• Compact city dimensions
• High-set roofline
• Easy to park

How much space is there?

Up front, space is surprisingly generous. The tall roofline and compact dashboard give plenty of headroom and legroom, and the seats slide far enough back to accommodate taller drivers. Visibility is good, and the upright stance helps with shoulder room, too. There’s a flat floor throughout the passenger area and a lack of transmission tunnel in the middle helps to make it feel far more spacious than its footprint would suggest. The panoramic glass roof helps things, too.

Rear-seat space is tighter. Adults will find their knees against the front seats, although headroom remains decent thanks to the T03’s boxy shape. It’s fine for kids and short hops, but longer journeys with a full car will be a squeeze. It can only seat four people, too, though there are two Isofix points in the rear seats.

Compared with the Dacia Spring, the T03 feels a little more spacious and airy. It’s similar in footprint to a Fiat 500e, but better for headroom. The BYD Dolpin Surf is larger in the rear, let alone the Fiat Grande Panda and Hyundai Inster.

30

Leapmotor T03 boot space and storage

Boot capacity is 210 litres with the seats up and around 508 litres with them folded. That’s average for a car of this size and shape, and slightly more than the Fiat 500e (185 litres). The boot floor is low, which helps with loading, but there is a small lip to lift bags over. The rear bench also only folds as one one, an element which shows its budget roots.

30

Interior storage is fine. You get a deep glovebox, door bins big enough for water bottles and an open tray under the dashboard. There’s a phone holder and two cupholders, although the central armrest is fixed and doesn’t contain a storage bin.

Is it easy to park?

Yes – the T03 is ideal for the city. It’s just 3.6 metres long and has light steering, so threading it into tight spaces is a breeze. The square shape and large glass areas give good visibility, although the rear window is a little high.

A reversing camera is standard, and it’s reasonably sharp. There’s no 360-degree camera or auto-park feature, but for a car this small, you don’t need it. We would also prefer if a rear windscreen wiper was fitted, as we imagine in the winter months it could lead to a compromised view out of the back.

Safety

• No Euro NCAP rating yet
• Lots of assistance tech
• Mixed real-world results

Euro NCAP has not tested the Leapmotor T03 yet. It has been designed to meet EU regulations, but as a lightweight city car we wouldn’t expect a stellar result. That said, it’s almost certain to perform better than the Dacia Spring’s one-star showing.

The T03 comes with several active safety systems as standard, including lane-keeping assist, forward collision warning and driver attention monitoring. There’s even adaptive cruise control fitted, which is almost unheard of on a small car of this size and price. Some of these features can be a bit overzealous in use, and it’s not easy to fully disable them unless the car is in park. The adaptive cruise control could also do with more tuning for UK roads. On the A1 we found it occasionally wanted to brake for vehicles parked in lay-bys and generally found it not very smooth. That said, you can choose to have it as normal cruise control instead, which is something many far more expensive cars don’t offer.