2024 Chery Omoda 5 GT Review

Chery came out of nowhere and has experienced healthy sales with its Omoda 5, so healthy in fact – their dealership numbers are close to 70 Australia wide in just 2 years.

Of course, they also have the Tiggo 7 Pro and upcoming Tiggo 8 Pro Max – but the Omoda 5 has by far and away been their sales king, bringing a tech loaded, affordable mid-sized SUV for south of $35,000 driveaway.

However, it came with a compromise – and that was the 1.5L turbo-petrol engine. Not a bad engine – just underwhelming – but that was excusable for such a cheap family SUV.

Now, though, for the princely sum of just $2,000, you can upgrade to a larger 1.6L turbo petrol engine, and frankly – you’d be nuts not to.

But is more power, better efficiency and optional AWD worth it? Let’s talk about that.

How much does the Omoda 5 GT cost?

The Omoda 5 GT is in fact $2,000 more than the EX 1.5T grade that comes before it, but if you want to also add AWD, then that will set you back a further $2,000.

Today we’re reviewing the Omoda 5 GT AWD, which is the most expensive Omoda 5 you can buy at $40,990, but that still is extremely competitive versus other small-midsized SUVs with this much spec thrown at it.

2024 Omoda 5 Price:

• 2024 Chery Omoda 5 BX 1.5T - $34,490
• 2024 Chery Omoda 5 EX 1.5T - $36,990
• 2024 Chery Omoda 5 GT 1.6T - $38,990
• 2024 Chery Omoda 5 GT AWD 1.6T - $40,990

Note: Prices are drive-away

What do you get in the Chery Omoda 5 GT?

2024 Chery Omoda 5 BX Standard Features:

• Engine Type: 1.5L Turbocharged Petrol
• Max Power: 108 kW
• Max Torque: 210 Nm
• Transmission Type: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
• Driven Wheels: Front (FWD)
• Drive Modes: Eco/Sport
• Electronic Power Steering (EPS)
• Brakes: 283mm Ventilated Disc (Front), 263mm Solid Disc (Rear)
• Suspension: MacPherson Strut (Front), Torsion Beam (Rear)
• Wheels: 18'' Gloss Black Alloy
• Tyres: 215/55 R18
• LED Daytime Running Lights, Automatic Headlights, LED Headlights, Tail Lights, and Front Fog Lights
• Power Adjustable Outside Mirrors
• Rain Sensing Front Wipers
• Synthetic Leather Seats
• 6-Way Power Driver's Seat including Height Adjustment
• Manual Front Passenger Seat
• Steering Wheel Mounted Controls (Audio & Bluetooth)
• Dual 10.25" LCD Instrument Cluster and Integrated Multimedia Touchscreen
• 8 Speaker Sony Sound System
• Apple Carplay & Android Auto

2024 Chery Omoda 5 EX Adds Over BX:

• Power Sunroof with Retractable Sunshade
• Heated Front Seats
• Power Front Passenger Seat
• Puddle Lamps
• Welcome Light Show (Animated Tail Lights)
• Multi-Colour Ambient Light (Dashboard & Front Doors)
• 360° Around View Monitor

2024 Chery Omoda 5 GT Adds Over EX:

• Engine Upgrade: 1.6L Turbo Petrol
• Max Power: 137 kW
• Max Torque: 275 Nm
• Transmission Type: 7-Speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT)
• Optional Driven Wheels: All Wheel Drive (AWD)
• Brakes Upgrade: 308mm Ventilated Disc (Front), 313mm Solid Disc (Rear)
• Red Brake Calipers
• Adds GT badge
• Suspension Upgrade: Multi-Link (Rear)

2024 Chery Omoda 5 GT AWD Adds Over GT:

• All-Wheel Drive System

What’s different on the exterior?

Not much, honestly.

That isn’t an issue, however – because the Chery Omoda 5 is a funky looking SUV that’s clearly going for the fashion approach; and looks far more premium than its price tag suggests.

Up front you get LED lights as standard, and they are genuinely and surprisingly very bright. The grille has a diamond effect to it, and is absolutely massive. You either love it or hate it, and there is no inbetween.

The red details across the car are an option, and while I’m not crazy about the red wheels for example, you don’t have to have it. Looks are subjective, and this ‘red pack’ is definitely a subjective matter.

What I do love though is that you actually get 5 of these 18”  wheels – because it comes with a full size spare, even though it’s got AWD. Nice.

The rear is my favourite angle, however. You get LED lighting as standard, including sequential indicators, and it really doesn’t feel overdone.

Specific for the GT is a… GT badge. Other than that, there is no other way to distinguish the GT from the regular Omoda 5. But considering the price differential is only $2,000 for the engine, anything different probably would have just added cost and complexity.

What about the interior?

Everytime I step back into the Omoda 5’s interior, I’m always so impressed.

New for 2024 – for all Omoda 5s – is an upgraded 50 watt wireless charger with cooling, a normal rear view mirror (before it had an odd 3D fisheye effect) and digital radio. All good additions.

Otherwise, it remains the same as before – but that’s a good thing.

Touch around, and you feel soft touch material absolutely everywhere. When combined with the acoustic treated glass, the cabin is relatively quiet for the class.

The seats – though missing adjustable lumbar support – still provide plenty of comfort and cushioning, and are wrapped in a nice feeling faux leather. Both sides – driver and passenger – have electric adjust, and are heated. Awesome inclusions at this price for sure.

Since its initial release, technology has also gotten more polished. That has led to, for example, better Chinese – to – English translations in menu systems.

Zooming out a bit though, you do get two 10.25” displays, which certainly helps to make the car feel more than up-to-date. The infotainment display has wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, however wireless would have been appreciated. It makes the wireless charger rather redundant.

Although no ‘Turbodog’ navigation is in the Omoda 5 like its bigger brother, the Tiggo 7 Pro, your phone maps will probably do a better job at navigating you anyway.

The digital radio was a welcome – if not rather surprising – addition. It’s rare Chinese vehicles in Australia have DAB, but once you live with it, it can be hard to let go.

Up in front of the driver is the other display, which projects quite a lot of information and has three interestingly named themes – Classic, Fashion and Streamer. Even as a Gen Z person, it’s hard to relate to this naming convention, but hey – you do you, Chery.

Speaking of “hey Chery!”, the onboard voice control system works unbelievably well – almost too well if that were possible – and can change most functions within the car. It will even open the sunroof, and change the ambient colour… to whatever colour you ask it too. I’ve never experienced that deep of a training for one of these systems, so well done Chery on that.

Practicality is also plentiful in the Omoda 5. You get 2 cupholders in the centre, a large storage area under the centre console with a USB-A and USB-C port and a 12v socket.

The centre-armrest has plenty of space too, with an air-conditioning vent within it to keep drinks cool or warm depending on the thermostat. How often do you see that?

The glovebox is massive too, with big doorbins.

Even the steering wheel is a really nice faux leather with logically laid out buttons, including access to the ADAS systems like lance-centering. More on that later.

Also, the steering wheel is heated. Arguably the thing that blew my admittedly small mind most was the mirror in the sunvisor, which has a ring light that you can change the colour of between warm and white.

When the hell do you ever see that? Let alone sub-$100k?

Yeah, very impressed indeed.

What about back seats?

At 5’11” behind my driving position, I have enough leg-room, head-room and toe-room.

My biggest complaint is that my legs sit at a less than ideal angle, though I might just be nit-picking here.

Amenities are fine with two air vents, a single USB-A port, map pockets, large doorbins and a fold down centre armrest with two more cupholders.

How is boot space?

On paper, the boot space of the Chery Omoda 5 GT AWD sucks at just 300L.

However, each manufacturer measures boot space differently, and Chery - for whatever reason - limit their measure by only measuring to the cargo blind level.

In practice, boot space is rather plentiful even if it is 25L less volume than the non-AWD variants of the Omoda 5.

Of course you can drop the rear seats and get even more room.

Another shout out to the full-size spare wheel under the false floor, which is quite a rare feature these days.

What’s under the bonnet?

Powering the regular Chery Omoda 5 is a 1.5L turbo-petrol 4-cylinder engine, with 108kW of power and 210Nm of torque. Neither stat is impressive, but it does the job.

This powertrain is hooked up exclusively to the front wheels, and sends power through a CVT transmission.

Step up to the GT on test today, and you get a larger 1.6L turbo-petrol 4-cylinder engine with 137kW of power and 275Nm of torque. A rather significant bump.

Power is sent through to either the front-wheels only or to all-wheels if you step up to the GT AWD, and both come with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Fuel economy is also better for the 1.6L engine despite the increase in power and torque, which is rated at 6.8L/100km for the FWD or 7.4L/100km for the AWD. Over my week of testing, I saw figures at 7.2L/100km – which was really impressive considering my lead foot.

How does the Chery Omoda 5 GT drive?

Of course, the Omoda 5 GT is not perfect, and to expect it at this price with these features would be rather naïve.

Let’s get the bad out of the way, and that is the 7-speed dual clutch. Actually, this transmission would definitely be my first choice over the CVT the 1.5 comes with, but it still can suffer from dual-clutch quirks.

For instance, dual-clutches are loved for their moving performance – fast shifts, in particular. However, unless you spend lots of money and time on R&D, they can be fidgety at low speeds. It took Volkswagen the better part of a decade to hone in their now loved 7-speed dual clutch, however this Chery unit is not quite there.

At low speeds, it can be lurchy off the line and even roll back slightly when stopped on an angle. However, these issues are only really exacerbated by the stop/start system, which thankfully when turned off – stays off.

The benefit of that dual clutch though is that when moving, it is a fine, smooth unit.

Of course, combine that with the 1.6L turbo engine, and all of a sudden the Chery Omoda 5 is something of a warm hatch – accelerating surprisingly quickly, and with loads of grip thanks to the addition of the AWD.

Honestly, you don’t need the AWD unless you plan to do a lot of country driving or want the added confidence of grip it gives.

Arguably the most underrated change though is the move from a torsion beam suspension in the rear to a multi-link setup, which has revolutionised the driving experience.

The Chery Omoda 5 no longer feels so wafty, instead it strikes a good balance between comfort and some cornering ability.

Around town the Omoda 5 is easy to live with, in part thanks to the very light steering. Some might call it vague, but honestly I never found that to be the case.

Switch the Omoda 5 GT into sports mode, and the engine really perks up as does the transmission, leading to a nice and gentle shove into the comfy seats.

Steering also gets quite a lot heavier, though is still erring on the lighter end.

Frankly the thing that impressed me most was the fuel economy. In the 1.5T, I vividly remember seeing many around town trips averaging around 12L/100km.

For the GT, I would struggle to break 8.5L/100km around town. I don’t know what magic Chery engineers have worked, but to have a non-hybrid AWD achieve those numbers in inner-city driving is impressive to me.

Overall, the GT really fixed for me the biggest issue of the Omoda 5 before – the drive experience. I gave it a pass in our previous review because it was adequate.

Now, the Omoda 5 is actually good to drive – as long as you can live with the quirks of the dual clutch, which frankly, most people won’t even think about.

What is safety like for the Omoda 5 GT?

The Chery Omoda 5 is very safe, being awarded a 5-Star ANCAP safety rating under their rather strict 2023 testing protocols.

It comes with a comprehensive safety suite of passive and active safety, including:

• Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
• Driver Monitoring System (DMS)
• Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
• Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
• Lane Keep Assist (LKA)
• Land Centring (LCA)
• 360-degree camera

Although Chery have made a very safe product – clearly – some of the safety systems could still do with some better tuning.

The DMS – or Driver Monitoring System – often fails to properly read my eyes, leading to  constant and rather annoying ‘pay attention’ reminders. This can be turned off fairly easily, but has to be done so every drive.

The lane-centring in the Omoda 5 can also do with some better tuning, being a little overzealous to pull me either side of the lane rather than the centre.

To be fair, it has definitely gotten better than when the Chery Omoda 5 first launched, but more work could still be done.

How much does it cost to run?

The Chery Omoda 5 GT comes with a 7 year unlimited kilometre warranty.

Chery also offers a 7 year (or 105,000km) capped price servicing. Servicing intervals are 12 months or every 10,000kms, which is on the shorter end.

As of writing this review, Chery have not released the servicing costs of the Omoda 5 GT AWD. However, using the Tiggo 7 Pro 1.6T AWD as a basis, pricing should be:

• 'A' Service (15,000kms / 12 months): $280.00
• 'B' Service (30,000kms / 24 months): $280.00
• 'C' Service (45,000kms / 36 months): $280.00
• 'D' Service (60,000kms / 48 months): $280.00
• 'E' Service (75,000kms / 60 months): $280.00
• 'F' Service (90,000kms / 72 months): $367.94
• 'G' Service (105,000kms / 84 months): $287.84

Total Cost: $2,055.78

Should you buy a Chery Omoda 5 GT?

The Chery Omoda 5 GT, in my opinion, is a far superior product to even the 1.5T.

The engine and transmission – arguably the most important part of any ICE car – are just so much better, and when combined with the better suspension and larger brakes, the Omoda 5 no longer feels just ‘okay’ to drive.

The interior is really impressive considering the price, and the inclusions of standard kit are enough to wow almost anyone.

Assuming you can live with the quirks of the 7-speed Dual Clutch and active safety features, the Chery Omoda 5 GT is an easy recommendation for those looking for a city-friendly mid-sized SUV.

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