Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


xpd

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#311700 8-Feb-2024 07:03
Send private message

We finally bit the bullet a bought a new car.....  a 2023 Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid.

 

Went into GWM North Shore on Monday, had a(nother) look at them, got talking to a sales rep who just happened to be cleaning out a demo model with 400km on it. That particular car was about to be put on the lot for sale at a discount, so we took it for a spin and liked it.

 

Even at full price, you get a lot of car for the money really - lights and buttons everywhere :) Only thing it does not have built in, is GPS, so relies on your phone (Apple and Android support).

 

Boot space is smaller than what our 2010 Mazda Premacy has, but does the job for road trips (without the dog). 

 

Hardly notice the transition between the electric and petrol engines, which is nice - other hybrids I've driven, its really noticeable. 

 

So we took it....  came out with it for $32k - after a $3.5k trade in with my Lafesta - which blew me away, didn't think they'd offer that much for it.

 

Heading away for a big road trip in March, so will see how the fuel consumption goes then :)

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3
Batman
Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3192230 8-Feb-2024 07:11
Send private message

correct me if i'm wrong - i looked at these but needed AWD - these are 2WD only yes?




xpd

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3192231 8-Feb-2024 07:13
Send private message

Batman:

 

correct me if i'm wrong - i looked at these but needed AWD - these are 2WD only yes?

 

 

This model, correct. FWD

 

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


Johnk
832 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3192232 8-Feb-2024 07:14
Send private message

Nice! 
I looked at one of the earlier models a year or two ago. I was keen to purchase, but the boss at home denied said purchase haha. 

 

Those seats on the new model look mighty comfortable! 




xpd

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3192236 8-Feb-2024 07:49
Send private message

Johnk:

 

Nice! 
I looked at one of the earlier models a year or two ago. I was keen to purchase, but the boss at home denied said purchase haha. 

 

Those seats on the new model look mighty comfortable! 

 

 

Very comfy, nice support :)

 

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


sen8or
1787 posts

Uber Geek


  #3192238 8-Feb-2024 08:03
Send private message

They are a very nice car to drive, a few things you can do - 

 

Turn off the driver awareness monitor (its in the advanced settings somewhere), bings and bongs at you just for glancing at the mirrors etc, very annoying.

 

You can turn down the noise on the other alerts (lane keep etc), you can turn these off, but you need to do it everytime you drive (if it annoys you), you can't do it permanently, otherwise you can minimise the noise in the sound settings.

 

To quick access some of the other settings (heated seats, sport / eco mode), swipe right from the left of the infotainment screen, this gives you a few instant buttons rather than having to scroll through menus to get to them.

 

In a mix of innercity and open road driving, I was averaging about 5.1l/100ks, broadly 900kms to a tank which I thought was pretty decent.

 

Hope you enjoy your new car.


BlakJak
1275 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #3196031 15-Feb-2024 21:54
Send private message

All that bulk and it's 2WD?

 

 

I'll be interested in feedback-over-time about why an SUV platform without the most obvious advantage of an SUV (4WD) is more practical than a car. Genuinely.

 

 

There's something to be said for having something which is that new. Enjoy it.




No signature to see here, move along...

xpd

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3196033 15-Feb-2024 22:07
Send private message

Most "SUV"'s are 2WD these days. Pay through the nose for one with 4WD new these days :D

 

And while you can argue 4WD can be a lot safer to drive, you have to be driving like a complete moron to get into trouble with this thing with the amount of safety stuff it has. :)

 

We looked at wagons etc, but very few manufacturers build a station wagon these days, and those that do, charge nicely for it. I prefer wagons over SUV's, but this was a good choice. 

 

Taking it for a good run to Napier next month, be interesting to see its consumption etc :)

 

So far, we've driven 400km, and its still showing 500km range left with our current driving. 900km out of a full tank around town primarily, I can live with that.

 

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

gzt

gzt
17104 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #3196038 15-Feb-2024 22:43
Send private message

BlakJak: All that bulk

Not that much. Kerb Weight is sensible 1530kg

sen8or
1787 posts

Uber Geek


  #3196061 16-Feb-2024 07:56
Send private message

The Jolion looks a lot bigger than it actually is. I had to either put down the back seats to get my golf clubs & trundler in the boot, or remove the woods as there wasn't enough boot width for them (I know, 1st world problems).

 

When I was buying my own car a few years ago, I figured if I was going to get something that looked like a 4wd (SUV), it was damned well going to have it, so I went for a CX5 AWD with diesel engine. Was a great car to drive, could feel the AWD at times, but in the 18 months or so of owning it, only ever drove on 1 gravel road where it was maybe beneficial, other than that, made virtually nil difference. Theres still a part of me that thinks they should behave / be engineered as they look, but thats just not the case for the Remuera/Merivale/Other Rich Suburb tractors that they are now.


Handle9
11386 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3196062 16-Feb-2024 07:57
Send private message

BlakJak: All that bulk and it's 2WD?

I'll be interested in feedback-over-time about why an SUV platform without the most obvious advantage of an SUV (4WD) is more practical than a car. Genuinely.

There's something to be said for having something which is that new. Enjoy it.


Most SUVs are AWD not 4WD. AWD has some advantages but it’s not a permanent 4WD system. In many AWD systems you are driving almost exclusively with power on 2 wheels.

alasta
6701 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Subscriber

  #3196083 16-Feb-2024 08:44
Send private message

I can understand why traditional ladder frame SUVs are a nuisance, but I don't get the endless hate towards car based 'SUVs'.

 

Why did I buy a CX-30 over a Mazda3? Because the latter doesn't have enough interior space and is prone to scraping lower trim.

 

Why did I buy a CX-30 over a Mazda6? Because the latter has a much bigger footprint on the road and is an aging product that looks set to be discontinued. 


Handsomedan
7281 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Subscriber

  #3196098 16-Feb-2024 09:11
Send private message

xpd:

 

We finally bit the bullet a bought a new car.....  a 2023 Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid.

 

Went into GWM North Shore on Monday, had a(nother) look at them, got talking to a sales rep who just happened to be cleaning out a demo model with 400km on it. That particular car was about to be put on the lot for sale at a discount, so we took it for a spin and liked it.

 

Even at full price, you get a lot of car for the money really - lights and buttons everywhere :) Only thing it does not have built in, is GPS, so relies on your phone (Apple and Android support).

 

Boot space is smaller than what our 2010 Mazda Premacy has, but does the job for road trips (without the dog). 

 

Hardly notice the transition between the electric and petrol engines, which is nice - other hybrids I've driven, its really noticeable. 

 

So we took it....  came out with it for $32k - after a $3.5k trade in with my Lafesta - which blew me away, didn't think they'd offer that much for it.

 

Heading away for a big road trip in March, so will see how the fuel consumption goes then :)

 

 

 

 

Before I ended up changing jobs and getting a company car (RAV4 Hybrid), I got very close to dropping the hammer on a petrol version of one of these. 

 

When I saw they'd come out with a hybrid, I did wonder how much better it would be from a fuel consumption perspective, as the standard model was a 1.5T at the time. 

 

Reading some of these comments, it looks like it's a very good choice for an efficient small/medium SUV. 

 

What's the interior like? Materials when I was looking were pretty nice and easily on par with a Hyundai or Kia of similar size and style. 
They were using a man-made leather-like material called Comfort-Tek or something at the time - not sure what they use now (it's been a couple of years). 





Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

 

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale 

 

 

 

*Gladly accepting donations...


xpd

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3196119 16-Feb-2024 10:32
Send private message

Quite nice interior, people think its leather but its not, still their Comfort-Tek. Seating is comfortable, plenty of leg space for front and rear. USB ports for rear passengers (the kids are over the moon with this). 

 

Two things I find frustrating so far, is the lack of ability to move the steering wheel in/out (up/down fine), and the touch screen controls can be bit of a stretch for certain things from the drivers side. But all survivable :)

 

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


Handsomedan
7281 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Subscriber

  #3196122 16-Feb-2024 10:41
Send private message

xpd:

 

Quite nice interior, people think its leather but its not, still their Comfort-Tek. Seating is comfortable, plenty of leg space for front and rear. USB ports for rear passengers (the kids are over the moon with this). 

 

Two things I find frustrating so far, is the lack of ability to move the steering wheel in/out (up/down fine), and the touch screen controls can be bit of a stretch for certain things from the drivers side. But all survivable :)

 

 

 

 

Those two frustrations were picked up on a YT video review I saw from a chap in Sth Africa  - thought they would've addressed both of those by now, but I guess that's how you keep the price point sweet - small compromises that are largely trivial. 





Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

 

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale 

 

 

 

*Gladly accepting donations...


alasta
6701 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Subscriber

  #3196124 16-Feb-2024 10:44
Send private message

It'll be interesting to see what the customer support is like longer term. One of the reasons I have stuck with Mazda is that their after sales support has been excellent, but I suspect the Chinese brands will also be making a good effort in that domain as they work to build up mainstream credibility. 


 1 | 2 | 3
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.