First drive: GWM ORA Funky Cat Review

Of all the weapons the increasingly potent Chinese car industry has in its armoury for breaking through in the European market, few would have credited ‘a sense of humour’ as among them. And yet here we are, Great Wall Motor’s electrified sub-brand ORA going all out for hearts and minds with a curious mix of retro styling and wacky branding that seems to have gone down a storm before the Funky Cat has even found its first customer.

Behind the novelty looks is a more conventional electric hatchback than you may first have credited, the Funky Cat landing smack in the middle of the competitive small EV market with a price and spec ready to hit the ground running.

Like the Honda E, the Funky Cat is bigger than it looks in the pictures and actually closer to a Nissan Leaf or even VW ID.3 in size, while also on the money in terms of on-road performance and range. While the price is still competitive it’s not quite the bargain the early hype suggested, meaning it has to work harder to convince than it might otherwise have had to.

At first glance the Funky Cat’s wide-eyed, innocent stare, curvy lines and retro cuteness have disarming appeal about them. Generously you’d say it riffs on modern Mini vibes, or perhaps a Chinese interpretation of the Japanese retro kitsch Nissan successfully traded on with cars like the Figaro and Pao a few years back. Lest we forget, though, that craze also gave us cars like the wacky Mk2 Jaguar inspired Mitsouka Viewt so be careful what you wish for there.

People seem to like it, though, and GWM Ora has been flooded with interest since the car was confirmed for European sale, even polling the 8,000 or so people signed up to the email database to vote on which colour combos they wanted to see made available for sale. These range from the more understated black and pastel green with monotone interior through to the two-tone green and red with colour-matched interiors.

Given electrification should in theory offer a clean-sheet opportunity to make cars look fresh and exciting it’s surprising how timid most of the industry has been taking that up – in this context the enthusiastic response for the Funky Cat shows buyers are more open to fresh ideas than many mainstream marques may have credited.

Crunching the numbers against obvious rivals the Funky Cat is there or thereabouts with a 171PS (126kW) motor driving the front wheels. Kerbweight, acceleration and top speed stats all closely align with the class averages. Same goes for the 48kWh battery pack, which is pretty much middle of the road and delivers an official range just shy of 200 miles. A bigger 63kWh battery option will join the range in due course.

There are no great surprises at the wheel, GWM’s relationship with BMW and a European R&D outpost in Munich clearly informing its Euro-friendly set-up. “Good enough” would seem damning with faint praise but, for an unknown quantity like ORA, that’s actually a strong result, the Funky Cat doing that electric thing of effortless acceleration combined with a favourable centre of gravity to help in the corners. Tyre noise does intrude on the sense of inner calm somewhat and mashing the throttle on a wet surface unleashes a surprising amount of wheelspin before the traction control wakes up, suggesting some rough edges remain.

Burying the regenerative braking modes within a fiddly touchscreen menu is also a pain for the more engaged EV driver looking to maximise efficiency – paddles or a simple ‘B’ mode on the gear selector would be a lot easier.

You can have your Funky Cat interior in plain black if you want but, for the full effect, the two-tone option feels core to the feelgood factor the car seems keen to inspire. And it’s carried off with some style, with faux-leather on the seats, quilted door cards and neatly stitched fabric on the dashtop all contriving a sense of quality.

Dig a little deeper and there’s a lot of hard, cream coloured plastic ‘below the fold’ but the overall impression is of decent quality and no nasty rattles or squeaks. While the long wheelbase, tall roof and flat floor free up plenty of interior space in the cabin a hint the style may come at the expense of substance comes with the curiously shaped rear end, and the small, trough-like luggage space within. It’s not quite as useless as a Honda E in this regard. But something less adventurous looking like a Corsa-e or Nissan Leaf will be much more useful.

With metallic paint the only cost option on the First Edition Funky Cat you’re certainly not left wanting for gadgets and gizmos, which helps offset that burlier than expected bottom-line price. For a breakthrough brand ORA is going all in with the kind of connected, app-supported ownership experience modern EV buyers expect and the Funky Cat clearly aims to operate like an extension of your smartphone. Well, so long as you don’t want to run CarPlay that is, this promised with an over-the-air update next year.

While there are a four tactile toggle switches to shortcut to heating and demisting controls most of the rest of your interaction comes through the pair of 10.25-inch screens, one for infotainment in the middle of the dash and the other your instruments behind the wheel. Pretty standard in this day and age, and the general slickness is evidence of how seriously Chinese brands – and their customers – take their tech. A pity the interactions are so fiddly, though, with tiny icons to hit with wandering fingers and a complex menu system that makes VW’s much-criticised ID family infotainment seem a bastion of UX integrity.

And while the full suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) helps ORA nail the five-star NCAP score it needs to look credible to European buyers their operation leaves much to be desired. Especially annoying was the ‘Emergency Steering Function’, the tweaks to the wheel from its constant ‘false positives’ irritating to the point of distraction. Which rather misses the point.

Those comfortable with facial recognition tech on their phones will probably be less squeamish about the same in their car, though driving round with a camera in your face scrutinising your every change of expression and nagging you to pull over if you so much as yawn at the wheel would have us breaking out the electrical tape to cover it over within the first few hours of ownership.

Where the Funky Cat’s quirky looks and sense of fun may have gifted it a pass at the price it was meant to sell at the fact it’s now no cheaper than proven alternatives like the e-208 or Leaf merit tougher scrutiny. Most of which it stands up to, on the basis it feels fundamentally decent even in comparison with the best established European and Japanese brands can currently offer in this space. No mean feat, and novelty alone will likely seal the deal for many buyers willing to take a punt on a previously unknown brand purely on the basis of cute styling.

The standard spec also looks like good value for money. While the UK importer is working fast to build a network of sales and service centres alongside direct online purchasing there is, however, a nagging worry the Funky Cat is being rushed to market with a few outstanding concerns, the poorly calibrated ADAS, the fiddly operating system and frustrations like an indicator stalk that refuses to self-cancel the kind of everyday annoyances that would linger long after the novelty of the looks had worn off. If GWM ORA can sort these niggles out before customer cars land it’s job done, and further evidence the Chinese car industry is to be taken seriously.