The Jolion is the smallest SUV in the GWM Haval range of SUVs, originally launched in New Zealand back in 2021. For 2024, the model has undergone a significant bodywork makeover from the earlier car. While its appearance is all new, the fundamentals of the car, drivetrain and general specifications remain much the same.
Earlier, I had reviewed the 2023 Haval Jolion Lux Hybrid thinking it a worthy car offering great value for its combination of build quality, features set, fuel consumption and overall price. I was keen then to see how this new model would compare.
What We Like and Dislike About The 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Interior design Interior fit, finish and materials The suite of safety features Road and wind noise are well suppressed Ride and comfort Around-town performance Very well featured Value for money | DHT gearbox Shallower boot space than the previous model |
What’s In The GWM Haval Jolion 2024 Range?
The 2024 Jolion range has five models; two petrol-only models, the Premium and the higher specified Lux, and three models with a hybrid powertrain – Premium, Lux and the highest-spec Ultra. As a sign of the times, while the previous model range also had five models, only two were hybrid models.
- Premium (petrol) $28,990 (previously $28,990)
- Lux (petrol) $31,990 (previously $29,990)
- Premium (hybrid) $34,990 (all-new model)
- Lux (hybrid) $37,990 (previously $35,990)
- Ultra (hybrid) $40,990 our test car, (previously $39,990)
The petrol-only models have a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine producing 105kW/210Nm driving through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission with a quoted combined fuel efficiency of 8.1 l/100km. The hybrid models have a 1.5-litre engine producing 70kW/125Nm and an electric motor of 115kW/250Nm which combined achieve 140kW/375Nm, driving through a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT), and rated with a combined fuel efficiency of 5.1 l/100km.
GWM Haval Jolion Colour Range
There is no extra cost for any colour:
- Hamilton White (petrol/hybrid)
- Golden Black (petrol/hybrid)
- Mars Red (petrol)
- Azure Blue (petrol)
- Ayres Grey (petrol/hybrid)
- Arctic Blue (hybrid)
For a full list of specs and options available for the GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid head on over to GWM New Zealand’s website.
How Does The 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid Compare To Its Competition?
There are a number of carmakers offering small SUV’s with improved fuel efficiency, coming from a hybrid powertrain mating electric with a small-capacity petrol engine. In the following list, the Jolion holds its own against some well-established competitors, doing well for efficiency but few can compete on its mix of price, performance and features.
| Make/ Model | Engine | Power/ Torque kW/Nm | Seats | Fuel L/100km | Towing Capacity | Boot Space, litres | Price |
| Suzuki S-Cross JLX Hybrid AWD | 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol hybrid | 95/235 | 5 | 5.9 | 600/1,500 | 430/1,230 | $45,990 |
| Honda HR-V Sport | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol hybrid | 96/253 | 4 | 4.3 | Not rated | 437/1,032 | $45,800 |
| Kia Niro HEV Light | 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol hybrid | 104/265 | 5 | 4.4 | 600/1,300 | 425/1,419 | $44,990 |
| Suzuki S-Cross Hybrid JLX 2WD | 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol hybrid | 95/235 | 5 | 5.5 | 600/1,500 | 430/1,230 | $42,990 |
| Toyota Corolla Cross GX Hybrid | 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder petrol hybrid | 146/190 | 5 | 4.1 | 750/750 | 428/1,319 | $42,990 |
| Ford Puma ST-Line Hybrid | 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder turbo-petrol hybrid | 92/210 | 5 | 5.4 | 665/900 | 410/1,170 | $40,990 |
| GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol hybrid | 140/375 | 5 | 5.1 | 750/1,300 | 255/916 | $40,990 |
| Toyota Yaris Cross GX Hybrid | 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol hybrid | 85/145 | 5 | 3.6 | 400/400 | 390/1,097 | $38,990 |
| GWM Haval Jolion Premium Hybrid | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol hybrid | 140/375 | 5 | 5.1 | 750/1,300 | 255/916 | $34,990 |
Please note that DriveLife does its best to ensure the information above is correct at the time of publication, however, prices, specifications and models can change over time. Please bear that in mind when comparing models in the comparison table.
First Impressions Of The 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid
The new Jolion is neither a big development nor a departure from its predecessor, with most of the updates being to the exterior bodywork. In summarising my first impressions, there is a mix of good and some not-so-good features of the re-design.
On the good side, while the relative simplicity of the previous model’s exterior could be considered a little bland, the updated model is one of increased design sophistication. The Jolion is now much more its own design rather than a variation of the family language. Overall, it now has a rounder appearance, and is much more visually interesting.
The rounder design does appear to shrink the car’s relative size, although practically, only the boot space has been reduced. The new design features a new front grille and lights, and the reworked rear lights now incorporate a full-width light bar. Black plastic wheel arch mouldings are integrated into lower-side mouldings along the doors and sill, and these mouldings link into the new front and rear bumpers. Towards the rear of the car, a new spoiler at the top of the rear door together with the more rounded profile gives the car a more sporty coupé-like profile.
For me, the only criticism of the new model’s appearance I have is, that in some areas of the design, it is too fussy. For example, the aero-package includes small wing-tip air deflectors mounted to the lower mouldings in front of the front wheels and to the rear of the rear wheels. Useful perhaps on a high-performance car, but here? It’s a minor thing and I’ll leave you to make up your own opinion. In all practical terms, it has no bearing on anything functional, nor detracts from the overall good appearance of the car.
What’s The Interior Like In 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid?
Just like its predecessor, the interior is instantly impressive. High-quality materials are tastefully used to achieve an attractive and inviting interior. The fact that the interior looks identical to that in the previous model is not a bad thing. All the touch points on the doors and dash are soft-touch materials, and these materials are tastefully detailed with elegant stitching.
Dark greys and blacks are used throughout the interior up to the window line and a cream-coloured headlining is effective at lifting and brightening the interior. A large combo moonroof/opening sunroof adds significantly to lightening the interior, with the opening sunroof portion being on the generous side. It is also fitted with a full-length blind to use if required.
The dash comprises a digital screen for the instrument cluster that sits rather traditionally beneath a small binnacle. It is a very clear screen displaying all the usual core information plus optional set-ups for alternative vehicle data, like tyre pressures for example.
Because this car is the top-spec Ultra model, there is also a heads-up display (HUD). I am a huge fan of these simply because you can see key data without taking your eyes off the road. In the Jolion the HUD has all the usual data such as your speed, the speed limit, cruise control settings and typically a simplified set of navigation instructions.
In the centre of the car is the infotainment screen. Here you can access a vast array of controls ranging from settings for the key vehicle driving safety aids to the air-con, heating options, navigation, and the sound system.
Located in the dashboard in front of the infotainment screen are several quick keys to core air-con functions, the parking cameras, and the auto parking function. While these provide physical buttons for some key controls, further adjustments will likely be required via the touch screen, like for the air-con. I do consider this less than ideal for anything you want to adjust while driving. One handy function to simplify this is for a single swipe of the infotainment screen from left to right takes you directly to the main air-con settings screen.
The steering wheel is carried over too, complete with controls for the adaptive cruise control on the right side and phone/sound system on the left. It is nice to see that adjustment for the position of the steering wheel now has both tilt and telescope movements. The previous model had only tilt adjustment.
The electrically dimming rearview mirror comes with a very handy USB-A port in its mounting base. This is perfect for powering items like a dash camera, preventing the need to run cables from the lower dashboard. It’s a great feature common with GWM cars, and one I wish all cars had.
The rearward view through the back window is on the small side. That said, visibility all round is fine and the view using the mirrors overlaps adequately. When it comes to reversing, there is an excellent set of cameras providing single and 360-degree viewing options.
The seats are as before, the faux leather is attractively finished and very comfortable. And with electric adjustment of the front seats (6-way for the driver, and 4-way for the passenger) it is easy to find the right position. At the time of our review, it was winter and the seat heaters were a welcome function that worked very well.
Rear seating is spacious and comfortable. The backs are split 60/40 and come with a two-cup holder in the fold-down centre armrest. The floor across the rear is flat and helps maximise access and space.
The centre console is another virtual carry-over from the earlier car. It worked well then and it continues to in this model. On the upper level at the front is an effective non-slip rubber mat for the Qi wireless charger, ahead of the main controls for the auto transmission and electric park brake. As before, a rotary knob which can be turned in either direction without stops is simply spun to the right for D and to the left for R. While that may sound vague, familiarity is quick, and it works well. In its centre is a press button for the P (Park) setting. To each side of this are longer shallow slots, convenient for the likes of pens or even a cell phone on its side.
Below this section, there is an open-sided storage area with USB-A ports and a 12-volt power outlet. One of the USB-A ports is the data connection for your phone for you to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. A useful slot is provided to enable the likes of a phone charge cable to pass through to the upper level of the centre console.
Moving rearward, a hinged cover opens to dual cupholders and further behind this is a padded armrest hinged over a generous storage bin. In the back of the centre console are two adjustable air vents for the rear seat passengers and a couple more USB ports.
Further storage options are available in the door pockets or all four doors, each capable of accommodating full-sized drink bottles. The front glove box also provides useful storage in addition to it holding the owner’s handbook.
In the boot, there is a very effective blind to cover cargo. The boot opens at a good loading height, and the flat floor is level with the opening. However, it is noticeably smaller than in the earlier model. With the rear seats folded, the extended floor is easily usable, although the seats do not go completely flat with the main boot floor. Under the floor is the main engine battery and a tyre repair kit. There is no spare tyre.
What’s The 2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid Like To Drive?
Driving the Jolion is great. In some ways, at this price point, it is somewhat of a surprise how good it is. It has all the convenience and function of an everyday small SUV, but with the fit and finish of higher-priced products from more established brands. The non-plug-in hybrid powertrain is so easy to live with, it just works without requiring anything other than keeping an eye on the petrol gauge. That said, when I collected the car with a full tank of petrol, there was something very satisfying about the car predicting its range to be more than 800 km.
Over a week, we drove some 480 km, using it for our daily commute, for shopping, and for a weekend jaunt out of town. For all but one journey, it provided capable and comfortable transport. The one for which it was sub-optimal, was when we had to carry a couple of larger suitcases to help out extended family, fortunately only for a short distance. Overflow luggage had to be held by the rear passengers, highlighting the impact of the smaller boot space.
The ride and handling are good and are a step-up on the older model. The improvement comes from a new multi-link rear suspension, replacing the previous torsion beam set-up. It dealt with our local poorer quality roads well, remaining composed, the suspension doing a good job of damping the worst of the road imperfections. Unfortunately, there is also a downside. The new suspension is physically larger, and installing it has consumed some of the boot space.
Having a hybrid powertrain, it often pulls away from a standstill silently in full EV mode, only switching to activate the petrol engine based on demand. During our commute, a large portion of the suburban portion is completed just on the electric motor, which is great for petrol consumption and this was found to induce a slight feeling of smugness too. On acceleration and at motorway speeds, the petrol motor is running, bringing in the electric motor to provide additional power when needed. All this happens seamlessly, making for an easy car to live with that does its best to minimise petrol consumption.
However, for me, there was the same small niggle I had with the previous model. It’s one that on living with the car, I did find I was able to overlook. The hybrid-powered Jolions are fitted with a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT). The issue I have is the rather unpleasant sound of the engine speed flaring out in a similar way to an engine mated to a CVT transmission. This occurs most often when on longer dragging hill climbs. Independently of any change in driver input and to maintain the speed, the car will rapidly increase the revs of the petrol engine and maintain this until the car reaches the top of the hill.
I am a bit old-school here, preferring a direct relationship between engine speed, gear selection and road speed. However, this is where I have to bow down to the engineering.
The DHT is a smart piece of equipment, which as described by GWM “integrates multiple driving modes to optimise efficiency and performance.” In driving, you are not aware of much of the cleverness going on as it seamlessly transitions through up to five drive modes. The five modes comprise:
- Pure Electric Mode: Uses only the electric motor for propulsion, ideal for short trips and urban driving.
- Series Hybrid Mode: The engine generates electricity to power the electric motor, suitable for medium-speed driving.
- Parallel Hybrid Mode: Both the engine and electric motor drive the wheels, providing extra power for acceleration.
- Direct Drive Mode: The engine directly drives the wheels, typically used for high-speed cruising.
- Energy Recovery Mode: Captures and stores energy during braking or deceleration to recharge the battery
Head on over to the following GWM news site if you would like to know more about this.
The end result is a smooth power train that when called upon like for an overtake, can deliver a competent boost in speed to get the overtake completed efficiently.
Other niggles I’d had with the previous model related to a couple of the smart safety features, the lane-keep function and the driver alert monitor. I am pleased to report that both seem much better calibrated, and I was able to live with these without having to disable them for my sanity. While it is possible to disable some of the safety system settings through the infotainment screen if you so choose, many default to “on” the next time you start the vehicle. Most notably the lane departure and driver alert monitoring systems. It is worth noting here, that many of these features contribute to the ANCAP safety rating score, so really, they must be on.
As mentioned, this being the high-spec Ultra model, it comes with a HUD. I modified the settings to “Snow Mode” which alters the colour setting for the vehicle speed from default white to a pale blue colour. Despite it being the “snow” option, I found this much more visible for all driving conditions. Fortunately, this is one setting that once changed stays selected on restarting the car.
Another set of options is for the drive modes. There are four on offer; Snow, Sport, Normal and Eco. I was happy enough to leave it in the Eco mode for most of the time, if ever there was a need for a turn of speed, a good prod on the accelerator seemed to deliver much the same performance as say Sport, just not so quickly responsive.
Diving into the infotainment system, setting up a Bluetooth connection between my phone and the car was straightforward. It also worked with text messages, at least while parked. I was however, somewhat surprised there was no wireless connection for running Android Auto/Apple CarPlay. In other cars where a cable connection is required, the infotainment screen advises this. Not in the Jolion. Once connected via a cable, Android Auto worked well, including passing simplified navigation instructions through to the HUD. Big tick there.
Unfortunately, at times, I found the cable connection to be a little touchy, causing the phone connection to drop out. I know it’s a first-world problem, but one that you don’t expect with today’s technology, and in a new car. Because the system requires a cable connection for Android Auto, when I was the sole occupant, it made the Qi charger somewhat redundant.
One feature of the infotainment system operation I like is the ability to access the main air-con and heated seats setting screen with a single swipe across the screen from left to right. This worked every time no matter what was being displayed on the screen at the time, be that Android Auto maps, music, or even talking on the phone.
The car has options for both automatic operation of the wipers, headlights and high beam. During my time with the car, all of these were well-tested. The wipers and the corresponding speed were well-moderated so it easily became a set-and-forget option. Similarly for the headlights and the high beam. Setting both to their auto option worked well. The standard headlights have a very good light spread, and the high beam enhances this with good distance and lateral spread.
A fun feature of the previous model was the entertaining lights show on unlocking the car. I was just a little disappointed that in this model there is no similar “Hong Kong skyline style” lights show carried over to the new car.
From the steering wheel button set, you can scroll through the dashboard information screens. Some of the selected screens seemed to time out, returning you to a previous main screen. One such screen I was interested in provided information on how fuel efficiency was tracking. The information was there, but I wasn’t able to work out how to keep it on display for longer than a minute or so.
A lot of cars come with adaptive cruise control, and in the Jolion it works well. One feature I like is how it uses colour to indicate the difference between safe and unsafe following distances. Green is for safe, orange for borderline, and red for too-close. This is shown both on the dash and in the HUD. As expected, the sensitivity of the system varies depending on your preselection of the adaptive cruise proximity to the car in front. i.e. the number of bars.
Also, while operating under adaptive cruise, the system can slow the car for corners. However, it starts slowing late, well after you have entered the corner carrying too much speed. At this time it will reduce the speed quite quickly and this is often more than is required. It is not then a system I would rely upon, but rather, it is a nice-to-have backup for driver inattention.
I do like features like the large moonroof for that light and airy feeling of space. In this car, it incorporates a very decent-sized opening sunroof. It is pleasing to note that when open at speeds up to 100 kph, there is some wind noise due to the raised deflector, but this is well managed and there is no buffeting or pressure pulsing.
The car is fitted with a self-parking feature. I tested this on a couple of occasions using the same car park comprising clearly painted 90-degree parking spaces. On first trying the system, it failed to find an available slot. On the second time in the same car park a few days later, it managed to identify a suitable car park, stop the car, select reverse and back into the available park in a single manoeuvre. As the driver responsible, I was very nervous and used all my self-control not to hit the brakes. It had accurately selected a clear park, but it seemed happy to park off-centre to the right of the parking bay a little too close for my comfort to an already parked car which itself was centred to the left of its bay. It had parked in the bay and it had missed the adjacent vehicle, so in that sense it satisfactorily parked itself. I was a little surprised that, unlike other cars I have tested with this feature, it did not take two bites to ensure the car was centred in the park.
It does everything you would expect comfortably and predictably. The road and engine noises are well muted, the handling is predictable and comfortable. Despite its SUV stature, there is not too much body roll in the corners.
As is quite common in a lot of Chinese-made cars, they can emit a lot of beeps warning you the driver you may have veered outside of the safety detection systems parameters. These can continue despite having selected a low-sensitivity setting for them. In this car, the settings did seem to have been calibrated a little better and the number of beeps seemed less – either that or I am becoming more immune to them?
While I was not able to specifically record the fuel consumption over the 480 km I had driven, over the life of the car some 1,900 km, it had recorded an average fuel consumption of 6.8 l/100km. While this is higher than the manufacturer’s claim of 5.1 l/100km, many times I would see fuel consumption rates closer to the claimed figure. Being a demonstrator car, it is likely to have had its performance tested more extensively than “real-world” driving, and I’d suggest around 6/100km to be easily achievable. Its mechanically similar predecessor recorded 5.9 l/100km during our review of that car.
2024 GWM Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | Hybrid / Small SUV |
| Starting Price | $40,990 |
| Price as Tested | $40,990 |
| Engine | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol hybrid |
| Power, Torque kW/Nm | 140/375 |
| Transmission | Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT) auto |
| Spare Wheel | Tyre repair kit |
| Kerb Weight, Kg | 1,620 |
| Length x Width x Height mm | 4,470 x 1,898 x 1,625 |
| Boot Space / Cargo Capacity, Litres (seats up/seats down) | 255/916 |
| Fuel tank capacity, litres | 55 |
| Fuel Economy, L/100km | Advertised Spec – Combined – 5.1 Real-World Test – Combined – 6.8 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity Kg, unbraked/braked | 750/1,300 |
| Turning circle metres | 11.5 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 8 years Hybrid Battery Warranty 7 years Unlimited km Warranty 5 years Roadside Assist |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – 5 stars Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – QNY901 |
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