I don't know who was the first car brand to hold an ice test drive in China.
But to be sure, snow test drives are still one of the most challenging of all test drives. The reason is very simple, the temperature of minus 30 ° C in the ice and snow is far beyond the normal use of the vehicle, which poses a very high challenge to the stability of the product. At the same time, smooth ice surfaces, fluffy snow, and even ice cramming the wheels and attached to the bottom of the car all place high demands on the vehicle's off-road performance.
In my automotive media career over the past many years, I have participated in ice and snow test drives dominated by overseas car brands, such as Porsche, FAW-Volkswagen, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and so on. This time, however, I attended an event held by a Chinese brand in the ice and snow city of Yakeshi, which is Geely.
Among the many Chinese auto brands, Geely is the fastest growing one in recent years, from Zhejiang Geely to China Geely, which has achieved the perfect transformation of local car companies to world-class car companies. In the process of turning the cocoon into a butterfly, Geely has also produced a series of surprising products.
The protagonist of the ice and snow test drive of Geely Yakeshi is the latest Chinese star series, which are Xingrui, Xingyue L and Xingyue S, the three cars are positioned differently, but there is a common feature, that is, based on the latest CMA basic module architecture.
How exactly do they behave in snow and ice? And listen to me talk about one car after another.
First of all, Xingrui, which is supposedly a family compact sedan, does not have four-wheel drive function, it does not seem to have much to do with the harsh ice and snow environment. However, Xingrui, which was replaced by snow tires, still showed the sporty performance in the bones, the 2.0T in-line four-cylinder engine was surging with power, the 7-speed wet dual-clutch shift speed was fast, and the chassis gave the driver enough confidence.
On the smooth runway, Xingrui has relatively higher stability with the help of the car's unique low center of gravity characteristics. In the 100-kilometer acceleration and deceleration and pile winding test, this top-of-the-line car is less than 150,000, but it has extraordinary sportiness and stability.
Then there is the Hoshikoshi L, also a 2.0T engine, although the body size is larger and heavier, but it has a stronger power output than the Star Ray, so the power performance is still very abundant. The test drive is equipped with BorgWarner's timely four-wheel drive system, combined with the excellent ESP body stabilization system, which can still maintain excellent track performance on smooth ice.
The huge interior space even made the Star Yue L a guarantee car for this ice and snow test drive activity, and many materials carried by the event organizer team, such as helmets, signs, meals, etc., were placed in its trunk, fully demonstrating the excellent practicality of the daily car state.
The Hoshigoshi S, which positions the sports compact SUV, is naturally the absolute protagonist of this ice and snow test drive. Sportiness is not only reflected in the styling of the slipback, but also in its tight chassis tuning and sporty steering feel.
Get on the car, ignite, fasten the seat belt, cut into the large ring made by the organizer on the ice after starting, carefully adjust the throttle power output and steering, and the grip limit of the vehicle is easily broken, achieving what we call "drift". The near-perfect front-to-back weight ratio coupled with the delicate power output after combing the 8AT gearbox makes the experiencer directly addicted.
Unexpectedly, the ice and snow test drive Geely also prepared an Easter egg link, that is, it will carry the latest Thunder God Intelligence Engine Hi · The X oil-electric hybrid version of the Hoshikoshi L was demonstrated and generously taken out for a test drive.
Although there is no intense ice and snow control link, driving on the Yakeshi country road, the characteristics of quiet, smooth and fuel-saving have shown a completely different quality feeling from the previous independent brands. We also briefly tested the fuel consumption performance of this car, after 40 kilometers of suburban road conditions, the car's apparent fuel consumption is less than 6 liters / 100 kilometers, you know this is at minus 30 degrees Celsius Yakeshi.
After this ice and snow journey, I have a new understanding of the quality of Chinese car brands, in the extremely cold conditions where fully armed humans cannot stay outdoors for a long time, the Chinese star series has withstood the challenge and successfully completed the ice and snow task, perhaps this is the latest presentation of Chinese quality.
To paraphrase a popular phrase, it is: "You can always believe in Geely Motors!" ”