Now even CHEAPER! 2025 GWM Haval Jolion review
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Matt. This channel is called The Right Car and this here is the updated version of the Haval Jolion from GWM.
00:07There's now a simplified range of the petrol versions of this compact SUV,
00:11but it still offers immense value for money. In fact, even better value than before.
00:16So, in this review, I'm going to tell you whether it's worth the money or if there are any hidden catches.
00:22Stay tuned. You'll find out all about it in this review.
00:24If you haven't already, please like, subscribe and ring the bell to keep up to date with all of my content.
00:28Let's check out this updated Jolion, shall we?
00:35The Haval Jolion range has been streamlined for the petrol models.
00:39Now, I've also done a full detailed review of the hybrid versions of this car,
00:43which actually could be a really good option for you if you are after something with a bit more tech to it and a bit
00:49more of a fuel-efficient focus, but it does cost a fair bit more money. Now, this petrol model range,
00:55there are now just two versions available. Previously, there were four,
00:59including the S-grade, which you might have seen my review of. I didn't like that one at all.
01:05And then there was another version in the lineup as well, but it's been axed too.
01:09And now there's just two choices available. The entry-level version is called the Premium. It starts at just $26,990 drive away.
01:16It's one of the most affordable small SUVs on the market, and in terms of the space that is on offer for that kind of cash,
01:23this thing stacks up brilliantly. But, it's also got a decent array of standard equipment too.
01:28You're getting LED daytime running lights, but halogen headlights, meh, don't love that.
01:3317-inch wheels. You've got keyless entry and push-button start. The keyless entry is just on the driver's side though.
01:38That's a little bit of a cheap thing that I hate about this car. And on the inside,
01:42you're getting a pretty decent big touchscreen media system with plug-in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and some nice features as well.
01:50And if you spend an extra $3,000 and get yourself into the Luxe version of the Havaljolien,
01:56you're getting a few extra features that you will definitely appreciate. You get full LED lights on the outside,
02:02and on the inside you're getting a fake leather interior trim, which might not necessarily be the most convincing trim out there,
02:08but you also get electric driver's seat adjustment, heated front seats, and a big digital instrument cluster for the driver as well.
02:16Plus, the high-grade version also gets a surround view camera system, and it's a really, really good surround view system as well.
02:23Alright, so it stacks up alright on value. Are there any alternatives you might want to consider?
02:31This thing makes a really strong case for itself on value, but there are some great alternatives you might want to consider.
02:35First one is the Kia Stonic. It's just been updated with extra safety technology across the range,
02:41and a new turbo petrol engine across the range as well. And it does seem to be a really good option for those who are looking for something that's a bit smaller.
02:48It does have a less practical space on the inside than this car, but it is a very compact vehicle, and it stacks up pretty well on value,
02:56even though it is a bit more expensive spec for spec across the range compared to this.
03:01Another one you might want to go and check out if you can afford to spend just a little bit more.
03:05You know, splurge. You only live once, all that sort of thing.
03:08The Skoda Kamiq. The entry-level version of that European compact SUV is about $33,000.
03:14Drive away. Comes with a seven-year warranty as well.
03:17The brand is the only European brand to offer a seven-year warranty in the Australian market at this point in time, and it's a really lovely thing to drive.
03:24Sure, it might not have as much bling and as much wow factor in terms of the interior presentation,
03:29but it feels really well put together, and it drives beautifully as well.
03:34And finally, if you are after just a really, really cheap small SUV, the MG ZST seems to be a pretty good choice.
03:41Look, I don't think it's the best thing to drive, but it does tick the box in terms of the practicality, the size, and the tech as well.
03:49And thankfully, it doesn't have as many annoying safety features as this car does, which I'll tell you about soon.
03:55There are some visual changes to this updated version of the Haval Jolie.
04:00Not quite as dramatic as the changes to the hybrid version, which include basically an entirely new body on top.
04:06But you do get a new grille design, new front bumper, and it does look pretty good, I reckon.
04:12I can see why people think, yep, that's a nice-looking little car, and I reckon it is too.
04:18It's not my favourite car design, but it does stack up pretty well.
04:21Now, there's one thing I said before that just does annoy me about it.
04:24You've got keyless entry, but it only works on the driver's side.
04:28You don't get any other sensors on the other doors, but you can see for yourself, it is a pretty shapely little thing.
04:35And another change that's happened to this model for this update is that the Haval badging is gone.
04:40It's now GWM, Jolien down there.
04:43There is no Haval badge at all, which is kind of intriguing, isn't it?
04:47OK, let's have a look in the boot and see what we are dealing with.
04:50You can see for yourself, this is not a small, small SUV storage area.
04:54It's actually pretty spacious in terms of the amount of room in here.
04:58You'll see the number on your screen.
05:00And just for context, I'll show you now how much less you get in the hybrid versions of this car.
05:05And that's because they have a different rear suspension layout.
05:09So, look, I reckon that this is a far more practical option for someone who is looking for a practical small SUV.
05:16It does have a few really good features in the back as well.
05:18You've got shopping bag hooks on the side there.
05:20You've also got storage trays on either side, a nice bright LED light and another shopping bag hook up there.
05:26And underneath the boot floor, there is a space saver spare wheel as well.
05:30And while space saver might not be as good as a full size, at least you get something in this one, which you don't get in the hybrid either.
05:36So, this stacks up a lot better than the hybrid Jolien, in my opinion.
05:41The Luxe model, which is this one here, does feel a bit more special than the entry level premium.
05:49And part of that comes down to the fact that it gets the bigger driver info screen here.
05:55That is a nice big display and it does have a fair bit of info on it that you can cycle through as well.
06:01It's not necessarily the simplest system to use, but I'm sure you'll get used to the interactivity with the menus and so forth.
06:09You use the steering wheel controls to interact with it.
06:12And those steering wheel controls can be just a little bit fiddly to get used to, but I'm sure it won't take you that long.
06:18Now, over here, speaking of fiddly controls, you've got this touchscreen media system.
06:23It's a decent size, there's no doubt about that.
06:25You still have to plug in for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is maybe not ideal.
06:30But, it is pretty good when you are connected up.
06:34And the other thing about it is that there's still a lot you have to do through this screen.
06:38So, you might find that you do get a bit frustrated because you have to do a lot through the screen.
06:43There is a panel of buttons here for you to jump through some menus.
06:46So, if you want to jump to the air conditioning, you can press that button there and you can adjust your fan and your temperature and all that sort of stuff.
06:53But, that's not as good as having a dial or a button for those controls, in my opinion.
06:59You can also direct the airflow on that side screen panel.
07:03And look, it's fine, but it's just not as good as it could be in terms of the interactivity with the screen.
07:10Now, this is your home screen, is it?
07:13Yes, it's your home screen.
07:14And there's also a few other menu screens hidden away here.
07:18So, we have to start the car to turn off some of these things, but I will, and I'll show you in a sec.
07:24Lane keeping, that sort of stuff.
07:26Your traffic sign assistance.
07:28But, strangely enough, that's in intelligent driving.
07:31You actually have to go to settings and then to intelligent ability to turn off this driver monitoring camera system,
07:40which you can see is keeping an eye on your eyes just there.
07:43Those little creepy purple dots in there.
07:46That's keeping an eye on your eyes to make sure you're not too distracted.
07:49Make sure that you drive it, if you do go for a test drive, with the systems on to see if you can live with it.
07:55There's a heap of other menus on this screen as well.
07:58You have to go through the screen to turn off your seat heating or turn it on for this high-grade version.
08:04And, look, that's just the fact of the matter with this car.
08:07So much is hidden through this screen.
08:09It just does take a little bit of learning, and I won't spend hours and hours talking you through it here.
08:15I'm sure if you're interested in this car, you will go and figure it out for yourself.
08:18But, at least it's got Apple CarPlay, and I like that.
08:21Alright, now, down below you've got a little storage tray here, which doesn't have a wireless phone charger, which is a bit annoying.
08:29It probably should.
08:30There's another little tray here, and some pen storage? Coin storage?
08:35And still, this rotary dial doesn't actually have stoppers on it, so it just goes round and round.
08:40It can be fiddly when you are trying to reverse parallel park or just do a manoeuvre in a street, for instance.
08:46There's a pair of cup holders here, one smaller than the other.
08:49Kind of interesting.
08:50And a covered centre console bin as well.
08:53This is the Comfort Tech fake leather interior trim, and it's not overly convincing, but at least it looks pretty good,
09:01and it's got the white stitching to make it stand out a little bit.
09:04And, in terms of the materials, look, I think the trim in here is not too bad.
09:08You've got this sort of textured finish that runs along here, and it looks pretty high-end.
09:15It's just that the liveability factor maybe isn't a high-end experience.
09:20But, let's check out the backseat space and see what it's like.
09:23Oh, before we do, you also get a USB port up there, which is fantastic.
09:27It means fuss-free cables for your dashcam, if you run one.
09:32And, yes, auto-dimming rear-vision mirror as well.
09:37Cool.
09:38G'day. We're in the backseat now.
09:40I just want to show you how much headspace there is in this car.
09:43It is a very, very roomy, small SUV.
09:47It's a bit bigger than some other small SUVs, and I think that comes into account when you are considering the backseat space here.
09:52Let me show you the legroom I've got to play with.
09:54As a six-footer, heaps.
09:56That seat is set for my driving position.
09:58I've got lots of toe room, lots of knee room, and, as I showed you, lots of headroom.
10:02There's good space here for you to store things as well.
10:06There's mat pockets on both seatbacks.
10:08You've also got bottle holders in those doors.
10:10There are a pair of cup holders in between the seats as well.
10:14Another nice plus.
10:16And one thing I really like about this car and the use of this material is, well, you've got covers for your ISOFIX points.
10:23So that means that if you've got grubby kids, you won't get chips and gross lolly stuff down in your ISOFIX points, which is nice, I think.
10:32Right, there's also some other nice amenities back here.
10:37You've got directional air vents, a pair of USB ports as well.
10:41So those in the back should be kept pretty happy.
10:44And in terms of the space, I'm definitely happy with this experience.
10:52Under the bonnet of the petrol versions of the Haval Jolion is a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
10:58It's got pretty decent power and torque figures.
11:00They're not setting any new benchmarks.
11:02And it comes as standard with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
11:05I have some issues with that. I'll tell you about them soon.
11:08And it's front-wheel drive only.
11:10And if you're wondering about towing capacity, I'll throw some numbers on your screen now so you can see for yourself whether you think it'll fit your needs.
11:19Righto, so I've just started up the car.
11:21I'm just going to go into the menu system and switch off a few of the things that annoy me.
11:26That camera that monitors your eyesight, gone.
11:30And also I'll go into the car settings.
11:35Intelligent drive.
11:36I'll turn off the keep lane on urgent, which is just an annoying emergency lane keeping feature.
11:43What else do I need to turn off here?
11:45I'll turn off traffic sign assist.
11:47No, it's on just warning anyway.
11:49So that's okay.
11:53We'll never get those moments back, people.
11:55I'm sorry to have done that to you.
11:56But that's the reality.
11:58If you buy a car like this and it has all that tech, but the usability of that tech is not as well integrated as it could be.
12:05Alright, so let's go for a drive.
12:07Now, if you've seen my Havaljolien S review where I drove the more powerful turbo version of this car, you'll know that I didn't like it to drive.
12:17I was actually pretty firm in my wording about it because it was pretty bad, honestly.
12:24I'm not surprised that they dropped it.
12:26It was more powerful, but it didn't get the power down better.
12:29And it also had different suspension and it was worse.
12:33So, look, I think that this does have the added benefit of being cheap and cheaper than before.
12:41But still, it's a bit more livable than I remember it being.
12:45And that's partly to do with the fact that it's, well, not the S.
12:51The S was bad.
12:52But I still don't love this car.
12:54I still don't love the fact that it's got a dual-clutch automatic transmission that isn't well calibrated, in my opinion, to this application.
13:02Like, it does do the job and it's pretty good at shifting gears and thinking about when it should be changing gears.
13:09But it's also not the smartest in terms of the responsiveness when you are trying to do a reverse parallel park or something like that.
13:17So, I'll just do one of those right now, shall I?
13:20So I can give you an indication.
13:22So just pull up here.
13:24The blinkers are really bloody loud too.
13:26Now, this gear shifter gets me every time.
13:28So I have to check to see whether it goes into reverse rather than having a movement.
13:33I have to sort of feel like I'm riding the clutch to get into a position here.
13:38And I'm in.
13:39Like, it's not the worst.
13:41So you've got to check to go into drive as well.
13:44It's not the worst.
13:45And shh, mate.
13:47Yeah, it's just not as easy as it could be.
13:50So I'll reverse back and get out of this spot.
13:54Just indicate out.
13:57Okay.
13:59So maybe it's okay.
14:01But it's not as good as a dual-clutch automatic transmission in a Volkswagen or a Skoda.
14:08And it's not as good as a CVT in some of the other cars out there that run that sort of transmission either.
14:14It's just less liveable and less likeable, if I'm really, really frank with you.
14:19But you might love it.
14:21You might think it's fine.
14:22And especially if you've owned a first-generation DSG product from Volkswagen, you might think that it's actually not too bad.
14:28But let's just do one out of this inner section here.
14:31So I'll just stop and then lag.
14:35And then we're away.
14:37So my foot was flat for that first initial moment trying to go around that corner.
14:42But it's just the combination of the turbo lag from this engine, the dual-clutch automatic transmission lag,
14:50which also adds to this sensation of just, like, I'm waiting.
14:56Let's go.
14:57And then all of a sudden, bang, you're out of there.
14:59So, yes, not ideal.
15:03Right.
15:04What about the other elements of the experience?
15:06It's okay.
15:07Look, I think that the ride is actually pretty good in this car.
15:10It's comfortable enough.
15:12There's no doubt about that.
15:13It's not the most dynamic-feeling thing to drive in corners or anything like that.
15:17But it's not supposed to be.
15:18It's just supposed to be a family SUV that happens to be pretty compact.
15:21And I think that for that application, it is comfortable enough.
15:26Like, the ride does coast over these bumps pretty well.
15:29You still sort of feel the sharp edges here and there.
15:32But it's okay.
15:34Better than some of the rivals, I would say.
15:36And the steering, it's fine.
15:39It's just, like, it's predictable enough.
15:42And it's got pretty decent weighting.
15:44It's just not that fun or anything like that.
15:46But, like I said, this car's not really about fun.
15:49It's about ticking boxes.
15:51And for some people, it probably will tick the box.
15:53I can totally understand if it does for you.
15:55Just for me, I think that the engine transmission still needs work.
15:59But the hybrid version, you'll find the link in the description,
16:02it's much more liveable in daily driving situations.
16:06So, definitely worth checking out if you're considering a Jolian.
16:09Alright, let's talk about fuel consumption,
16:11because that's another consideration with this car.
16:16Okay, on your screen, you'll see the official combined cycle fuel consumption figure
16:21for the Haval Jolian petrol models.
16:24Yes, that is high.
16:26Yes, this is a small SUV.
16:28That's as high as some SUVs two classes up.
16:32So, it's not fantastic on petrol.
16:36And on your screen, you'll see what I've seen over my week of testing this car.
16:41And, yeah, it's, again, not a fantastic number.
16:46But I'm sure you'll make up your own mind as to whether you think it's a liveable number or not.
16:51But keep in mind, it does have a pretty decent fuel tank capacity.
16:54And it can run on 91 run regular unleaded petrol as well.
16:59So, those things might count in its favour, but, hmm, I don't know.
17:07This car does have a 5-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022.
17:11So, it does have all the tech you would expect.
17:14And some of it's bloody annoying, as I've said.
17:16And, look, you might be fine with all this tech,
17:18but some of it just isn't as well-tuned in this car as it is in other cars on the market.
17:24Now, let's talk about what you're getting as standard across the entire Jolian range.
17:28Things like autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
17:32There's parking sensors, a reversing camera.
17:35If you choose the top-spec version, you get a surround-view camera.
17:38All versions have rear auto-braking as well.
17:41There's blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and traffic sign recognition as well,
17:46with adaptive cruise control as standard as well.
17:49Plus, for the airbag coverage, you've got dual front, front centre, front side and full-length curtains.
17:55So, look, it certainly ticks the box in terms of the safety stuff,
17:59but the way that the stuff works could be better.
18:05So, what about ownership?
18:06Well, it does stack up pretty well on paper.
18:09Look, the warranty cover is seven years and unlimited kilometres.
18:13That's very good for the class and for the market.
18:16There's also a five-year roadside assistance plan included with this car,
18:21and there's a five-year cap-price servicing program as well.
18:24Now, the first service interval is a little bit shorter than the others, 12 months and 10,000km.
18:28Then, it's every 15,000km or every year,
18:32and I'll put the average cost over the five-year plan on your screen now.
18:36So, I think it ticks the boxes when it comes to the ownership aspect,
18:40and I hope that it is a pretty nice thing to own for anyone who buys one.
18:46If you're after a budget, small SUV, I can totally understand why you would choose the Jolyon,
18:51and I wouldn't because there are too many compromises that may be annoying me just a little bit too much about this car.
18:57But, in round terms, the value-for-money equation, the warranty,
19:01the fact that it's got five-star ANCAP, all that stuff might be enough for you to go and have a look at one.
19:06And if you own one, let me know what you think about it in the comments section below.
19:09I'd love to hear from you.
19:10If you haven't already, please like and subscribe, and I'll see you in the next one.
19:21Transcribed by https://otter.ai