ORA Funky Cat Review (2022-present)
ORA Funky Cat cars for sale
3.0
Expert review
Pros
Individual styling inside and out
Bags of luxury kit
Genuinely impressive build quality
Cons
Tiny boot
Driving experience is very average
Not cheap compared with some very talented rivals
The CarGurus verdict
The Ora Funky Cat is an intriguing proposition. It looks interesting, feels classy inside and has impressive tech and passenger space. But for every win that the Ora delivers, it seems to also serve up a huge flaw. Like having loads of rear passenger space but a tiny boot, loads of comfort equipment but no heated seats, and high-end tech but a touchscreen that’s a total pain to use when driving.
In truth, Ora isn’t expecting to sell a lot of Funky Cats, with estimates for sales at a middling 5000 per year. Its purpose, really, is to try and earn brand awareness amongst UK buyers, and to cement the brand as a more premium proposition rather than a budget offering that many may assume would be the case. Overall, we suspect it’ll achieve that, and we also suspect that it won’t be long before Ora does start to disrupt the established European car makers. But, in the context of the many rival electric cars that you can get for the same money, the Ora Funky Cat is a long way off the best or most recommendable option of its peers.
What is the Ora Funky Cat?
The Ora Funky Cat is a rakish-looking, five-door hatchback from new brand, Ora, which is produced by Chinese manufacturer, Great Wall Motors. GWM has actually been in the UK before with the Great Wall Steed pick-up truck, and it’s worth pointing out that Great Wall Motors is actually a big and very well-established company in China. But, GWM Ora is very much a new brand that’s designed to take Great Wall to European markets and beyond.
The GWM Ora Funky Cat is only available as an electric vehicle, and from launch has just the one battery and powertrain option. That involves a 45.4kWh lithium-ion usable battery (48kWh in total capacity), front-wheel drive from a single, 169bhp electric motor, which adds up to a WLTP combined range of 193 miles.
It’s being offered with one, high-spec trim variant to start with, costing from around £32,000. You’ll be able to buy an Ora Funky Cat through the company’s website, or through various well-established local dealers, such as Arnold Clarke and Pendragon, and there will also be a handful of Ora-dedicated ‘hubs’ across the country.
At 4.24-metres long, the Ora Funky Cat is bigger than altrenatives such as the Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa-e, and is a bit smaller than family electric hatches such as the Cupra Born, MG4, Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen ID.3, so the Ora can claim to be a rival to all of them. Not only that, but with its shorter range and style-focussed attitude, it’s also reasonable to consider it a rival for urban specialists such as the Fiat 500 Electric, Honda-e, Mazda MX-30 and Mini Electric.
How practical is it?
We’ll start with the glaring flaw in the Ora Cat’s arsenal: the boot. At 228 litres it is tiny compared with rivals like the VW ID.3, Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe and others, and isn’t much bigger than the boots you get in those urban electric vehicles we’ve already mentioned. Which is all the more frustrating as the space - particularly on legroom - in the rear seats is very generous. You’ll even get a couple of six-footers in there quite easily, but with so little luggage space that seems relatively pointless as the Ora Funky Cat just isn’t practical enough for most family motorists who might have a buggy, a dog, regular big shops or all of the above and more to lug around. There’s no storage space in the nose of the Ora, as there is in the BMW i3, for instance.
Still, it is impressively spacious in those back seats, and it’s great in the front seats, too. Ora is intending for the Funky Cat to get the new brand out into the UK market and to push home the message that it is a premium offering. Hence, the Ora Funky Cat First Edition gets quilted, diamond-stitched leatherette seats (old school, but still kind of cool), and even facial recognition technology that can automatically adjust the seat and infotainment settings to the driver. The overall perceived build quality and material finish of the cabin is very good, too, better than you might expect of a Chinese car, and is certainly better than that of the MG4. Plus, you can get it in some bright, dual-tone finishes that feel appropriately eccentric and in-keeping with the art-deco exterior styling.
It's a comfortable driver’s seat, too, and there’s enough range of movement from the electric adjustment that even lanky drivers will be able to find a good driving position.
Unfortunately, visibility to the back is poor due to the small rear window and there’s also no rear wiper so it’ll get mucky very quickly in a British winter.
What's it like to drive?
The Ora Funky Cat feels pleasant but un-exceptional to drive. The steering is light (you can weight it up in Sport mode) and it’s easy to point the car’s nose precisely where you want even in faster direction changes, but slow steering response and a large diameter steering wheel makes it feel less wieldy around town than cars like the Honda-e, or even the MG4.
That’s not to say that it’s difficult to drive around town; it’s a perfectly stable and predictable drive in any situation, staying unflustered even on the motorway and confident on a country road. Brake feel is good, too, making the Ora super-easy to drive smoothly, and there’s a one-pedal drive mode courtesy of the variable regenerative braking system.
But small EV rivals such as the Cupra Born and MG4 are certainly sharper, delivering a more enjoyable driving experience, and are even better suited to town driving thanks to better visibility and quicker steering.
Ride comfort is a touch choppy in the Ora at lower speeds, too. Even on standard 18-inch alloy wheels, it struggles to settle over scruffy surfaces, although it does calm down on faster roads and never feels harsh enough to be a deal-breaker. Performance is more than adequate, and the Ora actually feels a touch more vigorous than the 8.3sec 0-62mph time might suggest, so a quick merge into faster traffic or a nippy getaway from a junction will be no problem at all. Overall, the Funky Cat is fit for purpose in the way it drives, but a bit middling by the standards of its peers.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
Twin screens are the focal point of the dashboard, with a digital driver’s readout and also a central 10.25-inch touchscreen through which you control the nav, Bluetooth, digital radio and more. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not currently a feature, but Ora tells us that it’ll be added to all Funky Cats via over-the-air updates later in 2023.
While the screen itself benefits from good graphics, the big problem is that some of the icons are very small and difficult to hit precisely when you’re driving. That includes basics like changing the radio, and even changing the temperature or climate control settings, which you have to do by leaving your sat-nav screen and going into the climate menu. The screen also reflects glare quite badly, which can make it hard to see properly on a bright day.
There’s masses of equipment on the Ora Funky Cat First Edition model, which is the only specification offered from launch. Everything from keyless entry, electric seat adjustment, LED headlights, facial recognition, 360-degree cameras and wireless phone charging is included, along with driver assistance systems such as lane keep assist, blind spot warning, automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, plus a semi-autonomous drive mode is included. The only optional extras you can add are metallic paint and that striking two-tone interior. However, for all the generous equipment list, the Ora Funky Cat First Edition doesn’t have – and can’t be optioned with – heated seats. Which seem odd and frustrating in the extreme, since most buyers of premium cars consider heated seats an essential, and many electric vehicle owners also consider heated seats essential since they typically use less energy than the cabin heater. It’s a big oversight, for sure.
Ora Funky Cat running costs
For the equipment and perceived quality it offers, the Ora Funky Cat is reasonably priced as a cash buy, but finance deals typically have monthly costs at around £350 to £400, which is a bit pricey next to rivals from Peugeot, Vauxhall, Renault and MG.
The Ora is comparably efficient to rivals like the Peugeot e-208, too. With a usable capacity of 45.4kWh and a combined WLTP range of 193 miles, it manages nearly 4.3m/kWh. However, in real-world use you’re more likely to see around 120 miles in winter, and some 160 miles in summer (cold weather and higher driving speeds always reduces the potential driving range of an electric vehicle). That means that, if you charge the Ora Funky Cat at home on a domestic electricity tariff costing 40p/kWh, it’ll be just over £18 for a full charge, equating to around 13p per mile. Still cheaper than a petrol or diesel car, which typically cost around 15-20p depending on the mpg. Bear in mind that public rapid chargers cost a lot more, and will even make the Ora Funky Cat (and any electric vehicle) more expensive to fuel than a reasonably efficient combustion engine. Most EV drivers charge at home almost all of the time, when running costs promise to be usefully cheaper on the Ora than on a diesel or petrol alternative.
Servicing intervals of two years and 18,000 miles also promise to help keep costs and inconvenience down.
Ora Funky Cat reliability
It’s impossible to say how reliable the Ora Funky Cat will be, as it’s such an unknown in the UK. However, it does get a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty on the car, and an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the lithium-ion battery. Five years roadside assistance is also included for free.
- The Funky Cat will charge from a CCS-compatible DC rapid charger at up to 64kW, which is quite a bit slower than plenty of its rivals. Still, because the Ora Funky Cat also has a smaller battery than many of them (yet is efficient enough to offer a reasonable range), it will manage a 10-80% top-up in around 40 minutes. AC charging tops out at 6.6kW, so plugging into a standard 7kW home charger will get you a full battery in under eight hours. You get a three-pin domestic charging cable as standard with the Funky Cat, as well as the obligatory Type 2 charging cable that gives you access to all slow chargers. A nice addition, as most rivals charge extra for a ‘granny cable’ as it’s known, but being able to trickle charge from a normal domestic socket is often really useful if you’re staying overnight somewhere that doesn’t have a car charger.
- While the Funky Cat is only offered with a sub-200 mile range from launch, it’s very likely that a 63kWh model with a WLTP driving range of 260 miles will join the line-up in the next few years.
- The Ora Funky Cat received a full five-star rating in Euro NCAP test results, with a very decent 93% for Safety Assist.
- If you want the best value: There’s only the First Edition 48kWh on offer at the moment, but a lower spec, more affordable trim could potentially be along in time. If you can’t wait, then the MG5 or MG4 are both available more cheaply, and Vauxhall also offers some great discounts and monthly finance deals that could easily make the Corsa-e or even the Mokka-e more affordable than the Ora Funky Cat.
- If you want the best company car: The Ora Funky Cat First Edition is your best and only choice.
- If you want the sportiest: There’s talk of an Ora Funky Cat GT, which may well get tuned suspension for more fun handling, as well as style upgrades. Whether it gets more power or not is another question. If you want something that’s fun yet affordable, a used BMW i3 could save you a lot over the Funky Cat and yet it’s still brilliant fun to drive and spectacularly finished inside, even by today’s standards.
- If you want the longest range: The 48kWh car, with its 193-mile range, is your only option currently, but a longer range model is expected to arrive later in 2023.
