As summer holidays are approaching and families are getting ready to travel to holiday destinations, the Omoda C5 is the perfect family vehicle for the long trip that will turn heads with its modern, sleek design with the performance and handling to back it up. With more and more Chinese vehicles joining the South African market, this offering  demonstrates sleek styling, sophisticated  design and performance in their C5 model.  We were lucky enough to test this car for a week and found the overall drive to be an enjoyable experience.

Exterior

The exterior look to the car give is a modern design with ample LED lighting on the front and back of the car.  The auto driving lights give you a clear view at night.  The lines are sharp and sleek design on the body is a head turner.  The front grill has a very modern design that is widely becoming the style of current vehicles.

We drove a striking navy blue and looked amazing which was just one of the cool colours available on the vehicle.  The little things such as the Omoda branding illuminating from under the automatic folding side mirrors just adds to the premium feel.  The black 17/ 18 inch rims just finishes off the exterior touches.  The retractable sun roof fitted with the car adds a nice open air feel to the car.  The rear boot is spacious with plenty of room for luggage and even picnic fit for the whole family.

The keyless entry allows for you to unlock the car by just approaching the car with the key fob in your pocket, so no need to find it with your hands full.  The fob also allows for the remote opening of the rear boot without having to locate the button on the door.

Interior

The interior trim offers up a premium feel with a sleep and stylish look.  The multi-coloured LED lights around the  and front doors just add to the premium feel. The interior boasts a 2x 10.25 inch LCD screens; one for a customised speedometer and the other for the entertainment system, air conditioner and 360 degree camera.  The LCD on the drivers side allows for a customised experience with it detailing down to  the automatic cruise control, fuel consumption and even the tire pressure.

The entertainment system boasts your standard radio functions with Bluetooth connectivity as well as Apple Car Play/ Android Auto and the 360 degree camera.  The car also comes with wireless charging and a convenient location for your phones.  The adjustable front seats offer a comfortable ride as well as plenty of space in the rear seating.  There are USB ports in the front console as well back to charge your devices.

The air conditioning system offers a level customisation that would make the trip an enjoyable experience with not only front and rear vents but the best feature is driver and passenger side temperature customisation.

The 360 degree exterior camera really assists with having control over the car and navigating it when getting inn and out of parking spaces.  The addition of voice activation for vehicle functions by simple saying “Hello Omoda”, allows for such functions as opening/ closing windows or the sunroof to even turning the air conditioning system on and off.

Driving

The 1.5 litre engine offers 115kW of power, with a fuel consumption of 6.9L per 100kms from its 51 litre fuel tank.  This is a type of car that handles well in the city as well as the open road.  The automatic transmission with ECO and Sports mode offers great performance and fuel economy on city roads as well as country highways. 

Cruise control is an amazing feature and a must for all cars that regularly drive the highways of South Africa but the newest addition to this function is the automatic speed control.  This customisable feature senses the car or cars in front of you and regulates your speed so you don’t have a need to constantly turn the cruise control on and off.   The distance between the car is front is customisable so you can gently slow down to match the speed of the car in front of you.

Overall.

Starting at R447900 this head turner is a perfect family car for the long highways trips this summer and with its 5 year or 150000km factory warranty is a great additional to the South African car market.