Driving a well-traveled subcompact crossover
Discovering great value (and impressive performance) in the Changan CS35 Plus
IT’S NOT EVERY DAY I get to test drive a “brand-new” car with 100,000 kilometers on the odometer. In fact, I’ve never officially tested a demo unit with that kind of mileage. However, I have owned several cars that have seen six figures on the odometer. And boy, can I tell you how old those cars felt!
But the 100,000-km-old Changan CS35 Plus was a totally different matter. Here was a subcompact crossover that looked new, smelled new, and more importantly, ran like new.
Of course, that’s mostly because all those kilometers were accumulated in just a span of two months of nonstop driving — which means that all the age-related wear and tear won’t appear at all — no wear on the steering wheel or upholstery or carpeting, no doors that won’t stay open, no windows that get misaligned when rolled down, no roughness at idle. Other than all the kilometers under its belt, the car was practically two months old.
Changan says that the only parts replaced over the course of the 100,000 kilometers were the distance-related wearables like motor oil, filters, tires, and brake pads.
And I believe them. Back in 1991, I was part of a team that drove a new Nissan Sentra 31,000 kilometers in 30 days. That’s a thousand kilometers a day, which is roughly 50 times the average distance a motorist travels every day. The car also received regular maintenance service — and nothing else — throughout the 30 days. And guess what? The rest of the car didn’t look any worse for the wear (which means that for a car, time results in more aging than distance).
But it doesn’t take anything away from the Changan CS35 Plus, which has a surprisingly low introductory price of P999,000 (SRP is P1.069 million). Driving 100,000 kilometers — whether accumulated in months or in years — is no mean feat. That it did so while leaving everything feeling nice and tight is a testament to a car’s build quality and reliability.
I like the styling of the CS35 Plus. It’s clean and minimalist with just the right amount of design details to set it apart from the many crossovers in the market. In keeping with the new generation of China-built crossovers, the overall design is very European, giving it an upmarket feel. The front end’s grille and headlights actually remind me of the visage of the newly launched Volkswagen T-Cross. The car rolls on nice, big 18-inch alloy wheels.
I’ve also seen the black bar treatment on the D-pillar, the full-width taillights, the silver faux “skid plate” under the rear bumper, and the twin taillights (and dual tailpipes) on several new crossovers. It’s hard to say who’s copying whom, but suffice to say that we see many of these design elements on crossovers and SUVs from Japan, Korea, China, America, and Germany. So you can’t blame any brand if it offers all these positive styling touches. They actually deserve plaudits.
The CS35’s unique styling touches are the squarish fender openings with reflectors above them. I’m not sold on the reflectors, but I like the squarish fender wells — something you’ll see in a Lamborghini Urus and the newly revealed Toyota Land Cruiser 300 (which isn’t even on the market yet).
On the road, the CS35 displays impressive quietness and responsiveness from its torquey 158hp/235Nm 1.4-liter gasoline direct-injection (GDI) turbo engine. The generous torque is available from as low as 1,500rpm all the way to 4,000rpm, endowing the CS35 Plus with diesel-like oomph from down low.
I’m not a big fan of dual-clutch transmissions, but the seven-speed wet-type DCT of the CS35 works very smoothly and responsively — with none of the jerkiness or hesitation of the earlier generations of DCTs that almost threatened to ruin their reputations.
The MacPherson strut/torsion beam suspension of the CS35 is clearly biased for comfort. There is some bounce when you go over humps and potholes, but nowhere near enough to make it feel floaty or wallowy. This suspension damping will make for a very comfortable long-distance cruise. The good news is that the car will still confidently track through a corner taken at a higher-than-average speed in the hands of a skilled and spirited driver.
Inside the spacious cabin, the CS35 is very refined, with very little noise and vibration filtering inside. There’s excellent legroom and headroom, thanks to the high roofline and long-for-a-subcompact 2,600-mm wheelbase. The dashboard and console are superbly executed in terms of aesthetics and ergonomics. It’s got push-button start and a nice and big 10-inch touchscreen six-speaker Bluetooth/USB infotainment system. The driver’s seat is six-way adjustable, but power-adjustable only in two ways (manual adjustment in four ways, like the passenger seat).
Nature-friendly faux leather covers the seats, steering wheel, and shift knob. There are A/C vents for the rear, remote engine start, blind-spot view camera, a touch-panel-activated automatic climate control system (with N95 cabin filter), electric parking brake, speed-sensing door locks, and a panoramic sunroof — all welcome upscale touches, especially for a car in the CS35’s price range. Safety features include six air bags (front, side and curtain) plus a full alphabet soup of ABS, ESP, EBD, etc.
There are many crossovers on the market today, but for its eminently reasonable price, the Changan CS35 packs a lot of compelling value, space, features, and surprisingly impressive performance in a very good-looking package.
