Australian Leapmotor C10 - 8 Things You Need To Know

The new Leapmotor C10 is yet another mid-sized electric SUV competing for the attention of Australian buyers.

Zecar's Neerav Bhatt test drove one for a week and shares his views below about what he liked and disliked about this car. It's interesting but it has a lot of competition in the mid-size electric SUV segment.

Image by - Neerav Bhatt

Driving Dynamics, Braking, Acceleration & OPD

One thing that will help it is I think it has better driving dynamics than some competitors. Certainly much better for example than the Omoda E5 I tested previously.

I found the Leapmotor C10 was really smooth when braking, one pedal driving (OPD) as well as accelerating. It's heavy certainly but accelerating and braking don't feel jerky.

I liked the C10 OPD, it's medium strength so not as strong as my MG4 whose OPD can come to a complete stop.

The nice thing about the C10 OPD mode is that it stays on after you turn it on and doesn't need to be reset every time you start the car. It makes C10 braking smooth and linear, you still need to press the brake pedal to stop completely.

City & Highway Driving Experience

Cruise control works well but Lane Keep Assistant (LKA) needs to be turned off each time you drive it otherwise it'll tug the car from side to side a little bit every now and then which feels uncomfortable and a bit worrying. I don't the trust the C10 LKA to be honest.

The C10 is heavy but the suspension is still tuned nicely for comfort.

It soaks up a lot of the bumps, potholes and rough roads that we experience in Australia so it'll be a comfortable ride for you and your family without any problems.

Software and Over The Air Updates (OTA)

The Leapmotor C10 supports OTA updates, see my video regarding the recent 3.40.15 update which fixed a lot of issues. OTA is a great feature and lot of cars don't have it yet.

After OTA 3.40.15 the C10 distraction warning system isn't annoying anymore so you don't have to cover it or turn it off manually in the car. Many other features are also improved in this update like driving up and downhill.

I know a lot of people don't like the safety warnings and alerts in new cars but they're required by ANCAP. You'll just have to turn them off every time you start the car.

Unfortunately, the C10 does not have Android Auto or Apple Carplay built in and this version 1 of the C10 that we're getting in Australia and the UK can't be upgraded to support these. You'll have to wait for version 2 of the car to get designed in the future.

Leapmotor's Australian distributor Stellantis says that we will have QD link integration in August. QD link is an app that you can run on your Android or iPhone to allow phone screen mirroring, we'll see how good that is.

Now let's discuss the built-in sat nav maps. I'm afraid they're pretty awful. I tried them extensively during my testing and they regularly gave me incorrect instructions and twice they gave me illegal turn instructions to turn in places where it wasn't allowed.

Other reviewers of the C10 have told me that they've experienced the same thing. This is unfortunate because many cars like my MG4 have quite decent built-in sat nav map systems that you can trust to get you from A to B.

Unfortunately I don't think you can trust the instructions that the C10 built-in sat nav gives you so you'll have to use a different option.

You have two options either use a phone mount to run Waze/Google Maps/Apple Maps or if you can find one that is C10 compatible get a USB Android Auto/Apple Carplay dongle to see Maps properly in the center screen.

Packed With Included Features

I really like that the C10 has many inclusions like heated and ventilated front seats, a 12 speaker system, seat memory for your favorite position, wireless phone charging, power tailgate etc.

Legacy EV brands charge a lot more money to get these kinds of features often $10,000-$20,000 more than what the C10 costs.

These kinds of features may attract a lot of buyers to this car.

Something that's rare in electric cars is that the Leapmotor C10 includes a type 2 AC wall box charging cable that you can use at home or at shopping centers, etc., and an 8 Amp 1.9 kW home PowerPoint charging cable as well.

That'll save you a couple hundred dollars if you planned on buying those separately.

The type 2 cable is 6.6 KW charging rate because that's what the car supports. It doesn't support three phase 11 KW AC charging so bear that in mind if you want to use one of those home EV charging plans with free hours in the middle of the day.

Practicality Day to Day

I was speaking to an early New Zealand buyer of the Leapmotor C10 and I agree with them this car is really roomy.

I'm 1.91 metres tall and I could easily sit behind the driver's seat pushed fully back which is in my comfortable position.

Is this car a good fit for families that buy a lot of things at the shops or at Bunnings or other places? Yes it is.

The C10 has a great rectangular shaped boot to fit lots of stuff in as you can see for my weekly shop there was loads of space left for the shopping trolley inside.

Initially I disliked getting into the Leapmotor C10 because there's no key fob which is what I'm used to to get proximity unlocking/locking.

You have to use the Leapmotor app or the nearfield communication card you get with the car is used to tap to lock or unlock the car from the driver's side by tapping on a special spot on the side mirror. There's no option to do that on the passenger street side.

Once you get in the car you have two choices either you put the NFC card on the charging mat otherwise the car won't start or you can type a preset password in to the centre screen.

I think that using the password is a lot better. I don't want to take the card out of my pocket.

Charging At Home and Away

I like that the C10 has a charging port on the street side if you're parallel parked. That's really handy for street public charging, however, note that the car has a pretty slow AC charging rate of 6.6kW AC slow charging for home charging

That said 6.6kW is fine unless you have a power plan that gives you free power for a couple of hours in which case you'll want an EV with 11kW AC charge speed.

WLTP range for the C10 is 420k and charging 10 to 80% takes about 45 minutes.

It's all about expectations. if you don't plan on driving thousands of kilometers and just do Sydney to Newcastle or Sydney to Canberra, start your battery at 100% from home you'll be fine.

Premium Feeling Interior

The Leapmotor C10 designers haven't used piano black all over place which scratches easily and is reflective I love that there's extensive use of soft touch materials. This makes the car feel a lot more premium than the cost suggests.

You can also get a really nice purple color interior which is rare. Why shouldn't Australian car buyers have more options than white black or gray Interiors.

The Silicon leather seats are easy to wipe clean, really squishy and comfy and the OEKO-TEX certified material is harmless to human health which is great.

Overview

Potential buyers have to bear in mind the C10 range and charging speed is not suited for long road trips. Then again if you don't do those then it doesn't matter.

Overall the Leapmotor C10 is great value for money, spacious and comfortable. A good family electric SUV.

The big question mark is will Australians buy it without Android Auto or Apple Carplay built-in considering the built-in sat nav gives bad instructions?