00:00 Amongst Chinese manufacturers, GAC has always been at the forefront or close to it in terms
00:06 of technical sophistication, quality, and luxury. Now, I've always been impressed by the interiors
00:12 on GAC cars. I've been impressed by the way they drive, by the power, by the performance,
00:18 but there's been something missing. That spark that separates the best from the rest.
00:23 GAC is trying to cure that with its M cars. Cars like the M-POW, the M-KU, and this thing,
00:31 the M-ZOOM. This certainly has a lot of power, it has a lot of style, and it has a lot of pizzazz.
00:38 But is that enough to elevate it over the unquestioned class leader, the Geely Coolray?
00:44 Spoiler alert, yes.
00:47 [Music]
00:57 The M-ZOOM drives much as you'd expect any modern GAC to drive. It's quiet, it's comfortable,
01:03 it's unflustered. Well, mostly quiet and comfortable and unflustered. Those big
01:08 Michelin Pilot Sport tires, the thin 45 Series tires, they tend to judder and bounce over small
01:16 road imperfections, but it doesn't quite penetrate into the cabin in an intrusive way. It's just
01:21 something that you're constantly aware of. But other than that, this is a pretty sweet car to
01:27 drive long distance, especially with Forward Collision Warning and Lane Departure Warning,
01:32 which tie into the Active Cruise Control. Now, you can set the cruise control, and this thing
01:38 will drive for you on the road. It'll keep you in lane, and it'll keep you a set distance from
01:44 the car in front of you. You can change that from four seconds to one second's follow distance,
01:50 so your margin of safety is entirely up to you. Now, you can't keep your hands off the wheel
01:56 forever. It gets mad if you try to do that, so it's not a complete proxy for driving, but it
02:02 helps reduce your stress level and reduce your fatigue level when you're going long distance.
02:06 Now, you can't go very long distance. This thing has a kind of small tank. It's an issue I had with
02:14 the GAC M-POW also. So you can do like 400 to 500 kilometers on this tank. If you drive nicely,
02:21 you can hit maybe 18 to 20 kilometers a liter on the highway at 80 kph, and you can get 500 to 550
02:31 kilometers from the tank before you should find a place to fuel up. Otherwise, it's about average
02:39 for the class. Now, in traffic, fuel economy takes a big hit. We've seen lows of around 6 kilometers
02:46 a liter, but then this is a fresh engine. There's only 500 kilometers on the odometer,
02:52 so it's not quite broken in yet. We expect fuel economy to improve as it breaks in.
02:58 Now, even though it isn't broken in, you do get full power from it. Unfortunately, in Eco Mode
03:06 and Comfort Mode, you don't get that full power right away. You press on the gas pedal and you
03:12 wait, and it takes a while to respond. Now, you can remedy this in Sport Mode or even better,
03:20 switch to Sport Plus. Sport Plus Mode gives you more aggressive engine mapping. It opens the
03:26 exhaust valve so you get more burble, you get more snap, crackle, and pop out of the exhaust. And
03:32 when you want to go faster, it can go even faster. Now, the Stealthfighter aesthetic extends to the
03:41 inside with these jet exhaust air vents, this flat-bottom steering wheel, and this driver-centric
03:46 cockpit that wraps around you and makes you feel like you're driving something much more expensive.
03:51 Of course, some of this LED display is fake. There are stencils around LED lights, and only the
03:59 center part of the display is a full LED display. But the center display is actually very wide and
04:06 very nice, and at night, you can't tell the difference. You get an extension of the triangular
04:11 theme from the outside. You've got this cheese grate speaker grille, honeycomb speaker grille,
04:16 and triangles everywhere—on the leatherette, on the doors, on the dash, on some of the plastics,
04:21 and even all of the rubber in the open bins is lined in this triangular pattern that makes it
04:27 look really, really illuminati. Now, this leatherette—there are other color combinations
04:34 for the MZoom, but I think this black and blue combination, it sort of reminds me of an Adidas
04:40 football shoe with all the good that implies. This feels like it will be stained, scuff, and wear
04:46 resistant, and it should be much easier to maintain than most other car interiors out there.
04:52 In terms of space, this is a subcompact, but they've done some clever engineering to make it
04:57 feel bigger. The angle of this A-pillar gives you a lot of headroom here. You've got a lot of elbow
05:02 room, and you do have a lot of legroom and a lot of reach adjustment here, but this big center
05:08 console kind of hits your knees. And while I do like split-tier center consoles, this is a little
05:15 too high and a little too low. To reach down here is uncomfortable from this side and uncomfortable
05:20 for your passenger if you reach around their legs. But otherwise, in terms of storage space,
05:26 this is pretty damn good. You've got twin cell phone holders here. One of them is a wireless
05:31 holder, so if you have a phone that can charge wirelessly, you can put it here. Twin cup holders,
05:37 another slot here, something here, something here, something here, big center console box,
05:42 and of course, that underside shelf, which is really, really big, but again, from the driver's
05:49 seat, it's really hard to reach. In terms of infotainment, since you do have a wireless cell
05:54 phone slot, you can wirelessly connect to this through Apple CarPlay or Carbit Link. Sorry,
06:00 there is no Android Auto, but Carbit Link can be installed on any Android device, and it'll give
06:06 you full screen mirroring so you can actually watch video with full concert sound. Yes, the
06:12 speakers are pretty good and pretty bass-tastic. Of course, you're not supposed to watch while
06:17 you're driving, but the option is there if you're parked. Now, even though this is a subcompact
06:23 crossover, clever engineering gives you more space than you'd expect. There's lots of elbow room,
06:29 there's lots of legroom thanks to shortened seat squabs, and you've got a completely flat floor
06:34 that gives you a lot of space for your feet and any items you might want to put down there.
06:38 Because it is a subcompact, there are some limitations that can't be overcome.
06:43 Headroom is smaller than in front because the roof slopes backwards, and these seats don't recline
06:48 any further than they already do because they're stuck right between the C-pillars and there's no
06:53 space for them to recline back into. That said, you still do get the center armrest, and yes,
07:00 it sits at the right height. You do get rear aircon vents. I mean, you do get one rear aircon vent,
07:07 so if there's more than one of you back here, you will be fighting over that vent.
07:11 You've got courtesy lights, and you've got that beautiful dual-pane sunroof over your head.
07:15 Underneath the stylish rear hatch, you find a rather high and slanted loading floor. This is
07:22 because, again, this is a car of compromises. GAC had to decide between having a comfortable rear
07:28 seat and one that could fold completely flat. Obviously, this doesn't fold completely flat,
07:34 but it is very comfortable. That said, if you want more space in here, you can just
07:40 lower the floor and that gives you quite a lot of space for something this small.
07:45 Oh, and it also has a power tailgate. Very nice. Unfortunately, you do get a power tailgate,
07:56 but you don't get a rear wiper. Again, a car of compromises.
08:00 The exterior of the M-Zoom will have you going Illuminati-confirmed. There are more triangles
08:07 and trapezoids on this than on a low-poly Lamborghini model for a mobile video game.
08:12 It's got that stealth fighter aesthetic that is just so riveting. It's got a sleek shape. It's got
08:18 these twin boom side mirrors that look like they cut through the air despite their low poly count.
08:26 You've got these rear taillights that jut out and give the rear haunches a very muscular,
08:32 very spaceship-like aesthetic. And then you've got the twin tailpipes under the rear diffuser,
08:38 which aren't just for show. One of those pipes is actually covered by a flapper valve that
08:43 opens when you use sport mode that makes it sound as good as it looks. And then you've got that
08:49 rear spoiler, the rear split spoiler that looks like it comes straight off of a Lamborghini.
08:54 Also straight off of a Lamborghini are these split-spoke 19-inch wheels that are just beautiful
09:01 orange line, and they come with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires. Now despite the stealth fighter
09:07 aesthetic, this thing is unmissable. It is riveting. It is eye-catching, especially in this
09:13 light blue, electric blue color with the orange accents. I mean this orange flag right here,
09:19 this means you will never lose this in any parking lot. This thing is unmissable. Up front,
09:26 you get more triangulated goodness with these sawtooth light fixtures up top and these triangular
09:32 air inlets that feed air into the front wheel wells for better aerodynamic efficiency. Now,
09:37 you also get front winglets that don't really have any aerodynamic effect, but they look super cool,
09:43 so we'll forgive that. The front end is dominated by this big triangular cutaway on the ultra-tall
09:49 front grille that helps hide how ultra-tall it is, makes it a little slimmer, a little more petite.
09:55 They also disguise the blanking plates on one side with these orange slashes that are kind of
10:01 reminiscent of BMW M-Power slashes. Only M-Power is red, white, and blue. This is all orange,
10:07 but that orange signifies that there's power lurking underneath that hood.
10:12 So that's it for our time with the GAC GS3 M-Zoom R-Style.
10:20 This promises to be weatherproof and be able to take anything, but we can't, so we've got to
10:25 hurry this one up. For the pros, it's stylish, it's beautiful, it's eye-catching. Everybody
10:31 wants to know what this is, and when they get inside, it's just got that wow factor. Wow.
10:36 Secondly, the features. This has lane departure warning, forward collision warning. This thing
10:43 can almost drive itself, and it has 360-degree cameras just like the Geely Coolray. Thirdly,
10:50 the performance. Like the Geely Coolray, it's powered by a 1.5-liter turbo, but this packs
10:56 more punch under the hood than the Coolray. It gets from 0-100 in 8 seconds. It is the fastest
11:02 crossover in this class that we have ever tested. And then lastly, the handling. Absolutely
11:09 phenomenal handling thanks to those Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires. But let's not sell the chassis
11:15 short. It holds a line through a corner steadily, body roll is well in check, and it goes where you
11:21 want it to go. Even on worse tires, this would still be nice to drive. On these tires, it is
11:27 phenomenal. But on the con side, those tires do result in some judder and some ride discomfort.
11:34 It's not the most comfortable car in the class, it's not terrible, but you will always remember
11:39 that these are sports tires and not touring tires. And the transmission attached to that engine,
11:45 not the best dual-clutch either. In those in-between speeds when you're not quite sure
11:50 if you want to go slow or go fast, it can be indecisive, and shifts can either be too abrupt
11:56 or too slow for you. And unfortunately, it doesn't have a manual shifting mode. The M-POW does.
12:03 It has paddle shifters. This doesn't. It has that cute little gun sight shifter that puts you in
12:08 drive or reverse and nothing else. And then lastly, it is still just a subcompact crossover.
12:16 So it's not as big as some. Interior space feels alright, but there are compromises to get this
12:23 many features into a package this small. Then again, with a package this small and with comfort
12:30 this big, to have all of that in a package that costs under P1.2 million, this is a deal on the
12:37 same level as the Geely Coolray was when it first launched. This might just be the bargain of the
12:44 decade. And as such, we can't give it a lower rating than 8.5 over 10. I would say 9, but
12:52 no paddle shifters. GIC, I want the paddle shifters.
12:56 [Music]
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