Kelly Meharg tests out and reviews the GWM Ora 5 SUV Ultra and tries to figure out a way to not give it back. Spoiler alert – she loved it.
I’ll preface this car review by saying that by the end of my seven-day test drive of the GWM Ora 5 Ultra, I was scheming about ways I wouldn’t have to give it back.
Pretend it was written off? Say I lost it in the IKEA carpark? Or just flat-out refuse to return it? Because damn, I really wanted to keep this car.
Dear reader, don’t stress – my little Ora (I named her Rita because… well, obviously) is safely back at the GWM dealership. But I might just be going back very soon.
What is the GWM Ora 5 SUV?
Ok, so to introduce you to GWM – they’ve been in New Zealand for a while now and have been making waves with their veeery competitively priced vehicles for 17 years. They’re on a big push to become a top five best-selling brand in Aotearoa by next year, so expect to see heaps more of them on the roads soon!
They have cars across the powertrain spectrum – petrol, hybrid and electric – as well as models ranging from compact SUVs, like the Ora 5, through to seven-seaters and utes.
The fully electric GWM Ora 5 comes in two models – the Lux, and the one I tested, the Ultra. Here’s the thing that’s caused excitement in both in the automotive world AND in my own personal budgeting framework – the Lux retails for $36,990 plus on-road costs, with the Ultra coming in at $39,990.
That’s a wildly cheap price point for a brand-new, fully electric compact SUV. But is it any good?
The GWM 5 Ora SUV Ultra – here’s what’s in it
First, the technical stuff – the GWM Ora 5 Ultra is a full electric compact SUV, capable of going 435km on a single charge. A full charge costs around $25 at the national average power price (I received my car at 75% charged and dropped it back to the dealership on, I’m not even kidding, 1km to go – my first squeaky bum time electric car experience!).
However, most power companies offer an overnight off-peak charging option, so your bill could go down even more. At 15.5kWh/100km and 40c/kWh, the Ora 5 costs about $6.90 to travel 100km. A petrol small SUV using 7L/100km at current pump prices is roughly $19 for the same distance. Over 15,000km a year, that’s a difference of around $1,800.
(A note though, public charging does cost more than at-home charging).
It’s got a very distinct look about it – it actually kind of reminded me of a VW Beetle when I first saw the back, and has a subtle bubble silhouette that I wasn’t sure about at first, but then it grew on me. I had the Emerald Green colour which, again, I wasn’t sold on and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t buy, but then again I’m boring. GWM have really dived into a wild colour palette for the range, with the Ora models coming in Cute Cyan (genuinely, that’s the name) and Flamingo Pink, as well as white, black and grey (yes, I’d go with the white, sue me). But if you’re a gal who wants to live out her Barbie dream car fantasy, here’s your chance!
The Ora 5 Ultra is also very spacious for a car dubbed ‘compact’ – it’s about the same size as a Toyota Corolla Cross and the back seat is huge. Boot-wise, you can fit a normal pram in there (I checked) but not much else – however you can fold the rear seats and raise the boot floor to create a big flat space.
What about the fun and fancy stuff?
Ok, here’s where my love affair really began, because this car is LOADED with cool features that you normally wouldn’t find at this price point, and while yes, sure, we care about fuel efficiency and all that, when you spend as much time as we (Busy Women Inc) do in our cars between work, kid pickups, sport, and every other scenario where you’re turned into a taxi driver, the nice-to-have things really do help make your day better and your mental load lighter.
Panoramic glass roof with an electric sunshade that keeps the car feeling light and airy? Check.
Heated AND ventilated front seats that go hot and cold, as well as a heated steering wheel? You bet (my menopausal girlies, this will be your new favourite thing).
Fun multicoloured ambient lighting inside for no other reason than vibes? Of course, why not turn the inside of your car into a school disco?
There’s preset driver’s seat adjustments, wireless phone charging, Apple CarPlay and for us Samsung girlies, Android Auto, dual-zone climate control and a 14.6-inch display screen to control it all from.
The seats are weirdly soft and comfy for a car, and the middle console has heaps of USB-C charging ports, as well as very handy handbag storage underneath the top (and yes, the cupholders are more than adequate).
But the GWM Ora 5 Ultra also has modes that I have never seen in a car before – you can turn on ‘nap mode’ if you need some shut eye between meetings – it’ll adjust the temperature and seats and more to make the car more conducive to sleep, as well as automatically lock the doors and set an alarm so you don’t oversleep.
There’s also a temporary leave mode you can activate if you’re popping into the dairy for milk, and camping mode where you can use the car’s battery to power up other devices, and it automatically turns off before the car gets to below 30% so you don’t accidentally get stuck. This is a CAR. A CAR.
Cool, so it’s jazzy – but is the GWM Ora 5 safe?
It runs GWM’s Coffee OS, and there are heaps of safety features that you can manage and customise. An internal camera manages driver fatigue, as well as how often you make abrupt, minor driving adjustments and drift into other lanes, and the car will warn you if it reckons you’re too tired or distracted to be driving.
There are seven airbags, a 360-degree camera that is a godsend for parking in Auckland with transparent view, adaptive cruise control with stop-go, pedestrian and cyclist detection (this might be a little too good – during the first 10 seconds I was driving it the cameras spotted a cyclist who was miles away, panicked and literally stopped the car) and other features such as blind spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, parking sensors and traffic jam assist – also, on the Ultra, the ambient lights inside the cabin flash if it detects something approaching as you open the door.
What do we think of the GWM Ora 5?
Like I mentioned, in my heart, this is my new car (I just need my head and also my mortgage broker to agree). I can’t believe how fancy and luxurious it feels for the money you’d pay for it, and I feel ready to make the switch to fully electric now after testing it. It drives great – although it did take me a day or two to get used to the VERY reactive pedals. The biggest difference is that the gear stick is on the steering wheel, and the indicators are on the wrong side. I will admit that if I had my way, I’d prefer the gears back in the middle console, but I did get used to this eventually.
It drove super-well, and while others reckoned she went a bit rough over bumps, I didn’t find this (I mean I am used to a 2007 Subaru Impreza which I’m pretty sure has been lowered because I bought it in East Auckland and, well, that’s what we do out there) so read into that what you will.
There are very minimal buttons on the Ora too, which is fine – but the ones that are there are mostly for temperature, but they only turn on or off, rather than letting you adjust how hot or cold it is, you have to do that on the screen. Again, no worries – but they’re almost a little redundant.
I also didn’t figure out how to customise the steering wheel shortcut buttons, which would have been very helpful for music volume, because that control is all the way over on the left of the screen, which is annoying when you’re driving to have to reach.
But these minor quibbles don’t get in the way of the fact that this is a seriously fun and pragmatic car that makes you feel like you’re driving both a luxury model AND you’ve scored a bargain, which are two things that usually don’t go together.
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