2026 Leapmotor B05 Review: The MG4 Killer You Didn’t See Coming

A shockingly polished Chinese EV that nails value, charging speed and cabin tech, held back only by an unproven nameplate.

2026 Leapmotor B05 Ultra front three-quarter studio press shot

We haven’t seen many affordable EVs arrive with this kind of spec sheet in 2026. The Leapmotor B05 pairs 800V charging with up to 483 km of WLTP range and a cabin loaded with tech, all at a price that undercuts almost everything in the class. The MG4 still holds the edge on warranty and proven track record, but the B05’s bang-for-buck credentials are genuinely difficult to argue against. —

At a Glance

The B05 is a five-door, rear-wheel-drive electric hatchback — 4,430 mm long and 1,880 mm wide — built on an 800V electrical architecture with two LFP battery options: 56.2 kWh and 67.1 kWh. A single rear-mounted motor delivers 215–218 hp (160 kW) in standard trim, while the upcoming Ultra variant pushes that to 245 hp (180 kW) for a 0–100 km/h dash under six seconds. WLTP range peaks at roughly 483 km (300 miles), and DC fast charging maxes out between 168 and 178 kW. UK pricing kicks off at £28,995 after the £1,500 Leap Grant, with European pricing starting at €26,900. Price (from) 0–100 km/h DC Charging (max) ——— £28,995 / €26,900 6.7 s 168–178 kW MG4 Long Range 203 hp (150 kW) ~543 km (338 mi) ~£26,000 / ~€29,990 ~7.0 s 88 kW Cupra Born 231 hp (170 kW) ~552 km (343 mi) ~£28,000 / ~€32,500 ~7.3 s 95 kW | —

Design and First Impressions

Leapmotor clearly isn’t interested in blending in. Up front, a slim full-width LED bar serves as both daytime running lights and indicators, flanked by recessed headlamps and functional air intakes either side of the bumper. A radar sensor sits neatly tucked behind the lower grille, and the whole face has a low, planted stance that avoids the generic blob-shaped look plaguing so many Chinese EVs. From the side, the B05 sits taut and low on 19-inch "Swift-Wing" alloys wrapped in Hankook iON evo EV-specific rubber — a tyre choice that hints at real performance intent rather than cost-cutting on rolling resistance.

The colour options are bold. Our preview car was finished in a vivid yellow that leans toward warm gold in direct sunlight — striking stuff, though Galaxy Silver and Starry Night Blue are there if you’d rather keep things subtle. Piano-black trim replaces bare black plastic along the lower bodywork, a small but effective touch that some competitors in this price bracket don’t bother with. Then there are the frameless doors on all four sides — a feature you’d normally associate with coupés or premium sedans. They give the B05 a sense of occasion every time you open or close a door.

Round back, the LED tail-lights echo the front with a connected light bar spanning the full width of the hatch, finished off with a subtle rear diffuser. At 4,430 mm long and 1,880 mm wide, the B05 lands in the compact hatchback sweet spot — bigger than a BYD Dolphin, a touch shorter than a Cupra Born. The panoramic glass roof lifts the exterior silhouette and gives you a preview of the airy cabin waiting inside. It’s a cohesive, mature design that wouldn’t look out of place in any Australian car park, and that’s exactly the point.

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Interior, Tech and Practicality

Inside, your eye goes straight to the floating 14.6-inch 2.5K central touchscreen running Leap OS 4.0 Plus. It’s sharp, responsive and laid out with widget-style shortcuts along the bottom — a format that’ll feel instantly familiar if you’ve used a recent Tesla or BYD system. Graphics are crisp, animations are smooth, and there’s a customisable avatar on the home screen if you’re into that sort of thing. Behind the steering wheel sits an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster showing speed, range, tyre pressures and nav prompts in a clean, uncluttered layout. The two-spoke flat-bottom wheel is wrapped in leatherette with roller controls for media and voice commands, and it all clicks into place after just a few minutes behind the wheel.

Material quality is a mixed bag, which you’d expect at this price. The primary touchpoints — door tops, armrests and seat surfaces — use recycled plastics and leatherette that genuinely look and feel premium. The seats are perforated and supportive, heated on the upper trim, with powered fore-aft and height adjustment. Drop your hand lower into the cabin, though, particularly on the centre tunnel and lower dashboard, and the harder, shinier plastics make themselves known. It’s not a deal-breaker — the MG4 and BYD Dolphin have the same issue — but it’s a reminder the B05 is built to a budget.

Boot space sits at about 350 litres, right on par for a compact hatch, and the 60/40 split-folding rear seats open up more room when you need to carry longer items. The tailgate is manual on European-spec cars, which feels a bit odd given the otherwise tech-heavy spec sheet. It’s a small cost saving most owners will live with, though a powered tailgate would’ve been a welcome addition. The panoramic glass roof does a lot of heavy lifting here, flooding the cabin with natural light and making the whole interior feel airier and more expensive than the price tag suggests.

In the back, two adults fit comfortably enough, though anyone over 185 cm will notice the headroom tightening. Legroom is fine for the class, and rear passengers score a pair of USB-C ports, air vents and a centre armrest with two cupholders. Up front, there’s a wireless charging pad with active cooling — smart, because it keeps your phone from cooking itself during a long charge — plus a roomy glovebox and storage cubbies scattered around the cabin. A 12-speaker audio system rounds out the package, and the overall feature count feels like it belongs in a car costing ten to fifteen grand more.

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Battery, Range and Charging

Two lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery packs are available: 56.2 kWh and 67.1 kWh. LFP has become the default chemistry for affordable EVs, and for good reason — it’s thermally stable, lasts longer over charge cycles and doesn’t rely on cobalt, which helps keep costs down without compromising real-world durability. The smaller pack should deliver comfortably over 350 km of WLTP range, while the 67.1 kWh unit pushes that to approximately 483 km (300 miles). That figure puts the B05 right at the sharp end of the affordable EV hatch class.

The real engineering story here is the 800-volt electrical architecture — the same voltage platform Porsche, Hyundai and Kia use in their premium EVs. Seeing it in a hatchback priced under £30,000 is remarkable. In practice, it means the B05 accepts up to 168–178 kW on a compatible rapid charger, giving you a 10–80% top-up in under 30 minutes. Push it from 30–80% and you’re looking at as little as 17 minutes. For context, the MG4 tops out at 144 kW DC and the BYD Dolphin manages a more modest 88 kW. On a road trip, that gap in peak charge rate isn’t just a number on a spec sheet — it’s the difference between a quick coffee and a frustratingly long wait.

Overnight AC charging runs at up to 11 kW through a Type 2 connection, so a full top-up from empty on a home wallbox takes roughly five to six hours depending on battery size. Vehicle-to-load (V2L) is standard, letting you power camping gear, power tools or even another EV directly from the car’s battery. The heat pump is also fitted as standard across the range, which is a bigger deal than it sounds. Heat pumps are far more efficient than resistive heaters in cold weather, so the B05 should hold onto more of its rated range during winter than rivals that either skip the heat pump or charge extra for it.

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Performance and Driving Dynamics

In standard form, the B05 puts 215–218 hp (160 kW) to the rear wheels through a single electric motor, good for a 0–100 km/h run of about 6.7 seconds. That’s quick enough to feel properly brisk in everyday driving — overtakes are dispatched without fuss, and the instant torque delivery inherent to EVs makes the B05 feel livelier than the numbers alone suggest. Rear-wheel drive is the enthusiast’s choice too, promising more natural steering feel and the sort of playful handling that front-drive competitors can’t match.

We should be upfront: we haven’t driven the B05 for a full road test yet. Our impressions come from static walk-around sessions, press launch materials and the platform’s broader characteristics. That said, the hardware looks promising — rear-drive layout, a low-mounted battery for a low centre of gravity, and those 19-inch Hankook iON evo tyres are all ingredients that suggest engaging dynamics.

If you want more, the B05 Ultra is the one to watch. Output climbs to 245 hp (180 kW), the 0–100 km/h sprint drops to a claimed 5.9 seconds, and Leapmotor says it achieves a near-perfect 50:50 front-to-rear weight distribution. If those numbers stack up in the real world, the Ultra could be a genuine electric Golf GTI. We’ll hold off on full judgement until we get both variants on local roads, but the signs are encouraging.

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Safety and Driver Assistance

The B05 comes with a solid spread of active safety gear as standard: adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, a 360-degree camera, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and front and rear parking sensors, all from the base trim. Camera and radar hardware sits behind the front bumper and in the windscreen header, providing the sensor fusion needed for reliable ADAS operation. These aren’t token inclusions to pad out a spec sheet — they’re the same level of driver-assistance tech you’d expect on a mid-spec European hatch.

Euro NCAP hasn’t tested the B05 as of mid-2026, but its sibling SUV, the Leapmotor B10, already carries a full five-star Euro NCAP rating. The B10 shares a lot of its structural and safety tech with the B05, which gives us reasonable confidence the hatchback will perform well when it’s tested. We’ll update this review as soon as official crash-test results land, but the safety outlook is positive.

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Pricing, Warranty and Value

In the UK, the B05 lists at £30,495, but a £1,500 "Leap Grant" drops the effective entry price to £28,995, making it one of the most affordable 800V EVs you can buy. European pricing starts at €26,900. For Australian buyers, the B05 hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, though import approval is reportedly pending. Based on comparable import strategies and landed costs, we’d estimate a local price somewhere around $55,000 to $58,000 before on-road costs — but that’s pure speculation until Leapmotor’s Australian distributor makes an announcement.

Warranty cover is competitive: four years or 96,000 km on the vehicle, and eight years or approximately 160,000 km on the battery. That matches or beats the battery warranties from MG, BYD and Cupra. The bigger story for Australian and British buyers is the Stellantis dealer network. Leapmotor sells through existing Jeep, Fiat, Citroën and Peugeot infrastructure — 79 dealers in the UK at launch — which means owners get access to established service centres, trained technicians and genuine parts supply from day one. For a brand most Australians have never heard of, that Stellantis backing is probably the single biggest factor making the B05 a credible purchase.

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2026 Leapmotor B05 vs MG4: Which Is Better?

This is the head-to-head every affordable EV buyer will run, and it’s easy to see why. The MG4 has been the default pick in this segment since its 2022 launch — well-priced, decent to drive and backed by a generous warranty. The Leapmotor B05, though, turns up with a spec sheet that makes the MG4 look like it’s from a previous era.

**Price and Value.** On paper, the MG4 just undercuts the B05 at approximately £27,000 for the base model in the UK. The B05 sits at £28,995 after the Leap Grant, but it comes loaded with kit the MG4’s base trim doesn’t include — panoramic roof, heated seats and premium audio are all standard. Add in the 800V architecture, which the MG4 doesn’t offer at any price, and the value maths tips firmly in Leapmotor’s direction.

**Performance.** Both are rear-wheel drive, which is good news if you care about driving feel. The standard B05 makes 215 hp (160 kW) and reaches 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds, while the MG4 Long Range with its 64 kWh battery and 150 kW motor takes around 7.7 seconds. That’s a full second, which you’ll feel every time you merge or overtake. At the hot-hatch end, the B05 Ultra (245 hp, 5.9 s) takes on the MG4 XPower (435 hp, 3.8 s), but the XPower is a dual-motor all-wheel-drive machine in a different performance bracket and at a higher price. For everyday pace, the standard B05 has it.

**Battery, Range and Charging.** This is where the B05’s 800V architecture really shows its worth. A peak DC rate of 168–178 kW is meaningfully quicker than the MG4’s 144 kW, and a 10–80% charge in under 30 minutes is a real advantage on road trips. The MG4 fights back on range, though — the Long Range 77 kWh model claims 543 km (338 miles) WLTP, comfortably more than the B05’s 483 km (300 miles). If maximum range is what you’re after, the MG4 still wins. If you’d rather stop less often and for shorter stints, the B05’s faster charging narrows the gap.

**Interior and Tech.** This is where the generational gap shows up most. The B05’s 14.6-inch 2.5K touchscreen is in a different class to the MG4’s 10.25-inch display. On top of that, the B05 adds frameless doors, a panoramic glass roof, a 12-speaker audio system, a wireless charging pad with active cooling and Leap OS 4.0 Plus. The MG4’s cabin is functional and solidly put together, but it’s simpler and more plasticky. If cabin quality and infotainment matter to you, and in 2026 they absolutely do, the B05 takes it.

**Driving Feel.** Both use rear-wheel drive, which enthusiasts prefer, but the MG4 has a crucial edge: over two years of real-world testing by journalists and owners who’ve validated its ride-handling balance, steering feel and composure. The B05, by contrast, hasn’t been fully tested on public roads yet. The hardware looks promising, but until we’ve had a proper week with it on local roads, the MG4 holds the trust card.

**Warranty and Dealer Network.** MG offers seven years on both the vehicle and battery, which is one of the most generous packages going. Leapmotor counters with four years on the car and eight on the battery, plus the Stellantis dealer network. MG’s warranty covers more ground in duration, but the Stellantis infrastructure (79 UK dealers at launch with established servicing arms) arguably provides more day-to-day peace of mind for a brand-new nameplate. It’s genuinely close, and it comes down to whether you’d rather have longer coverage or easier access to service centres.

### Spec face-off

<div style="background:linear-gradient(135deg,#f0f9ff,#e0f2fe); border-left:4px solid #2563eb; border-radius:12px; padding:24px 28px; margin:32px 0"> <p style="font-size:12px; font-weight:800; letter-spacing:0.14em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#1e40af; margin:0 0 10px">Which one is better?</p> <p><strong>Buy the Leapmotor B05 if</strong> you want the more modern cabin, faster 800V DC charging, frameless doors and a panoramic roof at a slightly lower entry price.</p> <p><strong>Buy the MG4 if</strong> you want proven road-test pedigree, the longer Long Range (338 miles WLTP) and a class-leading seven-year warranty.</p> <p><strong>Our pick</strong> is the Leapmotor B05 for buyers who value the newer platform and faster charging, but the MG4 remains the safer bet on warranty length and after-sales coverage.</p> </div>

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Who Should Buy It

The B05 makes the most sense for the urban commuter who wants an EV that looks premium, charges quickly and doesn’t cost the earth. If your daily routine involves a sub-60 km commute, regular top-ups at public DC chargers and a cabin that feels genuinely modern — not just "good for the money" — the B05 should be high on your shortlist. The 800V charging means even weekend road trips to regional centres are perfectly doable without long charge stops, and 483 km of WLTP range covers the vast majority of Australian driving patterns comfortably.

It also works well as a second car for families who already have a bigger SUV or wagon for towing and long trips. The compact footprint, 350-litre boot and 60/40 folding rear seats handle school runs, grocery shops and weekend sport gear without fuss. The panoramic roof and rear USB-C ports keep passengers happy, and the full ADAS suite adds a layer of safety that parents will appreciate.

Who should look elsewhere? Buyers who tow regularly, since the B05 has no rated towing capacity, and families with very tall teenagers who need generous rear headroom. If warranty length is your main criterion and you’re cross-shopping with the MG4, its seven-year coverage is still the one to beat.

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4.2 / 5.0

RATING_HEADLINE: A shockingly polished Chinese EV that nails value, charging speed and cabin tech, held back only by an unproven nameplate.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Leapmotor B05 coming to Australia?

Leapmotor hasn’t officially confirmed the B05 for Australia yet, though import approval is reportedly pending. Stellantis distributes Leapmotor in Europe and already has a solid Australian presence through Jeep, Citroën and Peugeot, so a local launch seems plausible — but it’s not guaranteed. We’ll update this review as soon as anything’s announced.

How much does the 2026 Leapmotor B05 cost?

UK pricing starts at £28,995 after the £1,500 Leap Grant, with a list price of £30,495. In Europe, it begins at €26,900. For Australia, we’d estimate a landed price around $55,000 to $58,000 before on-road costs, though that’s speculative until local pricing is confirmed.

What is the WLTP range of the B05?

With the larger 67.1 kWh LFP battery, the B05 is rated at up to approximately 483 km (300 miles) on the WLTP cycle. The smaller 56.2 kWh pack delivers a lower but still competitive range, expected to be above 350 km.

How fast does the B05 charge?

Thanks to its 800-volt architecture, the B05 supports DC fast charging at up to 168–178 kW. That gets you from 10–80% in under 30 minutes, or a 30–80% top-up in as little as 17 minutes on a compatible rapid charger. AC charging runs at up to 11 kW.

How does the B05 compare to the MG4?

The B05 brings faster 800V DC charging, a stronger standard motor (215 hp vs 203 hp) and a more modern cabin with a 14.6-inch 2.5K screen, frameless doors and a panoramic roof. The MG4 fights back with longer WLTP range (543 km vs 483 km), a seven-year vehicle warranty and over two years of proven road-test credentials. Both are rear-wheel drive and closely priced.

What is the Leapmotor B05 warranty?

The B05 is covered by a four-year or 96,000 km vehicle warranty and an eight-year or approximately 160,000 km battery warranty. All servicing and warranty work goes through the Stellantis dealer network.

Is there a hot-hatch version of the B05?

Yes — the Leapmotor B05 Ultra produces 245 hp (180 kW) with a claimed 0–100 km/h time of 5.9 seconds and a near-perfect 50:50 front-to-rear weight distribution. It’s positioned as a genuine hot hatch and will sit at the top of the range when it arrives.