I recently drove the new Chery Omoda C5

The styling is futuristic to say the least, looks more like a concept car

For starters the Omoda C5 is aiming for the Compact Sports SUV market. However it still has the same 1.5T petrol engine you would find in the Tiggo 4 and 7 but slightly more powerful.

Performance is not bad, but not on par with other sporty SUV’s on the market, it produces 115kW and 230Nm, which to me is adequate for the price point.

The drive for me is much the same as the Tiggo 4 but slightly firmer, overall the Omoda has a solid build quality feel to it all round and the CVT box shifts very smoothly, you wont notice the whining you normally find in lower powered vehicles which has a CVT box.

I would not call the Omoda C5 the most practical compact SUV out there but it’s not bad. The interior is spacious for a compact SUV, the front bucket-like seats are very comfortable and the space at the back is adequate. Taller passengers might struggle slightly at the back due to the sloping roof line.

The Omoda was launched in the Australian market and the Aussies have some mixed reviews on the Omoda, consensus there is that the driving assistance tech is very intrusive. I did experience some over eager lane keeping assistance myself, but in my opinion not too much of an issue, one can still play with the settings to adjust it according to preference.

The number one reason that makes the Omoda C5 desirable in my opinion is the styling, looks does sell, the same can be said of the HAVAL GT, you don’t really get more than a normal H6 but the looks alone make it a very attractive buy.

Nowadays buying a car is not about performance any longer, its about looks and tech.

Fuel consumption is the elephant in the room, but it gets better, my Tiggo 4 Pro, which essentially has the same engine, went for its 15,000km service and it returns around 10km per litre in town and 15km per litre on the highway which is acceptable to me.

So here is the verdict

If you like a sporty suv on a budget, go for the Omoda C5, but keep in mind you could buy a Tiggo 7 for the same price which is larger, also packed with basically the same tech and it also looks great.

Pricing ranges from around R447,900 for the Tech variant up to around R509,900 for the Elegance S

All Omoda C5’s gets a standard 5 year / 70,000km service plan as well as a 5 year / 150,000 warranty.

In addition the first owner gets a 10 year, one-million-kilometre engine warranty, which is not transferable when the vehicle gets sold.

So for practicality I will go for the Tiggo 7, for looks I would go for the Omoda C5.

Other options in around the same price range would be the Haval Jolion S, Haval H6

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