Changan Deepal S05 Ultra PHEV (2026 - ) review

If you have a home charger the Deepal S05 PHEV could cost peanuts to run. The 62-mile electric range will cover most local trips and on longer journeys you should still get around 50mpg. I started the day with a full charge and after 70 miles of mixed driving my car barely seemed to have consumed any petrol. If you public charge your Deepal S05 Ultra it will take about 15 minutes to go from 30 to 80 per cent, though you probably won’t be doing that very often. Meanwhile, company car drivers gain Benefit in Kind advantages by choosing a plug-in hybrid, though the incentives for going fully electric are greater still.

Consider this a placeholder, but the early indications are positive. Changan has a keen focus on Europe with a design centre in Turin, an R&D facility in Birmingham and an expanding dealer network across offering sales and support. The S05 Ultra PHEV I tested felt well put together, but the felt-tip pen alignment markers on the front seat runners lacked the attention to detail of a more premium brand. Changan is clearly confident in its products, though, with its seven-year/100,000-mile warranty on the car and separate eight-year/124,000-mile cover for the battery. You'll also get up to three years of RAC roadside assistance.

There are 17 driver assistance systems in total. I liked the blind spot monitoring warnings in the head-up display as these appear in addition to the orange lights on the wing mirrors and the camera view on the central screen. This felt particularly important as I couldn't see much out of the car when I checked over my shoulder before pulling out. I was also a fan of the 360-degree cameras. However, the touch-screen temperature controls are small and fiddly. The intelligent cruise control could do with some tweaking as it turns off every time you make a slight adjustment to the steering or change lanes. And the bong for speed limit changes made me jump every time. Just how is this helpful? You can turn this off, and it’s no worse than almost every other car I've driven recently, but it's still annoying.

The Deepal S05 Ultra PHEV feels plusher than a Leapmotor B10, though the layout is very similar to other Chinese rivals. Unlike the electric version, there are two trims: Pro and Max. Entry-level Pro models get electric front seats, but range-topping Max versions get heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel and a fully reclining front passenger seat. Rear passengers have plenty of headroom and legroom, but it is pretty dark back there, so the optional panoramic roof is worth considering. The boot is a decent size, though there’s no underfloor storage. On the road refinement generally good, but things do get a bit scrambly over rougher surfaces around town. Levels of wind and road noise are average at motorway speeds but I found this totally masked the sound of the engine cutting in.

All cars get a large touch-screen supporting wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I thought the infotainment was more logical than in Leapmotor and Aion models, though the general idea is very similar and larger icons wouldn’t go amiss. In range-topping models, the screen can be tilted slightly towards either the driver or the passenger. This is less gimmicky than BYD’s fully rotating screen, but it doesn’t drastically improve ease-of-use. Still, there is voice control if you are that way inclined. Personally, I would choose the higher trim because you get a head-up display so you’re not reliant on the central screen for important driver information. With this upgrade you’ll also gain an electric tailgate, wireless phone charger and ambient lighting, too. The Deepal S05 Ultra PHEV also supports vehicle-to-load (V2L) allowing you to power other devices from the car’s battery.

Changan uses a very similar plug-in hybrid system to other Chinese brands; a large battery provides a significant electric-only range, while the engine mainly works as a range extender to keep the battery topped up, only directly driving the wheels occasionally. You can choose between EV or Hybrid mode, and you can also set the minimum amount of charge you want to keep in the battery, but I would recommend just sticking to Auto mode and letting the car get on with it. Ditto with the driving modes. Yes, you do have various options at your disposal – each subtly adjusting the regenerative braking, steering and responsiveness – but the changes are very slight and no combination will magic up the driving dynamics of a Porsche Macan. However, if you are after a well-priced, competent family SUV, pop the Deepal S05 in Eco mode and enjoy EV-like smoothness with a reassuring petrol engine to fall back on.