Leapmotor C10 review – a well-equipped electric SUV that won’t break the bank

Verdict  – is the Leapmotor C10 a good car?

If you’re looking for an affordable way into electric SUV ownership, the Leapmotor C10 is a good place to start. It’s thousands of pounds cheaper than its closest rivals, but it doesn’t feel like a cut-price alternative on the inside thanks to its well-built interior. It’s roomy, too, and comes with far more kit than you’d expect in a car of this price. If you can look past its slow charging speeds and fairly bland driving experience, the Leapmotor C10 makes a lot of sense for families on a budget.

Leapmotor C10 models, specs and alternatives 

Never heard of Leapmotor before? We’re not surprised – the Chinese brand was only established in 2015, and the C10 is just its second car to come to the UK. It made its debut here with the T03, an electric city car that offers some of the cheapest zero-emissions driving you can get your hands on. While also electric, the C10 is a very different machine inside and out, with more space, tech and range, in a practical mid-size SUV package.

But the two cars have one thing in common – affordability. The Leapmotor C10 costs from just £36,500, making it one of the cheapest electric family cars on sale. It wasn’t long ago that you’d be paying similar money for an electric Vauxhall Corsa, so it goes to show how disruptive these Chinese newcomers have been to the UK’s EV market.

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What sets Leapmotor apart from other Chinese brands is backing from Stellantis – that’s the parent company behind Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Fiat, to name a few. The auto giant has a large stake in Leapmotor, which it sees as its ticket to cornering the growing market for cheap electric cars. For Leapmotor customers, that means access to the Stellantis dealer and service network across the country, which is handy.

Like the T03, Leapmotor has kept the C10 lineup uncomplicated at launch. There are no trim levels or different battery sizes to worry about – what you see is what you get. All C10s use a 70kWh battery and a single rear-mounted electric motor, the two combining to deliver 215bhp and up to 263 miles of range. Neither figure is particularly groundbreaking, but you have to bear in mind just how affordable the C10 is compared to rival electric SUVs.

One area where Leapmotor hasn’t compromised is the standard kit list. All C10’s come with features you’d expect to find in a much pricier SUV, including a panoramic glass roof, heated and cooled seats, a heat pump, a 360-degree parking camera and 20-inch alloy wheels. Its closest rivals, including the Skoda Enyaq, Vauxhall Grandland and Renault Scenic, don’t offer nearly as much standard equipment and all cost considerably more.

The Leapmotor C10 will be the brand’s flagship in the UK for the foreseeable future, with no plans to launch a bigger EV any time soon. It will be joined by the B10 at a later date, which will be a smaller and even more affordable electric SUV.

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While Chinese EVs are gaining a reputation for their impressive range and charging speeds, the Leapmotor C10 is only average in this respect. It comes with a 70kWh battery that’s able to give a 263-mile range in ideal conditions, just about matching the Skoda Enyaq with its smaller 59kWh battery, and some way off the larger battery version of the Skoda and the 379-mile range of the Renault Scenic.

SUVs might not be the most aerodynamic shape, but the C10 does at least have flush door handles, a flat undertray and standard heat pump to warm the cabin and battery pack more efficiently.

There’s no word yet from Leapmotor on how fast the C10 can charge, but it reportedly tops out at 84kW using a public DC charging station. That’s almost half the speed of the aforementioned Enyaq, which tops out at 165kW. While its quoted 30-80% top-up time of 30 minutes looks okay, most rivals give a 10-80% time instead. It comes with a 6.6kW AC charger for a 30-80% refill from a home or business wallbox in a little over six hours.

What will the Leapmotor C10 cost to insure?

Leapmotor C10 insurance groups haven’t been announced yet, and it will be worth checking back to see how they stack up given the brand has only just launched in the UK. For context, the Renault Scenic sits in groups 28 to 32, while the Tesla Model Y is relatively pricey to insure, sitting in groups in the 40s out of 50.

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Sticking with the simplicity of having just one battery size, there’s also only one electric motor for UK buyers to pick. It comes with a reasonable 215bhp, but the C10 also weighs close to two tonnes, so it never feels overly sporty.

Its weight isn’t immediately apparent at low speeds either, thanks to light steering, a tight turning circle and good visibility that makes the C10 easy to manoeuvre.  

Is the Leapmotor C10 good to drive in town?

There are three driving modes, and we found ‘Eco’ best suited to driving in town, because it makes the steering so light you can practically turn the car with your fingertips. This is a bit unnerving at higher speeds, but some owners will no doubt appreciate it for urban driving, and the column-mounted gear selector is pretty intuitive. The ride is slightly firm around town, with quite a few bumps transmitted into the cabin.

Is the Leapmotor C10 good to drive on long journeys?

Pick up the pace and the C10’s suspension is a bit better at smoothing out imperfections, while the rest of the car is also pretty refined, so you should arrive at your destination feeling nice and relaxed. 

Is the Leapmotor C10 good to drive on B-roads?

While the driving modes don’t do much to adjust the throttle response, the ‘Sport’ mode makes the steering far too heavy, so we just left it in ‘Standard’ most of the time. Acceleration from 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds feels plenty quick enough for a family SUV, and you’ll rarely notice that it’s rear-wheel drive. Leapmotor has clearly targeted a safe driving feel rather than anything to excite enthusiasts, and the brakes offer decent stopping power but feel a bit grabby when you first touch the pedal.

Carbuyer notes

“The 215bhp single motor feels more than capable of pulling this SUV along and keeping up with traffic, but it won’t set the seat of your pants on fire” Richard Ingram, Deputy Editor

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Things are fairly minimalist inside and outside the C10. Unlike some other new Chinese SUVs, Leapmotor has played it safe with the exterior styling and the result is a simple but attractive machine, with boxy proportions and even a hint of Porsche Cayenne at the back. 

It’s a similar story inside the C10. Leapmotor has followed Tesla’s lead and ditched practically all physical controls in favour of a large central 14.6-inch touchscreen. There’s a wide centre console with a pair of cupholders and a wireless charging pad for your smartphone, plus some ambient light along the dashboard and doors, but that’s about it in the way of interior details. The driver gets a separate 10.25-inch display for driving information, which is just as crisp as the central screen.

The interior build quality is impressive for a car costing well under £40,000, with everything feeling solid and built to last. But it’s important to point out that our test car had practically just rolled off the factory floor – it’s hard to say at this point how well things will hold up after a few years of ferrying kids, cargo and the family pets.

Is the Leapmotor C10 infotainment and navigation system easy to use?

The Leapmotor C10’s infotainment system is generally pretty good, but there are a couple of annoying quirks that could get frustrating day-to-day. The interior screens themselves look great – both offer sharp resolution and are very responsive. Touch inputs on the central screen have no perceptible lag and it can juggle between multiple apps without stuttering. 

The menu layouts are fairly intuitive but, as is often the case with touchscreen systems, we’d prefer separate physical controls for important functions. We found adjusting the climate settings particularly tricky using the screen – the toggle switches and haptic buttons you get in a Vauxhall Grandland are easier to press on the move.

A bigger sticking point will be the absence of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the C10. These smartphone connectivity systems are fitted to nearly every new car these days, letting owners use their own apps for maps and music through the car’s infotainment display, so it’s a shame that Leapmotor has no plans to offer them for now. At least the C10’s built-in sat-nav is slick and fairly similar to Google Maps.

Leapmotor says it will provide over-the-air updates for the C10, helping to sort out any software bugs. The infotainment screen’s ‘night mode’ could use an update already – it’s triggered too easily by shade, causing the screen to flip between light and dark modes, so hopefully this will be sorted soon.

Is the Leapmotor C10 well equipped?

Like the smaller Leapmotor T03, this is where the C10 really stands out from the competition. There’s only one trim level on offer, and it gets a lengthy kit list that you’d normally associate with an SUV in the price bracket above.

Highlights include the panoramic glass roof with a power-operated sunshade, heated and cooled front seats, a 360-degree parking camera, a 12-speaker sound system and five smartphone charging points. Outside, you get privacy glass, 20-inch alloy wheels and even customisable entry and exit lighting signatures for the LED lights.

What options should you choose on the Leapmotor C10?

Your only choice when buying a Leapmotor C10 is the paint colour. The available hues aren’t as bold as those offered by MG, BYD or XPeng, but the no-cost pearlescent Glazed Green is the most interesting. For £750, you can have your C10 painted white, black or two different shades of grey instead.

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The Leapmotor C10 is a bit bigger than most rival mid-size SUVs, electric or otherwise. It’s around 250mm longer than a Renault Scenic or Hyundai Tucson, and has a longer wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels) than both of those cars and the Skoda Enyaq. That translates to a really spacious cabin in the C10.

There’s masses of adjustment for the front seats, so the driver shouldn’t have any trouble getting comfy. Even with the driver’s seat positioned for a tall adult, we found there was plenty of room for another tall adult in the seat behind. Like other EVs, the floor in the rear is flat which helps with foot room, while the panoramic glass roof brings plenty of light into the cabin. This gives the illusion of the cabin being even more spacious.

Does the Leapmotor C10 have a big boot?

On paper, the Leapmotor C10 looks outclassed by its rivals in this area. Its 435-litre boot space figure is identical to that of the Peugeot 2008 – a small SUV based on a supermini. However, we found that boot space wasn’t a huge issue in practice, and it shouldn’t be enough to put you off the C10. It’s still a respectable size and is a usable shape. If you do need to carry extra large cargo on the odd occasion, you can fold down the rear seats, increasing boot space to 1,410 litres.

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Being such a young brand, it’s hard to gauge the reliability of the Leapmotor C10 at this point. Theoretically, there are fewer moving parts to go wrong in an EV compared with a petrol car, but we’ll have to check back in this area once it’s been on the market for some time. Leapmotor claims that the C10’s battery has an expected lifespan of over 372,000 miles, although we haven’t had a chance to test this of course.

At least buyers can be reassured that Leapmotor has the backing of Stellantis – the parent company behind Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall and more – so customers should get the same aftersales treatment as owners of one of those more established brands.

How safe is the Leapmotor C10?

Very safe, according to the independent safety testing body Euro NCAP. It awarded the Leapmotor C10 the full five stars when it tested it in 2025, making it one of the safest cars on the road today. It even came out ahead of the pricier Hyundai Santa Fe which was tested under the same conditions in 2025.

The C10 gets nearly all of today’s latest safety tech fitted as standard, including adaptive cruise control (ACC), autonomous emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning, blind spot detection and driver drowsiness warning. In testing, we found some of these systems to be a little too eager to chime in, which became irritating. But at least you’ll have peace of mind knowing it’s keeping you and your family safe.

What is the warranty on the Leapmotor C10?

Leapmotor backs the C10 with its four-year, 60,000-mile warranty, plus the battery gets an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty of its own. While that’s better than what you’ll get with a Citroen or a Skoda, Hyundai’s five-year, unlimited mileage warranty provides more cover. Peugeot’s eight-year, 100,000-mile EV Allure Care warranty is also more substantial.

Should you buy a Leapmotor C10?

If you’re in the market for a practical electric SUV, the Leapmotor C10 is certainly worth considering. That’s before you even mention the price – at well under £40,000, it suddenly looks a lot more tempting. Overall, we think the Skoda Enyaq and Renault Scenic are the better electric family cars – the Renault even picked up our Carbuyer award for the category. But if those models are just out of budget, you won’t feel short changed by picking up the Leapmotor C10 instead.

However, if you plan to do most of your charging using a public rapid charger, you’re likely to get frustrated with the Leapmotor’s sluggish charging speed. We’d recommend a rival electric SUV if this is you – they all charge much quicker. Of course, this will be less of an issue for those who plan to keep their EV topped up at home.

It might seem a bit daunting to take the plunge on a relatively unheard of Chinese brand, but backing from Stellantis – and use of its many dealerships and service centres across the UK – is an encouraging sign that the brand will be supported for years to come, so don’t let this put you off.

Leapmotor C10 alternatives

The Leapmotor C10 stacks up against other mid-size electric SUVs, but it’s cheaper than most. Its closest competitor is the electric Vauxhall Grandland, which is nearly as affordable and has a longer range, but misses out on the C10’s lengthy kit list. There’s also the entry-level Skoda Enyaq 60, which achieves virtually the same range but costs around £3,500 more. 

If you’re not committed to an electric car, you could take a look at some plug-in hybrid SUVs, too. Don’t expect to save money here, though – they’re often just as expensive as the fully-electric Leamotor C10.

Electric SUVs

• Vauxhall Grandland
• Skoda Enyaq
• Renault Scenic
• Hyundai Ioniq 5

Plug-in hybrid SUVs

• Hyundai Tucson
• Kia Sportage
• MG HS

How we tested the Leapmotor C10

We first drove the Leapmotor C10 at its international launch in 2024 and later in the UK in 2025.