The Geely EX2 is one of the most convincing affordable EVs we've driven.

It isn't going to win any drag races and the 214-mile maximum range won't suit everybody, but that's missing the point.

For around £20,000, you're getting a spacious, comfortable and extremely well-equipped electric hatchback that feels far more substantial than its price suggests.

Great for: commuters, families, city drivers, second-car buyers and anyone who wants maximum value from an EV.

Less suited to: drivers regularly covering long motorway journeys or anyone expecting the instant acceleration normally associated with an electric car.

• Exceptional value for money
• Huge amount of passenger and storage space
• Comfortable ride and surprisingly composed handling
• Brilliant turning circle for urban driving
• V2L comes as standard
• Eight-year warranty

Our first drive of the EX2 took place in central London. Straight away, one thing stood out. This thing can turn. The turning circle is less than five metres, which means you can perform U-turns in places where most cars would already have you reaching for reverse.

In tight car parks, residential streets and city traffic, it makes the EX2 ridiculously easy to manoeuvre. But a few miles around London can only tell you so much.

The real test came later around Malmesbury in Wiltshire, where we could take the EX2 onto quicker roads, rougher surfaces and twisting country lanes. And this is where it surprised us.

Lots of new cars seem determined to wear the largest possible alloy wheels, often at the expense of comfort. The EX2 goes the other way. It sits on sensible 16-inch wheels with chunky 205/60 tyres, giving you a decent amount of rubber between the wheel and Britain's increasingly ambitious collection of potholes. It works. The EX2 deals with broken road surfaces particularly well and feels nicely cushioned without becoming floaty.

Throw it down a country road and the suspension keeps things surprisingly controlled too. There isn't much body roll and the car remains composed through faster bends. We found ourselves carrying a decent amount of speed through Wiltshire's twisting roads without ever feeling as though the EX2 was getting flustered.

The steering is very light, especially around town, but it's responsive. You don't get masses of feedback through the wheel, but point it towards a corner and the car goes exactly where you expect it to.

For an affordable EV designed around everyday driving rather than Sunday morning B-road blasts, it feels well judged.

Electric cars have done something slightly strange to our expectations. A perfectly ordinary family EV can now accelerate like a sports car, whether anybody actually needs it to or not. The EX2 has apparently decided not to participate.

The entry-level Pro has 82PS and takes 14.2 seconds to reach 62mph. Max and Ultra increase power to 116PS, reducing that to 11.5 seconds. And yes, you notice. Put your foot completely flat on the accelerator and... not much happens. If anything, it took us back to the days of driving a small naturally aspirated 1.2-litre petrol hatchback. Press the pedal, wait patiently, and speed gradually arrives.

That isn't necessarily a criticism, but it is something you need to understand before buying one. When pulling out of a junction or joining fast-moving traffic, give yourself a sensible gap. Don't rely on the instant surge of torque you may have experienced in other EVs.

Once moving, though, there is no problem keeping up with normal traffic or cruising at motorway speeds. And perhaps this is where some perspective is needed.

Does an affordable commuter car actually need to hit 62mph in five seconds? Probably not. We'd rather Geely spent the money on comfortable suspension, useful space and standard equipment. Which, judging by the rest of the EX2, is exactly what it has done.

Here's another surprising one. Every EX2 is rear-wheel drive. Don't start planning your next drift session just yet. The most powerful model still only has 116PS and 150Nm of torque. The real benefit is far more practical. With the front wheels concentrating on steering rather than delivering power, Geely has been able to give the EX2 that extraordinary turning circle. And once you've experienced it in a city, you'll probably appreciate that more often than an extra 100 horsepower.

Modern cars love making noises at you. Speed-limit warnings. Lane-departure alerts. Driver-monitoring systems. Some are useful. Others can become irritating within approximately four minutes.

We found the lane-departure warning particularly noticeable on narrow country roads, where you might deliberately move towards the edge of the carriageway to create more room for oncoming traffic.

What impressed us is that Geely has already responded. Before the car had even properly launched to UK customers, an over-the-air update introduced quick access from the home screen to some of these driver-assistance settings.

One quick shortcut and you can deal with the more irritating warnings without digging through layer after layer of touchscreen menus. That's exactly what over-the-air updates should be used for.

More importantly, it suggests Geely is listening to what drivers are telling them.

The EX2 isn't going to challenge the Renault 5 for retro-cool styling. The Renault probably wins that argument before either car has left the car park.

Instead, the Geely goes for something softer and friendlier. There are rounded surfaces, feather-inspired detailing in the headlights and semi-flush door handles. At around 4.1 metres long, it remains compact enough to work brilliantly in towns.

But don't choose the colour from the configurator alone. Geely has revised its colour naming for Britain, with the EX2 now available in:

• Mist White
• Moonstone Silver
• Magnetic Grey
• Sandstone Beige
• Pistachio Green
• Blush Pink

Sandstone Beige was the surprise. Online, it wasn't our favourite. In fact, it looked suspiciously close to the beige plastic once associated with hearing aids and medical equipment. In the metal? Completely different story. It actually suits the EX2 extremely well and quickly became one of our favourite options.

Magnetic Grey also looks considerably darker and smarter in person than some of the CGI imagery suggests. Our shortlist would probably be Mist White, Sandstone Beige or Magnetic Grey. Yes, the beige really did win us over.

Get inside and it's difficult to believe you're sitting in a car costing around £21,000. There's a huge 14.6-inch Full HD touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard and an 8.8-inch driver's display behind the steering wheel.

Geely's Flyme Auto software looks modern, responds quickly and supports connected features and smartphone integration. You can even speak to the car. Say: “Hi Geely, open the driver's window.” And it will.

Whether regularly talking to your car is something you want to add to your life is another question. The important part is that the touchscreen itself is responsive and relatively straightforward to use. That matters far more than simply having the biggest screen in the showroom.

No. It feels inexpensive. And there is a big difference. Nobody should expect £50,000 premium-car materials at £20,990, but Geely hasn't created an interior that constantly screams "budget".

Synthetic leather comes as standard and electrically adjustable front seats feature across the range.

There are harder plastics further down the cabin and plenty of glossy trim waiting patiently for your fingerprints, but overall it feels smart and contemporary.

Our biggest criticism concerns the front seats. They're comfortable, but we'd like adjustable lumbar support and greater control over the seat base, particularly for drivers regularly covering longer distances.

This might be one of the EX2's best tricks. It doesn't look particularly large from outside. 

Then you get into the back. There's a surprising amount of legroom, helped by the long wheelbase and completely flat floor. And this really is a five-seater. That matters. The Hyundai Inster, for example, only has four seats.

If you're carrying children, friends, family members or colleagues, the fifth seat could immediately make the EX2 a much more useful car.

Geely has somehow managed to give it the footprint of a compact hatchback without making rear passengers feel they've been squeezed into the luggage compartment.

Someone at Geely clearly has strong feelings about clutter. There are 36 separate storage areas throughout the EX2! You've got a 10-litre slide-out drawer in-front of the passenger seat where you'd usually find a glovebox. There's another 20-litre compartment between the front seats. Under the rear bench you'll find another 28 litres of storage.

And then you open the bonnet. Underneath is a 70-litre front storage compartment. This isn't one of those tiny EV frunks manufacturers proudly advertise before you discover it barely accepts a charging cable. It's genuinely useful. Shopping, muddy shoes, charging equipment, cleaning products or anything you'd rather keep separate from your luggage can disappear into it.

At the other end of the car, the conventional boot offers 375 litres, expanding to 1,320 litres with the rear seats folded. For something this compact, that's impressive.

Vehicle-to-Load, or V2L, comes as standard on every EX2. It allows you to draw electricity from the car's battery and use it to power external electrical equipment. The EX2 provides around 3.3kW.

You could power camping equipment. Charge an e-bike. Run laptops. Use tools. Or, in our case, plug in a Nespresso machine in the middle of Wiltshire. Because obviously no in-depth car review is complete without making coffee from the traction battery.

It worked perfectly. And while an impromptu espresso probably won't be the deciding factor when choosing your next car, it demonstrates just how genuinely useful V2L can be.

Getting the feature as standard on a £20,990 EV is another little reminder of how much equipment Geely is throwing at this car.

There are two battery options.

• The entry-level Pro uses a 35.35kWh usable battery and offers up to 155 miles of WLTP range.
• The Max and Ultra get a larger 47.14kWh usable battery and increase that to 214 miles.

Is 214 miles impressive in 2026? Not particularly. Some versions of the Renault 5 and Hyundai Inster travel further. But the bigger question is whether you actually need them to.

If your normal week consists of commuting, school runs, shopping and local journeys, even 214 miles could represent several days of driving. As a second car, the 155-mile Pro could make even more sense.

Why pay for another 100 miles of battery range if you rarely travel far enough to use it? For high-mileage motorway drivers, we'd look elsewhere. For everyone else, the EX2's relatively modest battery starts making considerably more sense.

What about charging?

The smaller Pro battery accepts DC charging at up to 60kW. Max and Ultra increase that to 80kW.

Geely says a 30 to 80 per cent charge can take around 25 minutes under suitable conditions. Nobody is going to put 80kW on a billboard in 2026. But battery size matters. The larger EX2 battery still contains less than 50kWh of usable energy, so you're not attempting to refill the enormous battery fitted to a luxury electric SUV.

For most owners, plugging in at home overnight is likely to matter far more than chasing record-breaking public charging speeds.

EX2 Pro: £20,990

This might actually be the most important car in the range. You get 155 miles of range and the slower 82PS motor, but Geely hasn't stripped away everything desirable to reach that starting price.

You still get the big displays, smart interior and plenty of technology. As a second car, commuter or electric runabout, it is extremely compelling.

EX2 Max: £23,490

This is our pick. You get the larger battery, full 214-mile range and stronger 116PS motor. That extra flexibility makes it much easier to use the EX2 as your only car without moving too far away from the value proposition that makes it interesting.

EX2 Ultra: £25,490

Ultra doesn't give you any more range or performance than Max. Instead, your extra money buys things including heated seats, a heated steering wheel, wireless charging, upgraded audio, ambient lighting, an electric tailgate and additional camera technology.

If you want all the toys, go Ultra. If you're looking for maximum value, we'd stick with Max.

It could be an extremely interesting one. As a zero-emission car, the EX2 falls into the 4% Benefit-in-Kind tax band for 2026/27.

Combine that with a comparatively low list price and the taxable benefit could be considerably lower than choosing a much more expensive electric SUV.

That makes it particularly interesting for drivers who want an EV company car without automatically choosing something costing £40,000 or £50,000.

There's a good argument for it. Geely is still relatively new in the UK, which means we don't yet have years of used-car data showing exactly how models such as the EX2 will depreciate.

With leasing, you don't need to sell the vehicle yourself at the end of the agreement. You choose your contract length and mileage, make the agreed monthly rentals and return the car when the term ends, subject to fair wear and tear and mileage conditions.

It can be particularly attractive with EVs, where battery technology, charging speeds and available range continue to develop relatively quickly.