It's time for testing the 2025 Leapmotor C10 with my family. Leapmotor's first international model is a fully electric five-seater SUV, so let's get straight into seeing how this affordable EV stacks up as a BabyDrive…
Quick Links
- How much does the 2025 Leapmotor C10 cost and what are the options?
- How big is the boot of the Leapmotor C10?
- How good is the storage in the 2025 Leapmotor C10 for families?
- How many child seats will fit in the Leapmotor C10?
- How comfortable is the Leapmotor C10 for families?
- How safe is the 2025 Leapmotor C10 for families?
- What is the 2025 Leapmotor C10 like to drive?
- Compare the 2025 Leapmotor C10
Quick Overview
- ✓ Very affordable pricing for a fully electric SUV
- ✓ Spacious interior – fits three child seats easily
- ✓ Five-star ANCAP safety rating (87% child occupant protection)
- ✓ Comfortable OEKO-TEX® certified seats
- ✓ 7-year/160,000km vehicle warranty
- ✗ No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto
- ✗ Keycard unlocking only on driver's side
- ✗ Too much tech interferes with driving
- ✗ Lane keep assist can be unsettling
Key Specifications
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $45,888 – $49,888 (plus on-road costs) |
| Warranty | 7-year/160,000km vehicle, 8-year/160,000km battery |
| Safety Rating | 5-star ANCAP |
| Power | 160kW/320Nm |
| Range | 420km WLTP / 477km NEDC |
| Child Seat Capacity | 3 seats (second row) |
How much does the 2025 Leapmotor C10 cost and what are the options?
| Model Grade | Price (MSRP plus on-road costs) |
|---|---|
| Style | $45,888 |
| Design | $49,888 |
The 2025 Leapmotor C10 is available in two models – the bottom spec Style which costs $45,888 and the top spec Design model tested here at $49,888 (plus rego, CTP and other on-road costs). That's pretty cheap for a fully electric five-seater SUV of this size!
The Style includes 18-inch alloy wheels, a 14.6-inch HD central display, 360-degree camera, and 17 ADAS features. The Design version I drove also has 20-inch sporty wheels, multi-coloured interior lights, heated seats and a heated steering wheel, plus ventilated front seats. Neither has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto though!
How big is the boot of the Leapmotor C10?
The boot door of the Leapmotor C10 opens nice and quietly with just the touch of a button and closes that way too – perfect for not waking sleeping babies!
The boot of the Leapmotor C10 will hold 10 shopping bags, which is one more than the BYD Atto 3 (9 bags) and less than a Kia EV5 (11 bags) or Tesla Model Y (15 bags).
The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…
…will fit in the boot of the Leapmotor C10 with four shopping bags.
The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with two sibling seats…
…will fit in the boot with three shopping bags.
The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat and the bassinet…
…will fit in the boot of the Leapmotor C10 side by side, but with no shopping bags.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don't want to move around while I'm driving such as my daughter's lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it's not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don't move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum's life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually measurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
The Thule Urban Glide 3, ultimate All Terrain stroller with the back wheels on…
…fits easily in the boot with two shopping bags.
The Thule Urban Glide 3, double ultimate All Terrain stroller with the back wheels off…
…fits easily in the boot with two shopping bags.
The Thule Spring, lightweight and one-handed folding stroller…
…fits in the boot of the Leapmotor C10 with six shopping bags.
You can fit two 90-litre Thule Chasm duffel bags in the boot.
Or you can fit a medium to large sized dog in the boot.
How good is the storage in the 2025 Leapmotor C10 for families?
In the front, the interior is VERY minimal and modern. There are no buttons at all on the dash. Everything is within the media screen, which I found frustrating and hard to use, especially while driving.
Now when it comes to storage, there are two cup holders in the central console. You can fit a reusable or disposable coffee cup in there.
Next to there is a phone charging pad, or you also pop the key card there too.
Underneath the bridge style central console is a good area for popping your iPad and your wallet fits there nicely too.
There are charging sockets – USB, USB-C and 12 volt under there too.
The central console box is a really good deep size.
Unfortunately, the glove box is small and won't fit an iPad or wallet with the manual.
The door bins are a really good size. They'll hold a refillable water bottle, and an iPad fits in them too. And there's a slot for your phone as well.
In the back of the central console box, there are air vents so you can keep your little passengers in the back the right temperature while you're driving along. There's also USB and USB-C ports down there too, so rear passengers can charge devices as well.
Storage in the back of the Leapmotor C10 is pretty good. There are two cup holders on the back of the central console box, which will hold a kids' drink cup or a coffee cup will fit too. However they are out of reach of rear passengers, especially the little ones.
The door bins are a good size. They will hold a refillable water bottle and an iPad fits in them too, and there's little slots in the doors too where you can pop a mobile phone.
There are map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold but not conceal an iPad.
Also in the back, there are handles above both rear doors so you can hang a toy for your little rear facing passengers for long journeys. And there's also lights above the rear doors too.
I have found our daughter does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it's really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON'T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it's not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
How many child seats will fit in the 2025 Leapmotor C10?
The interior of the Leapmotor C10 is really, really spacious. So when it comes to installing child seats in the back here, it's nice and easy!
There are ISOFix in the two outer rear seats. They're not within plastic guides, but they're really nice and easy to connect to down in the seat base.
There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three seat backs that are really easy to access and connect to through the boot.
I could fit three child seats in the back really nice and easily. I installed two forward facing and a rear facing child seat.
With that rear facing child seat behind the driver, we could easily fit a 186 centimetre driver in front, or even taller. It's very spacious!
There is a nice flat floor in the rear footwell, providing lots of space there for passengers to access their seats really nice and easily.
I could comfortably fit in the back seats between two child seats, so families with older kids too can fit comfortably.
How comfortable is the 2025 Leapmotor C10 for families?
My favourite thing about the Leapmotor C10 is the seats. They are incredibly comfortable. They're made of an “OEKO-TEX” silicone which has been tested for harmful substances, and it's really nice and soft, and they're really squishy and comfortable to sit on.
The windows and doors open and close quite quietly in the C10 and wouldn't disturb little sleepy passengers.
With baby asleep you can get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy. The same for the windows their mechanism is not too noisy and I didn't notice them having a loud opening or closing sound.
With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up!
The Design model comes with multi-coloured interior ambient lighting. One of the nice things is you can customise the lights to be playing with the music and adjust with the music, which is quite good fun with the kids!
Within the driving screen, there are different driving modes. It's also where you set your windscreen wipers etc.
You can change your vehicle safety settings and ADAS in the screen too.
I found the sat-nav was not very good and the car I tested seemed to only have maps for the Northern Territory and Victoria (I'm in Queensland). It didn't seem to have the maps for any other states in Australia and I couldn't do anything about it.My biggest dislike of the Leapmotor C10 is to lock and unlock the C10, you use a credit card like key, which you have to tap on the wing mirror on the driver's side only unless you use the special phone app.
I found this a real problem with my kids, because you bring them to the kerb side of the car and you have to leave them there, trusting they will stand still and safely while you walk around into the road on the driver's side to unlock the car by tapping a credit card on the wing mirror. It's really unsafe! The whole time you are hoping they're standing still on the kerb and not running out into the traffic! Then it's the same when you get to your destination and you need to lock the car. You have to get everyone and everything out, put it all on the kerb, pray your small children are going to obediently stand still on the kerb while you run round into the traffic to lock the car.Yes there is an app that you can put on your phone, and you can use that to lock and unlock the car instead of the key card (just as long as your phone has battery). However, I really don't like the idea of either and prefer a physical fob!
How safe is the 2025 Leapmotor C10 for families?
The Leapmotor C10 has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, scoring 87% for child occupancy and 89% for adult occupancy. It also scored 77% for vulnerable road user protection and 77% for safety assist.
It comes with seven airbags as standard, including:
dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting (curtain) airbags, plus a centre airbag that comes down between the front passengers in the event of a side impact.
According to ANCAP, in the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection of both the 10-year and 6-year child dummies was rated as GOOD, with the Leapmotor C10 scoring maximum points in these tests.
The C10 features autonomous emergency braking (AEB) for Car-to-Car and Vulnerable Road Users, lane support system with lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK), and an advanced speed assistance system (SAS) with speed sign recognition as well as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Blind Spot Monitor (BSM), Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning, 360-degree camera with dynamic guidelines and rear parking sensors.
It all sounds great until you find that a lot of these systems are super annoying and distracting, if not borderline unsafe in the real world.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub's asleep!
What is the 2025 Leapmotor C10 like to drive?
With a 69.9kWh battery, Leapmotor says the C10 has up to 420km of range, and DC fast charging for 30-80% charge in about half an hour. A lot of brands tell you the 10%-80% charging time, so missing a whole 20% sounds like cheating!
The Leapmotor C10 is, to be honest, a bit of a tricky car to drive. There is so much tech that it kind of interrupts your driving – and in not a very good way. The lane keep assist bounces you around all over the road, and even when you turn that off, it feels really skittish and just kind of pulls you towards the lane marking, but then it's almost as if it throws you over the line toward the oncoming traffic. So it feels a little bit dangerous, like you're going off or into the oncoming traffic! Add that to needing to use the touchscreen for everything and this car is just too much hard work, let alone for parents who are probably tired with sensory overload to begin with.
The Leapmotor C10 has a very tight turning circle, which is one really good thing. So it makes parking and manoeuvring really nice and simple. The steering is very light as well, which I think adds to how skittish it feels, especially when at motorway or country road speeds.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get the big cars and utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark!
You would expect the instant acceleration being an electric car, but it's not as fast as I'd expect. So actually, I found pulling out in traffic, it actually can feel a little bit worrying because it's slow to accelerate.
There's a lot of warnings and beeps from the Leapmotor C10 as well which are very distracting when you are driving. It is constantly telling you that you are distracted and need to take a break (all of which is the car's fault). Countdown notifications appear on the media screen all the time too, which add to it being too distracting. I think the tech really does interfere with the drive, which otherwise would be quite a smooth ride, if it wasn't for all of that interfering!
Technology – Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It's where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
The Leapmotor C10 is quite noisy in the back too. I found when I was sat in the back that because there's no parcel shelf, I can really hear the road noise through that rear wheel arch as well.
However, visibility is very good in here. With three child seats installed in the back, I could see out of that rear windscreen, which is excellent. And I can put the camera on when I need to as well.
Additional Information
The Leapmotor C10 comes with a 7-year/160,000km vehicle warranty and 8-year/160,000km battery warranty.
Compare the 2025 Leapmotor C10:
If you're looking at the Leapmotor C10 as a roomy but quite affordable electric family SUV, you may want to consider the BYD Atto 3 a Kia EV3 or Kia EV5 or Tesla Model Y.
BabyDrive Verdict on the 2025 Leapmotor C10
To sum up, the Leapmotor C10 is a really affordable, fully electric car for families. It's really spacious inside so you can fit those three child seats across the back easily, with very good legroom and very good boot space fitting a Thule Urban Glide 3 twin pram easily. And the battery range is reasonably good at 420km. And those seats are lovely and squishy and comfortable!
However, there is just TOO MUCH RUBBISH TECH!! Everything is within the media screen, which makes it really hard to use on a practical day-to-day basis, and all that tech interrupts with the drive as well and we need to go back to a physical key fob and being able to open and lock the car from the kerb!
Key Pros:
- Very affordable pricing for a roomy fully electric SUV
- Fits three child seats comfortably across the second row
- Twin pram fits in the boot
- Five-star ANCAP safety rating
- Comfortable seats
- 7-year vehicle warranty and 8-year battery warranty
- 420km range
- Quiet boot operation won't wake sleeping babies
Key Cons:
- No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity
- Keycard unlock only on driver's side is inconvenient with kids
- Overwhelming amount of tech interferes with driving
- Everything controlled through the terrible touchscreen
- Sat nav didn't work in Queensland
- Constant distraction warnings are ironically distracting
- Slower acceleration than expected for an EV
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