"Nirvana" Dance

Arrived in Shanghai in the evening when night fell, it just rained and the temperature was a little low, but fortunately, Xiao Ming and I got into Junjie's carriage right away. "Great Shanghai" has become a well-known prosperous capital in China, and "Night Shanghai" can highlight its prosperity and wealth. As for "The Bund", it has long been a world-famous Shanghai Business cards make many people fascinated.

We drove the Junjie around the streets and alleys of Shanghai at night, and we arrived at the Bund before we knew it. Many buildings on both sides of the road were built by Westerners dozens or even hundreds of years ago. It can be seen that there was a fierce confrontation between Chinese and Western cultures back then, but now it seems to be so harmonious.

I have been to Shanghai many times, but suddenly I feel this way, all because Junjie can also be regarded as a carrier that combines Chinese and Western car-making cultures - its body shape is designed by the Italian Bentley Farnina Design Office Design, and the internal production process, mechanical adjustment, etc. are also the results of cooperation with international partners.

Like the back of "BMW"

About the appearance, a friend of mine once said to me half-jokingly: "Junjie is quite good, it looks like a BMW from a distance, and it looks like a BMW from a distance. Like a BMW, it doesn't drive..." No matter whether he praises it or detracts from it, at least two points are certain.

The first is Junjie's styling and interior design. Regarding the body shape, Junjie's body is obviously much more compact than that of Zhonghua/Zunchi, but in terms of design, it is older, more fashionable and much younger. The whole car feels powerful, but not too strong and flamboyant. Soft, especially the design of the front face, shows the potential to become a symbol of the Chinese car family; the most attractive interior design is that the center console is slightly inclined to the driver's seat side, forming a semi-enclosed structure, the driver is almost It can take charge of everything in the car, among which the button-type button design is not only innovative, but also easy to identify and operate. The ergonomic affinity of the operation interface is much improved than that of Zhonghua/Zunchi.

However, the ergonomic design of the driver's seat is still insufficient - during the test drive, we never adjusted to a very comfortable driving position, and always felt a little awkward, and our body can reasonably be regarded as representing the Chinese people. generally standard. It is gratifying that Junjie's steering wheel has been redesigned, and the grip is much more comfortable than that of China. The number of storage compartments in the cabin is not particularly large, but should be enough for most buyers.

Another point that has been affirmed should be Junjie's manufacturing process. Junjie's body sheet metal and paint finish very well inherit the fine traditions of its predecessors, and its external appearance is comparable to the German models of the same level. The explanation of Brilliance Depot is that Junjie adopts many manufacturing processes of German cars, including double-sided galvanized steel sheet, laser welding and cavity anti-corrosion injection wax, etc. Our intuitive feeling about this comes from the doors - Junjie's front and rear doors are both It is very heavy, and it takes a lot of strength to open the door. It is believed that thick molten steel was used or a lot of fillers were injected into the cavity, which made people feel very solid.

However, we found a small design flaw when opening the door - the inclination of the snap-in door handle was unreasonable, and the door was so heavy that it was easy for the hand to slip off when the door was opened with force.

Junjie's interior materials and installation details also left us a very good impression. It should be noted that this impression is not based on the "Old China" interior, but comes from our past Tried trim level of other joint venture brand mid-size cars.

The black instrument panel is covered with imitation leather and softened, and the look and feel are enough to reach the grade that a mid-size car should have; I hope that the car factory can add younger and trendy interior versions (such as silver metal textured panels) for buyers to choose; the audio, lighting, and air conditioning buttons on the center console are good to the touch, and the seams in the glove box and other places are even. , The fineness is reasonable and can stand up to scrutiny. The only thing that makes us not very satisfied is the cup holder cover behind the baffle. The gap exposed after closing is obviously larger than the seams of other parts. The shape of the front and rear seats of Junjie looks like a BMW, but the support force is a bit soft, and the sewing of the leather is of course not as meticulous as that of a BMW, but it is still tenable in an intermediate car.

In short, from what we see with our eyes to what we can touch with our hands, Junjie makes us feel the progress of Brilliance, and we believe that behind these progress, there must be a lot of effort, three years of research and development time There should be no wastage.

Take the German car route

We have learned many traffic lights on the streets of Shanghai for a long time, but there are fewer opportunities to start with Shanghai taxi drivers at the stop line at the intersection. We don’t advocate fast-moving cars, but the frequent flashing traffic lights at night really have a chemical change on us through the retina – starting at every intersection, stomping on the accelerator and going straight to the next intersection, and then doing heel-toe (Junjie) The brake and accelerator pedal arrangements are not very suitable for this action), downshift, stop, and start again.

The power configuration of Junjie includes four engines, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 and 1.8T, of which the first three are Mitsubishi engines, and the top version Junjie equipped with the 1.8T engine developed by Brilliance has not yet been fully debugged. It will be launched a little later, but its maximum horsepower of 170hp is quite expected.

The Junjie we tested uses a 1.8L engine (Mitsubishi 4G93) with a maximum horsepower of 136hp. Its actual power performance is not very strong. Whether it is low-speed torque or medium-high speed, the feeling is stable, there is not much Explosive power to speak of. The sound of the engine at high revs also does not stimulate the adrenal glands, and the gear ratio arrangement of the five-speed manual gearbox is equally average, which makes people feel that the engineers deliberately "domesticated" this Junjie 1.8 into a docile guy. We feel that its tail teeth (final deceleration ratio) can be adjusted larger to obtain a more abundant acceleration response.

Compared with the "gentle" power performance, Junjie's cabin sound insulation ability surprised us a little, especially the sound suppression of the engine compartment is excellent, and the sound is not noisy even at above 4000rpm.

We already have excellent reviews on the handling potential of the Zhonghua/Zunchi, so our expectations are higher for the Junjie, which uses the same chassis but with a shorter body. In actual driving, Junjie's character has indeed changed. The solidity and "character" of the whole car in driving are not possessed by its predecessor.

Junjie's caring craftsmanship is once again reflected here. The whole car has a very heavy texture during driving. This feeling is very close to the characteristics of German cars, especially the characteristics of Volkswagen cars - you can feel that the car is a A complete individual participates in every action during driving. Although the ability to accelerate is lacking a little brisk, the "weight feeling" of the car itself gives people a sense of confidence, and it can even be said to be quite classy.

Compared with Zhonghua/Zunchi's chassis, the structure of its front and rear multi-link independent suspension has not changed, but the setting feeling is slightly different. Compared with the suspension, Junjie's shock filter is more solid. When it runs over the potholes, it is a type of "submerged work", and it is only a muffled sound that penetrates the carriage.

When cornering, you can clearly perceive the working state of the suspension, and feel that the sense of communication has increased, unlike Zunchi's understatement that leaves no traces. However, the overall level of Junjie does not seem to have reached the level of Volkswagen Bora. Although the level of solidity is not much different, Junjie is a little "clumsy" in addition to being solid, and the control response is not as agile as that of Bora. It is because its "skill" is only 80% of the latter's, and the remaining 20% has to be learned by oneself.

Although it's only 20% short, it's not easy to make up for these 20% skills, such as the realm of shifting gears. Although Junjie's shifting is smooth, it doesn't have the feeling of being sucked in when Bora is shifting; in terms of suspension shock filtering, Junjie will also appear a little loose when it encounters large vibrations, and the shock absorption at the end is not perfect.

Our overall impression of the Junjie is that the sound insulation of the cabin is outstanding, and the handling performance has great potential. It should be at a medium to high level in its class, and the strong German car style is the most impressive. The power performance of the 1.8L engine is only quite satisfactory. I believe that the versions equipped with the 2.0 and 1.8T engines will be more satisfactory.

As long as you make progress

Being in Shanghai at night, time flies so fast. The next day, Junjie basically accompanied us to find the shooting location.

It's a coincidence that when the new Zhonghua (with a newly designed interior) was launched two years ago, we were looking for suitable photo shoots on the campuses of Tsinghua and Peking University, and two years later, we were in Shanghai The campuses of Fudan and Tongji University are looking for a background that matches Junjie's "look". In fact, before taking pictures, we did not deliberately go to places that are very "Chinese" or "ethnic" because the front of the car we were testing had a "中" logo. The photo location was overturned, which contributed to such a coincidence.

The place where the photo was taken is a coincidence, but every time we test the "Zhonghua" car produced by Brilliance, we do have a feeling of hope and hope to see its progress, and this Junjie test is no exception.

To be honest, we are very pleased with Junjie's progress. Since the launch of the Zhonghua sedan in 2002, its sales have been unsatisfactory due to various reasons such as unstable quality, rough interior workmanship, and poor sound insulation in the cabin. Therefore, some people even say that Junjie is a life-and-death battle for Brilliance Auto. Regardless of the status of Junjie in Brilliance for the time being, we can clearly see from Junjie its overall progress in interior workmanship, cabin sound insulation, etc. There is still a very clear understanding of the shortcomings, and there must be a lot of effort behind it.

After several years of ups and downs in the sedan market, Brilliance's positioning of Junjie has become much clearer. It no longer wants to take home, business and business like Zhonghua/Zunchi, but clearly defines it as its No. 1 It is a "sedan suitable for Chinese families", with competitors targeting Bora, 307, Focus, Corolla and Cerato.

The reasons supporting this positioning include the price of the highest version not exceeding 150,000 yuan (1.8T automatic transmission, with ABS+EBD, four airbags, EDS electronic differential lock, sunroof, CD, Bluetooth, sunlight sensor etc.), the largest cabin space and rear legroom in its class, etc. Just before the deadline, Junjie's pricing and whether it will continue Zunchi's 10-year 200,000-kilometer warranty have not been announced.

We certainly hope to see that Junjie can stage a "Dance of Nirvana" of Brilliance and become a successful national brand.