HAVAL H2 / No comparable value propositions
It was almost to the day of writing, five years ago, that I tested my first press car. It was of Chinese origin and a distant cousin of this article’s subject. I accidentally stumbled onto that road test recently where I expressed high praise for the vehicle in question and concluded that at the current rate of progress, “I couldn’t wait to see what said company will have on offer in five years”.
The five years have come and gone and let me just say that the half-decade-wait was well worth it. See, my first-ever tester was a GWM, the carmaker that also happens to be the parent company of Haval that, in turn, serves as a luxury-oriented division for Great Wall Motors.
It’s Haval, though, that happened to find its stride in the South African marketscape since the bakkie market, where GWM mostly played, favoured the ‘more established’ brands, whereas the crossover market that also happens to be Haval’s speciality is more value-oriented.
VALUE FOR MONEY PROPOSITION?
Yes, very much so and my argument is simple. Like for like, there is nothing comparable on the South African market. If we look at some competitors like the Mahindra XUV300, Hyundai Creta and Ford EcoSport, the Mahindra comes closest in terms of price, but it’s
considerably lacking in equipment. The cheapest of the two more ‘mainstream’ rivals, on the other hand, is still in the region of R50,000 more expensive than the Haval, with around the same levels of equipment.
QUALITY
Then there’s the matter of quality and execution and even here, the Chinese crossover is nothing to scoff at. Sure, I didn’t get to drive it over a prolonged period, but even with my goggles of scepticism, I walked away from the launch route impressed that the only real quality-related niggle I found was that a reasonable amount of force was needed to properly close the doors.
Some stylistic elements, especially around the infotainment system, also looked a bit like an afterthought and there’s quite a number of buttons – especially when you consider the point of infotainment systems is to centralise operations. Said buttons also look to be skirting on the cheap side… But hey, the price…
AND MECHANICALS?
The value is excellent and the quality more than respectable. That means there must be something that gives, right … perhaps in the mechanical department? Nope, I’m happy to report, even here Haval seems to have hit the nail on the head.
On the 100 km+ launch route, I drove both the 6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic derivatives and while I know that “the market” prefers automatic gearboxes, I recon the manual is the one to have. Mated to the 1.5-litre turbocharged engine that produces 105 kW and 202 Nm of torque, this gearboxengine combination just felt more responsive.
The automatic, on the other hand, well, through the twisty Cape roads it kept hunting with a dramatic whine. And to think it costs a R35,000 premium over the trusty manual, it just doesn’t make it worth the while.
LAST WORD
There are a lot I can say about the new Haval H2, like the styling that I quite liked – when I got over the contrasting lines of sharp front styling and soft rear styling, that is. Or the very reasonable fuel consumption returns of 7.4 litres per 100 km on the traffic-infested twisties around Gordon’s Bay. The fact of the matter, though, is that Haval has recently made quite sizable waves in South Africa, not only for affordability, quality and value, but for making cars that buyers actually want to drive and that’s considering it has only been in SA for three years now.
Here’s to the next five years.