21/09/2025

theSunday Special XV ON SUNDAY SEPT 21, 2025

Value for money Sportier Chery O5 SUV offers better comfort with prices starting from RM116,800

CHERY has officially introduced the O5 to the Malaysian market, a rebranded version of the Omoda 5 face lift, with prices starting from RM116,800. The O5 comes in with a sharper look, courtesy of newly designed 18-inch alloy wheels that give the SUV a sportier stance and a pixel diamond grille. Underneath, Chery has swapped in a multi-link rear suspension, promising improved ride quality and better com fort – something that will be welcomed on Malaysia’s often challenging roads. Powering the O5 is a familiar 1.5-litre turbocharged engine that produces 156PS and 230Nm of torque. This is paired with a new 6 speed dual-clutch transmis sion. The combination is designed to deliver the right mix of performance and everyday usability, ensuring the SUV drives as confidently as it looks. Inside, the O5 aims to impress with a cabin that blends style and conven ience. Faux leather uphol stery is standard, with venti lated front seats to keep things cool in the heat. Taking centre stage is a massive 20.5-inch integrated dual-screen dis play, offering seamless wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. The 442L boot capacity ensures you THERE used to be a time where you would have to pay a lot of money to enjoy a high-performance car. About fifteen years ago, the Volkswagen Golf GTi, Honda Civic Type R (FD2R), Renault Megane RS and Peugeot 208 GTi were the most fun you could have in a car, and they were all priced upwards of RM220,000. Now though, you can have a car with acceleration to match or even beat supercars at under RM200,000. The BYD Seal Performance for example can accelerate from a standstill to 100kph in just 3.8 seconds, and it costs RM199,800. That is supercar ter ritory. Cars like the Porsche Carrera S and Mclaren 570S are among the supercars that have matching acceleration times. And those cost upwards of RM1 million. So, high performance cars have become more accessible to a lot more people. In fact, you don’t even need to spend RM200,000 to have neck snap ping acceleration. Some EV’s can race to 100kph in four to five seconds and cost about RM150,000 or less. While all this may be fun, I think they can also be extremely dangerous because high performance is now accessible to a lot more people. And that is not necessarily a good thing. With great power comes great respon

have plenty of room for all your belong ings. The cabin is further enhanced with a wireless charger, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a Sony premium audio system to keep entertainment lev els high on every journey. Safety and technology have also been given significant attention. The O5 is equipped with six airbags and a comprehen sive Adas Level 2 suite, covering

advanced driver assistance features for added peace of mind. On top of that, the SUV comes with a 540° camera system, providing drivers with an unmatched view of their sur roundings for

easier manoeuvring in tight spaces. The new Chery O5 will be offered in four colour options: Carbon Black, Phantom Grey, Khaki White, and Blood Stone Red. As part of the standard package, Chery provides a 7-year warranty coverage or up to 150,000km, along with 5 years of free service that covers labour costs only. This ensures peace of mind for long-term ownership. Roadside assistance is

also included, with 24/7 unlimited support avail able through the Chery Insurance Programme. This is designed to give drivers confidence on the road in case of emergen cies. For the launch package, additional benefits will be offered. These include 3 years of free all-inclusive serv

ice worth RM4,000, as well as 10 years of warranty coverage or up to 1,000,000km, valued at RM2,000. Furthermore, an attractive financing option will be available through Maybank, with monthly instalments starting at RM990. With its refreshed styling, upgraded suspension, and feature-packed inte rior, the Chery O5 presents itself as a strong contender in Malaysia’s com petitive SUV segment, offering a bal ance of technology, comfort, and value. Perhaps in future, car makers can add software packages to their cars. We already have over the air updates for most new EV’s. And onboard navi gation systems already know the speed limits of all public roads. So, if a driver is found to be speed ing recklessly on certain roads, prompts can be sent to the driver to slow down. And if the driver still does not abide by the caution, then a system shut down for a few hours or even a day can be initiated. This is not science fiction. It can be done. Almost all modern cars have driver monitoring systems and cars can be started up or shut down remotely. All it needs is political will to compel car manufacturers to start having these systems in place and we can have this idea up and running in less than six months. The big question though is this – will you buy a car that monitors your driv ing habits? If your answer is no, I have bad news for you. Your flashy new car which you worked so hard to make monthly pay ments for is already monitoring you. The authorities just need to figure out how to use it to their advantage. So, to answer the question of this article, yes fast cars are getting too cheap but driver training remains the same and that is extremely dangerous for all road users.

Are fast cars getting too accessible?

sibility, but let’s face it, we all like to have a little bit of fun every once in a while. Power was once limited to expensive supercars which meant very few could afford them. But now, power is more accessible and that means there are more high powered cars on our roads, and that in return means there are more of us that “like to have fun”.

Motorcyclists looking to merge into a lane will be caught off guard by a speed ing EV. So will other drivers who do not expect cars to close gaps very quickly. A lot of people are unfamil iar with how fast EV’s can accelerate and far less can fathom a 3.8 second accel eration time.

WRITTEN BY KESHY DHILLON

So, what can authorities do to man age the situation? We can’t expect car manufavturers to dial down the per formance of their cars. And neither can we expect car buy ers to shy away from them because they are inexperienced in handling high performance cars. New problems need new methodol ogy. The best way is to train and re train drivers and motorcyclists. The conversation about high perform ance and what it looks like on the road and what to expect should begin now. But retraining every single license holder is a huge ask. It may seem pos sible on paper (or on a screen), but the logistics will be a nightmare, not to mention the associated costs. One possible way is software pack ets in cars.

And that just increases the chances of something going wrong on public roads. According to the state government of Queensland, Australia, through a traffic advisory on its official website, a car travelling at 100kph needs about 98m to come to a standstill. And that is under ideal conditions where the road is dry, the tyres are good, and the driver is undistracted. Remember running the 100m in school during sports? Seemed like a long run, didn’t it? Well, that’s how far it will take a car to come to a stop at 100kph. Now, with more cars on the road able to reach that speed quicker than ever, it also catches other road users off guard.