Baoding, China. mobile.bg team from the event site.
When we first heard about Great Wall Motor's ambitious plans to enter the Old Continent with the Ora brand, we must admit that we were a little skeptical. Their first experience in our country with the Ora 03 left rather mixed feelings and modest sales results due to the fact that the car was only electric, and such cars were not particularly popular in our country at that time. Now, however, the situation is radically different and for us, Bulgarian car fans and journalists, the news is huge.
As we have already informed you, this model is expected to start being produced in Bulgaria, at the plant near Lovech in the village of Bahovitsa. The strategic move is extremely clever - initially, the fully electric version will start rolling off the assembly lines, as this way the Chinese will save on the salty European duties for imported electric vehicles in Europe, and subsequently the plans are 38183for domestic production of the ICE versions as well. Our first contact with the new Ora 5 was directly from the event site in the Chinese city of Baoding, where the headquarters and main factory of Great Wall are located. It was there that we had the pleasure of testing this future “our” crossover.
Exterior
Andrew Dyson holds the position of Vice President and Design Director at Chinese automotive giant Great Wall Motor (GWM), where he is responsible for the future vision of the Haval, WEY, ORA and Tank brands. Before joining the Chinese concern, he left his mark on European automotive design with his work for brands such as Opel and Volkswagen, and before that, his work was the iconic Chrysler Crossfire. It is he who is at the heart of this interesting design of the Ora 5 and told us about some of the subtleties of its design.
The exterior of the Ora 5 takes a serious step forward compared to its predecessors. Dyson and his team have finally abandoned the too cartoonish and childish vision that frightened more conservative European buyers. The car looks mature, modern and dynamic, with borrowings from the classic crossover style, but also with a rather athletic silhouette.
The front is not aggressive, which was exactly Dyson's goal. Without being cluttered, it impresses with style and notes in the "Mini" style, and the side line flows very smoothly back, hinting at excellent aerodynamics. We can definitely say that the car attracts attention on the road with a presence and appearance that has nothing to do with the cheap Chinese cars of the past. This is a clean, European-type design that will fit perfectly in our latitudes.
Viewed in profile, the car demonstrates slightly muscular fenders and an elegantly sloping roof line, which gives it a coupe-like silhouette. The sophisticated LED lights at the front and rear not only provide perfect visibility, but also perform spectacular light animations when unlocked – a detail that the young audience will highly appreciate. The massive wheels clearly emphasize the crossover genes of the model, ready to deal mainly with city curbs.
Interior
Inside the cabin, we were greeted by a real digital revolution, but more importantly - with surprisingly high quality materials. The interior is designed with ergonomics in mind – everything is at your fingertips, and the large dashboard screens, powered by the latest Coffee OS 3 multimedia system, respond quickly and without hesitation.
The seats offer excellent lateral support and are comfortable for a long journey, and the leg and headroom for passengers in the front and rear is more than generous. We cannot spare the main, more serious minus of the car, which immediately impressed us - the smaller trunk volume.
Due to the specific shape of the rear, the cargo space is quite limited by the standards of this class and will hardly fit the suitcases of a family of four for a long vacation.
Otherwise, the architecture of the front dashboard relies on clean minimalism, with most of the physical buttons being intelligently integrated into the software of the central display. The soundproofing in the cabin also deserves praise, as the engineers have used double acoustic glass, which isolates the outside world extremely effectively at standard city speeds.
Engines
Under the hood of the first model we tested, there was a balanced hybrid system, combining a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine and a powerful synchronous electric motor on the front axle. This configuration provides a system power of 164 kW (223 hp) and a solid 476 Nm of torque. On the road, the Ora 5 feels very agile and lively - acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h takes just 7.7 seconds, which is a wonderful result for an everyday crossover.
The drive with a classic internal combustion engine (ICE) relies on a 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine equipped with a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT). This modification generates power of 118 kW (160 hp), transmitted to the front wheels via a 7-speed automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT). The sprint to 100 km/h here takes 9.3 seconds, and the maximum speed reaches 190 km/h.
The version with a pure conventional engine is an excellent choice for traditionalists, as it offers well-known linear behavior and lower vehicle weight, which is positively felt when steering, although the catalog fuel consumption is slightly higher - about 6.4 l/100 km. Most importantly, unlike the European alternatives, this version offers a classic four-cylinder engine.
The all-electric (EV) version of the Ora 5, which is most important for the domestic market in view of the future assembly in Lovech, is powered by a front-mounted electric motor with a power of 150 kW (204 hp) and 260 Nm of torque. The electric heart is powered by a lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery, manufactured by GWM subsidiary SVOLT, with a capacity of 58.3 kWh in the higher version. It guarantees a solid range of about 430 kilometers on the European cycle.
And thanks to the possibility of fast direct current (DC) charging with a power of up to 120 kW, the battery can be filled from 30% to 80% in just 20 minutes, making it completely adequate for long trips around the country. The presence of the Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) system allows you to power external electrical appliances directly from the car.
Driving characteristics
They also show that the car is now tuned not only for the Asian market. The suspension is extremely soft and comfortable on straight sections, and with more dynamic driving in corners, the body leans slightly. Only when braking sharply does the front end "stick" a little more. The good news is that the steering wheel is informative, and the brakes do their job flawlessly in any emergency braking.
To squeeze the most out of the drive system, we drove the model at GWM's specialized closed Xushui polygon in Baoding - a huge facility with all kinds of test tracks. On the fast parabolic oval, the hybrid tract demonstrates excellent elasticity, with intermediate accelerations when overtaking happening with ease thanks to the instant torque from the electric motor.
When we took the Ora 5 into technical sections with sharp snakes for stability, the excessively soft damper setting coped very well. When simulating the so-called “moose test” the electronic stability system (ESP) had to intervene quite harshly to tame the 1,660-kilogram crossover, but in the end the trajectory was maintained every time. The test site also had special sections with poor road surfaces, pavement and artificial bumps, where the car literally filtered the bumps, driving like a classic limousine.
Conclusion and price
The new Ora 5 leaves mainly positive impressions and shows that Great Wall Motor has done their homework. The car offers a mature and at the same time quite model design, a quality-assembled interior and a modern drivetrain, which provides excellent dynamics with reasonable fuel consumption. And the fact that this car will be assembled in Lovech makes us look at it with even greater interest and optimism, as it has a real chance to become a very strong player in our market. The credit for the latter goes to the fair price, so to speak, which in our country will start from 25,990 Euros.
>
