing levels of equipment packaged inside an attractive exterior all at a competitive price. Would the S05 follow suit ? Read on to find out.
Deepal S05 model choice
It’s a C-SUV & comes in one spec & with two powertrains. Rear wheel drive which we tested or all-wheel drive. The rear-wheel drive version delivers 268 hp & 290Nm of torque, while the all-wheel drive variant increases the output to 429 hp & 502Nm of torque.
Prices
Rear-wheel drive is priced at £37,990, or all-wheel drive costs £39,990.
Drivetrain & performance
It’s electric & is powered by 68.8kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery, so does have major kerb appeal in the fleet sector. Maximum speed is 112 mph with a 0-62mph time of 7.5 seconds in the RWD or 5.5 seconds on board the AWD model.
Range & chargingThe WLTP combined electric driving range is 303 miles for the rear-wheel drive version or 278 miles for the all-wheel drive model. Charging speeds are very good with a maximum ultra-rapid charging rate of 200 kW, which should give owners a 30% to 80% charge in around 15 minutes. The S05 can also charge at up to 11kW AC, so home charging speeds are excellent. We use a Rolec EVO charger https://www.rolecserv.com/ev-products/evo It’s also fitted with V2L capability allowing customers to utilise the cars battery for range of electrical items. A heat pump is also included.
OutsideThe S05 sits quite squat on the road & from the back & the side is reminiscent of a Porsche Macan. No bad thing. High corner headlights & a flat front with a small roof spoiler & car-width light band finishing off the hatchback.
Changan’s designers have cleverly increased the car’s efficiency & range by adding few design details to the cars exterior. Creating a drag coefficient of just 0.25Cd, has been achieved by adding an air intake grille at the front which can be closed while driving at high speeds to reduce wind resistance. Something new to me is the inclusion of low-drag sealed wheel covers & sealed headlights which also add to the cars driving range. Flush door handles, an aero-optimised rear spoiler, a diffuser & streamlined side mirrors also aid the cause.
InsideAs with the larger S07, the S05’s interior is very nice indeed. Compared to other similar sized Chinese cars , it sits at the top end of quality alongside the Geely EX5 & XPENG G60. Highlights include quality stitching detail on the seats & dash & the option of a black or orange, yes orange – thankfully more terracotta than Fanta – vegan leather interiors ! It also comes with a similarly sparse dashboard to the S07 & finishes made up of plenty of tactile soft touch plastics. The dashboard top & front, the doors & all of the stuff at eyeliner feels very nice. Look a little closer though & there is some cheaper stuff on the areas you can’t see as easily namely the centre binnacle sides, door pockets & seat sides. Having said that, it’s definitely better quality than the big selling BYD ATTO 3 or Omoda 5.
Cabin practicalityYou open the doors via handles neatly hidden on the door armrests. There’s a useful opening armrest, good sized glove box, twin centre cup holders & hidden low down two USB inputs with more storage in front, plus a wireless charging pad.
Infotainment
The touchscreen controls almost all, which means that you’ll need a week or two to get used to the myriad of menus, options & general controls. However the Infotainment which is a Huawei system with a 15.4-inch screen, does have a few tricks up it’s sleeve, namely that it can be tilted towards the driver or front passenger for easier access. And Changan has sensibly included within the set-up a configurable short cut bar so you can at least adjust climate for example more easily. A word here about the excellent speaker system which is super-clear & we have no doubt will keep you happy on your daily commute.
We mentioned it earlier but another neat feature is the single swipe down from the top of the screen which takes you straight to a large menus page where you can quickly select the app you’re after. Another sensible inclusion is a customisable head up display, meaning you can always see your speed without having to look left at the central touchscreen, something other cars are missing.
ConnectivityChangan set our road route up on their Google based system & to be fair to them it was glitch free. As we drive so many cars we find it much easier to utilise Apple CarPlay app’s such as Waze which is familiar to us & connecting wirelessly to CarPlay in the S05 was quick & simple.
SpecThe single model features alloys, LED headlights with automatic high beam, an electric tailgate, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone air conditioning & heated & ventilated front seats. Furthermore both models come with an ‘anti-gravity’ front passenger seat that reclines, a 14-speaker audio system, 50W wireless phone charger, an external speaker. Pretty much everything is included save for a panoramic roof (£1,000) & a detachable tow bar (£600).
Comfort & boot
The car’s 4,598mm length doesn’t look massive to the naked eye, but it does come with a very spacious interior with loads of front & rear head & legroom. You also get a 492 litre boot, which increases to 1,250 litres with the rear seats folded, plus a really useful 159-litre frunk, that features a drainage hole enabling you to store dirty stuff in it, then wash it out after. Clever. A low load lip & 60:40 rear seats make the boot space easy to use with space under the float floor to store your charging cable.
SafetyThe S05 comes fitted with pretty much everything including, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert & rear collision warning. The good news is that with one swipe of the screen, you bring up the safety features list where you can easily turn off the ones that most annoy you. Whilst you’ll need to do this every time you re-star the car, it’s still way simpler than what you’ll find in plenty of car today & is something others could take note of.
WarrantySeven-year/100,000-mile standard warranty, while the battery is covered by a separate eight-year/120,000-mile warranty. They’ve also got an established Nottingham based part’s warehouse. Aware that parts supply has been a hindrance for other Chinese brands Changan told us they want to make sure they have their customers backs.
Driving modesChoose from Eco, Comfort, Sport or Custom selected which can be selected on the screen. Eco & Normal work just fine although the difference in the driving feel between the two is minimal. Sport mode though does make things tighter & the steering especially feels nicer & more precise. These also act as the cars de-facto regeneration tools, so Eco adds more weight to the braking, Normal less & so on. None can be described as one-pedal but will add some extra miles if required. Once you’ve chosen your preferred one, cleverly there’s a button to retain the last drive mode that was chosen, another very good idea.
We drove the RWD S05 on a circular route around the Cotswolds & then put it through it’s paces with a series of agility tests at the Cotswold Airport.
Comfort & rideWe headed off from Lechlade & the first thing you notice is that the S05 is nice & quiet & on decent tarmac it rides nicely. Gloucestershire council plainly look after their roads better than Oxfordshire because within a few miles of the drive, pot-holes & poor tarmac began to rear their ugly head. In effect, a good test for the S05 & one that it passed. The UK R & D centre have tailored the S05’s ride to UK roads so it’s not a soft as the S05 you’ll see in China. The firmer ride was noticeable when when we did go over some bad stuff, but we didn’t find the ride too shabby & the cars smaller size allows it to handle the poor stuff better than ash larger S07 & similar sized Renault Megane.
All around vision is aided by the reversing cameras as the smallish rear window & rear headrests do limit the view backwards. We stopped to take pictures in a busy Burford & the S05 is very easy to park in tight spaces. Our test car featured the large panoramic roof which brings some welcome brightness into the black interior which was finished in black vegan leather.Whilst the drivers seat adjustments are great you still sit a little higher in the drivers seat than I personally like, again very much as you do in most similar Chines EV’s, to accommodate the battery. The tilting screen is a really good idea making the myriad of menus easier to reach & despite our short time on board we did begin to familiarise ourselves with some of these. If you tilt the screen toward the front seat passenger it enables them to use the system while the driver concentrates on the driving.
Faster roadsAlong the A40 we were able to drive a bit faster & at 60mph the ambience is noticeably interrupted by some road noise coming from the tyres. The steering is well balanced & neither too light or too firm. The brakes though are a touch fussy. What do we mean by that ? Over sensitive in that you don’t need to press hard to bring the car to complete stop which some may like, while we prefer a bit more feel.
MotorwayFor company car drivers, this is where we think the S05 will perform at it’s best. Selecting Adaptive Cruise Control will enable easier control on Smart motorway sections & we’ve no doubt longer journey’s with the ample space on board would be comfortable for four, or even five.
Off roadOn the runway we undertook a series of short slalom & sudden stops which illustrated the cars agility. As the battery sits underneath the cars floorpan, it feels very stable in & out of tight turns with or without traction control. The brakes stop the S05 in an instant & the reversing camera is extremely clear as we undertook a wobbly reversing manoeuvre. Overall it was impressive.
ProsExtremely well kitted out. Excellent build quality & attention to detail. Handle’s better than most similarly priced electric cars. Masses of interior space. Company car friendly.
ConsA little bland to look at. Competent on road manners but it’s not exciting. Range is adequate but not class-leading.
VerdictWhilst from a purely driving point of view the S05 is not thrilling, we doubt that this will stop UK customers from getting into one. Offering one model with everything included, is a canny way to grab customers attention, especially when the average British car buyer opts for a top-specced vehicle.
What impressed us most though is the way that Changan are approaching UK sales, in making sure that all their duck’s are in line with a large parts centre & also their employees, from UK MD Nic Thomas down, positivity for the brand.
The S05 will hit a sweet spot 3.5/5
