Can the Chinese H6 cut it in NZ?
The Haval H6 is all about ‘budget luxury’ – can a model that is the talk of China be a winner here too, asks
China buys more cars than any other country – and it has more car producers than anywhere else, too. Haval (pronounced ‘‘have-ill’’, rhymes with ‘‘travel’’) and parent Great Wall are home turf giants now mounting an export push.
What’s the attraction?
The H6 hits the hottest sports utility sector as a cost-effective offer, trading on sportiness and appealing as a bargain for the amount of gear you get.
This ‘‘budget luxury’’ ideal means the look, kit and even the derivative names – we tested the Lux, there’s also a less expensive Premium – give the impression you should gird for a $10k higher spend than asked.
Buy cheap, get copycat rubbish, right?
No denying China aces at chintzy clones. The H6 comes from the copyist period. Even though quite new here, under a skin with Audi-esque cues, and enough passing profile resemblance to the Range Rover Evoque to make it ironic (Land Rover stylist Phil Simmons has just become design director) is an old car. You’re looking at a big update of a model born in 2011.
Even so, it’s no absolute Euro doppelganger and looks pretty good, with all the in-vogue SUV signatures.
A slightly high driving position but plenty of room for five will win family interest.
That some boot space was sacrificed to enable an aboveaverage rear seat might not impress adventurers, but it’s not too bad.
At first sight the tech load seems to tick enough boxes to deflate industry proposition about premium assists requiring premium pricing.
Just be aware that some provisions are a touch cheap and cheerful in operational aspect and, even though it’s well equipped on the safety front – many airbags, stability and traction control, automatic headlights, LED daytime running lights, front fogs and blind spot monitoring – it lacks the most modern features.
There’s no automatic city braking or lane diversion warnings. Also, there’s no ANCAP crash-test score.
Even so, there’s a lot of stuff. Seat heating for the poweradjustable seats, a panoramic sunroof with a sunshade, keyless entry and ignition, a 7.0-inch colour LCD screen, an eight-speaker sub-woofer and USB-equipped sound system, an old-school Bluetooth phone and audio streaming hook-up, an electric park brake, an autodimming centre mirror, dual zone climate control, heated and folding exterior mirrors with puddle lamps that shine ‘‘Haval’’ onto the road surface when the doors unlock, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, tyre pressure (which erroneously related an over-inflation) and temperature monitoring, plus cruise control.
The only absent functionality is sat nav: Haval is delusional in thinking it can charge extra for a simple SIM card.
Sadly there’s no easy onscreen upload alternate, as the only ‘‘Chinese’’ electronic supplier they haven’t hit up is Apple, for CarPlay (and Android Auto).
What about the quality?
Overall build quality is good, finishing a bit uneven.
The man-made ‘‘eco’’ leather is better than it sounds and while some plastics and hard scratchy, primary surfaces are pleasing.
Some button placement is strange. Locating the mood lighting adjust (of the six disco colours, green got top vote) to the hill-descent switch is asking for trouble.
The electronic bong that sounded loudly at the start of every journey – apparently to remind it was in sport mode – and a digital display giving an average but not an actual speed readout irked.
The seatbelt warning lamp downright annoyed. A blazing red light set in the rear-view mirror – so right in your sight line – is a huge distraction at night.
The cabin’s general ambience, though, is pleasant and you can’t say it’s not a roomy car.
Next you’ll be saying it’s a class-leading drive
Er, no. It’s a solid execution requiring more polish.
A recruitment campaign aimed at German talent not snaffled by the Koreans is required to achieve the claimed Euro-inspired dynamics.
It isn’t wholly distasteful but neither does it upshift the standard. The previous-gen Mazda CX-5 is a fair barometer.
The tune of the MacPherson strut front and double wishbone rear suspension is firm, which potentially affects an off-road remit it could conceivably fulfil – being meted a hill descent control and hill start assistance – but probably won’t, given it is 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol with 145kW/315Nm, six-speed automated manual transmission, front-drive, combined economy 9.8 litres per 100km, 0-100kmh 8.7 seconds.
4549mm long, 1700mm high, 2720mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 247 litres, 19-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Strong spec, usefullysized, decent styling.
We don’t like: Little dynamic spark, drinks high octane.
Haval H6 Base price: $33,990. Powertrain and performance:
Vital statistics:
front-drive and the tyres aren’t mud-rated.
It soaks up big bumps, feels busy on coarse chip, skitters on stones and bobbles in corners, so kids might need strong stomachs.
The steering is always light, the brakes are a bit aggressive and the stability control can enact rudely.
The H6 has a large engine if you consider the major downsizing trend in the market, but given it has 1784kg to haul you can understand why.
It has no issue coping; peak torque comes in quite high in the rev range, so you need to give it a boot for overtaking, but overall it has pleasingly broad muscularity.
The sport mode adds some urgency, if also upping a thirst evident even in Eco mode.
Getrag’s gearbox lets itself down by being whiny and expressing hesitancy off the mark, but smooths up nicely on the move.
Really, given the car’s age and how much improvement has come to its category in the past five years, it’s a credit that it remains truly competitive.