Deepal S05 2025 review - International preview drive

You may be familiar with the recently introduced Deepal S07 mid-size SUV, but it’s time to say hello to the S05 small-medium SUV as the challenger brand expands its presence in the Australian market.

As the name implies, it’s slightly smaller than its S07 sibling and it’s now confirmed as coming to Australia in the second half of 2025.

In the Chinese domestic market it’s offered as a range-extender electric vehicle, or in pure battery-electric form, and time will tell which versions come to Australia as both are currently under evaluation.

It’s a small-to-medium five-seat SUV, destined to jump into one of the most competitive segments in the Australian new-car market.

Prior to the S05’s local debut, Deepal Australia invited us to drive it at Deepal’s parent company, Changan’s close to 1500-hectare proving ground in Chongqing, China. So here’s a preview before it hits Aussie showrooms later this year.

Australian pricing for the S05 is yet to be confirmed, but in the Chinese market it ranges from the equivalent of $27,000 to $33K across Pro, Plus, Max and Ultra grades, and Deepal Australia is still refining the local line-up, to include range-extender models, battery-electric variants or both.

In domestic trim, features (varying by model) include LED exterior lighting, a power tailgate, a 1.9-square-metre panoramic roof, 64-colour ambient lighting, multi-zone climate control air, eight- or 14-speaker audio (with four-zone karaoke and two external speakers!), ventilated and heated seats (front and rear on upper models), synthetic leather trim and more.

Final Aussie specification, as well as import and distribution costs will inevitably bump that price band up, but the Deepal will challenge the likes of the Chery Omoda 5, GWM Haval Jolion, MG ZS, Mitsubishi ASX and many, many more.

At just over 4.6m long, 1.9m wide and 1.6m high (with a 2880mm wheelbase) the S05 has a solid, planted look with thin headlights in the chiselled nose giving a quietly imposing Iron Man vibe, while LED strip tail-lights across the tail enhance the techie feel.

Frameless doors and flush-fit flip-out handles add some extra style and aero efficiency, the carefully curved S05 boasting an impressively slippery 0.25 drag coefficient.

And the interior is defined by things you might expect to see in an electrified SUV as well as some typical inclusions that are missing altogether.

For example, there’s no conventional instrument display in front of the driver. Rather there’s an enormous head-up display, which pretty much takes its place. There’s a floating 15.4-inch central media screen, so the whole look is minimalist and pretty cool.

From a practicality point-of-view there are bins in the doors with enough room for bottles and more. There’s an enormous bin with a lift-out tray in the centre, cupholders for two cups, a tray for a phone and another beside it for wireless charging but no glove box. However, underneath there’s a big bay with USB connectivity. So, pretty well taken care of in terms of design and practicality.

Sitting in the back of the Deepal S05 with the driver’s seat set for my 183cm position, I’ve got lots of foot room, legroom, headroom and an enormous fixed sunroof fitted to the example we drove made it tremendously airy inside. Worth noting there’s a sliding cover for the roof, so no problem from a UV and heat point-of-view.

From a practicality standpoint there are bins in the doors, USB-A and USB-C power sockets as well as individual ventilation control for the back seat, which is always great.

There are no pockets on the front seatbacks, which is a bit of a miss, but there’s a fold-down centre armrest with a pair of cupholders built in. For a 'compact' SUV there’s plenty of space back there. 

Boot volume is 464L in the range-extender and 492 litres in the BEV, which is well up on key competitors, the latter also offering up an additional 159-litre front trunk. 

The pure-electric Deepal S05 is powered by a rear-mounted permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor sending 175kW/320Nm to the rear wheels, while the range-extender uses a similar but marginally less powerful (160kW/320Nm) set-up.

The big difference is a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine sitting in the EREV’s nose, acting purely as a generator sending power to the drive battery but not the drive wheels.  

The battery-electric S05 carries a 56kWh lithium iron phosphate (LIP) battery and claimed 30-80 per cent charging time is 15 minutes, with range set at 510km on the slightly more optimistic CLTC scale.

The S05 EREV features a smaller 27kWh LIP battery but still claims a handy 155km pure-electric range, this time to the more widely accepted WLTP protocol, with a 30-80 per cent charge time of 20 minutes. Claimed combined range, factoring in the range-extender, is 1234km with official economy of 4.35L/100km.

A brief but varied drive at Changan’s proving ground on everything from harsh bumps and thumps to sweeping open highway sections showed the S05 to be quiet, comfortable and predictable.

Suspension is by struts at the front and a five-link arrangement at the rear and the 18-inch alloy rims are wrapped in relatively comfy 225/60 rubber (20-inch rims are optional). On this brief meeting ride compliance and body control felt good. Steering assistance is speed variable and although its weighting is light, road feel is acceptable.

Zero to 100km/h comes up in 7.3 seconds for the BEV and 7.9sec for the EREV, while braking is by vented discs at the front and solid rotors in the rear with regen braking in support. 

We’ll have to wait for details on active and passive safety tech but stand by for high-level assisted driving with a full suite of ADAS active features as well as fitment of multiple cameras, radars and Lidar sensors (varying according to grade) in the home market. 

That said, we’ll be keeping a sharp eye on the calibration of active safety systems for local conditions, an area where the larger S07, especially driver attention and lane-keeping, has been found in need of fine-tuning recently. 

Expect Deepal to cover the S05 with the brand’s seven-year/160,000km warranty with 12 months of roadside assist and a separate eight-year/240,000km drive battery cover. Capped-price servicing will almost certainly be offered.