It is a body-on-chassis SUV with four-wheel drive including low range, therefore what we have here is essentially an alternative to the Prado.
The big Haval is kitted to the brim with luxury and safety features. So it has the range topping Prado VX in its sights.
Stop! How can a Chinese maker ever match Toyota’s build-quality and, more specifically, the Land Cruiser’s perceived tough-as-nails credentials?
Well, moving in behind the H9’s steering wheel you quickly realise they came pretty close.
Goes like a tank
The H9 is a solid SUV and driving it leaves you with the tank-like feeling as with other vehicles of this size. You can feel there is more metal around and below you than what medium-sized SUVs have, an importantly – not a hint of hollowness.
Like others of this size, it is not a comfortable vehicle to drive in town and not something you want to parallel park in a busy street.
Haval only offers the H9 with one engine, a turbo-charged 2.0-litre, which I had serious doubts about. Surely a 2.0-litre does not have enough substance to move so much metal around efficiently? But to my delight I found that the turbo’d petrol’s 180kW and 350Nm are enough to travel at an agreeable pace in town and on the open road.
The German-engineered eight-speed automatic transmission knows which gear is needed at all times. Whilst cruising around, all I missed at times was the growl of a V6 under the bonnet. But then – for that growl you get taxed at the pumps, so if the 2.0-litre gets the job done, so be it…
Feature loaded
Inside the H9 is on par with the competition as far as trim quality, styling and features are concerned. All surfaces are either leather covered or soft-touch materials.
Both driver- and co-driver seats are fully electrical with ventilation and massage functions. The third row of seats (the H9 has seating for seven) folds electrically up or down to open up boot space or allow more passengers.
Cargo space can be adjusted from 480 litres to 600 litres to a whopping 1 440 litres with all the rear seats folded flat. The vehicle’s luxury feel is further accentuated by colour-adjustable ambient mood lighting.
An eight-inch colour touch screen in the big centre console is the key to features like Navigation, rear-view camera, an impressive sound system and smart-phone connectivity. However, the software is not Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible, but a fully electrical panoramic sunroom as standard kit makes up for it.
In the centre console, in front of the vast arm rest with its six pack-sized holder below, you will find the start button and the drive mode dial. Ahead of that is an array of USB ports and AUX sockets smartly hidden behind chrome-like covers. On top of the dash sits an LCD display which displays current altitude, a barometer reading, outside temperature and traveling direction and gradient.
As safe as can be
Like with luxury features, Haval did not hold back when fitting safety equipment to the H9: Front-, side- and curtain airbags, park sensors front and rear, a driver fatigue monitoring system, keyless start and keyless entry, car location function, tyre pressure monitoring system, cross-traffic alert, ABS and EBD, Traction Control, Stability Control, Electronic Park Brake, Brake Assist, Hill Start Assist, Hill Decent Control, a feature called Roll Movement Intervention and Lane Change Assist.
And of course there are the usual features like Cruise Control alongside an automatic headlight cleaning system, the latter controlled by the Adaptive Front Lighting System. As you can see, there’s not much its makers could fit into the H9.
Worth buying?
Haval sells the H9 for almost half the price of a similar sized and specced SUV. On its own, that’s already a big reason to consider the vehicle.
Will it be as tough as a Prado? Let’s be frank; only a handful of these go-anywhere SUVs actually ever see anything bumpier than a dirt road, spending 99% of the time in suburbs, so if you’re not Kingsley Holgate the H9 will do just fine.
There’s no doubt it’s built solid, and if you don’t believe what you read here, go look at what the Australian press say about the car.
