Haval Jolion: It’s all a bit confusing

What is it?

The growth in sales of Chinese vehicles continues to gain momentum.

While SAIC subsidiary, MG Motor, is leading the way with its big-selling SUVs, the original breakthrough was made a decade ago when the Great Wall company targeting the tradie market with cheap workhorse utilities of questionable safety quality.

That’s all changed and Great Wall, now re-branded as GWM and with improved quality.

With an expanded range that now includes three SUVs, sales have jumped to such an extent that in September, 2024 GWM broke into Australia’s top 10 highest selling brands.

Somewhat confusingly, the two larger SUVs, the large H6 and mid-sized Jolion, carry both GWM and Haval badges.

The Jolion, which we’re testing here, is by far the biggest-selling GWM vehicle.

Indeed, it currently sits third in the booming Small SUV category behind its fellow Chinese MG ZS and the Hyundai Kona.

What’s it cost?

Jolion comes in three grades — Premium, Lux, and Ultra — each with the choice of turbo-petrol or petrol/electric hybrid drivetrains.

Prices, all driveaway, range from $26,990 for the petrol Premium up to $38,990 for the Ultra Hybrid.

On sale here since 2021, Jolion was upgraded in April, 2024 with changes to the front grille and front and rear bumpers providing a sportier look.

GWM badging is added for the first time, although Haval remains prominently at the centre of the grille.

The entry-level Premium gets halogen headlights, Lux and Ultra step up to LEDs.

Premium and Lux have 17-inch alloys, Ultra rolls on machine-finished 18s.

The best that can be said about the Jolion’s infotainment system is that it looks great with its 12.3-inch high-resolution colour touchscreen.

Unfortunately, as we’re seeing far too often nowadays, too many features are accessed through the screen instead of the more convenient, and safer, physical rotary dials.

In Jolion’s case the air conditioning controls sit in a glass, horizontal, touch control bar below the touchscreen which is difficult to use as well as being are all but invisible in broad sunlight.

Instrument screens vary in size.

The Premium petrol has a 3.5-inch LCD digital instrument cluster, all others have a 7.0-inch screen behind the steering wheel with a range of system information.

Infotainment screens are 10.25-inch in the Premium and petrol Lux, 12.3-inch in the Ultra and hybrid Lux.

Wired access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is standard.

Ultra comes with a wireless smartphone charging pad at the bottom of the front console.

All Jolion models get the same six-speaker audio system.

Jolion received a five-star ANCAP rating when tested in 2022.

There’s an impressive range of features including seven airbags, intelligent adaptive cruise control with stop and go, secondary collision mitigation and roll movement intervention.

Other features include hill descent control, hill-start assist, tyre pressure warning, rear parking assist and a rear view camera.

There’s also intelligent cornering control, rear cross traffic alert and braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, traffic sign recognition, blind spot detection with lane change assist, rear collision warning, door open warning and traffic jam assist.

Two ISOFix child seat anchors are provided.

There’s also a driver inattention alert system in the form of a camera located at the bottom of the A-pillar.

Great feature of course and a potential life-saver, but because so many features require multiple taps on the touchscreen or the aircon bar — it gets activated far too often.

Variants above the entry-level Premium add a 360-degree camera.

What’s it go like?

Our first impression was that Jolion is larger than we expected, most noticeably on the inside.

A comparison of its exterior dimensions with other vehicles in its class confirms that it is around the longest (4472mm) and clearly the widest (1898mm) making for excellent all-round interior space.

Headroom is compromised by the sloping roofline and sunroof, while the rear view is restricted by the angled window.

A blend of soft touch surfaces, aluminium-style accents and leather wrapped steering wheel give a premium look to the cabin.

There are plenty of sensible storage options on and below the centre console with USB ports at both the front and rear.

There’s a large central bin and a pair of cupholders in two sizes in the centre console, while door pockets can fit bottles.

The Jolion Lux that we tested comes with a wireless smartphone charging pad at the bottom of the front console.

Boot space with the rear seatbacks in place is 337 litres, expanding to 1133 litres with the 60:40 second row stowed.

That’s in the petrol models, the battery reduces that down to 255 and 916 litres in the hybrids.

Petrol variants get a space-saver spare wheel, hybrids rely on a tyre repair kit.

Although all variants come with a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine outputs vary.

The petrol Premium and Lux models get 105kW and 210Nm while the petrol Ultra puts out 130kW and 270Nm.

The three hybrids combine 70kW and 125Nm from the petrol engine and 115kW and 250Nm from the electric motor to produce a combined 140kW and 375Nm.

There is no all-wheel drive option, all models are front wheel drive through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Drive modes are Standard, Eco, Sport and Snow.

Despite modest power outputs of 105kW and 210N, the Lux moves along nicely enough thanks partly to Haval’s new global lightweight modular platform.

On the downside there is noticeable turbo lag on take-off and some jerkiness at low speeds from the seven-speed dual clutch transmission.

Overall Jolion doesn’t have any performance credentials but that’s not going to be an issue for potential buyers.

Fuel consumption is listed at 8.1L/100km from the petrol engine and 5.1L/100 km from the hybrid.

We averaged 9.4L/100 km during our week of testing in the petrol Lux.

What we like?

• Five-star safety
• Many safety systems
• Premium look to the cabin
• Plenty of sensible storage options

What we don’t like?

• No all-wheel drive option
• Too many features accessed from screen
• Annoying driver inattention alerts
• Headroom compromised by the sloping roofline

The bottom line?

With the credibility of Chinese vehicles steadily improving, thanks in no small part, to its MG rivals the Haval Jolion is certainly worth considering.

While it does have a number of annoying features there’s plenty in the Haval Jolion that will appeal. Technology is right up-to-date technology and there’s a excellent level of safety features.

Pricing is very competitive pricing enhanced by a seven-year unlimited kilometre warranty, five years roadside assist and an attractive capped price servicing program.

 

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