GWM Ora: Quick off the grid

by Chris Riley  What is it? For those looking to buy their first electric car, the GWM Ora could be a prime candidate. It's one of t...

by Chris Riley 

What is it?

For those looking to buy their first electric car, the GWM Ora could be a prime candidate.

It's one of the cheaper and better offerings currently available, with prices starting from an affordable $39,990 driveway.

That gets you a stylish, large hatch that is well equipped, with decent range and plenty of performance.

Competitors around the same size and price include the MG4 and BYD Dolphin.

Unsurprisingly, all three are from China -- which says something.

What’s it cost?

Ora is available in four grades, with a choice of five two-tone colour combinations.

There's Standard Range, Extended Range, Ultra and GT, priced from $39,990 plus on-roads for the Standard model.

Extended Range is priced from $45,990, Ultra from $48,990 and the GT from $51,990 -- all before on-road costs.

Standard Range and Extended Range are equipped exactly the same.

The only difference lies in the size of the battery and the driving range that it can provide from a single charge.

Standard equipment includes artificial leather and single-zone climate air, 18-inch alloys, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, digital instrument cluster, power-adjust front seats, LED lights front and back, auto lights and wipers, auto dimming rear view mirror, wireless phone charging pad, keyless entry and start, plus Apple CarPlay.

There's also adaptive cruise control, speed sign recognition and rear parking sensors.

Ultra adds an electric hands-free tailgate, a panoramic sunroof, front parking sensors, heated steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats with massage, plus electric auto-folding mirrors with memory function.

GT ups the ante with some sporty styling cues including different alloys, bumpers and grille, along with red brake calipers that set it apart.

It also gets automatic parking and a light for the vanity mirror.

Infotainment includes a 10.25-inch full colour touchscreen, another 10.25-inch screen for the driver, Bluetooth, AM/FM radio, Apple CarPlay and six-speaker no name audio.

There's two USB-A ports and a 12-volt outlet in the front and a single USB-A port in the rear, plus a wireless charge pad located conveniently towards the rear of the centre console box.

Missing are DAB digital radio, built-in navigation and Android Auto.

Ora has been awarded five stars for crash safety by ANCAP.

Seven airbags including a centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes are standard on all grades.

Autonomous emergency braking car to car works at speeds from 5 to 150km/h, with additional support at lower speeds for vulnerable road users, junction assist and backover.

Also provided are Lane support with lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW), emergency lane keeping (ELK), and a speed assistance system (SAS) are standard.

There's also blind spot monitor and a 360-degree camera with configurable car display.

ISOFix and top tether child seat anchors are provided for the two outer rear seats, with a top tether for the centre position.

A tyre repair kit is supplied in lieu of a spare wheel.

Ora comes with a 7-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, 8-year battery warranty and 5-years roadside assistance.

Service is required at 12 months or 15,000km, with services capped at $99 for the first five visits.

What’s it go like?

First up.

Locking and unlocking the car works a little differently to most cars.

Pull the door handle or press the unlock button on the key fob and the car not only unlocks, but powers up ready to roll.

There's no start/stop button as such. It's simply a matter of slipping behind the wheel, selecting drive or reverse and you're good to go.

When you're done, push P for park and the Ora applies the electric parking brake -- well, did you think it was going to be mechanical?

At this point the car remains fully operational. It doesn't actually turn off until you push the lock button on the key fob.

Here is where we foresee problems. What if you want access to the car but don't want it running when you do so -- for instance when you're vacuuming the inside?

Getting in and out of the Ora is relatively easy, with wide-opening doors and plenty of headroom for taller people courtesy of the tall stance.

The front seats are wide and accommodating, with power adjustment, but are flat and lack lateral support.

Rear legroom is also generous and the back seat provides comfortable accommodation for two adults or three children.

The trade-off can be found in the boot which is rather small, with only 228 litres of space available behind the rear seat.

And, unlike some EVs, there is no additional storage space available under the front bonnet.

In terms of practicality, the boot will happily accept a few bags of shopping, but the tailgate will not close on medium to large suitcases, which means dropping all or part of the rear seat.

Forward, side and rear vision are good, but the privacy glass makes manoeuvring difficult at night.

The cabin is clean and uncluttered, with two screens housed within a single frame, one for the driver and one for infotainment.

Make sure you set the display to night mode otherwise you might have trouble reading the pale, washed out display.

While you're at it, be sure to turn off 'nanny' cam. That's the camera mounted on the inside of the front pillar near the driver -- or it will drive you nuts.

A row of switches are located below the touchscreen a la Mini, but serve no significant purpose.

The seats are trimmed in artificial leather with contrasting blue-stitching, a design repeated on the doors with a quilted finish.

The top of the dash has an interesting upmarket finish, but just below this plenty of generic black plastic is in evidence.

There's climate air but alas no rear air vents.

Also missing are digital radio, built-in navigation and Android Auto. What idiot approved this?

All four grades are fitted with the same single electric motor that produces 126kW of power and 250Nm of torque, with drive to the front wheels via a one-speed automatic transmission.

The auto offers Standard, Sport, Eco, Eco+ and Auto drive modes, along with adjustable brake energy recovery and one-pedal driving.

Standard Range has a 48kWh battery that offers 310km of range (WLTP) while the 63kWh battery in the Extended Range, Ultra and GT grades is good for up to 420km (400km in the case of the GT).

The dash from 0-100km/h takes 8.4 seconds in all but the GT which ironically does it in 8.5 seconds.

Top speed is 160km/h.

The charge port can be found at the front on the passenger side of the car where there are AC and DC sockets that accept a maximum of 11kWh from an AC charger or 80kW with DC.

Charging the 48kW battery from empty to 100 per cent with a standard 10A household powerpoint takes 24 hours.

With an 11kW three-phase AC charger that time drops to 6.5 hours.

With an 80kW DC fast charger 0-80 per cent takes 60 minutes.

With the larger 62kW battery these times are 32 hours, 8.5 hours and 40 minutes.

Them's the basics anyway.

Our test vehicle was the Extended Range, priced from $45,990 plus on-roads (or $47,045 driveway in NSW).

It's a fun, surprisingly practical little car to drive, ideally suited to the requirements of city dwellers provided you have access to the necessary charger.

Ora accelerates quickly and stops sharply, and used as intended for short trips rather than longer interurban travel, we found the car did not require charging over the week that we had it.

Weighing 1540kg, with a low centre of gravity, it feels planted and handles pretty well, as we discovered pushing hard through some corners over some favourite less travelled roads.

The one blot in an otherwise exemplary copy book is a lousy turning circle, evidenced by the lack of lock displayed by the front wheels in our photos.

And the tyres do however generate quite a bit of noise on coarse bitumen.

Rated at 16.5hWh/km, we were getting 14.5 after just over 300km of mixed driving.

What we like?

• Stylish
• Quality feel
• Well equipped
• Satisfying performance
• Relatively cheap for an EV
• Perfect for city dwellers with access to power

What we don’t like?

• Small boot
• Small turning circle
• No rear air vents
• Too many features controlled from touchscreen
• Nanny cam
• Tugs a bit
• No DAB
• No satnav
• No Android Auto
• Tyre noise on coarse bitumen
• some cheap plastics

The bottom line?

Ora’s kind of cute and relatively cheap for an EV.

It goes pretty well too and has the sort of range that you can work with if your driving is confined to the suburbs.

However, the lack of Android Auto is a major oversight, especially without built-in navigation to fall back on – one that will hopefully be addressed soon.

And let's not forget that seven-year warranty. That's money in the bank, people. Good job.

 

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