Test drive Haval H9
Haval H9 is the largest and most powerful Chinese SUV presented in Russia. It is also the most expensive - the cost of H9 is $ 28.
Haval H9 is the largest and most powerful Chinese SUV presented in Russia. It is also the most expensive - the cost of H9 is $ 28. At the dealership, they will definitely correct you: the brand name is pronounced “Haveil”. The guard at the parking lot generally called the car "Hover" and was not far from the truth. Haval is a new brand of Great Wall Motors, which gained fame in Russia thanks to Hover SUVs.
The Chinese decided to launch a new brand in Russia without the help of the Irito company, which since last year has ceased to receive vehicle kits from Great Wall for the assembly of SUVs. They will independently develop the network and build a plant in the Tula region, which they plan to complete in 2017. The course towards luxury was taken from the very beginning - the flagship H9 was launched first in Russia, and only then the more affordable models H8, H6 and H2.
“What is this, the new Haval?” - the guard in the parking lot, apparently, understands the "Chinese" much better than me. I nod uncertainly in response and throw open the heavy door - those who say that the Chinese make cars out of foil definitely did not get into the H9. From the very first seconds, it plays with your imagination, making you believe that it is safe and quite modern here.
The H9 has a whole slew of options, but they are inconvenient to use. Nevertheless, in my coordinate system, the Chinese have climbed several steps higher. It is still difficult to compare them with other foreign manufacturers, but the progress is already amazing. The H9 is the very car from which you should start your acquaintance with the Chinese car industry.
The engineers who created the H9 were guided by the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. The cars are similar in size and suspension, but the design of the Chinese SUV is individual. Haval slightly surpasses the Japanese model in length due to the increased front overhang, it is wider, higher and received an increased track. And the "Chinese" is arranged simpler: the SUV has no air suspension and rear blocking. Under normal conditions, the Haval is rear-wheel drive, and traction is transmitted to the front wheels using a BorgWarner TOD multi-plate clutch. There are separate modes for difficult conditions (mud, sand and snow). In "dirty" electronics transmits more thrust forward, in "snow" damping gas, and in sandy, on the contrary, increases the engine speed. It can be entrusted with independent recognition of road conditions - there is an automatic mode for this. If it is minus outside the window and the road is slippery, the snow algorithm will be automatically activated, and the driver will be warned about it with an audible signal. For particularly difficult conditions, there is a reduced mode with a gear ratio of 2,48, in which the center is locked, and the thrust is equally distributed between the axles, but only up to a speed of 40 km per hour. There is an eco-friendly regime for the city, and a sport regime to simplify overtaking.
The Chinese are still designers. First, they began to repeat the silhouettes of popular European models, and then copied them entirely. So I, instead of memorizing the appearance of the Haval H9, wandered around the car for several minutes and looked for familiar elements. Not found. Finding the similarities inside was much easier: the design of the front panel reminded of the new Honda Pilot. The texture of materials, build quality (by the way, at a decent level), buttons, controls, switches - everything here is very similar to Japanese. But there are a few things that spoil everything.
It would seem that the most expensive "Chinese" in the Russian market is simply obliged to flaunt the ideal Russification. It looks like soft plastic and thick leather raised my expectations too high - I expected to see cool graphics here with a clear menu. "150 km to the void" - so Haval hinted that my ideal world is about to collapse.
The readings of the temperature sensors on the dashboard and on the separate display in the center console do not match. But that's half the trouble: to turn on the heated front seats, you need to complete a quest in a multimedia system with outdated graphics, which, in addition, hopelessly slows down.
The H9 has a whole slew of options, but they are inconvenient to use. Nevertheless, in my coordinate system, the Chinese have climbed several steps higher. It is still difficult to compare them with other foreign manufacturers, but the progress is already amazing. The H9 is the very car from which you should start your acquaintance with the Chinese car industry.
The H9 is offered with a single powertrain option - a 2,0-liter "four" GW4C20 of Great Wall Motors' own design, equipped with direct injection and variable valve timing. Thanks to the BorgWarner turbocharger, 218 hp were removed from the engine. and 324 Nm of torque. The engine is paired with a six-speed ZF “automatic” – the transmission is supplied by the Chinese plant Zahnrad Fabrik.
The 50 kilometers to void warning made me smile. Until then, until it was in a traffic jam at the TTK. I approached "emptiness" rapidly, although I moved only a few meters in the traffic jam - the on-board computer showed an average consumption of 17,1 liters per 100 kilometers. But that was not the only thing that bothered me. When I picked up the car in the salon, the manager prudently turned on the seat heating. After 30 minutes in motion, it became unbearably hot to sit, and I could not turn it off. It turned out that first you need to press the button with the image of the seat on the center console (in this way the menu on the screen is called up), then you need to guess that the line with the text is a touch button that will allow you to go to another menu where you can select the heating level or even turn it off. Another significant inconvenience: with the selected seat settings, my knee rested against the hard dashboard - the pedals are too displaced to the right.
Despite some shortcomings in ergonomics, the Haval H9 interior looks rather laconic and not pretentious. Around the interior lighting lamps - contour lighting, the color of which can be adjusted to suit any taste (from bright red, yellow and green to purple, pink and aqua). When the car is opened, red Haval letters appear on the asphalt, which are projected from the side mirrors of the car. A similar greeting is found among European brands, but it should be noted that Haval managed to manage the borrowing quite effectively.
The H9 handles much better than you'd expect from the Chinese auto industry. There is enough traction to keep up with the stormy Moscow traffic. But if you slow down a little more efficiently or change lanes abruptly, Haval turns on the emergency gang. Such care and increased caution quickly bothers. The H9 has not yet become familiar in city traffic; drivers of other SUVs look at it with interest and sometimes bewilderment. Haval H9 is a spacious, roomy and richly equipped car. It remains to make changes in the Russified menu, and jokes about Chinese cars will become a thing of the past.
On the Russian market, the SUV is presented in the only and most complete configuration - with a seven-seater leather interior, bi-xenon headlights, three-zone climate control and 18-inch wheels. The price tag is $28. includes Infinity acoustics, navigation with Here maps, illuminated footrests and even an air purifier with ozone function. For about the same amount, you can buy a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado in the simplest configuration with a 034 liter engine (2,7 hp) and “mechanics”. Or Mitsubishi Pajero with an "automatic" in the middle version.
It is recommended to visit an authorized dealer for service every 10 kilometers. Zero maintenance is carried out in six months and 000 km - his company does it for free. The warranty for the H5 is 000 months or 9 km, in addition, they promise free evacuation of a faulty car, provided that it is no further than 36 km from the dealer.
Before I got acquainted with the H9, I held a Chinese smartphone in my hands. Solid build, bright screen, good processor, rather high price and ... a name that is also known in Russia as the automobile brand Haval. The H9 SUV is very similar to that smartphone, except for the Android operating system. Moreover, there is an acute shortage: some signatures are completely confusing. In this chaos, good navigation with Here maps unexpectedly comes to light. And the music in the car is very decent.
Heavy snowfall partially rehabilitated H9. The electronics allow slipping, but at the same time it stops the stern skidding that has begun and confidently keeps a heavy car on a slippery road. It allows you to gently smooth out the traction, which is not easy - the turbo lag interferes. As soon as the stabilization system was turned off, the H9 instantly skidded with all wheels and tried to drive into a snowdrift. Off-road, the Haval feels confident, especially with the lowering engaged. Choosing the course of the suspensions, he continues to climb forward and when hanging diagonally. Below all vulnerable points are covered with steel armor. But it must be borne in mind that the optional steel sheet, which simultaneously protects the engine crankcase, gearbox and transfer case, is located low and, when reversing, paddles the ground.
Initially, the Chinese automaker used the name Haval for the new H6 crossover, and later named its entire off-road lineup as such, retaining the Great Wall “tooth” nameplate. In 2013, Haval was separated into a separate brand, and the first car to try on the new plate was the H2 compact crossover. For the rebranding, Great Wall Motors announced itself by participating in the Dakar and developed several new off-road models with turbo engines, modern transmissions and components from world-famous suppliers. And in 2014, the company introduced two-color nameplates at the Shanghai Auto Show, indicating personalization options. Red - luxury and comfort, blue - sports and technology. There will be no color differentiation in Russia - only red nameplates.
The fact that H9 writes in Russian with errors, suggesting to "trample" the brake pedal, is mostly trifles. Range Rover and Maserati's multimedia systems used to speak with a strong accent. In addition, the company promises to correct translation errors in the next batch of SUVs. It is not enough for H9 to learn to speak, it needs to adapt to the cold Russian climate. The windshield wiper blades dazzle in the cold and creak terribly. At the same time, they clean very badly, leaving dirty stripes on the glass - this should not be in a car for $ 28. The wiper nozzles emit too much liquid, but as soon as the outside air temperature drops below minus 034 degrees, they instantly freeze. The window motors also do not cope with ice. The turbo engine starts without much difficulty at temperatures below minus 15, but it takes a long time to wait for heat from it. So fixing the bugs should mean installing electric heating for everything and everyone.
A two-liter engine on a huge car now will not surprise anyone - let's remember at least Volvo. Supercharging allows you to remove more than a hundred forces per liter of volume, but at the same time, manufacturers are actively engaged in weight loss. Haval, on the other hand, was made so soundly that its mass went over two tons. And the motor, despite the declared return, is not without difficulty carrying such a colossus - the average consumption, even in eco-friendly mode, is about 16 liters.
Heavy snowfall partially rehabilitated H9. The electronics allow slipping, but at the same time it stops the stern skidding that has begun and confidently keeps a heavy car on a slippery road. It allows you to gently smooth out the traction, which is not easy - the turbo lag interferes. As soon as the stabilization system was turned off, the H9 instantly skidded with all wheels and tried to drive into a snowdrift. Off-road, the Haval feels confident, especially with the lowering engaged. Choosing the course of the suspensions, he continues to climb forward and when hanging diagonally. Below all vulnerable points are covered with steel armor. But it must be borne in mind that the optional steel sheet, which simultaneously protects the engine crankcase, gearbox and transfer case, is located low and, when reversing, paddles the ground.
In anticipation of the moment when the Chinese auto industry will fill the whole world with cheap and high-quality cars, the market has been living for probably ten years. During this time, nothing special happened. Yes, cars from the Middle Kingdom have ceased to be crumbling cans based on stolen Japanese designs, but we have never seen a single truly modern and high-quality product. It is possible that they exist, but in our market they were not and are not, because modern cars cannot be cheap, and expensive cars of unknown brands are doomed to failure here in advance.
And then he appears - a car that is praised even by experienced colleagues, and which the dealership is trying to sell for $ 28. By all indications - neither more nor less, a competitor to the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. Solid appearance, quality style, robust equipment. And these pretentious bright red “Haval” inscriptions that pour from the projectors of the rear-view mirrors directly onto the dark Moscow night asphalt are inexpensive light music that looks quite attractive. There is even decorative lighting in the cabin, and in general it seems to be soundly here. Brightly colored instruments are easy to read, with a set of onboard electronics order. Even the materials are good and the style is nice. The chairs are not bad, there are plenty of adjustments.
Alas, the two-liter turbo engine barely pulls, whatever mode is selected. Breakthrough Haval on the move - what a GAZelle truck, but on the other hand, what to expect from a frame SUV? Haval normally drives only in a straight line, and dances and shakes passengers on bumps. And besides, he speaks bad Russian - all these terrible abbreviations and incomprehensible words on the screen of the on-board computer in a modern car do not seem at all cute or funny.
It is the Chinese who are accustomed to large numbers - it will be psychologically difficult for a Russian person to pay $ 28 for a Chinese car. The same Prado or the old Mitsubishi Pajero may look more archaic, but they are driven very reliably. And they carry a proven brand, backed by years of experience and a network of service stations. The one who bought the Haval H034 will probably be known as the original, but you need to look for those who want to - few can afford to risk money in our time.
