The 2026 Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range is a rear-wheel-drive electric SUV with 160kW, a 67.1kWh battery and 434km of claimed range, and until 30 September 2026 it’s $41,990 drive-away. The ride is quiet and smooth, impressive at the price, my week averaged 13.1kWh/100km, and the glass roof, 360-degree camera and 5-star ANCAP rating are standard on both grades. Worth weighing up before you buy: the 12-speaker stereo tears from about a third of the volume, too much day-to-day stuff lives in the touchscreen, and without the phone app set up you’re tapping a keycard on the mirror to get in. We scored it 7.4 out of 10.

I drove the bigger Leapmotor C10 last year, and a week in the Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range felt very familiar. Same family look, same feel, same behaviour, just a bit smaller. The front space barely changed. The back seat is where the size went. Otherwise it behaves and feels like a smaller C10, which is no bad thing.

It’s $40,888 before on-road costs, and until the end of September 2026 Leapmotor is selling it for $41,990 drive-away in Light White or Starry Night Blue, which is what mine was. That puts it among the cheapest electric SUVs in Australia, in the same money as the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Kia EV3. Most of those drive their front wheels. This one doesn’t.

A week with the Leapmotor B10

The keycard got irritating. I never set up the phone app, so getting in meant tapping the NFC card on the driver’s mirror. You don’t realise how much you rely on walk-up unlocking, or opening the boot from a distance, until you can’t do it with a card. The app gives you a Bluetooth key. Without it, you tap. By the end of the week I’d developed a relationship with the driver’s mirror.

Charging was a non-issue. I plugged into a DC fast charger mid-week at 16 percent with 69km showing, and the screen said 1 hour 20 minutes remaining. Finding a fast charger is getting easier, with more servos adding them, and I had no range anxiety in this car.

The home screen at the end of my run read 121.6km, 4 hours 21 minutes of driving and 13.1kWh/100km, in ordinary mixed driving. Leapmotor’s WLTP figure is 17.3kWh/100km. A trip computer and a lab test don’t measure the same thing, but 13.1 is very good for an SUV.

The stereo got a proper go, because I care about sound and 12 speakers with a boot woofer looked promising on paper. It’s serviceable at best. And the ambient lighting is OK but a little dull, even maxed out.

What does the Leapmotor B10 look like?

It looks like a shrunken C10. Full-width LED light bars front and rear, flush door handles, clean sides, 18-inch alloys. At 4,515mm long and 1,885mm wide it’s a small SUV. Mine was Starry Night Blue, one of five optional colours. Light White is the only no-cost paint, though the current drive-away deal covers the blue as well.

Nothing gives away how little it costs.

What is the Leapmotor B10 like inside?

Inside is familiar Leapmotor, much like the C10. A minimalist dash with the 14.6-inch touchscreen and an 8.8-inch driver display, a floating centre console, and green-ringed air vents. The Design gets perforated TechnoLeather seats in light grey, heated and ventilated up front and power adjusted on both sides, plus a heated steering wheel. They punch above the price.

The glass roof is the best bit. It’s fixed, it runs over both rows, it has an electric blind, and it’s standard on both grades. At this price it’s a great inclusion.

The ambient lighting is OK but a little dull, even maxed out. The brochure calls it multi-colour. Maxed out, it’s more of a suggestion. Space up front is good, and barely changed from the C10.

Storage

The floating console leaves an open shelf underneath. Up top there’s a wireless charging pad, two cupholders, a covered console box and door bins. Under the bonnet Leapmotor quotes 25 litres, which is a frunk in the same way a glovebox is a wardrobe, and both a Mode 2 and a Mode 3 charging cable come with the car. Vehicle-to-load runs at up to 3.3kW.

Rear seat and boot space

The back seat is where the size went. It’s trimmed like the front, in the same perforated TechnoLeather, with a fold-down centre armrest and cupholders, rear air vents, a USB-A and a USB-C port, ISOFIX points and top tethers. It doesn’t have the stretch-out room of the C10 a size up.

The boot is 490 litres with the seats up and 1,475 litres with the 40/60 split folded, on a flat floor behind a power tailgate that’s standard on the Design. There’s a luggage cover, and a tyre inflator kit in the floor rather than a spare wheel.

Technology and connectivity

The screen runs almost everything, including the things a button did perfectly well for the last forty years. For mundane tasks that’s a chore. Too much is buried in the 14.6-inch touchscreen. Android Auto is wired, not wireless. I don’t mind that. Wired drops out less than wireless does. The 360-degree camera doubles as a dashcam and is standard on both grades. Built-in navigation, DAB+ radio, in-car Wi-Fi and over-the-air updates are all in.

The audio is not good, and I say that as someone who cares about sound. On paper it’s 12 speakers and a woofer in the boot. In practice it’s serviceable at best. From about 30 percent volume you can hear it tearing. It can’t hold the highs up while the bass is playing low. It manages the mids and a touch of bass, then gives out on the highs. Crank it and it just stops getting louder. Twelve speakers, a woofer in the boot, and a volume ceiling they all seem to have agreed on. Fine for day-to-day background music. Not a system you’d want to turn up and blast your favourite song on.

Highlighted Features

• Panoramic glass roof: fixed, full-length, with an electric blind, standard on both grades.
• 360-degree camera and dashcam: surround view with a see-through chassis view, and it records.
• Vehicle to load: up to 3.3kW of household power out of the car.
• Rear-wheel drive: a single rear motor, where most rivals at the price drive the front wheels.

Engine and drivetrain

A single permanent-magnet motor on the rear axle makes 160kW and 240Nm, for a claimed 0 to 100km/h of 8.0 seconds and a 170km/h top speed. The battery is 67.1kWh of lithium iron phosphate, a chemistry that’s happy being charged to 100 percent regularly, and Leapmotor claims 434km on the WLTP cycle at 17.3kWh/100km. The cheaper Style has the same motor with a 56.2kWh pack for a claimed 361km.

Charging is respectable for the class. DC peaks at 168kW, and Leapmotor quotes 30 to 80 percent in about 20 minutes on a charger that can deliver it. On the 150kW units most Australian sites run, budget a little longer. The onboard AC charger is 11kW, so a full charge on a home wallbox takes about six and a half hours, and there’s a heat pump for cold mornings. The charge port sits in the front-left guard.

What’s the Leapmotor B10 like to drive?

It’s quiet and smooth. Not thrilling, but not trying to be. Sensible and composed. The ride is the standout, and it’s impressive at the price. There’s enough pace when you need it, a bit behind it for making a gap or overtaking, without being a performance car.

The rear-wheel drive is noticeable and welcome. You can sense it pushing you along rather than pulling, a different sensation to a front-driver, and it makes slow, tight turns feel less touchy. No tug through the wheel from the front tyres. It’s a small thing, until you go back to a front-driver and notice the steering wheel has opinions again.

There are three levels of regen, three accelerator modes and three steering modes, all set through the screen. The lane centring did a fairly good job. Quietly competent, not tugging, not annoying. The bings and bongs were OK too, which isn’t true of every rival.

Is the Leapmotor B10 safe?

The B10 carries a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025 that covers both grades: 93 percent for adult occupant protection, 95 percent for child occupant protection, 84 percent for vulnerable road users and 86 percent for safety assist. The rating runs to December 2031. Seven airbags are standard, including a far-side airbag between the front seats, plus ISOFIX and top tethers in the back.

Leapmotor calls the driver-assist suite LEAP Pilot, and it’s the same 17 features on both grades. It didn’t nag. The alerts weren’t intrusive.

• Autonomous emergency braking, front collision warning and multi-collision braking
• Adaptive cruise control, lane centring, traffic jam assist and emergency lane keeping (Level 2)
• Blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert with braking, rear collision warning and door opening warning
• Intelligent speed assist, driver drowsiness and distraction warning, hands-off detection, tyre pressure monitoring and the 360-degree camera

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost?

The Design Long Range is $40,888 before on-road costs and the Style is $37,888. Right now Leapmotor’s drive-away sale has them at $41,990 and $38,990, on new and demonstrator cars in Light White or Starry Night Blue, for cars bought and delivered by 30 September 2026 or while stocks last. Government and rental buyers are excluded. After that, expect the drive-away figure to move, because these offers come and go.

The extra $3,000 for the Design buys the bigger battery, faster DC charging, the 12-speaker audio, TechnoLeather, power front seats, the heated wheel and heated and ventilated front seats, a power tailgate, privacy glass and the ambient lighting. Leapmotor has spent nearly all of the $3,000 on things you can see. The glass roof, the 360 camera, the 14.6-inch screen, vehicle to load and the full safety suite are standard on both.

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost to run?

The ownership package is strong for the price. Every B10 gets a 6-year, 150,000km warranty, with the high-voltage battery covered for 8 years or 160,000km. Servicing is every 12 months or 20,000km, capped for eight years, with visits between about $296 and $441 and an average of roughly $369 a year. Roadside assistance runs for eight years alongside it.

The efficiency was one of the good surprises. At the 13.1kWh/100km I saw, charging at home on a typical 33 cents a kilowatt hour works out to about $4.32 per 100km. On a cheap overnight EV plan at 8 cents it’s about $1.05. Public DC at around 75 cents is closer to $9.83. Use Leapmotor’s WLTP figure of 17.3 instead and the home number is about $5.71. Either way, charging at home is where the savings are.

Final thoughts

This is a practical, sensible everyday car for someone who wants to see what EV ownership is like without breaking the bank. That’s who it’s for. It’s quiet, it’s efficient, and the rear-drive makes it nicer at low speed than the front-drivers it’s up against. The glass roof, the safety rating and the running costs are the draws at the money.

The stereo and the keycard are the two things I’d want you to know about before you sign. If the back seat is going to carry adults regularly, the C10 is the natural step up. If you want smaller and cheaper again, the Hyundai Inster is there, and the Xpeng G6 is the value pick a size up. The Atto 3, the S5 EV and the EV3 are the ones to cross-shop at this money, and the EV3 is the only one of them I’ve driven.

As a first EV, it’s one of the easiest ways in.

2026 Leapmotor B10 — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the 2026 Leapmotor B10 Design go on a charge?
Leapmotor claims 434km on the WLTP cycle from the Design Long Range and its 67.1kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, at 17.3kWh/100km. In our week of mixed driving the trip computer showed 13.1kWh/100km over 121.6km, which points to roughly 500km of real-world range on a gentle run. The cheaper Style uses a 56.2kWh battery for a claimed 361km.

How much does the 2026 Leapmotor B10 cost in Australia?
The B10 Design Long Range is $40,888 before on-road costs and the Style is $37,888. For cars bought and delivered by 30 September 2026, Leapmotor is offering the Design Long Range at $41,990 drive-away and the Style at $38,990 drive-away, on new and demonstrator cars in Light White or Starry Night Blue. Either way it is one of the cheapest electric SUVs on sale in Australia.

Is the Leapmotor B10 rear-wheel drive?
Yes. Every B10 uses a single rear-mounted permanent-magnet motor, so it is rear-wheel drive, where most rivals at this price drive the front wheels. Both grades make 160kW and 240Nm, with a claimed 0 to 100km/h time of 8.0 seconds and a 170km/h top speed.

Is the Leapmotor B10 safe?
Yes. The B10 carries a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025 that applies to both grades, with 93 percent for adult occupant protection, 95 percent for child occupant protection, 84 percent for vulnerable road users and 86 percent for safety assist. Seven airbags and 17 driver-assist features, including autonomous emergency braking and lane centring, are standard.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Leapmotor Australia site.

The post Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

The 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV Summit is one of the cheapest electric SUVs in Australia, a 155kW front-drive small SUV with 402km of claimed range, and it’s $35,990 before on-road costs. My week of commuting returned 16.4kWh/100km and 300km from a full charge to 9 percent, and the glass roof, ventilated seats and 360-degree camera all come standard at that price. Worth weighing up before you buy: the seats feel designed for smaller people, the aircon struggled on a 30-degree day and keeps switching itself back to its default mode, and the eight speakers turn metal tinny. We scored it 7 out of 10.

The Jaecoo J5 EV is $35,990 before on-road costs. I had the single-grade Summit for a week in early September, in Stone Grey. It did my 36km commute all week, with coworkers dropped home along the way.

It’s a well priced EV for the features it has, and that’s the pitch. On price it sits under the Leapmotor B10, the BYD Atto 3, the MG S5 EV and the Geely EX5, and a long way under the Kia EV3 Earth I drove earlier this year. Of that lot I’ve driven the B10 and the EV3, and the B10 is the one this car kept reminding me of.

A week with the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV

Walking up to it on pickup day, what hit me was how plain it looks. There’s an easy way to tell an EV and that’s the lack of a grille, and having grown up around cars with grilles, it looks odd to me without one, and on this car it stood out. I could tell straight away it was a Chinese EV, and nothing about it made me go, wow, that’s a nice car. The price is where I can be more forgiving, because for about $36,000 it’s a beggars can’t be choosers situation.

I have a very narrow driveway that I go up and down every day, so I’ve got a good sense of how much room there is on either side, and I’m used to proximity sensors going off. I was zipping down it in reverse the way I normally do when the car came to a complete stop, with nothing directly behind it. Every day down that driveway without incident, and the J5 has decided that was luck.

Strugglimg A/C

It was a 30-degree day and the aircon struggled to cool the car down, even at full blast with the ventilated seats going and the sunshade shut. I spend my afternoons in a freezer warehouse, so I notice how quickly a car’s aircon does its job, and this one took its time. I had to switch it from smart mode to rapid cooling to get a noticeable change, and even that took around 20 minutes. It also keeps changing itself back to smart mode, so the fix had to be redone, and because changing it means looking at the screen, the driver monitoring told me off for being distracted while I did it. The car changes its own aircon, then flags the driver for changing the aircon. Someone in that cabin is distracted, and it isn’t me.

The numbers: 300km from a full charge down to 9 percent, and 16.4kWh/100km on the trip readout, mostly commuting with a stint in Sport and a stint in the most conservative mode. The car’s own long-run counter, which nobody had reset since it joined the press fleet, showed 16.8kWh/100km over 3,246km, so my week was a touch better than its average. Ten minutes on a 75kW charger, the only one I could get to, took it from 9 to 30 percent. At around 75 cents a kilowatt hour, the going rate at public fast chargers, that works out to about $9 of electricity.

A coworker I was dropping home asked what the sound was. It was the speed-limit chime, which makes a little honking noise, and that was the only second opinion the car got all week.

What does the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV look like?

It’s plain. There’s a panel where the grille would be, with active air flaps behind it, but it reads as no grille. The best angle is low and straight on from the front, and the rear three-quarter isn’t bad, but the front three-quarter is the one I don’t like. It doesn’t sit right with the rest of the car, and that’s usually the angle every car looks best from.

At 4,380mm long, 1,860mm wide and 1,650mm tall on a 2,620mm wheelbase it’s a small SUV. Roof rails, a rear spoiler, LED projector headlights and LED tail lights are standard, and it rides on 18-inch aero alloys with 235/55 Continental EcoContact 7 tyres. Stone Grey is the only no-cost colour, and Arctic White, Carbon Black and Stormy Blue cost extra.

What is the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV like inside?

The interior is plain too, a light synthetic leather with blue piping. I liked the blue lining, though not everyone will. Jaecoo calls the seats pet-friendly, with a TÜV SÜD certificate for scratch resistance and easy cleaning. The 13.2-inch centre screen is vertical, which I like, because it doesn’t stick up above the sightlines and it uses the whole centre of the dash. The driver’s cluster is 8.88 inches, and I chuckled when I first saw it. I’ve been spoilt by cars that run a display across the whole dashboard, and this one is tiny in comparison. It works the same, it just feels different to look at. It’s small, but it’s there. It does everything the big ones do, at a size you have to go looking for.

The seats don’t suit me. I’m 6’3″ and the six-way powered driver’s seat doesn’t go down far enough, and the cushion feels designed for smaller people, to the point where it feels like I’ve got things in my back pocket when I’m sitting in it. The seat has a shape in mind, and it isn’t mine. Heated and ventilated front seats are standard, and the ventilation got a workout.

The steering wheel buttons work, but they feel a bit tacky compared to competitors, and you have to press them with intention for anything to happen. There are no physical buttons for the screen, and the gear selector is a column stalk. The glass roof is massive and spans most of the car, with a powered sunshade, and the visibility from the big front and side windows was one of the good surprises.

Storage

The centre console has an armrest with a storage box underneath, two cupholders, a 50W wireless charging pad, a USB-A port for data and a fast-charge USB-C. There’s a 12-volt outlet up front and another in the boot, map pockets on the front seat backs, two coat hooks and door bins. The spec sheet doesn’t list any storage under the bonnet.

Rear seat and boot space

The back seat gets air vents in the console and at foot level, a USB-A port, a folding centre armrest with two cupholders, two ISOFIX points and three top tethers. Getting in behind my own driving position was a struggle, and I bumped my head jumping into the back in a hurry. It feels a bit claustrophobic back there with the front seat back fairly far, so a shorter driver’s passengers will have more room.

The boot is 384 litres to the cargo cover and 480 litres to the roof, with a 60:40 split, and it’s big enough that my duffle bag and backpack fit, plus a coworker’s gear. The power tailgate opens from the key and has a button on the lid for closing. There’s a tyre repair kit rather than a spare wheel, but the well under the floor looks like it could fit one, and the floor cover sits at two heights, so there’s a bit of extra space to squeeze out. Towing is 750kg unbraked or 1,250kg braked, with a 75kg towball limit.

Technology and connectivity

The aircon is done through the 13.2-inch screen, but a swipe up from the bottom brings up the quick options, so it’s easy to get to. CarPlay and Android Auto are wired and wireless, and Android Auto worked, though it dropped out about three times and once took about 15 minutes to reconnect. That’s not specific to this car, a lot of wireless Android Auto setups do it, but it happened. There’s a Hello Jaecoo voice assistant, DAB radio, Bluetooth and a 360-degree camera, which I wasn’t expecting at this price.

The aircon has four modes: smart mode as the default, rapid cooling, rapid heating and smart deodorisation. Rapid cooling is the one that works on a hot day, and the car keeps changing itself back to smart. The speakers barely do the job. There are eight of them, four speakers and four tweeters, and EDM works, but metal, which uses the highs and lows, comes out tinny. Vehicle-to-load is listed, through an adapter, but I went looking for an outlet in the usual spots inside the car and couldn’t find one, so ask about the adapter if you want it.

Highlighted Features

• Glass roof with powered sunshade: spans most of the car and is standard on the only grade.
• 360-degree camera: surround view with front and rear parking sensors, standard.
• Heated and ventilated front seats: both powered six ways, standard at $35,990 before on-road costs.
• Vehicle-to-load: household power from the battery through an adapter.

Engine and drivetrain

A single motor drives the front wheels with 155kW and 288Nm, and Jaecoo quotes 7.7 seconds to 100km/h. The battery is 58.9kWh of lithium iron phosphate under the floor, so charging to 100 percent is normal, and the claimed range is 402km WLTP. There are three regen levels and Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes, plus an Extreme Energy Saving mode below Eco that got me a few extra kilometres out of each percent.

DC charging peaks at 130kW, with 30 to 80 percent claimed in about 28 minutes. I could only get to a 75kW charger, which it held the whole time, going from 9 to 30 percent in 10 minutes, so the peak went untested. AC is 6.6kW single-phase or 10.3kW three-phase, so a full charge takes around nine hours on a single-phase wallbox and a bit under six on three-phase, while at home on my trickle charger it only pulled 1.5kW, so that’s a top-up, not a full charge. The charge port is on the driver’s side front guard.

What’s the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV like to drive?

Competent. That’s my one word for it. The ride is OK, nothing special or of note, and it does the job without feeling spongy. Road noise is there, not crazy loud but more noticeable than in other cars, and on a particularly windy day on the highway there was wind buffeting on top of it. With the aircon off there’s also a white noise from somewhere in the car. The longest single drive was home to work, about 36km of highway and normal roads, and I felt fine getting out, though it’s only 36km.

It doesn’t like to put the power down straight away, building up to it instead, and I noticed the front wheels scrabbling for traction a couple of times on a rolling start around a corner. In Sport the accelerator is a lot more touchy, which I’d expect, and the scrabbling is more obvious, but it’s surprisingly quick for the cost. The Leapmotor B10 is the closest thing I’ve driven to it, the same size and price, but it drives the rear wheels and pushes you along rather than pulling. Seeing the difference between front and rear drive in the same size car was interesting, and the J5 feels a little quicker off the mark.

The regen takes some getting used to. Even on level 1 there’s no coasting, so lift off and it starts slowing almost instantly, and you keep slight pressure on the accelerator to hold speed. On level 3 you have to be super light, because let off too much and your head rocks. It doesn’t stop the car, so it isn’t one-pedal driving. In the Extreme Energy Saving mode with level 3 regen I got a few extra kilometres per percent, but my head was rocking back and forth like I was at a concert. Level 3 slows the car with real conviction, and the passengers with it.

Is the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV safe?

The J5 EV hadn’t been crash-tested by ANCAP at the time of writing, so it carries no rating, though Jaecoo has said it’s aiming for five stars. Seven airbags are standard: driver and passenger, two front side, a front centre airbag between the front seats and two curtains. Two ISOFIX points and three top tethers are in the back.

The driver-assist list is long, and the car is fairly relaxed with its warnings. The reverse braking is the exception, and it’s the one that stopped me in my own driveway. The driver monitoring is OK, not too intrusive, but it false flagged a couple of times and once told me off for changing the aircon, and the speed-limit chime is there, not overly loud or overbearing, with a little honking sound.

• Autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning and multi-collision braking
• Adaptive cruise control, traffic jam assist, integrated cruise assist, lane departure warning and prevention, and emergency lane keeping
• Blind spot detection, lane change assist, rear collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert and braking, and door opening warning
• Speed limit information, speed control assist, driver monitoring, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and a 360-degree camera

How much does the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV cost?

There’s one grade, the Summit, at $35,990 before on-road costs. At the time of writing Jaecoo was running a $36,990 drive-away offer on the Summit in Stone Grey with no options. It launched in January as a first-1,000-cars deal and has been extended more than once, so check what’s current before you buy. Stone Grey is the no-cost colour and the other three cost extra. The Leapmotor B10 Design is $41,990 drive-away on its own offer, and the Kia EV3 Earth is around $63,000 drive-away, with the EV3 GT-Line dearer again.

The kit list is longer than the price suggests. Glass roof with a powered sunshade, heated and ventilated powered front seats, the 13.2-inch screen with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, a 50W wireless charger, a 360-degree camera, a power tailgate, dual-zone climate, LED lighting, the full driver-assist suite and vehicle-to-load are all standard. There’s no options list. The price on the sign is the price, which is rarer than it should be.

How much does the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV cost to run?

The ownership package is the strongest part of the deal. The warranty is 8 years with unlimited kilometres, and the high-voltage battery gets the same. Servicing is every 12 months or 20,000km, capped for 8 years or 160,000km at $155 and $225 alternating, which is $1,520 over the full 8 years and an average of $190 a year. Roadside assistance runs up to 8 years, one year included and renewed at each dealer service.

At the 16.4kWh/100km I saw, home charging at a typical 33 cents a kilowatt hour is about $5.41 per 100km, on a cheap overnight EV plan at 8 cents it’s about $1.31, and public DC at around 75 cents is closer to $12.30. A full charge of the 58.9kWh battery at home on the flat rate is roughly $19. Charging at home is where the savings are.

On range, 300km from 100 down to 9 percent points to about 330km in the real world rather than the 402km on the sticker. Budget on the smaller number.

Final thoughts

It’s a solid budget EV, just try the seats and sound system first. That’s what I’d tell a mate. It’s for people looking for an entry into the EV market without breaking the bank on luxury, and the range, the running costs, the warranty and the kit are all ahead of the price. I’d be walking past if you can afford to spend more on a more refined brand.

The closest rival is the Leapmotor B10. They’re similar cars and both have their strengths: the J5 feels a little quicker off the mark, it comes with a physical key, and it’s fairly relaxed with its warnings apart from the reverse brake. The B10 just edges it out. The Kia EV3 Earth is the nicer car and a long way up the price list, and if you want smaller again, the Hyundai Inster is there for similar money. The Atto 3, the S5 EV and the EX5 are the other cross-shops at this price, and I haven’t driven them.

2026 Jaecoo J5 EV — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV go on a charge?
Jaecoo claims 402km on the WLTP cycle from the J5 EV’s 58.9kWh lithium iron phosphate battery. In our week of commuting the trip readout showed 16.4kWh/100km and the car covered 300km from a full charge down to 9 percent, which points to roughly 330km of real-world range in mixed driving.

How much does the 2026 Jaecoo J5 EV cost in Australia?
The Jaecoo J5 EV comes in a single Summit grade at $35,990 before on-road costs, which makes it one of the cheapest electric SUVs on sale in Australia. Jaecoo has run a $36,990 drive-away offer on Stone Grey cars since launch, so check what is current before you buy. The three other colours are premium paint at extra cost.

How long does the Jaecoo J5 EV take to charge?
Jaecoo claims 30 to 80 percent in about 28 minutes on a DC charger that can deliver its 130kW peak. In our week a 75kW charger took the battery from 9 to 30 percent in 10 minutes. On AC the onboard charger runs at 6.6kW single-phase or 10.3kW three-phase, so a full charge on a home wallbox takes around nine hours single-phase or a bit under six hours on three-phase.

Does the Jaecoo J5 EV have a spare wheel?
No. The Jaecoo J5 EV comes with a tyre repair kit rather than a spare wheel, and it has a tyre pressure monitoring system with a display. Boot space is 384 litres to the cargo cover and 480 litres to the roof, with a 60:40 split-fold rear seat and a power tailgate.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Jaecoo Australia site.

The post Jaecoo J5 EV Summit 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

The extra $5,000 all goes on the gear inside: the sunroof, the better stereo, the nicer seats. That’s not a lot to pay for comforts you’ll actually use every day for years, so for most buyers I’d say it’s worth it.

It lands in a segment that’s filling up fast with similar electric SUVs, the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Volvo EX30 all chasing the same buyer. The EV3’s pitch is that it’s the sensible, safe one that looks more expensive than it is, and the GT-Line leans into that hardest. It starts at $63,950 before on-road costs, or roughly $68,000 drive-away depending on your state, putting it just under the larger Kia EV5.

What does the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line look like?

Kia has essentially shrunk its excellent EV9 into a city-friendly footprint, and on the GT-Line the “baby EV9” tag fits best of all. At 4,310mm long it is properly compact, yet the upright nose, near-vertical “Star Map” lighting and chunky black wheel-arch cladding give it the road presence of something dearer. The GT-Line then piles on the flagship touches: LED “cube” projection headlights, full-LED tail lights, a gloss-black roof, gloss mirror caps, privacy glass and 19-inch GT-Line alloys that fill the squared-off arches. Our car wore Matcha Green, and it is a genuine highlight. It beats the bland, monochrome greys and whites so many makers default to, and it suits the EV3’s friendly shape.

That shape is worth dwelling on. The EV3 wears softer, rounder edges than the boxier, more upright Kia EV5, and to my eye it is the more likeable of the two Kia siblings for it. It is distinctive in a segment where most rivals look like the same electric appliance in different shades. A low bar, admittedly, but the EV3 clears it comfortably.

What is the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line like inside?

This, for me, is where the EV3 wins you over, and the GT-Line makes the strongest case of the lot. The completely flat floor and tall roofline make the cabin feel a class bigger than the exterior suggests, and our car’s grey two-tone scheme is calm and grown-up. Crucially, Kia has resisted the urge to bury every function in a touchscreen. Physical buttons handle the things you actually use, so you are not forever diving through menus, and the two-tone, three-spoke sports steering wheel is a genuinely nice shape with controls that fall easily to hand.

The GT-Line then adds the polish you are paying for. A wide sunroof brightens the cabin, although it is worth knowing the opening panel sits only over the front seats rather than sliding the full length of the glass. Ambient mood lighting, an eight-speaker Harman Kardon stereo and the relaxation front seats all lift the ambience a clear notch above the cheaper grades. None of it is essential, but it is the kind of everyday comfort that makes the car nicer to live with over years rather than minutes, which is rather the point of a flagship.

Storage

Practicality is baked in. The centre console carries an extendable table top, twin USB-C ports front and rear, a wireless phone charger, deep door bins and the usual clutch of cup and bottle holders. That fold-out table is a nice touch, though it works more as a mini table than an armrest. I ended up resting a 13-inch laptop on it a few times, which was never really the brief, but it did the job. Up front, under the bonnet, sits a 25-litre “frunk”. It is modest, but exactly the right size for stashing the charging cables so they are not rolling around the boot. It is the kind of thoughtful, everyday packaging that makes a car easy to live with rather than impressive on paper.

Rear seat and boot space

Thanks again to that flat floor and the 2,680mm wheelbase (the same as a Sportage), the back seat is airy and accommodating, with proper room for adults and a bright, glassy feel helped by the GT-Line’s sunroof. The boot holds 460 litres with the seats up, expanding to around 1,250 litres with the 60:40 rear seats folded flat. It is the smallest boot of the natural cross-shops, the larger EV5 and IONIQ 5 both hold a little more, but for a compact SUV the EV3 punches well above its class for usable space, and the flat load floor makes the litres easy to actually use.

Technology and connectivity

Every EV3 gets a triple-panoramic layout: a 12.3-inch driver display and a 12.3-inch touchscreen flanking a 5-inch climate strip. The GT-Line adds a head-up display and that eight-speaker Harman Kardon system on top. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, DAB radio, satellite navigation, over-the-air updates and Kia Connect are all standard. The system is responsive and, more importantly, sensibly laid out. Those physical shortcut keys mean the screens stay out of your way rather than demanding constant attention, which after a week in some rivals feels like a small holiday.

Highlighted Features

• Vehicle-to-Load (V2L): run 220-240V appliances straight off the battery via the interior socket and adaptor, handy for camping, tools or a power cut.
• i-Pedal 3.0 one-pedal driving: smooth, well-judged regen that lets you drive largely on one pedal around town.
• Relaxation front seats with driver memory: GT-Line exclusive, they recline to let you rest in comfort while the car charges.

Engine and drivetrain

The GT-Line Long Range pairs a single front-mounted permanent-magnet motor with the larger 81.4kWh battery. That is 150kW and 283Nm through the front wheels, enough for a claimed 0 to 100km/h of 7.9 seconds. Charging is respectable rather than headline-grabbing. The EV3’s 400V system peaks at around 128kW, so on a 150kW DC charger, which is the current Australian norm, 10 to 80 per cent takes roughly 30 minutes. There is little point hunting out a 350kW ultra-rapid unit, because the car tops out well below what one can deliver anyway. A three-phase 11kW AC wallbox does 10 to 100 per cent in around seven and a half hours. The charge port lives on the driver’s side (the right, in our right-hand-drive cars) at the front. WLTP range is a strong 563km, and the real world, as it turns out, is not far off it.

What’s the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line like to drive?

Mechanically the GT-Line is identical to the rest of the Long Range EV3s, and it drives exactly like the mid-grade Earth I spent a week in, so the honest verdict carries straight over. The steering is fine. It is light, easy and perfectly judged for the car park, but nothing special, and at times it feels a little disconnected from the road, as though the assistance systems are quietly filtering the conversation. Performance tells a similar story. The 150kW motor is serviceable and gets on with the job, but it is no highlight; coming off punchier dual-motor EVs, it feels a touch sluggish. On wet uphill starts the front wheels can briefly scrabble for traction, a reminder that this is a near-1.9-tonne front-driver with instant torque. There is a small irony in the spec sheet, too: the cheapest, lightest Air Standard Range is actually the quickest EV3 of the lot.

What it does do, it does smoothly. The ride is absorbent and settled over Australian roads, even on the GT-Line’s larger wheels, the power is metered out without any jerkiness, and wind and road noise simply never registered over a week of driving, which is the mark of a quietly refined thing. The i-Pedal one-pedal mode is excellent, and the brake auto-hold takes the strain out of traffic. One word for the drive, then: composed.

Is the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line safe?

The EV3 carries a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025, and it covers every version of the car, so the GT-Line is neither safer nor less safe than the cheapest Air. It scored 83% for adult occupant protection, 86% for children, 78% for vulnerable road users and 81% for safety assist, and the active-safety kit is comprehensive and standard right across the range.

Two things nagged at me, though, and neither has much to do with how it does in a crash. Like every EV3, the driver-assist tech is a touch too eager: the speed-limit assist and the driver-attention monitor wanted switching off almost every drive, which wears thin fast. And even at this price, the GT-Line makes do with front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera. No Australian EV3 gets a surround-view camera, and honestly, I didn’t miss it. A 360-degree camera is a lovely thing to have and a quick way to forget how to park without one.

• Autonomous Emergency Braking with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction detection
• Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Following Assist 2 and Smart Cruise Control 2
• Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist with Rear Cross-Traffic alert and Safe Exit Warning
• Seven airbags, including a front-centre airbag; front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera

How much does the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line cost?

The GT-Line opens at $63,950 before on-road costs, which is roughly $68,000 drive-away depending on your state. That is roughly $5,000 above the mid-grade Earth. It is worth checking Kia’s live offers when you buy, as drive-away deals come and go.

For that premium you get the visual GT-Line makeover (the LED cube headlights, full-LED tails, gloss-black trim, privacy glass and 19-inch alloys) plus the cabin upgrades that matter day to day: the sunroof, ambient lighting, head-up display, Harman Kardon audio, and the power-adjustable relaxation seats with driver memory. My honest read is that it is money well spent. Five grand is not a huge stretch on a car in this bracket, and these are comforts you will actually use for the life of the car, not showroom novelties you forget about in a fortnight.

How much does the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line cost to run?

On paper the ownership side is strong. Every EV3 gets Kia’s 7-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with the high-voltage battery covered for 7 years or 150,000km down to a 70% capacity floor. The one catch is servicing: Kia leaves its EVs out of the capped-price program its petrol cars enjoy, so you prepay instead, around $688 for three years, $1,308 for five or $1,929 for seven, with a visit due every 12 months or 15,000km. Roadside cover runs a year at a time and renews at each service for up to eight years.

Running it is where an efficient EV pulls ahead. Over my week the GT-Line averaged 16.2kWh/100km, matching Kia’s claim to the decimal. Charge at home on a standard tariff around $0.33/kWh and that is about $5.35 per 100km; shift to a cheap overnight EV plan near $0.08/kWh and it drops to barely $1.30. Lean on premium public fast-charging at about $0.75/kWh, though, and it climbs to roughly $12 per 100km, so charging at home rather than out is where the savings really live. A 10 to 80 per cent top-up moves about 57kWh, so call it $19 at home or around $43 on public DC.

Final thoughts

The EV3 GT-Line is not the car for someone chasing pace or driver involvement. If that is you, keep walking, because the flagship badge changes nothing under the skin. What it is, is the plushest version of one of the most sensible, easy-to-live-with small EVs on sale: roomy beyond its size, impressively efficient, properly safe, and finished with a cabin that genuinely feels above its money. The difference on the GT-Line is that the extra $5,000 buys real, daily comfort rather than empty flash, which makes it easy to recommend to anyone keeping the car a while. If you only want the space and the safety net, the cheaper Earth still does the job. But if you can stretch, the GT-Line is the EV3 at its most likeable, and for a lot of buyers it will be all the electric SUV they ever actually need.

How does the 2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line compare?

The natural cross-shops are its own Kia family and the odd cousin. The larger Kia EV5 undercuts it and offers a bigger boot, but its Standard Range trades away range; the E-GMP Hyundai IONIQ 5 is roomier and longer-legged again, but steps up in size and price. The EV3’s pitch is efficiency and value in a tidier package. Note the figures below sit on slightly different price bases (the EV5 quoted drive-away, the others before on-roads), so confirm drive-away for your postcode.

2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the Kia EV3 GT-Line go on a charge?
Kia claims 563km (WLTP) from the 81.4kWh battery. In our week of mixed driving it averaged 16.2kWh/100km, matching the official figure, which works out to roughly 500km of real-world range.

How much does the Kia EV3 GT-Line cost in Australia?
It is priced from $63,950 before on-road costs, or roughly $68,000 drive-away depending on your state. Always confirm the drive-away figure for your postcode.

Is the Kia EV3 GT-Line worth it over the cheaper EV3 Earth?
Yes, if you want the plusher cabin. The roughly $5,000 step adds a sunroof, Harman Kardon audio, a head-up display and relaxation seats, comforts you use every day, on the same efficient and sensible EV. If you only want the space and safety, the Earth saves you money.

What rivals should I cross-shop against the Kia EV3?
The obvious rivals are the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Volvo EX30, plus its larger sibling the Kia EV5 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 if you need more space.

Kia EV3 GT Line Details

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Kia Australia site.

2026 Kia EV3 GT-Line — Buyers could also look at:

• Kia EV5 Standard Range 2025
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026
• Xpeng G6 Long Range 2025

The post Kia EV3 GT-Line Long Range 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

Years of rideshare kilometres have taught me that the cars you actually live with are rarely the exciting ones, and the EV3 is a textbook case. It is competent rather than charismatic, and all the easier to recommend for it.

The segment is now drowning in look-alike electric crossovers, with the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Volvo EX30 all chasing the same buyer. Against that backdrop the EV3 plays the sensible, safety-first card and looks a size more expensive than it is. Priced from approximately $58,600 before on-road costs, or roughly $63,000 drive-away depending on your state, the Earth Long Range slots just beneath its bigger sibling, the Kia EV5, and uses the same trick of feeling like a class above its price tag.

In this review

• What does it look like?
• What is it like inside?
• Storage
• Rear seat and boot space
• Technology and connectivity
• Engine and drivetrain
• What’s it like to drive?
• Is it safe?
• How much does it cost?
• How much does it cost to run?
• Final thoughts
• How does it compare?
• Frequently Asked Questions

What does the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range look like?

Kia has essentially shrunk its excellent EV9 into a city-friendly footprint, and the “baby EV9” tag fits. At 4,300mm long it is properly compact, yet the upright nose, near-vertical “Star Map” lighting and chunky black wheel-arch cladding give it the road presence of something dearer. The flush door handles sit cleanly into the bodywork, the 19-inch aero alloys fill the squared-off arches, and a contrasting dark roof breaks up the tall silhouette. It is distinctive in a segment where most rivals look like the same electric appliance in different shades. A low bar, admittedly, but the EV3 clears it comfortably.

What is the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range like inside?

This, for me, is where the EV3 wins you over. The interior was comfortably the highlight of the car. The completely flat floor and tall roofline make the cabin feel a class bigger than the exterior suggests, and the Earth’s two-tone scheme is a quiet stroke of genius. The orange contrast may divide opinion, but there is a practical logic to it. So much of what we carry, whether phones, keys or wallets, is dark, and the lighter trim makes everything easier to spot. Crucially, Kia has resisted the urge to bury every function in a touchscreen. Physical buttons handle the things you actually use, so you are not forever diving through menus, and the two-spoke steering wheel is a genuinely nice shape with controls that fall easily to hand.

Storage

Practicality is baked in. The centre console houses a slide-out tray, there are twin USB-C ports front and rear, a wireless phone charger, deep door bins and the usual clutch of cup and bottle holders. Up front, under the bonnet, sits a 25-litre “frunk”. It is modest, but exactly the right size for stashing the charging cables so they are not rolling around the boot. It is the kind of thoughtful, everyday packaging that makes a car easy to live with rather than impressive on paper.

Rear seat and boot space

Thanks again to that flat floor and the 2,680mm wheelbase (the same as a Sportage), the back seat is airy and accommodating, with proper room for adults and a bright, glassy feel. The boot holds 460 litres with the seats up, expanding to around 1,250 litres folded. To put real numbers on it: on one run up the Central Coast I had a passenger aboard, the boot fully loaded, the cabin packed, and my budgie riding shotgun in his cage. The EV3 swallowed the lot without complaint. For a compact SUV, it punches well above its class for space.

Technology and connectivity

Every EV3 gets a triple-panoramic layout: a 12.3-inch driver display and a 12.3-inch touchscreen flanking a 5-inch climate strip. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, DAB radio, satellite navigation, over-the-air updates and Kia Connect are all standard. The system is responsive and, more importantly, sensibly laid out. Those physical shortcut keys mean the screens stay out of your way rather than demanding constant attention. One thing you don’t get is a surround-view camera, though no Australian EV3 gets one, the GT-Line included. I didn’t especially miss it: at this price a 360-degree camera is a nice luxury rather than a parking necessity, so it is hard to mark the EV3 down too harshly for it.

Highlighted Features

• Vehicle-to-Load (V2L): run 220-240V appliances straight off the battery via the interior socket and adaptor, handy for camping, tools or a power cut.
• i-Pedal 3.0 one-pedal driving: smooth, well-judged regen that lets you drive largely on one pedal around town.
• Heated and ventilated front seats + heated steering wheel: standard on Earth, and a genuine step up over the entry Air.

Engine and drivetrain

The Earth Long Range pairs a single front-mounted permanent-magnet motor with the larger 81.4kWh battery. That is 150kW and 283Nm through the front wheels, enough for a claimed 0 to 100km/h of 7.9 seconds. Charging is respectable rather than headline-grabbing. On a 150kW DC charger, which is the current Australian norm, 10 to 80 per cent takes about 31 minutes; the EV3’s 400V system tops out comfortably below what an ultra-rapid charger can deliver anyway, so there is little to gain from hunting out the 350kW units. A three-phase 11kW AC wallbox does 10 to 100 per cent in around seven and a half hours. The charge port lives on the driver’s side (the right, in our right-hand-drive cars) at the front. WLTP range is a strong 563km, and the real world, as it turns out, is not far off it.

What’s the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range like to drive?

This is the part where the EV3’s honesty shows. The steering is fine. It is light, easy and perfectly judged for the car park, but nothing special, and at times it feels a little disconnected from the road, as though the assistance systems are quietly filtering the conversation. Performance tells a similar story. The 150kW motor is serviceable and gets on with the job, but it is no highlight; coming off punchier dual-motor EVs, it feels a touch sluggish. On wet uphill starts the front wheels can briefly scrabble for traction, a reminder that this is a near-1.9-tonne front-driver with instant torque. There is a small irony in the spec sheet, too: the cheapest, lightest Air Standard Range is actually the quickest EV3 of the lot.

What it does do, it does smoothly. The ride is absorbent and settled over Australian roads, the power is metered out without any jerkiness, and wind and road noise simply never registered over a week of driving, which is the mark of a quietly refined thing. The i-Pedal one-pedal mode is excellent, and the brake auto-hold takes the strain out of traffic. If I have a single ergonomic gripe, it is oddly specific: the drive-mode button sits exactly where my left thumb wants to rest in the gap of the steering wheel, so I could relax my right thumb in the equivalent spot but never my left. Convenient to reach, mildly annoying to live with. One word for the drive, then: composed.

Is the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range safe?

The EV3 wears a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025, with 83% for adult occupant protection, 86% for child occupants, 78% for vulnerable road users and 81% for safety assist. The hardware is comprehensive and standard across the range. The one catch, and it is a recurring EV3 complaint, is that some of the systems are over-eager: the intelligent speed-limit assist and driver-attention monitor needed switching off almost every drive, which gets old fast.

• Autonomous Emergency Braking with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction detection
• Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Following Assist 2 and Smart Cruise Control 2
• Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist with Rear Cross-Traffic alert and Safe Exit Warning
• Seven airbags, including a front-centre airbag; front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera

How much does the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range cost?

The EV3 Earth Long Range opens at about $58,600 before on-road costs, which is roughly $63,000 drive-away depending on your state. That puts it a rung below the range-topping GT-Line and just beneath the larger Kia EV5. It is worth checking Kia’s live offers when you buy, as drive-away deals come and go.

For that money you get the sensible core of the EV3 done well: the flat-floor cabin, the triple-screen layout with physical shortcut keys, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, and the full safety suite. Step up to the GT-Line and you add a sunroof, Harman Kardon audio, a head-up display and plusher seats, but the Earth already covers the things you actually use every day, which is what makes it the value pick of the range.

How much does the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range cost to run?

Kia’s 7-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty applies, and the high-voltage battery is covered for 7 years or 150,000km down to a 70% capacity floor. The one catch is servicing: Kia leaves its EVs out of the capped-price program its petrol cars enjoy, so you prepay instead, around $688 for three years, $1,308 for five or $1,929 for seven, with a visit due every 12 months or 15,000km. Roadside cover runs a year at a time and renews at each service for up to eight years.

Running it is where an efficient EV pulls ahead. Over more than 1,000km the Earth averaged 16.7kWh/100km, close to Kia’s 16.2 claim. Charge at home on a standard tariff around $0.33/kWh and that is about $5.50 per 100km; shift to a cheap overnight EV plan near $0.08/kWh and it drops to barely $1.35. Lean on premium public fast-charging at about $0.75/kWh, though, and it climbs to roughly $12.50 per 100km, so charging at home rather than out is where the savings really live. A 10 to 80 per cent top-up moves about 57kWh, so call it $19 at home or around $43 on public DC.

Final thoughts

The EV3 Earth Long Range is not the car for someone chasing pace or driver involvement. If that is you, keep walking. What it is, is one of the most sensible, easy-to-live-with small EVs on sale: roomy beyond its size, impressively efficient, properly safe, and finished with a cabin that genuinely feels above its money. It suits families and anyone who simply wants to get from A to B in calm, safe comfort. If you need more room again, the larger Kia EV5 is the natural step up; but for a lot of buyers, the smaller, cheaper, cleverly packaged EV3 will be all the electric SUV they ever actually need.

How does the 2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range compare?

The natural cross-shops are its own Kia family and the odd cousin. The larger Kia EV5 gives you a bigger boot, but its Standard Range trades away range; the E-GMP Hyundai IONIQ 5 is roomier and longer-legged again, but steps up in size and price. The EV3’s pitch is efficiency and value in a tidier package. Note the figures below sit on slightly different price bases (the EV5 quoted drive-away, the others before on-roads), so confirm drive-away for your postcode.

2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the Kia EV3 Earth Long Range go on a charge?
Kia claims 563km (WLTP) from the 81.4kWh battery. In our week of mixed driving it averaged 16.7kWh/100km over more than 1,000km, which works out to roughly 485km of real-world range.

How much does the Kia EV3 Earth Long Range cost in Australia?
It is priced from about $58,600 before on-road costs, or roughly $63,000 drive-away depending on your state. Always confirm the drive-away figure for your postcode.

Is the Kia EV3 Earth Long Range worth buying?
Yes, if you want a calm, safe and spacious family EV with strong real-world range. It earns its keep on practicality and efficiency rather than performance, so keen drivers should look elsewhere.

What rivals should I cross-shop against the Kia EV3?
The obvious rivals are the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Volvo EX30, plus its larger sibling the Kia EV5 if you need more space.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Kia Australia site.

2026 Kia EV3 Earth Long Range — Buyers could also look at:

• Kia EV5 Standard Range 2025
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026
• Xpeng G6 Long Range 2025

The post Kia EV3 Earth Long Range 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

Close to $20,000 more than the entry car, and it is not the one that travels the furthest, because the lighter front-drive Long Range does more kilometres on a charge. So it makes most sense if you want the comfort and the all-weather security of all-wheel drive and will use what you are paying for. If outright range or the lowest price is your main goal, just know the flagship is not built to chase either.

It lands in the busiest corner of the market, the mid-size electric SUV, where buyers are spoilt for choice and value counts for a lot. At around $76,000 drive-away (about $71,770 before on-road costs, depending on your state), the GT-Line AWD sits right at the top of the family and well into the money some pricier rivals ask. I had already spent a week in the cheaper front-drive EV5, so the jump to the dual-motor flagship was the thing I most wanted to weigh up.

What does the Kia EV5 GT-Line look like?

The EV5 is all upright and boxy, and it wears it well. At 4,615mm long, 1,875mm wide and 1,715mm tall on a 2,750mm wheelbase, it has the square-shouldered “baby EV9” look that Kia’s electric SUVs have made their own, and it reads as a proper mid-size family car rather than a tall hatch.

The catch is that the GT-Line barely looks like the flagship. Park it next to a cheaper EV5 and you would struggle to tell them apart. The giveaways are small: 20-inch alloys in place of 18s or 19s, gloss-black bumpers, skid plates, roof rails and beltline, auto-flush door handles, privacy glass and LED dynamic indicators. It is tastefully done, but if you want the badge to show what you spent, this is not the car for it. The real upgrade is inside, at the steering wheel.

It looks best from the front three-quarter, where the vertical “Star Map” lighting and the clamshell bonnet give it some presence. Mine was blue, one of several in the range, and it split the room: I was not sold on it, and a colleague took one look and loved it. Which is about the most useful thing I can tell you about a paint colour.

What is the Kia EV5 GT-Line like inside?

Inside is where the GT-Line finally feels like the flagship. The cabin is open and airy, with twin 12.3-inch screens running the driver’s cluster and the central display, a separate 5-inch climate panel below, and a clean, horizontal dashboard in two-tone artificial leather with white and silver trim. It is calm and grown-up rather than flashy, and none the worse for it.

The seats are the standout. The driver’s chair gets eight-way power adjustment, proper lumbar support and a two-position memory, plus a relaxation function that reclines it and lifts your legs on powered rests, which you do not expect at this money. Both front seats heat, cool and massage, so you feel the difference on a longer drive. The materials are solid where your arms fall, and there is a heated steering wheel to finish it off.

Storage

Cabin storage is sorted. There are four cupholders, bottle holders in all four doors, a covered console, a front tray, a wireless charging pad and a 12-volt outlet, with USB-C for both rows. Under the bonnet there is a 67-litre frunk rated to 25kg, which is just the right size for the charging cables so they are not rolling around in the boot.

Rear seat and boot space

The boxy shape pays off in the back. The flat floor and long wheelbase free up genuine legroom and headroom, the rear bench reclines, and this grade adds vents on the door pillar and heated outer seats. Behind it sits 513 litres of boot, growing to 1,714 litres with the 60:40 seats folded, which is competitive for the class and easily enough for a family’s weekly load.

My week with it was mostly a solo affair, so I cannot tell you how it copes with a full load of passengers or a boot stuffed for a road trip. On the numbers, and from time spent climbing around it, the packaging is exactly what you would want from a square, purpose-built electric SUV.

Technology and connectivity

The twin 12.3-inch screens are quick and logical, and the EV5 keeps both wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you are not forced to live in Kia’s menus. A head-up display, a Harman/Kardon eight-speaker system with subwoofer, satellite navigation with ten years of map and traffic updates, over-the-air updates and fingerprint authentication are all standard on the GT-Line, and Kia Connect handles remote control and monitoring from your phone.

The best bit, though, is in the back. Under the rear of the centre console is a sliding box that heats and cools, which is to say a small fridge for the back seat. It sounds like a gimmick right up until the first warm afternoon you reach in for a cold drink, at which point it quietly becomes your favourite feature.

Highlighted Features

• Heated and cooled rear console box: a small fridge or warmer built into the rear of the centre console, exclusive to the GT-Line.
• Premium relaxation driver’s seat: reclines with powered leg rests, plus heating, ventilation and massage.
• Vehicle-to-Load (V2L): an interior power socket, with an exterior adaptor included on the GT-Line, to run appliances or tools off the car’s battery.

Engine and drivetrain

The GT-Line AWD runs a 160kW motor at the front and a 70kW motor at the rear, for a combined 230kW and 480Nm and a claimed 0 to 100km/h of around 6.3 seconds. Power comes from an 88.1kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery under the floor, a chemistry that is tough and happy being charged to 100 per cent as often as you like.

The price of the all-wheel-drive hardware and the 20-inch wheels is range. The GT-Line claims 470km on the WLTP cycle at 21.0 kWh/100km, where the lighter front-drive Long Range manages up to 555km. Charging is a strong point: the EV5’s 800V-capable architecture does a 10 to 80 per cent DC top-up in around 40 minutes on a typical 150kW public charger, or about 38 minutes on a 350kW unit, and the 11kW three-phase onboard charger fills it overnight at home. There is Vehicle-to-Load too, so the car can run appliances or tools when you are away from a socket.

What’s the Kia EV5 GT-Line like to drive?

The EV5 GT-Line’s best quality is refinement. It glides. The ride is the highlight, soaking up Australian roads with a calm, settled gait, and it holds that composure even on the 20-inch wheels, where plenty of rivals turn brittle on big rims. Over a week of mixed driving I had no complaints.

The all-wheel drive makes a real difference over the front-drive EV5. Instead of the front-driver’s sense of being pulled along, the GT-Line feels moved along, planted, with no scrabbling for grip in the wet and confident hill starts. There is a genuine lift in both grip and pace, and while 230kW will not pin you to the seat, Sport mode gives it real urgency.

One quirk is worth knowing. In Eco and Normal the car leans on the front motor to save energy, so to drive it as a consistent all-wheel drive I found myself picking Snow mode, which sends smooth, even power to all four wheels. It is a workaround rather than a fault, but it is the one thing you keep having to think about in a car that is otherwise effortless. One word for the drive? Smooth, though at its best it is closer to gliding.

Is the Kia EV5 safe?

Yes. The EV5 has a 5-star ANCAP safety rating from 2024, with strong category scores: 88 per cent for adult occupant protection, 86 per cent for child occupant protection, 74 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 82 per cent for safety assist. As the flagship, the GT-Line piles extra assistance on top of an already comprehensive suite, and in daily driving the systems get on with their job without the constant nagging that spoils some rivals.

• Autonomous Emergency Braking with car, pedestrian, cyclist, junction and oncoming detection, plus Lane Keeping and Lane Following Assist and Highway Driving Assist 2
• Blind Spot Collision Avoidance, Rear Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance and Safe Exit Warning
• GT-Line additions: Surround View Monitor with 3D, Blind Spot View Monitor, Parking Collision Avoidance and Remote Smart Park Assist 2
• Driver Attention Warning, Intelligent Speed Limit Assist, front and rear parking sensors, and nine airbags including a front-centre airbag

How much does the Kia EV5 GT-Line cost?

The EV5 GT-Line AWD is the top of the range at roughly $71,770 before on-road costs, which works out to around $76,000 drive-away depending on your state. That is a big step up from the entry EV5 in the high $50,000s, so the GT-Line has to make its case on equipment and comfort rather than badge alone. It is worth pinning down the exact figure with Kia’s online pricing tool, as drive-away pricing moves with state charges and any current offers.

What you get for the money is a long list of standard equipment, which is the GT-Line’s strongest argument. The highlights: 20-inch alloys, a panoramic sunroof, the twin 12.3-inch displays, head-up display, Harman/Kardon audio, the heated, cooled and massaging relaxation seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, the cooled rear console box, a power tailgate, wireless charging and the full suite of driver-assist tech. Very little is left on the options list, so what you see is essentially what you get.

How much does the Kia EV5 GT-Line cost to run?

Ownership is where Kia’s coverage shines. The EV5 comes with a 7-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, a 7-year or 150,000km battery warranty (to 70 per cent capacity), and roadside assistance that starts at 12 months and renews for another year at each scheduled service, up to a maximum of eight years. Servicing falls every 12 months or 15,000km. Electric Kias sit outside the capped-price program the petrol cars get, so the EV5 uses a prepaid EV service plan instead: five services run to $2,389, or about $478 a year, which is fair for the class.

Running costs are the real win. At the claimed 21.0 kWh/100km, charging at home on a standard tariff around $0.33/kWh costs roughly $6.93 per 100km, and on a cheap overnight EV plan near $0.08/kWh that drops to about $1.68 per 100km. Lean on premium public DC charging at around $0.75/kWh and the same 100km climbs past $15, so if you can charge at home, do. I did not need to charge it during my week with it, so these figures are based on the claimed consumption rather than a figure off the trip computer.

Final thoughts

The EV5 GT-Line AWD is the EV5 at its most polished: comfortable, quiet, well equipped and genuinely pleasant to spend time in, with an all-weather composure the front-drive cars cannot match. The seats, the ride and that daft, brilliant little fridge in the back are what stuck with me.

The catch is that the flagship is not the EV5 that goes the furthest, and from the kerb it barely looks different to grades costing a good deal less. So it makes most sense for the buyer who wants the comfort, the kit and the security of all-wheel drive and will actually use them. If your priority is outright range or value, the flagship is not where the EV5 makes its strongest case, and that is worth being honest about. Buy the GT-Line for what it adds inside and underneath, not for the way it looks in the driveway.

How does the Kia EV5 GT-Line compare?

The most useful comparison here is within the EV5 family itself, because the question most buyers face is not Kia versus a rival, but which EV5 to choose. The Kia EV5 Standard Range we reviewed earlier is the value entry point; above it sits the front-drive Air Long Range, quietly the distance champion of the family at 555km; and the GT-Line AWD sits on top with the power, all-wheel drive and the luxury kit. The revealing part is the range row. The GT-Line costs close to $20,000 more than the Standard Range, yet thanks to its all-wheel-drive hardware and 20-inch wheels it covers fewer kilometres between charges than the cheaper Air Long Range. You are buying the flagship for comfort, security and equipment, not for how far it goes.

Kia EV5 GT-Line — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the 2026 Kia EV5 GT-Line go on a charge?
The Kia EV5 GT-Line AWD has a claimed WLTP range of 470km from its 88.1kWh LFP battery. That is less than the cheaper front-drive Long Range models, which claim up to 555km, because the all-wheel-drive system and the larger 20-inch wheels use more energy.

How much does the 2026 Kia EV5 GT-Line cost in Australia?
The EV5 GT-Line AWD is priced at approximately $71,770 before on-road costs, or around $76,000 drive-away depending on your state. It sits at the top of the EV5 range.

Is the Kia EV5 GT-Line worth buying over the cheaper grades?
It depends on your priorities. The GT-Line adds all-wheel drive, a long list of luxury equipment and a more comfortable, quicker drive, but it costs more and travels fewer kilometres on a charge than the front-drive Long Range. If you want maximum range or outright value, a lower grade makes more sense.

Is the Kia EV5 safe?
Yes. The EV5 carries a 5-star ANCAP safety rating from 2024, scoring 88% for adult occupant protection and 86% for child occupant protection. The GT-Line adds a surround-view monitor, a blind-spot view monitor and remote smart park assist on top of the standard driver-assist suite.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Kia Australia site.

Kia EV5 GT-Line — Buyers could also look at:

• Kia EV5 Standard Range
• Hyundai IONIQ 5
• Xpeng G6 Long Range

The post Kia EV5 GT-Line AWD 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

A stint at a car yard once had me driving everything from bangers to Porsche 911 GT3s, so a “performance” badge always raises an eyebrow before it earns a nod. The GTX, it turns out, is quick, quiet and immensely capable, yet the thing that stuck with me after a week is how sensibly it wears that sporting promise.

In Australia the ID.4 comes in just two flavours: the rear-drive Pro from $59,990 before on-road costs, and this GTX, which lands at $69,990 before on-roads, or from approximately $73,990 drive-away on Volkswagen’s own figures, depending on your state. That puts it squarely among the Subaru Trailseeker, Kia EV5 and Hyundai IONIQ 5, a segment that is no longer short of talent.

EcoCarGuide viedeo review of the ID4 GTX

What does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX look like?

This is not what I expected a performance Volkswagen to look like. The GTX is remarkably subtle for a flagship, and most of it works: the body has a clean, sporty surfacing, the black contrast roof tapers into a coupe-like line, and those 20-inch alloys fill the arches well. The standout is the rear three-quarter with the full-width light bar lit, comfortably the car’s best angle.

The nose is the sticking point. The familiar Volkswagen face, with its illuminated badge and the light strip running between the headlights, carries the family look nicely, but the lower bumper protrudes outward beneath it in a way that slightly spoils the front. It is a small thing, yet on a car this otherwise resolved it stands out. Our test car wore silver, which suits the restrained styling, although the GTX’s sharper detailing arguably deserves a bolder colour.

What is the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX like inside?

The cabin is the GTX at its best. The sport seats look fantastic, the red contrast stitching carries onto the steering wheel and door cards, and the whole thing feels sturdy and properly screwed together in the way you hope a Volkswagen will. The dashboard is clean and minimalist, built around a floating central touchscreen, with a compact driver display ahead of the wheel.

Two niggles take a little shine off. The gloss-black trim and the touchscreen are smudge magnets, picking up fingerprints almost on contact, and the GTX’s otherwise lovely materials end up looking grubby faster than you would like. It is the kind of finish that photographs beautifully and then needs a microfibre cloth in the door pocket to keep it that way.

Storage

Up front the ID.4 follows the usual MEB-platform layout, with a centre console housing two cup holders, an illuminated storage compartment under a sliding cover and a wireless charging pad. Worth knowing for EV shoppers expecting a “frunk”: there is no usable front boot. Lift the bonnet and you find the 12-volt battery and fluid reservoirs rather than storage, so all your luggage lives in the rear.

Rear seat and boot space

The long 2,773mm wheelbase pays off in the back, where passengers are genuinely comfortable, helped by the flat EV floor and the airy feel of that enormous panoramic roof overhead.

The boot is a healthy 533 litres with the rear seats up, expanding to 1,565 litres folded, with a near-flat load floor for bulkier loads. There are roof rails rated to 75kg, and the GTX is braked-towing rated to 1,800kg, which is strong for an electric SUV.

Technology and connectivity

The ID.4 centres on a 12.9-inch touchscreen paired with a small 5.3-inch driver display and, on the GTX, a standard augmented-reality head-up display that projects navigation arrows onto the road ahead. It runs wireless App-Connect for smartphone mirroring, voice control via the “Hello IDA” assistant, and over-the-air updates.

The touch-sensitive controls take some learning. They are genuinely sensitive, registering the lightest brush and swipe, so the first day involves a few accidental inputs, but once you calibrate how little pressure they want they become pleasant to use. The physical buttons on the steering wheel, by contrast, are just fine straight away.

One-Touch Features

• “Play and Pause” pedals: the accelerator wears a play symbol and the brake a pause symbol, a playful EV touch that genuinely raises a smile.
• Augmented-reality head-up display: standard on the GTX, it floats navigation and speed information into your forward view.
• Panoramic glass roof: a vast fixed pane that covers most of the roof and floods the cabin with light.

Engine and drivetrain

The GTX is the only all-wheel-drive ID.4, with a second motor on the front axle joining the rear unit for a combined 250kW and 679Nm. That is enough for a claimed 0 to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds and a 180km/h top speed.

The 79kWh (useable) battery is good for up to 511km WLTP, and it will DC fast-charge at up to around 175kW (Volkswagen’s overseas literature cites up to 185kW for this variant, so confirm with your dealer), which is enough for a 10 to 80 per cent top-up in roughly 26 minutes.

In practice many public fast chargers in Australia still cap at 150kW, so that is the rate you will most often see, and the GTX has the headroom to use everything they offer. Home AC charging runs at up to 11kW.

What’s the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX like to drive?

Planted. If I had to sum up the GTX in a single word, that is the one. The steering is noticeably stiffer and meatier than I expected, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and the car feels a touch heavier than its rivals in a way that actually works for it, lending a stable, glued-down composure.

There is plenty of get-up-and-go when you ask for it, and it stays impressively quiet while it gathers pace. Having driven the closely related Subaru Trailseeker just a couple of days later, the contrast stuck with me: the Volkswagen’s steering is firmer and the body more buttoned-down, where the Subaru is the more playful of the two.

The flip side is that it is firm and rigid all the time, even just cruising around town. The body never loosens up, and while that suits the sporting brief, it points to the GTX’s real character.

This is a hyper-competent, German-efficient machine that gets you from A to B beautifully, but it is not what I would call a fun car. It is precise and polished rather than playful, and for all that I admired it, it never quite put a smile on my face. For some buyers that calm, unflappable competence will be exactly the point.

Is the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX safe?

The ID.4 carries a five-star ANCAP rating, though it is worth noting the rating dates back to 2021 and applies across the range. It scored strongly for adult occupant protection (93 per cent), with a long list of standard assistance systems. Refreshingly, none of them nagged or intervened over-eagerly during the week.

• Travel Assist with adaptive cruise control and lane guidance (standard on GTX)
• Front Assist autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection
• Side Assist blind-spot monitoring, rear traffic alert and exit warning
• A centre airbag between the front seats, plus Emergency Assist and a driver-attention monitor

How much does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX cost?

The GTX is the dearer of the two Australian ID.4 variants at $69,990 before on-road costs. Volkswagen Australia advertises it from approximately $73,990 drive-away, so budget a little more depending on your state and on-road costs.

The rear-drive ID.4 Pro undercuts it at $59,990 before on-roads, which is worth keeping in mind, because the Pro covers more WLTP range and most of the same equipment for meaningfully less money.

For your money the GTX is generously kitted. Standard gear includes 20-inch “Ystad” alloy wheels, a panoramic glass roof, sport seats with red contrast stitching, an augmented-reality head-up display, Travel Assist, adaptive cruise control, a 12.9-inch central touchscreen, matrix LED headlights and adaptive chassis control.

In other words, you are not paying GTX money for a stripped-out base car, you are paying it for the dual-motor drivetrain and the sporting trimmings.

How much does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX cost to run?

Volkswagen Australia covers the ID.4 with a 5-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and an 8-year, 160,000km battery warranty guaranteeing at least 70 per cent capacity.

Servicing is a relaxed 24 months or 30,000km between visits, and a prepaid EV Care Plan starts at $1,875 for six years. Roadside assistance is included and renews for up to 24 months each time you service with Volkswagen. For an EV at this price, that is a competitive, low-fuss ownership package.

On energy, Volkswagen does not publish a consumption figure for the GTX specifically, and I did not log a precise kWh/100km, but real-world range felt genuinely strong. I simply did not find myself reaching for a charger as often as I do in some rivals, and the trip computer’s range readout tracked the 511km claim closely (193km remaining at 36 per cent charge points to about 535km indicated on a full battery).

Working on a realistic real-world figure of roughly 18kWh/100km for a car of this size, charging at home at about $0.33/kWh costs around $6 per 100km, dropping under $1.50 per 100km on a cheap overnight EV plan. Lean on premium public DC charging at around $0.75/kWh and that climbs past $13 per 100km, so a full charge ranges from roughly $6 at home overnight to nearly $60 on the road. The case for a home charger writes itself.

Running Costs

Final thoughts

The ID.4 GTX is a genuinely good car that left me oddly unsure who it is for. It is quick, quiet, planted, comfortable and beautifully built, and it does almost everything you ask of a $74,000 electric SUV without fuss. What it does not do is stir you. It feels less like Volkswagen chasing new buyers and more like the brand looking after its own faithful, the buyer who is doing well, wants a sporty-looking SUV EV with a badge they trust, and values polish over playfulness.

If that is you, the GTX will be a quietly excellent companion. If you want your performance EV to actually entertain, the smile-per-dollar is better found elsewhere.

How does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX compare?

I drove the GTX a couple of days before the Subaru Trailseeker, its most direct rival, and the Kia EV5 is the other obvious cross-shop. The Volkswagen counters with the most planted, polished drive of the group and strong build quality, but the Subaru is the more powerful and more playful car for less money, while the Kia undercuts both on price. The GTX’s case rests on its badge, its cabin quality and that composed, unflappable feel.

Volkswagen ID.4 GTX — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX go on a charge?
Volkswagen Australia quotes up to 511km of WLTP range from the GTX’s 79kWh (useable) battery. On test the trip computer showed 193km remaining at 36 per cent charge, which extrapolates to roughly 535km indicated on a full battery, so the 511km claim looks realistic in mixed driving.

How much does the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX cost in Australia?
The ID.4 GTX is priced at $69,990 before on-road costs, or from approximately $73,990 drive-away according to Volkswagen Australia, depending on your state and on-road costs.

Is the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX fast?
Yes. The GTX is the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive flagship of the ID.4 range, with 250kW and a claimed 0 to 100km/h time of 5.4 seconds. It feels brisk and quiet rather than dramatic, with a planted, firmly sprung character.

What rivals should I cross-shop against the ID.4 GTX?
The obvious cross-shops are the Subaru Trailseeker, the Kia EV5 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5. The Volkswagen counters with German build quality and a planted, polished drive, but the Subaru is more powerful and more playful for less money.

Volkswagen ID.4 GTX Details 

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, visit the official Volkswagen Australia site.

Volkswagen ID.4 GTX — Buyers could also look at:

• Subaru Trailseeker AWD 2026 Review
• Kia EV5 Standard Range 2025 Review
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 Review

The post 2026 Volkswagen ID.4 GTX Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

A few hard runs up and down the east coast out of Sydney tell you quickly whether a car is a relaxed long-hauler or a chore, and this one had me reaching for the keys.

It lands in the busy mid-to-large electric SUV class, up against the Kia EV5, the Tesla Model Y and Toyota’s own bZ4X, with which it quietly shares some DNA. Where that segment long ago decided every electric SUV should be a tall, upright crossover, the Trailseeker goes the other way. It is long, low and wide, a proper wagon, and it’s all the better for it. At $63,990 before on-road costs, or about $69,000 drive-away depending on your state, it undercuts the performance it delivers by a comfortable margin.

Subaru Trailseeker Video review

What does the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker look like?

The best angle is the side. In a market awash with identical upright crossovers, a long, low electric wagon genuinely stops you, simply because you barely see the shape anymore. The sculpted bonnet, the raked roofline and the near full-width rear light bar give it a presence that reads as expensive, and the wide track makes it look planted before it has turned a wheel. Subaru offers it in six colours, and to my eye it looks best in Crystal White Pearl or one of the blues. The base AWD rides on 18-inch alloys rather than the Touring’s 20s, and they suit it fine. I drove both at the launch and barely felt the difference, so there is no need to covet the bigger wheels.

What is the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker like inside?

The cabin is the part that quietly justifies the price. It’s modern and calm, with a 14-inch touchscreen, a 7-inch digital driver’s display and a refreshingly clutter-free layout, and crucially Subaru has kept physical controls for the things you actually use, like climate, volume and the drive modes. The materials feel a clear notch above the money. I will admit the high-set driver’s display and the squared-off steering wheel put me off on day one, but they clicked within a week. The flat top of the wheel and the raised display mean you glance down a fraction from the road rather than peering through the rim at the speedo, the way you do in so many cars, and the flat bottom makes it far easier for a taller driver to fold in without knocking the wheel on the way past.

Storage

Up front there is a deep centre console box, a pair of cup holders, big door bins with bottle holders and, the detail I ended up loving most, dual wireless chargers that physically grip the phone. It sounds like a gimmick until you take a roundabout with enthusiasm and your phone has not catapulted into the footwell. Two USB-C ports up front keep the rest of the family powered.

Rear seat and boot space

The flat-floor EV platform pays off in the back. There is no transmission tunnel, so the centre seat gets a proper footwell, and the rear is genuinely adult-friendly for the class. Rear passengers get their own vents, two more USB-C ports and heated outboard seats, which is generous on the base car. The boot is a usable, level 609 litres with the seats up, and folding the 60/40 split rear bench opens up a long, near-flat load bay. Subaru has not published a seats-down figure, but I loaded the Trailseeker up over the week and never once found it wanting.

Technology and connectivity

The 14-inch screen runs wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat-nav, DAB+ digital radio and Bluetooth, and it is quick and bright enough in daylight. The 7-inch instrument display ahead of the driver keeps the speed, range and drive mode clean and fast to read. A digital rear-view mirror swaps the reflection for a camera feed, so a full boot or a head in the back never blocks the view rearward. The base AWD gets a six-speaker system rather than the Touring’s Harman Kardon setup, which is the one obvious place Subaru reminds you which variant you are in. My honest niggles all live in here too. The reverse beep is relentless, you cannot dig into vehicle settings while CarPlay or Android Auto is mirroring, and the audio tuning is buried deeper in the menus than it should be.

One-Touch Features

• Grip Control crawl: an X-Mode trick that holds a steady 2 to 10km/h over rough ground, so you steer and it manages the rest.
• Hands-free power tailgate: a kick under the bumper opens the boot when both arms are full.
• Magnetic wireless chargers: two pads that actually hold the phone in place through a corner.

Engine and drivetrain

Under the skin sit two permanent-magnet synchronous motors, one on each axle, making 167kW apiece for a combined 280kW. That is the headline: more power than a WRX, in a family wagon. The 74.7kWh CATL battery is mounted low in the e-Subaru Global Platform floor, and it feeds Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, here in dual-motor electric form with a predictive torque system working away in the background. Charging is handled over CCS2 at up to 150kW DC, which takes the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in about 30 minutes, a figure that held up accurately the couple of times I fast-charged it. AC charging runs at 7kW on single-phase or 22kW on three-phase. One opportunistic top-up summed up EV ownership nicely: I plugged in at the shops, did half an hour of groceries, and came back to a healthy charge, 52.57kWh for $39.42 on a premium public rate.

What’s the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker like to drive?

This is where it wins you over. You can absolutely feel the 280kW. Slot it into Power mode and it is properly quick off the line, with a snappy, instant response at low speed that never gets old in traffic. Eco mode softens the throttle noticeably without ever feeling sluggish, and you can sense the car change character between the two. What surprised me most was the body control. We took these to a racetrack at the launch, and a tall two-tonne wagon has no business cornering this flat, yet there was no roll worth mentioning, the low-slung battery doing exactly what physics promises.

The steering is light but informative, so you still feel the road, and the safety systems are present without being naggy, which is rarer than it should be. Off the tarmac it simply cruises over the bumps, and X-Mode with its added Grip Control is genuinely useful rather than a brochure line. On the launch I got a lap alongside Dakar champion Toby Price, who reckoned it put a smile on his face. Having driven it on road and off, I cannot argue. The one flat note is the regen braking. Even on its strongest setting it’s gentler than rivals, so there is no true one-pedal feel. I ended up running it off, where it coasts freely, or on one bar, where it slows just enough to feel like it is in gear.

Safety features

The Trailseeker carries a 5-star ANCAP rating, awarded off testing of the closely related European Subaru. Subaru Safety Sense is standard across the range, and on the road the assistance systems strike a sensible balance, helping without hectoring. Highlights include:

• Pre-Collision System, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control and Lane Tracing Assist.
• Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Safe Exit Assist.
• A Panoramic 360 Degree View Monitor, Front View Monitor and front and rear parking sensors.
• A Driver Monitor System for distraction and drowsiness, plus seven airbags including a front centre bag.

Owner benefits

Ownership is where Subaru quietly makes its case. The Trailseeker comes with a 5-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, an 8-year or 160,000km warranty on the high-voltage battery, and 12 months of roadside assistance. Servicing is the kicker. Visits fall every 12 months or 15,000km, and the five capped-price services over the program total just $984.18, or under $200 a year. For an electric car that is barely more than the cost of keeping the tyres in good nick.

Final thoughts

The Trailseeker is the rare car that refuses to make you choose. It is the fastest Subaru ever sold here, it handles like something far smaller and lighter, it will tackle a dirt road without flinching, and it still swallows a family and their gear with 533km of range and pocket-money servicing. Who is it for?, it’s for the person who enjoys a fun car but is burdened by the practicalities of life. This fills that gap while still putting a smile on your face. Its closest rival is the Kia EV5, and against it the Trailseeker is the driver’s choice. If your only metric is space-per-dollar you might find rivals roomier, and the regen and a couple of interface quirks stop it being perfect, but I would happily own one. That is about the highest praise I hand out.

2026 Subaru Trailseeker AWD — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the Subaru Trailseeker AWD go on a charge?
The Trailseeker AWD is rated at up to 533km on the WLTP cycle from its 74.7kWh battery. In the real world I saw closer to 300km-plus when I leaned on it, with energy use ranging from about 18.4kWh/100km around town to 24.5kWh/100km at highway speeds. Counter-intuitively, the cheaper AWD out-ranges the dearer Touring, which drops to 488km on its larger 20-inch wheels.

How much does the Subaru Trailseeker cost in Australia?
The Trailseeker AWD starts at $63,990 before on-road costs, or roughly $69,000 drive-away depending on your state. The flagship Trailseeker AWD Touring is $69,990 before on-roads. Premium paint adds $660, and Subaru cut the launch pricing in May 2026, so it is sharper now than it first arrived.

Is the Subaru Trailseeker worth buying?
If you want the driver’s pick of the mid-to-large electric SUV class, yes. It is the fastest Subaru ever sold here, it stays flat and composed for a two-tonne wagon, it has a genuine off-road mode and 211mm of clearance, and it looks and feels like a $70,000 to $80,000 car for $63,990. The regen braking is mild and a few interface quirks grate, but none of it’s a dealbreaker.

What should I cross-shop against the Subaru Trailseeker?
The closest rival is the Kia EV5, with the Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ4X Touring and Kia EV6 also in the mix, plus the petrol Subaru Outback for the brand faithful. The Trailseeker is the more driver-focused choice of that group.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, visit Subaru Australia.

2026 Subaru Trailseeker AWD — Buyers could also look at:

• Kia EV5 Standard Range 2025 Review
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 Review
• Nissan Ariya 2025 Review
• Xpeng G6 Long Range 2025 Review

The post Subaru Trailseeker 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

Physically, the Q6 e-tron sits in the “Goldilocks” zone—roughly the size of the popular Q5 but with significantly more interior room. It arrives with a premium proposition: a price tag starting around $122,500 for this quattro model. In my experience, this isn’t just another electric SUV; it is the car that finally brings the “traditional” luxury Audi feel into the modern 800-volt electric era.

What does the Audi Q6 e-tron 2025 look like?

The Q6 e-tron doesn’t shout “I’m an EV” with weird proportions. Instead, it refines the classic SUV shape with the new “Premium Platform Electric“ (PPE) architecture shared with Porsche. At 4771mm long, it features short overhangs and powerful “Quattro blisters”—subtle muscular bulges over the wheels that hint at its power.

The highlight is the active digital light signature. You can actually customise the pattern of the Matrix LED headlights and OLED taillights via the infotainment screen. It’s a party trick, sure, but it looks incredibly premium at night.

What is the Audi Q6 e-tron 2025 like inside?

Audi calls this interior the “Digital Stage,” and for once, the marketing hype is accurate. The dashboard is a curved, panoramic sculpture that wraps around the driver. The materials are top-tier—Audi creates arguably the best interiors in the business—with a “Softwrap” element running from the doors across the console, using sustainable fabrics that feel warm and expensive.

The seats are supportive and, in this quattro trim, often come with heating and high-quality leather appointments. It feels solid, quiet, and built to last a lifetime.

Storage

Practicality hasn’t been sacrificed for style. The centre console features a dedicated phone charging tray that is cooled. To prevent your phone from overheating while charging wirelessly. A brilliant touch and deep cupholders.

Crucially, under the bonnet lies a 64-litre “frunk”. It is specifically moulded to hold charging cables or a small duffel bag. This is a massive win over rivals like the BMW iX3 or Mercedes EQC which offer no front storage.

Rear seat and boot space

The rear cabin benefits from the flat floor of the electric platform. Legroom is generous for adults, and the headroom is excellent even with the panoramic sunroof.

The boot offers a very usable 526 litres, which is square and easy to load. The rear seats fold in a flexible 40:20:40 split, expanding the cargo area to 1529 litres. It’s a genuinely practical family hauler that can swallow holiday luggage with ease.

Technology and connectivity

The technology here is a quantum leap forward. Visually, the cabin is dominated by the MMI panoramic display, merging an 11.9-inch virtual cockpit with a 14.5-inch central touchscreen. Functionally, it runs on Android Automotive OS, meaning Google Maps and Spotify are built-in natively.

Complementing the driver’s tech is an optional 10.9-inch screen exclusively for the front passenger. Consequently, your co-pilot can watch movies or assist with navigation without distracting you, as the screen has a privacy filter that makes it invisible from the driver’s seat. Indeed, it turns the passenger seat into a first-class experience.

Beyond the screens, the Q6 e-tron features an advanced Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Up Display. Evidenced by navigation arrows that appear to “float” on the road 200 metres ahead of you, guiding you through roundabouts intuitively. Finally, the “Hey Audi” voice assistant is now powered by AI, making it actually useful for controlling climate and media.

One-Touch Features:

• Active Privacy Mode: The passenger screen automatically dims if the driver tries to look at it while moving.
• Self-Learning Assistant: The car learns your routine, such as automatically turning on seat heating when the outside temp drops below 10°C.
• e-tron Route Planner: Automatically calculates charging stops and pre-heats the battery for max speed before you arrive.

Engine and drivetrain

The Q6 e-tron quattro is powered by a dual-motor setup delivering a combined 285 kW of power and 855 Nm of torque. While the 0-100 km/h time of 5.9 seconds isn’t “Tesla Plaid” fast, it is effortless, surging forward with a smooth, relentless shove that makes overtaking safe and easy.

The star of the show is the battery. It’s a 100 kWh (94.9 kWh net) unit built on 800-volt architecture. This allows for a max DC charge rate of 270 kW. In the real world, this means you can charge from 10% to 80% in just 21 minutes. It future-proofs you for the next generation of ultra-fast highway chargers.

What’s the Audi Q6 e-tron 202 like to drive?

If you are coming from a petrol Audi Q5, you will feel instantly at home. Audi has resisted the urge to make this feel like a spaceship; instead, it feels like a very polished, very quiet luxury car.

The ride quality is superb, especially if you opt for the adaptive air suspension. It floats over Australian country roads but tightens up when you want to drive enthusiastically. The steering is precise and well-weighted. It doesn’t have the frantic energy of a Model Y Performance; it has a composed, confident maturity that makes long drives a pleasure, not a chore.

Safety features

The Q6 e-tron is built to the highest safety standards. It includes a comprehensive ADAS suite:

• Adaptive Cruise Assist Plus (combines adaptive cruise with lane guidance)
• Turn Assist (prevents turning across oncoming traffic)
• Exit Warning System (alerts you to cyclists before opening doors)
• 360-degree cameras with 3D view
• Driver distraction and fatigue monitoring

Owner benefits

Audi Australia backs the Q6 e-tron with a 5-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and covers the high-voltage battery for 8 years or 160,000 km.

Service intervals are every 2 years or 30,000 km, which is generous and reduces running costs significantly compared to combustion Audis. You also typically get a complimentary Chargefox subscription with purchase (check current offers).

Final thoughts

If you have been waiting to switch to electric because you didn’t want to lose the “premium” feel of a traditional luxury brand, the Audi Q6 e-tron is the car you’ve been waiting for.

It doesn’t rely on gimmicks. It relies on solid engineering, incredible charging speed, and a cabin that is genuinely a nice place to spend time. At ~$122k, it is an investment, but it feels like one. It is the sophisticated choice for the buyer who values quality over 0-100 stats.

The post Audi Q6 e-tron 2025 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

Physically, the IONIQ 5 plays a brilliant optical illusion. In photos, it looks like a compact 1980s hatchback, but in person, it is a massive, 4.6-metre-long family crossover with a wheelbase longer than a Toyota LandCruiser. Arriving with an indicative drive-away price of around $76,200 for this base trim, it isn’t cheap. However, with the upgraded 84 kWh battery now standard across the range, this is arguably the most complete, head-turning, and ultra-fast-charging family EV on the market.

What does the Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 look like?

The IONIQ 5 remains one of the most striking cars on the road that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. At 4655mm long and 1890mm wide, it has a planted, wide stance with incredibly sharp geometric creases running down the sides.

The highlight of the exterior is the retro-inspired “Parametric Pixel” LED lighting at the front and rear, giving it an unmistakable 8-bit digital signature. Crucially for the 2026 model, Hyundai has subtly redesigned the front and rear bumpers for better aerodynamics and finally, mercifully, added a rear windscreen wiper.

What is the Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 like inside?

The interior is designed around a “Living Space” theme, taking full advantage of the dedicated electric platform’s completely flat floor. The cabin feels immensely airy and open. Eco-friendly materials are used throughout, including recycled PET bottles and plant-based yarns, yet it all feels premium and robust.

The Elite trim features excellent, highly adjustable seats. A brilliant 2026 update is the revised, sportier 3-spoke steering wheel and a reworked centre console that finally brings physical shortcut buttons for your seat heating, ventilation, and parking cameras.

Storage

Because there is no transmission tunnel, the IONIQ 5 features the “Universal Island”—a massive centre console that can slide back and forth, allowing the driver to easily slide across to the passenger side to exit if parked tightly.

Instead of a traditional drop-down glovebox, it features a unique sliding drawer that holds significantly more. Under the clamshell bonnet, the RWD model offers a 57-litre “frunk,” which is just big enough to neatly store your charging cables away from your groceries.

Rear seat and boot space

The IONIQ 5 boasts a gargantuan 3000mm wheelbase, which translates to true limousine-like legroom for rear passengers. The rear seats are electrically adjustable and can slide forward or backward to prioritize either passenger legroom or boot space.

The boot is an expansive and flat 520 litres. While the raked rear window cuts slightly into tall item storage, it is extremely wide. Fold the rear seats down, and you get a cavernous 1580 litres of cargo space.

Technology and connectivity

Stepping inside the 2026 IONIQ 5 introduces you to the latest ‘ccNC’ software architecture. Visually, the dashboard is clean and airy, dominated by dual 12.3-inch displays seamlessly integrated into a single white-bezel panel. Functionally, the new system is blazingly fast and, thankfully, brings wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto across the board.

Complementing this digital array is the newly revised steering wheel and the addition of the much-requested physical buttons on the centre console. Consequently, you can keep your eyes on the road; instead of tapping through three touchscreen menus just to turn on your heated seats on a winter morning.

Beyond the screens, the tech is genuinely life-enhancing as it retains its famous V2L (Vehicle-to-Load) capability, turning the car into a massive rolling power bank.

Engine and drivetrain

For 2026, Hyundai streamlined the range and gave every model the big battery. This Elite RWD is powered by an 84 kWh battery feeding a single electric motor on the rear axle. It produces a very healthy 168 kW of power and 350 Nm of torque.

The undisputed trump card of the IONIQ 5 is its 800-volt architecture (a feature usually reserved for Porsche and Audi). This allows it to plug into a 350kW ultra-rapid charger and pull over 230 kW of power, meaning a 10% to 80% charge takes a mind-blowing 18 minutes. The official WLTP range is an excellent 570 kilometres (on 19-inch wheels).

What’s the Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 like to drive?

The IONIQ 5 is the ultimate cruising machine. Because the heavy battery is mounted low in the floor and the wheelbase is so long, it irons out Australian country roads with a luxurious, planted composure.

With a 0-100 km/h time of roughly 7.5 seconds, the RWD Elite isn’t a sports car, but the instant torque makes it feel effortless and sprightly around town. The steering is light and predictable, and the cabin insulation is superb, making it a phenomenally quiet place to spend a long road trip.

Safety features

The IONIQ 5 carries a 5-star ANCAP safety rating. The 2026 model is packed with Hyundai’s ‘SmartSense’ active safety tech:

• Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (with Junction Turning/Crossing)
• Blind-Spot View Monitor (projects a live camera feed into the instrument cluster)
• Highway Driving Assist 2 (adaptive cruise with auto lane-changing)
• Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist
• Safe Exit Assist (locks the rear doors if a car or cyclist is approaching)

Final thoughts

The 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Elite RWD takes a car that was already a pioneer and polishes it to perfection. By adding the larger 84kWh battery as standard, introducing crucial physical buttons, and adding a rear wiper, Hyundai has eliminated the few excuses you might have had to not buy one.

At around $84,000 drive-away, it commands a premium price, but it backs it up with premium 800V technology, jaw-dropping design, and a lounge-like interior that genuinely makes your daily commute better. If you have the budget, this remains one of the finest electric vehicles on sale today.

The post Hyundai IONIQ 5 2026 Review appeared first on Eco Car Guide.

We’re reviewing the base model, the Nissan Ariya Engage Standard Range. It costs $55,840 plus on-road costs. This is cheaper than rivals like the Tesla Model Y. It has a smaller battery and is designed mostly for city driving.

What does the Nissan Ariya Standard Range look like?

The Ariya looks very modern and smooth. It has a sleek front with slim headlights and a shield-like grille.

It has a sporty shape with a sloping roof. The standard model comes with aero hub cap covers that look good on the car. Unlike some plain-looking electric cars, the Ariya has sharp lines that give it a strong style.

What is the Nissan Ariya Standard Range like inside?

The interior is the best part of the car. It feels fancy and open, with a suede like finish.

The dashboard is simple and clean, with a wood-look panel across the front. The buttons for the air conditioning are built into this wood panel. They are invisible when the car is off and light up when you turn it on.

The seats are designed to be very comfortable, even on long trips. The quality of materials feels expensive, even in this cheaper model.

Storage

There is good storage inside. You get a wireless phone charger and cup holders in the centre.

There is a normal glovebox and big pockets in the doors. However, there is no front boot (frunk) under the bonnet. That space is used for car parts.

Rear seat and boot space

The back seat is very spacious because the floor is flat. Three adults can sit comfortably. There is plenty of legroom. Rear passengers also get air vents and USB ports to charge their phones.

The boot has 466 litres of space. It is a useful square shape. You can move the floor panels to separate your bags or make it flat. If you fold the back seats down, the space grows to about 1350 litres.

Technology and connectivity

The dashboard has two large 12.3-inch screens. One is for the driver’s speed and instruments, and the other is for maps and music.

The system works well and includes wireless Apple CarPlay and standard Android Auto. It is easy to use. This model comes with a standard 6-speaker sound system.

Engine and drivetrain

This model has a 63 kWh battery. It has one electric motor that drives the front wheels. It produces 160 kW of power.

The official driving range is 385 km. This is enough for city driving and weekly commutes. If you want to drive long distances interstate, you might need to plan your charging stops more carefully than with the bigger battery model.

It can charge at home or use fast public chargers. A fast charger can fill the battery from 10% to 80% in about 35 minutes.

What’s the Nissan Ariya Standard Range like to drive?

The Ariya is built for comfort, not speed. It goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.0 seconds, which is fine for normal driving.

The ride is excellent. The suspension is smooth and soaks up bumps very well. The cabin is also very quiet, blocking out wind and road noise. It feels relaxing and easy to drive.

Safety features

The Ariya has a 5-star ANCAP safety rating. It comes with Nissan’s ProPILOT safety features, which include:

• Emergency braking (stops for cars, people, and cyclists)
• Lane keeping assist (helps you stay in your lane)
• Blind spot warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert (helps when reversing)
• Smart cruise control

Owner benefits

Nissan gives a 5-year / unlimited-kilometre warranty on the car. The battery is covered for 8 years / 160,000 km.

You need to service the car every 12 months or 20,000 km.

Final thoughts

The 2025 Nissan Ariya Engage is a great choice if you want a stylish car. Its 385km range and low towing capacity (750kg) are not the best in class.

However, if you don’t drive huge distances every day, the Ariya offers a beautiful interior and a very smooth ride. At $55,840, it feels like a luxury car for a good price.

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