2026 Leapmotor T03 a review
The new, improved T03 (that’s Tee Zero Three btw) landed recently. Unlike the previous version, that was built in Poland, this is China built and has some revisions to the previous iteration. Mainly build quality, software and the like as well as minor physical changes. Low level brake light moved below the rear window and more black bits have been added to the exterior, plus other minor improvements.
Now this is a cheap and very small car, weighing in at just over a ton. I secured this one on a four year lease deal for just over £140inc VAT down and same a month. 5000 miles a year. It wasn’t much more for 10,000 miles but 5000 is plenty for its intended purpose (a courtesy car/work runabout.)
So, I wasn’t expecting too much from this little ‘Noddy Car’.
It’s positioned as a budget-friendly alternative to cars like the Dacia Spring, with more power, a larger battery, and better standard equipment than the Spring. Ideal for city commuting and short trips.
Leapmotor T03 Stats
Power: 95 hp and158 Nm torque
Top speed: 81 mph
Battery: 37.3 kWh (lithium-ion / LFP
Range: Up to 165 miles WLTP combined
AC Charging: Up to 6.6 kW**
DC Charging: Up to 48 kW (36 min 10-80% rapid charge)
** I was seeing 7.1kW on my AC charger
Equipment
For a small, inexpensive A-segment hatchback, the T03 is well equipped, and there are no options to select, other than the colour of the car.
Key features that are standard on UK models are a 10.1-inch touchscreen + 8-inch digital instrument cluster, a panoramic sunroof with electric shade, 15-inch alloy wheels, parking sensors + reversing camera, climate air conditioning and auto cruise and LKA + Blind-spot warning.
The T03 is a fully connected car so it receives Over-the-Air software updates, as well as having its own mobile app that presents certain key data and controls certain functions of the car.
However, this also has the feel of a very new and exciting company rushing to market, albeit successfully, with a few messy functions that need some fine tuning and general improvement in places.
Take the software/Ui, for example; there’s three drive modes - Eco, Normal and Sport - and all three state “car will not slow down on its own when this setting selected”.
It’s fairly meaningless, but an example where the software needs some fine tuning to iron out these gremlins, but my assumption is that a change will effect the regen braking.
I also found the touchscreen a little laggy, too. But I have to remember this is a cheap car.
Leapmotor T03 Central Display
Space
Interior space is surprisingly good. I’m 6’3” - so not a small driver - and I was accommodated well with enough legroom and decent headroom above my shiny dome in the front seats, plus I can even sit behind myself in the rear. Although, it is a bit tight for me, but shorter people will fit comfortably, which is remarkable give the dimminutive proportions of this car at just 3.6 meters in length.
I found it much more comfortable in the rear of the T03 than I did in the rear of the Ford Puma Gen-e. My knees, for example, aren’t round my ears when sat in the rear of the little Leapmotor like they were in the Puma. This is perhaps the result of building an electric car from the ground up on bespoke EV architecture.
The boot is not big at 210 litres, extending to 880 litres with the rear seats folded down. By comparison, the Dacia Spring has a substantially bigger boot at 308 litres extending to 1,004 litres with those rear seats folded. On this metric, the Spring has a clear advantage.
Interior
The cabin is light and airy thanks to the really big panoramic glass roof. Seats are basic but comfortable. The rear seats backrest is one piece- not split folding.
As mentioned previously, the centre touchscreen has its gremlins, but one additional irritation is that the screen is mounted six inches lower than it should be, meaning to look at it on the move drivers must look across and down, rather than taking a quick glance across.
This feels like an oversight, or a nod to the past when screen had less prominence in cars than they do now.
I also found the menu system is not intuitive and it wasn’t easy to navigate its menus. It feels like it needs more attention by the software developers to refine it, however, it may just take a few weeks to get used to it.
With the interior devoid of buttons, Leapmotor have shifted all controls on the touchscreen where occupants must access everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. It is frustrating especially with the screen mounted so low. It just feels awkward where a few well chosen buttons could have relieved some of that frustration.
For example, on the short drive home, I decided that I’d rather sit in a sauna than risk taking my eyes off the road to find the right AC settings on the screen.
There are a few soft shortcut buttons at the bottom of the screen though and you can at least completely turn off the Aircon and or turn it on with one press.
And after a while I realised you can also increase or decrease the temperature. To what though is anyone’s guess as you can’t select a set degree temperature number. Your options are to slide the slider up or down a bit and make it hotter or colder. Bluer or red-shiftier.
Even the headlights are accessed only via the touchscreen, and are bafflingly tucked away in a menu too, however, the default setting is Auto on at least.
It has a Radio, but so far I have only found FM and an Aux . I couldn’t find the DAB it allegedly has, but I’ll keep looking.
And as hinted above, there is no wired or wireless CarPlay/AndroidAuto, so the Aux will provide a 1990’s style connection to play tunes from your iPod. Leapmotor did state that CarPlay and Android Auto should come arrive via an update, so they say.
For now I’ve purchased a Carlink Dongle, not just for the music, but because I really can’t get on with the manufacturer Sat Nav, either. It works and it will definitely get you to and from somewhere, and it also loads nearby charging stations, but my preference is using the mapping available via CarPlay.
The voice assistant is very polite - and looks like Casper the Ghost - but bizarrely has a southern Californian accent and I can’t see a way to change her voice to something more English. But she does sound quite “rad”!
Aside from the hippy lady, the voice assistant actually works very well. It actually saves a lot of frustration from sifting through the menus if you just ask it instead, and that little ‘Robot Casper the ghost’ is a triumph that rectifies the above frustrations.
To activate it, press the voice button on the steering wheel, and say something like “fan speed up, aircon up or down, heating up or radio volume up” etc and it works. Right away. No drama.
Leapmotor AI Assistant
ADAS Systems
Chinese cars often have a reputation for ADAS systems that interfere too much, along with all the beeps and bongs that go with it. The Leapmotor - whilst fairly discrete and not loud - is no exception, in particular with the lane keep assist. On narrow roads it just has a meltdown mostly and I don’t know where it expects one to go. Into the hedge?
It also has a little camera facing the driver to the right of the steering wheel ensuring the driver is paying attention and gathering data, hwoever I find it unobtrusive.
But to save the ears from the deluge of bongs, the systems can easily be turned off with a double tap of the circle button on the steering wheel which engages ‘quiet mode’
Drivers Display
There is a separate 8 inch speedo screen in front of the driver, which is actually excellent. When using the navigation, the directions clearly pop up in the eye line so the driver doesn’t need to glance down at the knee-height screen.
Driving
The first point I noticed was that the regen braking initially feels fairly weak, although in reality it is strong enough to bring the car to a full stop, (only if you are in Eco Mode) but it is gradual. I’ll call it ’One Pedal Driving lite’.
When compared to other eVs like the FIAT 500e, KIA eV6 and even the Citroen Ami, the brake pedal needs a bit more attention when compared to other cars with strong one pedal driving. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing for keeping the brake disks clean, so I feel the little T03 is a good compromise between the two types of set-up.
This is a very easy car to get in and drive and feel very similar to a petrol automatic car. The gear selector is a stalk on the right side of the steering wheel and is simple to use.
There’s good visibility all around and the seating position feels just right with plenty of comfort. One observation is the headrests are integral to the seat meaning there’s less forward visibility from the rear seats.
Out on the road, the little Leapmotor is surprisingly good with a smooth throttle response.
There’s bewilderingly three settings for the steering feel. All three seem about the same to me, so I’ve left it in ‘sport’. Just because it amuses me that this 3.6 meter long runabout has a Sport anything in it.
With 95 horsepower, it gets off the line well it’s easy to keep up with the flow of cars at motorway speeds. It feels like it’s a bigger and more expensive car than its size and price would have you believe.
It handles well, no excessive noises or rattles. Road noise is minimal thanks to the surprisingly OK tyres fitted to it. I was expecting it to be fited with the finest ditch-finders or Linglongs, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw they were Westlake tyres because they seem decent and are all season tyres, too.
Wind noise at speed is minimal and the car seems surprisingly well put together. Body roll is also minimal and it goes over the bumps well without discomfort.
I found the efficiency good, too. On a mostly motorway trip at 70 mph, it returned an average of 4.3m/kWh. I’m certain that will increase as it gets used to its pedestrian town life and would expect to see it trip over 5 m/kWh on a mixed route,
Verdict
The Leapmotor T03 represents great value for money and a very decent little car. A road trip monster it’s not, and you will need to patiently learn the Ui -or just talk to the nice little ghostie
I could get attached to this very quickly, whilst forgiving its quirks, which overtime might be mostly resolved thanks to over-the-air software updates. Hopefully.
Finally the Dealer and handover experience at Eden Leapmotor Jeep were fantastic and they made me feel very welcome and valued, considering I wasn’t really spending decent money with them.
It’s not often that dealerships treat customers this well, too. But the handover was great and they explained everything well, but I couldn’t fault them and they didn’t give any incorrect advice or info.
The car came with both a Type 2 cable and a Granny cable (UMC 3-pin cable). And they had fully charged the car for me, too, which was greatly appreciated.
I would very much recommended their services.
