Deepal S05/E07/S07/S09/G318

[steveting99]

There doesn't seem to be much info on MCF on Changan Deepal brand or the rides offered in Singapore, so a new thread is being created. Changan is the fourth largest auto makers in China, it's state backed and has been in business for almost 165 years. Changan first started to make cannons and it's first automobile was the Changjiang Type 46 jeep made in 1959. China's first domestically manufactured production vehicle.

Currently in Singapore the Deepal brand is distributed by Premium Auto under the DPL dealership.

First up is the new compact SUV called the S05.

 

 Styled by a design team in Turin, Italy it's shape aims to be as aerodynamically efficient as possible, with a drag coefficient to 0.25. The S05 is a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) model!

It's got a pleasing, chunky appearance, with a sharp drop-off on its nose, a grille-less panel, and two cheekbones housing lights, while the main headlights sit on top, at the edge of the bonnet. The roof line has a more gentle slope at the back to give decent head room for rear seat passengers. 

Dimensions of the S05 are.

Length: 4,620mm

Width: 1,900mm

Height: 1,600mm

Wheelbase: 2,880mm (very generous)

Wheels are 20" alloys with 245/45 tires. Would have been better to have 18" rims to provide more driving range and thicker side wall on the tires to take on the speed humps. Ground clearance is okay at 169mm.

 

The rear of the S05 has the triangle Deepal badge and top tail light. It's a Cat A ride, so power is limited to just 99kW...😶 Would have been better for Premium Auto to bump it up to 110kW. Toque is decent at 290Nm, so getting around the city in Stop/Go traffic shouldn't be an issue. The century sprint is a slow snail's pace of 11.4 seconds.

Underneath the front bonnet is a huge 159L of additional storage space. Can store lots of durians and looks to have a drain plug for easy cleaning.  The frunk looks to be best in it's class.

Battery capacity is 68.82kWhr and the chemistry type is LFP. More importantly is the battery supplier is CATL, China and world's largest. Which means the S05's battery pack meets the no fire, no smoke safety standard specified in GB38031-2025. 

Driving range is pretty good at 485km based on WLTP standard. 

Energy efficiency is average at 16.7kWhr per 100km

AC charging rate is a bit on the low end of 6.6kW

DC fast charging is decent at 200kW. 10% to 80% charge of around 23 minutes. 

Turning radius is a bit chunky at 5.75m

 

 

[Palmer19]

My 1st EV after switching from an Audi. Had this car for about a month and these are the some of the interesting findings : 

1. The car actually charges at 7kw on a single phase charger. Have not tried out DC charging yet.

2. With custom drive mode setting acceleration to the fastest, the pick up is pretty impressive. It does snap your head back 🙂

3. Eco mode single paddle driving is quite enjoyable, pretty similar to Tesla. 

4. Actual driving range so far is around 5.5km/kwhr, but I've been blasting my aircon. 

5. Adaptive driving can be a bit erratic, have not gotten used to it yet, especially the lane assist. 

6. Appearance wise, I like the fact that it doesn't shout "Look at Me !". Pleasant and understated at the same time, just like Audi.  

Hopefully, the build quality hold up. 

[Soya]

First thing it needs to do is change the Deepavali name....

 

[nashstruck]

On 7/29/2026 at 11:17 PM, Soya said:

First thing it needs to do is change the Deepavali name....

 

Reported.

Edited July 29 by nashstruck

[nashstruck]

On 7/29/2026 at 10:28 PM, Palmer19 said:

My 1st EV after switching from an Audi. Had this car for about a month and these are the some of the interesting findings : 

1. The car actually charges at 7kw on a single phase charger. Have not tried out DC charging yet.

2. With custom drive mode setting acceleration to the fastest, the pick up is pretty impressive. It does snap your head back 🙂

3. Eco mode single paddle driving is quite enjoyable, pretty similar to Tesla. 

4. Actual driving range so far is around 5.5km/kwhr, but I've been blasting my aircon. 

5. Adaptive driving can be a bit erratic, have not gotten used to it yet, especially the lane assist. 

6. Appearance wise, I like the fact that it doesn't shout "Look at Me !". Pleasant and understated at the same time, just like Audi.  

Hopefully, the build quality hold up. 

Thanks for sharing! Been looking at this too but unsure about pulling the trigger as there are so few reviews online about it. How’s the build quality in your opinion? I sat in the S07 which was the older model and the seat cushions had flattened out. I was worried the S05 seat cushions will suffer the same fate in 1 year. Also, how do you find the pick up? Street pick up felt very good but highway pick up was a little laggy.

At their current price point and engine power, I fear it might swallowed up by the incoming Xpeng L03. Apparently that will have a Cat A variant that is likely to be priced around 190K? Not to mention, the Atto 3 (current outgoing model) is priced 15K cheaper than the S05 at 174K currently!

Edited July 29 by nashstruck

[Soya]

On 7/29/2026 at 11:45 PM, nashstruck said:

Reported.

Lol...u SE from PA? 

 

[inlinesix]

How does 深藍relates to Deepal?

[mersaylee]

Honestly...i can't really...🙏😂

[Lala81]

On 7/30/2026 at 8:27 AM, inlinesix said:

How does 深藍relates to Deepal?

wow i never knew that's the name.

i thought would be like byd haha

[Lala81]

anyway this brand has such low numbers on the road. I'll predict it will go the way of the dodo.

My wife saw one that day. And asked if it's an MII brand.

I think I've only seen one so far this year.

Edited July 30 by Lala81

[Palmer19]

@nashstruck The seat quality is nowhere near the continental makes for sure, it take getting used to as it is quite soft. The family find it comfortable though, so that's good enough for me. As for highway speed pick up, I think it's adequate for Singapore roads, 90km to 110km is still quite brisk, not breakneck fast. And yes, I also like the Xpeng L03, looks sleek despite being a crossover. If I were you, I'll wait for this to list before making any decision, only worry is COE potentially costlier. 

So far, I'm enjoying the drive. Coming from a sedan, it felt like a SUV initially, but now I drive it like a sedan, the road holding with the 20" inch wheel does make a difference I think. 

 

[steveting99]

The interior of the S05 is following the minimalist style pioneered by Tesla, you either gonna like or hate it. Unfortunately no happy middle ground.

If you're old school and like lots of buttons and/or dials, disappointment is coming in the S05. Might feel that someone came into your place and stole everything, but only left the TV behind.  You're forced to live with it. So not many things to press or twirl around for stress relief. But first impression of getting into the S05 is going to be very good.

No glove box!☹️

There's wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Most will use this.

 

However, there's a few buttons still around on the steering wheel as well as on the door - so there's a minimal set. There's even manual air vents above the wireless charging pads. One less thing to complain about! Unfortunately AC control  is via the touch screen. 🤯

There's a 64 color ambient mood lighting system. Some other China EV models have more colors available.

The S05's center tunnel adopts wireless phone charging pads and a pair of cup holders. The interior of the S05 looks and feels premium, particularly with the contrast stitching. Hence the fit and finish is pretty good. Everything is bolted well together without squeaks/rattles that can be found on more expensive conti, Japan and Korean models. The interior is quite solid.

Even though the material used is fake leather, there's a lot of soft touch material around the cabin that would make the more expensive conti brands blush and should feel a bit ashamed. No cheap or scratchy plastic material where one cares to touch around the cabin. Attention to details can be found in the door, it looks and feels premium.

The interior of the S05 is the new standard that China EV and Battery Co. has set for the legacy auto brands to catch up to. 

 

Front passenger is called the "queen's seat" that has an extended ottoman. It's a 1st class cabin seating with zero gravity feature. Driver's seat has lumbar support and has 6 way electric adjustments. Driver's seat is missing the tilt feature. Front passenger gets 4 way electric adjustments.

Both front seats come with the useless heating (deserves a -$10k discount) feature, but has the more useful ventilation feature. Missing are the massage functions.😶 So deserve another -$10k discount.

Both the front and rear doors are frameless window design in keeping with the premium feel. The rear door fit and finish is also pretty good. Deepal didn't cheap out at the back.

The 2,880mm wheel base means plenty of leg room in the back for three normal sized adults. Rear seats are at a fixed position, so it cannot be reclined back to make it more comfortable for rear seat passengers on longer journeys. 

The rear seats can be folded, but its not completely flat to give 1,250L of space. At least the rear lift gate is powered. 

There's a large 1.9m2 panoramic roof with motorized retractable sun shade. That sun shade is a great feature to have here in sunny Singapore and one less after market accessory to purchase.

The S05 gets a 14 speaker sound system. Not sure if can do Dolby Atmos cinematic surround sound feature.

The rear air vent is a single unit with manual control that needs to be shared. A dual manual air vent design would have been better for the rear seat passengers. In China, the center console has a two-layer design with a 13L temperature insulated storage compartment. Singapore doesn't get this (another missing feature), so one will have to an after market mod for this.

The Deepal S05 has a D-shaped steering wheel with three spokes. The gear shifter and signal indicator hides behind the wheel. There's no driver's instrument panel, but Deepal compensates for this by providing an augmented reality Heads Up Display (HUD) that provides essential driving information. So it's +1 better than Tesla, which provides no HUD.

The cockpit features a 15.4" central control screen, with a 2.5K resolution powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 automotive chip. The party trick from Deepal is that the 15.4" screen can swivel or rotate towards the driver. This is to help reduce the distance between far edges of the touch screen to the driver (i.e. shorter arm reach for those who have short arms), thus making it easier to reach out and touch. It would also make it easier to see the info when facing driver. The screen can also rotate to the front passenger under certain conditions. 

The vehicle operating system is supported by Deepal's OS 3.1 with Huawei's HiCar smartphone connectivity. The OS can display real-time information such as time, weather, and vehicle status. It response time to human touch is quick and snappy, a standard that many legacy auto makers have yet to catch up to. The latest version of the operating system is meant to address the short comings and complaints of the older 2.5 system that's on the S07. 

There's built in sentry mode feature (similar to Tesla). One up on Tesla is the 540 degree surround-view camera system.

Edited July 30 by steveting99
additional text

[Lala81]

No glovebox and only relying on the open space in the central console means the car is designed for China/Japan/SG where random smash windows for theft is non existent.

Having such a car in malaysia ? 

[Soya]

On 7/30/2026 at 8:40 AM, Lala81 said:

anyway this brand has such low numbers on the road. I'll predict it will go the way of the dodo.

My wife saw one that day. And asked if it's an MII brand.

I think I've only seen one so far this year.

If one ok to get china EV, got so many to choose from. What's the USP of this brand besides sounding like a Hindu festival?

 

[Freeder]

Some angle looks like URUS… not kidding ..

[nashstruck]

On 7/30/2026 at 11:05 AM, Soya said:

If one ok to get china EV, got so many to choose from. What's the USP of this brand besides sounding like a Hindu festival?

 

Reported.

[Soya]

On 7/30/2026 at 12:00 PM, nashstruck said:

Reported.

Wahaha...report to Beijing secret polis ah? Think u better not consider buying this brand if u so thin skinned n get upset n miserable everytime someone make deepavali references due to the similarities in name

[steveting99]

Deepal's S05 has undergone European crash tests. The following video shows the results from Euro NCAP.

Overall the S05 got a five star rating with the following breakdown.

Adult occupant: 94%

Child occupant: 87%

Venerable road users: 78%

Safety assist: 76%

Data source: https://www.euroncap.com/assessments/changan+deepal/s05/1162/