Ora 03 review: Seriously tempting low-price runabout

GWM (which stands for Great Wall Motors) may have been one of the earlier Chinese brands to the UK market with its Ora Funky Cat, but the car is already beginning to show its age against newer competitors, not least from its home market.

We Brits didn’t really take to the name, so it’s now called the Ora 03, with a bigger 07 model to come. It may have lost the funky name, but the funky looks remain, although the cute front is slightly at odds with the more mature back end.

Quality inside is reasonably impressive, as is the kit count. But the usability of the touchscreen isn’t great, nor is the amount of space in, or access to, the back. The boot is pretty small, too.

You can choose from a couple of battery sizes and ranges; the larger battery claims 260 miles of range, which isn’t bad in a small car.

The ride feels sporty yet it’s still reasonably comfortable, while it’s a quiet thing on the move, too.

Key to the 03 is value – as long as you don’t pay the list price. Currently some pretty tempting lease deals make the 03 look seriously tempting as a cheap city runaround.

The Ora 03 is most likely to be kept in the city, so that’s where we spent most of our time, driving in and around London with the occasional trip out on faster A- and B-roads. Plus, we filled it to the brim with shopping and people.

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Independent rating: 6/10

Quite how every model is a plus, we don’t know, but you can choose from two versions of the Ora 03. The Pure+ gets a 48kWh battery and 193 mile claimed maximum range, while the Pro+ car gets a maximum claimed range of 260 miles – not bad for an electric car of this size – from its 63kWh battery. That extra range costs you another £3,000 on the list price, but having the bigger battery only knocks 0.1 seconds off the 0-62mph time: 8.3 seconds for the Pure+ and 8.2 seconds for the Pro+.

The Pure+ can charge at 64kW maximum speed giving a fast-ish charge time of 42 minutes for a 15 to 80 per cent charge, while the Pro+ with its slightly faster 69kW charging speed will get the same charge in its bigger battery in 48 minutes.

On the road, the 03 feels reasonably comfortable, riding over bumps better than many other small EVs. It can feel a bit wallowy around corners, but for most people driving around town on shorter journeys it will be perfectly adequate. On longer journeys, the soft, squdgy front seats might get a bit tiring, though.

What also gets a bit tiring are the interfering driver aids that seem a bit too keen to get involved in the driving experience. They all help towards a decent safety score, but can be a bit off-putting.

The Ora 3’s interior certainly looks the part with twin 10-inch screens for driver information and infotainment, good quality materials used inside and decent legroom in the back.

There are soft-touch plastics and nice materials to make the car feel slightly premium, with neat contrasting stitching on the seats and door panels, too. Chrome-effect edges to the air vents, around the centre console and on the steering wheel do a good job of brightening things up, although the silver rotary gear selector feels a bit cheap.

While the tall body of the 03 means good head space in the front and the back, decent knee room behind the front seats is offset slightly by a slightly knees-raised seating position. The door apertures aren’t especially generous, either.

There’s decent in-cabin storage with handy door bins and central storage between the front seats, but the boot isn’t huge at just 228 litres. There is a small amount of storage under the floor for charging cables, while the seats fold easily to boost space, too.

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You won’t be short of features to boast about in your Ora 03. Go for the Pro+ version and you get heated, massaging and ventilated front seats, auto parking tech and parking sensors at the front and back if you decide to do it yourself. Even the Pure+ car gets facial recognition, electric front seats, adaptive cruise, keyless entry and start, and wireless phone charging.

Both cars have satellite navigation, too, but you’d be better off connecting your smartphone and setting up Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – the infotainment system is one of the fiddliest we’ve used, so avoid using it too much once you’ve worked out how to set up the car to your liking.

The audio system is far from the best we’ve heard, with no option to upgrade. In fact, the only choices you have are body colour on the Pure+ and body and roof colours on the Pro+.

If you’re buying cash, you can do a lot better than the Ora 03 for less – the list prices are looking increasingly high when more and more cheaper, better alternatives are arriving by the month. And that’s in spite of the generous kit list that you get with the 03.

However, some of the leasing deals we’ve seen on the 03 not only position it as one of the cheapest electric cars you can buy, but one of the cheapest cars full stop. Those leasing deals come and go, though – if you see one and you fancy a well-equipped little electric car suitable for town duties, you might be able to grab yourself a bargain.

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The smaller-battery Pure+ will charge its battery at home on a 6.6kW charger in five hours and 24 minutes, the Pro+ with its bigger battery will take 7.2 hours.

You do get lots of kit for your money, but at well over £30,000 you can do much better for less. That is unless the 03 is on one of the super-cheap lease deals we’ve seen around.

As with all EVs, the batteries and cars will be more reliable than most petrol or diesel models – there’s less to go wrong – and the batteries are covered by an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

If the 03’s cute looks appeal, but check out the lease deals before you pay cash – it’s one of the cheapest cars to lease at the moment, and definitely the cheapest EV.