2025 DFSK E5 PHEV Review | A Plug-In Seven-Seater!
[Music] [Music] Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have been gaining traction in the country, and it’s easy to see why. You’ve got smooth power delivery, absolutely zero coding, and of course, stellar fuel efficiency. Now, one of the most popular plug-in hybrid electric vehicles we have in the country would be the Sea Lion 6. Not just because it’s a plug-in, but also because of the value proposition that it presents. Now, if that car has been on your radar, but you kind of kept it at bay because, well, you need more space. Well, ladies and gentlemen, DFSK might have the answer for you. This is the E5, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that seats 7 and starts at just 1,580,000 Philippine pesos. But today, we have the ultimate variant. And this still comes in at a very decent 1,880,000 Philippine pesos. So, let’s go around the car, take it out for a drive, and see what you get for that price. [Music] The E5 has a 1.5 L naturally aspirated engine that produces 81 horses and 135 N me of torque. But for the most part, that engine does the charging for the 17.52 kWh battery underneath, which is connected to an electric motor that produces 174 horses and 300 N meters of torque, which is quite healthy for a seven-seater crossover. Now, I’ll tell you how that feels later when we go out for a drive. Okay, now on to the exterior. The front clip lights up like my face anytime I hear a bottle of Class Aul opening because not only do you have projectors and DRLs that run the entire width of the car, but you’ve also got a logo that illuminates. On the side, you have 19s that don’t look as good as the front. It’s strange to me that it has plastic trim on the wheels. It is also wrapped in 23550s and it stands on 180 mm of ground clearance. One thing that sets PHEVs apart that you may not think about too much is that it has two gas caps. The first one will be for your 60 L gasoline tank. And on this side, you’ve got the charging port. Now, to the uninitiated, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle uses both electricity and gasoline to propel the vehicle. The big difference between this car and let’s say for example, your average hybrid is that this has enough batteries and juice to propel the vehicle on full EV by itself. And if it does so, well, in the case of this E5, it can go 87 km. So essentially, you could leave your house in Pac, go to your office in Makati, have dinner in BGC, and then head back home without ever touching the fuel inside this car. All on pure EV. See, it only ever turns the engine on when you run out of juice for the batteries. Which will bring me to my next point that in heavy heavy traffic inside the city and road conditions out on the highway were not so ideal. We were still able to get 22 km per liter inside this car which is telling you not so bad. The only annoying thing is to open this door and to open the other door on the other side is nowhere anywhere within reach. It’s actually on the screen inside the car. And that made Jack look like very silly person in front of the gasoline attendants. He was there for 5 minutes going bossy. The rear of the E5 is got well, it’s got sort of like a German vibe going on. NGL. What? Because it’s also got a slick light bar that goes across the entire body. W RZ. Shut up. When you open her up, Jack doesn’t like it when I speak his lingo. Um, there is most definitely enough space for overnight hand carry such as this. Two of them, no issues at all. Fold the third row and without disturbing the space of the hand carry luggage, you can pop in a pair of Bik Bayan boxes, which is really great. But then even better when you fold the second row cuz you can pop in yet another pair of Bikb Bayan boxes. So, space galore is yeah, you got it. Now, the rear seats, however, they can fit smaller adults like myself, they’re not really the place that you want to be because uh although the space is decent that the person in front of you who is on rails is kind of generous and the headroom is actually pretty good, again, small adult, there’s nothing back here. Apart from the two ball holders on either side, there are no charging points on either side and there are also no air vents. So, while this can carry seven passengers easily, I’d say that these two seats are really for short trips and enjoy the fact that you have this amount of space and that amount of cargo. That’s what I think that this is great for. It really is a just in case feature is what I feel like. Our Monontto is a seven-seater, right? But the third row, we use it like once in a blue moon really just in case as it is here. If you really need a third row with a lot more space, then might I suggest like um BYD’s EMAC 7. Although that is full electric, if you’re looking for something hybrid and I don’t know, you eat duck fat fries and scallops on a daily basis, you can go with the What was the car I was thinking of? Uh Carnival Hybrid. Carnival Hybrid. I was I I got stuck on thinking about the food. The second row is well pretty standard. Great leather seats. It’s a bench with a center armrest and two cup holders. In front are two air vents. Underneath that is a type A charging point and a cubby hole. Uh ball holders also on either side and a share of the panoramic roof with map lights on either side. What’s nice though is if you have a third passenger, there is no center tunnel. So space in the second row is quite great. And it’s also good because it’s on rails. So if you want to be generous with the people at back, so let’s say for example, my kids are back there. Like you guys need more room, you’re okay. You know, stuff like that. If it’s Earl, stop singing. He was singing from TPlex all the way up to Edza. True story. [Laughter] No way. I’m not joking. Oh my god. It was the front seats of the E5. Let’s start with what’s directly in front of me, the instrument cluster, which is a 7 in screen. Now, it’s great. It’s brilliant. It’s bright. It’s clear. My only gripe with it is that, well, the numbers are a little bit too small. Jack’s probably going to tell me that it’s because I’m blind. and I’m old and I’m blind. No, it’s just the numbers are kind of tiny. I kind of wish that they properly used the real estate of the screen. Over in the center, you have a 12.3 in touchscreen infotainment system that acts as your reverse camera and 360 as well that has wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And it’s pretty easy to use. Um the only thing though is that on this screen as I mentioned earlier is also where you find the releases of both the fuel door and the charging door. I wish I wish that there were physical buttons for that. There are however physical buttons for your air controls which Jack absolutely loves and I do too actually. The only thing though is that with the air there are no physical air controls for the cooled seats which these seats actually do have. that’s in the screen as well. But hey, at least there are controls right here. Beneath that, you have a door that reveals a space for a wireless charger, a 12volt socket, and a type A charging point. And then you have your digital shifter, your drive modes, your auto hold, uh your parking, more cup holders, and a center console here. That is actually a cool box as well. The my only problem with this particular area here that this is clearly uh uh fall wood because it’s printed. It’s not piano black which is great but the piano black man is on a hightouch area which is where you put your phone and obviously the electronic shifter steering wheel. You’ve got buttons on your left and on your right. Your right is obviously your audio controls for the infotainment and your left is cruise controls. You do have cruise controls. However, it isn’t adaptive cruise control, which is fine by me. It’s only Jack that’s really marte about that. Um, the seats, as I mentioned, are um they have uh they’re ventilated and they’re powered both front and passenger. It’s just that I found it’s a little bit odd to get into the proper driving position. It’s not taxing. It’s not that. It’s just I found that it it feels like it just feels like you’re a bit tilted forward inside this car. The steering wheel is telescopic, so getting into that position is great, but it’s easy rather, but you just kind of feel tilted. What I would want to do is bring it down a little bit lower and bring my tokus lower and then bring the support of my thighs up a little higher. So, I wanted to tilt like in this way, but it doesn’t it’s it’s quite flat, but it’s it’s not uncomfortable is what I’m saying. What is comfortable is how it drives, and that we’re going to talk about right now as we head on out. But before we do, as always, I’d ask you guys to please subscribe to our channel because we have good reason. This time it’s for Earl’s singing lessons. [Music] The first thing we noticed, where did that voice come from? Sorry, your throat. It’s because I’m sick. Anyway, the first thing that we noticed was power delivery. It’s very, very, very smooth because it’s electric and it is 300 Nmters of torque, but obviously it’s not as much as, let’s say, a diesel PPV. My Montero still has a lot, but the difference here is that it’s always available to you. It’s on tap and ready to go. And with all that power, it still manages to have a range of over 1,000 km. I don’t think a lot of people understand what exactly 1,000 km is. I mean, take your average PPV, an Everest, a Montero, a Fortuner. Those things can max it out at about 750, maybe 800 km when you’re strictly on the highway. This thing, gas, HEV,000 km. That’s pretty amazing. The steering is well, for me and Jack, it’s a little bit on the light side. Uh but then we came to realize that if you’re coming from an older PPV like let’s say for example an Innova or my Monontto or uh Jax Ad Resort, right? You’re used to a lot more feedback, a lot more communication from the road into the steering wheel to the driver. But here we’ve come to realize that a lot of people will be coming from those types of cars and then when they get in here the first thought will be like I like it. It’s light. It’s easy. Um, you’re not power steering at all. So, yeah, I guess Jack the suspension. Wow, that’s something else. It’s actually quite compliant in here. It’s comfortable and uh even when you’re going over rough patches of road and that’s just the two of us, me and Jack inside this car, it’s still very soft, very comfortable. What more if you add a lot more people inside this car? Yeah. Part of that comfortability also comes with how quiet the car is. Yes, granted it’s an electric vehicle, but the road noise and the wind noise is kept really at bay. We’re not traveling at speed right now. We’re doing all of 23 km/h cuz we’re kind of stuck in traffic. But when we’re on the highway and you’re traveling at 100 km/h, despite being on tires that, well, it’s not a brand that Jack, I or Earl are used to, it’s still quite quiet in here. It’s very good. The great thing about a PHEV is that however good a hybrid car is, the PHEV takes it a step further because uh you still have the the dependency on fuel uh when you need to on on long drives. You don’t have range anxiety, but it’s still electric. Um, the beauty about this particular car is that it answers the question that we had earlier that if you wanted a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid at that, but you needed more space, it seems like it can answer that call. Hello. Is it me you’re looking or or [Music] Admittedly, the DFSK E5 does have its drawbacks, but truth be told, not enough to keep anyone away. I mean, you are getting great value for this vehicle, which is a sevenseater. It’s a plug-in hybrid, and it comes in at under 1.9 million Philippine pesos. If the just in case two extra seats and or the extra space in the back is well worth it to you over a fiveseater crossover, then yeah, this just might be the answer. [Music]
The DFSK E5 comes into the Philippine market looking to take the fight to the leaders in the current EV landscape with an additional set of seats and then some. Check it out on this episode of Behind the Wheel and find out whether this Plug-In Hybrid crossover deserves your hard-earned Peso.
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