A Week In The Ora Funky Cat 

I had never heard of this car and I immediately fell in love with that interior! 😍

We had one for a weekend. I like the interior, it's surprisingly spacious especially in the rear. However, no heated steering wheel, no heated seats and in China is a 12k car. It's simply far too overpriced for the UK. Spending £32k would get a far better overall package on a two year old Model 3 with more range, more space, reliable charging, auto pilot etc

Well done. This is an honest review from someone with a real-world outlook.

Youll have to take florence on all your test drives now , she knows her stuff 😄👍

I test drove the Ora Funky Cat at Fully Charged Live show earlier this year. I'm a driving instructor and immediately thought it would make a super tuition car. Great looking car, fantastic interior finish and beautifully well built. However... the lane assist 'feature' drove me crazy. After more than 20 years of teaching learner drivers, I know the correct line to take on bends, avoid potholes, maintain the safety of pedestrians etc. But, trust me, this car had other ideas completely as it forcibly tugged the steering one way and another. Dangerously so in my opinion. To cap it all, the Ora demonstrator chap then explained that the Lane Assist is a permanent feature that must be switched off manually every time you drive. Sorry Ora. This feature is an unwanted deal-breaker. Can't think why you ever thought it would be good idea. Oh yeah... Florence! What a star she is! Right-on opinions too!!

This would be a good extra car for city/town driving and to keep an ICE car for the longer distances journeys! 👍

Being thoroughly fed up with endlessly dull black and silver dashboards - I offer a huge round of applause for what GWM are doing with interiors. Not since the Vauxhall ranges in the 1980's has such cheerfulness been bestowed upon our cars. We need more cheerfulness in the World these days. Like teething problems with other makes of cars, I expect they'll iron those out. If they have the commercial nuance.

It's the sort of car I would expect to see sitting on the driveway of somebody recently retired who pops around visiting friends and taking the grandchildren to the park. I don't see this as a family car, nor do I see it as a young person's car either. With the used market now beginning to really open up new car offerings like this are going to struggle to find their niche I feel. Great review. 👍

Thank you for another informative review - a younger critic is a nice addition 😊

Out of a sea of you tube EV channels, this one is in my top three! I am not sure how many years I have been following but I think the first video I watched was James and Kate road tripping a red P85D. Always an honest well balanced review to be had here.

We've just placed an order for one, exactly the same as your driving in this video. Ive also heard bad news about the lane keep assist etc but a Australian channel has reviewed it and it looks like they've updated the software to change this. Hopefully the update will hit the UK asap!!!! Great review!

Thanks for this very honest review, much appreciated! 4:03 😅

I bought an ORA two months ago. Fantastic vehicle.

How has Florence gotten so big already? She's gonna be a great reviewer and addition to the channel.

Great video. Hoping to get one for a review soon as well. Great to see you back. 👍

5:33 woho! That’s a shadow of the Incredible Hulk holding a “GoPro”.

Florence is a sweetie. Now available for £179.99 without anything upfront. 2 years but only 5,000 miles

I love the interior and hope the obsession with black, black or black interiors goes away soon - we got rid of our MG4 because of the terminal depressive gloom - and that similar horrible selector thing in the middle you complained about as the column mounted ones like Tesla, BMW, etc make so much more sense and are way more intuitive.

Great review. I do love the styling but having to turn off things every time would be very frustrating. Best wishes

My local Honda dealership has just added Ora to their Honda and MG Franchises. That annoying feature is exactly the same on my 2021 Jazz Hybrid where is called Road Departure Management System or RDMS. There is a separate Lane Departure system which, once off stays off but the RDMS is like the Ora - it defaults to "on" every time you restart the car and switching it off is nowhere near as straightforward as it should be. The steering input is annoying as is the warning sound. On the Honda Jazz forum it evokes some passionate debate. One guy reckons it picks up joints in the road when the surface has been repaired. Anyway, cracking review of the car - I haven't seen one yet but it looks decent to me (annoying warning system notwithstanding).

Interesting what you found. I have had two short drives and discovered many of those nagging things. I wanted to like it….it really seemed to want me to like it…. But it didn’t quite hit all the right boxes. And you guys seem to echo a lot of its good points in my book too - I’d say a pretty much spot on review! Anyway Kate, can you give a little more room to Florence’s review and stop butting in please. Clearly she will be the lead presenter on all future YT - certainly knew the Cat’s shortcomings in terms of all-important load capacity for her….. 😂

Good practical review.

I watched the review and enjoyed it but didn’t realise until the end that there was also a guy in the back seat, spooky. Good review though 👍

wow how easy is it to forget that kids grow up so quickly lol but shes looking fab and will over when shes a bit older how sweet is that xx

Shame I didn’t get to meet you kate at the uk motor show - thank you James for your wisdom :)

I feel your pain at the start of the video. I drive a Peugeot e208 and fortunately there is a button to permanently turn off Lane Assist (which we found by trying all the buttons!). For a few days before it drove us absolutely nuts having to turn it off through menus and absolutely hated it! As for the Ora, far too expensive for what it is (as is the Peugeot!).

i love love love love love love mine!!!

co-assistant perked up when she heard mamite :)

Have to agree with the comments below from Paddy w , the interiors of current cars really annoy me when they are a sea of black (including black headlinings too) everywhere. At one time you often had a choice of interior trim colours depending on which paint colour you chose. It is obviously cheaper to limit the choice to customers despite the fact that we are paying substantially more now for vehicles. I always ponder whether you would sit in your front room with all the walls/ carpets /furniture even the ceiling in black with a touch of silver trim around the fire surround---and be happy with that?! Yes the car is too expensive but full marks for showing some bright and imaginative interior design touches.

Far too expensive in the U.K. due to the Dealers being far too Greedy. They would sell bucket loads of them at the price they sell them in the rest of the World- except for protectionist EU.

The aesthetic of the car is like someone melded the Porsche 903 together with the New Beetle and the unholy child is the Ora Funky Cat! The retro interior only adds to the charm. 😊

😀 Wow, Great video, lovely family! Ora a bit disappointing...

Great review and I'm completely with you regarding the Lane Keep Assist function. I've got a Kona EV and it works in exactly the same way, i.e. you can't permanently turn the function off. I think it may be a requirement of the Encap 7 safety regulations that manufacturers have to comply with. That said, I've yet to meet anyone who has a car with this function who says they think it makes them more safe. In fact, most say it feels like they are wrestling with the car, making it more unsafe than safe. Sadly it seems here to stay and is doubtless an integral part of what one day will become autonomous driving as standard ..........

Florence is a treat as always!

The all new Kia Ora, runs on synthetic orange juice!

Another great video giving a real perspective. I agree that it's overpriced for what it is, although it is nice to see something other than the swathe of SUV-style EV's (something a few brands are starting to consider).

My number one reason for getting a Tesla is the app/software and how it integrates with the car. When I see EV reviews I never see the mobile app/software being mentioned. Is it because other EVs don't have one? Or they're not very good? It feels to me that it's a very important part of owning an EV making it feel like a smartphone as opposed to an old Nokia. With my Tesla I'm still finding new very useful features. For example the latest version of the Tesla iPhone app introduces iOS Shortcuts which would allow you to create a little shortcut to switch off lane assist automatically every time you start the car, I think that's the kind of flexibility we should expect today, to be able to control everything with an automation script that some techy person creates and shares with others. Another example I've seen for using Shortcuts is for you to press a button or ask siri to open the boot when you're bringing the shopping to the car, the script will then wait for you to arrive home and put the car on park and it opens the boot automatically. This example might be a bit gimmicky but the point is the generic flexibility that can be used for very customised use cases with many steps.

I’ve been following this car’s progress for over 2 years. At that time it was selling in China for £10k and they said it would sell over here by Christmas of 2021 for around £15k. So I subscribed to their website newsletter. The launch suffered delay after delay over the following year or so and on top of that, the expected price rose to £20k, £25k, £29k and eventually launched at well over £30k! Just not value so I lost all interest. Bought myself a Hyundai Ioniq se, 2 year old for £18k. Far better spec and whilst you are impressed with the 4 miles/kWh on the Cat, I am achieving 5.6 miles/ kWh consistently with the Ioniq.

What I drive is my only vehicle. The Funky Cat is a brilliant city vehicle rather than a car that can take the sort of thing that I haul around in the Zoe.

You have a great little reviewer with you.

Small boot, just ok range, slow fast charging, high price... If you like the styling it could be a fun city car. For me it is not quite there.

Strange. In NZ, the Lane Assist function defaults to OFF, so no worries. May need a software update in the UK. Cost in NZ about 20.000 pounds after government EV rebate. A bargain. (p.s. we get a better selection of trims and colour's .Also only called an Ora in NZ)

I'm sure I'm not the first to remark on how much Florence has grown! Bless her she's a great little reviewer...you're pretty good to Kate!😄 I think it's good how much space they manage to get into small cars these days but like you I wish it wasn't done at the expense of boot space. I don't have prams but I do have my own perambulator which aids my walking. It folds up and I need to get the shopping in the boot with it. Back seat reserved for lurcher...😅👍

Love the looks of this car as it reminds me of the VW bug. But here in Costa Rica, Chinese cars have a reputation of not lasting in tropical climates evev if you live in the upper lands.

I really liked the Funky Cat when I saw it pre-release But they have got the pricing totally wrong. If it started at £25k it would be be a lot more competitive That's why you never see them on the road

For some reason it reminds me of the OG Fiat Strada from the front. I like it ;-)

We see you James ;=)

I love all your practical reviews. I’ve noticed it’s been 7 months since you introduced the facelift MG5 it’d be great to hear your view on it and how it compares with the older version. I have a pre facelift LR one and am wondering if I should upgrade … or maybe wait till they re do the MG5 onto the MG4 architecture

Nice review. Others should stick to the point and keep it to under 10mins too or 15min at most. 😊

I'm always surprised when EV companies completely ignore Tesla's software when designing a new EV. Tesla has been refining driver assist for a decade. Volkswagen's ID 3 didn't do this either, and it was globally panned for their software implementation and customers ended up demanding their money back. The Tesla software allows you to turn on or off the driver assist functions you want to use, and saves your settings until you change them in the future. With the lane change auto-steering assist, they allow you to choose between a) off, b) giving a vibration warning in the steering wheel, or c) automatically steering you back into your lane. I agree that having it engaged all the time can be a pain, but I really like having the optional tactile feedback available if I'm drifting so I can correct it myself if I'm distracted. The Cat is cute, and the interior seems nice, but poor software can really be a deal breaker.

Mmm maybe it's me but the seat material in the press car made me itch and stick.

Thanks Florence. Brilliant test😂. Can’t really see where this car will fit in. Too expensive for a small car and not enough room for a family. If I had a choice of this or an MG4 I would choose the 4. Good test though

Had the pleasure of one of these for 2 weeks... Shocking car with good build quality but the looks are just to much... Plus at 31k there's plenty of other cars I'd pick before the the spunky cat!

The Funky Cat is a very good looking little car!! But has she got the boot of my Renault Zoe? I use her to carry my bicycle, garden tools and some spare garden furniture.

It's a great looking car but like you say the price is too much, it should be about £25000.

Super review from you both, the auto steering thing sounds terrible and the "random" gear selector shouldn't have made it onto the production model, but both issues should be easy fixes, hopefully they'll get it right on future versions but the build quality does look good. It is too expensive but then most EV's are tbh but hopefully at some point we'll see prices more remaniscent of petrol cars. I could however see this size type of car being popular with older 60+ drivers looking for a basic runaround. P.S is it cold up North as it's well beyond coat and woolly hat weather down South.. 😁

Its good to see the bosses are in the front of the car . there is a stalker in the back seat hehehe. (A snow white reference) Florence is really getting so big. She will be taking over the channel soon. she needs to start driving the cars during the tests. hehehe. yep I totally agree that it is a nice car but the price is far far too much. for what you are getting. less than £25K and it would do far better.

That drive selector and steering assist would drive me loopy

6 mins into the video and i realise someone is in the back seat haha

thanks for honest review - shame about the gremlins on the car.

Having to keep turning off that lane assist would do my nut in, unfortunately it seems like more and more new cars are doing this, I think I would need to get it programmed to be off by default or something. Other than that I actually love this car, if it was a little cheaper I would consider it, they have also opened a showroom down the road from me so I will probably go check it out one day. (When I need a new car)

Around 48k in Oz ... it's kind of out there in eye watering land. I'd have one in a flash if money was no object tho.

Pity Kia didn't do an Ora! :) Nice looking car, no angry terminator sharp looks!

Cool

Never ever ever ever ever! tell Florence to shush mummy!

Whilst i do like the interior i dont kmoe where it sits in the ever increasing BEV market as the boot is not represented by the cost of it as is its size. If it was £25k in top trim i think people might consider it over the leaf. Its definitely an odd ball in my opinion but again its all about the price 25k top's. Cheers

I really liked the ORA Cat from the reviews and thought it would be on sale for less than £25,000. When they said how much it was in the UK it put me right off. Again, it's rip off Britain!

Poor James relegated to the back seat now......!

A good and frank review. Thanks for calling out the price, rare in EV reviews. They’re all overpriced - still - and a good honest ‘it costs too much’ is so refreshing. Good though this car is/might be, price gouging is wearing a bit thin now. I’ve grown to like the look of it but again, yet another vehicle blighted by the over use of the touch screen to do the simplest of things. A real step backwards. Any of the increased, and excellent, safety measures built in to new cars are simply undone by having to perform a few ‘manoeuvres’ that should really be a simple push of a button. When it comes to the infotainment screen, just because they can doesn’t mean they should. Presumably supposed to be clever when in fact it’s probably a design and build money saver. Maybe, just like everything else over time, it will become an extinct fad.

Been following this channel 4 years I think , and suddenly Florence has shot up , she's certainly gaining some experience, a budding car journalist maybe 😉

If someone gave me that I would sell it the same day, buy an MG4 and have a nice holiday with the change. Totally overpriced, should be about £10K cheaper. Great review btw.

Is there an app that you can control the cabin temp or check out range etc like the Tesla?

Lovely car , trying to decide if I should upgrade battery in my leaf 20 or just buy something like this. Wonder what it costs to upgrade my leaf

TBH while every new car needs the lane assist on automatically each time you start the car so it is not a feature exactly on this car as it is on every new car as a legal requirement, i think this car has issues with how long it takes to turn it off. i spoke to ora and they did mention they are finding a way to make one of the buttons a short cut to turn it off faster. my 500e is easy as there is a button on the end of the indicator stick and i just click it twice to turn it off

Hmm. This car is over £30k in UK at the moment. Price needs to drop by at least £5k to be a real contender. Even then it seems half finished. Looks nice though; they have copied some of the mini / beetle style effectively. No way that young car buyers could afford it though, they are too busy saving up for a house deposit!

Can you use the voice assistant to turn off the annoying features so it's quicker than going into the infotainment?

On my ZS I keep LKA on but you can dumb it down or get it to just vibrate the steering wheel and it will remember the setting. There are other niggles but it's just flaky Chinese software that has not been fully debugged before release.

Could they fix the menu settings with over the air updates? Did I also hear that it doesn’t support Apple CarPlay?

Does the car have driver modes that allow you to tweak things ? I ask because I had a XC40 on loan for a bit and it had start / stop but they had moved it from a button to be hidden in the touch screen menu but the car did come with driver modes (sport, eco, comfort, individual) and via the individual option i tweaked the start stop to be off and the lane keep to be off. When you then got in the car it was a simple two button press (rather then one, oh hum) on the drive mode button to tell it to use the individual one. You should not have to do this but it allowed me to live with the car for the time i had it on loan. I think Jonny Smith when he reviewed this came to the pretty much the same conclusion.

Glad you saw sense at the end. It looks poor.

I remember seeing this car on Fully Charged ages ago and thought it would be great in the UK, but it's £10k overpriced - as it's an unknown brand. The driver correction aid is annoying (and dangerous) and that alone would would be a deal-breaker for me. Especially as you can't easily turn it off. Then there's the camera that watches your face. I would not like that and would want it removed or covered with stickytape. If Ora don't make some changes to this car soon, it'll drop from sale within the next 18 months.

Many lane assist is irritating. And due to regulations it's hard to put off. Same on my Born. I think some NCAP rules are to far fetched to be practical.

Took one out for the test drive and the driver assistance stuff truly is awful. It’s a shame because it was great to drive and be in. Shame too that everything is buried in the menus. Doesn’t do much more than my 2 year old Zoe.

James relegated to the back ? Being a dad is never easy lol.

It seems like the only good thing about the Ora is its VW bug aura.

Never mind the car how cute is she 🙂another reviewer in the making

Lane keep assist systems are mostly pretty poor and nearly always annoying, cars where you have to turn them off every drive cycle are just the pits.

I love the light interior but perhaps not the red bits, maybe blue! My Nero easy does 4 kWh. Lane keep assist I agree can be a pain on our non motorways and yes it’s a pain to turn off, but at least in the Kia it’s a switch on the dash. I think the car looks really nice and in that colour it’s dare I say quite a girl’e car, not woke but who cares. The main reason I would never buy is it’s Chinese! I know lots will say that I must have load of Chinese gear in my house, but with the way China is behaving and it’s human rights issues buying one of their cars, for me, is a big step to far.

Yeah You’re not annoying

Can't they dream up a real name that doesn't sound like a two year old made it up?

Can't believe GWM is selling this small car for 32K in UK market, they must be out of their mind🤣. Maybe that's due to the import tax and shipping/handling? It's price in China is roughly half of this, as it's just positioned as a budget mini e-sedan, usually for young city girls as their 1st cars. The functions/performance/reputation of it is just very average across China market. Don't know why GWM is pushing such mediocre model to a developed market like UK. They definitely need to bring something better.

Yep, it's too much money

It was an odd choice from Ora to pitch themselves in the UK as a premium brand. You can forgive the poorly designed rear end if it's cheap. If they want to keep the prices high, they need to spend money to make things better. It's a shame because the Beatles looking car, the Porsche looking car and the small mini sized car from Ora would plug gaps in the EV market. The MG4, fiat 500 and Corsa e all do something better than this car.

Sadly it’s not called. funky Cat in australia.

Florence will make you delete all these videos with her in about.. 5 years! 😂

£32k...........erm-dont think so

Emergency lane keep assist is a requirement for the ANCAP rating system. It is up to the driver to turn it off at "Own Risk" but ANCAP requires it to be activated automatically. Blame the Star Rating System. Time car reviewers, world wide stopped bitching about something the Regulators have imposed.

Is this car made in China

Oh, your kids are definitely a product of an EV enthusiast household! For your daughter to know what an MG (is), let alone what it (looks like) is amazing. Most adults, myself included, wouldn't have the foggiest what an MG looks like, ICE or EV. 😂😂 For your average person in the street, a car is simply a car. On average, the best we could manage is a colour and a size.

Had to stop watching after the indicator noise started 🤯