Leapmotor T03... am I the only one?
Discussion
My first EV. I'm not interested in the politics surrounding EV's, or social media keyboard warriors - each to their own choices in life, and happiness with it.
After a lifetime of fixing old cars, I was realising that I'm less able to do that these days. I think as a motoring enthusiast, as you get on a bit, dependability becomes an attractive element of driving in itself. Sometimes just having something that will quietly go about it's business without drama is delightful in itself.
So I came across this intriguing car - a Leapmotor T03. Lots of research revealed a small car with a big heart. I've always idly thought that if an EV was ever to work for me, it would need to have a reasonable range for my mix of urban and A road motoring, yet £30,000 for a Corsa et la seemed ridiculous. So a small a car with the range of much more expensive cars seemed worth a look. This wasn't just cheap for an EV, but cheap for a new car regardless of motive power.
Motoring press reviews seemed largely positive, software issues aside, which have been largely resolved by an update already - I wonder if the legacy manufacturers would have responded so quickly....a test drive later, the deal was done.
So the car - not a fan of the looks, but that doesn't really matter much. The design is clever - remarkable room inside, and comfortable. Fit and finish very good, leagues ahead of the Dacia Spring, which is tinny and cheap feeling.
Equipment is remarkable if you like that kind of thing - I would happily have done without some of the toys (electric panoramic roof shade in such a small car - really?) but the value is undeniable, with equipment levels that would have shamed a prestige car until recently. As well as the full suite of ADAS stuff (which you can turn off with a button on the wheel...) you even get adaptive cruise control, auto lighting, electric everything else...and whilst I'm not a fan of touch screens, it does at least work well, is good to look at, and has an excellent reversing camera.
To drive, the car is good - not an enthusiast's dream, but you don't buy such a car for that. It's quiet, the ride is much better than expected, it's comfortable, and generally has that trick of driving like a larger car than it is.
I'm already a fan of the electric drive train - silent and refined. It's not Tesla with neck snapping power, but with 95 bhp it's plenty for ever day driving, and isn't outclassed on the open road either, I've already done a couple of long journeys in it.
The main attention from buyers seems to be focussed on the larger SUV's Leapmotor offer, but I hope the T03 does well too - I'm enjoying it so far.
After a lifetime of fixing old cars, I was realising that I'm less able to do that these days. I think as a motoring enthusiast, as you get on a bit, dependability becomes an attractive element of driving in itself. Sometimes just having something that will quietly go about it's business without drama is delightful in itself.
So I came across this intriguing car - a Leapmotor T03. Lots of research revealed a small car with a big heart. I've always idly thought that if an EV was ever to work for me, it would need to have a reasonable range for my mix of urban and A road motoring, yet £30,000 for a Corsa et la seemed ridiculous. So a small a car with the range of much more expensive cars seemed worth a look. This wasn't just cheap for an EV, but cheap for a new car regardless of motive power.
Motoring press reviews seemed largely positive, software issues aside, which have been largely resolved by an update already - I wonder if the legacy manufacturers would have responded so quickly....a test drive later, the deal was done.
So the car - not a fan of the looks, but that doesn't really matter much. The design is clever - remarkable room inside, and comfortable. Fit and finish very good, leagues ahead of the Dacia Spring, which is tinny and cheap feeling.
Equipment is remarkable if you like that kind of thing - I would happily have done without some of the toys (electric panoramic roof shade in such a small car - really?) but the value is undeniable, with equipment levels that would have shamed a prestige car until recently. As well as the full suite of ADAS stuff (which you can turn off with a button on the wheel...) you even get adaptive cruise control, auto lighting, electric everything else...and whilst I'm not a fan of touch screens, it does at least work well, is good to look at, and has an excellent reversing camera.
To drive, the car is good - not an enthusiast's dream, but you don't buy such a car for that. It's quiet, the ride is much better than expected, it's comfortable, and generally has that trick of driving like a larger car than it is.
I'm already a fan of the electric drive train - silent and refined. It's not Tesla with neck snapping power, but with 95 bhp it's plenty for ever day driving, and isn't outclassed on the open road either, I've already done a couple of long journeys in it.
The main attention from buyers seems to be focussed on the larger SUV's Leapmotor offer, but I hope the T03 does well too - I'm enjoying it so far.
A dealer has a brand new one here for under £14k. Photos shown of all the screens, seems you can turn some of the nanny warnings off too. Not possible on some cars:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202508145...
Sensible sized wheels for a change, 15".
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202508145...
Sensible sized wheels for a change, 15".
Ha ha, not really feeling the love for it in the room... 
No matter, I like it. It's much more capable than the looks would suggest, with the interior a nice surprise - some very well judged material and design choices which means the parts you regularly interact with feel good.
Metal door release levers, column stalks seemingly out of a Mercedes with a quality action, soft fabric panels in the doors to break up the plastics, doors that close with a nice "clumph" instead of a clang, and not a squeak or rattle to be heard. The pantograph wiper is novel and effective too.
I've always valued smoothness and refinement, hence many cars with auto transmission and lots of cylinders for shushing progress. The electric drive train offers something of the same, and the silence when waiting at the lights is delightful.
But because it's quite light for an EV, with a smallish battery pack, it's quite fun to punt down a back road too.
Somebody mentioned yawning - ah yes, the infamous beeps and bongs. Shame they sent out the first cars to the press without properly sorting that, hence the criticisms. But they've quickly sorted that, now you can turn them off with a button press, just like the journalists wanted. But I don't usually bother turning them off - the systems just aren't that much of an issue.
Drive normally, and crucially, indicate before lane changes (now that's a novel idea, who'd have thought?) and lane departure doesn't intervene. The complaints about annoying beeps if you look away from the road for a nano second are absurd - you can look at the speedometer, or the satnav, or side mirrors etc perfectly normally, and the system does nothing. Only if you look away for a prolonged period will it flag up a warning - and why not?
So far, my journey into the world of electrons has been quite interesting - there's some very clever engineering here.
Favourite feature so far? Being able to pre warm the car to defrost it in the morning via the app whilst still in bed...now that's neat!
Next test - can I take it camping? Adventures to come...
No matter, I like it. It's much more capable than the looks would suggest, with the interior a nice surprise - some very well judged material and design choices which means the parts you regularly interact with feel good.
Metal door release levers, column stalks seemingly out of a Mercedes with a quality action, soft fabric panels in the doors to break up the plastics, doors that close with a nice "clumph" instead of a clang, and not a squeak or rattle to be heard. The pantograph wiper is novel and effective too.
I've always valued smoothness and refinement, hence many cars with auto transmission and lots of cylinders for shushing progress. The electric drive train offers something of the same, and the silence when waiting at the lights is delightful.
But because it's quite light for an EV, with a smallish battery pack, it's quite fun to punt down a back road too.
Somebody mentioned yawning - ah yes, the infamous beeps and bongs. Shame they sent out the first cars to the press without properly sorting that, hence the criticisms. But they've quickly sorted that, now you can turn them off with a button press, just like the journalists wanted. But I don't usually bother turning them off - the systems just aren't that much of an issue.
Drive normally, and crucially, indicate before lane changes (now that's a novel idea, who'd have thought?) and lane departure doesn't intervene. The complaints about annoying beeps if you look away from the road for a nano second are absurd - you can look at the speedometer, or the satnav, or side mirrors etc perfectly normally, and the system does nothing. Only if you look away for a prolonged period will it flag up a warning - and why not?
So far, my journey into the world of electrons has been quite interesting - there's some very clever engineering here.
Favourite feature so far? Being able to pre warm the car to defrost it in the morning via the app whilst still in bed...now that's neat!
Next test - can I take it camping? Adventures to come...
Edited by SirGriffin on Wednesday 17th December 23:53
Range officially 165 miles, but it's been poor weather since I got the car, so 145? With regenerative braking some local journeys use hardly any juice at all. I'm averaging 4.6 miles per kWh which I understand is quite good. In better conditions, some owners have managed nearly 200 miles apparently, and some journalists exceeded the official range during testing, something else I took into account during my research.
But I don't really pay that much attention to be honest, I just put electrons in when it needs them.
Costs? How long is a piece of string? A full home charge with a three pin plug on a standard rate (I have no plans to have a home charger fitted) at 24p per kW would cost about £9, but I never let the battery empty that much anyway. Those with special overnight EV rates at 7p per kW would £3-4 for the same thing. And some people with solar panels can charge almost for free - these can be extremely cheap cars to run indeed.
However my charging so far has been using public chargers, much more expensive. Yet with a smallish battery and good efficiency it's still quite cheap to run, provided you avoid the more expensive chargers.
I didn't really buy it with the expectation of cheaper running costs over an ICE car, it's just a car that happens to be electric. You have to factor in whole life costs - running any car is not a cheap exercise these days.
But I don't really pay that much attention to be honest, I just put electrons in when it needs them.
Costs? How long is a piece of string? A full home charge with a three pin plug on a standard rate (I have no plans to have a home charger fitted) at 24p per kW would cost about £9, but I never let the battery empty that much anyway. Those with special overnight EV rates at 7p per kW would £3-4 for the same thing. And some people with solar panels can charge almost for free - these can be extremely cheap cars to run indeed.
However my charging so far has been using public chargers, much more expensive. Yet with a smallish battery and good efficiency it's still quite cheap to run, provided you avoid the more expensive chargers.
I didn't really buy it with the expectation of cheaper running costs over an ICE car, it's just a car that happens to be electric. You have to factor in whole life costs - running any car is not a cheap exercise these days.
Edited by SirGriffin on Thursday 18th December 07:42
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