Omoda 5 SHS-H (2026) Review

Introduction

Omoda’s introduction to the UK market hasn’t gone badly.

Along with sister company Jaecoo, both brands are owned by Chinese powerhouse Chery, which, despite being an unfamiliar name in the UK, has a proven track record back home.

In a short space of time, the trio of marques – all of whom market cars in the UK under their own badges – now boast more than 100 dealerships, with more to follow soon.

Omoda alone retailed around 20,000 examples of its new vehicles in 2025 – not bad, considering it only had one car on sale for much of the year, and its other offering targets a relatively niche market.

The large Omoda 9 will appeal to those looking for a cheaper alternative to the likes of a Volvo XC90, Range Rover, BMW X5 or Audi Q7– and it was only available for half of the year, while the middle sibling, the Omoda 7, is just arriving now.

So, all its success so far comes from the Omoda 5 (and the E5 electric version) – a smaller SUV crossover – which has gone down reasonably well.

However, not everyone was convinced. Despite many positives, including a posh-looking interior, a competitive price, and a highly generous standard equipment list, the Omoda 5 was criticised for its poor fuel consumption.

Its electric sibling, while often better received, suffered from slow maximum charging speeds.

But now the East Asian manufacturer is hoping its new ‘halfway house’ version – a self-charging hybrid called the SHS-H – will mean that the petrol and electric versions’ criticisms cancel each other out.

Do they in practice?

What are the Pros & Cons of Omoda 5 SHS-H?

Pros:

• Great value for money
• Generously equipped, even at entry-level
• Far superior fuel economy compared with the petrol model

Cons:

• Hybrid efficiency is beaten by some rivals
• Fairly mundane to drive
• Improved infotainment system is still fiddly

What are the first impressions of the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

The Omoda 5 certainly makes a lasting impression, with a bulbous front end dominated by a revised, mesh grille.

You also find thin headlights that, along with a strip, feature the Omoda name and separate the grille from the bonnet. A jagged arrow shape built into each side of the bodywork leaves space for a large light arrangement.

There is plenty of cladding, a rather large gap between the tyre and wheel arch, a sloping roofline, and indentations in the doors. The car also has a crease towards the back that creates shoulders that look 'plucked out' from the bodywork.

As a result, the rear is quite pointy in places, with the shoulders accommodating the taillights at the corners, and a bulge extending across the tailgate to house the lightbar. In terms of aesthetics, we suspect some will love it, and some will hate it.

What are the Omoda 5 SHS-H’s key features?

The Omoda 5 comes in two trim levels.

Entry-level Knight gets 18-inch alloy wheels, a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, a digital radio, voice control, and a 12.3-inch digital instrument display.

It also receives a rear-view camera, heated premium comfort front seats with a six-way electrically adjustable driver's seat, synthetic leather upholstery, and a wireless phone charger. Furthermore, the model houses ‘connected satellite navigation’ – but in practice, that means the car comes with no native SatNav and requires you to pair it with a smartphone and use one of its navigation apps.

Range-topping Noble gets an electric sunroof, a powered tailgate, roof rails, a six-way electrically adjustable front passenger seat, ventilated front seats (in addition to heating), and a heated steering wheel.

Also included are a front armrest with a storage cubby, acoustic glass to reduce exterior noise, a Sony premium audio system, a head-up display, multi-coloured ambient lighting, and a 360-degree surround-view camera.

In terms of power, while the turbocharged petrol Omoda 5 has a 1.6-litre engine producing 186PS, and the electric E5 generates 204PS from its motor, it’s the SHS-H we’ve got here which packs the bigger punch.

224PS is on tap from its 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol mill, which combines with dual electric motors. Omoda also claims the SHS-H’s engine is the most thermally efficient ever put in a production car and promises a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario: efficiency and performance.

What’s the performance and drive like with the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

Zero to 62mph takes 7.9 seconds in the SHS-H, which is more than adequate for a car like this.

It is certainly more bearable than the pure petrol version, which offers 38PS less poke and takes 10.1 seconds to reach 62mph. However, the fully electric E5 beats the SHS-H by 7.2 seconds, despite having 20PS less than our hybrid test car.

Unlike petrol, the SHS-H offers an instant boost from the electric motor, making it faster off the line at traffic lights. The speed is not quite as immediate when you put your foot down at a motorway entry slip road, for example, but it’s superior to the pure petrol version in every way and adds to the Omoda 5’s appeal.

Like the petrol model, the SHS-H can still sound a bit raucous at higher revs, but it's easier to live with at lower speeds than the petrol edition. It can pull away on its electric motors without engaging the engine, making for a smoother journey around town centres and in stop-start traffic, like the electric E5.

Granted, you won't get very far without the combustion lump (indeed, Omoda offers no official all-electric range figure), but at least it won’t be repeatedly turning the engine on and off as you inch forward in stop-start traffic during rush hour. This was a problem with the petrol version, which was previously criticised for its unresponsive, jerky automatic gearbox in such conditions, so the SHS-H feels much smoother as a result.

Among the updates to the car, Omoda has changed the suspension, which has gone from spongy to much firmer, minimising body lean around bends. However, it's moved too far the other way, leaving plenty of rivals with superior ride comfort. It is not bad, but it can feel bouncy at times, taking longer than some foes to settle back down again after travelling along a bumpy or uneven road surface.

The firmer suspension has improved handling, but it’s not helped by the steering, which still doesn’t weight up much around corners and provides little feedback through the wheel. Its lightness makes it easy to drive around the tighter turns of village streets, though.

One improvement we're pleased to see is that the ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) is no longer nearly as irritating as it used to be. Parent company Chery has listened to feedback that the ADAS is excessively intrusive across all its cars, including both Omodas and Jaecoos, and has worked to refine it. However, it's still arguably more sensitive than in many challengers.

Overall, this is not a driver’s car – it’s intended as a cruiser in which you can do long journeys without breaking a sweat, and while it’s keener around bends now, you couldn’t call it sporty. The Omoda 5 received a revamp, delivered in two stages: upgrades to the technical side in August 2025, focusing on enhancing the driving experience, followed by more visual and interior tweaks at the beginning of 2026. The improvements are worthy attempts, but aren’t transformational.

What are the running costs and emissions for the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

The Omoda 5 SHS-H returns 53.3mpg, emitting 120g/km of CO2, though quite a few contenders still best both figures.

We also found that any lack of low-speed driving will pull the miles-per-gallon figure down into the 40s, as lower speeds are when the car appears to rely less on the engine.

Still, it compares favourably with the petrol Omoda 5’s 31.4mpg, whose 170g/km CO2 emissions generate a £1,360 first-year road tax bill, while the SHS-H we’re driving costs less than a third of that: £440 for the first year. Of course, that’s still pricier than the electric E5. Its zero emissions mean the first year's road tax costs a mere £10.

The electric version is a no-brainer for company car users, though, as even the much-improved fuel consumption of our new self-charging hybrid test car won't place it in a favourable Benefit-in-Kind tax band. Fully electric cars or, at the very least, plug-in hybrids, will be far kinder to your wallet if your employer provides you with a vehicle.

Omoda says the SHS-H has a total range of 650 miles on a full tank, in part thanks to its ability to travel at low speeds on its 1.8kWh battery (which, while tiny compared with plug-in hybrids and EVs, is actually quite large for a self-charging hybrid).

What’s the interior and technology like with the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

The Omoda 5 SHS-H has an impressive-looking cabin, with a rather minimalist feel.

Enhancements include a revised steering wheel design and larger screens, now housed in a single, seamless dual-screen unit.

Despite the on-road performance, the wheel looks quite sporty, with a flat bottom and a double-spoke at the six o'clock position. The centre console is quite wide, too, with a lidded storage area and a covered wireless phone charger pad, while the rest of the dashboard is wrapped in shiny piano-black trim.

There is plenty of silver trim dotted about the place, too, as well as on the doors, the centre console buttons, the border around the steering wheel multifunction buttons, and a couple of other places.

Add that to the ambient lighting of our test car, and it really looks the part, though you won’t get ambient lighting in the entry-level model. The new 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen features a high-resolution, clear display with lots of modern graphics which look striking.

However, the system itself isn’t as good as it looks because, although it’s responsive to your inputs, some of the icons are inconveniently small, making them difficult to press on the move. In addition, the menu layout can be confusing – it isn’t intuitive to navigate, and the air conditioning is still controlled via the touchscreen.

Equivalent frustrations are found in the screen’s next-door neighbour – the 12.3-inch digital instrument display – which can offer rather too much information instead of just sticking the bare essentials in your face. 

We do, however, like our higher model’s head-up display. Overall, the choice of materials feels better than we expected, though the cabin isn’t devoid of thinner plastics. But everything looks and feels well fixed together, which at least proves that just because it's Chinese doesn't mean it must be cheap, even if the car's leasing price would have you believe otherwise.

Is the Omoda 5 SHS-H practical, and how big is the boot?

For drivers, six-way powered adjustment in the front seat (our top model also gets the same in the front passenger chair) makes finding a good driving position straightforward, though there isn't much travel in the seats.

The windscreen pillars aren’t thick and, although the driving position isn’t as lofty as in some SUVs, it’s sufficiently high up to give you a good view of the road ahead, as well as at T-junctions.

The rear is a different story, though, with an acutely angled rear windscreen, a sloping roofline, and thick rear pillars that heavily reduce your over-the-shoulder view, so the rear-view camera (surround-view in our Noble model) comes in handy.

Legroom in the front is civilised, but there’s only just enough headroom if you're tall. At the same time, the wide centre console helps keep the two front occupants nicely separated.

Alas, the sloped roofline limits rear headroom if you’re tall, while the high floor robs you of under-thigh support when sitting on the back seats. The legroom isn’t bad, though. The boot’s capacity is 430 litres – bigger than before – which is good, as the Omoda 5's old figure of 370 litres offered less room than a Volkswagen Golf.

Omoda doesn't provide a figure for the rear seats folded in a 60/40 configuration, but it was previously measured at 1,075 litres and will be similar now. There is no underfloor storage due to the hybrid system’s battery and electric components, which are stored beneath the floor, and there’s no ‘frunk’ either.

Cabin storage is okay, with a large cubby in the central armrest, an accommodating glovebox, and decent-sized door bins in the front, though those in the back doors are noticeably smaller.

How safe is the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

Euro NCAP hasn't specifically tested the Omoda 5 SHS-H, but the original petrol version was put through its paces in 2022, and this assessment will stand for the new model.

It earned a five-star rating, with strong scores of 87% for adults, 87% for children and 88% for safety assists. The latter figure is thanks to an impressive suite of over 20 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), including automatic emergency braking, blind-spot detection, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, as well as rear cross-traffic alert.

You also get front and rear collision warnings, cruise assist, speed limit assist, intelligent avoidance system, intelligent headlight control, lane assist, lane departure warning and prevention, emergency lane keep assist, and a driver monitoring system.

Front and rear parking sensors are stock, along with a rear-view camera, which is upgraded to a 360-degree surround-view camera in the Noble model.

Can I choose optional extras with the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

Not really, is the blunt answer.

Like many fledgling Chinese marques, Omoda throws the kitchen sink in as standard. You can, though, choose the body colour, as it’s available in white, grey, black, and bright red, with the higher Noble trim also available with a black roof. Silver (with a silver roof) is the default hue – all the others cost extra.

What are the rival cars to the Omoda 5 SHS-H?

There is no shortage of alternatives if you’re not sold on the Omoda. 

MG, which is also Chinese-owned, offers the ZS Hybrid+, and Dacia has the Duster and Bigster, the only three on our list that undercut the SHS-H. Alternatively, there’s the Hyundai Kona – the car that parent company Chery benchmarked the Omoda 5 SHS-H against during its development.

We also recommend the Kia Niro, Honda HR-V, Nissan Qashqai, and Toyota Yaris Cross. The Volkswagen T-Roc is also worth considering, though there's no equivalent full-hybrid model available. Omoda’s cousin is launching an SHS-H version of its Jaecoo 7 SUV – marginally bigger than the Omoda 5 we’re testing here, but more expensive.

What’s the final verdict on the 2026 Omoda 5 SHS-H?

The Omoda 5 is enriched by the new SHS-H offering, which brings noticeable improvements over earlier pre-hybrid models.

A smooth and reasonably well-refined hybrid system is a big plus. In contrast, the enhanced layout of the already-nice interior and overhauled driver assistance systems offer more convenience and less intrusiveness, respectively.

It is also excellently priced and comes with a generous equipment list, even at entry level. However, handling and ride comfort are bettered by some peers, so several competitors are nicer to drive, while offering superior practicality and more refinement – the Omoda’s cheapness does show in places.

And the SHS-H hybrid system only delivers on the promised fuel economy if you’re driving steadily, so rivals that already have excellent miles-per-gallon figures will be cheaper to run day-to-day. Our Noble trim offers some nice luxuries, but the entry-level Knight has everything you need, and we'd undoubtedly recommend the SHS-H over the petrol-only model. 

The SHS-H is the pick of the range, admittedly inferior to the E5, but the all-electric model jacks up the leasing price considerably. There are better alternatives out there, but if you’re not keen on an EV and want something pleasant and half-decent on a budget, the SHS-H certainly delivers.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Omoda 5 SHS-H

**Correct as of 09/04/2026. Based on 12 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 36 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 12 monthly payments, or £2,830.08 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.

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