Geely EX5 review

At first glance the interior looks reasonably promising. Most of the key touchpoints are covered in soft-ish materials with plenty of fake leather, and there’s some suspiciously fake-looking wood on the centre console, but at least it’s not horrid piano black plastic.

There’s even a multifunction clickwheel on that centre console, although it’s no iDrive controller – it can basically be set up to pump up the volume on the radio or increase the intensity of the climate control. Shame.

So pretty much everything is in the screen?

Bingo. The central infotainment screen is a giant Android Auto/Apple CarPlay-equipped 15.4in unit, and while it’s glossy to look at and responsive to the touch, there are far too many menus and confusing submenus. Key functions are buried three or four presses deep, and it’s almost impossible to activate the heated seats or switch off some driver assistance on the move without the car telling you off for taking your eyes off the road. Of course, Geely suggests that you use its “AI-driven intelligent voice assistant”, but we found that had about a 50 per cent success rate for actually completing each request.

Thankfully you do get some proper buttons on the steering wheel (although does it really need to be that horrid squircle shape?), and there’s even a small 10.2in driver display that shows your speed and other info clearly. The top spec Max trim adds a 13.8in head-up display.

Is it spacious?

You get comfortable chairs up front with plenty of headroom, and Geely is keen to shout about its flat-folding front seats that “transform the cabin into a relaxation or rest space for long trips, family days out or even in-car camping”. We’re not sure about sleeping in there long-term, but a quick nap while plugged in and charging does sound rather appealing.

The reclining rear seats are treated to a huge amount of legroom and there’s even space to stretch your feet out under the seat in front. Headroom is good too and it’s bright and airy back there thanks to the giant panoramic roof (on the top spec Max trim only). Oh, and there’s a strange little snack draw that pulls out from under the rear seats. In fact, there are apparently 33 different storage cubbies across the interior. Nice.

Boot space is slightly less impressive, with only 302 litres of storage. That’s slightly less than you get in a Vauxhall Corsa. Wait, what? Thankfully there is a giant bin under the boot floor that ups the figure to 461 litres, and if you fold the rear seats flat then you’ve got a whopping 1,877 litres of room.