Cherry J3 Hatch 2013 Review

The $12,990 Chery J3 is one of the best Chinese cars we've tested, but it still has a lot of room for improvement.

This is one of the most common questions we get asked: what are these Chinese cars like? Unfortunately, the answer is ambiguous because quality varies between brands and individual vehicles within each brand. But, as a rough guide, some are definitely better than others.

The Chery J1 hatchback hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago when its price dropped to $9990 - the cheapest new car in Australia since Poland's Fiat-derived Niki in the early 1990s. 

Lost in the hype was its larger older brother, the Chery J3, whose price has also been slashed to $12,990. It's the size of a Ford Focus (you can even see hints of the previous model's design), so you get a bigger car for the same money as subcompacts from Suzuki, Nissan and Mitsubishi.

Chery is China's largest independent car manufacturer, but it has been slow to gain a foothold in Australia, unlike fellow countryman Great Wall, which has made significant strides in its passenger car and SUV lineup over the past three years. But the Australian distributor hopes to breathe new life into Chery's lineup and find more buyers for its vehicles by slashing prices to match high discounts on major brands.

Value

Chery J3 offers a lot of metal and hardware for the money. It's almost the size of a Toyota Corolla, but the price is lower than the tiny babies. Standard equipment includes six airbags, leather upholstery, steering wheel audio controls, rear parking sensors and 16-inch alloy wheels. The passenger's vanity mirror lights up (hey, every little thing counts) and the flip key appears to be modeled after a Volkswagen (although, annoyingly, it only has one button to lock and unlock the car, so you're never sure if it's locked). car until you check the doorknob).

However, value is an interesting term. The purchase price is high: $12,990 per trip equates to about $10,000 before travel expenses. And metallic paint (three of the four colors available) adds $350 (not $550 like Holden Barina and $495 like many other popular brands). But we know from recent experience that Chinese cars also have a low resale value, and depreciation is the biggest cost of owning a car after you buy it.

For example, a $12,990 Suzuki, Nissan, or Mitsubishi will cost more than a $12,990 Chery three years from now, and there will be higher demand for well-known brands in the used car market.

Technologies

The Chery J3 is pretty basic technologically - it doesn't even support Bluetooth - but we spotted one cool gadget. The rear gauges have a display in the gauges (next to the odometer) with a countdown in centimeters of how close you are to the rear of the car.

Design

The interior is spacious and the trunk is massive. The rear seats fold down to increase the cargo space. The leather seems to be of good quality and comfortable design. The 60:40 split rear seatbacks have child restraint attachment points. All buttons and dials are laid out logically and are easy to use. Unlike some other new brand vehicles, most of the J3's switches and controls don't feel stiff or clunky. Annoyingly, however, there is no reach adjustment on the handlebars, only tilt.

There's a clever hidden compartment at the top of the dash - and a neat drawer in the middle - but the side pockets and center console are too thin and the cup holders are small for our liking. Sound quality from the six-speaker audio system was good (on the verge of above average), but AM and FM radio reception was uneven. At least you get audio control on the steering wheel. The air conditioner worked fine, although the vents were a bit small; I'd be curious to know how well he handled last week's 46-degree heat.

safety

Chery J3 comes with six airbags and is the first Chinese brand car to be sold in Australia. But that doesn't automatically mean a five-star ANCAP safety rating. Chery says internal testing has shown the J3 could get four stars, but it's missing out on one star due to a lack of stability control (which should be added midway through the year when the CVT-equipped car arrives).

However, any assumptions about the ANCAP star rating are unreasonable because we won't know for sure how it will perform in a crash until an independent auditor hits it against the wall later this year. It should be noted that the Chery J3 meets and/or exceeds safety standards set by the federal government, but these standards are well below world standards.

But the J3 (and J1) can't be sold in Victoria because they don't yet have stability control (which can prevent skidding in a corner and is considered the next big life-saving achievement after seat belts). This has been common on almost all new cars for several years, but should be added in June when the automatic CVT comes out.

Driving

Here's the most surprising thing: Chery J3 actually drives pretty well. In fact, I would venture to say that this is the most perfect Chinese car I have ever driven. It doesn't scold him with weak praise, but has a few caveats. The 1.6-liter engine chokes a bit and needs to be revved up to really move. And while the engine itself is quite smooth and refined, Chery has yet to master the art of noise cancellation, so you hear more about what's going on in the engine than in other cars.

Despite insisting on premium unleaded gasoline (minimum label requirement is 93 octane, which means you're required to use 95 octane in Australia), it's pretty greedy (8.9L/100km). Thus, one of the cheapest cars on the market requires expensive fuel. HM. The five-speed manual shifting was simple but normal, as was the clutch action, and the steering feel was more than adequate for the type of car. 

What struck me most, however, was the ride comfort and the relatively good control of the suspension and the 16-inch Maxxis tires. It won't outperform a Ferrari (or a Mazda 3, for that matter) in terms of agility, but it will meet the needs of most people.

Chery J3 is one of the best Chinese cars we have tried so far. But we'll wait for stability control - and see how the car performs in ANCAP crash tests - before adding it to the list of recommendations.