Chinese SUV impresses, niggles and all

The H5 packs an impressive list of features.

Don't be put off by the tut-tut mutterings about "made in China" you will get from the car salesmen of other brands. Ask them whether they are really sleeping peacefully at night and do point out to them that Seffrikens wore the same pessimistic faces when Japan, Korea and India started bringing their cars into South Africa - and look at their sales figures now!

OK, so the Chinese vehicles aren't quite up there with the Japanese and the Koreans yet, but they are damn close and even if a brand name such as GWM H5 doesn't exactly leave you breathless with excitement, it's what it brings to the party that makes it so impressive.

Standard features include individual tyre pressure monitoring, cruise control, power steering, dual climate control with pollen filter, electric windows and side mirrors, remote central locking, six-speaker sound system with DVD/MP3 player/USB/Aux, front and back go lights, dual front airbags, reverse park camera assist, light sensing headlights and audio controls on the steering wheel. Take a breath... and add to these Bluetooth, leather seats, touch screen media centre, fully adjustable steering column, 60/40 rear seat split, tinted side windows for UV protection, full-size spare wheel - and even 10 tie-down points in the rear luggage compartment.

And there's more...

To this you can add ABS brakes with EBD, child-seat ISOFIX fittings, auto-locking doors, side impact safety bars and a child safety locking mechanism.

The cabin is spacious, the seats are comfortable, and big windows provide clear viewing which makes city traffic and tight parking a doddle. The living quarters are also surprisingly well insulated against road, engine and wind noises.

Like all SUV's the H5 tends more to boxy then elegant, but then that is what people carriers and mummy taxis are - practical rather than good looking. Body lines are as neat and clean as one could wish for on a vehicle such as this and it does have a few other attractive visual features such as quite a striking grille, pretty light clusters ad snazzy alloy wheels.

Like all SUV’s the H5 tends more to boxy then elegant, but the body lines are neat and clean.

Out on the road the H5 trots along quite enthusiastically although it does feel a bit sleepy at take-off... almost taking a breath before the turbo stops yawning and does what it is supposed to do.

The two newly introduced H5 diesel-engined models follow the launch of the first two GWM petrol models which hit the local market about four months ago and the suits at GWM say they are confident that the diesels would get off to a fairly strong start just like the petrol models.

The two oil-burning variants are offered with a choice of six-speed manual or a five-speed automatic transmission and the top of the range is a full 4x4.

At the local Media introduction I drove the auto model in a bucketing Cape rain and wind storm over two mountain passes, along motorways and through a few towns and suburbs and was pleasantly surprised and quite impressed overall.

You're a spin doctor when it comes to steering

The ride is a bit choppy, but not such that it will make your dentist rich. Progress is fairly smooth although the suspension isn't in love with choppy surfaces. On smooth tar there is not too much noise from the undercarriage but when the going becomes typical of so many South African roads the thumping from underneath does goes up considerably in volume.

The rear seats... comfortable.

The steering takes some getting used to because you really need to twirl the helm to change direction. At times it made me wish for one of those olde-worlde steering wheel knobs such as the one which was fitted to an old Studebaker my dad owned many, many moons ago...

Although the H5 is quite steady through the corners it does lean a bit when the going becomes a little enthusiastic; but then, in fairness, people who drive this type of vehicle are not out to set lap records or to scare the heebie-jeebies out of the ankle-biters.

Under the chubby bonnet of the H5 the dual overhead camshaft engine benefits from a high-pressure common rail, variable geometry turbocharger which, when you push it to 4000rpm will kick out 110kW and produce a useful punch of 310Nm of torque from as low down as 1800rpm.

A little lacking on the detail

GWM were a bit shy about disclosing specific performance figures in its media information package although it was quick to point to a claimed consumption figure of 7.0l/100km "under controlled testing". It also didn't differentiate between figures for the manual and the automatic.

GWM also didn't give precise emission figures for the H5 other than a reference to Euro IV and V levels and to state rather vaguely that "in comparison to petrol engines high-performance diesel engines can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25%".

There are more features than you can shake a stick at.

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The maker also makes one or two other vague claims but hopefully it will learn quite quickly that the South African car-buying public demands precise, measured figures and by not disclosing these eye-brows tend to lift.

In the absence of performance figures we pushed along a bit on a quiet stretch of road to see to how fast the HD5 will gallop but weather conditions were not exactly ideal and we eased off with the needle hovering around 140 km/h when it began feeling a little light on the steering and feathery on its feet.

The automatic diesel 4x2 I was driving comes to the market with a price tag of R264 990 and in this price range and with its tremendously fancy specs, safety features, comfort offerings, three-year/100 000km warranty and a two-year 24-hour Roadside Assist service there is no other diesel SUV to match it.

On the face of it this GWM offering, even with its little niggles, seems like a fairly sensible value for money option and well worth a test drive if you are in the market for a comfortable, spacious and safe SUV that won't break the bank.

Specifications

Features

GWM H5

GWM H5 Diesel