2026 ORA 5 Electric 58.3kWh Review: Fibonacci Feline

The ORA 5 is a cheerful little SUV that unapologetically borrows from the Porsche playbook in the looks department. But what you really get is comfortable, honest-to-goodness transport for a family of four

Singapore — You cannot deny that the ORA 5 resembles a squooshed Porsche Macan from certain angles. ORA, one of the brands under China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM), is no stranger to borrowing a little inspiration from elsewhere.

At the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show, I came across the ORA Ballet Cat electric hatchback. I’m not going to tell you which car it takes after, but it strangely resembles something which sounds a lot like ‘Boxwagen Veetle’.

Oddly enough, ORA’s proven design direction seems to work. The ORA 5’s round headlights and widened rear haunches hint at the aforementioned Stuttgarter influence. GWM, however, says the ORA 5 takes its design inspiration from nature’s Fibonacci curve.

At the rear, the ORA 5’s bootlid, together with its windscreen-mounted tail lights, appears to borrow from the smaller Good Cat.

Soft surfaces meet a sensible dashboard

Inside, the ORA 5 doesn’t come across as a car priced even lower than an entry-level Toyota Vios. The two-tone interior, punctuated by frosted champagne accents, would feel right at home in something a little more upmarket.

Equally impressive is the number of soft-touch surfaces. They not only add a dash of quality to the, erm… dash, but also help absorb cabin noise.

A 14.6-inch infotainment screen floats over the dashboard. It is powered by the carmaker’s latest Coffee 3.0 operating system, which runs on a Snapdragon AI chipset.

Voice commands are supported and, while the system very accurately picks out your requests, it isn’t quite BMW-tier in terms of usability. I have no complaints, though, as most of the infotainment functions are within easy reach.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are offered, while you can also connect to the car via an app. There’s a ventilated wireless charging pad and three USB ports to keep everyone’s devices juiced.

For its price point, another pleasant surprise is the quality of the nine-speaker audio system, which actually sounds decently good.

The air-conditioning blowers are more than sufficiently powerful to cool the ORA 5’s interior on a warm afternoon. The ventilated front seats are also a huge plus in our tropical weather.

Unlike the Good Cat, the ORA 5 does not come with front massage seats, which I am perfectly fine with. I would, however, like better lumbar support for the front occupants.

For rear passengers, there is a 3.2-litre drawer-style cooling box, which is great for keeping snacks and canned drinks chilled.

The chiller plays nicely into the ORA 5’s Camping and Nap modes, where you can stop for a break. Or, if you are someone who works on the go, you could simply park in some obscure place, away from your colleagues and bosses, and slack off.

For its footprint, the ORA 5’s 362-litre boot offers decent cargo space. I also like that the boot floor can be adjusted for better versatility.

It sits well and drives well too

The ORA 5’s front-mounted electric motor produces a Category A-friendly 134hp (100kW) and a healthy 260Nm of torque.

Its 9.6-second sprint from 0-100km/h is nothing to get overly excited about, but the ORA 5 delivers plenty of shove from low down. In town driving, getting ahead of traffic is generally effortless.

You can tell that torque tapers off at highway speeds, but the plucky little SUV is able to dig just that little bit deeper to overtake with sufficient ease.

A pet peeve of mine, though, is that the regenerative braking, which is adjustable across three intensities, likes to reset itself every time you restart the car.

ORA says the SUV’s chassis has been tuned using data gathered from different parts of the world, covering more than 70 global road conditions.

I would dare say that ORA has found the sweet spot. While the C-segment SUV’s suspension may be largely tuned for comfort, it holds its own surprisingly well when you decide to throw in a little spirited driving.

For an SUV built to be relatively inexpensive — yeah, our COEs aren’t exactly helping — the ORA 5’s cabin noise insulation is also far better than expected.

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The XNEX SPORT EV tyres mounted on 18-inch rims operate with a decent amount of silence, although there is some mild tyre roar over rougher patches of road. Another pleasant observation is that wind noise from the wing mirrors is almost non-existent.

A good, honest small family car

The ORA 5 isn’t overly wide, which goes against the grain of many Chinese EVs I have driven of late, where bigger seems to be better.

And therein lies one of the ORA 5’s biggest strengths.

Much of Singapore’s infrastructure has remained largely unchanged for decades. Not only is it easier to find a parking lot to house this relatively small SUV, but you can also enter and exit the car without much drama if you happen to be parked against a pillar.

In other words, the best feature of the ORA 5 is probably the bit you won’t notice until you park the car.

It’s easy to live with, comfortable, reasonably well equipped and sufficiently entertaining when you want it to be. Instead, the ORA 5 simply gets on with the business of being a good, honest small family car.

And perhaps that is exactly what makes this Fibonacci feline rather likeable.

Photos: Clifford Chow

Pros	Cons
Quality interior	No lumbar support
Comfortable chassis	Regenerative braking resets itself each time you turn the car off
Good equipment

2026 ORA 5 Electric 58.3kWh

Drivetrain	Full Electric
Layout	Single Motor, Front-wheel Drive
Motor power / torque	134hp / 260Nm
Battery capacity	58.3kWh
Efficiency	15.5kwh/100km
Electric Range	435km
0-100km/h	9.6 seconds
Top Speed	170km/h
VES Band	A
Dealer	Cycle & Carriage Automotive
Price	S$185,999 with COE and VES
Verdict	Honestly good compact family EV. I kid you not.