The Leapmotor C10 impressed us when it launched here roughly a year ago - its combination of quality, restrained styling, and refined ride and handling made it stand out from the crowd of mid-size electric and PHEV SUVs, while its availability in both BEV and PHEV versions that were otherwise identical meant it offered choice to a wide range of buyers - and now there's even a ridiculously fast AWD performance version!
However, there was a glaring flaw in that package - or rather, a series of small glaring flaws that added up to a rather big one - and that was Leapmotors Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that were incredibly intrusive, persistent and utterly aggravating.
But if intrusive, persistent and utterly aggravating wasn't bad enough, they also could only be turned off when the vehicle was in park, with much scrolling through menus to achieve it.
However, the latest Over-the-Air (OTA) software update for the C10 contained a lot of changes to address these very complaints, including several refinements and new functionalities for the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems that have genuinely made it better. Quite significantly better.
The updates seem relatively minor, but the cumulative effect has been to massively improve the C10's driving experience. For example, drivers now have the ability to operate most ADAS switches in any gear, as opposed to having to be in park, which is a small change that makes a truly massive difference.
The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Centring Control (LCC) have been refined so that the C10 is significantly less intrusive and hyperactive, and the Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) system has also been enhanced to provide "better sensitivity and performance".
All of this basically means that the C10 is no longer tugging at the steering wheel, with improved responses and a more refined action when they do feel the need to intervene, but an even bigger improvement comes in the form of the actual alerts.
Leapmotor made changes were made to the warning systems, including the relocation of fault icons for Driver Drowsiness Alert (DDAW) and Attention Detection Warning (ADDW) to the cluster display, while the audio alerts have also been modified, being softened and having their durations shortened.
Leapmotor has also added a fantastic usability option that, quite frankly, all cars should have...
Which means that the C10 no longer shouts at you ceaselessly when you are driving, to the degree that the majority of the time, I probably wouldn't even bother turning them off because they are now so quiet and subtle. They bong and chime quietly and relatively infrequently, and crucially, they are not in your face (well, ears, I guess...); they don't mute the stereo and they don't go on incessantly - it's usually just a single, gentle, subdued tone.
However, if even that is too much for you, Leapmotor has also added a fantastic usability option that, quite frankly, all cars should have: the option to set a profile directly to a button on the steering wheel that you can set up however you like it, even to turn all of the assists and warnings off.
This, allied with the previously mentioned change where the assists can be altered in any gear, has made a massive difference, and you no longer need to go through a lengthy pre-flight check of individually adjusting the systems in park before you start driving. Now you simply push the button once to bring up your profile, then press it again to conform and your C10 is exactly how you like it.
While the changes to the ADAS systems have made simply massive improvements to the ser experience in the C10, it's still not perfect, with the adaptive cruise control still being, well, annoying.
While it's generally good in operation, it has a vastly irritating tendency to nibble away at the brakes and throttle at just around the 80 to 100km/h mark. This has the effect of making the C10 feel like it is being driven by someone who is always off and on the pedals, nervously fidgeting between throttle and brake to the point where you just want to scream at them to just stop it. But it's a computer, so it won't listen.
The latest OTA update for the C10 has utterly transformed it from an excellent SUV with interminable driver assists that made it frustrating and even aggravating to drive, into an excellent SUV that is excellent to drive as well.
It also has the weird habit that a lot of Chinese cars seem to have where it just doesn't cope well with corners and keeps slowing down to well below recommended corner speeds and will eventually end up creeping along at about 30 or 40km/h if you let it, or just give up and quit entirely.
Another annoyance is a new feature that was added to partially address Leapmotor's lack of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. An app called QDLink has been added that allows Android owners to mirror their phone on the car's infotainment screen - kind of like a scaled-back infotainment focussed version of Samsung's DeX desktop set up.
In theory this should be a good solution for Android users, but in practice it is a flaky, buggy nightmare that is difficult to initially set up and, during our time with it, barely ever actually works with a blank screen being the most common result.
It is frustrating and simply makes the lack of official Android Auto more apparent, particularly as the embedded navigation and Bluetooth audio streaming are both excellent anyway.
The navigation itself has also been upgraded, with the addition of an “avoid tolls” option, improved 3D route visibility, and clearer location names for addresses sent from mobile devices, while the overall user interface has been refined, expanding its voice recognition capabilities and introducing new commands. The dock bar also now includes passenger climate zone and mirror heating controls.
Leapmotor says its phone app has also been improved to include digital key sharing. The primary user can now share access to their vehicle granting Bluetooth key access on a temporary or permanent basis to other users with a registered Leapmotor account. This gives two users the ability to have access for entry, remote control features, vehicle positioning and energy consumption data.
Cruise control and streaming frustrations aside, the latest OTA update for the C10 has utterly transformed it from an excellent SUV with interminable driver assists that made it frustrating and even aggravating to drive, into an excellent SUV that is excellent to drive as well.
