Changan Deepal S05 2026 review | Sophisticated and stylish Chinese electric SUV
Changan Deepal S05 cars for sale
3.0
Expert review
Pros
Smart, eye-catching design
Refined and comfortable
Well-equipped with clever tech
Cons
Battery range could be better
Drivetrain is poorly calibrated
High insurance groups
The CarGurus verdict
We like the Changan Deepal S05. It looks smart, has a welcoming interior, packs in some clever tech and is both refined and comfortable. While a bit soft in corners, it’s also smooth and tidy to drive, so long as you’re not too spirited or the roads are too challenging. Given all that you get for the money, it’s fairly competitively priced, although steep insurance groups will offset some of that. And while the ride is smooth, the accelerator pedal isn’t, which can make it feel a bit snatchy to drive, particularly when zipping out of junctions. Rivals better its 300-mile range as well.
Overall, the Changan is a decent effort that, thanks to its design, will find fans. That said, it’s not quite as well-rounded as it could be.
What is the Changan Deepal S05?
The Changan Deepal S05 is the second SUV from this new Chinese brand. Whereas the existing Deepal S07 is a Skoda Enyaq rival, the smaller Deepal S05 targets the Skoda Elroq, along with other rivals such as the Kia EV3, Renault Scenic E-Tech, Ford Explorer and MG S5 EV. As with many Chinese cars, it’s big on the outside, measuring 4.6 metres long and 1.9 metres wide; you’re getting plenty of car for the £37,990 starting price.
You get a good-looking car, too. The Changan Deepal S05 has been designed in Italy, boasting a more distinctive and characterful look than some Chinese alternatives. It’s sharply-profiled at the front, with aircraft-inspired styling cues, and has a sporty, cohesive look from the side. The lines and creases are well-judged, and it has a racy stance from the rear. It’s one of the more sporting-looking family SUVs, and should stand out on the road.
The Deepal S05 range is simple. There are just two versions: either rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD), both using the same 68.8kWh ‘Max’ battery. The RWD produces 272bhp and the dual-motor AWD (which costs £2,000 more than RWD) puts out an ample 435bhp. Range peaks at 301 miles for the RWD, dropping to 277 miles for the AWD. That’s a bit below par for this sector; for similar money, you can get a Kia EV3 with an 81.4kWh battery that offers up to 375 miles.
Every Changan Deepal S05 comes with metallic paint as standard – make your selection from five colours – and a free choice of a black or orange interior. A surprising number of people are choosing orange, apparently. There are just two options available: a panoramic roof (£1,000) and a tow bar (£600).
Although the Changan Deepal S05 is launched as an EV, a plug-in hybrid version will follow soon. This will have an electric range of 62 miles and a total range of 621 miles, with prices, specifications and a CarGurus first drive following later in 2026.
And the Changan brand? It’s one of China’s oldest automakers, with decades of experience, more than 80,000 employees, 14,000 global dealers and cumulative sales of more than 30 million vehicles. Since 2010, it’s had an R&D centre in Birmingham, but it only began selling cars in the UK from September 2025.
How practical is it?
The Changan Deepal S05 feels spacious and airy from behind the wheel. It has cool frameless doors, giving a coupe-like feel – particularly if you lower the window as you get in and out – and the driver’s seat will automatically slide back for easy access. The driving position is quite high, giving a good view out, though some might wish the seat dropped down a little lower. The front seats are also a bit flat, lacking under-thigh support.
It feels quite premium inside, with some nice soft-touch plastics. It isn’t quite as lavish as the larger Deepal S07, but is still upmarket; even details such as the door bins feel solid and robust. It has a wraparound design, with neat contrast stitching on both the dashboard and doors. There’s also ambient lighting at night, while the 14-speaker audio system has posh metal grilles in the upper doors.
As with most new cars these days, the dashboard is largely button-free, with controls masterminded through the central touchscreen (which, uniquely, can be rotated 15 degrees towards the driver to cut glare and make it easier to reach). The sporty steering wheel does have buttons and toggles, though, including some programmable shortcuts. Changan insists that its comprehensive voice assistant aids practicality, too.
While Changan has at least kept electric window buttons, they work counterintuitively. You’ll have to reverse your European electric window switch muscle memory. The rear windows also only drop down two-thirds of the way. Electric mirrors are adjusted via the touchscreen and steering wheel buttons, but there is at least a shortcut on the home screen for doing so.
A lack of buttons does free up space on the centre console for a 50W wireless smartphone charging pad (with a built-in cooling slot) and two ample cupholders. The ‘floating’ centre console has more stowage space beneath, although it needs an anti-slip lining to stop keys and phones sliding about on the hard, scratchy surface. Below the central armrest is a super-deep stowage area, capable of holding two-litre bottles upright.
Rear space is excellent, with ample legroom and kneeroom, aided by a flat floor and a front centre console positioned quite far forward. If you choose the panoramic glass roof, it’s bright and airy, but still with plenty of headroom, and rear passengers also get USB ports, an air vent, a pull-out cupholder and more of those posh speaker grilles.
The rear seat bases could be a bit more supportive, and the backrest is reclined quite far back. That’s good if you want to snooze on the move, but less so if you prefer looking out of the window. The rear windows are also a bit shallow, which can restrict over-the-shoulder visibility for the driver, as can the very thick B-pillars.
Courtesy of four exterior cameras, a 540-degree surround-view parking display is standard. This even includes a transparent chassis feature, so you can see what’s beneath the Deepal S05. It’s handy for precisely parking in tight spaces without leaving your wheels hanging over the white lines.
Boot space is pretty decent, with an official figure of 492 litres. It’s a square and practical shape, with a low loading lip for easy access. Fold the rear seats (they drop down fully flat) and it expands to 1,250 litres. There is 28 litres of underfloor stowage, plus a very practical 159-litre stowage space in the frunk (front boot).
What's it like to drive?
The Changan Deepal S05 RWD we drove is set to be the best-seller. Zero to 62mph takes 7.5 seconds, which is perfectly adequate. The AWD cuts this to 5.5 seconds, and both cars have the same capped 112mph top speed. There’s no physical start button; the car boots up when you press the brake pedal, and you select drive or reverse via a column stalk on the right-hand side.
While the Deepal S05 RWD is punchy enough to disguise the car’s hefty weight of nearly 2.4 tonnes, the accelerator pedal response still needs work. The response to pressing it is delayed and hesitant, before power arrives in a surge. This can make it jerky when you go on and off the accelerator, jarring with the smoothness otherwise expected from electric drive. It’s compounded by the small degree of brake regeneration when you lift off the accelerator pedal, leading to a ‘head nodding’ effect for passengers.
The Changan Deepal S05 doesn’t have steering wheel paddles to vary the amount of brake regeneration. You can choose various drive modes though, including a configurable custom mode. As for the brake pedal itself, it’s rather light and lifeless. There’s a flimsy feel to it, and the lack of sensitivity means that jumping onto the pedal can easily lead to over-sharp braking – and even cause the emergency dashcam recorder to kick in.
It’s better news in terms of ride comfort. The Changan Deepal S05 has plenty of soft and supple low-speed absorbency, feeling mature, cushioned and premium. It copes very well with potholes, expansion joints and the many other challenges Britain’s broken roads serve up – and that’s despite its large and standard 20-inch wheels.
It continues to be comfortable at higher speeds, taking the edge off surface impacts and isolating passengers from harshness. Over more challenging roads, there is some up-and-down float at times, but it rarely feels uncontrolled. This rolling comfort brings excellent refinement with it as well, with little wind noise even at motorway speeds.
By modern car standards, the steering is fairly low-geared, but it feels stable and well-weighted. It’s relaxing on the motorway, and there’s reasonable feedback on twisting roads, once you steer past a touch of initial stickiness just off-centre.
The handling is free from some of the odd quirks suffered by a few Chinese rivals. It’s undeniably comfort-oriented and soft, so it will lean into corners. However, it still maintains decent agility, grips well, and allows you to fall into a nice rhythm on tight B-roads. Rear-wheel-drive traction is strong, too, helped by premium European tyres. And if the traction control does cut in, it does so smoothly and discreetly.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
The Changan Deepal S05 is not only well-equipped as standard, but its infotainment system packs in plenty of tech. The central screen is a 15.4-inch 2.5K display, powered by a high-end Qualcomm chip. While it’s a bit overwhelming at first, a lot of thought has clearly gone into it, with the iPad-like screen boasting plenty of customisable shortcuts (dealer staff are being trained to help customers with this). There are further shortcuts if you swipe down from the top of the screen, and a permanently-displayed icon bar along the bottom.
The screen is paired with an augmented reality head-up display. Changan says it projects a see-through 50-inch display into the driver’s line of sight, and is far more customisable than most alternatives. Up to six information modules can be shown, including a map, route guidance, battery capacity, driver assistance systems and more. Of course, there’s a speedometer, along with a clever traffic sign display, making up for the tiny main speedo being squeezed into the top right of the touchscreen.
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone connectivity are standard. Impressively, these take over almost the entire display for a full-screen effect. Maps look particularly good here. Smartly, Changan has retained the top and bottom shortcut strips, so it’s easy to jump between the smartphone and native car screens.
Changan bosses note that, unlike the Deepal S07, the Deepal S05’s sat-nav system now has the ability to factor in charging stops for longer routes. It will automatically add in the best place to charge along the way, rather like Tesla has done for many years. It’s a good reason to use the built-in nav rather than just your smartphone’s navigation.
The full suite of modern safety assistance tech is standard. Pleasingly, it’s extremely easy to disable lane-keep assist, simply by swiping down from the top of the screen and pressing an icon. Just note that, even when it’s disabled, the emergency lane keeping remains active and will occasionally kick in, even without any obvious danger. Disabling this is buried a few layers deep in the driver assist menu – and it automatically turns back on each time you open the driver’s door.
The in-house audio system is a 14-speaker unit with four door speakers, a subwoofer, a centre speaker, two mid-range speakers, four trebles and two roof speakers. It’s notably better than regular off-the-shelf systems, delivering good power and depth, although the mid-range was a touch muddy and could use a bit more sharpness and clarity.
Changan Deepal S05 running costs
The Changan Deepal S05 is potentially rather expensive to insure. The RWD model has a group 38 rating, while the AWD falls into group 41. Its key rival, the Skoda Elroq, starts from group 28 – a full 10 insurance groups lower than the Changan.
Being fully electric ,the S05 will be cheap to ‘fuel’ if you’re able to regularly charge at home. It takes on power very quickly at high-power DC public chargers too – speeds of up to 200kW mean it’ll go from 30-80 percent in just 15 minutes, or 10-80 percent in 23 minutes. Vehicle-to-Load technology is standard as well, meaning the car can supply external devices with up to 6kW of power.
The battery itself is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) design. This is a more robust chemistry with a long service life, which can handle regular full- or rapid-charges without degradation. It’s good in cold weather too, retaining over 90 percent of its energy even at -10 degrees C.
Changan currently has more than 60 UK dealers and is quickly recruiting more, which should help with servicing and support. The aim is for “gold standard customer care”, we are told.
Changan Deepal S05 reliability
As with many Chinese brands, it’s too soon to say how reliable the Changan Deepal S05 will be in the UK. This is a firm with plenty of experience, so it should be well-positioned for dependability, but we won’t know for sure just yet.
The car’s software includes the ability to take over-the-air updates. This means that any digital niggles should be resolved easily. The firm also has an ever-growing dealer network, again to handle any early-stage problems. Changan is confident in the overall robustness of the Deepal S05, as it offers a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty, along with an eight-year 124,000-mile warranty on the car’s battery.
In crash tests, the Changan Deepal S05 earned five stars from safety group Euro NCAP. A 94 percent score for adult occupant protection is among the best in its segment.
- Unlike some electric cars, you can tow with the Changan Deepal S05. The maximum braked capacity is a generous 1,600kg, and the optional retractable tow bar is reasonably priced – at £600.
- There was quite an obvious plasticky smell when we first got into the car we drove. It might have been due to it being parked in the sun, and we soon stopped noticing it, but it’s something those with sensitive noses might still notice.
- Changan clearly wants you to show off those cool frameless doors; there’s a setting in the touchscreen to lower all four windows with one touch. You also control the blind for the panoramic roof through the touchscreen – there’s no physical button in the roof console.
- If you want the longest-range Changan Deepal S05: RWD models have the best range, just edging over 300 miles. That’s still not great by class standards, but is a useful extra 24 miles over the AWD.
- If you want the fastest Changan Deepal S05: AWD models have a total of 435bhp, for 0-62mph acceleration in a hot hatch-like 5.5 seconds. That’s a full two seconds quicker than the RWD.
- If you don’t want to pay for metallic paint: Choose any Changan Deepal S05 – metallic paint is free on all of them. There are five colours: blue, grey, black, white and silver.
- If you want the best Changan Deepal S05 for winter: The AWD not only comes with grippy dual-motor all-wheel drive, but also adds a dedicated snow mode to make the most of its extra traction in winter weather.
