review Geely E2

[hansi06]

Good morning!

A family member of mine has surplus solar and decided to change to an EV as a run around; his choice was the Geely E2 Apex.

Geely E2

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www.geelyauto.co.za

I've driven it a couple of times (+-50km) and have these are its pros and cons:

Pros:

• Basically free to drive (in his scenario). This is his 2nd/3rd car and will be charged at home, so range is not an issue. So far, real world range is about 275-300km based on his driving
• EV's are great to use as a daily to work etc. The instant torque, even in this 85kw car, is fun. I can only imagine how more powerful EV's feel.
• Rear wheel drive
• Spacious boot and front trunk
• Spacious interior for its size, flat floor in the rear.
• Large infotainment screen- very good resolution and responsiveness

The not so goods:

• The text on the instrument cluster is small, doesn't bother me, but does bother the owner.
• No rear windsceen wiper, hasn't bothered so far, but could be an issue?
• Parcel shelf does not have a "string" i.e. it does not move up when you open the boot.
• Seats do not have much support under the legs. i.e. they are short

All in all a good vehicle as a daily, and I'd consider an EV as a second car if/when the time comes.

I'll update this if anything else comes to mind. Let me know if you have any questions

 

[///M Individual]

Speaking of this whole Chinese/EV/Hybrid movement, I have 4 clients that work for the same company and change cars every 4 years.

They all purchased new Fortuner's in 2022 which I had ceramic coated for them.

Within the last week they have all contacted me for quotes on their new cars:

Tiggo 8 Pro Plug in Hybrid
Geely E5 EM-i Super Hybrid & Geely E2 (Replacing wife's Starlet at the same time)
Haval H6 Hybrid
BYD Dolphin Surf

 

[marshricky]

Speaking of this whole Chinese/EV/Hybrid movement, I have 4 clients that work for the same company and change cars every 4 years.

They all purchased new Fortuner's in 2022 which I had ceramic coated for them.

Within the last week they have all contacted me for quotes on their new cars:

Tiggo 8 Pro Plug in Hybrid
Geely E5 EM-i Super Hybrid & Geely E2 (Replacing wife's Starlet at the same time)
Haval H6 Hybrid
BYD Dolphin Surf

That Tiggo8 PHEV is a hell of a car. The interior spec is proper.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[///M Individual]

That Tiggo8 PHEV is a hell of a car. The interior spec is proper.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was really impressed with the build quality! Paint thickness was better than some German cars. Keen to see how it ages.....

 

[modocrat]

I recently drove the Geely EM5 and I quite liked the full white interior. The rear-end looks like a Cayenne

 

[TBP88]

I was really impressed with the build quality! Paint thickness was better than some German cars. Keen to see how it ages.....

EXACTLY why I'm glad I'm 5ish yrs away from a purchase. Either these current gen chinese things are decent quality in which case we can get absolute BARGAINS or they're dogshit in which case we can steer clear.

 

[TurboLlew]

I am quite ready to venture into EV territory if not for the next addition, the one after that. Exactly what, I don't know because this really is more like buying a dishwasher than it is buying a car for me. Ideally highly depreciated is the way to go but its not as long as 5 years for me to wait to jump in.

The Chinese have definitely improved from a few years ago in terms of all round quality (coupled with a decline from the usual suspects)

 

[cRed001]

If a car could be non-binary and asexual, this would be it.

 

[Salt]

As per uncle Bobby who quoted the guy from Autotrader...Chinese cars are 80% of the quality at 60% of the price VS german cars. And driving both...I agree fully. In fact I would even say perhaps a little more than 80% of the quality. Plus, having been side smashed on the highway by a reckless driver and hitting the lamp post middle of the high dead center head on at 100km/h, I can confirm the P Series is safe too. All bags deployed and ZERO shift of the cabin nor did the bakkie roll. Hitting something stationary like that at 100km/h is violent. Bought the exact same bakkie again without blinking. It's outperformed other brands in the sand dunes and heavy rocky/gravel roads deep in the bushes in Mozambique. We have options guys, that is the positive here. I'm not saying either is better or worse but what WE need is competition in the market so the European brands can come down to earth with their pricing imo.

 

[TBP88]

As per uncle Bobby who quoted the guy from Autotrader...Chinese cars are 80% of the quality at 60% of the price VS german cars. And driving both...I agree fully. In fact I would even say perhaps a little more than 80% of the quality. Plus, having been side smashed on the highway by a reckless driver and hitting the lamp post middle of the high dead center head on at 100km/h, I can confirm the P Series is safe too. All bags deployed and ZERO shift of the cabin nor did the bakkie roll. Hitting something stationary like that at 100km/h is violent. Bought the exact same bakkie again without blinking. It's outperformed other brands in the sand dunes and heavy rocky/gravel roads deep in the bushes in Mozambique. We have options guys, that is the positive here. I'm not saying either is better or worse but what WE need is competition in the market so the European brands can come down to earth with their pricing imo.

I mean, dunno how to measure, but it's more like 99.9% of the quality. Go and sit in a current gen C class, then go and sit in the mid-range chinese stuff.

 

[PsyCLown]

I mean, dunno how to measure, but it's more like 99.9% of the quality. Go and sit in a current gen C class, then go and sit in the mid-range chinese stuff.

Not sure about a C class but I can say for certain that with the Haval H6 hybrid & the Omoda C5 you can see where the cost cutting has come in and it does not compare to my G30. The quality of the material on the seats, the thickness of the carpet on the floor, the dashboard materials.
To be fair there has been a drop in quality on BMW's

I think majority of people will not notice or worry about the difference and get distracted by all the features and shiny plastics and screens.
Perhaps people are more interested in how the spec sheet compares to the German cars.

I do see the appeal behind EV's and I feel there is certainly a market for these cheaper EV's like the E2 and BYD Surf etc.
Some people just want a reasonably priced vehicle which suits their needs and these Chinese vehicles tick those boxes. Majority of people on the roads are not enthusiasts like us.

 

[TBP88]

I've sat in a current gen 3er and the current gen C class as well as a BYD sealion. They're all using pleather these days, so it feels much the same. The rest of the dash and screens are hugely comparable. I didn't properly scrape away to see the interior carpets but I certainly didn't get into the BYD and think "that carpet looks shit". BMW is holding a huge bag here because they're charging R1.2m+ for their X1s, BYD sell you a similarly sized thing for ~600k and the interiors are definitely not worlds apart. And if you think an X1 is the pinnacle of german engineering then you probably also buy courses on youtube and instagram.

A base macan is R500k up the road from an X1, and with some spec feels 10x as premium for a 50% price premium, the missing middle will keep getting squeezed. Either BMW start catering downmarket (how? their quality is already dogshit at the prices, if they need to slash prices 20-35% the quality would be abysmal), or they just accept that they cannot sell at volume, up the quality and price and compete with porsche directly

 

[///M Individual]

Not sure about a C class but I can say for certain that with the Haval H6 hybrid & the Omoda C5 you can see where the cost cutting has come in and it does not compare to my G30. The quality of the material on the seats, the thickness of the carpet on the floor, the dashboard materials.
To be fair there has been a drop in quality on BMW's

I think majority of people will not notice or worry about the difference and get distracted by all the features and shiny plastics and screens.
Perhaps people are more interested in how the spec sheet compares to the German cars.

I do see the appeal behind EV's and I feel there is certainly a market for these cheaper EV's like the E2 and BYD Surf etc.
Some people just want a reasonably priced vehicle which suits their needs and these Chinese vehicles tick those boxes. Majority of people on the roads are not enthusiasts like us.

I have found that the Chery's (Both a Tiggo 4 and Tiggo 8) materials felt much better quality than the Haval H6/Jolion/GWM P Series and Omoda.