The official arrival of GAC Motor in Malaysia introduced with it the GAC GS3 B-segment SUV in 2021, although the intervening three years has introduced its successor, the second-generation GAC GS3 Emzoom into the Malaysian market, having been made obtainable for reserving in Malaysia in January, to be priced beneath RM130,000 and provided in two variants – Unique and Premium-R.
The 2024 GAC GS3 Emzoom has been formally launched in Malaysia in these two variants, priced from RM118,900 for the Unique, as much as RM128,900 for the Premium-R.
Being a B-segment SUV, the GS3 Emzoom is an entrant in a hotly contested phase in Malaysia occupied by the likes of the Chery Omoda 5, Honda HR-V and Proton X50, which is a few formidable competitors that the GS3 Emzoom is pitched in opposition to.
Earlier than doing so, GAC car importer and distributor Warisan Tan Chong Automotif (WTCA) invited publications to Guangzhou, China to briefly pattern the B-segment SUV as a taster earlier than the GS3 Emzoom’s arrival on Malaysian shores. How did the B-segment crossover fare within the temporary abroad sampling?
First, the outside of the GS3 Emzoom is straight away obvious as a completely restyled mannequin relative to its predecessor, the place the brand new automobile’s extra pronounced use of straight traces and sharp creases visually signify the generational change.
To those eyes it’s a hanging aesthetic, with the GS3 Emzoom’s headlamps and taillights, exterior mirrors in addition to entrance and rear bumper styling particularly being distinct visible cues that give the agency’s B-segment crossover entry a novel id.
Ditto the wheels, which additionally sport acute angles and straight traces of their design. In R-Model guise within the model’s native Chinese language market (Premium-R as revealed for Malaysia), the variant brings a sportier look courtesy of extensions on the entrance bumper and a diffuser-like setup on the rear bumper, with contrasting orange highlights.
The inside of the most recent GS3 Emzoom additionally represents a major step change in styling, the place its predecessor’s cowled analogue instrumentation and infotainment unit are succeeded within the new mannequin by a set of digital shows for drive instrumentation in addition to infotainment, each located on the dashboard fascia in a extra open method.
Whereas the centre console and infotainment display are angled barely in direction of the motive force, the dashboard affords a extra open, spacious feeling somewhat than an ensconced, wrap-around sensation regardless of the comparatively high-set central console, which affords a secondary house for oddments on the tier beneath the transmission selector and the pair of cupholders.
From the motive force’s seat, the three-spoke multi-function steering wheel is sporty in its look and fairly pleasing to carry, with the implied sportiness once more surfacing in components together with the perforated leather-based within the left- and right-hand areas of the wheel rim.
Earlier than turning a wheel within the left-hand-drive instance, sitting stationary within the driver’s seat of the GS3 Emzoom affords contact factors of a perceived high quality that might seem like par for the phase course, with leather-based, strong metal-look trim and soft-touch panels the place instantly seen, and harder-feeling plastics in additional hid areas of the cabin.
Briefly sampling the infotainment menus of the native Chinese language-market items on provide demonstrated sufficiently crisp responses, and the shows are clear to the view.
Our drive time with the GS3 Emzoom in Guangzhou, China was held inside the confines of a short lived course that consisted of a straight-line acceleration and braking zone, slalom and figure-of-eight sections, providing a short, if restricted hands-on expertise of the model’s newest B-segment SUV entry.
Starting our drive time within the GS3 Emzoom with the straight-line acceleration and braking check phase summons the 177 PS/270 Nm 1.5 litre turbocharged inline-four cylinder petrol engine, which is sufficiently zesty in its responses. Its exhaust word is as anticipated of the generally used configuration, although way more subdued than the automobile’s exterior would have one count on at first.
Whereas no timed runs have been exercised, its claimed 7.5 seconds within the 0-100 km/h dash feels plausible. Serving because the hyperlink to the pushed entrance wheels, the seven-speed dual-clutch automated gearbox is one which leans in direction of the extra relaxed finish of the spectrum for its kind, as there are snappier-shifting dual-clutch examples available on the market.
Taking to the slalom and figure-of-eight sections of the check course, the GS3 Emzoom continues to display a extra relaxed manner than its somewhat extroverted exterior styling would have one imagine, as a substitute revealing a chassis that’s extra obliging, somewhat than partaking of a eager driver who needs to press on.
The steering is mild, even for a B-segment car, and is bereft of any actual suggestions, because the helm doesn’t load up in weight even when lots is requested of the entrance tyres when the GS3 Emzoom is put by means of its paces within the confines of the course. The setup feels to be of a comparatively gradual ratio, too, with a substantial quantity of wheel twirling required.
The GS3 Emzoom chassis seems to be one that’s arrange for consolation, with appreciable lean skilled even for a crossover, from what looks like comparatively low spring fee. Conversely, the trade-off for the very audible protests of the tyres within the dealing with part, is a commendable degree of compliance over reasonably sharp ridges as demonstrated when traversing joints within the slabs of concrete on the check grounds. As for main trip, a extra definitive discovering should be reserved for a later sampling on our native roads.
An unexpectedly relaxed gadget the GS3 Emzoom is, then, in distinction to its overtly sporty exterior styling. Ought to the model’s Malaysian-market GS3 Emzoom carry over its native Chinese language market chassis calibration, this may increasingly but show to be pliant sufficient for the challenges of our native highway surfaces, notably within the Klang Valley.
Thought of in isolation, the GS3 Emzoom majors on sharp styling, and as claimed by GAC, segment-best engine torque output with 270 Nm on faucet, and whereas the brand new entrant from GAC is bodily bigger in its exterior in comparison with its rivals, whether or not or not that benefit interprets to inside house would require additional exploring.
Elsewhere as an possession proposition, the model is being constructed up by distributor WTCA who’s getting down to have greater than 20 showrooms and repair centres nationwide by the third quarter of this 12 months, with 15 dealerships within the nation to this point. This could bode nicely for the model, contemplating its relative youth within the Malaysian market.
2024 GAC GS3 Emzoom Premium R in Malaysia
2024 GAC GS3 Emzoom Unique in Malaysia
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