SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday November 21,2013
Before commenting on the Geely Emgrand LC7, let me recall three little life lessons. A Real Estate trainer taught: “Every house has a buyer.” Kinsey, my mentor in this business advised: “Put yourself into the mind and wallet of the most likely purchaser” and Baloo the bear sang: “Accentuate the positive.” So, let’s see what it does right.
First, it charges like a Zhou Dynasty battle chariot – a respectably powerful 1800cc engine in a light body sees to that. It sounds good too. Second, there’s loads of legroom in the back. Third, if you have a tame Triad contact, he might describe the 680-litre boot with its split and folding seatbacks as a “t’ree man trunk.” Fourth, it has plenty of useful toys although I felt that some important ones had been left out. Fifth, it’s inexpensive.
Emgrand is Geely’s first upmarket, and more luxurious, sub-brand and was designed from the outset as an earner of export currency. Preparing for its future moves into Europe and the US, the car was submitted for EuroNCAP testing where it earned four stars; a very good initial effort and apparently the first Chinese car to achieve that status.
To show how serious the company is about doing things right, it engaged assistance from major global suppliers including Saint-Gobain, Lear Corporation, Fuji, Siemens and PDE, a Dutch chassis tuning company. Buying the expertise and experience of trophy-wife Volvo indicates yet another layer of commitment, although the glamour hasn’t been transferred yet.
My issues with the Emgrand are mostly to do with ergonomics and build quality. Beginning nowhere in particular, it lacks headroom in front; the driver’s seat adjusts vertically but doesn’t go down far enough. My hair touched the headlining and the driving position felt as if I were driving a van. That’s fine for a mummy bus, but not for an upmarket sedan. In fairness the sunroof, standard on this model, does steal some space. The situation in the back seat isn’t much better, where headroom is fair but not great.
Further whines include difficulty getting at the front seat belt buckles tucked down beside the central console, lack of space for big feet to squeeze past the clutch pedal to find the footrest, no USB or auxiliary plugs for the radio and CD player, overly firm seats and ride, flimsy build quality in the CD box, hard plastic dash fittings and a lightweight boot floor panel. Geely did a better interior fit and finish job with its panda-faced baby LC and LCX models.
So what’s good? It has a modern 16-valve, dual overhead camshaft engine with constantly variable valve timing for a good balance of power and economy, and a very pleasant five-speed manual gearbox. Then there are workmanlike disc brakes front and rear with ABS and EBD, four airbags, and three-point inertia reel seat belts all around with pre-tensioning and force limitation in front.
Naturally, it has climate control, a basic trip computer, alloy wheels, a fully sized spare, power windows front and back, a rear sunblind, powered and folding outside mirrors, remote central locking with autolock on the move, fog lamps at both ends, a rear window demister, rear park assist, and leather upholstery with electrical adjustment on the driver’s chair that also features manual lumbar adjustment. The steering wheel is devoid of satellite buttons and adjusts for height only. Chinese legislation stipulates a fire extinguisher, so you’ll find one in the boot, while smokers will appreciate that ashtrays and lighters are provided both front and rear.
The Emgrand is generally stable at speed although I felt there was some room for improvement in windy conditions. Steering is nicely weighted and responsive, with a 10,5 metre turning circle. It braked effectively in a simulated emergency stop, when I found that the hazard flashers deploy automatically to warn other road users of a possible panic situation. The motor turns over at 3000 rpm in top gear at 120 km/h, with fair roll-on ability. That was when I discovered an annoying, although some might say useful, feature. A built-in, non-cancellable, alarm double-beeps five times as you reach 125 km/h.
Briefly, the Geely Emgrand LC7 is spacious, nicely equipped and competent for its price. I can’t wait for the trophy wife to make her presence felt in Design and Engineering, though.
Test car from Geely SA press fleet
The numbers
Price: R164 990
Engine: 1792cc, DOHC, 16-valve four-cylinder
Power: 102 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 172 Nm at 4200 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 185 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7,8 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Warranty: 5 years/100 000 km
Service plan: Optional
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8