This test was a no-brainer. But not the way you expect.
Before we get into this story, allow me to emphasise that I am a lifelong BMW fan. I’m a Propeller Head of note. I love Beemers, always have. Hopefully always will. Which I s why this story is as painful for me to write, as it may be for you to read.
The BMW says it invented the Sports Activity Coupé with the X2. Now this larger new one brings a proper coupé silhouette. An all-new pure-bred second generation SAC, they say, it delivers a progressive character. To clearly differentiate it from its Bavarian SAV kin. V meaning they’re just Vehicles. Not Coupes.
Interesting choice of letters, SAC. Because the other car in the pictures is actually called a GAC. And that’s just the start of the similarities. You may recall we tested this Emzoom’s bigger brother GAC Emkoo a few months back. And it stunned us. This smaller car is even better. And far from being a mismatch against this BMW, read on to find out why if anything, it’s the Bavarian that kay be a mismatch for the Chinaman.
Dynamic lines, slick surfaces. Sound familiar?
BMW boasts the new X2 has dynamic lines and a slick surface treatment. Suppose they have a point. But for whatever reason, the Emzoom seems to better carry that promise off. Look, the BMW has a confident presence. Its defining, striking LED headlights and BMW kidney grille hiding blackened in this frozen white car’s case, a SAC roofline cut by a Gurney-inspired spoiler and eye-catching rear apron, is good on the eye.
GAC calls Emzoom bold, powerful and iconic. Its trickery includes a double waistline and surprisingly neatly golden trimmed sporty front spoiler, rear wing and splitter. It has 18-inch wheels, diamond styling aplenty and neat, tricky 18 bulb DRL LED headlights and edgy 66 LED 3D taillights. Tell me that don’t look the part?
The BMW is 194 mm longer than the old X2 at 4.55 metres, 21 mm wider at 1.84 m and 64 mm taller an 1.59 metres. Along with the necessary longer 2692 mm wheelbase wider tracks. Its 560 litres of load capacity ups to 1470 litres, rear bench laid down in the automatic tailgate boot. New X2 weighs 1600 kilos.
GAC & BMW, swings & roundabouts
The slightly shorter 4.46 m GAC is a touch wider at 1.85 mm and taller at 1.6m and rides on a slightly shorter 2650 mm wheelbase. One place the Chinaman lacks is in the boot, bit its 341 to 1271 litre trunk is still adequate. But Emzoom is significantly lighter than the dynamic X2 at just 1370 kg.
BMW calls the X2 what it calls every other car that rolls off its production lines. Premium ambient, sporty and functional. It has a floating armrest with two cup holders and a smartphone tray with indirect illumination and wireless charging. There are newly developed power sport seats, ambient lighting and improved acoustics in the two-zone automatic climate controlled cabin.
None of what the GAC lacks. Ot has it all, and then some. Even a wide opening panoramic sunroof. The BMW has a slender curved instrument panel. It packs latest BMW iDrive with QuickSelect, CarPlay, Auto and a huge variety of downloadable apps and systems. Add four USB-C ports and a 12V power socket, while BMW Operating System 9 brings a broad raft of new systems to enable automated driving and parking. And a navigation system, BMW Maps and a Sport leather steering wheel.
Looks great. God awful to operate.
All of which sounds and looks fantastic. But is goddamned awful to operate, lacks knobs and buttons and made two of us just turn all the crap off and just drive. It’s a BMW, after all. Sometimes all that tech just gets too much. We have had much to say about this aspect of Chinese cars. They’re mostly impossible to understand, way too touch sensitive and just as stupid.
But not this GAC Emzoom. By far the best Chinese car to man interface yer, it’s easy to understand, has a good few knobs and buttons and does the job better than most. It’s also logical and intuitive way beyond anything we’ve yet seen out of the Orient.
Its advanced dual-screen dash has a 10.25-inch multifunction infotainment screen and 7 inch LCD instrument cluster are run by a high-performance central console 8-core chipset. It packs in a surround-view camera and Level 2 ADAS functions. The GAC cabin also looks very much the part with a diamond gear shift, keyless button start, ambient cabin lighting, charging ports, and dual-zone automatic climate control.
Surprisingly enough, the GAC is also quicker
Sound familiar? It should. The GAC matches or beats the BMW at most of that too. But how do they drive? Well, the 130 kW 270Nm 1375 kg 1.5-litre turbo petrol four pot GAC makes mincemeat of the 115 kW 230 kW1600 kg 1.5-litre turbo petrol three-pot SAC on the test strip. The BMW, that is. The GAC is more economical tool. Although the BMW travels aa bit further thanks to its a bigger fuel tank.
Out on the road, BMW’s claims of sophisticated chassis technology for a harmonious balance between sporty handling and long-distance comfort certainly ring through. Which is where you must be waiting for our regular China car wooden steering and stodgy handling chirp. But no, its not like that. In fact, it runs the BMW so close it had us charging around to disprove our observations. That achieved the exact opposite
Compared straight up, we actually rate this surprising Chinaman is the best Chinese car we have yet come across. So much so that it would actually be a difficult choice between these two.
Alas, that is not the whole story. And that’s where this becomes a little more frightening. See, the GAC costs almost half the BMW. Not a quarter, or a third off. Almost half off. Looked at like that, it’s a no-brainer that has us more concerned than ever about the longer term ramifications of the Chinese onslaught.
Can likes of BMW compete with Chinese cars this good? Doubt it. Can they survive against half-price cars that will only keep getting better? I don’t know. And how long can you and I keep ignoring cars as good as this GAC that cost so much less, just for a badge? That I don’t even want to answer.
The only upside in this, is at the rate the Chinese are advancing, their cars will be great to own and drive every day. So if they are all that’s left one day, maybe it won’t be all that bad. To be honest, this GAC Emzoom is already there. Scary as it seems. – Michele Lupini
AUTO SHOOTOUT TEST
Car BMW X2 GAC
sDrive18i Emzoom 1.5T
M Sport R Style
Output: 115 kW 230 kW 130 kW 270Nm
Engine: 1.5l turbo 1.5l turbo
petrol I3 petrol I4
Drive: 7-s auto FWD 7-s DC FWD
TESTED
0-60 km/h: 4.01 sec 3.86 sec
0-100 km/h: 8.69 sec 8.10 sec
0-120 km/h: 11.90 sec 11.30 sec
0-160 km/h: 20.88 sec 21.62 sec
400 m: 16.2 s 15.9 s
@ 142 km/h @ 144 km/h
80-120 km/h: 5.83 sec 5.49 sec
120-160 km/h: 8.98 sec 10.33 sec
CLAIMED
Vmax: 213 km/h 190 km/h
Fuel: 6.7 l/100 km 6.5 l/100km
CO2: 153 g/km 142 g/km
Range: 800 km 750 km
Warranty: 2y 100K 5y/150K km
Service: 5y unl. 5y 60K km
PRICE: R879K R489K
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