Leapmotor T03
New from £15,985 / £177 p/m
How long will it take to charge?
Results based on 37.30kWh Leapmotor T03 battery
0
For a part charge (up to 0 miles)
0
For an 0% charge 0
You can charge this vehicle in 57 minutes at its fastest charging speed of 50 kW
* We have used data from the manufacturer to estimate these charging times, they are only a guide. Charging times for some speeds may not have been provided.
Is the Leapmotor T03 Hatchback a good car?
Read our expert review
Words by: Dan Trent
"One of the cheapest electric cars you can buy, the T03 is a product of a new relationship between Chinese brand Leapmotor and Stellantis, the giant automotive group with Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall, Jeep and various others within its stable. As such Leapmotor’s products will now sell alongside these more familiar brands, the T03 costing a smidge more than the Dacia Spring but undercutting a new wave of affordable electric cars coming like the VW ID.2all and Citroen ë-C3 and a genuine alternative to small, combustion engined city cars like the Kia Picanto or Hyundai i10. Small and unashamedly basic, the T03 offers an affordable way to go electric … and little more than that."
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Running costs for a Leapmotor T03
Cost of entry is often raised as one of the biggest barriers to swapping from an internal combustion car to an electric one, but the industry is responding with a new generation of more accessible options. Taking that to extremes the T03 is one of the smallest and most affordable yet, and priced on a par with more conventional petrol powered city cars. Which is significant, even if it can’t match them for quality or style. Running costs are definitely on its side, though, the small battery meaning affordable charging costs even if you can’t plug in at home and have to depend on public charging instead. While the incentives last cheaper VED/road tax and exemption from London Congestion charge (at least until the end of December 2025) will also be very appealing for cost-conscious drivers.
Reliability of a Leapmotor T03
Leapmotor is another new name for British drivers, and even by the standards of the Chinese car industry is a very young company. Which does make it something of an unknown quantity. The selling point over other new brands is the partnership with Stellantis, and existing support network of dealerships, workshops and parts supply that brings. We’ll have to wait and see on reliability but you can take a bit of confidence from the fact the T03 has this all this to fall back on should anything go wrong.
Safety for a Leapmotor T03
Like many of its type the T03 simultaneously impresses for the range of safety systems it includes and frustrates in the way they actually operate. Camera-based driver monitoring systems are now a regulatory requirement but the T03’s is over-sensitive to the point of near comedy, complaining the driver was distracted and they should remove their hat when, in fact, they were fully focused and, indeed, hatless. Steering interventions from the automatic lane-keeping were clumsy and heavy-handed enough to have us weaving all over the place as well, which was alarming at times. At least it was relatively easy to disable the constant (and often wrong) speed limit alerts with a single swipe on the screen. More broadly the expense of needing to have these systems is one of the reasons other manufacturers have all but given up building small cars and, well intentioned or not, you sometimes wonder if they do more harm than good, at least in terms of the constant distraction they create.
How comfortable is the Leapmotor T03
We wouldn’t criticise the T03 for being small, on the basis that’s kind of the point and what makes it so good for nipping about town. And while it may be short and narrow, it’s also quite tall, this and the standard panoramic roof making it feel more spacious than you might expect even if driver and front seat passenger may find themselves rubbing shoulders. Seating in the back is for two, and you may have to negotiate with those up front on legroom but it’s viable for four adults over short journeys and the boot is surprisingly deep, so there’s plenty of room for the shopping. Ride quality is a little bouncy at times, and the suspension struggled with rapid-fire bumps on the Italian roads we drove it on. The steering is also somewhat vague, and demands a fair bit of arm twirling. But on the basis you gets what you pay for and it’s a generally easy car to drive we’ll forgive it a few rough edges.
Features of the Leapmotor T03
Even cheap city cars like this come with plenty of tech these days, the T03 having both digital instruments and a large screen in the middle through which you operate navigation, entertainment, phone, ventilation and pretty much everything else. Like many cars coming out of China the screen interface is somewhat fiddly and difficult to use on the move (expect another telling off from the driver distraction system when you try) and, while you can connect a phone on Bluetooth, there isn’t CarPlay or Android Auto, which adds to the frustration. Beyond that equipment is decent for the price, including power windows and mirrors, a reversing camera and built-in connectivity to permit over the air updates to the car’s systems. There’s only one trim level, your choice being down to colour and not much else.
Power for a Leapmotor T03
The T03 is clearly built with urban driving in mind and our test route didn’t take us beyond city limits or onto faster roads like motorways or dual carriageways. 95 horsepower is more than you get in a Dacia Spring so it shouldn’t be too much out of its depth here, and in that electric car way acceleration is smooth and silent but for an artificial hum to offer a sense of how hard you’re pressing the accelerator. Even if this didn’t always align. There are three driver modes, though not a whole lot of difference between them and it’s a fiddle to find them via the touch-screen menus. So, you’ll probably not be swapping between them anyway. A relatively small battery helps keep weight down and means charging stops shouldn’t take too long even if the rates are on the slow side. An officially quoted range of 165 miles should be fine for the kind of driving most T03 owners will be doing, the efficiency we saw on our mainly urban test drive suggesting it’s more than capable of achieving that, at least at town speeds.
Lease deals
These deals are based on terms of 8,000 miles, for a 36 month lease with a 6 months initial payment.
£225.87
Monthly payment
£1,355.19
Initial payment
- 4 seats
- 5 doors
- Hatchback
- Electric
- Automatic
- 165 miles
Standard equipment
Expect the following equipment on your Leapmotor T03 Hatchback. This may vary between trim levels.
- 10.1in Central Touchscreen
- 12V Power Supply Socket
- 4G Connection
- 8in LCD Cluster
- APP Control
- Bluetooth
- DAB plus FM with 4 Speakers
- In-Vehicle WiFi
- OTA Update Function
- Online Amazon Music
- Online Navigation
- Rear Windshield Concealed Antenna
- SOS-Call Facility
- USB Port with Charging Function - 2
- Vehicle Status and Location
- 15in Alloy Wheels
- Black Roof
- Body Structure - Unibody
- Body-Coloured Door Handles
- Dual Fog Lamp and Double Reversing Lamp
- EV Logo
- Front Brake Disc
- Front Licence Plate Frame
- Front Nozzle
- Front Tow Hook
- LED License Plate Lighting
- Licence Plate Lamp
- One-Touch Power Windows with Anti-Pinch Feature for All Four Doors
- Panoramic Glass Sunroof with Power Blind
- Power Adjustable and Heated Exterior Door Mirrors
- Rear Brake Disc
- Rear Power Windows
- Rear Reflex Reflector
- Rear Windshield Heating
- Remote Vehicle
- Tail Logo
- Tailgate License Plate Holes
- Tyre Repair Kit
- Window Lock Switch
- 2 Rear-Seat ISOFIX
- 2nd Row Seat Belt Reminder
- ADDW - Advanced Driver Distraction Warning
- AEB - Autonomous Emergency Braking
- Alcohol Interlock Interface
- Anti-lock Braking System - ABS and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution - EBD
- Auto Hold
- Automatically Activated Door Locking Systems
- Bluetooth Key
- Brake Assist Systems - EBA - BAS - BA
- Brake Override System - BOS
- Central Door Lock
- Collision Auto-Unlock
- DOW - Door Opening Warning
- Door Unclosed Reminder
- Driver Airbags
- Driver Seat Belt Reminder
- Driver Seat Departure Reminder
- Driver and Front Passenger Side Curtain Airbags
- EDR - Event Data Recorder
- Electronic Parking Brake - EPB
- Electronic Stability Control - ESC - ESP - DSC
- Emergency Stop Signal - ESS
- Front 3-Point Pre-Tensioners Seat Belts
- Front Passenger Airbags
- Front Side Airbags - Driver and Passenger
- Hazard Alarm System
- Hill-Start Assist
- Horn for Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System - AVAS
- ISA - Intelligent Speed Assist
- Lane Keep Assist with Lane Change Alert
- Passenger Seat Belt Reminder
- Rear 3-Point Emergency Locking Retractor ELR Safety Belts
- Rear Door Child Locks
- Rear Side-Looking Millimetre Wave Radar - 2 Angle Radar
- Remote Control Keys
- Traction Control - ASR - TCS - TRC
- Warning Triangle
- 3 Driving Modes
- ACC - Adaptive Cruise Control
- BSD - Blind Spot Detection
- Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning
- Front Collision Warning
- LDW - Lane Departure Warning
- Rear Parking Distance Sensors
- Rear-view Camera with Dynamic Guidelines
- Scheduled Charging
- Side Collision Sensors
- Steering Modes - 3
- Tyre Pressure Monitor System - TPMS
- User Manual - English
- Voice Control
- AC Charging Plug Lock
- Battery Cooling - Natural Cooling
- Battery Separator Heating
- CCS Charging Port
- Electric Power Steering
- Front Suspension - Mcpherson
- On-Board Charger 6.6kW
- Rear Suspension - Torsion Beam
- Regenerative Braking
- Self-Developed Permanent Magnetic Synchronic e-Motor
- Type 2 Mode 2 Charging Cable
- Type 2 Mode 3 Charging Cable
- Air Conditioning Refrigerant - R1234YF
- Air Conditioning System - Touch Screen
- Anti-Dazzling Interior Rear View Mirror - Manual
- Back Door Switch
- Boot Light
- Centre Console Storage Box
- Chrome Interior Door Handles
- Cockpit Sound Package
- Column Operated Drive Selector
- Cup Holders
- Driver Seat with 6-Way Manual Adjustment
- Driver Sunvisor with Vanity Mirror
- Driver and Front Passenger Sunvisor
- Electrical Air Conditioning - Single Zone
- Electronic Gear-Shifter at Steering Column
- Fabric Headliner - Non-Woven
- Front Door Armrest Trim Cover
- Front Integrated Seats
- Front Passenger Seat with 4-Way Manual Adjustment
- Front Passenger Sunvisor with Vanity Mirror
- Front Row Reading Lights
- Headliner Handles
- Inflation Pump
- Injection - Molded Rear Door Trim Armrest Area
- Injection - Moulding Instrument Panel
- Keyless Start System
- Lidded Glovebox
- Multi-Function Steering Wheel
- Rear Seats Head Restraints
- Rear Seats Integrated Folding
- Steering Wheel Adjustment - Up and Down
- Trunk Lamp
- Automatic Halogen Headlights
- Brake Lamp - LED
- Headlight Height Manual Adjustment
- High Beam Headlights - Halogen and Lens
- High Mount Brake Lamp - LED
- High Position Brake Light
- LED Daytime Running Lights
- Low Beam Headlights - Halogen and Lens
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Your questions answered
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Contract Hire ('Leasing') is subject to status and approval and is only available to UK residents aged 18 and over. Vehicle must be returned with no more than fair wear and tear to avoid further charges. You will not own the vehicle. Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply.
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