Leapmotor B05 Design LR 2026 Review

The 2026 Leapmotor B05 starts at $35,888 plus on-road costs and comes with a surprisingly premium feel for the money. Headline features include a 401km range, 21 safety features, a six-speaker stereo, 19-inch alloy wheels and a 14.6-inch infotainment screen.

For $39,888 + on-road costs, the Design Long Range will give you an extra 81km (482km range), a panoramic roof, rain sensing wipers, heated steering wheel and electrically-adjustable front seats, power folding mirrors plus six additional speakers for a 12-speaker audio system.

Its closest rivals are the MG4 EV Urban and the BYD Dolphin, priced up to $32,990 and $39,800 respectively. The MG has a larger boot, the BYD trumps in rear legroom but the Leapmotor wins in range, when comparing base models and top of the line model-grades from each brand.

The B05 has similar boot space (357 litres) to the Dolphin (345 litres) and MG4 (363 litres) with the seats up, but with the seats down it surpasses both at 1400 litres.

The sleek-looking Leapmotor hatchback also stands out from these competitors with its rear-drive layout and single electric motor producing 160kW and 240Nm.

It has a 0-100km/h time of 6.7 seconds (we achieved 7.0 seconds) and the battery and electrical system supports DC charging of up to 174kW in the Design LR version, which is quite good. That means 30 to 80% charge in approximately 18 minutes at that pace and an 11KW AC (wallbox style) charging time for the same 50% boost in approximately three hours.

Entry-level Style variants have a DC fast charge ceiling of 156kW, which is still better than some rivals.

Leapmotor currently offers an eight-year/160,000km warranty on their batteries with eight years of roadside assistance and a six-year/150,000km warranty for the car. Eight years of capped price servicing is also part of the deal, priced at $215 and $470 alternating each year.

Both models hold a five-star ANCAP safety rating under the stricter 2026–2028 testing protocols.

The exterior design of the 2026 Leapmotor B05 is quite a head-turner and certainly doesn’t look like your average budget-priced Chinese runabout. While MG and BYD rivals adopt shrunken minivan motifs, the B05 is a handsome, evergreen hatchback with a face that won’t age any time soon.

It sits low to the ground adding an athletic aesthetic (say that five times!), has curved dimples on the hood, flush door handles, headlight clusters that wraps around the bonnet, stylish alloy wheels, contrasting black roof and side mirrors, plus frameless doors. All of which contributes to its sleek design.

Yet it’s a design that doesn’t overpromise. Leapmotor really doesn’t want you to think this is a hot hatch. Because it’s not… but it’s damn close.

Indeed, driving is where the B05 really shines. It’s got a 50:50 weight distribution, a low drag co-efficient of 0.26 (17% lower than our treasured Hyundai IONIQ 5 N).

It’s cell-to-chassis integration gives the platform impressive rigidity, which helps make driver inputs more responsive. Stellantis' global team co-developed and re-tuned the B05's suspension and handling at the Balocco proving ground in Italy. Where Alfa Romeo and Maserati tune their vehicles.

What does this mean? It’s very planted on the road. Driving through tight bends, rolling hills and sharp corners, not once did it feel out of its depth. In sport mode, the steering is sharp, the car quick to respond.

A great deal of Chinese EVs tend to sway this way and that, or roll about like a boat through corners. But the B05 is sharp, smooth and strident. Even though we drove exuberantly, we did find the claimed range of 482km to be, for the most part, accurate.

The interior isn’t exactly groundbreaking in terms of style – another minimalist, screen-centric dashboard design with zero buttons. But there are still some nice features that make this cost-effective EV hatchback feel more expensive than it is.

Key touchpoints like the doors, centre console and the steering wheel are covered in a material similar to soft leather, genuinely one of the best synthetic materials I’ve seen fitted to an interior.

Stylish, geometric air vents, extra storage under the centre console and a small shelf in front of the passenger make this interior an attractive space for any self-respecting driver.

Apart from the lane assistance system, the safety features are largely unobtrusive and they’re in abundance. The B05 comes with adaptive cruise control, lane centering and assist, front and rear collision warning, AEB, blind spot detection, traffic jam assist, automatic lane change to name a few.

No harsh dings or repetitive warnings, although wearing sunglasses does seem to elude the Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning System.

The biggest bug bear is the lane keeping assist, or LKA. It is unyielding. Even if you steer within the white lines of the road, on the correct side, the Leapmotor B05 seems to think you’re deviating and will try to correct your imagined error.

You are constantly playing tug-of-war with the car. It can be turned off with a few dabs on the touchscreen. And you will have to do this every time you start the car. So until Leapmotor provides a software update (they provide three-years of software updates), you have to be tolerant or meticulous every time you hop in.

It’s not a deal-breaker but given how many customers complain about these things, you’d think a challenger brand with super-fast ‘China-speed’ development available would have a solution.

While the infotainment does have Apple Carplay and Android Auto, the base software is not the most intuitive we’ve tested.

There a few nonsensical apps you’ll never use and changing the settings will need an instructional YouTube video first. We had trouble Bluetooth pairing either Apple or Android phones to the Leapmotor – it took three attempts for either; mainly because you have to press a button that says ‘Pairing’, which is a verb, not a command.

So the language of the software needs to be refined and when there are zero physical buttons in the cabin, concise instructions and software are extremely important.

While you can adjust nearly everything between sport to comfort (the steering, the acceleration and so on) you cannot adjust the suspension.

That’s perfect if you want firm suspension for spirited driving but for the everyday, it’s slightly too firm. Just slightly, but you will feel bumps in the road and moreso at lower speeds.

For a hatchback, the vehicle has clever packaging and feels quite roomy inside. Even rear legroom is amenable. Not class-leading but a six-foot tall human will sit comfortably in the back. Granted, knees will be slightly raised due to the battery and high-ish floor but it doesn’t feel cramped.

There is also a slight quirk with the key. To start the vehicle you must tap the key card on the centre console, the same area you would put your phone (it’s also the wireless charging platform).

So picture this: you hop in, put your phone on the wireless charger, buckle up, check your battery percentage and then shift it in to Drive. But wait! You forgot to tap your card. A learned behaviour I’m sure you could train yourself out of, but during the drive, it was frustrating.

However, using the Leapmotor digital key – a smartphone app – solves this problem.

Leapmotor's aftersales footprint is also worth considering, with 25 dealership and service locations nationwide, including all major capitals except Darwin.

That's a smaller network than BYD (around 120 locations) and MG (around 100), although Leapmotor plans to expand to 40 sites and for buyers in regional areas, service access may still be something to keep in mind.

There are a lot of things to like about the Leapmotor B05. It surpasses its rivals in driving dynamics, design, looks and range. The B05 has a great deal of value attached to it, with its plethora of safety features, upmarket interior and fun-to-drive attitude.

But it is also surpassed by its rivals in a number of ways, such as price, ride comfort and dealership/service locations.

If you want an EV that feels more expensive than it is, is properly enjoyable to drive, then book a test drive. You may agree that this is one of the first Chinese EVs to have some semblance of a soul.

2026 Leapmotor B05 Design LR at a glance:
Price: $39,880 plus ORC for Design Long Range (tested)
Available: Now – since August, 2026
Powertrain: Single rear-mounted permanent magnet synchronous electric motor, RWD
Output: 160kW/240Nm
Transmission: single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 67.1kWh LFP with cell-to-chassis
Range: 482km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 15.9 kWh/100km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Five-star (2026)

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