2026 Leapmotor B05 Ultra review: Quick drive

Leapmotor is getting ready for a rather substantial product offensive in our market, starting with the Leapmotor B05, which is set to arrive in Australia somewhere between July and September this year.

The Leapmotor B05 is known as the Lafa 5 in China, and the version driven here is the warmer Lafa 5 Ultra 500. It sits above the regular Lafa 5 lineup with more power, a sportier body, larger wheels, more driver-assistance hardware and a higher level of cabin equipment.

It's expected to be known as the Leapmotor B05 in Australia, but exact pricing and specifications are still to be confirmed. That includes whether we’ll receive the regular B05, the Ultra, or both (as we suspect).

From the outside, the B05 is easily the best looking Leapmotor product to date. It has a super-sleek European-like design that gives us hints of Volkswagen Golf at the front and Cupra's design language at the rear, while being different enough to stand out.

While it has design elements of other Leapmotor models, it seems unbothered by trying to keep the family face of the brand intact, and for the better.

If Stellantis can get the pricing of the Leapmotor B05 right in Australia, we suspect it will have pretty decent appeal in what is now a rather small electric hatchback market segment.

It's a part of the market well and truly established by the once-super-popular MG4 (the flagship X Power version of which lines up against the B05 Ultra) and now populated by other models like the new GAC Aion UT and to a lesser extent the BYD Dolphin, the upcoming Geely EX2, and the Cupra Born, which is currently in hiatus here.

For our rather brief drive of the B05, we travelled to a proving ground some 2.5 hours out of Shanghai where Leapmotor handed over the keys to the Ultra 500 for us to do as we wish, which is unlike most Chinese automakers which are strangely horrified by Western media driving a vehicle unsupervised.

We drove the vehicle all the way to its top speed (170km/h), braked as hard as we could, and did our absolute best to unsettle it and make it falter. And while other Leapmotor models we drove certainly felt the punishment (those reviews will follow), the B05 Ultra was the best sorted of its new product range and a genuine surprise.

How much does the Leapmotor B05 cost?

Australian pricing for the Leapmotor B05 has not been announced. In China, the regular Lafa 5 range starts from ¥97,800, while the more powerful Ultra starts from ¥123,800 before launch discounts. We suspect you could add about $10,000 to the AUD equivalent of the Chinese price to get a better idea of where the car will sit when it launches in Australia later this year.

What is the Leapmotor B05 like on the inside?

The Leapmotor B05 is typical of a Chinese EV when you jump inside. The regular B05 and the Ultra both feature a 14.6-inch 2.5K infotainment touchscreen and an 8.8-inch digital instrument display. These two screens are the same as what you will find in plenty of other Chinese cars, many of which also run the same operating system, which means the layout, menu system and overall feel of all these Chinese vehicles is very similar.

This is a good thing if you like how it's laid out and its usability, but it also makes it hard to work out which Chinese EV you are in sometimes. The good news is the infotainment system and the operating system that powers it are super-reliable, fast and easy to use. They are genuinely a generation (if not two) ahead of what most Japanese brands offer.

The climate controls are only found at the bottom of the screen, which may annoy some, but given it now sits there permanently regardless of what else is on display, it shouldn't be a huge concern.

The seats in our car were super-comfortable and everything we touched felt good. Something the Chinese do really, really well is provide a positive impression when you jump in. Everything looks great and everything feels good to touch and press, but who knows how long that shine and surface quality will last?

To be fair, cars that are now five to 10 years old from other Chinese brands like MG have lasted pretty well and you can see that when you jump into an Uber with 300,000km under its belt that they still hold up well, so given the commonality of parts and suppliers in China, it's probably unfair to assume products from Leapmotor would be any different.

The B05 Ultra we drove even had a toy cat integrated into the passenger side, which is the best way we have ever seen to reduce legroom. The dimensions of the B05 put it closer to something like a Volkswagen Golf than a light hatch like a Yaris. The Ultra is slightly longer and lower than the regular B05, but both share the same 2735mm wheelbase and underpinnings.

From a design and tech perspective, the seats in the Ultra are sportier and there are seemingly different trims available, but the Ultra also steps up to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip for the infotainment, while the regular B05 uses a Snapdragon 8155 chip as standard.

Both variants can be upgraded with Snapdragon 8295 and 8650 hardware respectively. It would be the first time in automotive history (so far as we can tell) that a computer processing unit upgrade has been an option on a vehicle. Somehow we doubt that Australian-delivered vehicles will have that option.

What’s under the bonnet?

Nothing, in the conventional sense. The Leapmotor B05 is a pure-electric hatchback based on the company’s latest LEAP 3.5 Pure Electric Platform.

The regular B05 is offered with rear-mounted electric motors producing either 132kW/220Nm or 160kW/240Nm (Australia is likely to get only the higher-spec 160kW version as the base model), while the Ultra increases power output to 180kW.

The 500 Ultra uses a 56.2kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, while the 600 Ultra uses a larger 67.1kWh pack.

At this stage all that is confirmed for Australia is the standard B05, with the Ultra 500 on the cards and no word yet on the 600.

The range figures are based on China’s CLTC test cycle, which is generally more generous than WLTP. Any Australian-delivered B05 would likely be quoted using a different testing standard.

How does the Leapmotor B05 Ultra drive?

We drove only the Ultra version of the B05 on a smooth proving ground in China. We did everything we could to upset the car's balance and push it all the way to its top speed over and over to see if it would falter.

To put it succinctly, it's not Volkswagen Golf-like in its dynamic capability and the steering isn't as sharp or responsive as we would like from a warm hatch, but all in all it's a bloody fun thing to drive.

With 180kW of power and 320Nm of torque from a rear-mounted motor, the B05 Ultra should be a pretty quick car to drive, but the 0-100km/h claim of 5.9 seconds is definitely nowhere near what we got with the car loaded up with four adults.

In fact, we barely cracked nine seconds, which was a little disappointing and likely due to degrading of the battery after excessive use (Leapmotor had just a few B05s being tested by the world's automotive media back-to-back), or it simply just isn't as quick as Leapmotor claims it to be. We will have to wait for the vehicle to arrive in Australia to test that claim again.

We hit the B05 Ultra's top speed of 170km/h on a few runs and slamming on the brake pedal returned a pretty reassuring feel, but Leapmotor's claim of a 36.01-metre 100-0km/h braking distance was not put to the test.

What we can say is that in the slalom test and on the dynamic course provided, the B05 Ultra felt surprisingly good and enjoyable. It cornered well and given its rear-drive nature it felt fun and was a delight to drive.

It perhaps lacks the finesse, balance and outright acceleration of the MG4 X Power, but it should be a decent contender for its popular Chinese rival.

The biggest unanswered question is how this chassis tune translates to Australian roads. The cars we drove were tuned for the Chinese market, not the European/Australian-spec vehicles that we will get.

What do you get?

Final Australian equipment for the B05 hasn’t been confirmed.

Based on the supplied China-market specifications, the Ultra adds more performance, larger wheels, a higher-grade cockpit chip, LiDAR-based driver-assistance hardware, and more front-seat comfort features.

Is the Leapmotor B05 safe?

The Leapmotor B05 does not yet have an Australian or European safety rating. Final Australian safety equipment also remains to be confirmed, so it would be premature to list any local safety features as standard.

How much does the Leapmotor B05 cost to run?

Like other Leapmotor models in Australia, we suspect the B05 will be covered by a six-year, 150,000km warranty, while its high-voltage battery pack should be covered by an eight-year, 160,000km warranty.

Logbook servicing is likely to be required every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first, and the B05 will come with an eight-year roadside assist and capped-price service program, pricing for which is yet to be confirmed. But for context, the Leapmotor B10 small electric SUV costs just under $3000 for eight years of servicing, which is very reasonable.

CarExpert’s Take on the Leapmotor B05 Ultra

The Leapmotor B05 Ultra is interesting because it isn’t just another front-wheel drive electric hatch. It's a very good-looking car inside and out.

And while rivals from brands like MG and BYD offer good value but lack the European design, the B05 may find itself attracting a whole new audience that is willing to take a bet on the Chinese brand simply on looks alone.

On paper, it combines rear-wheel drive, multi-link rear suspension, a claimed 50:50 weight distribution, and a 5.9-second 0-100km/h claim with pricing that looks very sharp in China. The question is whether that will translate to Australia.

A brief proving ground drive is enough to show that it has potential, but not enough to deliver a definitive verdict on ride comfort, refinement, efficiency, charging or driver-assistance calibration in real-world local conditions.

If the B05 Ultra comes to Australia with the right chassis tune, a sensible level of equipment and a sharp price, it could well give Leapmotor a credible rival for more established compact electric hatches.

For now, it’s one to watch and one we look forward to driving properly on twisty Aussie roads before making a final call.

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