Pair skating: a hybrid crossover and a minivan have arrived in Russia
Despite the difficult situation on the Russian car market, the Chinese carmaker GAC has brought two new models to our country at once: the GS8 Dragon HEV full-size hybrid crossover and the four-seat business version of the M8 minivan, which received the Lounge prefix. The Izvestia correspondent found out how these models are able to win over Russian buyers.
"Greenery" from the East
Despite the fact that in China, the hybrid version of the GS8 full-size crossover debuted one-dimensionally with gasoline back in 2021, in Russia, until recently, only a modification of this car with an internal combustion engine was presented. The model with the HEV prefix became the first hybrid of this Chinese brand in our market.
The interior of the GAC GS8 Dragon HEV looks monumental and massive
The model with the "green" power plant differs from its gasoline counterpart by a modified front bumper and a giant radiator grille, the pattern of which is stylized as dragon scales. The hybrid version can also be identified by the presence of a diffuser in the center of the rear bumper. But it's useless to look for an additional hatch behind which the charging connector is hidden: the GS8 Dragon HEV does not provide an opportunity to replenish the battery from an external power source.
The hybrid power plant is the result of the joint work of Chinese and Japanese engineers. It was created in close cooperation with Toyota, one of the pioneers of green technologies. Chinese and Japanese automakers have been cooperating for a long time: there is a joint venture in China that produces Japanese-made cars for the domestic market.
Under the hood of the GS8 is a two-liter gasoline turbo engine with a capacity of 190 hp and a 183-horsepower electric motor. They transmit the torque to the front wheels of the car through the proprietary Toyota electromechanical variator THS (Toyota Hybrid System). This transmission is known for a number of Toyota and Lexus hybrid models. Another electric motor with a capacity of 54 "horses" rotates the rear wheels. Thus, the total peak power of all three engines is 427 hp.
The Fast Giant
This "trio" accelerates the almost five-meter colossus well: the hybrid GS8 accelerates to 100 km/ h in 6.9 seconds. Moreover, acceleration occurs smoothly, but aggressively. There are no bumps or kicks: in response to pressing the accelerator pedal, the crossover confidently rushes forward with a slight delay at the start, significantly pressing the driver's body into the seat. By the way, there are seven chairs here: if desired, they can be "fished out" from the depths of the trunk with the help of electric drives.
The crossover chassis copes well with the roughness of the road without annoying excessive shaking. However, you have to pay for comfort with noticeable car rolls in turns.
The GAC GS8 Dragon HEV will accelerate to 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds.
During the test drive, the organizers offered to test the off-road capabilities of the car on a broken dirt road winding through the woods. Thanks to the 19-centimeter ground clearance, the GS8 effortlessly coped with large potholes and protruding roots of century-old pines, without ever hitting the bottom of the bumper on the ground. Of course, it makes no sense to climb on a serious Off-road in this car: the large mass, impressive dimensions and the absence of any off-road assistants such as differential lock or downshift do not allow this crossover to be called a "crook." However, light off-road driving is quite tough for him. For greater confidence, you can use one of several off-road driving modes, which change the settings of the power plant, transmission, and anti-slip and anti-lock systems.
It's all about benefits
In terms of traction battery capacity (6 Ah), the GS8 Dragon HEV is slightly ahead of smartphone batteries. At the same time, according to the automaker, it is about a third more economical than its gasoline counterpart — the claimed fuel consumption of the crossover is 7.8 liters per 100 km. But these are official data obtained at the landfill in greenhouse conditions. After a test trip, the car's on—board computer showed a result of 10.2 liters, which, taking into account frequent sudden starts, prolonged pushing in Nizhny Novgorod traffic jams and high speed on the highway, is quite a decent result for a seven-seat five-meter crossover with a mass of more than 2 tons.
The hybrid crossover is more expensive than its gasoline counterpart by almost 1.3 million rubles.
Abroad, for example in China, the main value for the hybrid owner is far from its fuel efficiency. The main interest is in the benefits and bonuses that special green numbers give on cars with a fully electric or hybrid power plant. And this means cheaper, or even completely free parking, the opportunity to enter certain areas of cities where access to models with internal combustion engines is limited.
In Russia, certain benefits are provided (and not everywhere) only for electric cars. Owners of hybrid models are deprived of any bonuses and preferences. Therefore, this segment of cars is still small: last year, hybrids accounted for only 4% of all new cars sold in our country.
Report from the trunk
The second new product introduced in our market is the premium version of the M8 Lounge model. In fact, this is already a well-known GAC M8 minivan. From a technical point of view, the Lounge version is a copy of the regular M8. Under the hood is exactly the same tandem of a two-liter gasoline turbo engine with a capacity of 231 hp and an eight-speed Aisin automatic. The main difference is in the passenger cabin.
Externally, the premium Lounge version does not differ from the usual GAC M8 minivan
If in a regular minivan, in addition to the driver's and front passenger's seats, there are two more rows of seats, then there are only two passenger seats on the Lounge version. But which ones! Installed practically in the trunk of the car, they will give a head start to seats in the business class of other aircraft in their comfort and functionality.
The passenger cabin has only two separate armchairs with massage, ventilation, heating and a wide range of electrical adjustments.
A wide range of adjustments, including "decoy" (of course, everything, including the height of the headrest, is adjusted using electric drives), several types of massage, heating, ventilation... Each seat can be fully unfolded, turning it into a single bed. Each of the passengers has a "personal" wireless charging for a smartphone, USB connectors and tables.
A full-fledged partition with glass is installed between the driver's "cabin" and the passenger compartment, which can be made opaque or completely removed at the request of the VIP passenger. A full-fledged LCD monitor is pushed out of this partition with a "second layer", which, together with 13 speakers, makes it possible to watch movies like in a real cinema. A mini-bar with a refrigerator capable of maintaining temperatures up to -10 °C is built into the partition. This is accompanied by a ceiling with a starry sky backlight, air aromatization and individual climate control. All this splendor is controlled by a touchscreen LCD display located between the seats.
The electromagnetic suspension is responsible for comfort, which, in theory, should protect VIP riders as much as possible from the slightest shaking. But either the driver didn't figure out the settings of this chassis, or the bumps somewhere on a secondary road in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod Gorodets turned out to be too much for the fancy suspension - the rear of the premium Chinese minivan rocked and shook very noticeably.
The difference between the regular GAC M8 and the Lounge version is about 2 million rubles.
The longitudinal waves in the asphalt were particularly annoying, during which the rear suspension of the car made two or three more damping vibrations. The shock absorbers managed to dampen the rocking of the body with a triple.
Piece-by-piece goods
Hybrids and premium special versions are, of course, more expensive than regular gasoline cars and simple minivans. GAC GS8 Dragon HEV and M8 Lounge are no exception. The hybrid crossover is more expensive than its gasoline counterpart by almost 1.3 million rubles (4.1 million rubles for the simplest GS8 with internal combustion engine versus 5.4 million rubles for the HEV version). As for the minivan, the difference between the simple and elite version is even greater — about 2 million rubles. However, GAC does not expect these modifications to become widespread, and they will find their buyers anyway.
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