Chinese Wonder

Before you throw up your hands in horror and scream “perish the thought”, think again. The Chinese are getting much, much better at building cars – and the Geely Emgrand EC7 is a case in point. We recently drove it in Chile … and now the car is available here in South Africa. We think it’s a welcome addition to the motoring scene because it truly does represent value for money. In fact, based on our experiences in Chile, we were expecting it to have a considerably higher price tag.

But, at R159 990 for the GL Luxury and R174 990 for the GT Executive, it’s actually cheap … and far from nasty. Au contraire, this family car – fully imported from China – is a common sense proposition. It looks good, it’s wonderfully spacious and, just in case you’re nervous about going the Chinese route, it also comes with a five-year/100 000 km warranty. Sadly, it does not come with a service plan; we think that this is a real pity (you can, of course, buy one).

It does, however, come with a full house of features – driver aids include electrical operation for the exterior door mirrors and windows (both models) and driver’s seat (GT only), with the window, central locking and mirror control buttons within arm’s length on the driver’s door. Both models have a leather interior, climate control and a sound system (radio/CD player).

Importantly, Geely didn’t forget about safety features either. It comes with all the normal bits and bobs – ABS with EBD, driver and front passenger airbags, side impact beams in all four the doors, pre-tensioners with force limiters for the front seatbelts, three-point seat belts for each of the seats front and rear, an intelligent reversing sensor – and even a built-in mini fire extinguisher (apparently that’s a legal requirement over in China; we think it’s a rather good idea).

The new EC7 is powered by a 1.8-litre four-cylinder DOHC petrol engine, which is matched to a five-speed manual transmission.

If you’re looking for a family car, it’s worth a test drive. You may find other more refined family cars, but not at this price.

Price: From R159 990 (as at July 2013)

Text: Charleen Clarke.