Denza Bao 5 review: Chinese Defender rival gets 537bhp and many screens

What’s this? A new Land Rover? The next Land Cruiser?

Certainly looks like it could be either of those, doesn’t it? It’s a boxy, ladder-frame SUV with a bluff front end, square arches, extending side steps and a spare wheel on the back, but it’s neither a Toyota nor a Defender. It’s actually a BYD.

Oh, so why doesn’t it say ‘Build Your Dreams’ on the back?

Well actual BYDs haven’t had that written out in full since someone realised it was a terrible idea five minutes after the Chinese megacorp launched in the UK, but it’s also missing here because this is a Denza.

Quick bit of context – Denza describes itself as the “premium technology-oriented automotive brand of the BYD Group” and we’ll see its cars on UK roads from October this year as the first customers take delivery of their Taycan-rivalling Z9 GTs. This car’s full name for the UK will be the Denza Bao 5 (we previously knew it as the Fangchengbao Bao 5, which is how it has been sold in China since 2023), and it’ll arrive on our shores alongside the D9 MPV and Z supercar towards the end of this year.

So, is it all-electric?

It’s not, but there’s still a fairly hefty 31.8kWh battery mounted underneath. That and two electric motors allow for 56 miles of all-electric, all-wheel drive running. But this is a plug-in hybrid, so there’s also a 1.5-litre turbo four-pot under the bonnet which primarily charges the battery to allow for a combined total range of 537 miles, apparently.

The two power sources can also combine for a total of 537bhp and 561lb ft of torque, and should you so desire this big old bus will do 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds in its most basic trim. Top speed is 112mph.

What is it like on the road, then?

Well, Denza gave us a very quick early go in a Bao 5 just before the Goodwood Festival of Speed. And by ‘very quick’, we mean we drove it on a few country lanes and round a couple of roundabouts for a maximum of 10 minutes, so hardly enough for a thorough review. Still, first impressions do count for something, so here goes…

Interestingly, the Bao 5 never really feels as though it has over 500bhp on tap. Put your foot down in anything that’s not Sport mode and it’s sluggish to react despite its electric motors, as though it’s figuring out where to source its power from before propelling you out of a junction. Not ideal. You’re also acutely aware that it weighs around three tonnes, so once you do get it up to speed you’ve always got one eye on when you’ll next need to slow it down.

Thankfully there is decent feel through a relatively firm brake pedal, and the steering is reasonably well judged for a car of this size. It’s easy enough to place on the road and isn’t overly assisted, although as you might imagine there’s a fair bit of body roll through corners.

Unfortunately, on the back roads surrounding the Goodwood Motor Circuit the ride was extremely unsettled, and the Bao 5 bobbled about despite the fancy ‘DiSus-P’ hydraulic suspension setup fitted to our test car that’s supposed to control each wheel individually and make adjustments within milliseconds. And while road and wind noise is generally pretty well suppressed, the little four-cylinder engine can cause a right racket when it revs away to shove power into the battery. It even vibrates through the throttle pedal under hard acceleration.

We also saw a combined 26.4mpg, which isn’t great when compared to its official 68.9mpg WLTP figure. Emissions are said to be 30g/km though, and the battery can be recharged at 100kW for a 30 to 80 per cent top-up in 16 minutes.

Is it any good off-road?

Despite many assurances about how it’s equipped to deal with the roughest terrain, we’re yet to try the Bao 5 on anything other than broken British tarmac. Still, on paper it looks like it should be pretty competent. There’s that ladder frame chassis, two electronic locking diffs and that fancy suspension setup on the highest trim level that can drop the car by 50mm or raise it by 90mm.

The latter means you get 310mm of ground clearance and approach and departure angles of 39 and 34 degrees respectively. For reference, a similarly priced Defender 110 on air suspension only manages a 37.6-degree approach angle, but also a 42-degree departure angle.

We’re also told that the Bao 5’s plug-in hybrid powertrain has been “specifically designed for use in rougher conditions” and that its ‘energy centre lock’ can distribute torque between the axles 30 times faster than a trad mechanical diff.

Oh, and you get no fewer than 16 different drive modes to choose from, including one which allows you to do a ‘leopard-style U-turn’ which keeps the rear of the car still as the fronts drag round in a 360-degree circle. And no, we didn’t know that leopards did that either.  

What is it like inside?

Hope you like screens. The Bao 5 comes as standard with a 12.3-inch digital dial display, a massive 15.6-inch central touchscreen that runs Google built-in and an additional 12.3-inch passenger screen that can stream movies and run an onboard karaoke system. Just what you need when out on your local green lanes. There’s also a head-up display as standard, and the rear-view mirror can be switched to a digital version too.

We did find the screens to be a little too busy and tricky to navigate, but there are at least some chunky physical buttons for some of the more important off-road driving functions. Proper buttons and clickwheels on the steering wheel too, as well as actual grab handles dotted around the cabin.

We did like the standard 18-speaker Devialet sound system and the massive panoramic roof though, and there’s plenty of room for all five occupants inside. There’s also a giant storage compartment in the centre console with room for eight drinks bottles and the ability to cool them to -6°C or heat them to 50°C.

Boot space is 475 litres, which is a long way off the five-seat Defender 110’s 786 litres and the Land Cruiser’s 573 litres, and the rear door opens the wrong way for left-hand drive markets. Oops.

How much will it cost me?

Hope you’re sitting down, because it isn’t exactly cheap. Just two trims will be available over here, with the entry-level Elegance starting at £69,500. That gets you leather trim, heated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, all the standard interior tech, a panoramic roof and 18-inch wheels.

Top-spec Ultimate trim is £78,880 and adds 21-inch wheels, those electric side steps, the fancy suspension setup, the digital rear-view mirror and Nappa leather trim.

Worth noting here that a Defender 110 starts at £64,315 for a mild-hybrid diesel, although you’d pay at least £71,840 for a plug-in hybrid petrol. Still, Denza clearly doesn’t think its punchy price will put potential buyers off. “Premium customers in Europe love SUVs, so we're confident that the Denza Bao 5 will be a huge hit here,” says BYD big boss Stella Li.