About the GWM HAVAL H6
Kevin Ly purchased this GWM HAVAL H6 new for $39,990 (including all on-road costs). Kevin Ly would buy this car again because: “For under 40k (at time of purchase) for the fully loaded Ultra variant, it offers great value compared to competitors.
I was looking for a larger car than my Mazda 3, for as little money as possible.
I walked into a Toyota dealer intending to buy a RAV4, because of all the hype surrounding it, but was too underwhelmed by the interior to consider it.
The Haval combines a relatively powerful engine with a massive amount of interior space. The interior looks very modern and minimalistic compared to most of its competitors. I personally love gadgets, technophobes should probably steer well clear.”
How reliable has your car been? Tell us about any issues.
I haven’t had the car for too long, but no issues so far. The initial calibration of the adaptive cruise caused it to brake aggressively on bends, but since the (free) patch it’s now a non issue. Here’s hoping it stays that way.
What do you think of the ownership experience with your car?
It is a great car to live with day to day. It holds a load of stuff in the boot, passengers love the vast leg- and headroom, and sports mode brings some joy on a dull day.
I particularly enjoy using the adaptive cruise on long journeys. Some may call it invasive, but as a pretty average driver I like how it pulls me into line. It keeps me in the middle of the lane, and even has a little display that shows the vehicles around you. For long journeys I’m basically a passenger, letting the car do its thing.
Seven-year warranty, five years of road side assist, and capped-priced servicing bring some confidence to a relative unknown brand.
How has the purchase and aftercare experience been with your car?
Being a smaller brand, the dealer I bought from also sold other brands, so it didn’t feel quite as special as walking into one of major dealerships. However, purchasing was easy enough and the car arrived within two months as promised. We wanted a sunroof, so went straight for the top spec Ultra. We don’t go off the beaten track very often, so decided to forego AWD and save $3000. Thankfully, the only options are metallic paint and AWD for the Ultra (non hybrid).
The price of the car increased days after purchase, but they honoured the price I signed the contract at. I believe there is a still a reasonable amount of stock compared to other brands.
I have only been back for the 1000km checkup, and to apply the patch for cruise control and this has been quite a smooth experience.
Are you happy with the price and features of your car?
For the price, you get (almost) everything you could want. You can get a top-spec car for the price of a bottom-spec competitor. Compared to popular Japanese makes, one of the highlights is the massive panoramic sunroof – it is definitely worth springing for the Ultra grade for this alone.
However, there are some odd spec omissions for a top spec car – notably there are no memory seats or DAB radio. The radio doesn’t even tell you the station names or currently playing songs, which is rather disappointing.
There is also no built-in sat nav but the (wired) CarPlay integration is quite smooth so I don’t think it’s too much of a problem. Nav arrows can even appear on the HUD and/or instrument display from CarPlay. I believe a lot of these omissions are due to a lack of localisation effort from head office.
In its home market of China the car does have built in satellite navigation, as well as an integrated modem, voice control, and a lot more built in apps.
However, for the price I’m more than satisfied with the features on offer.
What do you think of the performance and economy of your car?
Performance is quite good, compared to most similarly priced competitors which usually have a 2.0-litre NA engine. Even the bottom spec H6 gets the 2.0-litre turbo. It is tuned to be a bit sluggish off the mark in normal mode, but in sports mode it really gets going. With current fuel prices however, I cannot afford to drive in sports mode.
I live in Canberra, so I don’t really have traffic to contend with. My long term average is sitting on 7.8L/100km, with quite a few highway kilometres. So not class-leading, but certainly good enough, particularly for a non-hybrid car this size.
What do you think of the technology in your car?
I find the infotainment particularly intuitive. You can have multiple home screens, which can be configured with your desired layout of widgets. The widgets also come in different sizes, so you can have for example, seat heating take up the whole screen, or just a part of it. Both the central display and driver’s instrument display are large, and very sharp, with attractive modern graphics.
Some of the default settings weren’t to my taste, but there are swathes of menus to customise the car the way you want it to behave.
The 360 cameras are the best of any car I tested. Very sharp and intuitive, with the view automatically changing as needed.
The self parking functionality is er, not quite ready for the prime time, although I don’t think any of them are. It does result in a perfectly straight park, it just takes its time doing so. Pro tip, do not attempt in a space with obstructions like a pole – it will get very confused.
Of course, all this technology will not suit everyone. There are very, very few physical buttons, the most glaring of which is the lack of physical climate control buttons.
The customisable home screens do help with this somewhat though, and there are physical buttons to activate the AC, front and rear de-misters, but no physical buttons for tweaking temperature settings.
What do you think of the ride comfort and handling of your car?
Compared to my Mazda 3, it is certainly nowhere near as agile, but is way quieter and the suspension is tuned much softer (for better or worse). Most of the time, it is quite good, but occasionally if you go over a big speed bump, it does make a mildly concerning loud noise.
I’ve since adjusted my speed over speed bumps and haven’t had this problem since. It shines most on highways – I just drove from Canberra to Sydney and back again and it was buttery smooth. Do not expect to be carving corners though. Expect more three point turns than usual.
The main issues present themselves at low speeds. The dual clutch transmission at low speed is not good, particularly in parking lots. If I had more money and/or the hybrid model was priced lower, I would definitely go for that, as that should solve the issues with low speed driving. Once it gets going it’s quite responsive though.