2026 Denza B5 Owner Review2026 Denza B5 Leopard owner review

Have you experienced any reliability issues with your vehicle since you purchased it?

No.

Have you had to make any warranty claims?

No.

Has your vehicle been serviced at least once since you took ownership?

Yes. The 3500km Inspection Service, Oil & Filter, provided a loan car for the day, no cost. Booking was easy, but we did have to wait for service offerings to appear; our local Kew location did not have servicing up until early February.

Overall, are you satisfied with your ownership experience so far?

Yes. Ownership has been great, and the dealer has been excellent to work with, both before and after the sale. They’ve always been contactable.

We did have one issue where the colour code of our vehicle could not be identified by a well-established panel beater. It required manual colour matching, and even after contacting the dealer and Denza Australia, we had no success. The colour code on the vehicle sticker does not return a valid result in either PPG or BASF systems.

Eventually sorted it, but has been the only problem we've identified, and this was for a repair only on a two-week-old vehicle.

Christopher’s experience with the 2026 Denza B5 Leopard

The car is certainly underrated for an origin Chinese-made vehicle. Its physical presence, overall build quality and finish are well above what most people would expect for a Chinese vehicle.

There’s a clear sense of premium value once you are in it, driving, and when configured correctly – it performs 'really' well. It suits a wide range of owners, especially those who incorporate off-roading into their daily or weekend lifestyle, while still comfortably handling weekday commuting and general errands.

Running costs are a strong point. Charging at home overnight and using the vehicle daily helps keep operating costs low, without needing to worry about range for weekend trips. The fuel backup is also a practical addition, requiring only 91 RON, which is widely available. In terms of economy, if you must own a vehicle of this class that can go true offroad, this will probably come off best currently.

Overall, functionality has been solid. There have been a few very minor software bugs (random beeping after ADAS event) and some translation inconsistencies in the menus and screens, but these are relatively small issues and should improve over time with updates.

Many complain of the driver monitoring system, it is a bit over the top, but it can be turned off – we mainly do on long drives, but the fatigue monitoring does work well, better to be safe than... well, the alternative. It has worked to make me aware of such situations well.

There is currently a minor concern with the air conditioning (on my current vehicle), as it doesn’t always blow cold. This will be addressed with the dealer at the upcoming 15,000 km service (the vehicle is currently at 11,000 km).

Towing performance has been good, roughly in line with what you’d expect from a petrol vehicle. Interestingly, it feels noticeably more economical than the BYD Shark 6 in this area, but this is only from initial comparisons; more data is needed.

I would buy the vehicle again, though the GVM limitations are a consideration when it comes to towing or even fitting it out with a proper tour setup (draws, etc.). There’s also some uncertainty around aftermarket upgrade options and whether they will integrate properly with the DiSuS-P suspension system for increasing GVM/GCM time will tell.

One standout feature is the braking system. It’s excellent on the Leopard thanks to big brakes on the front. It’s clear that proper attention has been given here, which is reassuring given the weight of the vehicle and if you are also towing!

I think this is one of the first vehicles I've seen in the market from China that I would certainly buy again, even after my first 10,000km experience. I probably would even go on to say, +$5,000 is very reasonable for this vehicle once it's been here for the first 12 months and proven itself.

MORE: Explore the Denza B5 showroom