Geely EX5 2026 review: Inspire long-term | Part 2

In our second month with the EX5, it’s settled into more of a daily routine, being my go-to driver.

In our previous chapter with this affordable mid-sizer, we pointed out how much we like the price and specifications. 

Read More About Geely EX5

• Geely EX5 2026 review: Inspire long-term | Part 1
• Geely EX5 2026 review: Inspire long-term | Part 3
• How cheap can Chinese cars get? Chinese government considers regulating entire car industry as JAC and GAC start to buckle under price pressure from aggressive BYD: report

Lots of little annoyances can add up

We talked a bit last time about the nice-looking but frustrating controls hosted on this car’s huge multimedia touchscreen, and these pain points continued in our second month.

I constantly find myself fiddling with menus and sub-menus to try to find features. Even using the sunroof is a constant annoyance, having to swipe down to the shortcut menu, click on a button for the sunroof sub-menu, opening the sunroof, then having to click a tiny shortcut in the top right corner to get back to Apple CarPlay.

CarPlay itself has been a saviour for the multimedia system, but there are a few small bugs. For example, when you’re in traffic at low speed, sometimes the parking cameras will activate, but when you start moving faster again, the car won’t return you to CarPlay.

I also discovered, after trawling through the (entirely digital) manual, the single multifunction dial can be customised. Normally, it controls the sound volume, but a long press on it lets you choose what its secondary function is when you click it down. I set it to fan speed, which is handy on hot days.

Unlike the Model Y, Geely has graced the EX5 with both a digital dash and a head-up display (take that Tesla), which is great for daily driving. The CarPlay update feeds the next turn instruction from your navigation app of choice to the head-up unit, too.

While the dash has a nice, attractive and simple layout, which looks a lot like the one in the Volkswagen ID.4, it hosts a poor facsimile of the radar screen from Tesla’s range. And the switchable content on the right-hand side could be more thorough. As it is it shows you the current trip, a consumption graph, the tyre pressure monitor and the music currently playing.

But little conveniences are great

One thing I’ve come to love is the 360-degree camera view. Sure, lots of cars have these now, but Geely's is particularly good. It shows an overview and a front and rear view in glorious, screen-filling high-definition.

The more you use the car the more it comes in handy. This rings especially true when it comes to charging. Because the charge port is located on the driver’s side front three-quarter panel. This results in having to nose the car in to most public charging locations. The ability to see how close you are to the bollards which protect most charging pylons is invaluable. It even measures in centimetres how far away you are. A nice touch.

Like Teslas, the EX5 is also unlocked as you get close to it with the key and it’s ready to go as soon as you’re in the driver’s seat. Just shift to drive and off you go. No need to hit a redundant push-start button.

I mentioned the app in the previous chapter and what I’m using it for most often lately is checking up on my car’s state of charge. It’s handy for trip planning before you’ve even left home, or for checking on the car when it’s on charge somewhere, particularly if the charger doesn’t have a companion app (or at least one which is any good).

Comfort still a selling point

Last chapter I talked about how refreshing it is to drive a car which hasn’t been so over-engineered for drivability it suffers from ride quality issues. The Geely is nice and soft and quiet, and a refreshing change of pace from not just something like a Model Y, but also a range of combustion cars which are more firmly sprung.

Again, I’m loving the serenity of this car but it comes at some cost to drivability. The EX5 tilts on its spongey suspension into the corners quite a bit and the steering isn’t exactly full of feel. That said, it’s better than most Chinese vehicles on this front.

What impresses me more is the tyre choice on this top-spec Inspire version. The Goodyear EfficientGrip rubber is proving not only quiet, but grippy enough that the EX5 doesn’t break traction under hard acceleration or cornering, which can’t be said for all affordable EVs in this price bracket.

Does the EX5 hit its official range number?

To cut a long story short, this didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked for our EX5.

I reset the trip computer after charging to around 98 per cent then committed to driving it until I became extremely uncomfortable with the remaining range. This was at around four per cent battery, at which point the car was showing less than 30km of available range.

The trip computer tells me I had travelled 329km between charges, which when you add the most optimistic version of the range computer (swapping it from ‘Dynamic’ to ‘Standard’ mode had it reporting 35km of range) it leaves you with a total range of about 365km. 

Given we didn’t get the car to a true 100 per cent charge, I could see how you might wring another 15 (or maybe more?) kilometres out of a charge, but the other thing worth keeping in mind is I drove this distance in urban, not freeway conditions, which should have the car perform better.

Indeed, the trip computer is also telling me I’m trending ahead of the official energy consumption, but only just, with the computer having jumped from 13kWh/100km to 14.6kWh/100km (the official/combined consumption for the EX5 Inspire is 14.7kWh/100km). I’m not sure why there's such a big difference between months as it’s still being driven in mostly urban conditions.

Now, I’ll admit this hasn’t been the most scientific test so far, but it is representative of how people might use this car in the real world, and most people wouldn’t dare let the battery go so low as 30km indicated range on the dash.

Even so, with a sticker range of a seemingly reasonable 410km, falling short to 365km of usable range could be frustrating.

Perhaps in my last month I’ll re-do this test, go to a full 100 per cent and just drive the car straight down the freeway to see if I get a different result. There seems to be a few variables at play here.

How much is it costing to run

I’m spending too much but it’s not the car’s fault. It’s mainly because I’m lazy in relying entirely on the public charging network.

My local DC charger is super convenient. I plug in, do a grocery shop and drive away with most of a charge. But it’s pricey at $0.69 per kWh. I’ve spent $62.61 there in the last month.

While I can’t charge at home, I could be more responsible and use the slower AC charger twice, or maybe three (shorter) times a week to cut my charging cost in half.

If you were to plug in and charge at home, it would be even more affordable.

Acquired: September 2025

Distance travelled this month: 556km

Odometer: 5090km

Average energy consumption this month: 14.7kWh/100km

Total running cost: $110.28