Geely EX5 Buyer’s Guide: 475km for $41,990, and What You Give Up

A Tesla Model Y RWD is $58,900 before on-road costs and claims 466km of range. A Geely EX5 Complete is $41,990 and claims 475km. That $16,910 gap goes a long way to explaining why the EX5 was Australia’s eighth best-selling new vehicle in August, according to VFACTS.

We haven’t driven the EX5, so this isn’t a review. It’s the sums an owner will care about (range per dollar, charging time, seven years of costs) alongside what the people who have driven it found.

What road testers found

Three sources are worth your time.

CarExpert’s test of the Inspire called it sensational value, with solid build and a roomy cabin. The complaints: a soft, bouncy ride, uninvolving steering, a speed-sign reader that gets it wrong and chimes about it, rear cross-traffic braking that cut in unexpectedly, and headlight controls buried in the touchscreen. It measured 15.6kWh/100km.

CarsGuide ran an earlier Inspire for three months and 5,559km without a fault. Its verdict was that the car is about one major software update away from very good, and it scored it 7.4 out of 10.

Owner feedback is thin. ProductReview has only four reviews and they’re unhappy ones, covering driver-aid behaviour, a roughly three-month parts wait after a crash, and trim defects. Four reviews isn’t a trend. It’s still worth asking a dealer about parts supply.

One fix has already landed. EV Central reported a software update that adds a one-touch profile to switch off the lane-keep, fatigue and speed alerts, which otherwise come back on every time you start the car. The same over-the-air route brought wireless Apple CarPlay in August 2025 and Android Auto in February 2026.

Range for your dollar

Divide list price by claimed range and the EX5 Complete costs about $88 for every kilometre. Nothing else here gets close.

Two things have moved since the EX5 launched. Zeekr’s updated 7X, announced in November, lifts the Long Range to 627km for the same $63,900, so it now ties the EX5 Inspire at $102 per kilometre. And BYD’s new Atto 3 Evo Dynamic matches the EX5 Complete’s $41,990 price but claims 420km, 55km less. Step up to the $46,990 Evo Premium and BYD claims 510km.

Claimed range is one thing. CarExpert’s 15.6kWh/100km works out to roughly 438km from the 68.39kWh battery in mixed driving. On the freeway, expect less. CarsGuide’s long-termer, which had the older, smaller battery, managed about 88 per cent of its claim at highway speeds.

Charging: fine at home, slow on the road

Geely claims 30 to 80 per cent in about 20 minutes on a DC fast charger, from a 100kW peak. CarsGuide saw 80kW at best. Either way it’s the number that dates the car, because the 7X will take up to 420kW.

At home the peak matters much less.

If you’re in New South Wales, South Australia or south-east Queensland, the Solar Sharer scheme gives eligible households a free midday power window. You need a smart meter and you have to opt in. A 7kW charger running through three free hours adds about 21kWh, or roughly 130km of range.

The cabin, and that screen

Both grades get a 15.4-inch touchscreen and a 10.2-inch driver display. The Inspire adds a 13.4-inch head-up display, a 16-speaker stereo and front seats with massage, ventilation and a leg rest.

Nearly everything runs through the big screen. That’s the trap the rest of the industry is now climbing out of, as we covered in why physical buttons are returning.

Space is the strong suit. The EX5 is 4,615mm long on a 2,750mm wheelbase, with a flat rear floor. The boot is 302 litres with the seats up, or 410 if you count the underfloor well, and 1,877 with them folded. That seats-up figure is small for the class, so take the pram to the dealership.

Seven years of costs

• Warranty: seven years, unlimited kilometres for private buyers, with eight years on the battery. Commercial use is capped at 150,000km.
• Servicing: every 12 months or 20,000km, capped at $2,052 over seven years. That’s about $293 a year.
• Safety: five stars from ANCAP on 2025 testing, seven airbags.
• Towing: none. The current car isn’t rated to tow anything. A 750kg-rated variant has appeared in government approval data reported by Zecar but isn’t on sale.

Resale is the unknown. Geely is new here and EV depreciation has been rough on early buyers of most brands. If you swap cars every three years, factor that in. If you keep them for ten, it matters a lot less.

EX5 or Zeekr 7X?

Geely owns Zeekr, so this is the comparison that shows what the extra money buys. The 7X Long Range is $21,910 more than an EX5 Complete. On the updated 2027 figures, that gets you 152km more claimed range, 175kW more power, rear-wheel drive, a 2,000kg braked tow rating and charging more than four times as fast.

What it doesn’t get you is a longer warranty. The 7X is covered for five years. The EX5 also weighs several hundred kilos less, which is part of why it’s so efficient.

If you charge at home and never tow, it’s hard to make the case for spending the extra. If you tow or do big highway days, it’s easy. Our Zeekr 7X buyer’s guide has the detail.

Complete or Inspire?

The Complete. It has the longer range, the same motor, screen and warranty, and leaves $4,000 for a wallbox and installation. Buy the Inspire only if the head-up display, stereo and massage seats matter enough to give up 25km.

Who should look elsewhere

• Anyone who tows.
• Anyone who road-trips often and hates waiting at chargers.
• Anyone who wants buttons.
• Anyone bothered by a floaty ride. The alerts can be fixed with software. Suspension can’t, so drive it on a rough road first.

There’s also a waiting game. A heavily revised EX5 was revealed in China in September with rear-wheel drive and more power. Geely Australia hasn’t confirmed local timing, but it’s worth asking before you sign.

Cross-shopping BYD? Read our used BYD Atto 3 buying guide as well.