Many Chinese carmakers have made forays into the Malaysian market. However, one has continuously invested in its facilities in Gurun, Kedah, to establish a long term presence in the local automotive sphere.
Recently, Go Automobile Manufacturing Sdn Bhd signed a technical agreement with Fukuta Electric & Machinery Company of Taiwan to develop system components for local electric vehicle production.
However, its bread and butter vehicles are the models they assemble for Haval namely, the M4 and H2.
While in Malaysia, consumers are being gently introduced to the brand, the Haval name is already established in its home country of China. For the first eight months of this year, around 95,000 units of H2 were sold there.
We recently test drove the top-range H2 premium variant.
The Haval H2 is a front-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle fitted with a turbocharged 1.5 litre VVT engine that generates 147hp at 5,600rpm and 210 Nm of torque from 2,200rpm to 4,500rpm. It is hooked to a six-speed automatic transmission.
The H2 measures 4,335mm in length, 1,814mm wide and 1,695mm tall. It has a wheelbase of 2,560mm and ground clearance of 133mm. It also comes with 500 litres of boot space.
Underneath the bodywork, the Haval H2 rides on a MacPherson strut suspension in the front and a multi-link suspension at the rear. Front ventilated disc brakes and rear discs complete the ensemble.
The specification list on the H2 is rather impressive. It comes equipped with electric power steering, an electric parking brake, adjustable telescopic four-way steering, automatic headlamps, automatic wipers, halogen headlamps, LED daytime running lights, front fog lamps, sunroof, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, ambient lighting, electrically-foldable side mirrors with turn signals and side mirrors with integrated puddle lamps, a multi-function steering wheel and 18-inch wheels.
Inside, it is similarly well equipped.
The H2 comes with leather upholstery, six-way electrically-adjustable driver’s seat, rear centre armrest with storage case, reverse camera, eight-speaker sound system, 3.5-inch TFT trip computer, secondary instrument panel, keyless entry system, button start system, adjustable central armrest, anti-glare rearview mirror, multimedia player and a Bluetooth hands-free system.
In China, the H2 was awarded a five-star rating by the China-NCAP (C-NCAP).
The local variant has a long list of safety features, which includes six airbags, a front left hand side blind spot visual system, electronic stability programme, a tyre pressure monitoring system, a collision-detecting fuel cutoff system.
The top-range Premium variant is priced at RM98,915.29. It includes Goods and Services Tax but excludes insurance. The Haval H2 also comes with a five-year or 150,000km warranty, whichever comes first.
The Drive
The H2’s interior is still better than some South Korean carmakers and a few Japanese sedans. What is interesting is other SUVs that offer almost identical specs cost about RM30,000 to RM70,000 more than the H2, and most don’t come with a sun roof or a blind spot monitoring system.
We liked the quality of the interior and exterior.
The front of the H2 seems to draw inspiration from both Audi and Mercedes, especially its headlamp and the grill. The rear design resembles a mixture of Mercedes Benz, Nissan X-Trail and a little bit of Audi.
As for its interior, it has hints of Audi and design attributes that remind one of a Volkswagen. The high quality leather material selected made it exclusive, elegant and comfortable. The only thing the interior lacked was a proper storage area for the driver.
The Haval H2 takes some time to reach its top speed. Driving the H2 fast requires pushing the engine hard. It’s not an SUV that accelerates quickly.
The H2 grips the road tightly even on high speed corners. Its medium soft set-up doesn’t result in you losing the tail even when the SUV is tackling uneven corners at high speed. However, we felt the light steering setup somehow made the steering response less sensitive.
The Haval absorbs most road conditions quite well. It came as a pleasant surprise that we couldn’t hear any sounds from loose plastic knocking about when we drove over rough, damaged roads filled with potholes. Once you drive enough review cars, you know that knocking sounds are commonly heard even in some Japanese-made vehicles.
At high and low speed driving, wind and engine noise was under control. We only noticed excessive tyre noise.
Ergonomics are reasonably good as well.
Operating the multimedia player is straightforward and easy. We only felt that the eight-speaker sound system lacked bass.
Haval is very generous with space in the H2. The headroom and legroom in the H2 is good, and it is able to ferry four large adults with room left for comfort.
Fuel economy is average for a vehicle of this type.
We managed to drive the H2 about 600km, and it consumed about 6.2 to 6.9 litres of petrol per 100km when we cruised on the highway at below 110kph.
After a mixture of city and highway driving, it recorded 7.7 to 9.3 litres per 100km. After some pedal-to-the-metal acceleration, it recorded 10 to 11.1 litres per 100km.
We were fascinated by the features available in the Haval H2, such as ambient lights, auto folding side mirrors, auto locking system, sunroof, auto lights and wipers.
However, it has room for improvement, such as with the side mirrors, as the plastic used felt quite flimsy, vibrating when the car is stationary with the engine on.
Another aspect of the SUV that can be improved is the engine, as the turbocharged 1.5 litre VVT engine is still slightly under-powered compared with its competitors.