It’s a ‘quiet’ car that, through having regained technical credibility, has potential to generate noise.

Price: $39,990

Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol with electric motor assist, 140kW/376Nm combined (petrol engine 70kW, motor 115kW; 125Nm/250Nm); seven step dedicated hybrid transmission, front-wheel-drive; 5.1 litres per 100km.

How big? Length, 4470mm; width, 1898mm; height, 1625mm.

We like: Roomy; improved ride; well priced for segment.

Not so much: Overly-intrusive DMS and ADAS calibrations; poorly shaped driver’s seat.

“MAY you live in interesting times” is an English expression claimed to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. 

The expression is ironic: ‘interesting’ times are usually times of trouble.

The multi-tendrilled Chinese car make we previously knew as Great Wall Motors is keen on electric cars for more than potential than achieving good fortune. 

China becoming the world’s EV production powerhouse is a result of political will; their industry was told very bluntly to start producing battery-dedicated cars or get into a different business. China now has more manufacturers, knocking out more kinds of EVs, than anywhere else in the world. What a surprise. Not.

Haval’s ‘interesting times’ have occurred over the past couple of years, in markets beyond influence of that domestic guidance. In the export sector GWM uses this brand to push traditional internal combustion and hybrid fare, with the fully electric fare being left for the likes of Ora.

When Kiwis were highly interested in buying electrics - particularly between 2020 and the end of last year - that strategy likely held Haval back. Now we’ve cooled on full battery and are looking instead back at hybrid? Life is better. Sure, the entire market is down, but Jolion and the next size up H6 hybrid are selling comparatively well.

A recent midlife overhaul is also timely for Jolion and might well lift its reputation for being a spacious, well equipped and strong value for money car, to point even the highest spend Ultra remains priced well below most electrified competitors.

The singlemost important of the car’s design revision is that, whereas petrol and hybrid versions were previously closely related, they now head in offer clearly different styling directions.

Non-hybrid models clearly saw little of the allocated budget for the refresh. They keep all the same sheet metal as before and pick up minor tweaks; a new vertical grille in black, a new rear spoiler, and some additional black cladding on the lower bodywork and wheel arches. Hoo-hum.

 The Hybrid range has claimed a lot more revision. It achieves new bodywork front and rear, a reprofiled glasshouse, new bonnet, front guards, rear quarter panels, and tailgate, plus new head and tail-lights, and bumper styling. That would have been a big spend. 

The end result is a car that has become modern-looking and more visually appealing, even if remains a bit quirky in some ways. Not least with the badging. Why it is that nose wears a Haval badge yet the rear has GWM spelt out in big letters?

The car’s revision also addresses one element that is not so easily seen, but certainly felt. 

The Jolion has little more chance now than it did in previous form to be selected as one of the world’s great driving cars. It would be unfair to say Haval sees cars as tech commodities that happen to be cars, rather than cars that happen to have tech. 

Yet, at same token, there’s much about what the Jolion does that suggests the focus is far more on value, and technology, than driving pleasure. 

However, the switch from a very basic beam rear suspension to a new multi link set-up is a big step forward. This is more for comfort that dexterity, so the handling is still not hugely sharp. But, gosh, the ride quality is much better. Rear seat passengers, in particularly, will find it much less jolty now. The penalty is that towing capacity falls from 1500kg to an even more middling 1300kg.

The powertrains haven't changed, though outputs have been massaged slightly.

The cheapest Jolion has a 1.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol making 105kW/210Nm and no electric motors involved with the drivetrain. There are two types. The potentially more cost effective kind here spans three versions, all powered by a 1.5-litre petrol but this time paired to a battery hybrid system. This contributes 35kW more power and 165Nm more torque than the pure petrol offers. 

Nailing down absolute running cost is always a hard one. Toyota and Hyundai can deliver competing crossover hybrids that now consume fuel at less than five litres per 100km. Haval isn’t quite there yet, but it’s so close at 5.1L/100km. Still, it use 37 per cent less fuel than the claimed consumption of non-hybrid models (rated at 8.1L/100km). Plus, Jolion engines are configured to run on 91-octane regular unleaded. 

The fuel tank is large for a car of this segment too, at 55 litres, giving a hypothetical driving range just shy of 1100km on a single fill at the claimed consumption rate. Could it do it? Sorry, I didn’t give it a go. Three days into test, I was laid low by illness that ruined the plan for a weekend away that might have clocked a relevant return.

A lot of urban running still occurred and that in itself showed the two-speed ‘dedicated hybrid transmission’ to be a friendly device;  it works smoothly and unobtrusively. The hybrid system is strong enough to take over from the engine fairly often during town driving, which will pin back fuel consumption to a minimum.

As said, the Ultra here is the most expensive Jolion here, with a $6000 premium over the, erm, Premium, with a Lux equidistant between those formats. Rivals are the Toyota Yaris Cross, Ford Puma and Suzuki S-Cross Hybrid.

All Julions run alloy wheels, have rear park sensors and rear-view camera, keyless entry and start, rain-sensing wipers, adaptive cruise control, road sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert with braking. The Lux swaps the halogen headlights for LEDs, achieves a 360-degree camera system, faux-leather on the seats and steering wheel, heated front seats with power adjustment for the driver, six-speaker audio, a 7.0-inch driver's display, and more. The Ultra steps up again with power adjustment for the front passenger seat, a driver's head-up display, wireless phone charging, front park sensors and auto-parking capabilities, plus interior ambient lighting. 

Like the Lux is has 18-inch alloys, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and a larger 12.3-inch infotainment screen (up from 10.25 inches), but also achieves a massive panoramic sunroof, which is power operated and comes with a powered shade that offers full block-out (not just mesh).

It's a healthy list of equipment, which is typical for a Chinese brand, but some elements are a little odd. 

For instance, the steering column now adjusts for reach as well as height, but the wheel still feels distant even for those of us with long arms; I couldn’t quite get my driving position right. The seat being rather shapeless likely didn’t help in this endeavour. 

The driver's seat only is ventilated and whereas it has electric slide, recline and height adjustment, the passenger’s has just powered slide and recline and might seem too high-set for a tall occupant. There's no memory recall for either. 

Though the new infotainment screen is impressive for resolution, and there’s now a wireless phone charging pad, there’s no wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity, so you still need to bring a cable and make sure it’s an old-school one, as the ports are all USB-A. You’ll need the phone apps for sat nav. 

A lot of vehicle functions are controlled via the screen, which is the modern way, but unfortunately GWM doesn’t facilitate shortcuts to every commonly used function. 

You can swipe down for access to climate control, but jumping between media, climate and settings is a bit more of a faff than it needs to be. There being too many presses to get to some menus; three to get to the home of the driver assist stuff. Sentiment that the row of hard keys for demister, air recirculation, and access to parking assist and the 360-view camera could be better utilised is fair.

The general interior design is not at the edge of modernity, but works well and storage is generous, in part because the gear selector is a rotary knob on the centre console. That’s a nice space-saving feature, but the lack of any resistance when it moves between reverse, park and drive is a bit off-putting. I always found myself having to double-check to ensure it was where I hoped it would be. There's a big void under the gear selector to squeeze in a small bag, and the console armrest offers some hide-away storage.

A colleague described the rear seats as being “comically generous.” I got the gist; there’s a lot of leg room for a compact SUV. A shame the sculpting of the rear bench makes it a better fit for two, not three passengers. With two in the back there’s ability to fold down a centre armrest and have access to a pair of USB vents.

Both the hybrid and 12 volt batteries site under the boot, and to facilitate that the floor is raised, so  boot capacity with the rear seats up is modest.  

The driving feel is competent; as said, this isn’t a highly involving car.  There are three disparate drive modes but reality is most people will stick leave it in the standard (Normal) drive mode as they go about their day-to-day, and not just because the Sport and Eco alternates are buried within submenus.

There’s nothing outstanding going on dynamically; some SUVs have a sportier character, that’s for sure. The Haval seems unashamedly family and comfort-oriented. It generally feels assured, the suspension smooths out most bumps well, and it’s composed through corners. But you don't get much feedback through the steering wheel, which leaves you feeling disconnected from the car. It isn't that bad to drive, but it just doesn't do enough to be captiviating. Road noise suppression could be improved. 

What’s unfortunate is how intrusive the driver monitoring and active driver assist implementations are. The range comes with a full provision of assists. Autonomous emergency braking (with pedestrian and cyclist detection), rear cross-traffic alert and braking, lane centring and lane-keep assist with emergency lane-keep intervention, tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive cruise control linked to the traffic sign recognition plus traffic jam assist, blind-spot detection with lane change assist, rear collision warning, door open warning (to warn of approaching traffic), and a camera that monitors the driver's level of attention. There’s nothing left to chance.

It’s another GWM product in which the driver awareness monitoring is simply too reactive. 

Take your eyes off the road for a second – for example, to look at the infotainment screen, your speed or even your mirrors – and it more often than not sounds a warning to pay attention. Which you then have to click to confirm. Further taking your attention off the road. You can turn it off but, as regulations require, it turns on whenever you start the car.

In respect to the driver assistance suite, there are also challenges. The lane-keep constantly chimes and pulls at the steering wheel if you go near the white lines, the active cruise control is slow to react and, on this example, the distance control seemed to be flaky.