Checklist for preparing for the second stage of the rating test in 2023:
1. Build an interesting route.
2. Eliminate cars that potentially cannot pass it under their own power.
3. Celebrate the second point.
4. Come up with a plan B if the cars from the second point still make it to the start.
Of course, point two turned out to be unreliable. And of course, we didn’t get around to plan B.
You, dear readers, periodically reproach us for incorrectly selecting cars for comparative tests. And perhaps you don’t realize that now not all official dealerships are ready to provide cars for comparison with competitors. For example, the Moscow office of the Changan company provides its machines only for single tests. And even when we reported that the Uni-T crossover would compete for the title of car of the year according to Autoreview, they thought and thought – and still refused.
We know that in China they are still not accustomed to constructive criticism. But you need to get used to it. Because we still found Uni-T on our own (thanks to our reader), but not for a full rating test cycle lasting several weeks, but for an extra-curricular sparring with the Jetour Dashing crossover. Looking ahead: the Russian representative office of Changan worried in vain.
But the matter was not limited to just the Changan model. According to the rules of the rating test, if we do not find a car from the top 10 of the first stage, then we expand the search up to fifteenth place. And who did they run into after Uni-T was eliminated? To the Changan Uni-V liftback, which is located in eleventh position! Readers’ Uni-Vs (and we were offered two of them at once) were not synchronized with the dates of the rating test, so we rented a liftback.
Are we going? Still standing: the Russian representative office of the brand was unable to register GAC GS8 with the traffic police before our expedition. It was impossible to get such a crossover from readers or dealers in October. It’s a shame, but he’s out. Again to the final table of the first stage – we go down below the eleventh place, and there… the dominance of Changan models! However, neither the CS55 Plus nor the CS85 could be quickly found. And next on the list is the electric Voyah Passion, and such a sedan turned out to be available on the desired dates at the BorisHof dealer. Thanks to the company for providing the car for a long test.
Here’s how it happens: we developed and implemented reasonable amendments to the rating test rules regarding the reduction of the importance of electric vehicles in the Russian market, and they came back to us like a boomerang. Let’s catch!
The route was not revised. I wanted to show Chinese cars to the West (guess which of our finalists is sold in Western countries). You can’t get to Kaliningrad on your own, but you can get to the border with Estonia or Finland. The choice fell on Vyborg, in which Gleb Rachko subsequently saw the highest secret meaning. In fact, we just wanted to get to the final of the Russian Rally Championship so that we could race through closed special stages in one of the all-wheel drive vehicles of the rating test. But this story was flooded with… beer.
Strukov had been delirious all summer with the idea of repeating the wine part of the tour in the Krasnodar Territory and in the cost estimate he had reached the budget for testing breathalyzers, but the risk of failing the delivery of the next issue of Autoreview with such a long tasting trip was greater than ever. Then, as an alternative to both wine and rally, Znaemsky suggested talking about the homeland of industrial brewing in Russia (as you understand, this homeland has Baltic roots). There were no breathalyzers, but there were still tastings.
Khlebushkin asked himself: what should the owners of our selected cars prepare for at services and in repair areas? What about the warranty and spare parts?
Rastegaev tested the operation of the auto-braking systems of some of the dozen cars at the test site (how could it be without “butting” the target!), and already on the trip he appreciated the work of the adaptive cruise controls. This is our first attempt at scoring ACC systems. And there are already ideas on how to improve this technique.
On the way back, Oleg stopped in Vsevolozhsk at the former Nokian plant, which is now called Ikon Tires. And I found out what they were producing there after the Finnish company left Russia.
What about our electric car? At least made it to Vyborg? Yes, but not without the help of gasoline! But he got back exclusively on electricity – Vladimirsky will tell in a separate story how he returned in a Voyah sedan from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Of course, each of the judges wrote their own essay and awarded points. The basis of our bench of judges is constant and familiar to readers, and this is not the first time Alexander Tychinin, who joined the rating test team, has appeared on the pages of Autoreview. By the way, he has his own brought story about how the official dealer of the Omoda brand works.
And according to tradition, we will begin with tests at the training ground – and recall that the winner of the interclass comparative test receives an additional 40 points when determining the winner. Changan Uni-V, Exeed RX, Geely Monjaro, Jetour Dashing, Omoda C5, Tank 300, Tank 500 and the entire Voyah family – Dream and Free hybrids, as well as the troublemaker Passion electric car, nicknamed Boomerang, will compete for them.
We thank our rating test partner Autoreview – Avito Auto
Rating test publication calendar
2024-01-10 18:30:19
#Boomerang
