You can’t move these days without hearing something about Chinese cars right? How sales are soaring, how they’re cracking the top 10, how they’re a bargain-hunters dream come true.
But what you don’t really hear about all that often is what they’re like to live with. How all that fancy-looking jewellery and cabin tech holds up after some hard living.
Which is why I’m very excited about the vehicle currently parked out the front of my place - the Haval Jolion Lux
Haval will sell more than 4000 of these small SUVs in 2021, which — while not quite enough to be troubling the major mainstream players, what with MG to shift around 18,000 examples of its ZS, and more than 14,000 examples of the Mitsubishi ASX destined to find homes — it’s certainly enough to attract some attention.
Read more on Haval Jolion here
It’s more than the Skoda Kamiq, for example, and the Jeep Compass and Suzuki Vitara. It’s also not a million miles off the Nissan Qashqai.
No doubt, then, Haval is making waves, with the Chinese SUV company making inroads into the Australian market.
The big question, then, is why? Is it simply a value proposition? Or is there substance below the surface, too?
What is the value?
On the first point — value — you’ll find plenty of it here. Our model, the Lux, sits above the Premium and below the Ultra models, placing it smack in the middle of the three-model Jolion range.
It’s yours for $29,990 drive-away, and you get A LOT of stuff for your money.
Even the entry-level Premium trim ($27,490 drive-away) gives you plenty of fancy stuff — like 17-inch alloys and a big 10.25-inch screen that gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a reversing camera with parking sensors and rear cross-traffic alert, as well as Lane Departure Warning with lane Keep Assist.
But the Lux adds cool kit like LED headlamps and DRLs, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-look seats that are heated in the front, dual-zone air-con controlled digitally, a 7.0-inch digital instrument display and a pretty good six-speaker sound system.
In fact, the only things the Ultra ($32,990) model adds on top are bigger 18-inch wheels, a bigger infotainment screen, a head-up display, wireless charging and a sunroof.
For mine, then, the Lux is all the car you need in that line-up, and thus all the money you really need to spend.
And it feels it from the front-seat, too. There’s a nice mix of textures and materials in the cabin, the leather-look seats are comfy, heated, and most importantly, can be wiped down and cleaned easily, and there’s a ton of clever tech, including the big, clear touchscreen that takes pride of place in the centre of the dash.
So value? Tick.
What about practicality?
The Haval Jolion Lux measures in a 4472mm in length, 1841mm in width and 1574mm in height, and it rides on a 2700mm wheelbase.
That’s pretty good for a small SUV. The MG ZS, for example, stretched 4314mm long and 1809mm wide, while the Mitsubishi ASX measures 4365mm and 1810mm.
More space means more room, and the Jolion delivers plenty of room for backseat riders, with ample head- and leg-room, and — because there’s no cumbersome tunnel eating into the space — a genuinely comfortable experience for middle-seat riders.
Boot space is a decent 430L/1122L, too, and it’s wide, easy-to-use space, happily swallowing all the gear our little family needs for a week away.
Practicality? That’s a tick, too.
So far, so good, then.
How safe is it?
Then let’s talk safety. You’ll find six airbags, hill descent control, hill starts assist, a tyre pressure monitor, rear parking sensors a 360-degree reversing camera, adaptive cruise control, Lane Keep Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Forward Collision Warning with AEB and Pedestrian and Cyclist detection, blind spot monitoring, the list goes on and on.
It’s not yet been ANCAP tested, but full marks to Haval for throwing plenty at the standard safety offering.
There’s one thing, though, that I do find a little weird. The massive box next to the steering wheel is the Jolion’s fatigue camera, which is supposed to check whether you’re getting drowsy. The problem? It feels massively intrusive. Seriously, there have been times when I’m singing along in the car and suddenly catch a glimpse of this thing and stop, just in case someone is watching a live-stream of my cabin from somewhere.
So on paper, it stacks up pretty nicely. But life isn’t lived in the specification sheet, so the big question is, what is the Jolion like to drive? And to live with?
For that, you’ll have to wait until our next instalment.
Acquired: November, 2021
Distance travelled this month: 480km
Odometer: 1986km
Average fuel consumption for November: 9.8L/100 (measured at the pump)