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The existence of Chinese car brands that have been trying to carve a niche out for themselves, is an evident one. One of the many contenders in this space is Geely (pronounced Jeely), who seem to have pushed all the right buttons this year around. The newest model to don the Chinese automaker’s insignia is the Emgrand X7 Sport, an SUV that comes fully equipped for AED 79,995 and offers exceptional value for money.
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Exterior
Peter Norbury, previously designing for Volvo, recently took it in his hands to completely redesign Geely’s line of cars and change the way people perceive them. His strategy was to fuse Chinese culture into the cars in a very subtle and simplistic way. He managed to achieve part of this by synergizing the Ruyi Jade design from ancient Chinese culture into the Emgrand X7’s grille. Geely claims to have been inspired by big cats such as the cheetah to add aggressive lines onto the exterior of the X7.
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Interior
The exterior isn’t the only Chinese-inspired part of the car. The dashboard is inspired by the broken bridge from West Lake. The speakers, light switches, and other controls use Chinese patterns. Even the fonts on all the buttons were carefully crafted from scratch to achieve Peter Norbury’s vision.
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The Nappa leather seats come in some very luxurious colors including my favorite, tan orange. The center console seems freakishly similar to the previous Porsche Panamera, however, the storage space up ahead in the cabin isn’t quite enough. The center console has two cups holders, which are in front of a small box under the arm rest. Next to the center console lives a small cubby which can merely fit one phone and a wallet.
The main attraction of the car though, is how generous it is when talking about features. The version I was driving was equipped with automatic headlights, automatic climate control, automatic wipers, adaptive high beam, LED headlights, a full digital gauge, electronic parking brake, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, an infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, a parking camera, panoramic roof, lumbar support and much more.
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The rear is well equipped, too. Other than being spacious, passengers have access to two cup holders, a 12V charging port, A/C as well as single press power windows. The floor in the middle is very low as well, which means that the passenger sitting in the middle won’t feel cramped in between the other two.
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Safety and Technology
Safety, while most manufacturers tend to do the bare essential, that simply isn’t the case with the Chinese crossover. The Geely Emgrand X7 is equipped with 6 airbags and parking sensors as standard. Furthermore, it also includes seven Bosch safety features such as ABS brakes, a Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensor, electronic brake assist and a traction control system.
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Drive
The drive in the Geely Emgrand X7 Sport 2017 is extremely comfortable, far greater than a number of competitor cars such as the Mitsubishi Outlander and the Nissan X-Trail. Part of this was due to the three drive modes equipped in the X7, namely Eco, Comfort and Sport. All the modes felt smooth throughout, even when pushed to its limit.
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The steering response was also satisfactory despite having a dead spot in the center. The chassis is pretty stiff, no complaints there. Even the suspension is tweaked just right. Driving over speed bumps is surprisingly comfortable.
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The 2.4L engine did feel underpowered but was something I was happy to overlook considering the price and other features. However, one thing I did have a hard time overlooking was the lack of consistency in the gears on cruise control. The car would decide to downshift or upshift on its own at a fixed speed for absolutely no reason.
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Verdict
After spending in excess of three days with the Geely Emgrand X7, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sold on its value proposition. Well-built and equipped with a plethora of features, the Chinese crossover is bound to give the feature-laden Koreans a run for their money. With Geely promising to buy the car back after two years for half the price, it’s almost too good to be true.
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