GWM Haval H6GT vs Haval H6

What's the difference?

Given the limitations of the launch drive route, we'll wait for a longer seven-day loan before giving our final verdict of the GWM Haval H6 GT PHEV. But from this initial drive, it’s clear the plug-in hybrid powertrain has transformed the H6 GT. 

Compared with the petrol H6 GT, it's quieter, smoother, faster, much more efficient and has excellent real-world electric driving range, with that petrol engine to back it up nicely. 

There’s no question it’s good value, and the spacious, comfortable cabin makes it a solid family offering. It looks like GWM now has a genuine BYD Sealion 6 and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV rival on its hands. 

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The H6 could be the turning point for Haval in Australia. The brand’s first big success that changes the way Aussies view this Chinese carmaker. The H6’s great value and stunning looks will win over many but add an excellent warranty, advanced safety tech, plus the surprisingly good, and you have a package that appears right up there with the likes of the Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5.

The sweet spot of the range would have to be the Lux - the car I tested with its leatherette seats, privacy glass and dual-zone climate control.

Late last year GWM introduced some subtle styling changes to the H6 GT, notably a refreshed smoky tail-light design and new GWM badging that replaced the old ‘HAVAL’ across the tailgate.

Aside from that, the H6 GT is exactly as it was in 2022.

Some people love the coupe-SUV aesthetic, and to those people I say good for you. I am not one of those people.

Often that body style has compromises, and in the case of the Haval that means visibility through the rear windscreen.

I think the regular Haval H6 SUV is a handsome vehicle with a classy yet subtle look. But the GT is a little over the top for me. As I said though, horses for courses. 

Interior design in the H6 GT could be best described as fussy minimalism. You have minimal elements like the driver’s display and its lack of instrument cowl, but there are a lot of lines and different materials covering the dash and door panels, including synthetic carbon-fibre panelling. 

It won’t win any interior design awards but it’s also far from unappealing.

This new generation H6 is ridiculously good looking. So much so that my Dad thought it was a Porsche when I arrived to pick him up. But in saying that Dad also has a glass coffee table supported by a golden naked lady and thinks I work in a car dealership, despite me explaining that motoring journalism is an actual job.

He’s not wrong, for once. Well, it doesn’t look like a Porsche, but I can see what he means given the way the LED strip across the tailgate lights up and connects with the tail-lights either side.

I don’t know what kind of deal with the devil the H6’s designer made but there isn’t an angle from which this SUV looks nothing short of beautiful. There’s the flashy but not over-the-top grille, the sleek headlights, and the smooth lines in profile which wrap around to the curvaceous back end.

Havals in the past have seemed low quality and unfinished, but this new H6 seems the opposite.

The same goes for the minimalist cabin. Those screens house almost every function except for the climate control and that clears the dashboard of buttons.

This cabin is a premium design with a floating centre console and metallic trim. Stepping up to the Lux from the Premium adds 'leatherette' upholstery, a leather steering wheel and then the Ultra takes the high-end feeling further with a 12.3-inch media display and a panoramic sunroof.

As for the dimensions, the H6 is larger than most mid-sized SUVs but smaller than a large SUV at 4653mm end to end, 1886mm wide and 1724 mm tall.

The six exterior colours are, 'Hamilton White', 'Ayres Grey', 'Burgundy Red', 'Energy Green', 'Sapphire Blue' and 'Golden Black.'

The GWM Haval H6 GT PHEV is a spacious car. It’s at the top end of the medium SUV segment when it comes to interior space.

Up front the space is impacted by the chunky centre console. It is wide and sits up too high, presumably to give the cabin a sportscar cockpit feel. It ends up just impeding knee and elbow room.

It does, however, aid storage, which is already a positive in the GWM. There’s a big open space under the massive console for items. The secure central bin is also sizeable, as is the glove box, while the door storage up front is excellent. Big and wide bottles will fit alongside a few other longer items. There’s also a pair of cupholders in the console.

The USB-A ports are annoyingly housed under the console but the outlet for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is on the passenger side of the car - a result of being built in China which is a left-hand-drive market.

The front seats are very cushy but could do with a little more under thigh support. They look and feel nice to touch. You get more power adjustability on the driver's side.

GWM’s steering wheel has a nicely sized rim and feels good in the hands, but the wheel hub and top spokes are positioned more than halfway up the wheel which forces the driver to adopt a ‘10 and 2’ hold rather than the preferred ‘9 and 3’.

The multimedia system is decent in the H6 GT, and GWM has certainly come a long way on that front. There are multiple ways to access functions - swipe up, down, left or right and you’ll find what you need.

Many vehicle functions are found in the screen but like most of these set-ups, you just need to spend some time learning where everything is. Apple CarPlay works well in this format, too.

The second row is incredibly spacious, especially for a coupe-style SUV. Most models with that body style compromise on rear headroom, but there’s loads of that in the H6 GT, even with the panoramic sunroof which usually eats into space.

There’s no shortage of leg, toe and knee room, either. I had room to spare sitting behind my 184cm driving position. And with barely a hint of a transmission tunnel, the middle seat is actually usable.

The 60/40 split-fold rear seats have a flat base but are well cushioned and have a comfortable back rest. Amenities in the rear include map pockets, lower air vents with strong air con flow, two USB-A ports and fold-down armrest with two cupholders. 

The door storage is not as good as the front row so bottles don't fit as easily.

Open the powered tailgate and you'll find a high, flat space with limited under-floor storage. It can take 392 litres with all seats in place and 1390L with the second row folded.

This volume doesn’t sound huge and it trails the BYD Sealion 6 (just over 570L). But it doesn’t look small when you open the boot. And the PHEV doesn’t lose any cargo space from the petrol model, despite all of the electric elements underneath.

Sadly, the H6 GT PHEV misses out on the temporary spare wheel the petrol Ultra gets, making do instead with a tyre repair kit.

The H6 is cavernous for a mid-sized SUV with large and wide seats up front and excellent leg and headroom in the second row. The H6 doesn’t come with a third row which is shame because there’s room for one.

A 600-litre cargo capacity is big for the class and cabin storage is good with two cupholders in the second row, another two up front, a large space under the floating centre console, although the door pockets could be better.

Second rowers will be pleased with directional air vents back there, plus two USB ports. There are another two USB ports either side of the floating centre console, too.

The leatherette upholstery in the Lux I tested was easy to keep clean and would suit families better than the cloth material used in the Premium.

You’re going to notice the high load lip on the boot and for people as tall as me (191cm/6'3") the opened tailgate and your head may meet occasionally. Still the H6 is super practical.  

You’re saving a decent amount of moolah choosing a Haval H6 over, say, a Toyota RAV4,  Mazda CX-5 or Nissan X-Trail. The H6 entry-grade is called the Premium and lists for $30,990 drive-away, while the mid-range Lux is $33,990 driveaway.

Both come in front wheel drive only. If you’re after all-wheel drive you’ll need to step up to the top-of-the-range Ultra for $36,990 drive-away, or pay $2,000 less and have it in front-wheel drive.

In comparison the RAV4 and CX-5 ranges start more than $3K higher than the entry-grade H6 and don’t get the same level of features. Let me show you what you get for your money.

Coming standard on the Premium are two 10.25-inch displays with Apple CarPlay, six-speaker audio, digital radio, air-conditioning, proximity key with push-button start, a reversing camera, paddle shifters, LED headlights and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Stepping up to the Lux adds dual-zone climate control, privacy glass, power adjustable driver’s seat, the front seats are also heated, leather steering wheel, 360-degree camera and roof rails.

The Ultra brings in a 12.3-inch media screen, power adjustable front passenger seat and both front seats are now heated and ventilated. There's also wireless charging, a head-up display, a heated steering wheel, panoramic sunroof, an electric tailgate, and auto parking.

That’s incredibly good value. Normally things that are cheap (like a Jetstar flight) offer nothing in return (like a Jetstar flight). Yep, nobody is going to accuse you of being ripped off here.

The Haval H6 GT plug-in hybrid comes with a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine and two electric motors - one on each axle. The GT is all-wheel drive and it comes with a two-speed electric transmission.

It has impressive outputs of 321kW of power and 762Nm of torque. This is enough to propel the big SUV from zero to 100km/h in just 4.9 seconds.

The Haval also has a maximum braked trailer towing capacity of 1500kg.

The same four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine is in all three grades. It’s a 2.0-litre and makes 150kW/320Nm.

This engine had no problems pulling the H6 around when I tested it with my little family onboard with good acceleration and smooth shifts from the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

When pushed hard the four-cylinder responds well, but it’s on the noisy side.

As mentioned at the start of this review only the top-of-the-range Ultra grade gives you choice of all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive. The Premium and Lux are front-wheel drives only.

The car we tested was the front-wheel drive Lux, but we’ll be able to review the all-wheel drive version when it arrives in our garage soon.

On paper the all-wheel drive Haldex system in the H6 looks promising and in this generation the SUV has a rear differential lock for better off-road capability. That said, the H6 is not an off-roader in the Toyota LandCruiser sense, and you should keep your adventures in it mild rather than wild.

There’s no diesel in the H6 line-up, nor will you find a hybrid variant or and electric version of this SUV at this stage.

Braked towing capacity is 2000kg for all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive H6s.

GWM’s generous 35.4kWh battery gives the H6 GT PHEV an impressive electric-only driving range of 180 kilometres. That’s about 100km more than some rivals. 

But be aware that figure is according to the more generous NEDC cycle. It is yet to be tested for a WLTP rating which is more widely accepted in Australia, so expect that figure to fall to some degree.

Combined fuel consumption is rated at just 0.8 litres per 100 kilometres when the battery is charged.

The H6 GT PHEV should be capable of travelling 1000km with a full charge and the 55-litre fuel tank at capacity. It takes 91RON petrol.

We averaged about 5.0L/100km on the drive back to the city via the motorway after the battery had drained a little and that was in 'Intelligent Hybrid' mode.

Note too that the H6 GT has vehicle-to-load charging capability, with a 3.3kW capacity.

Finally it has a CCS2 charge plug and can charge at a maximum 6.6kW for AC and 48kW for DC.

Haval says that after a combination of open and urban roads the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder should use 7.4L/100km in the front-wheel drive cars and 8.3L/100km in the all-wheel drives.

In my testing of the front-wheel drive I measured 9.1L/100km at the fuel pump. That was after an even split of motorway and urban running.

Thirsty work considering most of the time it was just me and an unloaded car. Add a family of four plus holiday gear and you can expect that mileage to be worse.

It’s here that the H6 is showing a weakness in its offering by not having a hybrid powertrain in its Australian range.

The last time I drove the GWM Haval H6 GT was not long after its mid-2022 launch. It was the petrol variant and I don’t recall what model grade it was. But it left me a little cold.

The ride quality wasn’t great and the powertrain suffered from poorly calibrated throttle response combined with a jerky transmission. It was average at best.

It's incredible the difference a powertrain can make because the plug in represents a big step up over the 2022 petrol model.

The acceleration is brisk and linear and that 0-100km/h time of 4.9secs is no joke. 

Our launch route saw us drive from Sydney’s CBD to the NSW south coast town of Kiama. At no point on that drive did the petrol engine kick in. In fact we still had some electric range left for the drive home.

In some other PHEVs, the petrol engine kicks in automatically at a particular point. That’s not the case with the GWM. If you want to only drive on electric power then depending on what mode you’ve chosen, that’s what will happen. PHEVs are more than just city-friendly cars now. You can travel decent distances on electric power only.

Of course if you want to preserve that energy, there are ‘Power’ modes like 'EV Priority' and Intelligent Hybrid. The staged regen braking helps here, too. 

The system will never let the battery dip below about 12 per cent, according to GWM. And if you are super efficient and struggle to use petrol, the CPU does something tricky to make sure some fuel is used to avoid any issues with the petrol engine.

On the drive home we switched to hybrid mode and found it hard to detect when the petrol engine kicked in. It’s one smooth powertrain.

The cabin has decent insulation, although a fair amount of road noise is noticeable on coarse chip road surfaces. It’s quieter on smooth roads, naturally.

Steering feel in the big SUV is light yet direct, but we didn’t get to test the GWM on dynamically challenging roads so no comments on handling just yet.

Similarly, the motorway-heavy launch route meant ride quality was hard to pin down, however a few bumps on the streets of Kiama and on the motorway revealed a firmer tune. There might be more work to be done on that front.

But overall, the PHEV powertrain has elevated the drive experience of the Haval H6 GT. 

I’m still in shock. This is the biggest surprise. The H6 I tested was effortless to drive, with a comfortable and composed ride. I was not expecting it, not when most Havals I’ve piloted in the past have disappointed when it comes to the driving bit.  

Sure, the engine isn't overly powerful, but it's responsive, and the dual-clutch transmission shifts smoothly whether driving in slow traffic or at 110km/h on the motorway

Sharp speed bumps taken a bit too fast in the front-wheel drive Lux I tested reveal only modest suspension travel, causing a reverberating ‘bang’ as the shocks and springs react. I’ve experienced the same thing in many cars I’ve tested – even properly prestige ones.

This though is one of very few complaints I have about the way the H6 drives, for the most part this SUV performs remarkably well with a (high) level of refinement I seriously wasn’t expecting.

I can’t tell you what the all-wheel drive version of the H6 is like to drive having only tested the front-wheel drive version, but we’ll no doubt have one in the CarsGuide garage soon.

Is the Haval H6 safe? Well the H6 hasn’t been given an ANCAP rating yet, but this new generation car looks to be equipped well with advanced safety tech across all three grades.

All H6s come with AEB which can detect pedestrians and cyclists, blind spot warning and lane change assistance, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, and rear collision warning.

The Lux adds adaptive cruise control, while the Ultra brings rear cross-traffic alert with braking, and an 'Intelligent Dodge' overtaking system.

Along with all that tech there are seven airbags on board, too. And for child seats you’ll find two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts.

The H6 GT PHEV comes with a generous seven-year, unlimited kilometre factory warranty, and an eight-year, unlimited kilometre battery warranty. It might not beat the 10-year terms from Nissan and Mitsubishi but those are conditional based on servicing at an authorised dealership. 

It comes with five years of free roadside assistance and a five-year capped price servicing plan.

GWM is yet to confirm the service schedule and pricing for the PHEV and it's unclear how much that will differ from the petrol grade.

For reference, the MY25 AWD petrol model costs an average of $416 per service over five years and the service schedule starts at every 12 months or 10,000km but ramps up to 15,000km intervals after the first year. 

The H6 is covered by Haval’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km, although the first service is required at the 10,000km point, then 25,000km and so on. Servicing is capped at $210 for the first service, $280 for the second, $380 for third, $480 for the fourth and $210 for the fifth.