Living with an... Omoda 7 (Month 2)
The Omoda 7 is sleek, efficient and good value, but what's it like to live with? We find out!
Words by: Erin Baker
Last updated on 6 November 2026 | 0 min read
What is it?
- Model: Omoda 7
- Version: Super Hybrid (plug-in hybrid)
- Spec level: Noble
- Options fitted: Larimar green paint (£600)
- Price as tested: £35,605
Who’s testing it?
We like
- Fuel efficiency
We don’t like
- Everything is on the screen, including volume controls
Month 1 – Going the distance: what does the Omoda 7 really cost to run?
Erin says: "Omoda’s tech is so far behind that of Mercedes, Audi, Renault or Peugeot that I don’t even know where to start"
How much has it cost you?
About £350 this month on fuel because I’ve been from Kent to Cornwall and back for a week’s holiday with the boys and a load of holiday stuff, then Kent to Devon and back two days later. Obviously, I left with a full battery but once that was drained, I’m afraid I couldn’t be bothered to find a public charger in Cornwall and just chose to keep filling her up with petrol, thus lugging an empty battery around for a week. In fairness the car doesn’t let it drain totally and uses the petrol engine to put some charge back in it if necessary and keep it at about 20 per cent. It does all that automatically.
Where have you been?
Apart from the two one-off summer trips to the West Country, I’ve been tooling around my local town, and taking the kids to school three days a week, which is a 25-mile drive across country in each direction. It takes 45 minutes, not counting the sheep and cows on the road as we drive over Ashdown Forest. I’ve also done a tip run with a literal shedload of household waste.
What have you been carrying?
The trip down to Cornwall involved one paddleboard, three wetsuits, three suitcases, two bags of games, one bag of shoes, two boxes of booze and four supermarket bags of food. Oh and one 16-year-old son and one 13-year-old son. The trip to the tip involved large terracotta garden plant pots, a broken fan, eight punctured footballs (how do they manage that?), bags of cement mix, old sheets, two dead mice and a load of indescribable stuff from the back of the shed.
Delights?
You can’t argue with 54mpg all the way to Cornwall, or with the electric charge of 50 miles, which just about gets me to school and back every day, meaning that 99 per cent of my normal week’s driving is done on electric power from my house, with no need to use a frighteningly expensive petrol pump. I also really like the mint green paint colour, and the rear styling of this car.
Frustrations?
Why do people praise Chinese cars for their advanced tech? Omoda’s tech is so far behind that of Mercedes, Audi, Renault or Peugeot that I don’t even know where to start. The digital display behind the steering wheel is too small and fiddly and doesn’t prioritise the most useful information for a driver. When Apple CarPlay is on, the steering wheel blocks the right hand icons so you can’t see where to press. Everything is on the screen, with no buttons, even for volume or temp control, so if my son wants to turn the music up or down, he has to swipe the screen downwards to reveal the volume graphic then swipe that, which isn’t sensitive enough. It’s insane: bring back buttons.
This month in a nutshell
It’s a big, cheap, comfy, good-looking, efficient SUV. But the tech is driving me bananas.
Month 2 – Radio Ga Ga: the Omoda 7's tech leaves room for improvement
Erin says: "I give up: you cannot actually listen to the radio in this car"
How much has it cost you?
That 50 miles of electric range doesn’t seem to take me as far these days; the cold weather is definitely sapping the battery slightly, and I think I’ve just been covering more miles of late, so it’s gone by lunchtime and the petrol engine has kicked in: that noise is so triggering now petrol prices are so painful. The battery never goes completely dead: the car has an intelligent way of preserving about 15-20 per cent of charge so it can still flick between the two powertrains for maximum efficiency, so it swaps to hybrid mode once the battery goes under 20 per cent.
I’m trying to leave the car at home once the engine starts kicking in. If I return home at lunchtime, I’ll then take my little petrol Panda out in the afternoon, because lugging around an SUV with a half-dead battery is more inefficient, and therefore more expensive, than taking a small, light petrol car out for quick town journeys.
Where have you been?
It’s mainly still the daily school run with my two teenage boys on board and all their stuff, but I’ve had three trips abroad this year which have all departed from Heathrow and for me that’s a real slog round the M25. One truly traumatic trip to Heathrow at 6am took me two and a half hours: I was flying to Munich for work and arrived at the short stay carpark of Terminal 2 at 8.29am for a 9am flight… and made it, mostly because I slung the car into a space which opened up just as I pulled into the carpark. But I've never been so stressed in my life, so I feel like my Omoda and I have really been through it together.
What have you been carrying?
I had to take some very big, very heavy sacks of building waste to the dump which was the highlight of the month. Oh no, I tell a lie: I also put an overnight bag behind my seat when I set off for the station on a work trip to Manchester, then left it there so had to go away for work with no pants or toothbrush. There you go: two exciting highlights this month. Plus my gorgeous boys, both of whom love this car because it does have an ace sound system with brilliant bass.
Delights?
That audio system which is provided by Sony. It’s nothing fancy but it’s up there with the big multi-speaker topics from other manufacturers that you can spend a fortune upgrading to. The space and comfort remain the biggest pleasures for my 16-year-old and 13-year-old.
Frustrations?
I give up: you cannot actually listen to the radio in this car. Every five seconds, the traffic announcements interrupt whatever station you’re listening to. I have turned them off time and time again, and according to the menu, they are permanently turned off, and yet they keep coming. Also, the car interrupts every five seconds to tell me I’m about to fog up and the de-misting system has been turned on. Literally, at least five times every trip.
Also, I got in one day and it said to me “Every time we meet, we are full of energy”. Which sounded quite sinister. For the love of God, shut up. Also, all four tyre pressure readouts are permanently showing in a yellow warning colour now. It is temperature related, so as it gets colder they stay yellow more on my driver display with a warning triangle. What could be more pointless?
This month in a nutshell
Just too many minor frustrations I’m afraid.
