Guys, Ni Hao, as they say! How much do you think this car is worth? Probably $160000 to $170000? Because it looks like something in between a Maybach and an Alfard. By the way, new Alfard costs, if you're lucky, from $170000. And this car costs around $100000, and at the beginning of this year, it cost $50000! For your attention - GAC GN8. Review, let's go! So, right now in front of us is one of the most expensive Chinese cars in Russia.
The company is called GAC - and let's start with it. Before all these Chinese brands sounded like some foul words. But after we saw this, this and this, and of course remember this, many motorists began to look at Chinese cars - as did the owner of this car.
Some interesting facts about GAC. The company was founded in 2008 and is already one of the ten largest car brands in China. And here's interesting: in addition to the fact that they already make trucks, cars, SUVs and buses, this company in joint ventures makes FIAT, Honda, Mitsubishi and even Toyota. So, apparently, GAC has experience - and quite serious.
And now specifically about this car. It is on sale now. I shall tell you frankly: a couple of months ago I had an idea to look at the actual prices for such cars, and accidentally I end up on the GAC Motors website. And saw that this car costs $55000.
And not the easiest version! And then I wondered how it is. So, this car is on sale now. It looks a little different than the standard stock GAC, because it is restyled. The bodykit was brought from China, put on that car, which is sold in showrooms, and got such a car. The upper part is painted - such a semi-custom version.
And there is nothing that prevents you from doing the same, because this dodger from the restyling version can be brought from China and put yourself. And getting ahead, why this car is on sale at the moment? Only because the owner of this car, after trying Chinese car, wants a new Chinese car. The second version of GAC GN8, which looks like this. So this is what the seller writes about this car.
"Awesome bus! the best of the Chinese now. It's the "Prestige" version. For the basis were taken reliable FIAT, the eternal cast-iron engine and reliable automatic transmission". What are the additional modifications? The rims are 19 inches, called AEZ. Alcantara headliner. Full noise insulation of the whole car.
Window armor, black paint, officially goes on the documents, and, again, the original dodger from the original car in the restyling. You can bring from China and install it. But right now there is only one such car for the whole Russia.
And if you paid attention to the frame - the company OBUKHOV. They have sold and now sell Volvo cars, but now deal with GAC cars. This car is officially under warranty, and maintenance costs $300. What's inside? Let's take a look. Okay, but first let's see what's under the hood.
The standard car is 2 liters, 190 horsepower, automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. And there's also a 250 hp variant, which is sold only in China: but it's probably possible to bring it yourself. Now the trunk! Ah, here's a good question: I pressed the hood, and we were recently told in the comments that the hood should be pressed, not thrown. When we next did the "proper" thing, you wrote: why push the hood, you'll damage it. Looking forward to your comments, very interesting. Trunk! Electric? Well, the trunk is small... Whoa... What was that? What was that? What's the matter?
What does that mean? Egor, Egor! By the way, Yegor drives this car. - Egor, hello again. How do you like the car? - Hello, hello! It's great! Soft, comfortable. - Well, it's understandable. We were trying to open... - Yes. - Let's go back... And now it's going to be unusual. - It's closing. - Why? - Soundproofing.
- I don't get it. - There's a lot of noise insulation on the door,and it's too heavy, so it closes. - Seriously? - You could take some of the noise insulation out or put the actuators from the V-Class and it would be fine. - How do you open it, though? Load it while it's open? Throw and back off? - Yes! - Do you have to use your hand? - Just a little bit. Just like that. - Oh, that's cool. Thank you! - Yes So there's not a lot of room. But it's not a truck, it's a car for the comfortable transportation of up to seven people, but still, if you need to transport something, click here and it's done.
You can take a stroller or put something bulky in it. You can push the seats further back and there will be a lot of space. Here we have a jack and extra tools, everything is new and clean.
We haven't even used it yet. Next. - Oh, is the door electric? Is that the default? - The windows open all the way, too. The interior is like in an Alfard. That is, this car... For those who have driven an Alfard or a new Lexus, will understand.
Wow, look! Absolutely flat floor and it is comfortable to move around the interior. There is an ottoman and, pay attention, as in "Alfard" - control of the interior here and here. Oooh, wow! Yes, and such a car at the beginning of the year cost $50000! Now it costs much more, but they are almost out of stock. This car is a family man's car, the owner has four children. And they ride in it sometimes, and sit in the back too - and move around. My leg is stuck...
It's not bad! Not bad at all. It's not a problem to drive somewhere far, even 500-1000 km. There is ventilation, cup holder, lighting and a pocket. Let's go to the driver seat and have a look.
It's nice! Really. For this money and taking into account, that "Alfard" is around $170000, and there will be the same comfort... We tested it, by the way. It's great! So, what's in the front? Guys, that's a great seat.
That big dashboard is very unusual looking, but you get used to it very quickly. In fact, it's very unusual looking, because there's almost a metre of space. But if you have seen Alfard, it is the same there, it is normal thing for such class of automobile. Also it is safety. It does not interfere in any way neither the view, nor your comfort.
It sits perfectly here. There are covers - the owner takes great care of his car. Under the covers there are almost new seats. First of all, everything is quite simple. This is the first version of this car. Now the second version is out, and the owners of this car are in the process of ordering. The second version has more modern design, many monitors and so on.
It has pretty simple monitor, regular controls, steering wheel and a simple dashboard. In the style of Kia Sorento of the previous one. But in terms of ergonomics, seating and comfort and overall feel... Even the armrest - can't even complain. For this money all the more so. Yeah, this is here and this is here. Big glove compartment.
We will not look into it, because the car is in use. And the multimedia system, let's have a quick look... - Okay, i have a question. - Egor, can I talk to you for a minute? Was Russian the default language? - Yes! Yes, Russian was already there. - By default?
- Yes. - Cool, not in Chinese. - Yeah, even Apple CarPlay. - Apple CarPlay? And Android Auto, apparently? - No Android, Apple CarPlay. - How so?
- Apparently, they like iPhone more than Android. - I see, thank you! The mileage is 34,200 kilometers. And there's even a film on the screen! Guys, it's a must have. A commercial break and we continue. What a soft door! Like the S-Class, beautiful! Guys, great news from Vivo! If you miss curved screens and new smartphones, this is what you need. This is the new vivo V25 Pro.
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So, guys, with us today is Alexander - "Technology of Luxury". The man who... - How many Mercedes rebuilds have you done? - And not only Mercedes! If you take only the form factor of this particular car, then about 350 cars. There are different forms of redesigns. There is a simple one - just move a sofa or comfortable armchair, and there is a way to make Taj Mahal - with a partition, folding armchairs, light and music, and a lot of wood and leather. So the work is very different.
One car is very different from another. - The Taj Mahal? - Well, it's a synonym of luxury. - Get to the point! Here is the car in front of you. Background: at the beginning of this year, it cost $50000. - Well. i see this car for the first time. I do not know how it looks in a standard variant without changes.
Therefore, I will talk only about what I see. - Aha! - First of all, the car carries different styles: here they have obviously taken two leaders of the market. This optics is very similar to Mercedes V-class optics, but it is naturally changed - square. There is something from Porsche here too. \The front grille, its styling, is very similar to the Toyota Alphard. The car, I see, is repainted in two colors: a reference to the Maybach. It is larger in volume and length than the Alphard, I think, and lower in roofline than the V-Class or Multivan. - Well, first impressions - what are they? - You know how I feel about China? God made man first, and the Chinese made everything else. So... - Said well. - Sooner or later, everything will be Chinese. I'm talking about this kind of machinery, because in light of recent events, we will be forced, whether we like it or not, to drive this kind of car for the most part. I have not driven one, and I don't know how long it will last, and I don't know what the mileage between services is, how many tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometers the engine can go through. As soon as at least three years have passed, it will become clear whether this car is worth its money or not. Is it a disposable design for a year, or clearly under warranty, and then change for the next one. So, Egor, do we have a chance to drive it? Yes, yes! Let's go for a ride! Alexander, notice how softly the door closes. I noticed what they did to the hinges here - it's interesting. I look at how the doors close. They are serious. Apparently, it's been weighted down with noise insulation, which is why it's so soft. Absolutely right! Shall we go? Let's try it! First we're going to adjust it. Is front-wheel drive enough? Yes, more than enough. You only know if front-wheel drive is enough or not when you've driven the car through the winter. We drove the car to the countryside in winter. Where it's clean - yes. If it wasn't clean, we lived in the country. And everything was fine? In general, not once got stuck. Even though there was about 20 centimeters of snow. So, how was it? First impressions? Here's another Chinese car. The Haval? Haval is fine, they have made a leap in 10 years. I was in 2017 in factories in China, which make similar products to our company. It's not automotive production, it's furniture production. Furniture? It's plywood, it's organolite, it's spot-shootable faux leather. Right with a staple gun. And there's this thing that the Chinese themselves call "乡下人." It translates as village or redneck. So... So they have factories of different levels of production: there's what's produced for export, and it's also graded, as far as I understand, in three degrees. Oh, there you go. Uh-huh. So it's possible that it's not 乡下人? It's possible. But you can understand it only after 2-3 years of active use. Egor, how long has the car been used? Since January. Since January of this year? Yes. Well, did something squeak somewhere? Initially, before the noise and vibration insulation, there were squeaks.
The front grille, its styling, is very similar to the Toyota Alphard. The car, I see, is repainted in two colors: a reference to the Maybach. It is larger in volume and length than the Alphard, I think, and lower in roofline than the V-Class or Multivan. - Well, first impressions - what are they? - You know how I feel about China? God made man first, and the Chinese made everything else. So... - Well said.
- Sooner or later, everything will be Chinese. I'm talking about this kind of machinery, because in light of recent events, we will be forced, whether we like it or not, to drive this kind of car for the most part. I have not driven one, and I don't know how long it will last, and I don't know what the mileage between services is, how many tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometers the engine can go through. As soon as at least three years have passed, it will become clear whether this car is worth its money or not.
Is it a disposable design for a year, or clearly under warranty, and then change for the next one. - So, Egor, do we have a chance to drive it? - Yes, yes! - Let's go for a ride! - Alexander, notice how softly the door closes. - I noticed what they did to the hinges here - it's interesting.
I look at how the doors close. They are serious. Apparently, it's been weighted down with noise insulation, which is why it's so soft. - Absolutely right! - Shall we go? - Let's try it! - First we're going to adjust it. - Is front-wheel drive enough? - Yes, more than enough. - You only know if front-wheel drive is enough or not when you've driven the car through the winter.
- We drove the car to the countryside in winter. - Where it's clean - yes. - If it wasn't clean, we lived in the country. - And everything was fine? - In general, not once got stuck. Even though there was about 20 centimeters of snow.
- So, how was it? First impressions? Here's another Chinese car. - The Haval? Haval is fine, they have made a leap in 10 years. I was in 2017 in factories in China, which make similar products to our company. It's not automotive production, it's furniture production. - Furniture? - It's plywood, it's organolite, it's spot-shootable faux leather. Right with a staple gun.
And there's this thing that the Chinese themselves call "乡下人." It translates as village or redneck. - So... - So they have factories of different levels of production: there's what's produced for export, and it's also graded, as far as I understand, in three degrees. - Oh, really? - Uh-huh.
- So it's possible that it's not 乡下人? - It's possible. But you can understand it only after 2-3 years of active use. - Egor, how long has the car been used? - Since January. - Since January of this year? - Yes. - Well, did something squeak somewhere? - Initially, before the noise and vibration insulation, there were squeaks.
- So... - But after the noise and vibration insulation was done, we didn't notice anything else. - Specifically in this car, the plastic of different color in the front is immediately striking.
Here is a more matte color, and here is more saturated and glossy. There are also cracks and gaps, but it is acceptable even for Toyota, it is not criminal. Again, I see that the front panel has been redone for vinyl with decorative stitching by itself. And also the ceiling was covered with alcantara of anthracite color.
- Egor, what was on the ceiling before? - Before that there was... - A gray fabric. - Yeah, gray cloth. Like they usually do in cars. - You didn't like it? - I didn't like... The black one was more comfortable. - Well, Alexander, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have even noticed that there's a slight color difference. If you don't pay attention on purpose. Well, it is and it is. - Since we do personal quality control on all cars, which we remake ourselves, and answer to the customer, then I directly take the car in the work and hand it over directly to the customer.
I already have a professional eye for all the bumps and corners and color mismatches. The average user will not care. He will say "not bad". It happens, when you get into some cars, you start to get annoyed with something. - Right, and here? - Here, in principle, there's no such thing. It's quite... It's Chinese! - Well, close the logo like that and it's fine! That's it! I honestly say, I sat here, and I feel great. I look at Egor and I like it, I see how the man sits comfortably in the back.
- Naturally, it would be interesting to see how much speed the car has on the Moscow - St. Petersburg freeway. Not the top speed, but the permissible speed limit. - How fast were you going? - Up to 180 km per hour. - How was it?
- It was fine. It's good on the road. - It's good on the road? - Yeah. It's got plenty of power. - How's the visibility? Front and back. - It's good! There is the same problem as in other similar cars, it's the front pillar, which overlaps the corner.
But it's more a question of parking or maneuvering in tight places. You don't notice it on the road. - How much, if not a secret, does the new V-Class cost now before you take it to work? The base car is unchanged. - The base V-Class the customers bring us costs around $240000 - How much?! - $240000. Maybe a little less. - $240000! - Now that Mercedes is "gone" from Russia, and there are no deliveries, all of these cars are brought to our customers privately.
- Well, by the way, the V-Class is overtaking us. - That's how they drive boldly, right? - The good thing about the V-Class is that it does 200 km/h. But its comfort threshold is 190 km/h.
It is only with installation of rear air tanks, because with springs at high speeds the rear part starts swaying. If I were the manufacturer of this car, I would think about the number of options. Since this car could be sold as a semi-truck or make a luxury version. - Egor, are there any other options? - This is almost the maximum one.
The maxi-max has monitors for passengers in the back. 360 cameras, adaptive cruise control and wireless charging. When we bought it, in the maximum version it cost $60000, and ours for $55000. - Egor, before I forget, I wanted to ask: do you want to swap this car for the same one, but new? - Yes. - In other words, is it a straightforward decision? - Yes.
- With all the experience of owning German cars do you still want to buy a new Chinese car? - 100%, yes. - That's the decision to get a new GAC. - I think, sooner or later we'll all drive Chinese. There will be a certain period of adaptation, all these plants, which European companies left here, the Chinese will buy their areas with modern equipment, and they will set up car production there.
And they will also take for technologies at these plants. - Yes, exactly. - So, do you want to sit in the back? - I don't want to - i have to! - Yes. - Otherwise the test won't be complete. - How's that? - I'm a normal six-footer. I open the ottoman, and I can't use it. - There's a problem.
- It's the same problem as the Alfard. This option is bought with the purchase of the car, but we can't use it even with the height of 1.8 meters. - By the way, Egor, how do you solve this problem? - No way! - I am not tall enough.
- There's a massage here, by the way. - Massage is regular, pneumatic, there are pillows. - Let's say, I am comparing with massage in Mercedes, and here it is less expressed. - But there is a massage in a $55k car! - Shall we get in? - Yes! I'd like a ride. - By the way, here's the key. I forgot to show it before. It looks like this. - Hey, come on. There's more work to be done here. I got the throttle all the way down, but...
- It's the same turbo pit as the diesel engine. - But there's still a 250 horsepower version on sale in China. What can you get for $65000 now? And by the way, before I forget, how much would a new car like this cost? A new GN8 from China. - I'm thinking of bringing it to Russia with customs clearance and everything... Probably $70000.
- $70000 for a new one? Is it the second version, with the bigger screen? Front-wheel drive, too? - Yeah. - It seems to me they are doing it very simply: first they capture the market, and then the price will go up to the level of Korean cars. At a certain stage, the Chinese are seizing the market, and when the market is captured, they can dictate their terms, when there is no competitors on it.
- Yes, there is such a theory. - It is not a theory, it is practice. - But now we have such a car for $65000. Cars are inexpensive. - At this point in time and space this car for $60000 has a place and it will find buyers for 100%. - Egor, did you manage to find any minus in the car after six months of operation? Even more than six months. - Well, the only thing that was initially a squeak - it was fixed with noise isolation. - Yeah... Well, is there anything else?
- All in all, no complaints about the car at all. No complaints at all. - Well, it doesn't work like that! - It does! - Alexander, how much does it cost to sound and vibro-insulate a car like this? - On a car like this? - Yes. - If all the doors, body, and with the removal of the front panel and mounting it back to insulate the engine compartment, then around $3000-$4000. - As we discussed. - Yeah. - And still - how come there's not a single minus? - Somehow they managed to make such a miracle car.
- How much driving experience do you have? - I got my driving licence in 2018 or '19 and got into a car straight away. The cars ranged from the Opel Astra coupe to the 222 and 221 S-Class. Mercedes, BMW, Porsche... - And?.. - And comparing it to those cars, for example, I wouldn't say this one is much worse. It's a good, cool car. Especially if you've got a big family, it's very handy. You load all the kids and stuff, and off we go.
- Now it is worth saying that Egor is a nephew of the car owner. The owner of the car is away on business. - Yeah. - So, to repeat the phrase that your uncle, the owner of the car, said, that only the Chinese are next. Is that right? - Yes, he said he didn't want to buy any more expensive - Mercedes and BMW cars. He said: I liked the Chinese. We sat in various Chinese cars:
both expensive ones, and not... And he says they are no worse than any premium cars. - Alexander, what do you think about the prospects for Mercedes and BMW in Russia? - It will live on, by all means. Because if you come to a business meeting in a Chinese GAC or a Mercedes V-Class converted to an office, your partner's attitude will be very different. - Well, it depends on who is coming! - In Russia you are still greeted by the way you look, and you always will be. I think the Chinese will soon be squeezed out by Indian cars. Because there are more Indians than Chinese. - Exactly! Have you seen Indian cars? - No, we haven't looked at Indian cars yet. - They've got Mahindra. And a Tata.
- They've arrived! - Here we are, yes. - Gentlemen, thank you all for your time. Shall I give you the contacts? There's a seller and then there's a buyer. - No, I don't want to, so I'll tell you the truth. Guys, some interesting numbers. This car is on the market right now for $100000. Because the rims, the paint job, the dodger that had to be brought in from China and put on, and the alcantara.
All this costs money, the owner is selling it for $100000. On the GAC Motors website, the car costs $60000 in Russia. But there are hardly any of them on sale, in stock.
And another interesting figure: right now the guys want to bring a new GN8 from China for $75000. We have looked, we have calculated, we have googled, we have visited various websites - for that kind of money it is impossible to buy anything new. But we would love to read your comments. The GAC GN8 turned out even better than we thought.
2022-10-25