GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid 2024 Review

Available with petrol or hybrid power, you can hop into a 2024 GWM Haval Jolion for as little as $28,490 drive-away – or as much as $40,990 drive-away.

In this case, we’re at the pointy end of the scale, with the Jolion Ultra Hybrid tested here topping the range, priced at $41,485 drive-away by the time you’ve added its eye-catching Glacier Blue paint job ($495), a premium colour offered only on hybrid-powered Jolion models.

That pale blue i30 N-esque colour is rather handsome, and if you’re lucky like us, you’re bound to get a few compliments.

Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights with sequential daytime running lights (DRLs), a panoramic sunroof, keyless entry with push-button start, tinted windows, heated front seats, a colour head-up display, 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.3-inch central touch-screen with smartphone mirroring, AM/FM radio and Bluetooth.

In terms of safety, there’s a front centre airbag, blind spot monitoring, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, brake assist, forward collision warning, traffic sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection and more.

A powered tailgate, ventilated front seats and in-built satellite navigation are three omissions we would’ve liked to see at this price point.

Under the bonnet, petrol-electric versions of the Jolion are powered by a 70kW/125Nm 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine mated to a 110kW electric motor, good for a combined 139kW of power and 375Nm of torque.

Power is sent to the front wheels via a two-speed automatic transmission.

According to GWM, average fuel consumption is said to be 5.0L/100km on a combined cycle, while the 1530kg SUV is claimed to go from 0-100km/h in a respectable 8.2 seconds.

On paper, the 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid has all the key ingredients required to make a competitive compact SUV.

It’s genuinely pleasant to drive, thanks to light (albeit vague) steering, decent get-up-and-go from its hybrid powertrain and a reasonably well-sorted ride – not something that can be said about some vehicles coming out of China.

The Jolion Hybrid feels resolved around town and tackles bigger lumps and bumps with confidence and without throwing around your passengers (too much). There’s a sense of poise to the way it corners, but you don’t have to accelerate too hard out of a corner (or off the line) to send it into wheel-spinning mayhem.

A self-charging hybrid, there’s no need to worry about cables, but unlike some other hybrid cars (including the Toyota RAV4), there’s no specific button to allow you to drive in EV-only mode at low speeds.

Admittedly, though, it does a great job of making all the powertrain decisions, shifting seamlessly between petrol and electricity.

If you couldn’t hear the droning of the petrol engine or the almost imperceptible buzz of electricity, you’d hardly know how much power was generated by petrol, electricity, or both.

With a full tank of fuel, the instrument cluster shows circa-900km of range, and for a good while we thought the digital fuel gauge was faulty because it seemed like forever before the fuel bars started to drop.

But we couldn’t match GWM’s 5.0L/100km consumption claim and the only comprehendible figure we could get from the touch-screen’s various menus and sub-menus was 9.0L/100km and 4.1kWh/100km.

Still, much better than the other figures it gave us at various times: 1512.0L (and 5.8kWh), 1962.6L (and 5.9kWh), and our favourite, 22586.0L/100km (and 0.0kWh).

Clearly, some tech (or user) issues going on and we’ve reached out to GWM for an explanation.

It’s frustrating that you can’t view fuel consumption (beyond instantaneous numbers) on the instrument cluster, and diving into the convoluted graphs and tables in the touch-screen leaves you (or at least me) perplexed.

That aside, there’s loads of tech packed into an otherwise minimalist cabin, where there’s enough room for four average-sized adults to get around comfortably.

The second row offers plenty of legroom and headroom, even with that big panoramic sunroof, along with two USB-A ports, air vents, a centre arm rest and ISOFIX child seat anchorage points on the outboard seats.

There are quite a few little things that annoy in the 2024 GWM Haval Jolion, however, they won’t necessarily be deal-breakers for some.

For starters, you only get one full-size cup holder in the centre console, along with a smaller piccolo-sized space next to it. That means you’ll have to fight the front passenger if you’ve both ordered a large, iced latte… a common occurrence in our household.

Another gripe relates to the infotainment unit. The large 12.3-inch unit itself is clear and responsive, but it needs more shortcut buttons, or perhaps, more knobs/buttons/controls in general.

If you’re using Apple CarPlay for maps and you want to adjust the climate control, you can hit a shortcut button to take you to a climate menu, but there’s a lot of fiddling to get back to the CarPlay screen, which is both distracting and irritating.

Meanwhile, there’s only one way to control volume and that’s via buttons on the steering wheel, meaning unless they reach over and disturb the driver (dangerous), the front passenger can’t control the volume.

Other tech concerns include the (hit-and-miss) keyless entry. Some days it’s fine, while others will have you digging through several bags to find the key fob to unlock it manually. Ah, the good old days…

The budget-friendly pleather (faux leather) seats get extremely hot in the summer heat – due in part to a mesh sun blind, which doesn’t fully block out the sun – and with no seat ventilation, you end up sitting in a pool of sweat after a short while.

On the plus side, the dual-zone climate control cools the cabin quickly.

On the issue of quality control, the parcel tray in our tester also refused to stay in place because the looped strings that are supposed to hold it up don’t stay in place.

Elsewhere, the steering wheel (also faux leather) feels rather cheap underhand and the wheel itself can’t be adjusted for reach, just tilt, which is no good for those with short limbs.

In terms of driving the Jolion Ultra Hybrid, there isn’t much to complain about.

It’s effortless and surprisingly competent on the road, however low-speed manoeuvres are hindered by the inconsistent rotary gear selector that seems to require an unnecessary amount of brake force before it allows you to go from drive to reverse and vice versa. Three-point turns can be frustrating.

Another frustrating experience is the adaptive cruise control’s inconsistent performance, which will randomly slow down (below your set speed), particularly on multi-lane motorways, and with nothing (cars, bikes, trucks, pedestrians, birds) around.

Take a step back, and in overall terms the 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid is impressive.

An affordable, spacious yet compact SUV with a decent driving experience, great fuel economy around town and loads of technology – even if some of it needs work – are all things you can look forward to.

Not only is it relatively cheap to buy, it’s also affordable to service and run, backed by GWM’s generous seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty (battery covered for eight years/unlimited).

It’s not perfect, but nothing is, and this is an SUV that presents great value for money for those able to live with its quirks.

2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid at a glance:
Price: $40,990 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric
Output: 70kW/125Nm (electric motor: 110kW/250Nm)
Combined output: 139kW/375Nm
Transmission: Two-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 116g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)