Driving road: provincial road 100 km, muddy cross-country road.
Driver index: 75%
The place where we test-drive the Great Wall Gun is a typical village in China, which is located in a mountainous area with no public transportation. Most of the villagers here travel by Wuling Hong Guang or some compact 7-seat SUVs, which are common in the town. However, the road environment here is surprisingly good and wide, far from being a village-to-village highway that could only pass the light of Wuling ten years ago.
The main business of people here is to open a farmhouse and do tourist reception, so their needs are roughly the same-they can help them transport vegetables and goods down the mountain, but they must be decent enough. However, a 7-seat van should not be their main choice. Suvs may be more popular, but they are too "exquisite". At this time, we can understand why the Great Wall Cannon can be seen here-to meet their needs of pulling people and transporting goods, and at the same time, this car looks more like a "hundreds of thousands of luxury cars".
Decent of the Great Wall Gun
In many people's understanding, pickup truck is a very pure production tool. Although the price is not cheap, it gives people the impression that the platform is old and untidy.
But now look at this Great Wall gun. Do you think it is low-end or cheap? Obviously not. Look at the chrome trim on the front face. It's a domestic version of F- 150. And the huge body size matches the car height of 1.8 meters, so it looks high-spirited no matter where it stops.
As a pickup truck positioned for passenger cars, many design features of Great Wall Gun are closer to SUV models, and many details are closer to passenger cars. For example, under the high-spirited body posture, a circle of thick chrome trim on the periphery of the front face, plus three chrome trim strips and a round new LOGO, shines with the light representing advanced.
Although the body of the Great Wall Gun has no particularly complicated lines, it is relatively regular. There is no waistline on the body, and the strong feeling of pickup truck is mainly expressed by a curved surface with tension, which smoothes out the cheap straight line feeling on the traditional pickup truck, especially when you compare the competitors in the market, various body designs are actually not as good as the Great Wall Gun. There is no gantry in the rear bucket of the test drive, but the gantry of the carriage of the Great Wall Gun can be equipped with stainless steel pipes, which looks dazzling.
The test drive car is a sub-top model, so the periphery of the car body is the same color as the wheel arch. If it is a top model, it will be surrounded by silver plastic-not the traditional black-which looks more off-road and layered.
Designers of the Great Wall also try their best to stick to the style of passenger cars in details. The shape of the headlight is relatively common, but a C-shaped LED lamp is designed in the lamp cavity, and two L-shaped partitions separate the two LED lamp groups. The taillights also have two sets of C-type brake lights, and the vertical design is similar to F- 150. There is also a 18 inch wheel hub, which is also a design with a strong sense of volume and is no longer the most common steel ring. In addition, the "P" element also appears in many places, such as the logo of the front fender and the side pedal of the car body. And the trunk open switch of the high-equipped model is also chrome-plated.
More importantly, the body size of the Great Wall Gun is very advantageous, with the length, width and height reaching 54101934/1886 mm, the wheelbase being 3230mm and the minimum ground clearance being 232 mm respectively. From the data point of view, this size of the Great Wall Gun is the most dominant among passenger cars of the same price.
The size of the rear hopper is 1520/ 1520/538mm, and the rear hopper forms a square. Because the Great Wall Gun adopts multi-link integral bridge-type dependent rear suspension, the bucket is not flat, but there is no problem in daily loading.
The tailgate of the Great Wall Gun is equipped with a pneumatic rod, which will slowly descend after opening, ensuring safety and texture. There is also a pedal at the bottom of the vehicle to help users get on and off easily. In addition, there is a small folding ladder at the top of the tailgate, which is particularly convenient to get on and off. The design of this small ladder obviously draws lessons from the style of overseas high-end pickup trucks. It can be said that the eyes of the Great Wall have been aimed at overseas pickup trucks.
Texture of the Great Wall Gun
The interior of the Great Wall Gun has indeed subverted many people's cognition of pickup trucks, even more exquisite than overseas pickup trucks, very close to the general hard-core SUV models.
The design of the typical high IP platform adopted by the Great Wall Cannon Car, the horizontal extension and wide design make the layout regular enough to be clear at a glance, and the high sitting posture gives the driver a good sense of vision and security. Founder's 9-inch central control display and center console are not too maverick. The middle air conditioning panel and multimedia control area are also traditional buttons or knobs, which are easy to operate, probably considering the user groups and the use characteristics of pickup trucks.
What is most worth mentioning is that the Great Wall Gun is very careful in the materials used. Different versions have different decorative plates. For example, the comfortable version uses ordinary high-gloss decorative panels, the sports version uses wooden decorative panels, and the exclusive version is covered with leather. Surprisingly, however, the steering wheel Logo of the Great Wall Gun still uses the traditional Great Wall logo instead of the brand-new P-logo.
Take the sports test drive as an example. The top of the front IP platform is soft enamel+double stitching. The facade in front of the co-pilot is a decorative board with solid wood feel, and the seat is a diamond leather seat. Although it is not genuine leather, it feels delicate enough. Basically, the place where the elbow can touch inside the car is soft plastic, and the armrest edge is also wrapped in diamond leather. For example, the wind direction adjustment switch of this air outlet is designed with chrome-plated bars and knobs, which are very fine, a bit like the design on WEY.
Of course, the interior of the Great Wall cannon is not perfect. For example, the lower part of the car is a hard plastic part, which gives people the feeling that the grade has dropped at once-but the co-pilot glove box still maintains the switch damping, and the cost is not saved.
In fact, the utilization rate of the Great Wall Gun is also reflected in the configuration. For example, can you imagine waking up the car owner with voice on a domestic pickup truck? In addition, the vehicle is also equipped with remote start, keyless entry/one-button start, panoramic image and other technological configurations. Even on top models, you can buy L2 driver assistance system, which is almost the same as driving Haval H9.
Multifunctional space beyond imagination
We won't say much about the back bucket space of the Great Wall Gun. Compared with ordinary light passenger and cargo transportation, it is also a general 7-seat SUV. Looking at the front cabin space alone, the Great Wall Gun is not lost to the riding space of medium-sized SUV.
Because the Great Wall cannon is relatively high, it is often necessary to adjust the sitting posture higher, but even so, there is at least one punch in the head space, which is very abundant. There is also the layout of the vertical engine and the high body, which will make the driver's legs have enough space and will not feel wronged at all.
When you come to the back row, the wheelbase space of 3230mm will occupy a part of the rear bucket, but because there is no transmission shaft, you can form a very regular rear row space. With the front row still, there are at least two and a half punches at the back knee. The only drawback is that the seat back is upright, which is also a common problem of all pickup trucks.
At the same time, because of the advantage of body width, the second row can easily accommodate three passengers, and the central platform is not convex and spacious enough. Only the second row of seats has no central armrest, and the middle seat has no headrest. In addition, the seat back is very soft, almost as soft as a sponge, which improves the comfort of the back seat.
Similarly, the second row of seats of the Great Wall Gun is suspended, and the storage box can be placed under the second row. Moreover, it can be stored in 4/6 minutes, that is, the cushion is folded up, and when it is put down, only the drawstrings on both sides are needed, which is very convenient. Once the back row is stored, it can form a new rectangular regular space with higher functionality.
The suspension is tough and fuel-saving efficiency is preferred.
The Great Wall Gun adopts a non-load-bearing body and weighs two tons. The front suspension adopts double wishbones, and the rear suspension is a multi-link integral bridge-type dependent suspension. From the structural point of view alone, the multi-link structure can take better care of comfort than the leaf spring commonly used in commercial or general production tools pickup trucks, because the multi-link structure can make the overall driving feel more comfortable.
Of course, this comfort is also relative. Generally speaking, the riding experience of the passenger version of the Great Wall Gun is not a complete hard bridge and hard horse. On urban roads or highways, it will benefit from the advantages of multi-link and the softness of seats, and filter out the vibration sense transmitted by dense speed bumps. This will make people feel that the chassis of the Great Wall Gun is still very tough, but it is tougher than the SUV model of the Great Wall.
If you really encounter those potholes on the provincial road, running over at high speed will still make the passengers in the back row feel obviously bumpy and the whole car will jump together. The most difficult road surface for the Great Wall cannon is probably the cement road surface in villages and towns. The rear suspension can't absorb the bounce brought by the last joint, and the next joint comes again, which will make the rear passengers very unhappy, but it has little effect on the driver.
The steering wheel of the Great Wall Gun has a large diameter and a thin handshake, giving people the feeling of "truck". Because the passenger car version of Great Wall Gun is equipped with the latest generation GW4C20B engine of Great Wall, the SUV models of Great Wall are also equipped with this engine, including Haval F7, WEY VV6, etc., with first-class technical performance, but the maximum output power 140kW and the maximum torque are relatively low. The gearbox is a highlight of the Great Wall Gun -8AT gearbox carried by ZF, and the acceleration of 100 kilometers without load can reach about 9 seconds.
In terms of overall power output, in the standard mode, it is obviously inclined to fuel economy. Basically, except for being a little anxious at the beginning, it is a very stable output experience to maintain the upshift situation at any time, actively jump up the gear, and not deliberately maintain high torque output. This also keeps the speed at 1500- 1700 rpm during ordinary cruising, so even if you suddenly step on it to accelerate, you will feel the sense of mopping the floor.
The purpose of this adjustment is obviously to save fuel. For a pickup truck with a weight of two tons and a load of 500 kilograms, the problem of deceleration is not big. The important thing is to save money for the owners. After all, township drivers use "a few cents a kilometer" to measure fuel consumption. If you like, you can also switch to energy-saving mode to make the output more restrained and prevent the driver from stepping on the accelerator by mistake.
If you really need power, such as pulling heavy goods, you can also switch to sports mode. In sport mode, the speed will be maintained above 2000 rpm, which basically means that the torque is fully output at any time, and the upshift is no longer so active. Of course, fuel economy will be sacrificed. In addition, the Great Wall Cannon's control of engine noise is still not as good as the general SUV. You can hear the engine running below 2000 rpm, especially when you step on the accelerator.
In terms of steering, the Great Wall Gun provides three steering modes: portability, comfort and movement. However, even in comfort mode, the steering is too vague and the virtual position is relatively large, which may be due to fault tolerance, while people who are used to driving passenger cars prefer to set it to sports mode.
Timely four-wheel drive is very intimate, and low-speed four-wheel drive is very powerful.
As a hard-core pickup truck model, the passenger car version of the Great Wall Gun also needs a four-wheel drive system. In addition to the minimum equipment, the passenger gun is also equipped with "TOD intelligent four-wheel drive system", that is, "torque on-demand four-wheel drive", which is a timely four-wheel drive system.
When you set it to automatic mode, it is usually driven by the rear wheel. Once the system detects that the rear wheel slips, it will output power to the front axle through the locking of the central multi-disc clutch differential lock to help get out of trouble. The biggest advantage of timely four-wheel drive is "automatic", so it is more friendly to ordinary drivers, not to mention novices. It is not necessary for drivers to judge road conditions like part-time four-wheel drive and manually switch four-wheel drive systems.
The sports version has the function of locking the central differential, and there is no problem when passing through the ordinary gravel muddy road. If you encounter a steep slope or a difficult road, you can start the low-speed four-wheel drive mode with the "4L" button, but it needs to be carried out in the N-gear mode, which will make the body "shake" when the transfer box is switched. The torque magnification of the low-speed four-wheel drive of the Great Wall Gun is 2.48 times, which means that it can provide a torque output of several thousand Nm. If you can't turn on the 4L mode when climbing, you must step on the accelerator deeply, then you only need to step on the accelerator lightly after turning on 4L, and climbing is like flat ground.
With this set of hardware, you can enjoy the fun of firing the Great Wall cannon in the mud. If you choose the top version and the rear axle electronically controlled differential lock, the off-road ability will go up a step, not to mention the three-lock off-road version.
Driving summary:
Driving the Great Wall cannon all day really gives people many surprises: the whole vehicle is obviously used, the texture is greatly improved compared with the traditional pickup truck, the driving texture is close to the hard-core off-road vehicle, and the off-road ability is far stronger than the general SUV model. Needless to say, we are curious about the large space and versatility of pickup trucks, and more importantly, the price is the price of a medium-sized 7-seat SUV.
In fact, although there are still some details to be improved in this pickup truck, such as the material of the lower part of the interior can be improved and the powertrain can be adjusted more exquisitely, the functional and cost-effective version of the Great Wall Gun has always been a long-awaited product in the domestic third-line to fifth-line market.
Compared with the American market, pickup truck is not only a production tool in rural America, but also a status symbol of the middle class. The starting price of the big pickup truck is similar to that of the Camry, and the highest can even be close to the BMW 7 Series. However, in the past, domestic cities banned pickup trucks from entering the city, and car companies were unwilling to invest resources in the research and development of passenger cars. Therefore, before that, pickup trucks were too extreme in the China market-one end was a pure production tool that would not be replaced for ten years, and the other end was to import more pickup trucks to show off wealth.
Now with the gradual lifting of the ban on pickup trucks, the potential of this category is undoubtedly huge. Think about how many Wuling Hong Guang are driving in the vast rural market. These minibuses are increasingly restricted in terms of safety and usage scenarios. With the rapid upgrading of domestic transportation infrastructure, pickup trucks are more and more hopeful to replace Hong Guang and become a weapon for China people to become rich and well-off.
The explosion of the Great Wall Cannon is not without reason. It can be said that it represents the fundamental interests of the people in their pursuit of a better life.
Text | |JackieLXX
Figure ||| Jackie lxx
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.