Lepas L8 driven: is this £35k PHEV more than a posh Jaecoo?
Inside the Lepas leans heavily into Chery’s minimalist approach, with a large, portrait-oriented touchscreen, a small digital driver’s display and barely any physical switchgear for the secondary controls.
The 13.2in central touchscreen that swoops down into the centre console and bright speaker grilles all whiff of Mercedes-Benz, but it’s a nice enough place to sit, with faux-leather, soft-touch materials on the dashboard and plenty of storage – and the tan with black colour combination of our test car helps lift the atmosphere inside.
As we’ve seen previously from cars within Chery’s brand portfolio, the L8’s touchscreen is frustratingly unintuitive. Adjusting various functions requires a lot of menu hopping, which isn’t helped by the small icons.
Worse still, there’s currently no shortcut button to deactivate the ADAS – although Lepas promises this will be added to the touchscreen’s swipe-down menu in a future over-the-air software update.
The strip of physical buttons for the temperature and fan speed that sit below the touchscreen are a useful addition, mind you.
Rear passenger space is clearly something which Lepas was unwilling to compromise on when developing the L8. Leg room is more than generous, if not class-leading, and I liked being able to place my feet underneath the seat in front. The panoramic sunroof doesn’t encroach on head room either, and overall rear accommodation is more than roomy enough for taller adults.
Practicality remains high on the L8’s agenda, too. At 507 litres, the boot space outperforms PHEV rivals like the Tiguan (490 litres) and Toyota RAV4 (446 litres). Underfloor storage means it’s easy to hide the charging cable, too.
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