2025 Chery Omoda E5 review: Australian first drive

Chery has joined the growing electric-car market in Australia.

Related to the petrol-powered Omoda 5 launched 18 months ago, the Chery Omoda E5 is a small SUV aimed at the likes of the BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV and Hyundai Kona Electric.

It promises competitive pricing, up to 430km of claimed driving range, and more differences than the petrol version – inside and out – than you might expect.

Should it be on your electric-car consideration list? Drive was invited to the Australian media launch of the Omoda E5 in the ACT for our first experience behind the wheel.

Two model variants of the Chery Omoda E5 are available, the BX and EX – priced from $42,990 and $45,990 plus on-road costs respectively.

Unlike other models in the Chery range, the Omoda E5 is not covered by nationwide drive-away pricing, so the final price customers will pay varies based on differing government charges such as registration and stamp duty costs in each state and territory.

In Sydney, the BX and EX are listed for $46,480 and $49,610 drive-away respectively, according to the Chery website.

The only optional extras are colours. Premium paint costs $500, while a black roof – available with the free Titan Green colour, or premium Lunar White – is available on the EX grade.

Compared to a base BYD Atto 3 ($44,499 plus on-road costs), the Omoda E5 BX ($42,990) is not as well equipped, but it is cheaper, and has a longer 430km WLTP claimed driving range that can only be rivalled by the more expensive $47,499 Atto 3 Extended Range (420km).

The MG ZS EV Long Range (440km WLTP range) is priced from $46,990 plus on-road costs, while the Hyundai Kona Electric starts from $54,000 plus on-roads with a 370km claimed range.

Standard equipment in the Omoda E5 BX includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors, dual 12.3-inch interior screens with wireless/wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, a six-speaker Sony stereo, plastic steering wheel, cloth and synthetic leather-look seat trim, and manually adjustable front seats.

It is fitted with a full-sized spare wheel – almost unheard of in an electric car – as well as a list of advanced safety technology, including lane-centring assist and adaptive cruise control.

EX variants add full synthetic leather-look trim, power-adjustable heated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, an eight-speaker audio system, a 360-degree camera, power tailgate, ambient interior lighting, and more. Click here to read our full pricing story.

Interior differences between petrol and electric versions of the same car typically don’t extend beyond badges and trim, but the Omoda E5 actually has some.

Helping to justify its higher price, the electric model has a different dashboard – with two, larger 12.3-inch screens, compared to the 10.25-inch displays in the petrol version – plus a new, lower-profile centre console, new steering wheel buttons and restyled door panels.

There’s no more start button – just sit in the driver’s seat and put the car in D gear, now activated by the right steering wheel stalk, rather than a stick on the centre console.

The only major components carried over from the petrol Omoda 5 are the seats.

The changes pay off in the real world. There are more leather-like materials spread around the cabin – including some on the sides of the centre console, where your knees rest – and the bezels around the screens aren’t as obvious as they were before.

The front seats are comfortable, although not the most supportive, with six-way driver and four-way passenger adjustment that becomes power-operated in the EX grade. The cloth/synthetic leather-look combination, and all-synthetic trim in the two model grades feels plush enough for the price.

Ergonomics can still be improved, though. I’m 186cm (6ft 1in) tall, and found head room not to be as plentiful as expected for a high-riding SUV, with only two fingers’ width between my head and the roof lining in the sunroof-equipped EX, even with the seat in its lowest position (though there’s more room in the base BX).

The steering column has reach and tilt adjustment, but the angle of the wheel felt tilted too far back for me to get comfortable, and the E5’s new buttons are fiddly to use on the move.

It’s also disappointing to see a leather steering wheel is not standard across the range. The BX uses a cheap-feeling plastic-covered wheel, which is out of place in a $45,000 car.

Soft-touch materials are used in key areas – the dashboard, armrest and door panels – but the dashboards in the near-new test cars we drove exhibited creaks when poked and prodded.

A few handy touches: auto up/down functionality for all four windows, and sunvisors that can extend to block sun hitting the rear of the side windows.

Amenities up front in the BX a wireless phone charger, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, one USB-C and two USB-A ports (including one positioned for a dash cam), and a 12-volt socket.

The EX adds heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, ambient interior lighting, and acoustic front door glass, plus a power-opening sunroof.

Front occupants can store small items in the modestly sized door pockets and glovebox, plus a deep centre console storage box, another small cubby hole for keys in the centre console, and a generous area under the centre tunnel.

Rear-seat space for my 186cm-tall frame is respectable, with ample although not exceptional knee room and toe room when seated behind my driving position, but there’s only a few centimetres between my head and the coupe-styled sloping roof, and under-thigh support could be better.

The floor is flat – improving the experience for the middle-rear passengers – while the armrests are covered in leather-like material, and there are plenty of amenities: one USB-A and one USB-C port, air vents, two cupholders in a fold-down armrest, door pockets, map pockets on the seatbacks, and in the EX, heated outboard rear seats.

The quoted boot space is small for the class, at only 300 litres, compared to 360L in the petrol Omoda 5, though the rear seats fold 60:40 to fit longer items.

There’s a 12-volt socket in the cargo hold, as well as an LED light, and a power tailgate on the EX – but the headline feature is a full-sized spare wheel, which is almost unheard of in an electric car. Only the Hyundai Kona Electric has a spare wheel in this class, and it’s a space-saver.

New for the Omoda E5 is a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, with wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, AM/FM/digital DAB radio, and voice control activated by saying ‘Hello Omoda’.

It’s a larger screen than the petrol Omoda 5, and runs new-generation software.

The system is reasonably quick to respond to inputs, and easy to use once you’ve learnt its various menus, though many functions – including control of the regenerative braking – are hidden multiple taps deep. Wireless CarPlay worked well for us in our brief test.

However, Chery has removed the home button that sits on the petrol Omoda 5’s centre console, so it is now a two-tap operation on the screen to return to the home screen from an app within Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – rather than pressing a single physical button.

The row of climate-control shortcuts – with easy control of air temperature, fan speed, recirculating air and other functions – has also been deleted, so occupants must now interact exclusively through the touchscreen.

It’s possible to open the air-conditioning controls by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, but it still requires interaction with a screen, and is more distracting while driving than turning a dial or pressing a shortcut button on the dashboard.

Also missing is a volume dial; it is instead controlled from the steering wheel, or some touch-sensitive buttons on the right side of the instrument display.

The 12.3-inch instrument display is also new. While it isn’t the most customisable – and the steering wheel can block information at the top of the display depending on how it is positioned – the speed display is large and easy to read.

A rear-view camera is standard on the base BX, with a 360-degree camera on the EX. Both are high-resolution, and while the latter activates automatically at low speeds, this feature can be turned off through the menus.

There’s a choice of six- and eight-speaker Sony sound systems, depending on the model, both delivering decent punch. We’ll test these in more depth once we get the Omoda E5 through the Drive garage for a longer period.

Unlike some other brands, Chery does not offer a smartphone companion app with remote control of the vehicle’s functions, such as locking the doors and opening the windows.

The Chery Omoda E5 is yet to be crash-tested by ANCAP or its European counterpart Euro NCAP. Executives for the car maker told Australian media a rating is expected by the end of the year.

The petrol Chery Omoda 5 is covered by a five-star safety rating based on testing conducted in 2023.

The Omoda E5 ticks nearly all of the advanced safety technology boxes expected of a new car in 2024 – with all available systems standard across the range – but fitting features is irrelevant if they don’t work properly in the real world.

Chery is keen to stress the improvements it has made to the smoothness and intrusiveness of its crash-avoidance tech since the company re-launched in Australia 18 months ago, including extensive tuning conducted on local roads.

The calibration of the technology in the Omoda E5 is better than earlier Cherys we’ve driven, but at least from this initial taste, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

In particular, the lane-keep assist and lane-centring assist systems would benefit from more calibration – in two different directions.

The lane-keep assist – designed to prevent the car straying into another lane – did not always detect the white lines, even on some well-marked roads. It’s something we’ve experienced before with Chery vehicles.

Meanwhile, the lane-centring assist remains too aggressive in how it intervenes, and is difficult to trust.

It was relatively smooth on straight roads with gentle curves, but on tighter bends it would struggle to follow the lane, running wide on some corners and – unusually – veering over the inside white line on others.

It is better tuned than earlier Chery cars, and an issue we experienced with a Tiggo 7 Pro we tested late last year – which would repeatedly disengage and re-engage the lane-centring assist seconds apart for little reason – appears to have been addressed, or at least calmed down.

We noticed fewer beeps from the driver attention monitoring camera than in earlier Cherys, though its chimes can be annoying when the driver inevitably needs to interact with the touchscreen to touch the map or adjust the air-conditioning controls. Chery is not the only car brand in this boat, however.

As with many other new cars, the Omoda E5 can be set to beep at the driver if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit it has detected.

Fortunately, unlike other cars, this is an opt-in feature – and does not automatically turn on when the car is started, rather only a visual alert on the dashboard (without a chime) is activated by default. Other car brands should take note.

For some of these safety systems (but not all), it appears that when they are turned off, they remain off. Drivers can also customise the intensity of the intervention of many of these systems, and the car seemed to remember these settings.

The Chery Omoda E5 is covered by a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty, with eight years/unlimited kilometres of coverage on the high-voltage battery pack.

The latter is a stand-out in the electric-car market, as most car brands set distance limits on the coverage applied to the battery pack.

Service intervals are 12 months or 20,000km apart, whichever comes first. Over five years/100,000km, Chery charges $950 for maintenance – compared to $1384 over the same period for a BYD Atto 3.

The Omoda E5 is too new to appear on our go-to car insurance quote calculator.

The Chery Omoda E5 is powered by a 61.1kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack with a claimed driving range of 430km, and claimed energy consumption rating of 15.5kWh per 100 kilometres.

The driving range and energy-use claims are both based on European WLTP lab testing, but the procedures are slightly different for each measurement, which is why 61.1kWh divided by 15.5kWh/100km doesn’t translate to a 430km range.

Our short initial test drive – and a trip computer that didn’t appear to be capable of being fully reset – meant we couldn’t get a precise indication of real-world energy consumption, but we saw estimated energy use close to the claimed 15.5kWh/100km in the city, and 17–18kWh/100km in higher-speed country driving.

Chery claims a 28-minute fast charge time at up to 80kW DC, but this is for a 30 to 80 per cent recharge, not the widely used 10 to 80 per cent measurement.

In recent real-world testing by Drive, a BYD Atto 3 Extended charged from 30 to 80 per cent in 32 minutes and 40 seconds at up to 88kW – albeit with some glitches while charging that could have seen it record a 27-minute time, beating the Chery.

A base-model $54,000 Hyundai Kona Electric charged from 30 to 80 per cent in 33 minutes and 15 seconds – at a peak of 62kW, but for a smaller 48.6kWh battery.

AC home charging is also available, with a claimed maximum output of 6.6kW on single-phase power, or 9.9kW on three-phase electricity. The latter should be capable of fully recharging the battery in just over six hours.

The Omoda E5 uses what is known as a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, which means it can be regularly recharged to 100 per cent without accelerating the wear of the battery cells, unlike a regular electric-car battery, usually referred to as lithium-ion or nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC).

If our first impressions are anything to go by, the Omoda E5 makes considerable steps forward in the driving experience compared to the petrol version.

The electric motor’s 150kW/340Nm outputs translate to sprightly performance for a compact SUV, and it doesn’t feel out of breath whether in the city or overtaking on a country road.

As we’ve come to expect from electric cars, response to a tap of the accelerator is near instant. It is a welcome improvement compared to the automatic transmissions in some of Chery’s petrol cars, which have been criticised for feeling hesitant at low speeds.

The suspension has been reworked for the Omoda E5 compared to the petrol Omoda 5. Around town, it feels better controlled over bumps than other Chery vehicles – with fewer forward and backward ‘pitching’ motions, similar to a boat traversing choppy water – and is supple enough for city driving without feeling too harsh.

It does a decent job soaking up poorly surfaced country roads – and it does not become too flustered by undulations in the tarmac at higher speeds – though large potholes and sharp bumps are felt in the cabin.

We will reserve our full judgement until we test the Omoda E5 on familiar roads, but our initial impressions are positive.

The Omoda E5 is not designed to be a sports car, which is fine – so there is a fair amount of body roll in corners, and the Kumho Ecsta PS71 tyres (215/55 R18) can be overwhelmed if the driver is too aggressive on the accelerator pedal from a standstill, breaking into wheel spin or causing the steering wheel to tug in the driver’s hands.

Drivers can choose between two weight settings for the steering, Comfort and Sport.

The former is light and best suited for city use – perhaps too light for our tastes – while the latter gives a more reassuring feel at higher speeds on the open roads, though we’d like it to be heavier still, and it does not transmit much information to the driver about what the car’s front wheels are doing.

Three settings (Low, Medium, High) for the regenerative braking of the electric motor are available, but none can bring the car to a full stop without touching the brake pedal as a Hyundai Kona Electric can.

On the ‘High’ setting, we found it more difficult than in other electric cars to smoothly maintain a constant speed without lurching passengers around, so we quickly switched to ‘Low’ mode for a more comfortable experience.

The brake pedal is on the softer side of the spectrum – requiring more than a light touch to pull the car up quickly – but a test of the Omoda E5’s emergency braking performance will need to wait until we get it through the Drive garage in the coming months.

The Omoda E5 claims a towing capacity of 750kg.

The payload of the vehicle – the maximum weight of passengers and cargo it can carry before it is deemed to be overloaded – is 470kg, which is enough for five average-sized passengers and their luggage.

Overloading the vehicle exposes the driver to fines – or could see insurance claims denied in the event of a crash – if the car is found to have exceeded its gross vehicle mass (GVM), which for the Omoda E5 is 2246kg.

The Chery Omoda E5 has all the ingredients it needs to succeed in the increasingly competitive sub-$50,000 electric-vehicle market.

It is sharply priced and well equipped against the competition, has a healthy driving range, a spacious cabin with ample storage, and is quiet and easy to drive.

Chery is listening to feedback and criticism of its earlier cars, and that is clear in the steps forward the Omoda E5 has taken compared to its petrol sibling.

There is still room for improvement in the tuning of the advanced safety technology, and the usability of the touchscreen. Buyers looking for a sporty drive may also be left wanting by the Omoda E5’s handling, but it’s not designed to be a performance car.

But for the company’s first attempt at an electric car in Australia, the Chery Omoda E5 leaves a good initial impression – and should be on the consideration list of buyers shopping for a new electric car on a $50,000 budget.

Chery says it has plenty of stock of every model in its range. Out of the two variants, if your budget stretches far enough, we recommend the EX variant for its additional mod-cons and much plusher-feeling steering wheel.

The next step on the purchase journey is to contact your local Chery dealer at this link to check stock levels. You can also find Cherys for sale on Drive Marketplace.

We strongly recommend taking a test drive at a dealership before committing because personal needs and tastes can differ. We’d also recommend test-driving the BYD Atto 3, as it’s a close rival that we rated highly in our most recent test, as well as the Hyundai Kona Electric and MG 4.

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