Is Chinese HAVAL H9 a REAL Off-Roader? Disassembly Part 1!

What is the all-new HAVAL H9 made of? Welcome back to the channel, my friends. Long time no see in this kind of video. Today we are following the one and only Ilya from Klubnyi Servis Moscow as they disassemble HAVAL H9. A very long-awaited piece of information for me and to do it justice I've split the translation into two videos. Today we are looking at part one where we were going to take a look at the car in general, how it's generally assembled, general thoughts about it that a lot of you would want to hear Ilya express his opinions. He will also show you how the car is after its first proper true off-roading experience. In the second part that is going to follow a week or so later he will show underbelly suspension. For all of you who are wondering why is Dmitry taking these videos from Klubnyi Servis, my friends you have to understand the concept of derivative works. This is something where I'm promoting other channels, adding value, recomposing the material. I'm not simply republishing someone else's material in case you cannot go to sleep and just kind of chill about it. So this is something me calling it out for you. Please give these videos a like always if not for me then for YouTube algorithm to show it to more people. Nowhere you will see translation, good translation and recomposition of the Russian content right now on the market for English-speaking audiences I mean. So this is your chance to give this a quick like so that more people can see it. Ilya starts by telling us that this H9 represents the top of the range model of Haval on the Russian market in April 2025. The owner of this vehicle had a crazy amount of loose cash available to spend on a new off-road capable vehicle and he believe it or not said on camera that his choice was largely driven by the fact that he doesn't like Japanese vehicles. They all have a very very good laugh so the man clearly has a sense of humor and look we all have our own preferences but it's very unusual. So how much loose cash you will ask me? Well try not to choke yourself on your pretzel there my friend. Put it down. Haval H9 right now costs an equivalent of about 95 000 Australian dollars in Russia. Yep let's keep going while you get yourself off the floor and try to sit up straight again. Hope you're all right over there. This is diesel version of Haval H9 with 2.4 liter engine pumping out 185 horsepower. This vehicle was bought not just to drive around town and look cool as I would but to use it for what's been it's being advertised for off-road adventures. Ilya points out that the tailgate window with an automotive club sticker usually points out at the fact that the owner takes off-roading rather seriously if they're a member of such club. So the owner did take this Haval H9 off-road once. This guy is still very new. The total kilometers of the clock right now are around 2.5 000 and we're about to see what condition it is all in. The first mistake Ilya says that the owner made was to buy this H9 in matte paint especially knowing that they're buying it for off-road. It does look amazing in the city but for off-road you can imagine tree branches scraping small and large gravel stones whatever you'll have all the paint chips and scratches all over the place before you know it. And then matching the color to patch it all up will become an absolute nightmare not very hard to imagine here. So the very first thing that the owner is requesting club service to do here is to put some kind of protective film all over the highest impact areas. This H9 has 22 centimeters of stated clearance. You would think that should be enough but clearly it was not. As looks like the owner hit the lower part of the front bumper somehow. There is a visible crack. Apparently there are lots of other small ones in plastic showing that the hit must have been more just than just a cosmetic little scuff. The problem isn't even just in this cracked plastic bumper but how Chinese vehicles are designed. Ilya shows us the placement of a window washing liquid tank that was obviously put right behind the bumper. So when that bumper took the hit it also cracked that liquid tank straight away like without too much of an effort looks like it because there is no other damage to the area. And they had to use even some sticky tape here to cover the holes and cracks to prevent the liquid from pouring out but it's still seeping out Ilya says. So during off-road it was all empty mud everywhere the owner couldn't use the window washing liquid to use the wipers properly and all that inconvenience. Looking at the rest of the exposed grille of H9 there are some smaller reinforcement bars in the front in front of the radiator and other elements here. Ilya comments though that this strange placement and fitting of those elements and thin reinforcement bars is basically saying that it's not designed to survive any kind of frontal collision or more or less strong hit of like some kind of your off-road adventuring situations. The main reinforcement bar that is connected to the frame is placed behind all of these components. And the reinforcement elements that are protecting the radiator let's say will surely crumble from a serious hit in case it matters to you. Ilya clarifies here for those who love Chinese vehicles that this particular level of pickiness of his in this case is explained by H9 so overtly positioned on the market as a very very strong off-roader top of the range all of that. He keeps saying this is top of the range this is what you guys are saying is your ultimate off-road beast well take a look so he's just being fair here. In the engine bay Ilya points out the discoloration of some elements around DPF filter suggesting that it overheats it must be exposed to like large heating and let's not forget the car is still relatively new. Other H9 owners on the Russian forums apparently are saying that under these covers there is some kind of stock standard coating that during this overheating process emits a really really unpleasant smell not to call it a stench because that's the word he used. Not much you can do about it I guess and who knows if it's related to how these cars are prepared for delivery in Russia or does it come stock standard from the Chinese GWM plant I don't know. And before you suggest that this is also one of those cars that are assembled by Great Walmart or Haval on their Russian plants it is not. This particular model is being imported like that from China. Oh further here Ilya says that in his opinion Chinese car designers simply don't understand why some countries need diesel engines and how these people expect to utilize those diesel engines. Our love for diesel is shared between Australia and Russia I must add where culturally and infrastructure wise quite far from electric power stations and skyscraper city mentality basically is what this tries to say. So here diesel engine is from Great Walmart a cannon ute or pickup truck if you don't know what the ute is in your part of the world. Cast iron central block of cylinders, aluminum headings, 2.4 liters I already mentioned and 185 horsepower. Common rail injection system standard for diesel engines of this vehicle range. It vibrates a little bit on startup but other than that not much to pick on. Everything works quite predictably. Ilya proceeds to talk about one of his favorite topics stock sound insulation looking at the partly disassembled front passenger door. Here you see a plastic film layer with some foam like solution that's stuck on top of it which is an interesting decision designer decision for sure. Underneath here there are two reinforcement bars inside of the door. One is a tube based and another one is just strange. Ilya says back door is assembled similarly. Before Ilya keeps talking about their aftermarket sound insulation solutions he mentions briefly how it's all welded together looking at the disassembled interior of this H9. He basically says that as critical as he normally is towards Chinese vehicles he can't say anything wrong or anything bad here because all the welding seams are done so nicely. There are no unnecessary or weird bolts or spot welding approach that he's seen in many other vehicles. Everything looks like a very very solid solution that will hold the structure of the vehicle very nicely for many years to come. He even says things like it's better than a lot of that he's seen which is flat out praise. Very unusual for him to be so generous on this praise for Chinese vehicles but that's it. That's something for us to appreciate and celebrate I suppose if you are a fan of Habal brand. He says that wiring is tied up also quite nicely and neatly. No loose wires hanging here and there as we've seen for example taking a sidestep here for a bit in a cheaper Chinese car model such as Cherry Tiggo 4 Pro that I've personally test driven but that like I said is another story. I just wanted to give you an example of something looking very very different. Quality of wires and plastic clips that hold them in place is not particularly amazing though. We can't really see it but I bet when you touch it with your fingers as Ilya does here you can tell the difference of cheap versus expensive plastic. This Habal H9 is roughly 5 meters long and 2 meters tall and wide which is rather large. Very large. So its tailgate opening is clearly massive and Ilya points out here that there are some elements on this tailgate close to the window pane I suppose that are rather strangely placed but that is him being rather nitpicky so even he sort of points them out and moves on from that pretty pretty quickly. And this is where we're going to cut off the part one of this translation my friends. Stay obviously tuned for the tail end of this. Not just the tail end. There is quite a lot more to say about that. The belly, suspension, transfer cases, other kind of things that Ilya thinks about this car as well as his verdict on what he ultimately thinks about Habal H9. So if you like this and you haven't yet physically pressed that like button why not? Why not do it right now especially if you watched the whole video and are still listening to me. I really appreciate you. Appreciate your viewership, patronage and support. Your comments are welcome as always. Just please understand that all of them are moderated still. Always moderated just to save us from all from the trolls and toxicity. Thank you for watching. I'll talk to you next week about something else value cars related for sure. See you later. Bye for now.