This car must have the longest name on the market – wait for it – the Great Wall Motors Haval Julion Pro Premium Hybrid. Now that’s quite a moniker and for very little cash.
So what is it? Well, it’s fresh from China, there’s a clue in the name, and it’s a decent enough SUV that must be a worry to the Western world.
Add a touch of cost of living crisis, stir in a soupcon of mad global leaders, sprinkle with a healthy dose of uncertainty and you get this, car buyers no longer obsessed with manufacturer brands, particularly when they have to sell an organ to buy one.
Have you seen the price of cars in this country? It’s shameful and, now China is firing on all cylinders, completely unnecessary.
We need reliable transport at an affordable price and that is what China is offering the world. Haval, let’s shorten the name a bit for convenience, isn’t just decent it’s very good.
The medium size SUV looks smart enough and actually has heads turning from mystified passers-by thrown by what on earth it actually is.
Haval is well proportioned with decent lines. The grille is a bit snarly but the full width lights at the back are smart and the LED headlamps are state of the art.
The sheen from the paint shouts decent quality which is backed up by the fact it comes with a five-year warranty, eight years on the hybrid electrical bits. So there is no shame parking jolly Julion on your drive as it looks more than presentable. There’s a nice set of aeros front and back too, very flashy.
It’s the same to drive. The 1.5 hybrid motor kicks out not far short of 200PS so performance is notable. The engine is smooth and refined, silent when running on EV and, at close to 50mpg, decently economical.
Ride and steering are truly excellent. The suspension soaks up everything our crumbling infrastructure has to offer and controls the handling perfectly, especially when you choose to dial up the considerable performance. Haval tracks nicely through the bends and the steering responses are very sharp.
Inside is comfortable, well laid out and spacious. Spec is decent and it is all pleasing on the eye.
There are a few tiny niggles. A lot of functions are on the touchscreen which takes a bit of exploring. I gave up with the FM radio which didn’t seem to want to stop at any channels, not even the ubiquitous Radio 4.
But the most irritating thing is the big brother camera that watches your face and the keep lane assist which is too intrusive.
The mush monitor reacts too quickly so when you are fiddling with the central touchscreen to perform a particular function it brings a warning and blanks out the very screen you are trying to use with a message to ‘concentrate on your driving’.
I do learn to turn off not only the keep lane assist but also the emergency keep lane assist before I drive off every time because the interference on the steering is too disturbing, it really does grab the wheel and is far too dictatorial. But that’s about it and these grumbles are easily overcome with a bit of forward thinking.
And here’s the best bit, the price. For an SUV of this size, spec and performance you could easily expect to pay £35,000 to £40,000.
The Great Wall Motors Haval Julion Premium Hybrid Pro is a fiver under £24,000 or, in other words, the price of your average supermini.
What this is doing is making brand new car ownership more accessible again because even if you don’t fancy going Chinese this level of competition is going to put pressure on other manufacturers to drop their exorbitant prices.
Factfile
| Engine: 1.5 petrol hybrid |
| Power: 189PS |
| 0-62mph: 9 |
| Top speed: 115mph |
| Combined MPG: 47 |
| Transmission: automatic |
| CO2 g/km: 133 |
| Price: From £23,995 |
