Tested: 2026 Denza Bao 5 – Full review, price & features
Given how well BYD’s big rival Chery has done in the UK lately with its ‘Temu Range Rover’ – the Jaecoo 7 – a cynic might well take one look at the Bao 5 and assume it’s more of the same. A ‘Shein Land Cruiser’, maybe. Well, assume again.
While it undoubtedly looks like a mix of Land Cruiser, G-Class, Defender and Grenadier all rolled into one, the Bao 5 isn’t short on substance to back up its visual attitude. It uses capability-enabling ladder-on-frame construction; can be had with active hydraulic suspension that gives it up to 310mm of ground clearance, and an approach angle of 39 degrees; and is powered by a twin-motor PHEV powertrain making a claimed 537bhp, and offering locking differentials front and rear, and even a ‘tank turn’ feature.
The car (which we’ve reported on before as the Fangchenbao Leopard 5, as it’s known in its domestic market; and also previously as the Denza B5, which it was planned to be called in Europe but, it transpires, can’t actually be for, ahem, legal reasons) is built on BYD’s DMO (Dual Mode Offroad) platform.
This exclusively powers plug-in hybrid offroaders, carrying one of BYD’s LFP-chemistry, ‘blade’-style battery packs within the separate chassis frame; in this case, with some 31.8kWh of total and usable capacity.
A 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine mounted longitudinally within the frame is the car’s primary power source, producing 148bhp at peak. But that’s teamed with a 268bhp electric drive motor for the front axle, and a 382bhp one at the rear; for peak ‘system’ power of 537bhp, and torque of 561lb ft.
The car uses double wishbone axles front and rear, and steel coil springs as suspension in entry-grade form; and has 220mm of ground clearance. Upper-grade ‘Ultimate’ trim adds BYD’s ‘DiSus-P’ active hydraulic suspension, however, which brings up to 140mm of ride-height adjustment (90mm up, 50mm down) – as well as adaptive damping, self-levelling, and independent wheel manipulation during extreme offroading.
The car has a 2.5-tonne towing capacity; electric-only range of 56 miles; and itself weighs either just under-, or just over three-tonnes, depending on equipment level. That last bit makes it heavier, even, than most of its competitors – although none of them have been electrified to the same extent.
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