It's actually just called the GWM Ora in NZ. The powers that be dropped "The Good Cat" or" Funky Cat" name, as it's known in most overseas markets. Took delivery of one this week, same colour as you tested. Agree, a no brainer if you are looking for a new hatchback in the early $40.000 dollar range.
I'm thinking it will wind up known locally as The Cat, which is of course more in keeping with our traditions...THE North Island The South etc... that's a little treasure that car I hope you hold onto it for forever...I'd love to see one of those at 30 with only one owner. Are you going to trick it out sans Ali Baba?
@@corkeymonster Well those are names that seem more suited to Boats than cars i can't imagine a wee ev hatchback called The Wellington...maybe an EV Van though,,,
When tested one, my step-dad was sat in the cheap seats. He actually reckoned my 17yr-old Vectra was quieter and more comfortable from that place. The good things: I found it really comfy from the driver's seat, it was easy to understand the screen and functions, the one-pedal driving was strong (but not as smooth in transition - it was a bit lumpy on the way to fully stopping the car). The sales guy made sure the hidden stalks were pointed out before driving off. Overall, though, it's a compelling thing. I liked it, but liked the BYD ATTO3 and Dolphin more, even simpler to understand, and the infotainment screen was much more responsive - it even beat the Ioniq6 in that respect, though the Hyundai is in a different class and is currently my favourite EV so far...😁
I watch A LOT of car reviews. This presenter stands head and shoulders above his competition. I prefer the Dolphin to the "Hao Mao". This kitty resembles the original leaf and ride is too firm for its market segment. Interior is very nice though! I look forward to more reviews from across the dutch. 😁
Test drove one of these and had the backing camera locked on and wouldn't disappear until we got back to the dealer. Apparently there are updates rolling out so would hope this kind of issue gets ironed out as my wife is rather smitten with this cat I mean car 😂
Nice review as per. Rob Llewellyn liked it, though some other reviewers in the U.K. weren’t quite so keen - to be fair it’s in a different price bracket over here, about NZ$60,000 for the cheapest version.
Yes, I think their reservations were largely around price, I was surprised to see it is so competitively priced here, I suppose we are physically & economically closer to Chine than the UK is.
@@keriford54 Almost zero tariffs for NZ dairy products and meat, in exchange for close-to-zero tariffs on the Chinese automobiles, a win-win scenario for free trade agreement
Hey Gav, I'm the guy from fieldays toilets🤭 - there was no way to type that without sounding creepy! Your line about never trusting a toilet in a dream was a cracker!
Hahaha, that was the best interaction I've ever had in a men's toilet. Great to meet you, mate. Yes, that line is a good one. I actually came up with that one myself! All the best! -Gav
The driver monitoring system does NOT work in this car in NZ and Australia, only works in the GT model. It is supposed to work but GWM China don't have a fix for it. They have been trying to fix my cars DMS for 8 months now. it is not a 5 star ANCAP safety without the driver monitoring system working. please share for the safety of ORA drivers.
Hey Gav.. Johnny Smith complained that the lane assist and other systems were on by default and drove him bonkers with nagging. Was this the same with your car, on by default?
Lane assist is not on by default in the one I have in NZ, Read my reply to "Leave this part blank" below re Lane keep assist. I haven't had any interfering bongs and bells that you wouldn't expect from any other modern car. Go and test drive one ,you may be pleasantly surprised .They are a very good city car .
I rented the funky cat for 600km trip and had a terrible experience. The assistence systems are very annoying. You can turn them off but they will reset at every stop which was extremely annoying. Max. charging capacity was max. 40kw which is terrible. Took me 45min+ to charge from 20% to 80%. The car gives off a super annoying acoustic signal when you drive 120kmh and it will peep again instantly when you go from 119 and 120 againm I could not find an option to turn it off which drove me mad. The indicator signal is very inconsistant and often I had to fiddle around to turn the damn signal off. Really bad design. The range was also a joke imo. I would never rent this car agaim and def never consider buying one.
Great review Gav. But family car with that miniscule boot? Johnny Smith did a 3000 mile review. Has a number of big problems with the cat. The rear window tends to get blocked quickly and there's no rear wiper. He was very critical of the infotainment software (he found it clunky and not intuitive), bluetooth connection issues with the phone, the driver monitoring system (which you have to turn off every time you start the car) constantly nagging and becoming a driver distraction and the lane keep assist which does not understand UK country roads and tries to steer you into oncoming traffic. It might be cheap but... that's a lot of negatives from a pro EV guy.
Does it not have voice control? It does in Uk and China . That turns on ac and adjusts temperature, opens and closes windows and changes infotainment items
I was looking forward to this arriving in NZ but after seeing Jonny Smith's 3 month 5000km review of the car in the UK it is obviously not well-sorted yet. At least the price in NZ is quite a bit cheaper but I am sure I would not be able to live with the problems the car has.
I wonder if he ever read the manual in his three months with the car.(Probably not) its about 260 pages long.)It has a section on how to operate the indicators correctly and they work perfectly for me. It also states "Lane Assist function only works when speed is between 60--150km/h. Lane assist is designed for driving on motorways only. Works properly only when lane markings are clear." So not for country or B roads that he was trying "lane assist" on. No wonder he got all the bongs and bells and the car trying to steer all over the road. Also you can turn it off in a couple of seconds in the vehicle settings. Go and test drive an Ora and you might be pleasantly surprised.
@@robnicholas7645I agree with your opinion. I’ll go as far as if you’re not willing to read the operating manual then you shouldn’t be a reviewer. Honestly, how else can a car manufacturer communicate with a new user? If you drive a Toyota CH-R, you will find the same issues such as cruise control won’t work unless you’re driving above a certain speed! Reviewers need to be qualified otherwise they’re just demonstrating their own ignorance, misrepresenting facts, getting an ego trip and most of all wasting our time and confusing a potential buyer!
A nice entertaining review as always. As far as I know, this car is being called the “GWM Ora” in NZ and with the rebate changing (and possibly disappearing if the govt changes) wouldn’t it be better to just quote the price? After all, if people are enlightened enough to watch reviews about EVs, they are probably clever enough to work out the finances. I have sat in the Ora, but haven’t driven it. The displays looked like cheap Android tablets. Considering the price, this would appear to be an excellent city, or second car. Overseas reviewers have complained about the overly aggressive warning (spycam) system, but it didn’t seem to affect your drive.
You could see the “strobing” effect of the displays in this video, this indicates a cheap display with low refresh rate. Possibly a reasonable compromise in this price bracket.
"Time for a full charge" is a red herring. You hardly ever drive enough in a day to empty the battery completely. Think "8-hour top-up while you sleep" and you'll be closer to the reality of living with an EV."
seated heats LOL. That's what we call them! I'd take the Ora over an MG Boomer EV... BUT would I splash out another $10K and get a used Tesla? probably
