Haval H6 Lux 2016 Review

Haval H6 Lux
Local Launch
Yarra Valley, Victoria

Haval will enter Australia's biggest and most competitive SUV segment – mid-sizers – with its all-new H6 in November. Set to rival popular medium SUVs like the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-TRAIL – and joining the Chinese SUV brand's local line-up alongside the H2, H8 and H9 -- the H6 will be available in two specs priced from $29,990 drive-away, Here we test the Haval H6 LYX ($33,990 drive-away).

I wasn’t born when the first Japanese cars lobbed in Australia; I was barely out of school when the first Korean cars arrived. Motoring journalists back then were suspicious of the newcomers and their ability to do the job.

Fast-forward to 2016 and it’s the newcomer Chinese vehicles that are getting the leary eye. Until Haval arrived a year ago, we only had Chinese commercials and the odd Euro car (the Volkswagen Polo sedan, for example) built in the People’s Republic of China.

So how does the Haval H6 stack up?

For starters, the LUX’s cabin looks... luxurious. The Audi-like satin-silver vent surrounds and door-handles, the soft-touch material on the dash top, the gloss pale grey woodgrain-look applique on the dash and centre console give a good first impression. The synthetic leather seats didn’t look or feel like fakes. The H6’s fit and finish inside and out were pretty good, if not quite Audi standard.

The H6 has all the bells, if not the whistles. In fact, if it whistled, it would be blessed relief. There’s a chime on start-up, to remind you to put on your seat belt (the electric handbrake won’t release if you disobey the chime, and there's another chime to remind you that it won’t).

When adjusting cruise control speed there was a chime every time. It’d be great if you could at least vary the chimes, maybe even set it up to run through the different ones like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. If Haval takes that on board, you can thank me.

There was no fumbling getting used to the dash and centre console controls, with most labelled clearly in large type for the longsighted. The multitude of steering wheel buttons were more concentrated and smaller, but you’d soon get used to stabbing at the right one.

Front seats are not the hug-you-tight kind, but are shaped well enough to settle into with a fair bit of comfort. There’s plenty of adjustment with the powered seat and rake/reach steering wheel to get into your preferred piloting position.

Vision out of the H6 is pretty good to the front and sides, despite the thick A-pillars, while the rear three-quarter and view out the back... well, design won over practicality there...

Up front, there are two drink holders on the centre console, and one in each of the door pockets. A glovebox big enough for several pairs of driving gloves is complimented by a deep, lidded centre compartment, which houses a USB port, SD card slot and 3.5mm jack.

For those who can appreciate a retro touch when they see it, there’s an ashtray and cigarette lighter tucked under a flip-up lid at the base of the centre stack. Sadly, there was no government health warning sticker: if Haval introduces such a feature, again, you know who thought of it.

Rear-seat outboard passengers have a comfortable seat and ample head and leg room. The floor is almost completely flat back there, so the shuffle across for the centre occupant isn’t the bear of a job it is with a transmission hump, and foot room is not bad. The centre seat actually gets some padding and the seat is flat enough to make it almost comfortable.

Of course, it’s going to be really tight for three adults back there, but at least they can keep their cool with vents in the back of the centre console. There are door pockets with drink holders, and a centre armrest with two flip-up lids, one revealing two drink holders, the other a small storage compartment.

The cargo area has a temporary spare stored under the load floor. One light on the right hand-side wall sheds feeble light on the boot space, while on the opposite wall is a 12-volt accessory socket.

Strapping in a child seat or capsule can be a nightmare in some vehicles, but here the nappy-wearing little people among us get a good secured chair in the back. Two outboard child seat tether points are fitted at about mid-point on the seat back, while the centre tether is on headliner panel.

The 2.0-litre turbo transverse four is a smooth and refined engine, but it’s playing in a small band. It redlines at 5500rpm and with full throttle the double-clutch transmission proves quick and smooth, upshifting at about 5200rpm -- where peak power is delivered.

The H6 accelerates strongly at lower speeds, but it doesn’t feel quick. To keep 100km/h showing on a long highway hill, you’ve got the right foot almost buried to the floor. That was two-up, with barely any luggage...

The paddle shifters seemed too small and they lacked enough movement to make you feel confident that the gear you want has been engaged.

We couldn’t get confirmed kerb weight figures at the time of writing, but a flip through one of the owner’s manuals revealed that the lightest H6 is 1725kg. So it’s got the power, but it’s also carrying around 300kg more than its competitors.

The front-wheel drive H6 LUX rode well on the 19-inch tyres and suspension was well-controlled, if a bit on the soft side. Steering was just woeful; there's next to no feel and not much happens when you tip into a corner. It was weird -- as if it was low geared for the first part of steering ratio and then higher geared from then on.

The H6’s handling wasn’t as bad as its steering. The Chinese-made Cooper tyres gripped well enough to let the front-end understeer progressively and hitting bumps mid-corner didn’t upset the H6 as much as we expected.

The annoying thing about this SUV when driving even just a bit quickly is its wont to light up the hazards for three or four flashes every time you brake or turn. Maybe I should drive more smoothly, or perhaps Haval could instead install a sensor that activates the hazards every time the driver tries to text on the phone. Yep, you heard about it here first...

The Haval H6 is a pretty good first try at a medium SUV, with good fit and finish, decent comfort and features (except the lack of sat-nav) and a pretty good powertrain. To improve enough to better compete there needs to be more time spent on engineering the steering to make it feel less numb and vague.

Oh, and a software programmer to fiddle with the hazard light and chime quirks.

2016 Haval H6 LUX pricing and specifications:
Price: $33,990 drive-away
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 145kW/315Nm
Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 9.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 227g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A

Also consider:
>> Mazda CX-5 (from $27,190 plus ORCs)
>> Nissan X-TRAIL (from $27,990 plus ORCs)
>> Toyota RAV4 (from $27,990 plus ORCs)