Ora Cat Australia Review
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- Sorry for the audio... sounds like I recorded it while on the toilet (I can neither confirm nor deny :) ).
Here's a link to the full safety features:
www.drive.com.au/showrooms/to...
Check out Ludicrous Feed's great review (explains the indicator issue much better than I did):
• 2023 GWM ORA Australia...
One thing I didn't delve into too much, is that you can play MP4 video's from the left usb slot. Watch whatever you want when you are in park, but also.... it plays the audio from the video when you are driving... cool! Ora need to update the software to have the audio still play when you are indicating (it goes to the camera), and also include a 'random' mode, as otherwise you have to go into the folders and pick stuff yourself every time. I forget if it has a memory function (that is also needed, if it doesn't).
Thanks to Honda North for letting me borrow their Cat for a few days... much appreciated.
You might wonder why Honda North are now selling Ora's.... as well as other Great Wall Motor cars (the rest are petrol... forget about them). It's because it's a dealership expanding into other brands. Great for them, and for GWM.
I'll still be ripping into the car when it's a Naughty Cat though. As I'll always be straightforward and honest. As always, these are totally my opinions and your mileage may vary. I'll be comparing this to the MG4 a bit, as it's in the same price bracket and I tested that recently too. I haven't had a chance to drive the Dolphin (I look forward to it).
If you don't want to watch the rest of the video, then I'll save you some time.... The Ora is great, especially for the price. Not fantastic, like a Tesla, but great. The base model for $40k has all the features you need, good quality materials, great drive, fantastic warranty, fair service costs, decent software with some quirks which can and should be improved. I prefer it over the base MG4 and base Dolphin, which are both around $40k as well.
The base MG is a fantastic drive but doesn't have all the features (you have to pay an extra $9k to get the same features as the base Ora Cat), and the base Dolphin has all the features but a weak motor (have to pay another $6k for the decent motor with the better battery).
Definitely check it out.
Here in Australia the Standard Range Ora has a 48kWh LFP battery pack, for 310km of WLTP range, for $39,990 before On-Road-Costs.
The Long Range has a 63kWh NMC battery pack, with 420km of WLTP range, for $45,990 before On-Road-Costs.
DC charging is a bit slower than the MG4 and Dolphin, but AC charging is pretty good.
An EV is only as good as it's batteries (hello LG-Chem and GM Bolt!).
I did some research on the batteries, and they are from a subsidiary of GWM's called Svolt. I raised my eyebrows a bit at that, but further research showed me that Svolt are up their in R&D and quality with CATL and BYD. They developed the first Cobalt-free battery, are the first to produce 20 Amp-hour solid-state batteries with an energy density of 340 - 400 Wh/kg, so could mean a 1000km battery is close (but it will cost a lot, of course). Svolt have R&D centres in the USA, Japan, South Korea, India, and China.
They have one battery plant in Germany already (near Tesla) and another on the way.
There's also an Ultra and GT on the way, also with a 63kWh battery pack, for $48,990 and $51,990 respectively, before On-Road-Costs.
On-Road-Costs (licencing and registration etc) are about $3k, but vary from state to state in Australia.
It's called the Ora Good Cat in China, Ora Funky Cat in Europe, but here in Australia and New Zealand it's just called Ora.... very boring, so I might call it Catwoman, or Sexy Cat, or Hot Pussy. Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Exterior design was by Emanoel Derta, who designed at Fiat, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Porsche (amongst others). You can see the Porsche 356 and 911 references. I call the Ora Funky Good Cat a Squished Porsche.
It also has Mini vibes as well.
And it's no accident that there are Mini vibes (especially with the physical buttons inside), because BMW have a joint venture with GWM to build the next electric Mini, which is based on the same platform as the Ora.
0:00 Intro
0:50 Brief Review
1:49 Ora Australia Prices
2:15 Charging Speeds
2:21 Svolt Battery
3:21 Ora Ultra and GT
3:34 On-Road-Costs
4:00 Ora Funky Caterpillar
4:16 Designed by ex Porsche designer
5:06 Looks
5:22 Boot
6:28 Quality Interior
7:16 Features
8:16 Not A Nanny
9:11 Smooth Drive
11:53 One Pedal Driving
12:26 Improvements Wanted
13:55 Warranty Service Costs
14:50 Final Thoughts - Авто та транспорт
FYI, I purchased a brand new one recently, reduced to $35,990 drive away, $34,490 drive away with ABN, we said to the sales person if you could do $1000 cheaper than that, you have a deal today.
We ended up getting the car for $33,490 drive away, minus Queensland rebate $6000, and claimed the GST ended up $24,141 on the road, it is pretty damn good and the car is very good, prefer way more than the MG4 as size is nice, boot isnt an issue for me, it looks way cooler and it is a very rare car on the road which is what i love.
One of the better reviews out there. Thanks.
I appreciate that!
Great review! Been waiting for this 👍🏼
Cheers Rob. Ended up being done much later than planned. I had the blue one for a couple of days, nearly 2 months ago, but it had an issue charging at ABB chargers (known issue in UK and fixed via a software update), then I went on holiday for 2 weeks, then borrowed the white Ora (got some better footage with the DJI Action 3 I bought). Then borrowed the blue one again to take it to the World EV Day in Mandurah, and filmed a fair bit more, but the damn sd card got corrupted while I was copying files across (!).
So eventually got it done with less footage (sorry), and then edited it wrong so it was 34 min (when you leave a bit of footage on another layer in Prem Pro it encodes the whole lot... anyway... dumb mistake), so had to re-edit, re-export and re-edit the posts on FB. Sorry, I'm ranting :)
Glad you enjoyed it. Ludicrous Feed also released a review on the same day... it's very good (and more detailed on the settings). He also had an issue with the indicators, but explained it much better than I did :)
ua-cam.com/video/nfblKByJ2AM/v-deo.htmlsi=0TIyopBIWHYydRHl
@@stormjuice a remarkably accurate review. Very good you touched on all the things someone who has spent more than 1 week with it will also pickup.
Cheers :) Got it done in the end, in spite of all the technical issues (inc the horrible sound on the final video (sorry)... sounds like I recorded it on the toilet (I can neither confirm nor deny :) ).
Well, now I've gone and bought one (SR) on novated lease through my work. 4 years. Scary! My partner was telling me to just stick with my 150km range Leaf, but I guess I wanted a change, and I hope it's worth it. Anyway, I'll be doing more in-depth stuff on the Cat when I get it (already bought some 'interesting' badges from AliExpress as it's not got much in Australia (badge-wise). Tom did a great job of looking through the menu's/options, and I'll do something like that in a separate video (inc playing Mp4's, which is footage I lost, otherwise, would have been included on this video).
I'd never even heard of this car before today! Very well made video and great review.
Cheers! It just went down to $34k yesterday (I bought it for $40k). The more ppl get into EV's, the merrier.
I have an Ora in NZ.I saw a lot a reviews "complaining" about the indicators before I purchased and was a bit worried about how they would operate. The dealer showed me how to use them and I have had no issues after 5 Months. My local GWM dealer has told me that they now have the Andriod Auto license and are just waiting for a couple of more updates before getting my car in to install.
That's excellent. So it's just getting used to them being a bit vague.
Android Auto should be available in Feb in Australia.... though GWM has over-promised and under-delivered before on the carplay and android.
Yes you will get used to them.@@stormjuice
And now you should be pissed off that it's $5k cheaper!
That is odd about the no voice control as the one we test drove late last year it had voice control. It was not the same as the one that ended up being released, but the salesperson at the time said the only difference would be that our one would get heated seats. The new Ultra and GT have a lot more extras like ventilated, massage, and even memory drivers seat, even a powered tailgate and auto parking, so it's possible those 2 could get voice control as well? They are due very soon
Not for us in Aus :)
Even Western Australia gets snow, although only on remote mountains. Snow mode WOUDL be useful in places like the Blue Mountains where there might be one fall per year, and to the west, where there is more frequent snow. And I do wander what conditions led to the Snowy Mountains being so named.
Well, I've only ever heard of snow falling on that 'mountain' (large hill)... Bluff Knoll, and it's barely any snow at all... melts pretty quickly on the rare occassions it snows there.
Ya. Not having app and voice control is just terrible. Completely agree.
It would be nice, but it's not terrible. They saved money by not including it, and can sell it cheaper here than in the UK.
@@stormjuice ya I agree but when all the controls are in the display - voice control helps with not having to navigate through the menu.
It's definitely useful at times..... in the Tesla it's brilliant.
They´re branding 'GWM Ora 03' here in Brazil. It´ll be available from december.
Cool! What other choices do you have there for EV's?
I heard some brand (VW?) was selling a cheap EV in South America, but it has NO safety features so is a bit of a death trap. I'll try to find the video.
We have the BYD Dolphin, Volvo ex30, MG4, Seal, ioniq, many Leapmotor, Chery, and Dongfeng ev models, bestune nat, seagull, hozon neta v and upro, several JAC models, and there must be some others in this price range I'm missing @@stormjuice
You talking in China? No Leapmotor, Chery, Dongfeng and others here yet.
I went to the sydney show and surprised myself by liking this car to sit in, the most in the show. Including with a new tesla and various SUVs. It just seemed that it would be so easy to drive...
To be fair, they are all really easy to drive, but yeah, the Ora is great to drive (not as great as the MG4, but it's nowhere near as well featured or value for money).
I would have thought that SVolt would make the NMC batteries for ORA also.
That's what I was told, but happy to be corrected. Another viewer is thinking the NMC's are supplied by CATL. Either way, they are good batteries.
Could you do another review now you have owned it for a while?
How reliable are all the tech parts like auto steer and the distance keep on cruise control? What's your average effeciency?
Will do in a few months. Efficiency is pretty good actually. Even got home the other day with 3% after doing about 300km (70% highway)... surprised me.
Latest Ora ad, is amusing.
My video isn't an ad, that's for sure. I'm brutally honest.
@@stormjuice Sure. But did you see the new ad.? Its not your video.
aaah, no I haven't seen it. link?
Hey I am facing difficulties during close parking and reversing due to crawl feature. Any suggestions how to control the speed during crawl?
Not totally sure what you mean to be honest.
Here's the manual though:
gwmora.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ora-Funky-Cat-owners-manual.pdf
I found this, which may be helpful (it's a setting you can change):
Creep function
Turns the creep function on or off.
When this function is on the vehicle
has been started (the light is illu-
minated), switch into Drive gear and
release the hand brake and the brake
pedal. The vehicle will slowly crawl for-
ward without needing pressure on the
accelerator pedal.
I think the nmc is from catl. Will try to find my reference.
If you can find out, that would be great. I asked the dealer, who asked GWM.
Reuters "gwm ora" search has a article see the second last paragraph
The newer Cherry Cat has nmx by svolt, on Pushevs site.
ua-cam.com/video/m4fo3ujEQNM/v-deo.htmlsi=ll4ab1KoQ02T-cme
Can't trust many of the resources though, which is why I went direct to GWM. They didn't specify anything except Svolt. I don't think they would outsource NMC as they already make their own, anyway. Probably a big part of the reason BMW went to them to make the new Mini.
Funny 2 weeks later in NZ this car has become extremely great value with its $5k reduction across the range!
It's a brilliant car. Bear in mind it doesn't have Voice, OTA updates, or an app in AU/NZ.
@@stormjuice Just hoping that forces other Chinese EV to also drop their prices.
Battery prices are coming down (as lithium is coming down), so they should come down a bit, just for that.... plus, competition, of course.
The way i see it
MG fun but ugly.
BYD good but slow. and not as stylish.
GWM perfect other then the indicator lol.
you're ORA is just like mine will be.
I saw the mods on the group ( i loved the Fuck it edition lol )
The style is 100% stunning i see lots of classic German cars on it with a HINT of fiat.
and Forget the NEXT gen Mini. Just get a ORA LOL hehe
Love the video. very well made :)
You will never get the driver monitor to work. Gwm didn't install it on all the cars except the GT model in NZ and Australia and didn't tell anyone. They have yet to be able to find a fix for it. Maybe this week they will. Yeah right.
I thought it wasn't in there (cost cutting). I'm glad though.... rather not have it annoy me every time it thinks I'm asleep while driving (I need my beauty sleep).
I prefer a rear drive EV 😊 and a larger battery 🔋 so did order a MG4 long range.
Fair enough... also a great car (better to drive and brilliant one-pedal-driving). It was very close.... I think the warranty service costs killed it for me, and also the lack of features in the base spec vs the Ora or Dolphin. If they'd had blind-spot assist at least, in the base, I might have been persuaded.... actually, no... would have to have birds-eye-view to have made me try to forget the warranty costs.
Nothing wrong with that, it's all about your priorities as to which one is more suitable. I think those who find MG4 lacking will definitely find the ORA fills the gaps and vice versa. They do the opposite things really well, but both still EVs meeting a price that more people can get into. Style will have a lot to do with which is selected. Some will find the ORA too out there and others will appreciate it's style. I think you will fall into one of those boxes. I thoroughly compared the Standard Range MG4 and ORA as that was the budget for a second EV and not a cent more before landing on the ORA, but not by a huge margin.
Totally agree. Both great cars, but in different ways.
When I first went to pick up the first Ora for review, I took a car-nut friend (who is an architect and loves good design/styling, so he's owned Audi TT etc and now has some 3-cylinder BMW hatchback). He has a sarcastic soh and made me laugh when he said the Ora looked very MANLY. Funnily enough, he loved the MG4 (styling and drive), and wasn't bothered by the cheap plastics. He lives in an apartment though so isn't as easy for him to charge if he did get an EV.
You are right... I like cars with personality. I have owned 2 Nissan Cube Z11's (the squarer one than the Z12).... my favourite car design of all time (if only it was affordable to convert one to EV).
So what made you choose the Ora, if they were so close? The service warranty costs?
@@stormjuice my daughter is the primary user, so that was a factor. Safety tech was important. I know I'll be a passenger more than driver for this car, so accepted that was important. They loved the look of the car, whereas I liked the look of the MG4. We all drove (the licensed ones) and were passengers in both cars. Basically we all came to the same conclusion. The comfort and tech in the ORA edged out the nice driving feel in the MG4 and it's darn nice, the steering feedback is excellent in the MG4. We wanted a bit of both, but strangely enough that's what a Tesla has the best of both in many aspects. The ORA is darn cute, but yet not tiny in the cabin so a family of 4 without young babies, it just was the right choice. Both can do many things better and I don't think a Tesla is perfect either. First of all, wanted to go to all EVs. It's pretty easy to get $0.08 per kWh electricity plans at the moment (if you can schedule charging). We have some solar, a Tesla Wall Connector and off street parking sorted. So it all just makes senses right now and I've been watching the EV space for a while. It made sense for ride share/taxi a while ago to get into an EV. Now I think makes sense for more than just early adopters. Super early adopters often pay a large price for entry and that seems to be over or on the cusp of finishing up.
One more factor for heavy consideration, is the model 3 refresh was potentially also a very good choice, but this was substantially cheaper and available within days. I waited almost 4 months for a Tesla. Nobody likes waiting :) and didn't need something that big for this job.
Shame that GWM have skimped out on the sunroof for the base and long range models, unlike in Asia and China.😞 And why boring black interiors for the lower priced models?? Not so in the UK.
The only one's which have two-toned interiors elsewhere are the Aurora and Red one's.
We still have the Aurora two-toned in Australia.
I don't like sunroofs.... especially in Australia. Too hot, can't tint them (risk of cracking), and can leak after time.
yes that is a really good point. I like the price of the small battery, and I like that it is LFP. But I do also like the sunroof... so a dilemna
You must love it even more now that it's $36k on the road. The Ultra or GT (or both) have a sunroof. They'd be a fair bit cheaper now as well. If you are in QLD then you also get another $6k off.
466 missed calls!
eh? :)