UK Drive: Can the Leapmotor B10 stand out in a crowded market?

What is it?

Yes, you aren’t seeing this wrong – it’s yet another Chinese-made, battery-powered SUV. It’s fair to say that this particular area of the market has been booming of late and Leapmotor is one of several new brands looking to get in on the action. Backed by Stellantis, it’s a firm which is already expanding its range within the UK.

This car – the B10 – is its more compact SUV, sitting underneath the larger C10. It’s got some formidable competition in the Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq, so can it come out on top? We’ve been finding out.

What’s new?

As with many of this new wave of EVs, the Leapmoto B10 is a car which is focused primarily on value. It’s why this car, which is packed with equipment and technology, comes in at £29,995, after Leapmotor’s own Leap-Grant – which shaves £3,750 off the cost of its cars – has been applied. Couple that with potentially low running costs, and you do end up with a car which could be very tempting to drivers, simply from a financial standpoint.

In addition to that value, a decent focus has been placed on practicality. A healthy 430 litres of boot space isn’t bad at all, though it’s less than you’ll find in both the Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq.

What’s under the bonnet?

The Leapmotor B10 gets a pretty straightforward setup, with a single 215bhp electric motor driving the rear wheels. Acceleration is respectable, with 0-60mph coming in 7.7 seconds and the C10 will carry on to a top speed of 105mph. It’s all pretty par for the course in this segment, and at present, there are no other powertrain options available.

Range-wise, Leapmotor claims up to 270 miles from a single charge in the B10, while a decent charge speed of up to 168kW means that a 10 to 80 per cent top-up could be completed in under half an hour.

What’s it like to drive?

For the most part, the Leapmotor B10 is quite easy to drive. Around town, its light steering makes it feel nimble and agile and it’s got plenty of cameras that can help when you’re parking. Go a little quicker and the B10 soon feels out of its depth, mind you, and that woolly steering doesn’t give you a lot of confidence through corners.

The suspension also leaves a lot to be desired. It’s soft, which means it leans when you’re going through bends, but potholes and other road imperfections really unsettle it. It just means that the car never feels ‘happy’ and overall leads to a rather unrefined effect.

How does it look?

It’s a pretty standard-looking thing, the B10. It follows on from a number of similarly-sized options which bring a rounded, inoffensive look designed to keep it palatable to all types of drivers. The good news is that you can get it in a good range of colours, including a rather fetching shade of purple like our test car.

Could it be more interesting? Absolutely. But with its vanilla styling, the B10 shouldn’t be turned down by many.

What’s it like inside?

Again, like the rest of the current crop of Chinese-made SUVs, the Leapmotor B10 features a clean, stripped-back design which focuses mainly on the screen for controls. In fact, there aren’t really any physical controls to speak of, with nearly everything you need housed within the main display. Some, like the heating controls, feel too small to be accessed easily when you’re on the move, though at least there’s a permanent control bar at the base of the screen.

Space is good, mind you, with rear-seat legroom good enough for even taller passengers to get comfortable. As we mentioned, there’s a decent amount of boot space to go alongside this and the load area is flat and easy to access as well.

What’s the spec like?

Given that the B10 comes just under the £30,000 mark, you do get plenty of equipment. There’s a 14.5-inch central touchscreen and an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster. All cars get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, too, alongside a panoramic sunroof and heated and ventilated front seats. In truth, you’re unlikely to want more equipment in the B10.

There are also all manner of safety assistance systems, some which are good and some bad. There’s front collision warning and blind spot detection, alongside a door opening warning to help protect both the car’s occupants and cyclists moving alongside. However, we did have an incident where the autonomous emergency braking triggered with nothing actually ahead of the car. The B10 attempted to do a full emergency stop on a slipway, something which didn’t inspire confidence in the car overall.

Verdict

The Leapmotor B10 doesn’t do an awful lot to set itself apart from the competition. For sure, it’s priced well and does include all of the equipment that you could want. If you’re focused on value, then it’s likely that the B10 will look quite appealing.

But rather lacklustre dynamics, a screen-heavy layout and somewhat glitchy systems mean that it’s tricky to recommend the B10 over its rivals.