The Omoda C7 has no business being this good for the money. Almost. Here’s what R589,900 buys, and what it doesn’t.
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The Omoda C7 has no business being this good for the money. Almost. Here’s what R589,900 buys, and what it doesn’t.
The Omoda C7 has no business being this good for the money. I climbed out of the Elegance derivative, wondering why there are not more of these on the road. All things considered, Omoda is still a relatively new name on local roads (compared to some German and Japanese brands that have been present for decades), and for plenty of buyers that unfamiliarity alone is enough to send them looking elsewhere.
And yet, at R589,900, the C7 Elegance arrives with a specification list that would embarrass cars commanding twice the price, with a premium(ish) cabin that feels way more spacious than its exterior measurements would otherwise suggest. I expected a competent but unremarkable Chinese SUV, and since the C5 had already disappointed me, the C7 had work to do.
As for driving, don’t expect much in the way of fireworks, and that’s pretty much expected considering its positioning as a car that prioritises comfort over outright pace. The 1.6-litre turbocharged engine sends 145kW and 290Nm to the front wheels utilising a 7-speed DCT, with the engine responsive enough for highway overtakes. My primary frustration remains throttle calibration, another trait that’s common in Chinese cars. Finding the right amount of input is a frustrating exercise of too little application and nothing happens, while too much results in front wheels scrambling for grip. Wind noise too rears its head at highway speeds. While neither is a dealbreaker, it points to some room for improvement on the refinement front.
At R589,900, the C7 Elegance sits in a fiercely contested space, going up against the likes of the Chery Tiggo 7, Haval H6, MG HS and the recently priced Volkswagen T-Roc. Against the Chinese contingent specifically, it holds its own well, while comparing it against more established nameplates like the T-Roc makes matters marginally more complicated. The C7 may be more appealing from a feature-for-the-price comparison, but VW’s demonstrated 1.4-litre TSI engine refinement is some ways ahead of Omoda’s offering, even if it has less power. A case in point is the C7’s fuel consumption, which registered around 9.0l/100km in real-world driving, which is steep for a 1.6-litre family SUV.
Inside, the C7 follows the now-familiar Chinese minimalist design style. Almost every setting lives inside the 15.6-inch infotainment system, which is, for the most part, intuitive enough. To Omoda’s credit, it has kept physical buttons for the volume, drive mode selector, AC and demister. Since those are the most often grabbed for buttons, having them within easy reach without the frustrations of navigating menus inside a touchscreen makes a considerable difference. As for the rest of the onboard tech, an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster sits alongside the hero screen while a wireless charging pad rounds out the equipment offering. The charging pad works, but its placement in direct sunlight is a gripe I’ve raised before in most Chinese cars. A cable connection performs a similarly competent job, with the added benefit of a more stable infotainment connection while the phone can be placed outside of the baking sun’s reach.
Overall build quality is the biggest giveaway as to the C7’s price, and while Omoda has considered frequent touchpoints, hard plastics do appear elsewhere. But I’m picking nits here, and I can comfortably live with it considering this small SUV costs less than R600k.
The ownership package is where Omoda further solidifies its business case with the C7, offering a 5-year/150,000km factory warranty, a 5-year/75,000km service plan and a 1,000,000-kilometre/10-year engine warranty for the first owner. That last figure is impossible to overlook, particularly for buyers still warming up to the brand.
For R589,900, Omoda has put together a comfortable, well-equipped family SUV with a handful of rough edges that take some polish off an otherwise attractive package. Still, this is plenty of car, and for buyers willing to look past the relatively new badge, there’s a compelling amount of substance.
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