The interior is a big selling point for the Deepal. It’s spacious, and the perceived material quality is good, with a smart blend of materials, a tactile steering wheel and a generally solid feel. There’s only one model available in the Deepal S07 range, and it gets everything you’d want including a huge panoramic glass roof, which obviously adds to the ambience. There’s no traditional driver’s readout, but a head-up display offers speed readout as well as augmented nav guidance.
The S07 will certainly give Tesla a run for its money when it comes to perceived interior finish, and it’ll bring Tesla to mind in terms of the dash layout and infotainment functionality, too. There are no buttons to be seen, but the big 15.6-inch portrait touchscreen can be set to swivel towards the driver or passenger if you want it to, which is a neat feature.
Within it, you’ll find the controls for the side mirrors, windscreen wipers and more, which is annoying, but at least a swipe-down shortcut menu allows quick control of many of the key features – including the speed limit warning and lane keep assist. Naturally, voice control is included, as are over-the-air software updates, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
As is often the case with Chinese cars, rear passenger space and comfort is a chief priority. There is tonnes of space in the back of the Deepal S07, and while the floor feels a touch higher than in equivalent piston-powered SUVs, it’s still a comfortable back seat. You even get your own control for the roof blind, as well as rear climate control and a centre armrest with cupholders and phone stand.
A 445-litre boot space is adequate, but a long way off the space you get in most of those rivals we’ve already mentioned. It’s a fairly shallow boot space, and the seats are short on versatility (they don’t slide, they only fold in a 60/40 split, and there’s no seven-seat option) but the squared-off boot space will be fine for a standard single buggy.
