This year (2023), the Chinese marque Chery has released the Omoda 5 SUV to Australia. If you’re wondering, like I did, what Omoda means (I was hoping that it meant something interesting in Chinese), it has been made up specially for this new vehicle, combining O for oxygen (meaning freshness and vitality) with “Moda”, meaning fashionable, trendy or stylish. The 2023 Chery Omoda 5 comes in two variants, BX and EX, with B presumably standing for Basic and E standing for Extra.

From the LED headlights to the very discreet tailpipe, this aggressive-looking five-door SUV struts proudly on 18-inch alloy wheels with a very nice star-like design. As an optional extra, spicy little accents of colour decorate the exterior, highlighting the angular and forward-looking design style, especially the coloured callipers in the EX.  Even without this extra, the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 looks zesty and a little bit sporty. Nevertheless, at its heart, the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 is a good all-round family vehicle.  But who says that you can’t provide safety and reliability in a stylish package?  Several paint colour options are there to choose from in both the BX and the EX, including a nice deep green, which is a shade I haven’t seen on many cars for a while and makes a refreshing change from the standard blacks, whites and greys (although they’re available as well).

For a sizeable car, the petrol engine inside the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 is pleasingly small: 1.5 litres. However, the designers and engineers at Chery have managed to wring the most out of this four-cylinder inline engine, so that it can punch out a pleasing 108 kW of power at 5500 rpm and 210 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm. Sure, that’s not as stellar as you’d find in a sports car, but the Omoda 5 has been made to suit a suburban family, so this is all the power and torque you’ll really need for your day-to-day driving. You’d be happy putting this in the hands of a teenager learning to drive – and said teenager would probably be happy to be driving the Chery Omoda, as it looks cool.  On the economy front, with a combined fuel economy figure of 6.9 L/100 km and a range of 739 km per tank (under ideal conditions, of course – you know how these figures work), the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 is certainly pretty attractive. Some of this is thanks to the smooth nine-speed CVT transmission coupled to the front wheel drivetrain.

Given that the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 has been designed as a family vehicle with sporty looks, it’s not surprising that a full suite of airbags has been tucked around the cabin just in case, and that the seatbelts have every single feature that you can think of (five-pointers for everybody; pretensioners and load-limiting function on all except the middle rear seat). The Omoda 5 has also been fitted with a good selection of driver aids, including fairly sophisticated ABS brakes with EBD and brake assistance, blind spot warning, collision mitigation ability, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking assistance, active lane-keeping assistance, a lane departure warning, and a system that warns of fatigue or lapses in the attention of the driver. In other words, it’s got enough driver aids but not too many – you could happily teach a teenager to drive in the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 and he/she shouldn’t become too dependent on all the gadgetry and electronic assistance.

The digital display panel is quite nicely laid out, and everybody, learner driver or experienced, will appreciate the speed zone reminder that can recognize the road signs (that’s likely to save a few arguments, or at least it would in my family!).

However, whether you’re in the driver’s seat or sitting in the passenger seat giving instructions, you’ll appreciate how the dual-zone climate control system keeps things cool (well, the ambient temperature, anyway – we can’t do much about your blood pressure if you’re teaching an overly confident or overly nervous learner driver). During a driving lesson, you’ll probably want to switch off the infotainment system, but when the lesson is over, the 8-speaker sound system with USB input and Bluetooth connectivity will be there to play with and control via the full colour touchscreen. Wireless smartphone charging is available   Naturally, all the cupholders you could want are strategically positioned front and back, and the ambient lighting is customizable (one of the beauties of LED lighting technology).

The EX variant of the 2023 Chery Omoda 5 has a few little extra tweaks to add some luxury and convenience. Sometimes, these differences are small, such as how the EX has an electrically adjustable driver’s seat in contrast to the manual adjustment in the BX, and the puddle lamps. Others are larger, such as the electric sunroof, and the front and side cameras. However, my favourite point of difference between the two variants of the Chery Omoda 5 is the heated seats and the heated steering wheel in the EX – just the thing for a chilly morning.

The current 2023 Chery Omoda 5models include:

• 2023 Chery Omoda 5 BX
• 2023 Chery Omoda 5 EX

For any more information on the new 2023 Chery Omoda 5 or, for that matter, any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181.  If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quote requests out to our national network of Chery dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!