Citroen C5 X vs Leapmotor C10

What's the difference?

This is a new take on the Citroen station wagon, and it’s an impressive one at that. It may not tick all the boxes, but it is a comfortable and practical car, with stunning design, decent equipment and a pretty agreeable price tag.

Now, just get that plug-in hybrid version in at a reasonable price please, Citroen.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

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.

Citroen reckons the C5 X combines SUV, wagon and sedan design cues to make it a true crossover model. I reckon they’ve got a point, and while it’s certainly not as butch as some other crossover wagons out there, it’s not bashful, either.

I’m a massive fan of the assertive front end lighting design, the bold body lines that punctuate the bonnet and swoop backwards down the sides of the car, and the swooping roofline that dips away, almost like the iconic Citroen DS.

It’s quite a large car, too - at 4805mm long on a 2785mm wheelbase, it has a commanding presence, and it’s 1865mm wide (not including the side mirrors) and a rather sleek 1490mm tall. 

Of course it has some body cladding and black plastics to give that ‘rough and tumble’ appearance - and the rear features a couple of spoilers on the boot that help it cut through the air cleanly, and they look interesting as well.

Inside, there’s an almost-square steering wheel, which is interesting, and a pair of screens - a 12.0-inch touchscreen for your multimedia duties, and a 7.0-inch driver info screen. It looks and feels upmarket and pretty conventional in the cabin, so let’s see what the practicality is like.

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 Citroen C5 X is almost as big as a Subaru Outback, and similar in size to a Kia Stinger. So it ought to have a bit of family-friendliness packed in.

Starting at the back, there’s a 545-litre boot capacity, with the kick-action, electronically controlled tailgate that you can also use the keyfob to open. It is a low, wide, quite squared-off aperture, meaning loading bulky items in should be a breeze. Just note that the roofline does taper down towards the rear, so bigger things will need to be pushed towards the seat backrests.

Or, if you’re really acting like a delivery van, you can drop the rear seats down to allow 1640 litres of cargo capacity. There are boot-mounted releases to drop the seats down, and there’s a floor mat in the boot, under which is a space saver spare wheel.

Back seat occupants are decently catered for. I’m 182cm/6’0” tall and I managed to sit behind my own driving position with plenty of leg and foot room - however, the sunroof does create a bit of a hump in the ceiling that you might bump your head on, and those with big feet or small children might want to take note that the sills in the door openings are very tall. A child could easily trip over them if they were clambering in the back in a rush.

Children will be covered with a pair of ISOFIX child-seat anchor points in the window seats and three top-tether restraints, too. There are map pockets, door pockets with bottle holders, a pair of USB-C charge points and directional air vents, too.

However, it wouldn’t be a French car without some kind of quirky cup holder situation, and the back seat has none - there’s no flip-down armrest to speak of. But the seat is exceptionally cushy.

Front seat impressions are good - and cup holders are present. They’re big ones, too - large enough for a big cuppa or a bottle of water, even, And there are door pockets with bottle holsters as well.

There’s an opening centre armrest box with a USB-C charge point, and in front of the interestingly designed recessed gear selector and parking brake, there’s another storage spot with a wireless phone charger, too. Nice.

Seat comfort up front is very good, with lots of adjustability (eight-way electric for the driver, six-way electric for front passenger) and heated front seats as well.

Scoring a big tick from me is the fact there are physical dials and buttons for the air conditioning and ventilation controls. But they’re in that glossy black finish, which shows fingerprints so much that it makes you feel self-conscious of being a walking germ farm.

The big touchscreen multimedia system has a few buttons and knobs, too - though the menus on screen do take some getting used to. It is highly customisable, so if you bought one you’d set it and forget it, but on first impression I struggled to get to grips with some of the nuances of the menus.

It does, however, have wireless or wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (with the media-feed USB-C port under the controls) and it goes full screen, too, while leaving enough space for other crucial elements. The graphics are nice and high-definition, and the 360-degree camera display puts  the “surround” view units in Peugeot models to shame. 

There’s also a configurable driver info screen, and a crisp and lovely head-up display as well. 

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.

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.

Yes it’s almost 2023, but the Citroen C5 X model launching right now isn’t bringing anything new or exciting to the table in terms of what’s powering it.

Instead, it runs a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine that is also used in other Citroen and Peugeot models. No hybrid tech, no electric version yet….  But Citroen has stated it is keen to bring a plug-in hybrid model to the market. Hopefully, it comes soon.

The petrol motor used here is the brand’s PureTech 180 with Stop & Start, and it’s good for 133kW of power at 5500rpm and 250Nm of torque at 1650rpm. This isn’t a small car, but it is relatively light, weighing in at 1439kg (tare mass). 

However, it has a pretty small engine with low outputs for this type of vehicle. For context, the 508 from Peugeot has 165kW and 300Nm.

The C5 X has a standard fit eight-speed automatic transmission, and despite some SUV pretences, it’s a two-wheel drive, with power sent to the ground via the front wheels only.

That much-anticipated plug-in hybrid (or PHEV) uses the same petrol engine but adds an 81kW electric motor to the mix, for a combined output of 168kW of power and 360Nm of torque. Grunty.

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.

If you see a brand-new Citroen C5 X in the showroom or on the street you’ll note that the sticker on the windscreen shows an official combined cycle figure of 6.0 litres per 100 kilometres. For a petrol engine, that’s impressive.

Now, whether you get near that will be determined by how you drive. Lots of city and urban driving could result in a higher figure - but it does have start-stop tech for the true traffic grind.

On the launch drive, which included a mix of different driving situations, I saw an on-display return of 8.5 litres per 100 on the trip computer.

Fuel tank capacity is 52 litres, meaning a driving range of 866km if you can achieve the official figure, or 611km if you average what I did on the launch drive.

Can’t wait for the plug-in hybrid version of this car; it has claimed efficiency one-fifth of the petrol version launching initially - yep, it sips a claimed 1.2L/100km… but of course that relies on you making sure you actually charge it up and use the 50km of EV driving range it is said to offer. We’ll cover it off in more detail when the vehicle launches locally, likely sometime in 2023.

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.

If comfort is your main priority when it comes to your new car, then the Citroen C5 X (or any Citroen, really) should suffice.

The brand says that comfort is one of its defining features - a pillar of why Citroen exists, if you will - and as the flagship model in the brand’s lineup, this should represent the ultimate in comfort. 

And it does. 

The seats - with triple-layer foam - play a big part. They’re wider than most seats and, while they don’t hold you in place like the buckets in a sports car, this isn’t a sports car. 

It also has acoustic glass front and rear to help make it feel more serene and ‘cocoon-like’ inside. There’s barely any wind noise, and just a touch of road roar over coarse-chip roads, but it’s far from noisy in the cabin.

Further, it glides along with relative comfort over bumpy sections of road, with the so-called Suspension with Progressive Hydraulic Cushioning all-but eliminating road surface intrusion into the cabin. 

The suspension has hydraulic cushions at the ends of the springs and dampers (but before the bump stops) that are designed to delete the little bumps in the road surface, while also helping lessen the impact of larger imperfections like potholes. And, with the launch being held in Sydney on yet another wet day, the suspension did a spectacular job. 

You can still feel the 19-inch wheels moving around a bit when you sink into a pockmark, but the way it feels from the driver’s seat is very good. I didn’t get to play passenger on this launch drive, but the seat of the pants vibe I got was that all occupants will be cosseted nicely. 

That tendency towards relaxed movement is reflected in the handling of the car, too. It’s not a corner carver. You can engage Sport mode - which adapts the powertrain (engine and transmission calibration and sensitivity) and also the steering weight, if you really want to.

On the engine - it is perky enough in Sport mode and can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.1 seconds, according to Citroen.

This powertrain should really be categorised in the ‘comforting’ rather than ‘compelling’ category. It’s not a bad engine - but you can feel the weight of the car is holding it back, and it particularly feels a bit sluggish from a standing start. I also noticed a bit of vibration through the car under full-throttle acceleration, too. 

But honestly, unless you were trying to duck through a gap in traffic, you’re not likely to spend much time with your foot pinned to the boards in this car. 

I love and admire that this isn’t a car designed to be sporty. It isn’t trying to be that. The PHEV version will be more of a driver’s tool, with an adaptive suspension system and more power and torque. But honestly, I’d be happy with the C5 X as it is, because it’s just a lovely car.

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.

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.

Buy a Citroen and you get a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, as well as five years roadside assist and a five-year capped price servicing plan.

The C5 X isn’t cheap to maintain, with the average service cost sitting at more than $560 - that’s based on service intervals of 12 months/15,000 kilometres. 

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.