Written by Alan Taylor-Jones Updated: 17 September 2025

Overview

Should you buy a Changan Deepal S07?

Almost certainly not. The Deepal S07 electric SUV is not without merit, but ride comfort is poor and it’s not like it goes around corners like a sports car because of it. Its battery tech is also looking very last generation, with a slightly disappointing range for the size of battery and a woeful rapid charge rate.

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What’s new?

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Everything as far as UK consumers are concerned. This is Chinese automotive giant Changan’s first offering, although we’ve already had a taster in some ways. Underneath the S07’s sharp skin is the same platform that underpins the Mazda 6e – a joint Changan and Mazda project.

Unlike that car there’s only one battery to pick from which drives a rear-mounted electric motor. Performance is perfectly reasonable which is handy as there’s no punchier twin motor all-wheel drive model. That does mean the single exceptionally well-equipped model avoids the luxury car tax by a whole ten pounds.

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That’s not a bad price for a fully electric SUV that’s a good bit longer than a Skoda Enyaq and only slightly shorter than an Omoda 9. Bargain basement it isn’t, but you do get an awful lot of car for your money. Is it any good? Keep reading for our full review, and have a look at our how we test cars page to find out how we get to our verdicts.

What’s it like inside?

Spacious, and not an unpleasant place to be. Pretty much everything from the front armrests up is either soft touch plastic (the black bits) or faux leather (the orange). Admittedly, the ‘wood’ trims look and feel far too plasticky and you’ll find lots of scratchy plastics below the armrest line, but you can’t expect Bentley quality at Vauxhall money. That said, some sort of flocking or rubber mat for the door bins would have been nice.

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Infotainment is taken care of by a Huawei system with a 15.6-inch screen that can be tilted towards the driver or passenger. Sounds gimmicky, but it’s actually reasonably useful unlike BYD’s daft rotating screen. I’ve no complaints regarding the responsiveness of the screen or the graphics, while a configurable shortcut bar that still shows when you’re running Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is a nice touch.

Unfortunately the menus aren’t the most logically laid out, and many are long lists of text with small slider icons to select and deselect things. In other words, it’s OK when you’re stationary but can be very distracting to use on the move. I do approve of the punchy 14-speaker stereo, however.

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Space for passengers is certainly generous. There’s loads of room to spread out up front, and rear room is similarly impressive. Legroom is plenty for those over six foot, even with tall individuals up front, and headroom isn’t bad, either. Sadly, boot space is an underwhelming 445-litres, albeit augmented by a massive 125-litre under bonnet storage area.

Changan Deepal S07 range, charging and motor

At first glance the S07’s powertrain seems pretty decent. You get a big 80kWh battery pack, 218hp and a 0-62mph time of 7.9 seconds. That’s not fast by EV standards, yet would still outpace most of our recommended petrol or diesel SUVs for similar money. Heck, it’s still faster than a single-motor Vauxhall Grandland Electric or Peugeot e-3008.

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Sadly, the other specs are much less impressive. The 295-mile driving range is behind rivals with similar size batteries, and the rapid charge time is outright disappointing. A 10-80% charge takes a painfully long 48 minutes because of the weak 90kW maximum charge rate. Even a 52kWh Renault 5 will manage 100kW.

What’s it like to drive?

Ride comfort dominates the driving experience and not in a good way. Changan UK states the Deepal S07 has been tuned for the UK, but it clearly hasn’t been tuned in the UK. It patters and fidgets no matter how smooth the road looks regardless of your speed. Around town its even worse, clumsily thumping and crashing through potholes and getting very jiggly over crumbling surfaces.

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It’s not like keen handling is an upshot of the stiff suspension, either. The steering is too light and too quick so your confidence is knocked, although at least the brake pedal feels natural and easy to judge. Turn in and the Deepal feels a little lazy in its initial response and certainly doesn’t goad you into going faster.

Performance is plentiful for a family SUV, and it accelerates beyond 60mph with more verve than some rivals. Motor whine is virtually non existent and wind noise is well contained, too. However, road noise on coarse surfaces is bothersome, as is the overactive driver monitoring and lane keep assist systems. Turning them off is easy courtesy of another configurable shortcut menu that’s revealed with a swipe from the right of the screen.

What models and trims are available?

There’s just one model and it gets everything but a towbar. Kit includes a hi-res 360-degree camera system, electric front seats with heating and ventilation, a heated steering wheel, a panoramic roof, an electric tailgate, rear privacy glass, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, configurable ambient lighting and a 40w wireless charger with a cooling fan. All interior and exterior colour options are also free of charge.

What else should I know?

A range-extender version of the S07 is available in other markets and is set to be release in the UK, too. This pairs a smaller battery pack with a 1.5-litre petrol engine that’ll top up the pack on the move, effectively giving you a very long range plug-in hybrid. It’s also worth pointing out that Changans come with a seven year or 100,000 mile warranty.