Leapmotor C10 review

Better than it has any right to be for the price. Remember this is a budget alternative to the established players, and in that context the design and execution look decent on initial inspection.

A 10.25in driver’s display accompanies a 14.6in touchscreen that controls, er, basically everything. We’ll come to that shortly. The seats are shod in a synthetic leather, and they’re impressively well cushioned front and back. The overall look is clean and uncluttered, and a panoramic glass roof lights the space well, even lifting the dark, dull vibe of our test car (we’ve yet to sample the tan spec in the gallery above).

Meanwhile, there’s a hilarious bit of cost-cutting on the front door card just below the window line. Looks like Alcantara, doesn’t it? Nope. It’s a mildly padded, rubber sleeve for the trim. It’s like one of those illusion cakes you see on Bake Off from time to time.

Put me out of my misery, what’s the screen like?

Hmm. Leapmotor has taken its lead from Tesla here and deposited virtually everything into the touchscreen. Even the scrollers on the steering wheel feel like a copy of the American firm, used as they are to adjust the wing mirrors once you’ve found the menu for them.

Even the layout mimics what you’ll find in a Model Y, with functions divided up into sub-categories on the left of the screen. The screen itself responds pretty well, but on the move everything - from changing a driving mode to fiddling with the lights - is a right pain. The native sat nav doesn’t do a very good job of relaying directions, but Leapmotor says smartphone connectivity is standard, so at least you can bypass that.

The ADAS can be hit and miss with these things. Which is it?

It’s a miss, unfortunately. Leapmotor boasts about its 17 ADAS systems and various sensors but the bottom line is that the most intrusive ones bring the whole experience down with their many and relentless beeps and bongs. Speed limit warning, speed limit change warning… you know the kind of thing.

The lane keep assist is inconsistent, and when you’ve switched it off it re-emerges as emergency lane keep assist. Eh? Yawn and you’ll prompt a fatigue warning. Leapmotor claims it can address customer feedback in weeks with rapid OTA updates to fix issues; it’d get more credit for nailing usability first time round.

But it’s spacious, right?

Sure is. Might well be the best thing about the C10, actually. There’s plenty of room in the front seats but the real winners are those in the back, who are blessed with oodles of head and legroom even when they’re sat behind six footers. An almost flat floor means you’ll also cram in a fifth person back there, though they won’t be as happy for as long.

The boot measures 435 litres seats up, 1,410 seats down. The floor is virtually flush with the load lip and there’s a bit more space under the liner should you need it. Our only complaint is that there’s no physical button release, so you either have to use the app or find it on the touchscreen (there’s a permanent icon but it didn’t work when we used it, so we had to hunt for it in the sub-menu).

As discussed, you can fold the front seats down to make a ‘double bed’. Yeah, you won’t be sleeping comfortably in here, but still. Might come in handy if you ever have to cart home any long bits of wood from B&Q.