The ORA electric car brand owned by Great Wall Motors of China is being distributed in Ireland by IM Automotive Ltd who recently introduced the Funky Cat small car to our shores, writes Trish Whelan.
This little feline comes with a mix of retro and futuristic styling inside and out, some high end technology and a long list of standard spec. It competes with other small and equally cute electric cars such as the Honda-e and Fiat’s 500e. All ORA's current range have Cat in their name. Unlike the Chinese, I don’t like cats.
However, this supermini sized hatchback impressed me with a friendly appeal, lovely curves, small circular headlamps, strong build quality and well thought-out interior. My car was in the sea green colour with white roof and pillars.
The rear lights gave their own display when I turned the car on or off. Not to be outdone, the front lamps did their own workout, and actually winked at me.
The very roomy and equally colourful interior could hold its own against many way more expensive competitors. An opening panoramic sunroof was a bonus. It gathered compliments from all my friends.
The minimalist dash features two large 10.25-inch screens that merge together. On the central touchscreen, you access local radio stations by pressing on a small icon on the bottom of the screen while more prominent ones are for online options deezer.com, Reuters.com, and radioline.com. At launch, we were told that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be added in over-the-air software updates in coming months. Below the screen you’ll find Mini-like toggle switches for climate functions. To get to the temperature controls, you press small up and down icons. The low central console has many good storage areas, a wireless mobile phone charger, one small USB socket and two cupholders.
Seats are in lovely quilted leatherette. Front ones can be heated and ventilated. They also have a massage function and power seat adjustments but no lumbar supports. Rear passengers enjoy plenty of legroom but the floor here is quite high due to the batteries underneath. There’s just one small type USB port here.
Boot space is small at just 228 litres but this can be increased to 858 litres with the rear seats folded. There’s just an inflation tyre repair kit.
There's no Start/Stop button, you just put the car into Drive or Reverse and simply drive off. Before leaving, put the gear in Park, engage the parking lever and exit.
Two grades are offered, the 300 PRO with a 48kWh battery and a rated range of 310km, and the 400 PRO+ with a 63kWh battery and a rated range of 420km. When I got the car it registered 360km at full battery. Energy consumption on paper is around 16.7kWh. The electric motor produces 120hp and 0-100km/h takes 8.2 seconds. Annual road tax is €120 for both variants.
Features on my higher grade car included ‘Hello ORA’ voice recognition, a really good 360deg surround camera with HD quality, reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, good blindspot detection, Auto Park Assist, adaptive cruise control, rear traffic cross alert, auto air con, lane keeping assist and a facial recognition system.
The Funky Cat was awarded a maximum five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, meaning it comes with a full suite of driver assistance systems. I found some of its lane keeping tech to be an unwelcome intrusion, coming up very often as a visual alert on the driver’s screen advising that ‘the emergency steering system has been activated’ and nudging the steering wheel despite me driving perfectly in the centre of my lane. I had to go through the central console screen to turn it off.
There's a facial recognition camera on the A-pillar which among other things recognises you when you sit in the car and adjusts all settings to your favourite positions. But it also keeps an eye on how you are driving and lets you know audibly if your eye strays to the touchscreen or to a passing vehicle for more than a second or two. Every alert comes with annoying bleeps. I was continually told ‘Concentrate on your driving. Don’t get distracted’ while driving perfectly well. It all resulted in me shouting at the system many times during every drive. That’s no way to enjoy a car and is embarrassing when you have passengers onboard.
Apart from all that, I found the Cat to be a lovely car to drive, agile and comfortable and with good suspension, though most definitely not a hot hatch. Steering is on the light side. You can opt to use one-pedal driving mode which minimises use of the brake pedal.
The charging port is on the front left hand side of the car. AC charging using a 3-pin plug takes 3.2hrs from 15-80pc and 4.8hrs for the larger range model while DC charging from 20-80pc takes under 45 minutes for the 300 PRO and under 50 minutes for the top version.
ORA offers a 5-year unlimited-mileage vehicle warranty and 8-year battery warranty or 160,000kms.
300 PRO prices, after grants, start at €31,995: the 400 PRO+ from €39,995.
