Changan Deepal S07 review

Following on from the success of M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar cake, it wasn’t long before other supermarkets caught on to the trend and started producing their own versions. In a way, the new Changan Deepal S07 is comparable to one of those spawned variants of the caterpillar cake. 

It’s Chinese-brand Deepal’s first car to be sold in the UK, and you can tell that its designers have kept a very close eye on the Tesla Model Y. The S07 is an electric SUV with a multitude of Tesla-like features, including the (somewhat gimmicky) ability to turn the infotainment touchscreen into a bonfire. 

The S07 also wants to take on class leaders like the Skoda Elroq and Smart #5. So, is that enough to give the S07 what it needs to beat the best electric SUVs? Read on to find out…

What’s new

- September 2025: Deepal SO7 launches in the UK. Electric SUV with 80kWh battery, 295-mile range; 215bhp electric motor drives rear wheels only. Seven-year/100,000-mile warranty. Just one version available

Every Deepal S07 has a 215bhp electric motor driving the rear wheels, and a 0-62mph time of 7.6sec. It’s decently quick, even if the entry-level Tesla Model Y (6.9sec) and Smart #5 (6.9sec) are slightly quicker still.

Decent is not how we’d describe the ride, though, because it becomes increasingly fidgety the faster you go. Meanwhile, the Model Y, #5 and Skoda Elroq all feel more settled and comfortable. 

The S07’s handling also disappoints. Especially compared with those rivals mentioned above, you’ll notice considerable body lean, relatively low grip levels, and numb steering that robs you of confidence.  

On a more positive note, the S07’s brake pedal is easy and predictable to use. What’s more, you can alter the level of brake regeneration using the various driving modes. There just isn’t a one-pedal drive mode, unfortunately.

Another good thing is that, despite a little bit of road noise, the S07 is hushed on the move. There’s even double-glazed windows fitted to every S07, keeping wind noise at bay. 

As for range, there’s just the one 80kWh battery available and officially the S07 will go 295 miles on a charge. That’s more than you get with the entry-level Elroq (267 miles) and #5 (288 miles).

The thing is the Elroq and #5 are available with bigger batteries and, at most, you can get up to 355 and 366 miles respectively. The Model Y too does between 314 and 391 miles, depending on your chosen variant. In truth, the S07 is some way off the longest-range EVs on the market.

“On country roads, I didn’t have much confidence. There was the body lean, of course, but I also felt as if I didn’t have a tonne of grip at my disposal – certainly not as much as rivals have.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Sitting in the Deepal S07 feels very similar to the Tesla Model Y, with the high driving seat making you feel almost as if you’re looking down on the dashboard. Indeed, even if you put the seat in its lowest position, you still feel like you’re sitting high in the car. 

It does, at least, line you up well with the steering wheel and pedals. Plus, it’s quite easy to tailor the driving position to your preference, thanks to an electrically-adjustable driver’s seat (including lumbar support) fitted as standard. 

Forward visibility is good, thanks to a driving position that lets you see over the bonnet and slim windscreen pillars that don’t impede your view at junctions. Rear visibility isn’t quite as impressive, with thick rear pillars limiting the view when you look over your left shoulder and the large headrest blocking the view of your blindspot on the right. 

Luckily, you get blindspot monitoring and cameras that show you a feed on your left or right, when you indicate, helping to reduce the issue slightly. Parking, meanwhile, is made easier by front and rear sensors and a 360-degree camera. 

A lot of the S07’s interior tech takes its inspiration from the Model Y and, as a result, you won’t find a driver’s display behind the steering wheel. Instead, your speed, remaining charge and everything else useful is shown to you on the infotainment touchscreen. That means you have to take your eyes off the road to check simple things. 

In an attempt to get around that, Changan has also given the S07 a large head-up display. However, while we’re glad it puts your speed and sat-nav instructions in your eyeline (unlike in Teslas) the graphics aren’t the sharpest.

Infotainment is fed to you on a big 15.6in touchscreen that dominates the dashboard and can even electrically swivel from left to right to face either the driver or passenger. While that’s likely not a feature that you’ll use all that often, it is useful for keeping glare off the screen when the sun is blaring through the panoramic glass roof.

The graphics on the screen are sharp and all the buttons are large, making them easy to identify and press. You also get plenty of standard features, including built-in sat-nav, DAB radio and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. 

The problem is that the screen often didn’t respond to our prods, unless we gave it a fairly hard press. That’s not ideal when you control absolutely everything through the touchscreen (including your lights, windscreen wipers and air conditioning) because it makes it far more distracting to use when driving. Furthermore, the sheer number of menus makes finding a function difficult in the first place. 

You could say the S07’s interior looks swish, with soft touch vegan leather on every obvious surface and even some wooden trim on the doors. You can even choose to have the interior in three different colours – including orange – at no extra cost to add a little more pizazz. 

Once you start tapping around, however, the materials aren’t as impressive as they seem. You see, the soft materials on top of the doors and dashboard aren’t all that squishy and the fake wooden trim is actually a fairly cheap-feeling plastic. It’s fair to say that rivals feel plusher inside, especially the Smart #5. 

“I was quite impressed by the quality of the S07’s 14-speaker standard stereo, with even the most bass-heavy songs sounding crisp.” – Jack Mortimer, Content editor

There’s plenty of space in the front of the Deepal S07, so even those measuring six-feet tall will have more than enough head and leg room to get comfortable.

Front storage is generous too, giving you a pair of large door bins, a decent glovebox, a cubby underneath the centre console and a deep, cooled cubby within the front armrest. You also get a pair of trays to store your phone on, one of which houses wireless charging with a cooling function. 

In the rear, even your tallest friends won’t struggle for leg room. Head room, on the other hand, isn’t as impressive. Indeed, due to the sloping roof line, anyone measuring over six feet tall will find that their head is touching the roof. 

You’ll be able to fit three people abreast with few issues and the flat floor means plenty of space for the middle seat passenger’s feet. Like the outer seats, head room will be the limiting factor, with the middle seat actually being raised slightly. 

At 510 litres, the S07’s boot is bigger than the Kia EV6’s but smaller than that of the Cupra Tavascan, Skoda Enyaq and Tesla Model Y. Even so, it’ll be more than enough for a big food shop or a couple of buggies. The useful square shape and lack of a load lip makes it easy to lift bulky items in, too.

When you need more storage space, you can split the rear seats in a 60/40 configuration and fold them flat, but that’s less versatile than the 40/20/40 split that you get in the Model Y. 

“You don’t get any space below the S07’s boot floor, but I found that the 125 litre frunk more than made up for that fact. It’s bigger than you get with most rivals and is genuinely useful.” – Dan Jones, Senior reviewer

As a cash purchase, the Deepal S07 costs more to buy than the Skoda Elroq, about the same as the Smart #5 and less than a Tesla Model Y. We’d say it’s more reasonably priced than competitively priced.

It is competitive on standard kit, though. In fact, every model comes with 19in alloy wheels, LED headlights with automatic high beam, an electric tailgate, dual-zone air conditioning, heated and ventilated front seats and adaptive cruise control. 

Less impressive is the 93kW maximum charging speed, which is way below that of the #5, Elroq and Model Y. As a result, those rivals will charge from 10-80% in a much shorter time than the 35 minutes that it’ll take the S07 to get from 30-80%. 

Both the Changan brand and the S07 are too new to have featured in the latest What Car? Reliability survey. Should anything go wrong, you get a generous seven-year/100,000-mile standard warranty, matching Kia, while the battery is covered by a separate eight-year/120,000-mile warranty. 

One of the worries when buying from a new brand is that, should anything go wrong, you’ll be left high and dry waiting for parts to arrive. To prevent that, Changan has already established a large parts warehouse in the Midlands and is working with various dealer groups to make servicing less of a hassle. 

When it comes to safety, the S07 was awarded the full five stars by Euro NCAP and had impressive scores when it came to protecting adults up front and children in the rear. To help prevent an accident happening in the first place, you get plenty of standard safety equipment, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert and rear collision warning. 

“We’re yet to see how reliable the S07 is, but I find it encouraging that Deepal has already sorted an aftersales network and offers a long warranty.” – Claire Evans, Consumer editor

Buy it if… 

- You appreciate lots of standard kit

- You have use for a big frunk

- You’d like the reassurance of a long warranty

Don’t buy it if…

- You’re after a smooth ride

- You want sharp, secure handling

- You like physical buttons (because there aren’t many)

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