Leapmotor’s cheerful, clever little B03X proves you don’t need to be a hot hatch in SUV clothing to be genuinely useful – even if its chatty safety systems will test your patience along the way.
A leap year is a calendar year that contains 366 days instead of the usual 365, adding an extra day (February 29) to keep our calendar in sync with the Earth’s orbit around the sun. In simple terms it happens every four years, but there are special rules for century years – and for the car brand Leapmotor too, it would appear.
You see, for the past 2 years Leapmotor has been quietly working its way into and onto the NZ automotive scene, but now they have decided to be unignorable with greater offerings and a greater range, and this ‘leap year’ includes the Leapmotor B03X, a cheerful little compact SUV that they believe New Zealanders will jump at.
First impressions are of a car that’s trying, genuinely trying, not to look anonymous. My review unit arrived in ‘seaweed green’ (tastier than it sounds) that let the styling do the talking, and there’s plenty to talk about. The nose is rounded and friendly rather than aggressive, the stance is upright and compact-SUV-ish, and around back there are a set of distinctive rear lights that Leapmotor themselves call the “haha” lights, because they curve up into something resembling a smile. It’s a small thing, but it works, and it’s the kind of detail that makes the B03X feel more like something with actual character.
Pop around the cabin and you’ll find “Leapy” easter eggs dotted about too, little playful touches that suggest someone at Leapmotor was having fun rather than just ticking boxes. At around 4.27m long, it’s a genuinely compact thing, but don’t let the numbers fool you, more on that shortly.
Under the bonnet (well, there isn’t really one in the traditional EV sense, but old habits die hard) the Design model I drove sits at the top end of the B03X range, but even then, it comes with a modest $32,990 price tag. It boasts the bigger 53kWh battery (382km WLTP range) and serves up a healthy 145kW with 0-100km/h dispatched in a brisk 8.6 seconds, with power delivered smoothly and progressively rather than as a sudden EV kick in the back. It’ll also charge 30-80% in 16 mins.
Climb inside and the B03X punches above its price (but not weight). Soft-touch surfaces and synthetic leather dominate where your hands and elbows actually land, even if the plastics get harder and cheaper the further down the cabin you go, a fairly forgivable trade-off at this end of the market. The seats are comfortable and properly adjustable, and the upright glasshouse gives excellent forward and side visibility, which does wonders for driver confidence in tight spaces.
There’s a 14.4-inch central touchscreen and full digital instrumentation, smartphone connectivity, wireless charging, USB-C ports, and (depending on spec) a 360-degree camera, plus three levels of regenerative braking and multiple drive modes to play with. For a compact EV it’s a genuinely strong equipment list.
Space is the real party trick though; the B03X is far roomier than its footprint suggests, especially in the back, the rear seats fold in multiple ways for a proper flat load area, and there’s clever under-boot storage including a waterproof compartment, ideal, for muddy football boots or a wet umbrella, though I wouldn’t recommend both at once.
As part of my week with the B03X, my driving was about as ordinary as it gets (I won’t bore you) but exactly the sort of duty this car was built for. The light steering and tight turning circle made parking a breeze, and the high seating position and good visibility took a lot of the stress out of Auckland’s tighter streets.
Where it started to lose me a little was the ADAS, it’s genuinely capable, with over 20 active-safety functions and noticeably better calibration than previous Leapmotor efforts, but it’s also chatty. VERY chatty. Speed-limit warnings, lane warnings and driver-monitoring alerts all like to have their say, often at once, and the intelligent speed warning in particular seemed to enjoy the sound of its own voice.
Muting or configuring the lot of it isn’t as straightforward as it should be, and notification fatigue, rather than any actual malfunction, is the real downside here. Push the B03X beyond the school run and the cracks (quite literally, on some of Auckland’s patched-up suburban streets) start to show.
Ride quality is decent and well controlled most of the time, but can turn firm or bouncy over sharper bumps. The steering, so light and pleasant at parking speeds, loses conviction out on the open road, feeling disconnected from what the front tyres are actually doing (Leapmotor has apparently acknowledged this, with a software recalibration reportedly on the way). And there’s some body roll if you push on, with the instant torque eventually able to overwhelm the front rubber.
None of this should come as a shock, this is fundamentally a small urban and family EV, not a hot hatch in SUV clothing, and it stays predictable and easy within that brief. It’s great around town, perfectly fine on the motorway, and just okay down a twisty back road, which, for most B03X buyers, is exactly the right set of priorities.
Summing up, the Leapmotor B03X doesn’t need to be exciting to be successful, and to its credit, it doesn’t try to be. What it offers instead is genuinely clever space, a cabin that feels better than its price bracket, strong equipment, easy urban manners and a quiet, cheerful character that’s rare at this end of the EV market.
If Leapmotor can quieten down the ADAS and sharpen up that steering, there’s a very convincing little urban EV hiding under all the beeps. And on the evidence of my week with it, this could very well be the brand’s leap year.
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