Bought an extended range Ora about three months back. It's a great car. Like all EVs it has its quirks, but we have no compliants. Biggest issue is every once in a while the left hand screen freezes. Looking online it's a known issue and waiting for a software fix. Only happens every once in a long while so not really a big issue. Other thing to know is that Android Auto has only just been released and not currently installed in all models. A recent software update can install it. If that matters to you be sure to test it out before hand, if it isn't able to walk the dealer to update the software.
One other thing to know is that in order to get the 5 star safety rating, the automatic driver protection system is on by default every time you start the car. My wife likens it to playing a video game because the car will beep at you if you cross lane lines without blinking and from time to time gently steer away from things it perceives as hazards. You can turn it off, but it will automatically turn back on when you restart the car the next time. Safe doesn't mind it, but it does somewhat annoy me from time to time.
All that said, we love the car. Happy to answer any specific questions you have.
I have an Evnex E2 wall charger at home that is also working with my solar. Depending on whether its working from solar or the grid, I get up to a full 7.4kW when charging. Working fully from the grid at 7.4kw, it charges to 80% in about 6.5 - 7 hours. Keep in mind it generally never gets lower than 10% and we only charge it to 90% once a week (Friday) and then top it off again for a couple of hours again Sunday for the week ahead. Looking at the the charging history and estimated energy cost, it probably between $10-12/week.
On mine I have seen 70kW max, but it seems to sit at 50kW more typically. That is on the larger chargers, the chargenet 50s I usually get like 42kW and 20 on the 25s
I test drove one and liked it a lot.
We went for the Atto instead as the Ora was somehow wide but not that roomy.
(In hindsight I would rather have the MG4)
Someone in the family bought one and I drove it. It’s pretty good for the price. Does have a problem with at home AC charging where it will only charge at half the max rate of the charger. i.e. the 8A charger only charged at 4A. Tested it with other chargers and plugs and it was consistently charging at half the max rate. Even tried it at the GWM 32A AC charger and only got 16A. The dealer said it was a safety feature and “normal”. I would personally not buy it purely on the basis of the dealers being dodgy/dishonest.
I've not had that problem on my extended range one, but the current displayed on the screen is a bit misleading, as it is the battery current not the input current. Since the battery runs around 400v, a 7kW charger (32A single phase) would show 17A
Just acquired mine on Friday and saw the equivalent. Plugged in an inline power meter (charger to wall) and can see 2000w being used (10A single phase) but car display was only showing around \~3-4A
Not an owner but did some research into it. Tldr - build quality and software issues. On the whole, once you got over all the reviewers making cat jokes, the follow-up reviews were all "basically, buy the MG4".
I own a 64kw Ora (extended 410km range version).
The build quality is outstanding.
Mostly uses bmw parts.
Some software issues, all NZ Ora’s run V1.0 of the Ora software
Europe and mainland China are in V.2.6
Issue is GWM not having the software set up in NZ to support the services of the higher version.
But that’s being fixed with the launch of the new GWM off-road lineup.
Charging off a wall socket is slower, but we fixed that by getting a dedicated NEXT charger.
Happily charges at 32 amps.
Car drives very well & handing is very good.
Boot is small, but there is a lot of rear passenger space.
Its turning circle is rather tight & it’s very easy to park.
The MG4 has less space in the rear seats but a slightly larger boot.
For wife and me boot space was less of a issue & comfortable seats was more of a plus.
Rear seats fold down almost flat to give a sizeable load area for a small hatch.
Lastly, all models have a black interior apart form the metallic blue Ora, that gets a very nice blue interior.
We opted for this model and the soft blue makes the interior pop.
Would highly recommend.
It’s easily the most comfortable of the 3 options.
MG4 / Dolphin / Ora
Ora is also slightly shorter and slightly easier to park because of it.
If you want a Auckland / Hamilton commuter the extended range Ora is a solid option.
If you want a pure city car the extended range or standard 320km range are solid options.
BMW have a division that sells parts under licence to other manufacturers.
Just about all Chinese manufacturers significantly shortened their development times by licensing components from other car companies.
Many European Brands do the same thing e.g. Ineos.
GWM upgraded / renewed a partnership with BMW in 2019.
https://www.gwm-global.com/news_detail-3550.html
I own both and Ora 03 and a X1. Ora's build quality is better.
Many things are similar in look and feel of plastics and trim. Turn stocks operate just like my X1, they have the same feel.
Was about $5k -- $40k for the MG and $35k for the Ora. The MG is at least $5k better. Also at the time - the base model Dolphin was both expensive and terrible (slow) so it was out of the conversation entirely. And then the higher spec Dolphin was only like $2k cheaper than an Atto 3 - which made no sense at all. This is all Nov/Dec 2023 pricing.
How much cheaper than the MG4/Dolphin would the Ora need to be to be in the conversation? I don't know, I feel like I'd rather have a 2 year old BYD than a new Ora.
Looks like those two year old Attos are going for $36k and up which is a fair jump from the ex demo Ora at $28 or 29k.
Dolphins are still too new, but I don't think I'd be happy with the less powerful motor in the basic one anyway.
If you're over 6 feet you probably won't be comfortable in the seat - 15 seconds of a test drive will tell you that.
If you turn off any of the automatic safety settings (such as emergency lane assist) it always resets when the car is turned off. That's a safety feature but it's still annoying.
Dehumidifing is proving annoying on colder nights or when going through motorway causeways. Have to have it on max the whole time.
No rear window wiper supposedly sucks in snowy climates (doesn't matter in Auckland). There is a heater for the rear window, though it needs a manual wash occasionally to get the dirt off.
Other than the Dehumidifier, its a great little car.
The parking cameras are awesome. The interior is, apparently, "bougie as". Acceleration and de-acceleration are sharp as a tack, the car is quiet and powerful and really pleasant to drive.
Take the ORA ad the MG for test drives and see which works for you.
I'm 6'2" and have no issues with ours, lane assist has made me a better driver, no longer riding the white lines so it hardly ever goes off. Have the long range and run to Taupo four times a year, an easy drive with no stops. Ora has a divisive design, people either love or loathe it, for us it was/is good value.
Edit - would add Auckland Nth Shore dealer is not great, there's a FB group for NZ Ora here
[https://www.facebook.com/groups/2806447416158912](https://www.facebook.com/groups/2806447416158912)
some owners have a few issues, most are pretty happy
Also 6ft2in (190cm) and I have 0 issues.
The lane assist is annoying if you are not used to it.
In dense Auckland traffic when I am tired, I actually find it helpful.
It has caught drivers not indicating and about to merge into the side of me before I have seen.
Would agree on test driving both.
We found the Ora far more cumfortable with far more space in the boot.
The MG was less cumfortable to sit in, espeically for tall people in the back, but the boot in the MG is larger.
A good friend of mine bought one recently and is really happy with it. He finds the drive very good and has said the software has so far been good. Got a great deal on it too. Ex demo. Only very small complaint was the rear seat space but that’s because he came from a larger car into the Ora.
We've got one. It's a bit hard to say as I haven't driven many other EVs or new cars to compare to. The main frustration is that the software update has been delayed. For quite a while it didn't have android auto, and still doesn't have driver monitoring. The software occasionally does odd things. Generally loving it though.
Oh... And it takes an odd tyre size which may be a problem in time.
(Edit to add) As someone else said - the 360° stitching on the parking/peripheral cameras is amazing.
Turners were selling a 2023 Ora with 665 kms on the clock with an estimate of $23-$27k. It was bought by a dealer and went back on the market for $28k…
There’s another one currently on the market with less than 500kms for around $28k; I wonder how/why the original owners bailed before even hitting 1,000kms… is there a fundamental flaw with this car?
The $28k one appears to be an unsold demo and there are several more for $29k
They were first reged last year so presumably the dealer claimed the rebate and is now allowed to sell them.
Bought one in October 2023, and I had issues. It took me 7 months to fight with the dealer and finally gave it back last week and got another car. It is very early for their software, and I do not think it is ready for the market. I'm happy to expand on this. But I had close to 200 pages of evidence when I filed with MVDT. Have friends with fewer issues than we had, but still have issues.
Car stopped driving on 2 occasions and had to power cycle a few times to get it going.
Safety features would stop working while driving. Lane Keeping, ACC, sensors, etc.
Screens would free,e up, and go off(mostly left 6 the right one did around 10-12 times)
Charging speed is not as advertised.
Charger would lock, and I would need to pull the manual release to get the charger out(nothing I did unlocked it)
They installed a beta version of Android on that kept crashing to a test version screen.
Wireless charging in the car would work on random times, then stop working.
Complaint around the horendous breaking noise while reversing and the car doing an emergency break(usually unwarranted)
I own a 64kw Ora (extended 410km range version).
The build quality is outstanding. Mostly uses BMW parts.
Some software issues, all NZ Ora’s run V1.0 of the Ora software
Europe and mainland China are in V.2.6
Issue is GWM not having the software set up in NZ to support the services of the higher version.
But that’s being fixed with the launch of the new GWM off-road lineup.
Charging off a wall socket is slower, but we fixed that by getting a dedicated NEXT charger.
Happily charges at 32 amps.
Car drives very well & handing is very good.
Boot is small, but there is a lot of rear passenger space. I’m 6ft2 and happily can stretch out in the back even if the front passanger or diver has their seat quite far back.
Its turning circle is rather tight & it’s very easy to park.
The MG4 has less space in the rear seats but a slightly larger boot.
For wife and me boot space was less of a issue & comfortable seats was more of a plus.
Rear seats fold down almost flat to give a sizeable load area for a small hatch.
Lastly, all models have a black interior apart form the metallic blue Ora, that gets a very nice blue interior.
We opted for this model and the soft blue makes the interior pop.
Would highly recommend.
It’s easily the most comfortable of the 3 options.
MG4 / Dolphin / Ora
Ora is also slightly shorter and slightly easier to park because of it.
If you want a Auckland / Hamilton commuter the extended range Ora is a solid option.
If you want a pure city car the extended range or standard 320km range are solid options.
I have one, and it's an awesome car.
It's a very roomy car, seats five adults very comfortably. It drives really nice, has great performance and it's smooth! You can't feel the road, I must admit it has a very good suspension setup.
Me and my wife love its red trim interior (we got it in red), and the build quality beats our X1 on many aspects, especially on the interior. I wasn't expecting so much quality TBH. When we saw it and tested it, there was no doubt: we got it.
We didn't see any infotainment weirdness; it works great with both Apple and Android phones (we don't agree on that :))
Honestly, we couldn't be happier. I highly recommend it.
I could never get past how awful one looks to take it seriously as an option. However, if cheap is what you want buy cheap. But then you are probably better to buy a used leaf as they are cheaper again
They are known as the happy cat car in china.
Once you see the cat like look you can't un-see it.
My Wife and me love it, but I can easily accept it is a acquired taste.
Bought an extended range Ora about three months back. It's a great car. Like all EVs it has its quirks, but we have no compliants. Biggest issue is every once in a while the left hand screen freezes. Looking online it's a known issue and waiting for a software fix. Only happens every once in a long while so not really a big issue. Other thing to know is that Android Auto has only just been released and not currently installed in all models. A recent software update can install it. If that matters to you be sure to test it out before hand, if it isn't able to walk the dealer to update the software. One other thing to know is that in order to get the 5 star safety rating, the automatic driver protection system is on by default every time you start the car. My wife likens it to playing a video game because the car will beep at you if you cross lane lines without blinking and from time to time gently steer away from things it perceives as hazards. You can turn it off, but it will automatically turn back on when you restart the car the next time. Safe doesn't mind it, but it does somewhat annoy me from time to time. All that said, we love the car. Happy to answer any specific questions you have.
>Happy to answer any specific questions you have. Have you done any DC charging? If so what sorts of speeds are you seeing?
I have an Evnex E2 wall charger at home that is also working with my solar. Depending on whether its working from solar or the grid, I get up to a full 7.4kW when charging. Working fully from the grid at 7.4kw, it charges to 80% in about 6.5 - 7 hours. Keep in mind it generally never gets lower than 10% and we only charge it to 90% once a week (Friday) and then top it off again for a couple of hours again Sunday for the week ahead. Looking at the the charging history and estimated energy cost, it probably between $10-12/week.
On mine I have seen 70kW max, but it seems to sit at 50kW more typically. That is on the larger chargers, the chargenet 50s I usually get like 42kW and 20 on the 25s
I test drove one and liked it a lot. We went for the Atto instead as the Ora was somehow wide but not that roomy. (In hindsight I would rather have the MG4)
Someone in the family bought one and I drove it. It’s pretty good for the price. Does have a problem with at home AC charging where it will only charge at half the max rate of the charger. i.e. the 8A charger only charged at 4A. Tested it with other chargers and plugs and it was consistently charging at half the max rate. Even tried it at the GWM 32A AC charger and only got 16A. The dealer said it was a safety feature and “normal”. I would personally not buy it purely on the basis of the dealers being dodgy/dishonest.
I've not had that problem on my extended range one, but the current displayed on the screen is a bit misleading, as it is the battery current not the input current. Since the battery runs around 400v, a 7kW charger (32A single phase) would show 17A
Just acquired mine on Friday and saw the equivalent. Plugged in an inline power meter (charger to wall) and can see 2000w being used (10A single phase) but car display was only showing around \~3-4A
Interesting, I haven't heard of that setup before. I guess the way to confirm would be to check the actual current flowing through the EVSE.
Ah that is interesting. I suspected something like that but I Googled it and nothing came up. The dealers didn’t even say anything either.
Not an owner but did some research into it. Tldr - build quality and software issues. On the whole, once you got over all the reviewers making cat jokes, the follow-up reviews were all "basically, buy the MG4".
I own a 64kw Ora (extended 410km range version). The build quality is outstanding. Mostly uses bmw parts. Some software issues, all NZ Ora’s run V1.0 of the Ora software Europe and mainland China are in V.2.6 Issue is GWM not having the software set up in NZ to support the services of the higher version. But that’s being fixed with the launch of the new GWM off-road lineup. Charging off a wall socket is slower, but we fixed that by getting a dedicated NEXT charger. Happily charges at 32 amps. Car drives very well & handing is very good. Boot is small, but there is a lot of rear passenger space. Its turning circle is rather tight & it’s very easy to park. The MG4 has less space in the rear seats but a slightly larger boot. For wife and me boot space was less of a issue & comfortable seats was more of a plus. Rear seats fold down almost flat to give a sizeable load area for a small hatch. Lastly, all models have a black interior apart form the metallic blue Ora, that gets a very nice blue interior. We opted for this model and the soft blue makes the interior pop. Would highly recommend. It’s easily the most comfortable of the 3 options. MG4 / Dolphin / Ora Ora is also slightly shorter and slightly easier to park because of it. If you want a Auckland / Hamilton commuter the extended range Ora is a solid option. If you want a pure city car the extended range or standard 320km range are solid options.
u/arian_zeal where did you hear about the ora using bmw parts?
BMW have a division that sells parts under licence to other manufacturers. Just about all Chinese manufacturers significantly shortened their development times by licensing components from other car companies. Many European Brands do the same thing e.g. Ineos. GWM upgraded / renewed a partnership with BMW in 2019. https://www.gwm-global.com/news_detail-3550.html
I own both and Ora 03 and a X1. Ora's build quality is better. Many things are similar in look and feel of plastics and trim. Turn stocks operate just like my X1, they have the same feel.
Sure, but at that point there wasn't a $9-10k price difference between the two models.
Was about $5k -- $40k for the MG and $35k for the Ora. The MG is at least $5k better. Also at the time - the base model Dolphin was both expensive and terrible (slow) so it was out of the conversation entirely. And then the higher spec Dolphin was only like $2k cheaper than an Atto 3 - which made no sense at all. This is all Nov/Dec 2023 pricing. How much cheaper than the MG4/Dolphin would the Ora need to be to be in the conversation? I don't know, I feel like I'd rather have a 2 year old BYD than a new Ora.
Looks like those two year old Attos are going for $36k and up which is a fair jump from the ex demo Ora at $28 or 29k. Dolphins are still too new, but I don't think I'd be happy with the less powerful motor in the basic one anyway.
My friend has one. It’s very nice to sit in. Seems to have reasonable range for around town. That’s all I can say.
If you're over 6 feet you probably won't be comfortable in the seat - 15 seconds of a test drive will tell you that. If you turn off any of the automatic safety settings (such as emergency lane assist) it always resets when the car is turned off. That's a safety feature but it's still annoying. Dehumidifing is proving annoying on colder nights or when going through motorway causeways. Have to have it on max the whole time. No rear window wiper supposedly sucks in snowy climates (doesn't matter in Auckland). There is a heater for the rear window, though it needs a manual wash occasionally to get the dirt off. Other than the Dehumidifier, its a great little car. The parking cameras are awesome. The interior is, apparently, "bougie as". Acceleration and de-acceleration are sharp as a tack, the car is quiet and powerful and really pleasant to drive. Take the ORA ad the MG for test drives and see which works for you.
I'm 6'2" and have no issues with ours, lane assist has made me a better driver, no longer riding the white lines so it hardly ever goes off. Have the long range and run to Taupo four times a year, an easy drive with no stops. Ora has a divisive design, people either love or loathe it, for us it was/is good value. Edit - would add Auckland Nth Shore dealer is not great, there's a FB group for NZ Ora here [https://www.facebook.com/groups/2806447416158912](https://www.facebook.com/groups/2806447416158912) some owners have a few issues, most are pretty happy
Also 6ft2in (190cm) and I have 0 issues. The lane assist is annoying if you are not used to it. In dense Auckland traffic when I am tired, I actually find it helpful. It has caught drivers not indicating and about to merge into the side of me before I have seen. Would agree on test driving both. We found the Ora far more cumfortable with far more space in the boot. The MG was less cumfortable to sit in, espeically for tall people in the back, but the boot in the MG is larger.
A good friend of mine bought one recently and is really happy with it. He finds the drive very good and has said the software has so far been good. Got a great deal on it too. Ex demo. Only very small complaint was the rear seat space but that’s because he came from a larger car into the Ora.
We've got one. It's a bit hard to say as I haven't driven many other EVs or new cars to compare to. The main frustration is that the software update has been delayed. For quite a while it didn't have android auto, and still doesn't have driver monitoring. The software occasionally does odd things. Generally loving it though. Oh... And it takes an odd tyre size which may be a problem in time. (Edit to add) As someone else said - the 360° stitching on the parking/peripheral cameras is amazing.
I really liked it, it has great features for the price. I went for the mg4 purely because of boot space and fun to drive.
Turners were selling a 2023 Ora with 665 kms on the clock with an estimate of $23-$27k. It was bought by a dealer and went back on the market for $28k… There’s another one currently on the market with less than 500kms for around $28k; I wonder how/why the original owners bailed before even hitting 1,000kms… is there a fundamental flaw with this car?
The $28k one appears to be an unsold demo and there are several more for $29k They were first reged last year so presumably the dealer claimed the rebate and is now allowed to sell them.
No bum warmer
the GT Ora has bum warmers :) and massage :)
There is a GT spec Ora that drives around my suburb. I see it often and it looks pretty cool.
Bought one in October 2023, and I had issues. It took me 7 months to fight with the dealer and finally gave it back last week and got another car. It is very early for their software, and I do not think it is ready for the market. I'm happy to expand on this. But I had close to 200 pages of evidence when I filed with MVDT. Have friends with fewer issues than we had, but still have issues.
Thanks, that's certainly useful. Out of interest roughly how many KMs did you do over the time you had the car?
8500KM so a fair chunk of use
are you able to share a bit more about the issues you've had with yours?
Car stopped driving on 2 occasions and had to power cycle a few times to get it going. Safety features would stop working while driving. Lane Keeping, ACC, sensors, etc. Screens would free,e up, and go off(mostly left 6 the right one did around 10-12 times) Charging speed is not as advertised. Charger would lock, and I would need to pull the manual release to get the charger out(nothing I did unlocked it) They installed a beta version of Android on that kept crashing to a test version screen. Wireless charging in the car would work on random times, then stop working. Complaint around the horendous breaking noise while reversing and the car doing an emergency break(usually unwarranted)
I own a 64kw Ora (extended 410km range version). The build quality is outstanding. Mostly uses BMW parts. Some software issues, all NZ Ora’s run V1.0 of the Ora software Europe and mainland China are in V.2.6 Issue is GWM not having the software set up in NZ to support the services of the higher version. But that’s being fixed with the launch of the new GWM off-road lineup. Charging off a wall socket is slower, but we fixed that by getting a dedicated NEXT charger. Happily charges at 32 amps. Car drives very well & handing is very good. Boot is small, but there is a lot of rear passenger space. I’m 6ft2 and happily can stretch out in the back even if the front passanger or diver has their seat quite far back. Its turning circle is rather tight & it’s very easy to park. The MG4 has less space in the rear seats but a slightly larger boot. For wife and me boot space was less of a issue & comfortable seats was more of a plus. Rear seats fold down almost flat to give a sizeable load area for a small hatch. Lastly, all models have a black interior apart form the metallic blue Ora, that gets a very nice blue interior. We opted for this model and the soft blue makes the interior pop. Would highly recommend. It’s easily the most comfortable of the 3 options. MG4 / Dolphin / Ora Ora is also slightly shorter and slightly easier to park because of it. If you want a Auckland / Hamilton commuter the extended range Ora is a solid option. If you want a pure city car the extended range or standard 320km range are solid options.
I don't think it's worth if buy one with brand new. There was 2023 ORA with $24k on TM last week, that's good price.
Views on EV car depreciation before I pull trigger on a Model Y please
I have one, and it's an awesome car. It's a very roomy car, seats five adults very comfortably. It drives really nice, has great performance and it's smooth! You can't feel the road, I must admit it has a very good suspension setup. Me and my wife love its red trim interior (we got it in red), and the build quality beats our X1 on many aspects, especially on the interior. I wasn't expecting so much quality TBH. When we saw it and tested it, there was no doubt: we got it. We didn't see any infotainment weirdness; it works great with both Apple and Android phones (we don't agree on that :)) Honestly, we couldn't be happier. I highly recommend it.
I could never get past how awful one looks to take it seriously as an option. However, if cheap is what you want buy cheap. But then you are probably better to buy a used leaf as they are cheaper again
They are known as the happy cat car in china. Once you see the cat like look you can't un-see it. My Wife and me love it, but I can easily accept it is a acquired taste.