Changan Deepal S05: Styled In Turin, Italy

The Changan Deepal S05 is a bit smaller than the S07 that was launched in Europe almost exactly a year ago – about 15cm shorter, for example. But this puts it in a more general-purpose category, and in many ways it’s a better size for British roads and urban environments. The styling is less eye-catchingly angular than the S07, too, although the greater roundness delivers a more generic look. Changan claims to have strong European styling sensibilities, because it has had a European design center in Turin, Italy, for 25 years, with additional R&D in Birmingham, UK.

The most unique element of the S05’s outer appearance is the way the secondary front light cluster in line with the wheels forms an airplane shape, which is allegedly deliberate, to give a sense of aerodynamics. The S05 boasts a drag factor of just 0.25Cd, which is very good, although Tesla does better. Overall, the appearance of the S05 is pleasant, not as aggressive as the S07, but also more like other Chinese electric SUVs such as the recently launched Geely EX5.

At launch, there is just one trim level called MAX but two drivetrain choices. You can have a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) car with 272hp, or an all-wheel-drive (AWD) one with a considerable 435hp. Both versions have a 68.8kWh battery, which is a marginal size for a car in this class. However, it uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) technology, so you’ll be able to charge it up to 100% more freely than the usual Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) type. Changan is now offering sodium ion batteries in China, so we may see the company bring those to Europe in the near future too.

The drivetrain is your main choice, because there’s very little else to select – and almost nothing extra to pay for. All five color variants are free, although they’re rather sober – blue, grey, black, white or silver. The two interior options of black or a rather vibrant orange are also free. The only extras that will increase the sticker price are the rather nice panoramic sunroof (£1,000 / $$1,350) and tow bar (£600 / $800).

Changan Deepal S05: Interior And Technology

As with the Changan Deepal S07, the interior of the S05 has a solidly premium feel, with the “vegan leather” not just on seats but the central console, dashboard and steering wheel. Welcome details include a 50W wireless smartphone charger that also provides ventilation to prevent your handset getting too hot. There’s no instrument panel, but a standard head-up display takes its place. If you have a decent HUD, you probably won’t use an instrument panel much anyway, so it’s sensible not to bother with one, unless you’re someone who doesn’t like them. But the Changan one is good.

There’s also the obligatory large central infotainment screen – in this case 15.4in with a 2.5k resolution. When you get into the car as driver, it angles 15 degrees towards you, although the front passenger can angle it back to them as well so they can more easily use it. This system runs on a high-performance Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 processor, making it quite responsive, and offers over-the-air updates.

If you’re a button lover, you won’t enjoy the fact that all the air conditioning is operated through this infotainment screen, although the row of icons remain permanently at the bottom while being quite large and clear. The screen also displays useful widgets for functions like media and tire pressure. There is, of course, a connected satnav that you can show full screen, which makes navigation easy.

As standard, there’s a 360-degree reversing camera, plus cruise control that conforms to Level 2+ autonomous driving, so is not just adaptive but can provide some steering inputs as well. I wasn’t driving on the right roads to test this extensively, however, as it’s primarily for highways. The ADAS functions have enabled the S05 to achieve a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, which is reassuring.

Although the S05 is shorter than the S07, you still get plenty of space for rear passengers. The middle seat is a reasonable size for adults too. The base rear luggage space is a decent 492 liters too, augmented by a huge 159-liter frunk (although this drops to 142 liters with the AWD). The rear capacity with the seats down is a more modest 1,250 liters, and the resulting floor needs some additional adjustment of the rear seats to fold flat, so this isn’t a class leading experience. But add the tow hook option and you can at least pull a 1,600kg trailer (braked).

Driving The Changan Deepal S05

Aside from the allegedly European-sensitive design, one of the areas where Changan wants to differentiate itself is driving dynamics. The RWD S05 isn’t hugely quick, taking 7.5 seconds to reach 62mph, but the AWD’s more powerful dual-motor setup drops that by a whole 2 seconds to 5.5 seconds.

I only got to drive the RWD version, which was at least fast and responsive enough for overtaking slow traffic on British A-roads. The suspension setup is a bit soft and can get unsettled by terrible road surfaces in the UK. But overall, the cornering is reassuring and the S05 feels comfortable at highway speeds. The size of the car is also just small enough for navigating tight country roads and village streets. This makes it quite a good balance between a practical size for passengers or luggage and not being too big when driven in towns.

To underline the handling abilities of the Deepal S05, Changan took the UK reviewers to an airfield for some handling exercises, including hard braking and slalom steering. The car executed these challenges well, although having recently driven the new BMW iX3, I am a bit spoilt for electric SUV handling capabilities. The S05 is nowhere near that level, but it’s certainly good enough for a family SUV, and could be quite a bit of fun in AWD form.

Changan Deepal S05: Charging, Price And Final Thoughts

If there’s one mediocre thing about the Changan Deepal SO5, it’s the range. The single motor version I tested offers 303 miles, while the all-wheel-drive variant drops this to 278 miles (both WLTP, so EPA could be up to 20% lower). This is okay for a 68.8kWh battery, equating to 4.4 miles per kWh for the rear-wheel-drive car and 4 miles per kWh for the all-wheel-drive one. But it’s not class leading.

Changan has at least done a reasonable job with charging, offering 200kW DC and 11kW AC (although most home wall box chargers in the UK will max out at 7.4kW). If you can find a fast enough public rapid DC charger, you can replenish from 30% to 80% in 15 minutes. While the total range isn’t huge, driving long distances won’t be too onerous, with maybe a 20-minute stop every couple of hours of highway driving. If you have a very long way to go, though, you will want a car that goes a bit further between stops.

The Changan Deepal S05 is reasonably attractive if unassuming, and it’s very well equipped as standard. In the UK, the RWD MAX starts at £37,990 ($51,000) and the AWD MAX at £2,000 ($2,700) - £39,990 ($54,000). That seems like quite reasonable for a second motor and dollop more power. While this car isn’t super cheap, you do get a lot for your money, and the sense of quality is also good. The Changan Deepal S05 is not an overly exciting car with so many similar options around, but it’s comfortable to drive and ticks most boxes, apart from very long-distance driving.