Dear Yellow Brick: the first test of a new brutal SUV
The G318 SUV will be the first representative of the Deepal brand in Russia, a separate brand of Changan, and it does not look like any other car of the company. A brutal appearance is already a bid for success, especially in our country, but what about other qualities of a car? The Izvestia correspondent got acquainted with the car at a training ground in Inner Mongolia at minus thirty degrees celsius.
What is Deepal?
Chinese companies like to "lengthen" their history for the sake of solidity, and Changan is an absolute champion in this discipline. He traces his ancestry back to the Shanghai Arsenal, founded in 1862, the first official weapons factory in China. So the Deepal brand, which was officially launched, was officially given a solid biography in 2022. It begins with the creation of a research center in 2001, which created the first prototype hybrid. A tangible result of the center's activities was the first Chinese serial hybrid, the Jiexun HEV with a manual transmission, which operated as a taxi during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Shangri-La Plan, adopted in 2017 — yes, the company likes big names — envisioned the creation of a separate business unit for new energy vehicles (NEV). It was later renamed Deepal. The brand has proved popular — sales have now exceeded 700,000 cars.
Named after the road
Introduced in January 2024, the G318 SUV was strikingly different from other squat and sharp—nosed Deepal models - a kind of bizarre cross between a Mitsubishi Pajero and an industrial press. Faceted sidewalls and the yellow body color additionally evoke associations with the Lamborghini Urus.
Dimensions of the Deepal G318: 5010×1985×1895 mm. Wheelbase — 2880 mm
A brutal SUV is a universal trend in the Chinese automotive industry, so each company develops its own "brick" with a spare tire on the tailgate.
However, Changan can again turn to its historical heritage and claim that it once collected licensed copies of American jeeps. I have collected quite a bit, but I have the right to consider myself a historical manufacturer of SUVs.
G318 is the name of the longest Chinese national highway connecting Shanghai and Tibet, which is very popular with tourists due to its scenic views. That is, the car named after her should be suitable for long trips.
The G318 can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. The maximum speed is 185 km/h.
It fits. The declared trunk volume is 818 liters, and with the rear seat backs folded, it grows to 1747 liters. There is also a powerful expedition trunk on the roof. If you tilt the backs of the front seats back, you get two berths.
Off-road potential
It seems that there is a good coating covering the entire length of the highway, but the G318 bill is equipped in an off-road way: plastic armor, two inter-wheel magnetic locks, a powerful chandelier on the roof, retractable towing eyelets in the front bumper. The G318 has three off-road modes (ford, snow, rocks, mud, sand) and three special scenarios: tank turn, descent assist, off-road cruise control.
At the same time, the body is load—bearing - an impressive torsional stiffness of 45,000 Nm/deg is claimed, and the suspension is completely independent with unexpectedly elegant passenger levers. So everything should be fine with asphalt handling.
The car has off-road entry and exit angles, but the rear motor and gearbox hang quite low under the bumper. In the version with air suspension, the ground clearance can be increased to 240 mm, but this indicator does not qualify as the "best indicator in the segment" — as it says in the press materials. A car with a conventional spring suspension has less clearance, apparently.
What's under the hood
The hybrid installation is built according to a sequential scheme — the wheels rotate two electric motors, front and rear, with a peak output of 430 hp and 575 Nm. The gasoline turbo engine charges the battery, and one liter of fuel is consumed to produce 3.7 kW, an impressive indicator. The thermal efficiency of the engine is almost 45%, so it is surprising that the Russian OTTS allows it to be refueled with 92 gasoline. The withered power reserve is 1000 km according to the CLTC cycle, a battery with a capacity of 35 kilowatt-hours should be enough for 190 km if you drive exclusively on electric power. Charging from a fast station from 30 to 80% will take only 15 minutes, the manufacturer promises.
How the brutal hybrid rides
Currently, the battery is 55% full, the tank is almost full, and the total power reserve is stated at 799 kilometers. The figures are overly optimistic, given that it's almost minus thirty degrees outside. It's hot inside the car, and the press is packed to the brim. Interestingly, a car with a length of more than five meters, taking into account the spare part, should be spacious inside. And now five passengers in winter jackets are cramped. Everything is massive and large here — the seats, the "aviation" motion mode selector as wide as the center console, and the large buttons under the central display. The front panel with handles around the edges is clearly peeped at from the Land Rover Defender. Despite the stated brutality, everything inside is soft and pleasant to the touch.
Changan E07
The introduction to the Deepal G318 was short — three full laps on a special snow track. A 2.5-ton car can slide quite confidently with straight wheels, but with too much speed, the stabilization system intervenes gently and confidently. The all—wheel drive setup is a gamble - more momentum comes to the rear wheels. In general, the SUV was not bothered by frost, but due to the fact that the power plant and the air suspension generate a lot of heat, the car freezes quite a lot lower down.
Sales of the G318 in Russia are scheduled to begin in March-April, and the assembly of SUVs has begun at Kaliningrad Avtotor — the first batch has been released. According to the Russian OTS, we will present machines with both springs and air suspension. The list of options includes a set of electronic assistants, including adaptive cruise control and a tow bar designed for a 1.6-ton brake sight.
Transformer pickup truck and other novelties for Russia
They plan to sell cars under the Chagan Deepal dual brand, and in the future, a "Chinese cyber truck", a Changan Nevo E07 transformer pickup truck, may be brought to Russia under it. This amazing car has a sliding glass panel covering the cargo compartment from above, and the side is hinged. It can be either a pure electric vehicle or a sequential hybrid.
Hunter K50
Another potentially interesting novelty for Russia is the Hunter K50 and K70 hybrid pickups. Interestingly, their front part is made in the style of Changan passenger cars: a team of hired European designers brings the brand's style to uniformity.
The Uni-S crossover
The popular CS55 Plus/Uni-S crossover in Russia will also change in the same way. In addition, it will get all-wheel drive. This is one of the key innovations of the Chinese brand in the Russian market, along with the CS35 Max and CS75 Pro crossovers.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
