Haval H1

Chinese cars usually are looked down upon here in Malaysia. The Haval H1, however, begs you to rethink that statement. The cabin seems well put together and will last quite a long time without any squeaks or rattles. The dashboard is done in grey and it’s pretty standard for all the trims. The steering wheel though feels a bit tacky to look at, especially with that Haval logo looking like an afterthought there. Manually adjustable front seats offer good bolstering though. Everything falls easily to the hand as well. While dashcams are increasingly becoming popular, a compact SUV offering it is something new. The resolution though could have been a tad better. The rear bench is a bit upright for three abreast but has enough leg and headroom thanks to the tall boy design. The boot space while not specified on the website or anywhere else seems good for 340 litres. Haval does offer a few storage spaces inside the cabin too. The touchscreen music system too seemed to lack the crispness as experienced in other cars. The speakers though are decent, however, if we were to buy this car, we will change the units to a better sounding one.

The manual we drove a couple of years ago didn’t have the Elite trim option while the AMT we’re driving today is the top-spec one. The bumpers at the front and back have been given a deeper colour and Go Auto who assemble the car here have made sure that there is also pretty much a decent feature list. This includes projector headlights, LED DRLs, and position lights, 16-inch alloy wheels of a different pattern, tint for the windows, a dash cam and an adjustable centre armrest. Pretty much, all the variants here are loaded when compared with the competition. For example, even the base Comfort trim has got 16-inch alloys, fog lights, halogen reflector headlamps, touchscreen infotainment system, fabric seats as well as reverse parking sensors. The car has a ground clearance of 186 mm and an approach angle of 22 degree and departure of 26. The tyre section is 205/60 R16. The Haval H1 measures 3,961 mm in length, 1,728 mm in width and 1,617 mm in height. This makes it a breeze to park as well.

The manufacturer has equipped the H1 compact SUV with McPherson type independent front suspension and a torsion beam at the rear. This set-up works well when the car is not fully loaded. It is set on the softer side and has a bit of body roll if you go a bit enthusiastically around the corners, That being said, in the traffic situation or when going over speed ruts, the SUV remains composed. The steering wheel though is Hyundai light and most of the times feels lifeless. The higher ground clearance means good all-around visibility too.

The Haval H1 SUV comes with a single engine and transmission combo. The  1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine is good for 105 PS of power and 138 Nm of torque. It is equipped with variable valve timing and the car comes with a seven year/unlimited mileage warranty. Attached to this engine is the 6-speed AMT. The Haval H1 lays claim to a mileage of 16.6 kmpl. The AMT has been tuned by Getrag transmissions and as is the case with cars equipped with such a transmission, there is a bit of lag when you accelerate hard and the gear shifts happen. The proper way to shift is to hear the engine note and when you feel it’s going to shift, slightly ease off the throttle. This way, the shifts become smoother and you won't feel the jerk too. We liked the way the motor manages to take this heavy SUV up to a speedo indicated 160 kmph. It is not a rev happy unit but does the job well in terms of sound insulation.

All the trims of the Haval H1 SUV now come with height adjustable front seats with pre-tensioners, four airbags, ISOFIX child seat mounts, traction control, ABS with EBD, Hill Start Assist and Brake Assist. Rear parking sensors and a camera are standard on the trim we are driving. In the ASEAN NCAP crash test, the Haval H1 received a four-star rating.