The best cheap EV? GWM Ora review – electric car test | Ora Good Cat Australia | Ora Funky Cat

Music gday, Im Matt – and this is the gwm aura, its a new electric car thats, designed to shake things up for the brand thats better known for things like the Canon Ute and have all family SUV range. You can think of Aura, as kind of like the Hyundai ioniq sub brand Aura will be dwms electric vehicle lineup and were here to figure out whether its any good and whether it does stand up to be one of the more affordable and better value. Electric hatchbacks lets get to it, thanks for watching, I hope, youre enjoying what youre seeing so far. If you havent already like subscribe hit, the Bell do all those things Id really appreciate it. If you do, because it helps me, bring you more new car content thanks Music, the jwm aura range is pretty simple: to get your head around theres the entry level version, which is called the standard range then theres, one above it called the extended Range model. Obviously its got a longer range, but they are specified identically. So theres no real worry about what you get in those two different grades, then theres the GT one, which is the top spec and the one that gwm reckons is going to appeal to someone whos a bit more enthusiastic or thinks of them as liking sporty cars. More, it gets some sporty extras and it looks a little bit different, but I actually think the look of it on its own is pretty cool.

Even in a lower spec version. Standard inclusions for all versions are 18 inch, alloy wheels. Then youve got LED. Headlights youve got twin 10.25 inch screens on the inside and some leather ish material too its quite nice inside well get to that soon, plus, I should mention all of them have heaps of safety technology as standard as well again. Well get to that Music. The obvious Rivals to this car include: well the only other electric hatchback at this sort of price point: the Nissan Leaf, which doesnt feel anywhere near as special or interesting or cool as this car, if Im honest and its also a bit more expensive youre. Looking at 51 Grand starting price, so it makes this look like an absolute bargain and then obviously youve got the likes of the electric SUV mop, so the mgzev, which is very, very affordable, maybe not quite as cool as this again and then theres, the byd 803. Now, if you want an electric SUV, then youre not going to want an electric hatchback, so those two might be better for you, but if you want an electric hatchback and you want it to cost not very much money, this is it such a cute. Little thing isnt it well its not as little as it actually probably looks in this Vision, those swoopy lines and all the curves make it look more diminutive than it actually is its about 4.3 or just under 4.3 meters, long so theyre about the same size as A Volkswagen Golf just like a golf very efficiently, packaged in some parts of the car, but, unlike a golf, its got a very small boot.

Let me show you small might be a little bit of an understatement. In fact, this is one of the smallest boots on the market for a hatchback, 228 liters of space is all you get. That means this is even smaller in volume than a Kia Picanto yeah its a bigger car than a Kia Picanto. So that might rule this car out for you, it could mean that this isnt the right car for you, but if you can work with that size of boot and you more prioritize back seat space. Well, you might be surprised Music and the award for most interesting car interior for 2023 goes to this car right here. Well, at least so far in 2023. The aura is amazing. Inside as soon as you sit in this car, you feel like youre, sitting somewhere very special, and that is hard to achieve at this price point particularly now. Theres some very interesting materials Im, not sure that any of it is made from an animal, and I think that might be good, depending on your perspective, its quite nice. These stitching these materials. This diamond pattern finish theres a nice material on top of the dashboard. The steering wheel feels fantastic in your hands. Obviously, there are a pair of 10.25 inch screens, which I mentioned before – that will control things like your media controls and sat nav on this side, and then youve got your driver information stuff here. All of that is very well high tech.

It does take a little bit of getting used to. There are a lot of menus and not a lot of physical controls. So if youre like me and you love buttons and dials and knobs and those sorts of things you might find interacting with this car a little bit difficult, there are some controls down here, but not things like a fan, knob or a volume. Knob youve got a volume controller on the steering wheel. If you can figure out where it is because the controls on the steering wheel are a little bit confusing as well. I guess thats the thing when you do put everything through screens, you become reliant on those screens, so thats, something that you just want to keep in mind if you are looking at this car, otherwise I think its a really special feeling cabin for a car at This price point lets just see if its special in the back seat, Im, 182, centimeters or six foot tall. This seat is set for about my driving position and Ive got heaps of space. This is only a little tiny car, but it doesnt feel it in the back seat. Its got lots of knee room. As you can see, the toe room is a little bit tight and the knees up position might not be to everyones Comfort levels but yeah its a roomy back seat, good Headroom as well, and you can fit three across if you need to.

I wouldnt necessarily do it on a day to day basis, if I was you, but for people, maybe with a family of four or if youve got young kids, it could be just right, apart from the fact that there are no rear air vents, and that is Probably going to be a problem for some people now there are isofix attachment points on the outer seats and theres going to be three top tethers across the back as well. So you could fit a child seat in any of the positions in the back. If you need to in terms of the storage well, I didnt really touch on it up the front, but youve got a couple of cup holders up there. Big door pockets in here youve got big door pockets and a couple of map pockets and a flip down. Armrest with a couple more cup holders, so youre not really going to be wanting for anything when it comes to convenience in the back seat, very impressive for such a little car Music, every single version of the gwm aura has the same power and torque outputs. No matter which one you choose so 126 kilowatts and 250 newton meters thats not setting any new benchmarks in the electric car world, but its not supposed to be either if theyre, all the same so whats different. Well, theyve all got the single speed transmission theyre, all front wheel, drive lets talk battery range, then so the entry level version, as I said, is 320 kilometers of range.

Then you step up to 420 Ks for the long range version and you step back a little bit for the GT, which is tuned apparently for a bit more sporty driving character and it has 400 Ks of range, so its not necessarily changing the game, but its Also very affordable, so youve got to keep that in mind. One thing I wish they did have in here was a frunk, a storage area, so you could put your cable or something like that, because the boots not massive, no matter which battery size version you choose of the aura, its a front wheel, drive with a front Electric motor, so its got 126 kilowatts and 250 newton meters of torque thats, not setting any new standards for power and torque for the hatchback world. But I guess this car isnt designed to be a hot hatch. So just keep that in mind. If you are looking at something like this and thinking well, this could be a good alternative to a Golf GTI or something like that. Its not that kind of car its much more focused on efficiency and Ill. Tell you more about that in a sec, but from what I can tell so far on this very quick drive. The steering is okay, it has a bit of feel to it, which is good for an electric steering system. Its also got a lot of electric AIDs that try and keep you in your lane. Even though theres no Lane markings here, it keeps popping up with a bit of an emergency warning trying to stop me from hitting things Im sure theres a way that you can turn those nannies off.

You probably have to do it every single time. You drive the car thats not uncommon anyway, for a car thats riding on 18 inch wheels. Um doesnt have the hugest wheelbase. The ride is quite comfortable, uh sure this isnt, your typical Sydney back street or Melbourne, Suburban road but yeah. It seems to be riding pretty comfy like I said this is just a very brief Drive of this car in a artificial ish setting. This is kind of like a country road drive. I cant wait to have a bit more time in the gwm aura, driving it on city streets to see how it behaves in that sort of situation and in those sorts of situations you will be able to take advantage of the single pedal drive mode. So basically, you can just take your foot off the accelerator and itll slowly bring the car to a halt, um kind of like some of those other EVS out there and its certainly a little bit more balanced in the way that it progressively slows you down. Some of them can make you feel sick when you take your foot off the throttle, all right its a little bit noisier than I was expecting it to be its quite a lot of road noise. Wind noise. Some Rush coming over those mirrors, for example, were only going 100ks an hour on this test track here, which is very much representative of a Aussie Country, Road and yeah, probably not as silent as some EV customers might want their EV to be stay tuned.

If you do want me to do a more urban focused review of this car, let me know in the comments section below Music when it comes to efficiency. Gwm claims that no matter which version you buy itll do 15 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers, which is very efficient for an EV just like a petrol car, the lower the number, the better and some competitors – I mean you know EVS that might cost similar sort of Money might be up around 18 to 20 kilowatt hours per 100 case, so yeah its going to be pretty efficient in terms of how it uses its power. Charging is another thing, of course, Ive put some details on the screen, so you can see how quick it charges in certain situations and obviously Im not necessarily driving it. How I would drive it if I owned this car, so the efficiency that Im seeing on the screen is not really that relevant. But it is an important thing to consider because, like a petrol car, the lower the number, the better and 15 kilowatt hours per 100, if you can achieve that, thats, very good foreign, the gwm aura or good cat or funky cat, or whatever its called in the Other markets was awarded a five star Euro and cap safety rating in 2022, which is just further proof that the Chinese Brands really are taking safety seriously these days and making well much safer cars. It has to be said so its got all the technology that you would expect to achieve that five star rating, including autonomous emergency, braking adaptive cruise control, Lane keeping assistance and theres blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert with auto braking at the back as well, And then it comes to the airbag coverage.

Youve got curtain, airbags for the front and rear seats, a bunch of front airbags, including a front center airbag as well to stop head clashes in the event of a side impact Yep. This thing should have you covered when it comes to safety, Music, get yourself a gwm vehicle and youll get a seven year, unlimited kilometer warranty, which is very good for any warranty in Australia, theres also unlimited kilometers for the battery when it comes to roadside assist five Years included, which is pretty damn good and then youve got cut price servicing for five years as well, for one of the most affordable, compact electric cars on the market. This is probably different because its cool and also compelling – I actually really like this little car. I think its got a really nice spot to sit in the market underneath the likes of the Nissan Leaf and mini electric hatchback, but also offering something that isnt an SUV for those people who dont want an SUV like the zsev or byd 803. Tell me what you think in the comments section below. Do you like this car? Do you like the look of it? Would you buy this car well Id love to hear from you and if you want to see any other electric car reviews also, let me know what youd like to see Ill try and get to it.