Geely EX2 review

Geely's European domination plans continue with a Renault 5-rivalling electric supermini

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Geely, the mothership of Volvo, Lotus, Smart and a bunch of others, is serious about becoming a mainstream player in the UK.

Despite its first two models, the EX5 and Starray SUVs getting less-than-glowing reviews, it’s making good headway, having already sold over 6000 of them since the start of the year.

Now it’s launching a third car, the Geely EX2, a small electric hatchback that’s meant to rival the Renault 5 with some surprising features.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Geely calls the EX2 a B-segment hatchback with the space of a C-segment car, but in reality it straddles the two segments. At 4135mm long, it’s definitely a bit bigger than a Renault 5, Mini Cooper or Fiat Grande Panda, but it’s not quite the size of a Cupra Born or Renault Megane. Its closest analogue would be the original MG 4 EV, although it's pitched more at the new MG 4 EV Urban in terms of price and range.

Like that MG, it has its motor at the rear for rear-wheel drive, which remains quite unusual in such an inexpensive small car. Supposedly Geely wanted it in order to please the notoriously picky Europeans with premium driving dynamics.

China is outlawing hidden door handles, so unlike the EX5 and lots of other new cars, the EX2 has conventional ones. They’re still flush but they actually work properly.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The real benefit is that with no motor in the front, there’s space for a frunk, and unencumbered by driveshafts, the front wheels can turn freely, giving the EX2 a turning circle worthy of a London taxi. By the way, guess who owns the company that makes the TX these days?

Given that the EX2 is aimed at the Renault 5, its battery and motor line-up seems a little under-specified. Depending on the trim level, you can choose between a 35.4kWh battery with an 81bhp motor and 157 miles of range or a 47.1kWh battery with a 114bhp motor and 214 miles. The latter option is roughly equivalent to what you get in the Grande Panda and the short-range versions of the 5 and Cooper, but the entry-level EX2 is closer to the Renault Twingo on spec, except in a much bigger car.

Naturally, Geely’s bumf for the EX2 includes plenty of designery words about the styling, but like the EX5 and Starray, this is a pretty generic-looking car – not an exact copycat of anything but with lots of elements you’ve seen elsewhere. It rolls on 16in wheels, but even with pretty tall (205/60) tyres, it can’t shake that under-wheeled budget-car look.

To its credit, it’s available in a range of mildly interesting pastel colours rather than just greyscale, but if you put it next to a Renault 5 it might as well be invisible.

INTERIOR

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True to Geely’s claim, the EX2’s big selling point is its interior space. At 375 litres, the boot is class-leading, and that’s before you get to the 70-litre frunk. It gets further points because you can open the frunk using the key, instead of having to search for a lever in the footwell.

Inside, there’s a massive glovebox and a sort of alcove under the rear seats. Those rear seats can actually accommodate adults, which isn't really the case in the Renault 5.

There’s a wireless phone charger, but it’s not cooled so it just cooks your phone. One of the two USB ports is a USB-A, which is quickly going the way of the Scart cable.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

If I’m being generous, the dashboard design resembles that of a Ford Mustang described over the phone, which is at least more interesting than the one in the EX5 but not a patch on the creative designs in the European rivals.

You can choose between a bluish grey upholstery and a light cream one, which are a nice change from the usual depressing black.

One disappointment is the materials. We’re used to Chinese manufacturers covering everything in soft-touch faux-leather, but in the EX2 cheap-feeling plastics dominate, yet it still has a nasty chemical vinyl smell, particularly if it has sat in the sun for a while.

Away from all that, the rest of the interior is typical for Chinese cars at this level: slightly annoying and with some ergonomic issues. The seats lack under-thigh and lumbar support but otherwise the driving position is fine – and adjustable with physical controls.

Meanwhile, the infotainment system does Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly and has a customisable lower toolbar that keeps the climate controls accessible at all times. The rest of the native interface is a bit of mess, with confusing menus, poor functionality and wonky translations, but, other than to turn off the ADAS, you can mostly just ignore it.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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I've not driven the entry-level version, with its yawning 14.2sec 0-62mph time, only the 114bhp version, which is neither enjoyably fast nor problematically slow. It’s just sufficient, but the calibration could be better.

It seems the engineers were so terrified of this 114bhp rear-drive monster fishtailing away from the line that they made the power ramp up very gently from a stop, even if you floor it. As a result, it can feel alarmingly slow when you try to nip into a busy roundabout.

The regenerative braking isn’t very sophisticated either. If you set it to Low and just use the brake pedal to slow down, it’s fine, but the High setting makes it very hard to drive smoothly, because it just ramps up the deceleration when you get off the accelerator, rather than reserving some pedal travel for regen. There’s no one-pedal function, either.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The amount of steering lock the EX2 has and its resulting turning circle are incredible. I spent a few minutes just going in circles in the car park, because it really does have the low-speed agility of a shopping trolley.

Being rear-wheel drive, this would be an amazing drift car if it had actual power. One to keep in mind if the world’s drifting schools ever run out of cheap old BMWs.

Anyway, to more relevant matters. If you drive the EX2 like most of them will be driven, it does the job. It doesn’t come close to the sophistication of the European options, but it’s also not objectionable in the way it goes down the road.

The steering is a bit weird in how it’s light and vague most of the time but then becomes heavy and vague at motorway speeds.

It rides pretty well, though, and it’s quiet on the motorway. European EX2s are fitted with Yokohama tyres instead of anything homespun.

Unsurprisingly, the big deal-breaker here is the ADAS. Although the adaptive cruise control works passably well, all the mandatory safety stuff is infuriatingly intrusive and laborious to turn off.

There are three different types of lane keeping assistance, all of them are terrible, and they all need to be turned off on every drive in a sub-menu by pressing one thing and then pressing confirm.

Then there are the speed limit warning and driver monitoring, which are also terrible and live in different sub-menus.

Geely’s people say that an over-the air update is coming with a quicker way to turn it all off, but I couldn’t buy a car knowing that there was a possibility that I’d have to endure this nonsense for just a day.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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At this point, you’re probably expecting to read that this new Chinese car is incredibly cheap, but the EX2 actually isn’t.

There are three versions. The £20,990 Pro has the 157-mile, 81bhp powertrain. At £23,490, Max comes with the same equipment but the 214-mile 114bhp powertrain. Finally, for £25,490, Ultra adds a six-speaker audio system, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless phone charging and a power tailgate. Realistically, then, Ultra is the one you want.

You can’t get a standard-range (192 miles) Renault 5 in a similarly high spec to Ultra, but it’s cheaper than the EX2 Max. A Grande Panda La Prima with all the bells and whistles is cheaper than an EX2 Ultra. A Ford Puma Gen-E with the Winter Pack is only marginally more expensive. Granted, if you need equivalent interior space, you’re looking at an MG 4 EV Urban, which is priced about the same, but that has a nicer interior.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the EX2 gets a rapid price adjustment and/or some very aggressive monthly deals before it's launched in earnest in September.

The bigger battery can take up to 80kW rapid charging, which is acceptable for the class.

The claimed energy efficiency is only 4.0mpkWh, but the car appeared to match that on my test drive in summer conditions. Rivals are likely to be more efficient.

Both battery options are of the lithium-iron-phosphate type, which don’t mind being charged to 100% on a regular basis.

VERDICT

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Unlike the many cheery options populating today’s small EV market, which draw you in with their design and driving dynamics, the EX2 is not a car you’re likely to desire.

It’s very roomy for the class and it’s perfectly all right to drive and spend time in, but the intrusive and hard-to-turn-off ADAS are a huge turn-off.

It needs the option of a bigger battery and it’s currently not cheap enough to really draw attention.

Priced right, it could be a very decent budget option, but currently it’s a bit too expensive and not polished enough to beat the Renault 5.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S or a 1990 BMW 325i Touring.