Test Drive of Red Flag H7 2.0T as the strength endorsement made in China.
Test drive "Red Flag is back." In the past 20 years, I have heard similar news more than once, but every time before, the results were comparable to those of the national football team: the people of the whole country were expected for half a day, and the results were all disappointing. This time, the red flag is back. Is it a repeat of the same mistakes or a change for innovation? All this depends on taking out decent products to speak.
Because the results of Hongqi brand’s previous "comeback" are hardly satisfactory, the H7 comeback even attracted a lot of skeptical eyes, but I am a person who doesn’t like to talk about things with "inherent experience", because change will always exist, just that some people become more and some people become less. If Hongqi’s new car can let us look at it with a new eye, it is necessary to give it a chance to prove its strength. Can Red Flag H7, which has just been listed, undertake this great task? Let’s find out through the test drive in Hangzhou before this listing.
The Red Flag H7 Media Test Drive held in Hangzhou actually preceded the listing conference, but it was not possible to meet with you until today under the restriction of confidentiality agreement. Although the test drive report came a little late, the advantage is that I can have more time to figure out the various characteristics of this car and measure its value more pertinently according to the pricing.
The price of the red flag H7 for ordinary consumers jumped from 299,800 yuan. I must say that this price is not expensive! Because this is the cheapest domestic medium and large car you can buy. Imagine that you can buy a medium-sized and large-sized car with the model level and size equivalent to A6L and the configuration level reaching A6L middle and high level (the asking price of the Audi A6L with the same configuration is at least 450,000 yuan) with the money of buying a low-priced Audi A4L, which is very cost-effective in any case.
In the past, Hongqi failed many times in the process of marketization. On the one hand, it lacked competitive products (waistcoats built by obsolete Audi and Lincoln), and on the other hand, its positioning price was out of touch with the market (Hongqi is more expensive than the prototype). This time, the marketing strategy of Hongqi H7 is quite rational. The 2.0T offers three models, which is believed to be the main sales model. The price of 300,000-400,000 is also the most mainstream and most popular price range of this kind of car. The significance of the 3.0L model is to upgrade the brand grade. There is little difference between the 2.0T and 3.0L models in terms of configuration. Which one is more cost-effective? Please click to view the "Red Flag H7 Car Purchase Guide".
The biggest question: Is H7 the red flag of "China people"?
I believe this is the most eager answer for all China people who are concerned about the red flag brand. As for the origin of the red flag of the "national car", it is mainly because there was a similar "criminal record" in the history of the red flag, so when the brand-new red flag H7 was born, it is inevitable that there will be doubts in this respect. There are even rumors that H7 is the "vest" version of the new Crown, or that the 2.0T engine comes from the 2.0TFSI of Audi A6L, etc … Is this true?
With these questions, I specially found Dr. Li, who was in charge of the research and development of Hongqi H7 project, at the test drive meeting of Hongqi H7. Dr. Li told me with certainty that Hongqi H7 was the first model developed by FAW Car in full accordance with the forward direction, and every step was done in accordance with the development procedures of international mainstream automobile manufacturers from project establishment, design finalization, prototype trial production, prototype testing, factory trial production to official production. The saying that "the V6 engine comes from Crown and the 2.0T engine comes from Audi" is completely wrong, and the engine of Hongqi H7 was built from scratch.
In fact, if you do a little careful research, you will find that the cylinder diameter, stroke and compression ratio of the 2.5L and 3.0L engines carried by Hongqi H7 are completely different from those of Toyota V6 engine. In addition, the angle between the two cylinders of Hongqi V6 engine is 90, while the angle between the two cylinders of Toyota Crown V6 engine is 60, which shows that the two engines are not even the same in infrastructure. To put it bluntly, they are two completely different engines without any blood relationship. So the myth that "H7 uses Crown Engine" can be terminated here.
Dr. Li introduced the story behind Hongqi H7 engine. In fact, 2.0T and 3.0L V6 engines, as well as the 2.5L V6 engine specially designed for government procurement, all came from the same technical platform. As early as the establishment of Hongqi H7 project, FAW decided to build a complete engine technology platform, which started with a single-cylinder experimental machine with a displacement of 0.5L. This single-cylinder experimental machine is used to verify its combustion characteristics, and after all aspects of performance are verified, the finished engines with different cylinder numbers and displacements are derived from this single-cylinder engine as the technical platform.
At the Beijing Auto Show in 2012, FAW Car has demonstrated its self-developed engine, which is derived according to the displacement of a single cylinder of 0.5L The 4-cylinder engine is 2.0T assembled on Hongqi H7 today, while the V6 engine is 3.0L. The 2.5L engine specially made for government procurement was obtained by changing the cylinder stroke on the basis of 3.0L. In addition, Dr. Li also said that this engine platform can also make many derivative models such as V8 and V12, but not all models have been put into mass production. At present, Hongqi H7 is equipped with the first products of this series of engines.
I was lucky enough to get a 2.0T model for this test drive. I believe this car has the most reference significance for consumers who plan to buy Hongqi H7. After all, the price is relatively cheap. First of all, its engine, the 2.0L four-cylinder engine, was introduced clearly just now, and it is a real "China Heart". It is matched with the TD04 turbocharger produced by Shanghai Lingzhong (Audi’s 2.0T uses Bogwarner’s K03 turbocharger, which is completely different). Shanghai Lingzhong’s technology and manufacturing process come from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which itself is a world-renowned turbocharger manufacturer, and TD04 is also a tested and mature product, so consumers can rest assured in this respect.
From the technical standards and parameters of the engine, this all-aluminum engine adopts multi-point electronically controlled gasoline injection and supercharged intercooling technology, and adopts a two-stage and three-layer silent chain drive timing system, which makes the engine have higher performance of suppressing noise and vibration. Although this 2.0T engine does not have the current popular gasoline direct injection technology (according to the engineer, it has been reserved in the design and can be upgraded at any time according to the market demand), its power parameters will not appear backward at all, and its book parameters can completely reach the level of similar engines of international manufacturers.
The transmission is purchased from Aisin Company’s 6-speed automatic manual transmission with sport mode. At present, the specification of 6AT can only be regarded as the most basic standard in medium and large-sized cars. After all, 7AT and 8AT are quite popular, and even 9AT is ready to move. However, there is no need to be too demanding in this respect, because it is a large-sized car that is biased towards government and business purposes, and it is enough to meet daily commuting with 6AT. As for performance, we should first consider its more affordable price than joint venture cars.
Let’s talk about the chassis and platform of H7 again. Because of the "criminal record" of Hongqi HQ3 and Shengshi, the question of whether H7 will use the new Crown platform will naturally come. In this respect, the manufacturer’s staff said that FAW had made reference to other joint venture models in the group when developing the chassis of Hongqi H7. For example, the suspension structure really looks like a crown. After all, H7 is the first time that FAW Car is being built in the way of forward research and development, so the process of reference and learning is still essential. As for how many ingredients belong to learning and how many ingredients are developed by myself, I didn’t get the exact answer, but it doesn’t matter, we don’t have to worry too much about the lineage, whether it is a good car or not, we can only see the real chapter when we drive to the road.
In addition, there is good news. The technical reference of Hongqi H7 to Crown, Audi and other models is not completely accepted, because the engine architecture of Hongqi H7 is different from that of the reference model, and the parameters such as wheelbase and tread of Hongqi H7 are completely different from that of the control model. Dr. Li told us that only 5% of all the parts of Hongqi H7 are the same as the models of joint venture brands, and these 5% parts also include standardized parts in automobile manufacturing (such as bolts of general specifications of various manufacturers), so the proportion of independent procurement and manufacturing is very high.
As Dr. Li said, the proportion of parts manufactured by Hongqi H7 is very high, so how can we control the cost if we lose the cost advantage of sharing parts with joint venture partners within the group? This really took a lot of effort, so it is natural to pay more attention to the selection of suppliers. In addition, the annual output target planning of Hongqi H7 has reached 30,000 units, so that the cost can be shared through scale. From this set output, we can see that Hongqi H7 is not just satisfied with the thousands of government-purchased cars. The root of its survival is to really go to the market and get a slice of the purchase of individuals and enterprises. Then, in front of Audi A6L, how can it persuade us to buy a domestic car?
