What's the difference?
It’s about time for a change. Since the beginning of the EV era, Tesla has been the dominant name, and not without good reason.
Tesla made electric cars popular, cool, and above all, accessible. To this day, the Model 3 and Model Y remain excellent purchases in their respective categories.
And yet, the tide seems to be turning. Many buyers haven't been thrilled by Elon Musk's antics, how popular the Tesla brand has become or maybe they never liked the look and feel of Tesla to begin with.
For those prospective EV buyers, it looks like BYD is set to be the next big thing in electric cars.
Offered at a far more accessible price-point, the Chinese brand still stands out with its distinctively styled vehicles and innovative features.
And the new car we’re looking at for this review, the Dolphin hatchback, could be the one to elevate the brand to the levels of popularity and recognition Tesla currently enjoys.
At the time of writing, it was also the most affordable electric car you can buy in Australia. But is it more than that? Read on to find out.
The Leapmotor C10 mid-size SUV has been on sale in Australia for more than six months now, but a lot of people still give you a puzzled look when you mention the brand.
Initially offered in electric vehicle (EV) form only, the Chinese carmaker has now introduced a petrol-electric hybrid version to bring the fight to the BYD Sealion 6, Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV and Jaecoo J7 SHS, among others.
Dubbed the C10 REEV (Range Extender Electric Vehicle), it reintroduces a powertrain technology that has previously only been offered in two cars locally. These include the Holden Volt and BMW i3 REx.
With an electric motor providing all the driving power, there’s also a petrol engine that acts purely as a generator. This is claimed to allow the car to still feel like an EV, but also have the flexibility of being able to fuel up for longer distances.
Australian deliveries of the C10 REEV started a few months ago, but CarsGuide is now getting a first local drive of this car following a brief drive in Europe back in April.
How does it stack up? Read along to find out.
@carsguide.com.au Can you tell the difference between these two 2025 Leapmotor C10 models? ⚡ On the right is the new C10 REEV (Range-extender electric vehicle) which has only recently arrived in Australia. Here are some fast facts: ⏩ 158kW electric motor ⏩ 1.5L petrol engine generator ⏩ Up to 1150km total range ⏩ $43,888 before on-roads P.S. How good does Jade Green look? P.P.S. If you said the difference between the cars is also the interior colours, pat yourself on the back #leapmotor #c10 #leapmotorc10 #reev #rangeextender #EV #SUV #car #carsguide #fyp
♬ original sound - CarsGuide.com.au
Chinese manufacturers have been impressing us lately with the strides they’ve been making, and BYD is no exception with its Dolphin.
Not only does this hatch help bring the price down for prospective EV buyers, but it leaves a solid impression of a cohesive, well-built car, which is also quite a bit of fun to drive.
It’s not the fastest, nor is it the most practical, and there are a handful of downsides to its design and software, but when it comes down to it, this is simply a great value entry-level electric car.
Plug-in hybrids are really gaining popularity in Australia and it’s great to see the reemergence of range-extender technology because it allows you to drive an EV, but not have the inherent range anxiety that comes with it.
The Leapmotor C10, as a base, is far from a perfect car, but its appealing price point and the amount of space it offers is commendable. It's not a driver's car, but rather just a means of transportation.
The C10 REEV's range-extender powertrain firms as the pick of the C10 line-up if you want the flexibility of being able to charge up the car, or just fuel it up with petrol for simplicity's sake. While it mightn’t be as efficient as rival PHEVs, it generally is quieter, safety system chimes aside.
I look forward to seeing whether Leapmotor can continue to improve the safety systems in the C10 because while the REEV on test here is better than the original EV I drove earlier this year, the way the systems operate still makes it hard to recommend.
You wouldn’t know it in Australia, but BYD has a huge and diverse range of vehicles with lots of different styling approaches in its home market of China.
The cars we get here, though, consisting of this Dolphin hatch, the Atto 3 small SUV, and the upcoming Seal sedan all seem to share more or less the same curvy, futuristic theme.
Contemporary touches on the exterior of the Dolphin include the bar light and full ‘Build Your Dreams’ typeface embedded in the rear, the blocky gloss black alloy wheels (17-inch on the Premium we tested), the two-tone colour scheme, and of course, the grille-free face.
Short overhangs and a tall body seal the EV deal, with the Dolphin looking closest in its aesthetic to something like the Volkswagen ID.3 than anything else on the market. It perhaps won’t be for everyone - it’s a little more experimental than the more conventional look worn by the MG4 - but then, for others this distinctiveness may be a selling point.
The interior look and feel is the biggest surprise. Somehow, the Dolphin, despite being more affordable than its larger Atto 3 sibling, feels a cut above when it comes to its design theme and build quality.
The weirdly organic touches designed to mimic muscle fibres in the Atto 3 have been traded out in favour of something a bit slicker.
I really like the material choices here. The use of neoprene across the lower half of the dash, in the doors, and down the centre of the seats feels a lot less pretentious than the standard synthetic leathers you usually get at this price-point, and there’s an agreeable mix of plastics as well as gloss and matt finishes.
The nods to this car’s name which are present are a bit more toned down and fit with the design in a more subtle way.
The floating door handles, designed to resemble a fin, are a much nicer piece than the weird rotary ones in the Atto 3, and the wavy touches across the top of the dash aren’t too in-your-face and add an element of intrigue. I like it much more than I expected to.
It’s clear this space is designed around the giant multimedia panel, for better or worse. It looks spectacular, it’s nice and sharp, and the software, which looks as though it’s trying to emulate Tesla, does a pretty good job.
It’s quick, sharp, colourful, and has nice large iconography to jab at while you’re on the move, although some of the driving settings are ambiguously labelled and require clicking through to a sub-menu to alter. You’d get used to it, but it isn’t as slick as a Tesla operating system.
It also rotates, because of course it does, although one quirk I found with this is the polarised coating on the screen made it impossible to see when in portrait mode if you were also wearing polarised sunglasses.
Also, Apple CarPlay doesn't work in portrait mode. A gimmick? You decide.
The floating physical rotary controls jutting out below are a also a brilliant little piece of design. On one side you have your gear shifter, and on the other you’ve got your volume control, between them there are core functions, an on/off switch and an auto button for the climate, as well as the hazard light and drive mode controls.
It would be nice to also have a fan speed and temperature toggle, as these functions can only be used through the touchscreen, but there are worse offenders for clumsy climate controls on the market.
If you haven’t already noticed, the Leapmotor C10’s technology seems heavily inspired by Tesla. The same can be said for its design, which is incredibly minimalist.
It’s hard to find any distinguishing features on the outside of the C10 that makes it uniquely a Leapmotor. Everything, even the car’s rounded, jelly bean-like silhouette, is generic and doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
In saying this however, the C10 REEV test car does turn heads and a few people asked what it was. This is likely because no one knows what a Leapmotor is.
It also helps the test car was finished in the delicious-looking Jade Green exterior paint. It’s definitely my pick of the available colour options.
There are the popular exterior design trends like animated lighting sequences, a rear LED light bar, connected front headlights, flush door handles, and Leapmotor script on the tailgate. Nothing revolutionary here in terms of design.
The only way to tell the C10 REEV apart from the C10 EV is its fuel filler flap on the right-hand side of the car. Everything else is identical.
Inside there are two colour choices – Black or Camel Brown. Our tester is fitted with the former, which is definitely the more conservative option.
Regardless of the colour option, the majority of the interior is finished in that colour. It’s more noticeable with the almost orange-looking brown colour option.
This makes the interior look a little bland as it lacks contrast and visual interest.
There’s no denying there are some high-end-feeling touches inside, especially for the price point. You really need to go searching for harder and scratchier plastics, but they are present lower down in the cabin.
Virtually every touch point is soft and spongey, with the entire dashboard being covered in a smooth synthetic leather. Pretty cool for $45k.
This is even before mentioning the seats. The top-spec C10 Design comes with silicone leather upholstery, which is by far one of the softest seats I’ve ever touched and sat in to date. It’ll be interesting how this finish holds up after years of use, however.
A lot of the interior design pivots around the large, 14.6-inch central touchscreen. Thankfully unlike Teslas, there’s also a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster which also displays critical information, like your current speed.
The clever design bits don’t end with the controls and themed motifs, either. While the Dolphin’s cabin feels a bit smaller than many of its rivals (because, physically, it is), efforts have been made to make it a versatile space.
There are plenty of little storage areas throughout. There’s the floating one below the touchscreen, which suits wallets and sunglasses. There’s one with a roll-out cover set low below the controls which is good for smaller objects you don’t want moving around the cabin.
A large cubby is located underneath the armrest between the two seats for bigger objects and a slick wireless phone charger cut out from the top.
The two centre bottle holders are a little small, as are the cut-outs in the doors, so if you’re negotiating with an XL takeaway soft drink you might run into trouble.
The dark theme for the interior in our car doesn’t help the more closed-in feel, but the standard panoramic fixed sunroof (mercifully with a rolling shade) helps to keep the space airy.
I found it easy to set up my driving position, another clever touch being the little digital instrument panel perched on the steering column, so no matter how you adjust it you can always see it.
I was a little concerned the rear seat would be tiny, because this car doesn’t look big from the outside, but I was most definitely wrong.
Behind my own seating position, at 182cm tall, I had leagues of knee room and plenty of space for my feet thanks to the flat floor. I also had sufficient but not stellar headroom, and the soft-touch materials continue into the doors and seat trim.
I will say, the abundance of synthetic leather is much more evident for rear passengers, but it feels like a minor complaint.
Again, the bottle holders in the doors are tiny, but at least the ones in the drop-down armrest are generous. The middle seat is very useful thanks to the flat floor, although there are no adjustable air vents for rear passengers.
The backs of the front seats have a variety of pockets in different shapes and sizes, and there are USB-C and USB-A ports on the back of the centre console, alongside a bizarre centre bottle holder which is on an angle.
Boot space is 345 litres if you move the false floor to its lowest position. I was just able to squeeze in the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with a bit of fiddling around.
With the second row down, room expands to 1310L, and you can bring the false floor up in the boot to make the load area flat.
The space underneath is quite good for storing charging cables and such, but keep in mind the Dolphin doesn’t offer additional frunk storage.
What it does offer is a vehicle-to-load adapter, which lets you power household appliances via its external charging port. Neat, and rare at this end of the EV market.
Although the Leapmotor C10 REEV is a mid-size SUV, its interior space feels considerably larger and more spacious, especially in the second row. This is because the car is built on an EV architecture and has no driveline running down the middle, so interior space can be maximised.
Up front both seats are electrically adjustable, though neither of them offer adjustable thigh support which is a pain for people with longer legs, like myself, as it can sometimes feel like you’re slipping out of the seat. It doesn’t help that the seats are so soft and buttery.
I will say though, the heated front seats and steering wheel get warm almost instantly, which was great in the almost Arctic weather Melbourne has been experiencing recently.
While I can appreciate the minimalist design of the dashboard, from a practical standpoint it’s a huge pain. There’s virtually no physical switchgear beyond the indicator and gear selector stalks, with the majority of the controls built into the touchscreen multimedia system.
Want to adjust your side-mirror position, the air-vent direction, or drive mode? That all needs to be done via the touchscreen. Sure there are some buttons on the steering wheel which help with functions like adjusting the volume and cruise control, but it doesn’t do them all.
This is incredibly frustrating because when you do interact with the touchscreen on the move, the driver attention monitor chimes at you for not keeping your eyes on the road ahead.
Add to this, the touchscreen runs Leapmotor’s own operating system. Admittedly it does run really smoothly, but it doesn’t offer any smartphone mirroring functionality, which is a negative for some.
I imagine you would get used to using the selection of inbuilt third-party apps if you own this car, but I find the connected satellite navigation app particularly painful because it would send me on a slower route. Having Google Maps or Waze would be much more intuitive.
Up front there are two cupholders next to the wireless charging pad, a storage shelf under the centre console, a massive centre console box, a mediocre glovebox, a USB-A and USB-C port, and a 12V socket.
Moving to the second row, it’s arguably the best place to be in the C10 REEV. There’s oodles of space on offer and a completely flat floor.
At a leggy 182cm tall, I had plenty of legroom behind my driving position and also plenty to look at thanks to the huge fixed panoramic glass sunroof which, thankfully, has an electric block-out blind if the sun gets too bright.
The second-row bench feels like a big, soft couch in the best way. It’s leans backwards, allowing you to lay back and relax as a passenger.
One of the few things that detract from the space is high floor, due to the high-voltage battery pack placement. It makes you feel like your knees sit higher than normal.
Second-row amenities include centre console-mounted air vents, USB-A and USB-C ports, seat-back map pockets, door pockets, and a fold-down armrest. If you’re looking for cupholders, they’re right next to the air vents on the centre console.
Like the C10 EV, you can fold the front seats backwards to create an almost-flat space for lounging. You need to remove the front seat headrests to do this, but once you do it’s a cool novelty to show to your friends, or use while charging.
Around the back the tailgate opens quickly and quietly. Once it’s open the space on offer is decent, but not class-leading.
Leapmotor claims there’s 546 litres of boot space on offer with the rear seats upright, which is 35 litres less than the C10 EV. Folding the rear seats expands this space to 1375 litres.
Boot-related amenities include a retractable cargo cover, a light, some bag hooks, as well as two boot floor storage compartments for things like the charging cable.
Unsurprisingly, there’s no spare wheel of any kind in the C10 REEV. Instead you get a tyre repair kit under the boot floor, which is handy if you have a slow leak but not if you have a complete tyre blowout.
Yep. This is the new cheapest electric car you can buy in Australia. This title is a frequently moving target, but again, at the time of writing, the entry-level Dolphin variant, at $38,890, before on-road costs and state-based incentives, undercut the MG4 by just $100, and the GWM Ora by $1100.
Importantly, its starting price is now in the realm of relevant combustion rivals. For similar money, you can hop into a high-spec Corolla (ZR Hybrid $39,100) for example, so this is the first time electric cars have become so affordable for the average consumer.
There are two Dolphin variants for now. The entry-level Dynamic, and the top-spec Premium. Both share more or less the same standard equipment levels, although they are differentiated by having different battery sizes and electric motor outputs.
You can’t talk electric car value without talking range, but thankfully, despite its low price, the Dolphin delivers on this front.
The base car scores a 44.9kWh battery, granting it a 340km WLTP-certified driving range, while the top-spec Premium ups this to a 60.5kWh unit, delivering a more substantial 427km range.
The entry battery is more than enough for city commuters, while the larger battery is enough to suit intercity freeway drives.
There are also plenty of longer-range EVs on the market, the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 being chief among them, but for a vehicle at this price and in this market segment, the Dolphin is a huge improvement on some mainstream offerings, like the Mazda MX-30 and Nissan Leaf which can’t offer the same price-to-value ratio.
A lot of BYD’s ability to provide such an appealing price and driving range is down to its battery technology.
Unlike other automakers which need to buy batteries from suppliers, BYD designs and builds its own batteries, using an LFP chemistry which is cheaper and uses fewer scarce materials while offering economies of scale as well as the exact right size and form factor for its vehicles.
If this leaves you thinking the Dolphin must be sub-par when it comes to standard inclusions, you can think again, because this car also delivers with 16-inch alloys, LED headlights and tail-lights, a massive 12.8-inch multimedia touchscreen with built-in nav as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a wireless phone charger, electrical adjust and heating for the front seats, keyless entry with push-start ignition, climate control, and a comprehensive suite of active safety items.
Not bad at all, and the interior blend of neoprene and synthetic leather feels a bit nicer than the base MG4's cabin, for example.
The Dolphin might be as cheap as it gets when it comes to an electric car, but the value on offer here speaks for itself.
Just like the EV, the Leapmotor C10 REEV is offered in two spec grades – Style and Design. Our test vehicle is the latter, which is top-spec.
Pricing for the C10 REEV starts at $43,888 before on-road costs, and extends to $47,888 before on-road costs. This is $2000 cheaper than the C10 EV.
It’s also firmly in the price bracket of plug-in hybrid rivals like the BYD Sealion 6, Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV and Jaecoo J7 SHS.
Standard equipment across the C10 REEV line-up mirrors the EV equivalents. On the base Style you get 18-inch alloy wheels, a fixed panoramic glass sunroof, automatic LED headlights, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a 14.6-inch touchscreen multimedia system, a 12-speaker sound system, synthetic leather upholstery and powered front seats.
It’s a pretty high level of equipment for a base-model vehicle, especially for the price point.
Moving up to the C10 REEV Design adds 20-inch alloy wheels, rear privacy glass, an LED rear light bar, a power tailgate, multi-colour interior ambient lighting, a heated steering wheel, silicone leather upholstery, and heated and ventilated seats.
While this does sound like a lot of standard equipment, there are some notable omissions. One of the most obvious is the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto across the entire range.
Leapmotor does however include apps like Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Deezer, Zoom, connected satellite navigation, and a browser app built into the touchscreen multimedia system as standard. TikTok was even added with a recent over-the-air software update.
Another feature omission is a regular key with buttons to unlock and lock the car. Instead you get a key card you need to tap on the driver’s side mirror to unlock and lock the vehicle, then tap on the wireless charger pad to start up the car.
You can also use your smartphone as a key, but it’s worth noting that you can only connect one smartphone key to the car at a time. This might be a pain if you share the car because one of you will need to use the key card instead of their phone.
It’s worth noting the Leapmotor smartphone app also gives you access to a range of remote functions, like battery charging, climate control, locking and unlocking, among others.
There’s the choice of two powertrains for the Dolphin. Both are single-motor front-wheel drive set-ups.
The base Dynamic can make use of 70kW/180Nm which sounds underpowered to me, but the car we tested for this launch review was the Premium which offers a much healthier 150kW/310Nm.
As well as the increase to battery capacity the Premium upgrades the suspension to a rear multi-link set-up.
While the base car seems like such a value buy, the increase in power, ride quality, and range seems to justify stretching to the Premium if your budget allows.
The key difference with the Leapmotor C10 REEV compared to the C10 EV is what’s under the bonnet.
Both feature an electric motor that drives the rear wheels, however the C10 REEV’s is slightly detuned to produce 158kW, compared to 160kW in the C10 EV. Torque for both is 320Nm.
Both also have a high-voltage lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack, but the C10 REEV's is smaller at 28.4kWh, compared to 69.9kWh in the C10 EV.
However, under the bonnet of the C10 REEV is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that acts as a generator to charge up the battery pack.
Unlike typical plug-in hybrids, the engine cannot directly power the wheels at all. It’s a similar concept to Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system, but with a considerably larger battery pack.
In addition to three driving modes, there are four ‘energy drive’ modes. EV+ doesn’t kick in the petrol engine generator until the battery charge drops below nine per cent; EV doesn’t start the battery until the battery charge drops below 25 per cent; Fuel, which can hold the battery charge or use the engine to generate charge up to 80 per cent; and Power+ which constantly has the engine charging the battery.
Leapmotor claims the C10 REEV can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.5 seconds, which is one second slower than the C10 EV.
It’s worth calling out the C10 REEV is around 30kg lighter than the C10 EV, but with a tare mass of almost 2000kg, it’s far from lightweight.
As previously mentioned, each variant also gets its own battery capacity. The entry-level Dynamic offers a 44.9kWh battery and 340km of driving range, while the top-spec car offers a 60.5kWh unit with a driving range of 427km.
Charging on a fast DC unit maxes out on 60kW for the Dynamic or 80kW for the Premium.
This sounds slow, with many rivals offering in excess of 100kW charging at a minimum, but because the Dolphin’s battery sizes are so trim, it still means an 80 per cent charge will arrive in a little over half an hour.
On the slower AC charging standard, the max speed is a disappointing 7.0kW. For a fully electric car, we prefer to see at least 11kW as it makes it worthwhile to plug-in to an AC unit at a shopping centre to add roughly 70 - 100km of range an hour.
Because the Dophin is also quite efficient, though, you can still expect about 50km an hour to be added on this charging standard.
Official energy consumption for the Premium as-tested is 14.2kWh/100km, and we saw an impressive 14.1kWh/100km on our brief test program, making it one of the more efficient EVs I’ve ever driven.
Leapmotor claims the C10 REEV has an electric range of up to 170km, according to NEDC testing.
All up with a single battery charge and full 50-litre fuel tank, the company claims you can travel a total of up to 1150km, also according to NEDC testing.
In EV mode, Leapmotor claims the C10 REEV has an energy consumption of 15.2kWh/100km. In practice during my testing I saw an average of around 13kWh/100km, which is fantastic and almost Tesla-like in terms of efficiency.
This theoretically means you can travel 218km on a full battery, but it's worth noting the battery pack will never fully deplete its charge.
Combined fuel consumption is claimed to be 0.9L/100km, though your fuel consumption will depend heavily on how much and how often you charge the car.
During my testing I tried out multiple different drive modes, including one section where I kept the car in a battery charge hold mode called ‘Fuel’. During this I saw an average of 6.7L/100km, which isn’t fantastic for a hybrid.
With this as-tested fuel consumption figure you can theoretically travel 820km on petrol power alone. Adding the theoretical EV range, you get a theoretical total range of 1013km.
You’re able to AC charge the C10 REEV at rates up to 6.6kW, which is notably slower than the C10 EV (11kW). The DC fast-charging rate is also notably slower at 65kW, compared to 84kW in the C10 EV.
It’s worth noting, however, Leapmotor claims you can DC charge the battery from 30 to 80 per cent in the C10 REEV in 18 minutes, whereas it takes 30 minutes in the C10 EV.
The Dolphin is immediately impressive. From the get-go I was greeted with a feeling of quality from the car in ways I didn’t expect. The steering feels nicely balanced and not too artificial like it can be on some EVs, while the interior is refreshingly ergonomic.
The ride might be the Dolphin’s most impressive trait, with a feeling of balance across both axles, and a spritely feel to the whole car.
It is trim for an EV, with a kerb weight of 1658kg, which no doubt helps the steering feel, and the efficiency.
As it is, I didn’t experience the kind of crashing and wallowing many EVs suffer from on larger bumps, and smaller bumps seemed to be filtered out with ease.
It even feels nicely balanced in the corners, pairing nicely with the great steering feel which is not something we’ve come to expect from Chinese cars.
The motor is also willing, with software tuning keeping power delivery on the right side of overwhelming, although the warm-hatch equivalent's seven second 0-100km/h sprint time is a hint at what it’s capable of.
Unfortunately, it is let down by a pretty sub-standard factory tyre package. The LingLong Comfort Masters are designed for the Dolphin, complete with little Dolphin markings on them, but are hardly inspiring for traction when you plant the accelerator or tip it into a corner with enthusiasm.
They are better than the pretty much no-name Atlas Batman A51 tyres which came on the Atto 3, but even MG has wised up to putting tyres from renowned manufacturers on its Australian-delivered cars.
The Dolphin is also easy to park, thanks to its excellent surround camera suite and tight footprint, but visibility out of the tiny rear window is limited and made worse by the huge headrests for the outboard back seats.
In terms of electric driving characteristics the Dolphin offers two levels of regen braking, one which is virtually non-existent, and another mild tune.
Surprisingly, there’s no single-pedal mode, and the Dolphin leans on blended braking more than some of its rivals. It feels a lot more traditional to drive in this sense, so may be well suited to someone hopping out of a combustion car.
The drive modes are quite dramatic, with 'Eco' mode limiting motor torque and even switching off the climate control, while 'Sport' will make bouts of wheelspin a bit too easy by upping the response time from the motor. I found it best to stick to the nicely-balanced 'Normal' setting.
Tl;dr? The Dolphin is impressive. It’s responsive, relatively light, and has a sense of quality to it through its great ride and decent handling. Not bad for the cheapest EV in Australia.
Setting off in the Leapmotor C10 REEV, it’s surprising just how much it’s like the EV version.
The rear-mounted electric motor provides all the power, so you get a zippy feel from a standstill and at lower speeds. The acceleration is gradual and won’t snap your neck like some EVs.
This car is beautifully quiet and serene in pure EV mode. The light steering and tight turning circle also makes this an easy car to drive and park in the city.
However, the pedals feel like they’re mounted too high, which makes you awkwardly bend your ankles back to press the pedals comfortably. This can be tedious in stop-start traffic.
Add to this the disjointed interaction between the regenerative braking system and traditional friction brakes. There were many times where I’d be pressing the brake pedal and as soon as the car got below 5km/h it would stop dead. It’s not the most pleasant feeling and something I never mastered during my three-day loan.
Depending on how often you charge up the car’s battery pack, it’s possible that you might never have the 1.5-litre petrol engine kick in during your daily commute. Even if it does when the battery charge gets down low enough, you likely would not be able to tell.
The first few times it happened I genuinely had no clue the engine had started. There’s no jolt through the accelerator or dip in acceleration. The only way I found out was by going into the vehicle status menu on the touchscreen and seeing the engine temperature and revs in the top left-hand corner. It really is that quiet.
When the engine is charging up the battery at city speeds, it’ll rarely rev above 1800rpm, which at that point it’s imperceptible in the cabin. Out on the open road however it can creep up to 2500rpm, which then makes its presence known a little more. It's still nowhere as buzzy as a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, however.
For a brief period I tried out the Power+ mode on some country roads and I found the engine really did come alive at this point, and not in a good way. It would frequently rev above 3000rpm, and the droning engine sound would enter the cabin.
The Leapmotor C10 REEV is generally a nippy car, but when the battery charge does get down it can limit the amount of power the electric motor sends out.
Below 25 per cent a charge warning light comes up on the digital instrument cluster, and unless you’re in Power+ mode, it limits the power output to around 100kW. It’s not terribly slow, but if you’re needing to overtake, it can notably slow the process down.
In terms of dynamics, Leapmotor claims the C10’s suspension was tuned by Maserati engineers. Like the C10 EV I drove previously, however, the ride errs on the comfort side and big bumps can unsettle the car.
In the twisties the car is also far from a dynamic weapon. It tends to get the leans in the bends and can wallow around when changing directions rapidly. The steering also has no feel whatsoever, making it feel like you’re piloting a car in a video game.
For context though, none of its direct rivals are fantastic from a high-speed dynamics standpoint, so it’s almost par for the course.
The Dolphin was recently awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating and is equipped with seven airbags and a robust list of active safety gear.
There’s auto emergency braking, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, rear cross-traffic alert, front cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, and adaptive cruise control.
It’s one thing to have great active safety items, it’s quite another to calibrate them well so they don’t interfere with the driving experience.
The Dolphin does okay on this front. I found the lane keep system could occasionally be alarmingly heavy-handed, although it activates less than the very annoying system on my Haval Jolion long-termer.
The pre-collision alert also triggered several times due to parked cars on the side of the road, but turning down the sensitivity seemed to solve this problem.
Also included is an excellent 360-degree camera suite, ISOFIX points on the rear outboard seats, a ‘child presence detection’ system, which apparently sounds a warning if you leave a child in the back seat, and turns the air conditioning on if you ignore it, and there's even a tyre pressure monitoring system to top it off.
Unlike the Leapmotor C10 EV, the C10 REEV hasn’t been awarded an ANCAP safety rating just yet. It also hasn’t been crash tested by Euro NCAP.
Standard safety equipment includes seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, driver attention monitoring, lane-keep assist, lane centring, adaptive cruise control, a surround-view camera, and rear parking sensors.
A notable absence on the safety equipment list is front parking sensors. This isn’t offered on any Leapmotor C10.
As noted above, the C10 REEV offers a range of connected services. Owners get three years of complimentary access to a range of remote functions through the Leapmotor smartphone app.
In terms of the safety system’s functionality, this C10 REEV's does feel less intrusive than the C10 EV I drove back at the vehicle’s launch in February 2025, however that was a very low bar as they were horrific.
It’s worth noting Leapmotor has made some tweaks to the safety systems with over-the-air software updates, and more are likely on the way.
There are still plenty of chimes that come from the driver attention monitor, though the intensity seems to have been dialled down. It still struggles to see my eyes, though, when I’m wearing sunglasses.
The intelligent speed limit assist chimes incessantly the moment you start travelling over what the car thinks is the sign-posted speed limit. It frequently picks up the wrong speed limit as it only uses the cameras and not sat-nav data.
Thankfully, both of these safety systems can be quickly turned off with a swipe-down control centre-style menu on the touchscreen. Annoyingly, however, they default back on every time you drive the car.
The adaptive cruise control system activates in the same way a Tesla does (with two downward pulls of the column-mounted gear selector). When active the acceleration efforts can feel jerky, and it’ll brake heavily even if a car is way off in the distance. I much prefer driving myself.
Lastly, the lane-keep assist and emergency lane-keep assist systems continue to act poorly, especially on tighter roads with poor lane markings. The moment you drift off the centre of the lane the system vibrates and kicks at the steering wheel, almost making you fight against the resistance to regain steering control.
It’s not a pleasant feeling, and the system cannot be completely turned off on the move. You need to be stopped and in park.
The AEB system engages from 5km/h, while the lane-keep system kicks in from 60km/h.
ISOFIX child-seat anchorage points are fitted to the outboard rear seats, along with three top-tether points.
The Dolphin is covered by a six-year or 150,000km warranty, which beats a lot of mainstream rivals for its duration, but not its distance.
In the EV segment it plays in, though, things are a bit tougher, as its primary Chinese rivals, GWM and MG, are offering seven year and unlimited kilometre warranty promises.
Service pricing is available all the way out to 96 months or 160,000km, averaging $299 per year for the duration, which is pretty good.
Many rivals are offering free servicing for several years, and there are also many electric cars which only need to see a shop once every 24 months or 20,000km, compared to the Dolphin’s more traditional 12 month intervals.
Leapmotor quietly made some changes to its ownership structure for model year 2025 (MY25) cars.
All 2025 Leapmotor C10s, including the REEV, are covered by a six-year, 150,000km warranty. It was previously seven years, 160,000km for MY24 cars.
The high-voltage battery warranty remains unchanged at eight years, 160,000km.
Some key differences, however, are eight years of roadside assistance (previously five years), as well as eight years of capped-price servicing (previously five years).
The Leapmotor C10 REEV requires logbook servicing every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first, which is notably shorter than the C10 EV’s 12 month/20,000km intervals. This will likely add up if you travel long distances.
Capped-price servicing for the C10 REEV totals $4000 after eight years or 80,000km, whichever comes first. That averages out to $500 per service. Ouch…
For context, servicing the C10 EV for eight years or 160,000km, whichever comes first, costs a total of $3000. That’s $375 per service, which is still a little on the high side for an EV.