Leapmotor T03 Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

If you're looking to buy a brand-new cheap electric car that's likely to be your first introduction in to EV ownership, then the Leapmotor T03 is certainly worth considering. As a package, it edges out the Dacia Spring and promises to be an affordable city car to run if that's what you're looking for. 

If it's going to be your only car, it might be a compromise too far - the range is limiting, while there's not much boot space to er, boot. That's when you might want to look at something like a used Vauxhall Corsa Electric for sale - you won't have to search to long to find a pre-registered model with under 100 miles covered for the same money as a Leapmotor T03. For that you get a much more rounded and resolved car with a better range. 

That's a pretty simple one - there's only one trim and battery model available, so that's all you've got to choose from. Currently priced at £15,995, the Leapmotor T03 is bundled with a decent amount of equipment, though no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity feels like a misstep. 

The closest rival to the Leapmotor T03 is the Dacia Spring, with prices starting at £14,995 for the base model and a 45PS motor, rising to £16,995 for the top-spec model. You might be tempted by the more established brand of Dacia, but on paper at least, the T03 looks like the better value.

Other than that, your choices are pretty limited if you're looking for a new small electric car easily under £20,000. There's the Hyundai Inster with its similar dinky proportions, but you'll have to find another £7,000 or so. We're big fans of the new Fiat Grande Panda as well, but again you'll be looking at paying just over £20,000 for one new. There's also the stylish Renault 5, but prices start at just over £22,000. 

If you're not set on buying new, then there are some great EV used buys to be had at the moment. As we've touched on, you should take a look at the Vauxhall Corsa Electric, as well as the closely related Peugeot e-208. 

If you're in the market for a compact city car and you're not fussed if its an EV or petrol, then you should consider something like the excellent Kia Picanto. With its sharp looks, economical engines and 7-year warranty, it's hard to fault for it's £14,595 starting price. 

Along with an 8-inch digital instrument display the Leapmotor T03 is equipped with a 10.1-inch touchscreen, and with no physical buttons elsewhere in the cabin, this is your gateway to every feature and setting of the T03. 

It's not the most intuitive system to use and we'd also like to see a display with a better resolution if we're honest. The design of the icons is a touch on the small side, and it could be a bit more responsive in use - we found we had to give things a firm prod to get a response. 

There's a built-in sat nav that looks like it's been inspired by Google Maps, but it's no-where near as sophisticated and that's a bit of a kicker as the T03 doesn't support Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. You've got Bluetooth connectivity, but we found that connection dropped out a couple of times when we tested it, which leaves you with the delights of an FM radio - there's no DAB radio here.  

If you're expecting the Leapmotor T03 to feel a bit cheap and tinny, you'd be wrong. The doors shut with a nice thud - certainly better than the clang you get when you shut a door on a Spring, while the interior is pretty good overall all as well. The steering wheel is clad in leather - nicer than the van-like plastic steering wheel on the Spring, while the door handles are finished in chrome. As with most small cars though you will find a quite a bit of scratchy, hard-wearing plastics used round the cabin.

With only a 210-litre boot capacity, don't expect to have loads of luggage space in the T03, while it's just under 100 litres less than the boot space offered by the Dacia Spring. The Spring also enjoys a handy 35-litre storage compartment at the front as well, though the rear seats in the Leapmotor T03 do collapse down easily enough if you need more space. Actually getting into the boot is a faff though - with no physical button to release the boot lid, you'll need to rely on the touchscreen control and give it a good jab to trigger the catch. 

While you couldn't quite call the Leapmotor T03 a Tardis, there's actually a decent amount of room inside. Compared to a Dacia Spring you might not notice too much difference up front, but taller occupants will be that bit more comfortable in the back - there's a surprising amount of space on offer for a supermini. 

Storage is fine - you'll find a cupholder and somewhere to stuff your phone in the centre console, while the door pockets should have space for a bottle or large packet of Haribo, while there's a second cupholder for rear passengers to share. 

As you'd expert for an EV, the Leapmotor T03 is pretty refined on the road when zipping round town, and not too bad when you venture onto a B or A-road, with only a bit of window noise noticeable in the cabin. What you can't ignore though are the highly irritating safety warnings that constantly fire off around you, but more on that further down the review. 

Deciding what battery to plump for will be nice and easy as there's only one with a capacity of 37.3kWh - quite a bit bigger than the 26.8kWh battery in the Dacia Spring.

Unlike the Dacia Spring, you don't get a choice of motor outputs though - there's just a single offering with with 95PS - just over double the power of the entry-level 'Electric 45' motor in the Spring and some 30PS more than the more powerful 'Electric 65'. 

The Leapmotor T03 will deliver a claimed range of up to 165 miles on a full charge - that's 25 miles more than the Dacia Spring. 

We'll need to test the T03 for a longer period, but as the 165 mile figure has been calculated under test conditions, you can expect real-world range to be less than that. 

If you're going to be using it for trundling round town, doing the school or using to get to the station and back, then it'll be fine if you're charging from home or at work, but you might want to consider something else if you're going to be regularly traveling further afield. 

The Leapmotor T03 is still to be tested by Euro NCAP, so it hasn't got a safety score just yet. Leapmotor is pretty confident though that the T03's body-cage structure will keep occupants safe in a crash, though we'll have to wait and see how it officially performs once its been tested. 

As well the the structural design of the T03, this small little electric car is also equipped with three cameras, wave radars and three ultrasonic radars to provide up to 10 ADAS (Advanced Drive Assistance Systems) functions that pricier cars don't even get as standard. This means you get Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Assistance and Adaptive Cruise Control bundled in the T03, while there's also a Forward Collision Warning, Automatic Emergency Brake, Intelligent Speed Assistance, Driver Drowsiness Warning and Blind Spot Detection. Finally, there's a Door Opening Warning which will alert you to any traffic when you're back to get out of the T03.  

All this is great to see on a sub-£16,000 car, but what you won't appreciate is the amount of dings, bongs, beeps and nudges from the steering wheel that constantly greet you at every turn. It's an incredibly over-zealous system that needs tempering for British roads, which hopefully can be achieved via over-the-air updates. It's not the most straightforward to deactivate either - you'll find yourself wrestling with the touchscreen menu to stop the incessant warnings, which requires you to come to a stop first. 

This is Leapmotor's first stab at the UK car market, so it's hard to say how reliable the T03 is going to be. There are a couple of things going for the T03 though - as it's an EV there are fewer moving parts than a petrol or diesel car, meaning less things to go wrong or wear through use. 

Unlike a lot of other Chinese entrants to the UK, the joint-venture with Stellantis means that there are 44 UK retailers dotted round the country if things do go wrong, while the T03 is backed by a four-year/60,000 mile warranty - one year more than the rest of Europe. It's a year more than what's standard on the Dacia Spring, though that's not including the Dacia Zen program (get your Spring serviced at regular intervals at a Dacia dealer and you benefit from seven years/75,000 miles of cover).

At the time of writing, insurance groups are yet to be revealed for the Leapmotor T03. While EVs can be a little more to insure than petrol rivals, the low price of the T03 should mean that insurance won't break the bank. For comparison, a Dacia Spring sits in groups 24 and 25. 

Buy a Leapmotor T03 from April 2025 and you'll be liable for the flat rate of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) tax as EVs fall into line with petrol and diesel cars. 

One price means there's a single trim on offer, and while there are some curious omissions, the Leapmotor T03 is pretty well spec'd overall. 

This sees the T03 come with 15-inch alloy wheels, rear parking sensors and rear camera, a 10.1-inch touchscreen, 8-inch digital dash, a panoramic roof, automatic air conditioning, electric windows and some LED lights. You won't find Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity, and we couldn't find any access to a DAB radio, so you'll have to rely on the FM radio or stream stuff from your smartphone via the T03's Bluetooth connectivity.