Mohe, minus 35 °C, ice and snow Gymkhana, a winter challenge for a new generation of Lingyun, launched in the "Chinese Arctic".
Lingyun, which has won numerous CCPC awards and has undergone the extreme high temperature test in Turpan, how does it perform in the extremely cold land? Can it once again verify the strength of the "value benchmark of the intermediate performance SUV"? Can the powerful power system exert its full strength on the ice and snow road?
This time, let's look at the new generation of Lingyun from a different angle, starting with Chery's self-developed 8AT gearbox, and explore the performance of Lingyun in detail.
01
Power surface
Why focus on the gearbox? After all, the power output of the engine is traditionally the highlight of performance testing. But this time in Ice and Snow Gymkhana, the gearbox is the most worthy of digging into the treasure protagonist.
On the one hand, Chery's world-leading engine technology has been extensively tested in the past many years, and there is no need to introduce too much, just look at the three core indicators of maximum horsepower, maximum torque and fuel consumption. The data is the most powerful proof, and it can be seen that the core data of the new generation of Lingyun 2.0T is leading in an all-round way. The other three models need to be filled with No. 95 fuel, while the all-new Lingyun can be refueled with No. 92. With the same displacement, the power is stronger, the fuel consumption is lower, and the working conditions are more solid, which is a symbol of strength.
| Vehicle model | Engine maximum horsepower | Maximum engine torque | WLTC fuel consumption |
| A new generation of Lingyun 2.0T | 261Ps | 400N·m | 7.7L/100km |
| BMW X3 2.0T high-power version | 245Ps | 350N·m | 8.5L/100km |
| Audi Q5L 2.0T high-power version | 258Ps | 370N·m | 7.96L/100km |
| Toyota Highlander 2.0T high-power version | 245Ps | 380N·m | 8.7L/100km |
On the other hand, this self-developed 8AT gearbox is still very "mysterious", and it is not widely known how it performs at its limit. You must know that the advent of this gearbox fills the gap of the domestic self-developed high-performance 8AT gearbox and makes up for the last shortcoming of the powertrain. After all, compared to the engine, the 8AT transmission is the highland of automotive technology.
In addition, extreme low temperature is the "killer" of quiet machinery, and it can test the quality of the gearbox. In Ice & Snow Gymkhana, any weak point in the gearbox's performance is infinitely magnified. Without a superior gearbox, no matter how strong the performance is, it can only output to the air. On the ice and snow road, the grip is often only one-third of the asphalt, and the low temperature will also make the lubricating oil become viscous, affecting the fluidity, and it is a comprehensive performance survey of the gearbox shift smoothness, response speed, torque management, temperature control system, durability and reliability.
The all-new Lingyun is equipped with an 8AT gearbox, which is on a par with the long-established longitudinal ZF 8AT and transverse Aisin 8AT. It has a 7.8 gear ratio, a flat and high-angle shock absorber design, which makes the gear shift process smoother, and the starting power response is smoother and faster due to the torque amplification of the low-gear torque converter.
In a test drive on snow and ice, the start tends to slip on ice and snow roads with less friction. The driver needs to accelerate quickly from a standstill, and the key role here is for the gearbox to ensure that the vehicle can accelerate smoothly and quickly on slippery snow and ice. It must precisely control the power delivery to prevent wheel slippage while quickly and smoothly transitioning from low to high gears.
In the case of continuous drifting, this is a project that requires both driving skills and vehicle performance. When drifting, the gearbox must be able to work reliably at high torques while providing enough power to maintain the drift, and the oil temperature and heat dissipation throughout the process are extremely critical. This gearbox can fully withstand the high torque of the engine up to 400N·m, and quickly respond to the driver's shift needs to maintain the power and stability of the vehicle and complete continuous drifting.
In the hard braking event, it is a quick process for the vehicle to come to a stop from a high speed of more than 100 km/h. The transmission needs to downshift frequently during this process, providing a smooth drop of power, allowing the vehicle to stop accurately and smoothly at the designated position.
It can be seen from this ice and snow Jinkhana that the Chery self-developed 8AT gearbox equipped with the new generation of Lingyun is not weaker than ZF 8AT on ice and snow roads, and can perfectly undertake the power output of the high-performance 2.0T engine, whether it is upshifting, downshifting, smoothness, and response speed, the performance has reached the world-class level. With the help of this 8AT gearbox, the 2.0T national top ten engine equipped with the new generation of Lingyun can better exert its full strength.
Of course, this is not enough, a master chassis is also needed.
02
Control Surfaces
When we evaluate the chassis of a car, it is often difficult to describe it in words, the main reason is that the evaluation criteria cannot be well quantified, so chassis tuning is often called metaphysics. But on the track of the Ice and Snow Gymkhana, the suspension is instantly recognizable. To put it simply, the ultimate cornering speed on ice and snow roads can intuitively reflect the overall performance.
The chassis of the new generation of Lingyun adopts the front MacPherson independent suspension and the rear multi-link independent suspension, and its unique structure is that it adopts an aluminum column steering knuckle and a hydraulic bushing for the front control arm. In the racing circle, there is often a saying that "1 kg on the spring, 10 kg under the spring", the core advantage of the aluminum pillar knuckle is that it is lightweight, which helps to reduce the inertia of the wheels, improve handling, comfort, reduce vibration, and make the vehicle more agile and responsive when steering. This is especially important in situations where quick maneuvering is required, as the vehicle is able to react more quickly.
Front control arm hydraulic bushings are mostly used in luxury cars, and the cost of hydraulic bushings is higher than that of conventional rubber bushings. This small component plays a huge role in absorbing road vibrations and reducing noise transmitted to the vehicle body through the internal hydraulic fluid, resulting in superior shock absorption. Not only that, the hydraulic bushing helps to improve the vehicle's handling stability, control the movement of the suspension system more effectively, provide more precise handling response, and adapt to various road conditions to provide stable suspension performance.
From the setting of these two small details, it can be seen that the chassis of the new generation of Lingyun has no metaphysics, and it is all carefully designed to improve handling and comfort. Engineers do not continue the design idea of "doing more with less money", but maximize the application of the best parts to achieve the goal, coupled with the master experts after nearly 100 optimizations, dozens of sets of tire adjustment, so that the vehicle in a variety of road surface, working conditions, show excellent dynamic performance. This result is a wire-based mindset that creates a world-class chassis.
In the actual performance of the ice and snow NASCAR, this chassis is equipped with BorgWarner's sixth-generation electro-hydraulic four-wheel drive system, two-cylinder dual-piston floating brake calipers, front ventilated disc/rear solid disc four-wheel disc brakes, Continental MC6 high-performance wide tires, Bosch latest ABS/9.3ESP body stability system and other advanced configurations, which can also complete drifting corners with elegance and cleanness on ice and snow roads, giving drivers full confidence with strong performance.
The drift can be done accurately, and the serpentine wrapping around the pile is naturally no problem. The new generation of Lingyun gives the driver more stable suspension support, more resilient road feedback, and just the right lateral support than similar cars, so that users can resist centrifugal force stably and calmly, and still have a full sense of security on icy roads.
03
NVH side
Since the new generation of Lingyun is a "luxury driving SUV", of course, in addition to power and handling, it must also meet the comfort needs of users and calmly cope with complex road conditions, including NVH performance. It's not as simple as being silent, it's also about eliminating vibrations to make the whole body comfortable, including ride comfort.
When the engine is running at a high speed of 5,000 revolutions per minute, even the slightest vibration is doubled, and the noise is doubled by small stones on the road and fast-flowing turbulence. The new generation of Lingyun proposes stricter total dynamic noise and vibration targets, adopts advanced technologies such as engine oil pan and cylinder head acoustic wrapping, dual balance shaft, dual mass flywheel and bending-torsion composite torsional shock absorber, and makes 16 improvements to the mounting, exhaust, cooling module, half shaft, air conditioning system and dynamic total related acoustic package to avoid resonance between systems and reduce the transmission of total dynamic vibration and noise from the transmission path of structural sound and air sound.
Even the noise during idle and acceleration is taken into account, and the use of over-the-top configuration and active noise cancellation technology significantly reduces the noise during idle and acceleration by up to 8dB, creating the ultimate quiet cabin. In terms of road noise and wind noise, the new generation of Lingyun has made 12 improvements to the body and chassis parts, and 9 optimizations have been made to the acoustic package and sealing system to improve the silence effect in the car.
And that's just the NVH control on the surface, there are more extreme NVH designs - the engine uses AAM scissor double balance shaft, pendulum dual-mass flywheel, bending and torsion TVD, and even the powertrain is treated with high-cost, high-effect acoustic packaging to further absorb the radiated noise of the powertrain.
Saturation attacks until the goal is achieved, this is the practice of the "polytechnic man".
summary
Many of the technologies applied by the new generation of Lingyun, the ingenuity and genius ideas of many engineers, if they are not deliberately spoken, few people may care. But it is these little details, one technical aspect after another, that constitute today's performance SUV with leapfrog performance. The Ice Gold Khana is a litmus test, fully testing its strength as a "value benchmark for an intermediate performance SUV".
The last sentence summarizes that the new generation of Lingyun can be called the SUV with the highest configuration and strongest performance that consumers can buy within the price of 200,000 yuan!