It’s a very smart looker. Photo: James Coleman.
The sceptics would pass it off as that psychological illusion that once you notice something, you notice it everywhere.
Science calls it the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or the frequency illusion.
“Cognitive bias in which someone learns a novel word or concept and then ‘suddenly’ encounters it everywhere, whereas in fact it is just more salient because it has been recently observed,” is how Psychology Today defines it.
But I know what I see. Havals. Everywhere. Every traffic light I pull up to. Every shopping centre carpark I enter. There will be a Haval, leering at me like a Cheshire cat.
I’m probably imagining that last bit. But Havals – and particularly the mid-size H6 model – seem to be China’s version of the Toyota RAV4. You know the car that sells so well, there was a period where there was a two-year wait on new ones.
So, what’s the allure?
What is it?
Haval is essentially a sub-brand of Great Wall Motors (GWM), alongside Ora for EVs, Cannon for utes, Tank for 4WDs, and, most recently, Wey for luxury people-movers and SUVs.
Haval’s focus is on the everyday people’s SUV.
The Jolion is the small one, the H6 GT the sporty one – for people who like a touch of Lamborghini-Urus-esque copyright infringement – but the title of best seller goes to the middle-of-the-range H6.
There are turbo petrol and milder hybrid versions available, but late last year, GWM overhauled the cabin and tech, tweaked the styling and handling, and added a new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) to the mix.
The front-wheel-drive Lux PHEV starts at $47,990, but I’m in the top-of-the-line Ultra PHEV for this test, which adds a second electric motor to the rear axle for all-wheel drive and starts at $50,990.
On the plus side, the interior is a massive upgrade on the previous model. Photo: James Coleman.
What’s it like to live with?
It is a lot better to drive than the old one. However … The brake pedal is spongy.
The steering feels like it’s mounted with rubber bands.
The suspension thuds over small bumps and wallows in corners.
The turning circle is gargantuan.
It smells like a Sharpie inside.
It feels the need to interrupt your music or conversation to tell you the car is about to fog up and “the air-conditioning has been adjusted accordingly”.
As icing on the cake, the indicator sounds like someone tapping a chalkboard.
Much of this was a bit disappointing for a brand that has taken over Holden’s old test track in Victoria, Lang-Lang, and has hired ex-Holden chassis-tuning guru Rob Trubiani expressly to improve its cars for Australia.
But none of it really bothered me.
Maybe because of how relieving it is to gad about town without using any fuel at the moment.
The Haval’s PHEV system gives you an electric driving range of about 100 km – plenty for me to get to and from work, and then to Costco for a hot dog and a drink. All up, GWM claims a range of over 1000 km. Lovely.
It’s very smooth about it, too. Crane my neck towards the bonnet all I could, I had no way of telling when the petrol engine intervened.
But there’s also just how much the Haval offers you.
The battery does eat into the boot, but there is still so much space. I easily got three kiddie seats across the rear bench with room to spare – which is like saying it swallowed three recliners.
There are things that make little difference. Like the ‘Sports’ steering setting, which just adds more rubber bands to make it feel heavier.
But a few weeks ago, I was crowing about a new Audi that displayed your Apple Maps right there on the screen in front of you. This $50 K Haval does it too.
Then there are the heated and ventilated front seats, the sprawling sunroof, the option to ramp up the regenerative braking so you can drive it with one pedal, and a ‘Nap’ mode for when you want to use the car at work for a quick kip.
The new-generation Toyota RAV4 starts from $45,990 for the base hybrid, with the cheapest PHEV at $58,840. And you won’t get half of what the Haval offers.
The Haval is one of the cheapest tickets into a PHEV. Photo: James Coleman.
The verdict
But you will get resale value with a Toyota. That’s really the only card established Japanese and South Korean brands can play on many of these new Chinese entrants. The market has yet to decide their value when the warranty expires.
That said, with the Haval, you will have a good seven years (and unlimited kilometres), and a separate eight-year warranty for the battery.
The H6 PHEV also costs less than MG’s equivalent, the HS PHEV, and both are more affordable than the other PHEV favourite, the Mitsubishi Outlander.
Its only real rival then is the $39,990 Geely Starray EM-i, which is probably the better drive. But only offers about 80 km of electric range.
And right now, electric range is everything.
2026 Haval H6 Ultra PHEV
- $50,990 (plus driveaway costs)
- 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo-petrol, 2 electric motors, 268 kW / 760 Nm
- 2-speed automatic, all-wheel drive (AWD)
- 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds
- 100 km estimated electric range, 1000 km estimated total range
- 1.1 litres / 100 km claimed average fuel consumption
- 1980 kg.
Thanks to GWM Australia for providing this car for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with GWM Australia.
Original Article published by James Coleman on Region Canberra.
