Changan Deepal S07 review

A roomy mid-size electric crossover from a Chinese brand that's new to Britain. Keeping things simple, it comes with just one mechanical spec, a rear-drive one with a biggish battery. One equipment spec too, and it's very generous.

To our eyes, it looks more distinctive than many. Changan's design chief is Klaus Zykoria, who as head of design at Volkswagen oversaw all the ID cars now on the road. The Deepal S07's long wheelbase gives it solid proportions. The surfaces and lights are crisp, but are they enough to establish this as a distinctive brand? It's too easy to see bit several of other cars here. But mostly those other cars aren't hideous, so hey-ho.

The interior is completely Chinese-crossover generic. There's just one big screen, like a Tesla, and simple horizontal lines. Still, the sense of quality and finish is very good.

What are the rivals?

The Tesla Model Y is newly facelifted and carries the company's usual advantages of space and efficiency, and charging. The Skoda Enyaq, Kia EV6 and Renault Scenic are among the strongest of the well-known rivals, and excellent cars. Compatriots to the Changan include the MG S5, BYD Atto 3, Geely EX5, Smart #3, Omoda E5, Zeekr 7X…

On paper the closest rival is the XPeng G6, which like the Changan has some impressive tech. But it's disappointing on the road.

It'll need good electric range stats to stand out eh?

Ah, well this is a bit tricky. The battery is big for a car this price: 80kWh net, and NMC type. And the WLTP range figure isn't bad, at 295 miles. But wait. That means the efficiency is sub-par. Many rivals go as far on a much smaller battery.

The Deepal S07 doesn't charge that fast either. The claim is 47 minutes for 10-80 per cent, or 35 minutes from 30 to 80. Again, better rivals, even ones with such a big battery, are under 30 minutes 20 to 80. So you'll be standing around too long and paying too much per mile.

To be fair we couldn't conduct an ad-hoc efficiency measure on our test drive because the trip computer can't be zeroed unless you're logged in as the vehicle owner.

Who or what is Changan?

Changan, named after China's ancient capital, is a carmaker on a vast scale – roughly half the size of Toyota. It's also China's oldest, having made its first car more than 40 years ago, and has big manufacturing partnerships with Ford and Mazda and a short-lived one with DS. But these days it mostly makes its own brands – Changan, Avatr and Changan Deepal. It has 13,000 engineers in 16 tech centres.

It might only just be entering Britain as a selling company, but it has taken the long view. It has had a design studio in Turin since 2001. An engineering centre has been in Birmingham since 2010, which has designed several engines for China, and is finishing off a range-extender hybrid system for Deepal cars to be sold here soon.

The Deepal 07 will soon be joined by a Deepal 05 and a smaller car, plus those EREV versions. And they're only the first of a cascade of cars. Separately Avatr is due in 2026. And the company is planning a European manufacturing base.

So it doesn't look or feel entirely Chinese?

The Deepal 07 was designed in Turin, and lots of work was done to tune the suspension for the UK.

The screen interface was also re-worked for the UK. After our first drive, Top Gear had found it absolutely infuriating, so asked an engineer to give us guidance on using it. Which helped… a bit. But when he said his team had done a lot of work to improve it over the Chinese original, our lips just wouldn't stop moving: "Oh, so that must've been really crap." OTA update soon please.

How does it drive?

Yes, you can feel the British development. Driving with any kind of family-SUV degree of moderation, you find the acceleration, steering and braking react progressively to your inputs. There's no engagement, mind, no sense of the tyres through your hands and feet.

Acceleration is perfectly appropriate to that kind of driving, posting a 7.9 second time 0-62mph. Main thing is the accelerator action is well modulated so it's stressless to drive smoothly. Good for the little ones in the back.

It's also pretty refined, keeping road and wind noise well under control. The body feels solid, so doesn't clang or shudder, which helps the quality feel. But the ride can get a little rubbery and turbulent over high-frequency bumps.

More on all this in the driving tab of this review.

How does it cope as a family wagon?

The screen wants to amuse passengers, at least for half an hour or so. You can hit a 'fire' button and all the heating and bum warmers go to full power, and the screen shows an animated bonfire graphic and fireworks. Gesture recognition is another feature that's more about wow factor than utility. Ditto multi-colour dynamic ambient lighting. The screen pivots, under motor drive, left or right to favour the driver or passengers.

But that screen can send the driver into a tailspin. It works fast, but it uses its many pixels badly with a desktop photo. You can get a full-screen map. but can't make it display a tiled map and music track. There are shortcuts to some driver controls, but they're still not as short as they could be.

Rear seat legroom is grand, and stretching comfort is helped by the solid foot space under the driver's seat. The boot is big in area but shallow, but that's offset by a cabin-bag sized froot under the bonnet. For more on all this, click through to the Interior section of this review.

Changan's blurb says this is a car with a sense of fun. OK, it has a few tricksy digital easter eggs, a great stereo, and twinkly interior and exterior lighting. It also looks a little more interesting and well-balanced than many of its kind, without going anywhere controversial.

But mostly it's about the rational stuff: good safety ratings, space for everyone, long warranty, loads of kit, a headline-grabbing price.

It's not a total dirge to drive, not by any means. It just melts into the background. Plenty of rivals have more spirit to them.