Leapmotor C10 Review

Read Caroline’s Leapmotor C10 review for everything you need to know about buying Leapmotor’s new SUV in Ireland.

Leapmotor is a Chinese car brand that arrived in Ireland in 2025. Its expansion into Europe has been backed by the Stellantis Group, which owns iconic brands like Peugeot, Opel, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Citroen.

The brand is already building a strong dealer presence. Its Irish launch is spearheaded by three models in showrooms now: the T03 electric city car, the B10 compact SUV and a larger SUV called the C10.

The C10 is available as a REEV range extender with a petrol engine and battery, or as a full battery electric vehicle like the one reviewed here.

Design

The new Leapmotor C10 makes a great first impression with a lot of style that’s sure to help it stand out. The colour palette is classy and reserved, just like the alloy wheel designs: 18-inch for the Style and 20-inch for the Design.

The C10 is a big car with a sizable presence. It rivals the likes of the Skoda Enyaq, BYD Sealion 7, Kia EV5 and Tesla Model Y. But the sleek surfacing and modern design cues like the rear light bar and flush door handles give it just the right amount of kerb appeal. It’s bound to appeal to SUV buyers. LED headlights come as standard and provide excellent night-time visibility.

Interior

Leapmotor has clearly taken inspiration from Tesla for its C10, opting for a minimalist interior dominated by screens and clean lines. Quality is decent, with soft furnishings used throughout. The orange-brown upholstery in the test car won’t be to all tastes but black is also available.

The cabin features a 10.25-inch digital instrument panel paired with an impressive 14.6-inch central display. There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto as yet. But built-in navigation, Bluetooth and a Spotify app can be just as useful. Pretty much all the car’s features are controlled through the screen, which can be overwhelming at first. But after spending some time to delve into the menus, it proves to be easy enough to navigate.

A panoramic glass roof, wireless phone charger, power-adjustable front seats and a 360-degree camera are all standard. Most buyers are expected to opt for the €1,500 more expensive Design trim, which adds a powered tailgate, heated/ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel and synthetic leather upholstery.

Design also adds ambient lighting, which has a few quirks. For a start, I discovered it flashes when the car is put in reverse, which can be distracting when parking at night or in underground car parks. It also pulses green when the car is charging, which can be equally too much. However, both these features can be turned off via the screen.

Every time I opened the driver’s door, the right indicator flashed for a second. I couldn’t find a way to disable this feature and it was a bit annoying.

Practicality

The C10 is a spacious family SUV, particularly in the second row. There’s loads of legroom, two Isofix points and a centre armrest making it useful for family buyers.

The boot has a volume of 435 litres, which is not quite as big as the Enyaq. But it’s a really practical shape with a wide opening and plenty of underfloor storage. The rear seats can also fold 60:40 to create more space.

Battery & Range

Irish buyers can choose between a range-extender hybrid (REEV) and a full electric version. The all-electric C10 tested here uses a 69.9kWh LFP battery with a WLTP range of 420km. While the price is strong, rivals like the Skoda Enyaq 85 (up to 573km) and certain versions of the Tesla Model Y (tipping 600km) offer longer range options, though those are more expensive cars all things considered. The Leapmotor does not currently provide a bigger battery option. However it doesn’t suffer from heavy consumption. My average over a week of driving was 17.7kWh per 100km, which translates to real world range in the region of 395km. A heat pump is fitted as standard.

Charging

Charging capability includes 11kW AC and 84kW DC, allowing a 10–80% fast-charge in around 40 minutes, which is off the pace of the class best. Vehicle-to-load functionality is also included.

Driving

With 218hp, 320Nm, and a 0–100km/h time of 7.5 seconds, the Leapmotor C10 delivers strong performance. It’s rear wheel drive, and does offer a few driving modes including eco, comfort, sport and custom. There are also a few levels of regenerative braking, however these need to be adjusted through the screen.

The C10 has a relaxing, affable driving character. The steering is very light in the eco and comfort modes, though it does weight up quite artificially in the sport mode, but that seems a bit redundant in a family SUV like this. The ride quality is generally good, though the rear suspension feels firm over cracks and crevices in the road surface in town or on country roads. The brakes are too sharp and grabby at low speeds, which makes it impossible to smoothly bring to a stop.

Leapmotor includes a generous suite of ADAS features. Most of them work fine except the adaptive cruise control can be less than smooth when adjusting the speed of the car in response to traffic around it on the motorway.

The C10 is covered by a 6-year vehicle warranty and 8-year battery warranty.

Pricing

Pricing is one of the C10’s strongest assets, with Style models coming in at €38,995 and the fully loaded Design from €40,469.

Verdict

The Leapmotor C10 is not without a few quirks and flaws as I’ve discussed above, but offers a lot of car for the money that makes it impossible to ignore for cost-savvy buyers looking for a spacious electric SUV. Its relaxed, affable driving character has its appeal, while the classy, understated looks have the kerb appeal to compete at this level.

There’s loads of space inside for a family, and it’s comfortable too. However, the lack of a larger-battery option and modest charging speeds may limit its appeal to frequent motorway drivers, and some of the technology features need polishing for our roads.

Even so, for buyers seeking a well-priced electric SUV with strong equipment levels and a smart design, the C10 is a welcome arrival to the Irish market.

Leapmotor C10 Video Review

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Written by Caroline Kidd

Founder and Editor of Changing Lanes, Juror for Irish Car of the Year