Omoda 7 review: There’s a familiar feeling to this family SUV

A quick guide to Omoda, in case you aren’t familiar with the brand. It’s one of four marques launched in the UK in the last couple of years by the automotive giant Chery.

It sits alongside Jaecoo, Lepas and Chery and draws heavily on the same pool of platforms and technology to offer a variety of all-electric, pure petrol and plug-in hybrid models.

That means a host of family SUVs designed to offer efficiency and value, and aimed at stealing customers away from established mainstream players.

The Omoda 7 is the midpoint in Omoda’s range, a C-segment model sitting between the 5, which comes as an EV, ICE or hybrid, and the plug-in hybrid 9. The 7 is available as a pure petrol model or, the one we’re interested in, a plug-in hybrid.

That puts it in a hotly-contested field where everyone from Peugeot and Ford to Kia and Toyota have an offering and have been plying their trade for a long time.

So does the Omoda have what it takes to compete? I spent a week driving the Omoda 7 on UK roads to find out.

Design and interior

I confess to being largely unmoved by the design of the Omoda 7. It is bland in a slightly more pointy way than the square dullness of a Jaecoo or the curvy genericism of a Chery. The waterfall-style hexagonal grille beneath the sharp bonnet edge gives a little bit of character but behind that there’s not much to differentiate the Omoda from any other mid-sized SUV.

As with every car from the Chery stable, the interior feels well made and utterly devoid of style or character. There’s plentiful use of good-quality plastics around the cabin, all put together with a robust feel. But you could be in virtually any Chinese car. Everything from the split-level centre console with twin phone chargers to the featureless dashboard and gigantic infotainment screen feels painfully familiar.

One area the Omoda deviates is with its two-spoke steering wheel with its glossy finish and a number of completely unmarked buttons – a la the Polestar 4. The fact Polestar is ditching this design tells you all you need to know about its suitability for a moving vehicle.

On the plus size, the Omoda 7 is generously proportioned. At 4.66m long it sits at the larger end of the C-SUV segment and provides plenty of passenger and luggage space on board. Front space is as good as any rival, and rear passenger room is impressive. There’s plenty of legroom even for adults, a flat floor and decent headroom. Behind the 60:40-split rear bench the Omoda 7 has a massive 590-litre boot.

Technology and equipment

With a 15.6-inch screen at the heart of the dashboard, the Omoda 7 relies on this to control virtually every function of the car.

The screen is huge but by default a good 75% is taken up by an awful animated AI wallpaper while the useful tiles are trapped in the bottom portion of the screen. Pressing these inevitably leads to menus and submenus where you can lose hours searching for the setting you need. Our test car’s system also took an age to boot up and then displayed frustrating lag in operation.

Perhaps most irritating of all was the dreadful AI assistant that greeted me every day with some nonsensical platitude in an awful robotic voice. I’m sure you can probably turn it off but I cannot fathom why it’s there in the first place.

More positively, the Omoda 7 does feature a swipe-down shortcut panel for its ADAS settings, which is useful. Also positively, its driver assistance is a lot less aggressive and intrusive than in some other Jaecoo/Chery models.

And, like every other Omoda model, it comes packed with equipment that can add thousands to the price of some rivals.

Even basic Knight spec brings 19-inch alloy wheels, LED lights, a powered tailgate, plus heated memory seats and steering wheel, two-zone climate control and wireless smartphone mirroring for the touchscreen.

Two more grades add everything from a panoramic sunroof, cooled front seats and a 540-degree parking camera to a 12-speaker Sony stereo, remote parking assist and a sliding infotainment screen.

Range, battery and charging

The SHS-P in the Omoda 7’s name marks this down as one of the brand’s “super hybrid” models with plug-in technology.

Like its Jaecoo or Chery siblings, this uses an EV-first setup with a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine, powerful electric motor and substantial 18.4kWh battery to deliver up to 56 miles of EV range and official economy north of 230mpg.

Unfortunately, during my time with the Omoda 7, I didn’t get a chance to test the real-world EV range on a full-to-empty charge. Based on previous experience with the Chery Tiggo 7, I’d predict somewhere in the region of 40-45 miles.

Real-world efficiency is also tricky to track thanks to Omoda’s bizarre trip computer, which only keeps a running tally for the last 31 miles. My best guess based on a week’s motoring is a combined fuel economy of around 50mpg, although that will vary depending on the battery’s state of charge.

The plug-in Omoda supports DC charging at up to 40kW. While Omoda hasn’t published official charging times, we’d expect a 10-30% top-up to take around 20 minutes, based on Jaecoo and Chery’s data.

Performance and driving

As mentioned, the Omoda 7 shares its basic platform with the Jaecoo 7 but is noticeably better in terms of how it drives (a low bar, admittedly).

The powertrain is a strong point. It is EV-led, with the petrol acting as the electric motor’s support act. Producing 201bhp, it has surprisingly good low-speed pick up and plenty of punch accelerating out of town or for an overtake. It’s also impressively quiet whether running in pure electric or petrol-powered mode.

The problem is that to get the sharp response at higher speeds, the throttle has been calibrated with the sensitivity of a rallycross car. So low-speed manoeuvres are a lottery of twitchy pedal response and sudden surges. And it’s a similar story with the brakes, which are decent at high speed but unpleasantly grabby when trying to negotiate a supermarket car park.

The steering is more consistent than the pedals and reasonably precise but is overly light and lifeless for such a large car. The ride is similarly uninvolving. It’s generally acceptable but dodgy urban roads still expose a harshness that intrudes into a cabin in a way that the best rivals mask.

Price, trim and rivals

Prices for the Omoda 7 SHS-P start at £32,005 for the entry-level Knight grade.

The Noble spec, which brings most of the extra equipment you’ll want or need, is £35,005.

Meanwhile, if you absolutely must have an infotainment screen that can slide in front of your passenger, or self-parking capability, then the Noble Tech is £38,005 – still less than the entry price of virtually any rival.

Given the shared platforms and powertrains, the Omoda 7 is clearly competing with the Jaecoo 7 and Chery Tiggo 7 for customers’ attention. Beyond the in-house in-fighting, though, there are plenty of other rivals – from the Kia Sportage to the Citroen C5 Aircross and Toyota Rav4.

These all offer nicer interiors, better driving experiences and more user-friendly technology. But with prices for the Kia starting at £39k and the Citroen and Toyota more than that, the Omoda has a clear advantage on price.

Verdict – 3

The Omoda 7 is big, cheap and doesn’t feel like it’ll fall apart in the first strong breeze. And for a huge number of people, that will be enough.

The fact that rivals are easier to operate, better to drive and nicer places to sit will simply not matter when they’re £7,000 to £10,000 more expensive.

FAQs

Is the Omoda 7 self-charging? No, the Omoda 7 SHS-P is a plug-in hybrid

What insurance group is the Omoda 7? The Omoda 7 is in insurance groups 27-32

What is the Omoda 7 Tech Pack? The Noble Tech pack adds a sliding infotainment screen, automatic parking assist and remote parking assist to the standard Noble spec