Which of these hybrid SUVs is best – the familiar Kia Sportage or the upstart Lepas L8?

Chances are you’re familiar by now with the Jaecoo 7, the Omoda 7 or the Chery Tiggo 8 – but these vehicles have another new sibling, from a new brand in the UK. Lepas is the latest Chery Group company to sell cars in the UK, and it’s starting with this – the L8 SUV.

Lepas is a portmanteau of ‘leopard’ and ‘passion’ (duh?) and it wants to be the ‘affordable premium’ option – not as rugged or as techy as Jaecoo or Omoda, and not as value-driven as Chery. You should buy a Lepas if you have champagne tastes but lemonade money, they reckon.

Does that claim hold up? Well, to see what this posh-looking SUV has to offer, I’m testing it against one of the class standards – the Kia Sportage. With its roomy interior, straightforward tech and long warranty, it’s no surprise it’s one of the most popular SUVs in the UK. I’ve spent a week with both cars so I can compare their practicality, interiors, tech, and what they’re like to drive – and then tell you, hopefully definitively, which one’s the best buy.

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First of all – here are the stats for our two contenders:

The Lepas makes an extremely good first impression with its styling. Okay, so the wheels look a little bit too narrow for the bodywork – like it’s wearing shoes that are too tight – but the big, glitzy grille, handsome alloy wheels and smooth curves all look pretty smart and European. Our car’s in a particularly fetching shade of ‘Mystic Purple’, too.

The Sportage doesn’t deliver quite such an appeal in our test car’s ‘Dark Penta Metal’ hue, but it’s still a great-looking car. The upright grille and sharp headlights look really smart, and its square dimensions make it look a bit more rugged than the Lepas.

Inside, the Lepas starts to move ahead. Sat behind the wheel, you’d be hard pressed to tell this is a car costing less than £40,000. All the materials within reach feel really posh and plush, and the large central touchscreen is bright, clear and responsive. The Kia is a bit less plush, with harder plastics and some blank switches.

In terms of practicality, the Kia has a larger boot – 570 litres versus the L8’s 507 – but the Chinese car has the Sportage absolutely licked for rear legroom; it’s unbelievably spacious in the rear. I’m 6’2, and while I can just about squeeze in behind my driving position in the Sportage, in the Lepas L8 I’ve room to stretch out. It’s seriously impressive.

But what are they like to drive? Well, the two cars we have here are a bit different, because the Kia is a self-charging hybrid while the Lepas is a plug-in hybrid. The Sportage is a known quantity here, as it’s pretty smooth and predictable, feels solid and corners well – but it’s a little firm over bumps in town, and the engine’s quite noisy.

The Lepas L8 is also quite firm at low speeds, but like the Kia it settles down on the motorway to make long distances very comfortable. The benefit of the plug-in hybrid system is that it’s ‘electric-first’ – the engine rarely drives the wheels directly, instead just acting as a generator to top the battery up.

That means it doesn’t really need to rev that high, so it’s very quiet as a result – and the electric motor means smooth, seamless acceleration. The Kia’s hybrid system is quite busy and noisy by comparison.

But there’s one massive caveat to driving the Lepas, and that’s the technology. To put it simply, the driver assistance systems are absolutely infuriating, particularly the lane-keeping assist which truly cannot be turned fully off. It’s far too sensitive on anything but a wide-open motorway, and on rural roads it’s downright dangerous, sometimes steering you into the path of oncoming traffic.

The Kia’s system isn’t perfect – it takes far too many button-presses to turn it off – but it does at least stay off. That gains it some much-needed points.

Kia Sportage vs Lepas L8: verdict

There’s loads to like about the Lepas L8. It’s not exciting to drive, but it’s really plush inside, comes with a ton of equipment and is stupendously roomy in the back seats. It’s also amazing value when you buy through Carwow, with a huge discount on top of the already-low starting price.

It actually makes the Sportage look cramped, poorly-equipped and expensive. Yet the Sportage does hit back, with a more straightforward infotainment system, more solid interior, and the reassurance of a brand that’s been doing business in the UK very reliably for decades.

The fact is that, until Lepas updates its lane-keeping system, it’s very difficult to recommend the L8 for anyone who even occasionally ventures onto a country road. So the win here goes to the car that’s more expensive, less spacious, has less standard equipment, and drinks more fuel.

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