With big-name brands raising prices and car supplies still tight, car buyers are turning to emerging brands like GWM.
The GWM Haval H6 is China’s best-selling SUV for years, and is making big strides in Australia in its latest model – up 124% with over 4000 units sold this year.
While the H6 range has recently expanded to include a hybrid as well as a better design Body Style H6 GThere we look at the second conventional H6 Lux from the base with the petrol engine.
Are these really worth a look, as an alternative to Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucsonand a long list of other famous family nameplates?
For the money, it’s definitely a pretty SUV with sharp lightning signatures, and offers plenty of pocket-friendly equipment and space.
Let’s take a closer look.
How much does GWM Haval H6 Lux cost?
The company offers nationwide delivery rates so there’s less confusion.
Base H6 Premium now $33,990 drive, climb $36,990 for Haval H6 Lux tested here. The top Ultra is another $3000.
For context, let’s look at our competitors’ equivalent (one-word-base) variations, using Melbourne postcode-based door-to-door rates:
In terms of color, Hamilton White is the standard base color. That’s $495 more for Blue Sapphire, Burgundy Red, Energy Green, Golden Black, or Ayers Grey.
What is GWM Haval H6 Lux like inside?
In terms of trim and material selection, fit and finish, and overall aesthetics, the interior certainly offers a better experience than the price might suggest.
It’s minimalistic with a few flashy decorations. There are even speaker covers like the Burmester ones that Mercedes-Benz uses.
Yes, there is a bit of dust and the piano black trim is prone to scratches along the tunnel, but this is an industry-wide problem not limited to GWM Haval.
The H6 automatically unlocks when you reach for the keys in your pocket, and there’s plenty of steering wheel movement forward and backward.
The electrically adjustable driver’s seat is flat and has no thigh support, but the artificial leather trim doesn’t feel cheap or uncomfortable. Both front seats are also heated.
Behind the thin-rimmed wheels, which feel like a more expensive car, is a digital display of vehicle and engine speeds, lane-assist animations, tire pressure monitors, and the engine. journey calculation.
It lacks the level of profile you get in a Volkswagen Group cluster (without the full-size map) but has crisp resolution and no lag. Some people may prefer the traditional speedo and tacho options, which GWM might be able to code.
The indicator pile is on the left, and the cruise control is activated by a small stalk on the column.
The central touchscreen looks very flickering and has a home screen that offers surface climate and audio controls, with a slightly inaccessible vertical menu on the left offering more shortcuts.
The display says it relies on phone mirroring for navigation, plugs into a USB port on the passenger side of the tunnel (another left driving relic?), and offers decent Bluetooth quality with re-pairing. reliable.
One big standout is the 360-degree camera, which, in terms of the different viewing angles it offers and in terms of sheer resolution, is just the best we’ve sampled in a luxury car. It puts a lot of bigger brands to shame in this area.
Reducing buttons and bringing functions to menus on touch screens is in vogue, which many people find preferable. But it’s all about how you lay it out and how flexible the input handling system is.
There are buttons to turn on the A/C, navigator, camera and hazard lights, and to turn off the display. But everything else is done through the screen.
It’s hard to mess with the touchscreen climate controls, or change the seat heating, or attach or disengage the various driver assistance systems – especially if the loading speed isn’t A-plus as sometimes seems here.
The Haval H6 shifter is a stylish and classy looking dial, with a central part you push in to get into the park. But GWM will be very smart to add a definite start and end point instead of letting it rotate continuously.
There’s certainly a fair amount of usable storage from the large door bins, good dashboard, sunnies holder on the roof, phone holder in front of the shift lever, cup holders in the tunnel and a hidden side section. below.
The rear seats are undeniably spacious, with my 194cm body easily trailing behind my own ideal driving position with plenty of room to spare.
Said rear seats have the necessary accessories for an external child seat, a flip-down armrest with cup holders, storage bag, folding damping handles, rear air vents and two USB ports- A.
The starter is accessed by a manual rear door at this spec level and its wattage is listed as 600 liters. There’s some storage space on the left and right sides and you get a removable cargo cover, plus the rear seats fold down 60:40.
Underneath the loading floor is a temporary space-saving spare wheel.
What’s under the bonnet?
The majority of the Haval H6 product line shares one 2.0 liter turbocharged petrol engine with the highest output 150kW at 6000 rpm and 320Nm between 1500 and 4000 rpm.
It is mated to a standard seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Much of the range is front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive is an option in the H6 Ultra line of tractors.
The fuel consumption for the tested vehicle is one 7.4 liters per 100kmand the highest towing capacity listed is 2000kg.
My highway-biased fuel economy test yielded 7.1L/100km, while the more mixed route finished at 8.5L/100km.
How GWM Haval H6 Lux Drive?
The seats don’t offer much thigh or hip support, but on the plus side, the driving position is elevated and this is a fairly easy car to observe.
The engine has no shortage of punches, the occasional rattle of the Hankook Ventus 225/60 front tyres, with a wide torque range and an acceptable degree of fine-tuning from the inside. We were able to accelerate from 0-100km/h in over 8.0 seconds.
The in-house GWM dual-clutch transmission is generally quite good with smooth shifting.
The best way to drive turbo and DCT combinations like this is to be more progressive than aggressive with your accelerator input, to eliminate front wheel spin, engine lag, and transmission lag.
It’s not dynamically terrible. The suspension is quite soft and supple, the steering lights, and the fine-tuning for noise, vibration and harsh intrusions are acceptable.
But there’s also some body roll in the corners, small steering feedback, and a suspension for a bumpy touch in small and sharp road bumps. It could do a better job of controlling how the car bounces back after bouncing around.
But honestly, the average buyer will probably find it perfectly acceptable.
There are plenty of driver-assist features including adaptive cruise control that works well, lane-assist that takes you between roads as long as the corners aren’t too tight, and blind-spot warning lights in the mirrors.
You can also view a live animation of the lane-keeping system in the instrument cluster, showing you a representation of what the cameras and radar are seeing.
One point worth noting is that the Emergency Lane Keeping function is too sensitive, making you uncomfortable even if you don’t stray from the road markings. When you turn it off (via some screen menu) it turns back on on reboot.
The adaptive cruise control system is also designed to slow down the car in turn, but again it’s too responsive. I would just exceed it with the accelerator.
What do you get?
Highlights of H6 Premium:
- LED headlights and taillights
- Headlights, automatic wipers
- 18-inch alloy wheels
- Spare wheel saves space
- Keyless entry, push button start
- Upholstered seat, manually adjustable
- One-zone climate control
- Rear vents
- 10.25-inch instrument cluster
- 10.25 inch touch screen
- Apple CarPlay, Android Auto (wired)
- Front and rear USB ports
- 6-speaker audio
- Reverse camera
Additional H6 Lux:
- Roof rails
- Front parking sensor
- Privacy rear glass
- Power folding rearview mirrors
- 4 x one-touch windows
- Leather steering wheel
- Dual-zone climate control
- Synthetic leather seats
- Front heated seats
- Electric driver’s seat
- Anti-glare rearview mirror
- 360 degree camera
- Adaptive cruise control
- Traffic jam assistance
Locomotive H6 Ultra additional features such as 19-inch wheels, panoramic sunroof, heated steering wheel, wireless phone charging, ventilated front seats, self parking, cross traffic alert, touchscreen upgrade 12.3 inches and head-up display.
To be Is GWM Haval H6 Lux safe?
GWM Haval H6 maxed out Five-star ANCAP safety rating against the latest 2020-22 protocols.
It scored 90% for adult protection, 88% for child protection, 73% for pedestrian/cyclist protection and 81% for safety assist features.
Standard features include dual-curtain airbags for the front, side and two rows of seats, as well as a center front airbag between the driver and passenger for side-impact protection. You also get parking sensors at both ends.
Standard supported features include:
- Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)
- Detects cars, pedestrians, cyclists
- Crossover support
- Forward collision warning
- Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
- Lane keeping and centering assist
- Lane departure warning
- Traffic sign recognition
- Blind spot monitoring
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Detect driver drowsiness
- Traffic jam assistance
- Keep the emergency lane
- Intelligent cornering control
How much GWM Haval H6 Lux cost to run?
One way GWM is working towards addressing low resale values and lack of badge credits is by providing a seven-year, unlimited km warranty – one of the oldest brands.
The first service is due after 12 months or 10,000 km. Interestingly, all other services are more than 15,000km away. As is common with these plans, it doesn’t include a lot of consumables.
Service price GWM Haval H6 2.0T:
- 12 minutes or 10,000 km: $210
- 24 minutes or 25,000 km: $280
- 36m or 40,000km: $380
- 48m or 55,000km: $480
- 60m or 70,000km: $210
CarExpert’s Takes Over GWM Haval H6 Lux
There are some annoying issues with some driver assistance features and interfaces, and suspension tuning could be improved.
However, the GWM Haval H6 offers undeniably good value for money (just note the rest); and in terms of performance, the technology and design both feel as contemporary as its rivals – at a lower price point.
Is it the class president? No, that’s not it. Still, it’s no surprise that Haval is doing so well, and its pace of improvement means all competitors need to be on high alert.
Click on the image to see the entire gallery
THAN: Everything GWM Haval H6
