The Haval Jolion S is the SUV range's performance-orientated offering. Picture: Mark Jones
What you see here is the GWM SUV pair the Haval Jolion Pro S Ultra Luxury and Jolion Pro HEV Ultra Luxury Coupe.
Both cars are all-new, both are loaded with a full house of spec and luxury, both are competitively priced at R495 950 and R516 950 respectively, and you would be happy with either of them parked in your driveway.
Well, right up to the part where they offer somewhat polarising driving experiences thanks to the technology applied to their powertrains. Call it a battle of the old versus the new if you want. It’s internal combustion versus internal combustion combined with hybrid electric assistance.
You would think by adding some electric urge to a turbocharged engine would only make the drive better and faster. But that is not the case with these siblings. Let me tell you why I feel this way.
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Under the bonnet of both cars is the staple engine of the Chinese car manufacturers, a 1.5-litre turbo petrol unit. In the case of the Jolion Pro S, this engine is tuned to produce a decent 130kW of power and 270Nm of torque that is driven to the front wheels via seven-speed double clutch gearbox.
The Haval Jolion Pro HEV uses a two-speed a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT) to combine the same 1.5-litre turbo petrol to an onboard battery-fed electric motor that seamlessly switches between EV, Series Hybrid, Parallel Hybrid and Regeneration modes. This electrical assistance sees a little bump up in power to 140kW and the torque jump up a full 105Nm, to 375Nm, and this should result in a Haval Jolion with a bit more urge than one without the added spark.
But if you read the fine print, the Jolion Pro HEV weighs in a 100kg heavier than the Jolion Pro S because of the addition of the battery and electric motor. The extra power and torque on paper simply can’t overcome this extra weight.
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The Haval Jolion Pro S was off the line faster and outgunned its charged-up sibling during The Citizen Motoring‘s test by the quicker 0-100km/h time of 8.28 seconds to 8.49 seconds, and a 0-140km/h time of 16.31 seconds to 17.48 seconds.
It’s the same when it comes to the roll-on acceleration tests. While the Haval Jolion Pro HEV feels a bit faster when looking to overtake, and it is for a while, but then it’s as if the battery gives up and the car stops accelerating. The difference in the 60-140km/h time of 12.89 seconds to 22.17 seconds on the road is huge.
Which brings us to the actual crux of driving a hybrid and what it means to your pocket. The Jolion Pro S derivative returned a decent real world fuel consumption figure of 9.6 litres per 100km, while the Jolion Pro HEV came in with a number of 6.9L/100km.
A number I thought we could have improved on quite a bit if we spent more time in city traffic. But even if this was the case, I would personally opt for the Jolion Pro S as my better all-round choice.
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