After driving The Driver's Pai purchased the Shadow Leopard J15 version, we replaced the Michelin PS4 tires of the sports bag, and also upgraded the computer program of the engine ECU and the transmission TCU, and now this Shadow Leopard is a real "complete body".
So, in the sports home market in 2022, in the face of the joint venture control benchmark Honda Civic and the comfort benchmark Toyota Asiaticus, is Shadow Leopard going to win back a city for its own brand, or is it really as the Internet says that it is "wasted"? We hired two former vehicle subjective evaluation engineers who had worked in large factories, Aaron and Xiaopeng. Through the perspective of a subjective dynamic engineer, we examine the dynamic handling performance and chassis comfort of the three cars - who is the comprehensive king of both handling and comfort.
● Practical performance looks at the space, and the Asiatic Lion is worthy of being the benchmark of the family car
Of course, as the "light of domestic goods", it is not a simple thing for Shadow Leopard to challenge the joint venture brand rival, let's first take a look at the spatial practicality of these three cars.
If you want to show the home attributes of the sports car, the back space performance is more convincing than the configuration, after all, the sports car can be welcomed in the domestic market, but also because the practicality is not lost to the ordinary family car.
In fact, the shadow leopard's rear leg space performance is not bad, after all, the wheelbase of the Civic is only 2700mm, and the bulge of the central platform of the rear row is not high, and there will be no problem in the middle position, and the sports car can have such a spatial performance, which is already good. It is also worth mentioning that the rear row of the Shadow Leopard is equipped with three independent headrests, which is very generous in configuration, such as the rear air conditioner outlet and USB charging interface are not omitted, and the clasp hand on the door panel can also put the mobile phone.
Looking at the rear of the Civic, its rear legroom performance is slightly different from the Shadow Leopard ratio, but it also provides the rear air conditioner outlet and USB charging interface. The most reflective of the gap between the two cars is the style and material of the seats, and the Civic is obviously not as detailed as the Shadow Leopard.
Of course, when it comes to the seat material, we think that the three are more comfortable or Asiatic lions, the thickness of the foam cotton will not appear too hard, and at the same time there is a certain degree of support, and the length of the cushion is also in place. Of course, one of the main selling points of the Asiatic Lion is the rear comfort, the 2750mm wheelbase is not covered, the rear row has more than 2 punches of legs, in fact, the back performance of the Asiatic Lion has been regarded as the ceiling of the A-class car.
● Acceleration: Shadow Leopard dual clutch is a plus, Civic limited CVT gearbox
After the test drive, Aaron believes that the first impression of driving the shadow leopard is that whether it is the body sensation or objective data, its acceleration sense is already the top level in the same price range model. Switch the driving mode to S+ and use the ejection start, not only the instrument will show "the ejection start is ready", at this time the matching of the traction control system is also well adjusted, all the torque release is reflected in the tire grip, even if the PS4 tire is replaced, the shadow leopard in addition to the slight tire scratching at the start, in exchange for the acceleration of the back feeling is quite powerful.
Xiaopeng is more aware of the Civic and Asiatic Lions two models with CVT stepless transmissions, one is a turbine, one is a natural inhalation, the actual acceleration feeling is completely different.
First of all, the Civic, 1.5T has obvious turbo intervention into the process of entering the torque platform, the low torque performance before 3000rpm is not good enough, or it may be the physical characteristics of the CVT itself, more than 3000rpm will have obvious torque emergence, which is also the main reason why the Civic acceleration performance is not as good as the Shadow Leopard.
Asiatic Lions appeared relatively flat throughout the acceleration process, with the advantage that the engine noise was not large, very linear and predictable, and there was no flashpoint to speak of. It's basically a grocery shopping cart that doesn't give you any feeling of exercise at all.
● Braking: Shadow Leopard PS4 tires are the heroes, and the Civic sports base emerges
After trying three cars, Aaron believes that the sensory experience undoubtedly ranks first in the shadow leopard. First of all, the brake foot sensation of the Shadow Leopard and Civic is relatively linear, the front, middle and rear sections of the braking stroke are evenly distributed, and the braking power path is also very uniform. In addition, the release of braking force by the brake pedal is a process of gradual increase, which is very controllable and easy for the driver to grasp the braking distance. In contrast, the Asiatic Lion's front brake has a significant empty stroke, and the action of the tire feedback to the foot is also unable to grasp the ground, which is a world of difference compared to the PS4 sports street tires equipped with the Shadow Leopard.
● Bumpy road section: Asiatic lions are comfortable, and shadow leopard chassis has texture
Through the test of the bumpy road section, Aaron believes that the shadow leopard can fully meet the daily home comfort needs, although the comfort adjustment is not a full score, but the chassis texture is not inferior to the Japanese competitors of the same level, and even some characteristics are at the leading level.
Compared with the slightly soft setting of the suspension front section of the Civic, the comfort of the Shadow Leopard chassis will be more performance-oriented, with sufficient support during intense driving. But after all, shadow leopard also has a home positioning needs, so the comfort feeling has not been completely lost, in terms of the standard of family cars, it is still a good level, but the use of 225 specifications of tires, as well as excellent performance in sport, at the same time will have a certain impact on comfort. Overall, the shadow leopard's chassis suspension performance can give people the feeling of leapfrogging, impact flexibility, and strong body integrity.
Xiaopeng said that because the suspension stroke of the Asiatic Lion is the longest of the three vehicles, it can show the advantages of pure family car positioning in the bumpy road section, while the suspension of the TNGA platform reflects a delicate sense of daily transportation scene, and emphasizes the filter performance of the small bumps and fine fragments. The Chassis performance of the Civic is just between the two cars, which is the one that takes into account the best balance between sports and home, and the sound insulation performance of the chassis is impressive, in short, the new Civic has a better overall sense of chassis body, and the "scattered" feeling of the previous generation model has been significantly improved.
● Unequal distance around the pile: Civic is brainless, The Asiatic lion is only suitable for walking, and the shadow leopard is a professional athlete at a glance
In the "unequal distance winding test from 18 meters to 14 meters", the motion genes of the shadow leopard were further amplified. To Xiaopeng's surprise, its steering system uses a rare DP-EPS of the same level, the pointing accuracy is excellent, and the power of the steering machine is large enough. In the fast and fierce steering, the body dynamics of the Shadow Leopard are very "obedient", the tail followability is also good, and the coordination with the driver's intention is relatively smooth. Just like a professional athlete who has been trained for a long time, he does not need to think through the brain, and the conditioned reflex can make a free body coordination.
In terms of steering, Aaron feels that the Civic has a strong electronic flavor, even if the directivity is very precise, but the gain with speed and angle is too flat. From the overall dynamics, the Civic will show a slight push head feeling earlier, but the body dynamics are more controllable, giving the driver a clear and clear feeling of the chassis limit. The most obvious place for the Civic to reflect the handling is that it has the lowest sitting posture of the three cars, and even the body can perceive that the roll is not small. Overall, Civic is a "novice car" that is very suitable for people who have just taken a driver's license, and the chassis limit is very "fat", even if it is brainless, it is difficult to get out of control.
As for the steering of the Asiatic lion, in fact, in Xiaopeng's eyes, it has a very sporty car feeling, with the speed with the angle of the gain change is obvious, and relatively smooth, very suitable for daily commuting driving. Although the response of the front of the car to the steering is very fast, the steering feel of the Asiatic Lion has a clear sense of stickiness, so compared with the Shadow Leopard and civic, the Asiatic Lion has no sense of communication in the steering feel, which is a very home-oriented car, of course, this is also in line with the positioning of the Asiatic Lion pure home.
In the final horizontal evaluation test, the Asiatic lion's suspension adjustment calibration in the extreme state was a bit wrong, if the uneven distance around the pile at a speed of 60km/h, the Asiatic lion had the risk of throwing its tail out of control in the process of the second swing. Moreover, the feedback of the body dynamics is more strange, and the rear axle shows a clear sense of bounce, giving the driver a lack of confidence. So it can be confirmed again that Asiatic Lion is more suitable for very conventional daily transportation driving, and slowly enjoy the driving texture brought by the TNGA architecture.
● Shadow Leopard software update, which has significantly improved daily driving
For our Shadow Leopard, the most obvious change in drivability, Xiaopeng believes that there are also updates to the transmission TCU and engine ECUs. The new version of the software can remember the last driving mode, while also increasing the low-speed creep torque, improving the torque accuracy of the dual-clutch transmission in the semi-linkage state. In other words, although the Shadow Leopard will still swoop when starting at low speed, at least it will not have a lot of double-clutch back and forth rushing and shaking. The shadow leopard's power output becomes more heeled when moving the car at low speeds, which makes those novice owners who have only recently obtained a driver's license more trust in the performance of this gearbox.
Driver's Summary:
The price difference between Shadow Leopard and joint venture products such as Civic and Asiatic Lion is about 30,000 yuan, but the mechanical quality brought by it is close to or even almost the same. Especially in terms of sporty handling, Shadow Leopard is significantly more sporty from the subjective driving experience, more like the performance of a sports car. On the other hand, the rear space performance brought by the 2736mm wheelbase of the Shadow Leopard is also in line with the mainstream level of domestic A-class cars, and it is comparable to rivals such as Civic and Asian Dragon.
After the professional cross-evaluation experience of two vehicle subjective evaluation engineers, they agreed that Shadow Leopard has the most textured and thick chassis performance of the three cars, and at the same time ensures the comfort of the family in daily driving. It can be said that the balance between sports and household attributes of Shadow Leopard reflects that the creation of sports cars by Chinese brands is no longer just a sport of appearance - in terms of texture and design, it is more in line with the needs of young Chinese consumers, and it is also the embodiment of Chinese brand confidence.
Text| John 117
Pictured| driver sent a test drive team
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