Haval H2 is a Chinese-vehicle game changer
For once, a good price and indulgent spec sheet are matched by a premium feel
AND SO the Chinese are coming... It’s a phrase that’s been echoing eerily through the minds of auto industry executives for ages now like a distant typhoon. The dark and pregnant clouds linger in the distance, yet somehow the storm never quite seems to make landfall.
It’s been over a decade since the first Chinese cars and bakkies started rolling onto local shores, along with other global markets, but those forecasts that one day they’ll become as good or better than anything from Japan or Germany, while simultaneously surging up the sales charts, have quite frankly yet to materialise.
From all this emerges a vehicle with ambitions to alter this status quo and it’s called the Haval H2. Owned by GWM, Haval is a dedicated SUV brand, which also happens to be China’s most popular, and it has some “premium” ambitions. Haval? It’s meant to rhyme with ‘gravel’, in case you were wondering, but let’s get to the subject of this test.
The H2 is a bit bigger than a Mitsubishi ASX or Hyundai Creta, and quite close in dimension to Nissan’s Qashqai. It’s actually a rather nice, comfortable size. Goldilocks would likely have been quite happy in this one, assuming that she found an EcoSport too tight and a Rav4 excessively bulky.
It’s well priced within this context, ranging from R244 900 to our flagship model’s R309 900 list, whereas a Hyundai Creta will set you back between R324 900 and R374 900, and a Mitsubishi ASX is a R364 900 to R434 900 deal.
Haval prices include a five-year or 100 000km warranty, a five-year or 60 000km service plan and five years’ roadside assistance.
The H2’s exterior design is neat and inoffensive. There’s hardly a line out of place, but it’s just a bit bland and generic. This vehicle could easily slot into one of those insurance adverts where they render their own unidentifiable car in order to seem objective. You can, according to the brochure, spice things up a bit however, with a contrasting roof colour and two-tone interior.
Besides that, it’s not exactly distinctive looking inside either, but here’s where the H2 stands head and shoulders above any Chinese car we’ve ever experienced. It just looks and feels so premium. Hop in and just about everything in front of you seems to be of a really high quality, from the satin-chrome-like trim surrounds and inlays to the soft and grainy dash top and the neatly stitched leather seats.
It’s so good that I purposefully hunted for chinks in its perceptive quality armour. So is it snob-proof ? Ok, some of the joins on the lower console feel a touch flimsy and the inside of the cubbyhole looks rather cheap, but are you really going to dwell on these things at this price level?
Another area where Haval has attempted to keep with the times is under the bonnet, where the company has installed a modern 1.5-litre turbopetrol engine, which produces a respectable 105kW and 202Nm, delivered in modern crossover style to the front wheels through either a six-speed manual transmission or, as in the case of our test car, a six-speed automatic.
In spite of the car weighing nearly 1.5 tonnes, performance felt adequate - in terms of actual motion at least. Driven with any kind of gusto, the engine became noisy and sounded strained, as if we were brutally murdering it with every prod of the throttle. The gearbox, though not exactly top-notch, went about its business smoothly and unobtrusively enough for the most part however. Yet that engine noise inspired more economical than spirited driving habits. On that note, we reset the trip computer before a few days of purely urban commuting and our H2 drank 9.8 litres per 100km.
The ride quality was mostly decent. The damping is set soft enough to allow it to wallow comfortably over large speed humps, but the suspension did feel a bit fidgety over undulations in the road. Road holding falls into the usual safe understeer category and the steering felt positive and accurate enough for our liking, if only just.
But let’s not get too carried away by that kind of thing. Dynamically, this vehicle should prove good enough for the average crossover buyer, and what’s really likely to prove attractive is the practicality and luxury on offer here.
The range-topper we drove is called the 1.5T Luxury and that’s probably the understatement of the century. It’s loaded with standard kit, from those aforementioned leather seats, which are six-way electrically operated for the driver, to a touch screen infotainment system with reverse camera, start button, multifunctional steering wheel (with reach and rake adjustment), cruise control, dual-zone climate control, sunroof and more.
This H2 even greets you with a puddle lamp that spells ‘Haval’ in bright red lettering. It’s not as dazzling as it was when the Evoque started doing this five years ago, but ten out of ten for the effort, Haval.
Also ample is the actual amount of space inside. Those in the back will have loads of leg-stretching space and ample headroom, but the boot, although still fairly big, is compromised a bit by the fitment of a full-sized full wheel.
But is it safe? The H2 hasn’t been put through the EuroNCAP rigours, but the Chinese crash testing authority C-NCAP has given it a five-star rating. It’s also fitted with front, side and curtain airbags, as well as ESP stability control. VERDICT Though perhaps lagging slightly in the areas of drivetrain and chassis refinement, the H2 certainly has all the other boxes ticked with its practicality, well-finished cabin and indulgent spec for the price. But do its rivals have reason to be afraid? More so than ever, if the product itself is anything to go by, but then we’re not exactly automotive weather forecasters.