Overview

GWM announced details of its new-look Jolion Hybrid range in mid-2024, the popular small segment SUV entrant enhanced by updates that visually separate the model from its petrol-powered siblings, while adding new badging, revised pricing (from $32,990 - $38,990 drive-away), and familiar strong standard equipment levels.

But it’s the same car underneath, and inside (mostly). The interior is familiar with a décor Jolion owners will recognise immediately. Similarly, the vehicle continues to offer much the same technology and amenity as before, which is no bad thing considering just how much GWM packs in for the price.

Rivalling the likes of the Chery Omoda 5, Hyundai Kona, MG ZS, Toyota Corolla Cross and others, the 2025 GWM Haval Jolion now gains steering wheel reach adjustment to benefit driver ergonomics – a pity then the seats carryover with little to no under-thigh support.

Further back, it’s disappointing to note there is still no spare wheel, just an inflation kit stowed under the cargo floor.

Standard equipment for the Jolion Hybrid range includes 17-inch alloy wheels, cloth upholstery, halogen headlights, keyless entry and ignition, rain-sensing wipers, and a 10.25-inch infotainment array with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

Lux and Lux Hybrid grades add a cargo cover, 7.0-inch digital instrument panel, dual-zone climate control, front seat heaters, 12.3-inch infotainment array (Lux Hybrid only), leatherette upholstery and steering wheel, LED headlights, rear privacy glass, and a six-way powered driver’s seat adjustment.

The top-of-the-range Ultra Hybrid (tested) adds four-way powered passenger seat adjustment, head-up display, LED ambient cabin lighting, panoramic sunroof, roof rails, semi-autonomous parking assistance, a ventilated driver’s seat, and a wireless device charging pad.

Strong levels of standard safety tech continue with adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind spot monitoring, driver drowsiness detection, lane centring and lane keeping assist, rear cross-traffic alert, reversing camera and rear parking sensors, safe exit warning, traffic sign recognition, tyre pressure monitoring, and seven airbags on offer.

Higher-specification Lux (and above) grades add 360-degree camera technology while the Ultra Hybrid grade adds front parking sensors.

The Jolion Hybrid features a 1.5-litre petrol engine and electric motor combination providing total system output of 140kW and 375Nm. The unit features a dedicated ‘Hybrid Drive Transmission’ again driving the front wheels. Fuel efficiency improves to 5.1 litres per 100km (+0.1L/100km). Wishful thinking if you ask us…

Measuring 4470mm in length (-2mm), 1898mm in width (+57mm), and 1625mm in height (+51mm), the Jolion Hybrid rides on a 2700mm wheelbase (unchanged) with multi-link rear suspension in higher grades.

The hybrid model’s more rakish roofline results in a reduction in cargo space, down to 255 litres in five-seat mode and up to 916 litres all told. Braked towing is listed at 1300kg.

All GWM Haval Jolion models are backed by a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty (with an additional year on the high-voltage battery). Capped price servicing (CPS) is available for five years with service intervals set at 12 months / 10,000km initially and 12 months/15,000km thereafter. Service pricing total $1650 over the five-year CPS period.

Driving Impressions

It’s interesting to find many of the Chinese brands seem to develop their vehicles in absolute isolation, apparently avoiding benchmarking against stalwart brands at all costs and offering infuriatingly obtrusive driver assistance technologies and complex touchscreen menu systems as a result.

You guessed it, the GWM Haval Jolion is still a vehicle whose ADAS technologies are far less refined than those of price-segment rivals.

We found the adaptive cruise control inconsistent and easily ‘spooked’, the driver monitor system a micro-manager of driver eye direction, and the lane-keeping tech so over-sensitive that you’ll find yourself pulling over to switch it all off every single time you go for a drive.

Sure, it’s meant to keep us “safe”. But in truth the system does little more than have you second-guessing your ability to drive. Did someone just pull into my blind spot? Have I misread a speed sign? Did this lane just plummet over a cliff? No, no, and no.

Are the over-zealous ADAS systems a deal-breaker for us? Yes, yes, and yes!

As noted, the systems may be turned off with each ignition cycle. But therein lies another issue – the Haval menu system. Dig deep enough, while stationary, and you’ll be able to minimise or suspend the super nannies from interfering. But turn off the car, and you’ll be back to the land of warning chimes and buzzers before you’ve had time to understand just what it is you’ve meant to have done wrong in the first place.

The infotainment array offers access to myriad vehicle settings, though very few functions can be accessed with the click of a physical button.

Indeed, all the Jolion’s climate and connectivity adjustments are made by the tap of a screen, some lying in places you’d never fathom (try finding the heated and ventilated seat controls, for example) which create a distraction all their own.

OK, the screen’s resolution is very good and the sound system decent, but it’s not as intuitive to operate as some of the market’s better examples and feels largely like features are there to tick a box, and not necessarily offer credible value. If you can’t simply dim the panel lights or turn the ventilated seats on when it’s hot out, then we’d wager you’ll never use the more complex features found deeper in the system anyway.

On the road, the Jolion Hybrid is an acceptable drive, but one that won’t win any prizes for refinement. It is quite leisurely in getting away from a standstill, feeling similarly lethargic when keeping pace with fast-moving traffic. The petrol-electric combination works hard to keep pace on steeper grades and proves rather inefficient when asked to do so. On test, we averaged 8.0 litres per 100km in mixed driving, a long way short of the 5.1L/100km claim.

Driving a mix of country and suburban roads, the Haval Jolion Hybrid rode reasonably well, until, that is, the surface becomes more challenging. Mix lumpy surfaces with tightening radius corners, for example, and the suspension begins to struggle. Body movement is evident here, giving the driver a sense that they're along for the ride and no longer steering the car.

The suspension tends to skip over corrugations, shaking the Jolion’s composure and sapping driver confidence. While it certainly isn’t a sportscar, it is a vehicle that should manage the worst of Australia’s B and C roads with far more grace – just as others in the segment have since time immemorial. Given GWM’s tenure in this market, we expected better.

We also expected better of the Jolion’s steering. The over-assisted EPAS arrangement is great for tight city streets and parking lots, but lacks any true sense of communication, even when dialled to its firmest (Sport) setting. Here, the system adds weight, but not feel, meaning simply that you’ll experience much the same feedback as before while investing more effort in the process.

Multiple corrections are required to keep the Jolion on its intended line, especially when the road surface is knobbly or crumbling. Leave the ADAS systems in play here and the results are disconcerting, the use of sight and not feel imperative in maintaining course.

We’d also like to see the brake pedal offer better progression instead of leaving its best work until the final few centimetres of travel. More response earlier in the pedal stroke would improve driver confidence and give a smoother ride in stop-start traffic and better balance to a system that is otherwise very good.

If we had one final complaint (sorry, GWM) to make of the Haval Jolion it’s that more could be done to insulate the cabin from wind and tyre noise. Aussie coarse-chip roads are notorious for the amplification of rubber on road, an issue most in the segment have worked well to subdue. If the $12,000 cheaper Chinese car we’re driving this week can do it, we’re sure GWM can. Just not quickly enough to change our mind on this occasion.

Given the sheer number of both new arrivals and stalwart models available for similar money, we find very little that would sway us towards the Haval Jolion.

Yes, it might be well equipped, offered with a decent warranty and CPS bundle, and be competitively priced but, for this scribe at least, is also far from the best in its class and impossible to live with in its current calibration.