Haval Jolion

 I don't normally do car reviews, but when we were in FNQ we ended up with a surprisingly impressive Chinese made SUV, I thought I'd review it:

Renting a car is always a lottery - you might think you’ve reserved a particular size or model of car, and you of course end up with something completely different.

This time, in FNQ we had booked a Kia compact. Being realists we knew that we would probably get something else, but hoped for a compact at least, if only because of the ease of parking it in underground hotel and apartment car parks which always seem to be a bit smaller than ideal.

Well we didn’t.

We ended up with a Haval Jolion, a mid sized SUV made in China by Great Wall Motors.

I’ve never driven a Chinese made car before, but when I’ve ridden in a cheap MG they seemed a little tinny and flimsy, with a noisy transmission - a bit like the little Hyundai Getz’s you used to see as base rental cars.

The Jolion was none of these. It felt substantial and well made.

The inside was bit plasticky but the seats were good, the transmission was smooth, and it had a manual emulation mode like our old Subaru Impreza, so that you could control the gear changes on a steep or rough road.

Basically, I came away impressed by the vehicle’s capability.

And there’s a story here:

When Japanese cars first came on the market they were basic (I know, I learned to drive in a Datsun1200) and had problems such as being prone to corrosion, but they improved.

Dramatically.

Korean cars followed much of the same trajectory, with the original ones being derived from old Japanese models, one the first original designs like old Hyundai Excel I owned years ago while nice to drive was fairly basic. Both Japanese and Korean made cars now dominate and are regarded as quality vehicles.

At the same time I’ve driven a range of rental vehicles both here and in Europe, and apart from a couple of Renault Clios in Spain and Portugal I’ve never come across anything that I would ever think of buying, and in the case of one vehicle, the VW Taigo we had in Italy last year, most definitely not - which was a bit of a surprise, as I though that on the whole VW made decent cars.

Having driven a Haval Jolion, all I can say is that if I was in the car trade I’d be worried.