I have reviewed 9 EVs in 2025, my first year of driving EVs, of which 6 were South Korean. The Geely EX5 is the third non-Korean EV that I am reviewing. I have reviewed two BYDs recently, the small Dolphin hatchback and ATTO 3 small SUV.
I picked up a media loan Geely EX5 on 19 December 2025 (odometer reading 4439 km) and returned it on 6 January 2026 (odometer reading 5056), over the 19 days I drove 617 kms, equal to about 12000 km annually, slightly higher than my typical annual mileage.
I am writing this review as a retired senior in my early 70s and have driven ICE cars for almost 50 years on 4 continents. Manual Ford Anglia and Renault 12 in East Africa, manual Honda Civic station wagon in North America, Volkswagen Polo in the Irish Republic and for over 30 years Fords, Holdens,Toyotas, Mitsubishis and Mazdas in Australia.
I have in 2025 been introduced to EVs by my son, who owns one, and am considering buying one after having reviewed so many.
So what am I looking for in a car? Reliability, comfort and value. I’ve had my Mazda 3 Maxx for 8 years and it hasn’t missed a beat, mechanically it has had no issues. It has been comfortable for us as a couple and the occasional passenger.
It has been very inexpensive to maintain, just the annual service at a very reasonable price at the Mazda dealer. To top it all, it has been very economical, with a 2 lt engine, I get 5 to 6 litres per 100 kms.
While I had the Geely EX5 on loan I charged using an 8 amp charging cable connected to a spare garage power point.
For this loan period I decided to drive the Geely like I would my own car. Shopping trips, medical visits, social visits to friends and family, and day trips during the Christmas New Year holiday period.
I did no work trips as you would expect of a retired senior, thus little or no driving during peak hours. I believe that this would represent a retired senior’s typical driving routine for this time of the year.
The first thing I noticed about the Geely EX5 was that there is no start button! The keyless entry starts the car when you push the button on the remote to open it! I haven’t experienced that with any of the others that I have driven, initially quite off putting.
The other quirk is that the turning signal lever is on the left of the steering column, it has not been configured for Australian conditions where it would normally be located on the right. I got used to these differences over the almost 3 weeks that I had the car.
The Geely has a premium look and feel inside and out. The seats are comfortable but the light colour upholstery may be prone to staining. The driver has good visibility, no blind spots that I noticed.
The car sports a very large 15.4 inch touchscreen and a 10.2 inch instrument panel including a heads up display. It has a large rotary dial located on the central console below the central touchscreen that the driver can easily locate without taking the eyes off the road, serving primarily as volume control for the excellent audio system. The car relies heavily on the touchscreen for most of the functions. I wonder how many seniors would like this tech intensive feature of the EX5.
The driver aids are well meant but overdone and need refinement. The bing bong sounds are really annoying and disconcerting. I experienced these especially with lane keeping and the speed limit, many times incorrectly going off!
I had to use the car’s maps for navigation as this car had not been updated to add Android Auto function yet. I was therefore unable to use the very handy Waze app.
I understand Android Auto is being rolled out to current Geely EX5 owners in batches right now in early 2026.
The car has a reasonable size boot but it is not the biggest in class and a boot cover is available as an accessory. While the EX5 is similar in overall size to the Kia EV5, the Korean EV is much more boxy in shape and therefore has substantially more boot space than the EX5.
Luggage can be stored by removing the cover of the underfloor area. There is no frunk and no spare wheel. However a “skinny” spare may be accommodated with some modification of the boot floor. It has a powered tailgate.
The front seats are power adjustable and the driver’s seat can be set for the differing needs of multiple drivers.
I found the suspension to be soft and on some Sydney roads the EX5 rolls especially at higher speeds and on uneven road surfaces.
To test the EVs energy use, I made three trips, the longest of which was to Bowral in the Southern Highlands and back, a total of 174 kms for the return trip. We did not use air-conditioning for the trip as it was one of the nicer summer days. The car was charged to 90% when we left home and was at 47% on return. Energy usage was 17.1 kWh on the journey to Bowral, as you climb about 650 metres, and 12.2 kWh for the return.
For the other two trips, one to Botany Bay and the other to Coledale north of Wollongong, the energy use was 12.5 kWh. On the whole, good efficiency for an electric mid size SUV.
Current driveaway price in Sydney is $48602 less $2,500 promotional deal. Geely has regularly offered different deals for the EX5 so if there isn’t one on when you test drive it, wait til the next month to see if a new deal emerges. The Geely EX5 is good value for money for a mid size SUV.
EDITORS VIEW
Almost 4000 Geely EX5’s were sold in Australia during 2025, about 800 vehicles less than it’s competitor the Kia EV5. Thus ranking the EX5 at 5th most popular EV model sold in Australia during the year which is an impressive feat for a car brand new to the country selling it’s first model.
These are 8 things I think potential buyers should know about the Geely EX5 based on my one week test driving around Sydney … starting with does it still sound like an ice cream truck at slow speeds?
I interview Australian Geely EX5 owner Scott and we discuss
- Being an early Adoptor using Vehicle to Home (V2H)
- Why he chose Sigenergy modular battery including Sigenegy Bi-Directional charger as opposed to competitor options
- Using Sigenergy V2H with his Geely EX5 electric car to cover the overnight baseload power demands of his home eg: Fridge and Wi-Fi system
- Why It’s sensible and best for the battery long term health to use an EV for V2H upto it’s advertised V2L output limit
- Why we both hope EV manufacturers make their terms of use, limits and guard rails for V2H/V2G clear soon in order to encourage more electric car sales
Geely Australia have answered my questions about whether their electric cars support V2X/V2G and if someone uses that feature will it impact their car warranty?
Many Australian electric car owners are excited about bi-directional chargers from Sigenergy, StarCharge, V2Grid Australia, Infypower but most EV brands that sell cars here won’t say if V2G/V2H use will reduce / remove the car warranty.
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