A FEAST FROM THE EAST

Haval’s Jolion is making waves across the Indian and Atlantic

- Pawan Dhingara

Size is one of the Jolion’s many merits. Large enough to rub shoulders with a VW T-Cross, Hyundai Venue or Suzuki Vitara but you’re never likely to feel that it’s ‘too much car’ once you’ve dropped the kids off at school. It’s an SUV for those who desire a wedge of ground clearance and higher seating position rather than for bashing your way off-road.

Driving a Jolion around town is no more challenging than a medium-sized hatchback and you’ll be thankful for the bigger boot space and folding rear seats when those holiday reminders pop up on Google calendar.

Haval hasn’t been around long enough to have established its own visual identity so I still find myself struggling to make any meaningful associations or comparisons. Sometimes the styling can appear a bit muddled, as if they’ve taken influence from too many examples, but actual inspection of build quality confirms that it is impressively put together and quickly rejects any suspicion that the affordable price is down to inferior assembly. Every part from the alloy wheels, rubber seals to the neat subtle integration of cameras and sensors helped unite our trust in the product and advocate it to others.

It’s a gentle thing out on the road. The Jolion weighs up a variety of conditions and driving styles and treats them all with a sensible and balanced approach - without any obvious vices. It mirrors many likable tenets of the Mitsubishi Eclipse we recently tested: Calm, Soothing, Friendly.