Why the 2025 Leapmotor C10 Drove Us Nuts – Full Review

On paper, the 2025 Leapmotor C10 looks like the next great EV disruptor. It’s affordable, stylish, packed with clever tech, and promises an effortless electric lifestyle. In reality? It’s like living with a hyper-intelligent flatmate who can make coffee, but keeps screaming every time you use the toaster.

Looks the Part, Acts the Drama:
We’ll give credit where it’s due—the Leapmotor C10 is a handsome thing. A smoothed-out, grown-up version of the brilliant smart #5, it has clean lines, slick lighting, and tasteful surfacing. We loved the inward-hinging flush door handles, which feel classier and more robust than the pop-out show ponies seen on Polestar, Tesla et al.

Inside, it punches well above its price tag. The cabin is enormous, especially in the rear, and the front seats are plush, heated, cooled, and wrapped in bold orange (sort of) silicon leather. It’s not subtle—like wrapping your lounge in Hermes—but it’s comfy and premium-feeling.

Tech Overload, Button Underload:
There are no physical buttons. Everything is operated via a large central touchscreen, with a small display in front of the driver for essentials. Menu navigation is handled via a pair of trackballs on the steering wheel—cute in theory, but fiddly in real-world use. Simple tasks like adjusting the fan speed require an expedition through layers of menus, combing through icons, or dealing with an incoherent AI assistant, all while the car yells at you for not paying attention to the road. It’s UX gone rogue.

Above: This Week’s VIDEO Review – Why the 2025 Leapmotor C10 Drove Us Nuts – Full Review – Alan Zurvas

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ABOVE: Leapmotor C10 drove us mad

How You Start It (Hint: You’ll Need a Card):
You can unlock the car with your phone if the Leapmotor app is installed, logged in and within Bluetooth range. It also activates approach and walk-away locking/unlocking. You can opt to tap the door handle and it pops open. But to start the car, you’ll need the NFC key card. Tap it to the sensor in the driver’s side mirror to wake the system and unlock the doors, then plonk it on the wireless charging pad inside to start driving. Lose the card, or forget it? Game over. It’s a digital treasure hunt with no prize. I don’t want to schlep my card out if my phone has already opened the portals. Perhaps a password or PIN would be better.

On the Move:
The 160kW motor is decent—smooth, quiet, and sprightly enough to handle daily driving with ease. Range is a respectable 420km (WLTP), and it’ll accept 85kW DC fast charging. A range-extender version with a small petrol generator is also offered, but we tested the full BEV.

On smooth city roads, the C10 glides along beautifully, with excellent NVH and a sense of calm. But throw in some Aussie-grade roadworks, and the ride starts to wobble. The suspension has a soft edge that doesn’t always cope well with sharp hits, and tyre noise becomes noticeable at higher speeds on coarse-chip surfaces.

BONG! BEEP! BONG! (And No, You’re Not Going Mad):
This car is a certified alert addict. Every few seconds, something pings. Our test vehicle had a faulty tyre pressure monitoring system that beeped every five seconds for the entire week, despite us checking, topping up, while standing on our heads just to be sure. The car just didn’t care—it wanted to BONG, and BONG it did.

Lane keeping assist veered us toward the line markings. The attention monitor got huffy about hats and sunglasses. Smart cruise slammed the brakes for shadows and phantom threats. Any steering correction or lane change resulted in a fresh chorus of chimes. We even considered motoring back to the drop-off point early, such was our stress.

Regenerative braking? Available—but only in ECO mode. That’s right: no regen in Normal or Sport. Want one-pedal driving and responsive throttle? Sorry, pick one.

The Boys Had… Feelings:
Alan said it was like driving with a clingy ex. Nico liked the cabin but said the car “needed therapy and a mute button.” Hunter was tempted to pull a fuse just to silence it. Luke loved the rear legroom but hated having to use trackballs to “work stuff”. Charlie admired the efficiency but said the ADAS was “like having a backseat driver you can’t fire.” Travis found peace—only when the indicators were on.

Final Verdict:
The 2025 Leapmotor C10 should be a slam dunk. It’s spacious, attractively priced, and loaded with features. But it’s strangled by overzealous safety systems, baffling menu logic, missing must-haves like CarPlay/Android Auto, and an alert system that never learned the word “enough.”

Turn everything off—and we mean everything—and the car suddenly becomes quite nice to drive. But that’s not how a modern EV should work. Leapmotor, if you’re listening: this is a software update away from brilliance. Until then, it’s a beautiful machine in desperate need of a chill pill.

2025 Leapmotor C10:
Price: $49,888 (plus on-roads)
Powertrain: Rear Monted Permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 160kW/320Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 69.9kWh lithium-ion
Range: 420km (WLTP preferred)
Energy use: 19.8kWh/100km (WLTP)
ANCAP: Five-star (ANCAP 2024)