Test drive experience with EX30 Twin Motor Ultra

For context, I'm based in Germany.

Hi everyone, I had my test drive appointment recently and I'm coming out of it with mixed feelings. I'm not good at writing review, but just wanted to list out my notes:

  • Power is great, steering on hard is quite ok, quite a lot more nimble than my current XC40 T5 recharge
  • My biggest fear was that I will miss the cockpit display and while I read plenty of comments saying that you get used to it quickly, I was quite uneasy not having a display up front. Probably I could force myself to like it, but I am sad that there's not at least a HUD
  • Trunk is bigger than I thought, completely fine for one person/couple/one kid
  • Loved the design, looks stunning in person
  • I think they overdid it on the minimalism in the interior - subjective of course
  • Sound system was great, I'd say on par with the Harman Kardon I have in the XC40 but I'm no audiophile by any means
  • Backseat space is tight, no way around it, so I guess it depends how often and how far you're driving adults in the back. Kids will be fine
  • There was no Carplay, but I think it's coming with an update

Overall quite a good car, but my biggest gripe with it, and I haven't seen too many people talking about it so it might just be me, is that the turning indicator stalk doesn't stop up or down when it's engaged!!! It's basically like a lever that always goes back in the middle position, which left me having to double check several times if the blinkers are on. And of course, since you don't have a display in front, you have to look to your right - really annoyed me. This was the dealbreaker for me.

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I went on a test drive of it's sister car afterwards - Smart #3, and while the interior might not be for everyone (it's very Mercedes-ish, lights up like a Christmas tree), I found that they had fixed basically all of the annoyances I had with the EX30. So if I end up getting a Geely car, it will probably be the Smart - the Brabus version is even cheaper than the EX30 Twin.

Let me know if you have any questions - happy to answer :)