I Am Immersed
Although Gaohe official boasts that this car is a “supercar SUV”, the front windshield angle of this car is very inclined and the starting point is forward. The slender roof line, low ground clearance, and 22-inch oversized wheels always make me feel like it has entered a field similar to the “Monster MPV” of the Renault Espace concept car that was equipped with an F1 engine back then.
Yes. This 598 horsepower “business car” with three rows and six seats not only makes the four 255-width PS4s emit a continuous sound when fully accelerating, but it can also surpass the vehicles on the inner side of the curve with a relative speed of 40 kilometers per hour on the elevated ramp with a steady posture.
Comparing it with the GL8, it seems that the price range is a bit different; comparing it with the Alphard, it seems that the price range is still a bit different.
Therefore, at that time, I was thinking that this car was entering the market of the discontinued Mercedes R-Class. Speaking of mechanical quality, there was indeed no better model than the Mercedes R-Class, which was derived from the luxury car chassis of the same brand. However, the problem is that if there are really enough people who want this car, why stop production?
Similarly, the HiPhi X has strong power performance and good chassis tuning. Unfortunately, I always have a question: who wants to buy it.
Given that this type of luxury MPV is usually the nth car of big bosses (at least I can only draw this conclusion from my social experience), I shouldn’t comment on it based on my own driving habits. So today I will try the methodological approach to evaluate the car, and first imagine myself as a boss.
*Except for the evaluation of the vehicle itself, all content below is fictitious. If there are similarities, it is purely coincidental.
The career I arranged for myself is:
Avatar (hereinafter referred to as Brother Da) is a newly promoted partner of a certain investment institution who has achieved some success by seizing the new energy industry trend. Today, I am going to meet with a college classmate and investment manager of a certain boutique fund, General A, to introduce my element universe project for this round of lead investment, and use the endorsement of a large fund to hype the valuation. Today’s journey is relatively long, and there will be more people in the car, so I chose the company’s newly purchased HiPhi X as today’s business car.
The Perfect Airport Pickup Tool
It is after 12 noon when we headed to Hongqiao Airport for pickup. I set off from the company with the driver and a small assistant who is on a business trip by plane.Starting from a location in Changning District to the airport, the actual distance is 16 km. Except for a short ground driving section at the beginning, the whole journey is on the elevated road. As I was curious about the car, I asked the driver who drove the car to sit in the passenger seat and let me experience it before formally starting the business.
When I walked to the left front door, I found a problem:
Why is there no door handle?
But I can’t look foolish. Just when I was about to pretend to reply to the business WeChat to search for how to open the door, I found that my assistant had pressed the button on the B-pillar behind. At this time, the rear door glass suddenly dropped halfway, and then the rear door opened. Just when I was wondering why it was necessary to lower the window to open the door, the roof also opened! Then, the assistant strolled into the HiPhi X under the scattered attention of passers-by.
After knowing the method of opening the door, I also put down the disguise of replying to the message, and naturally sat in the driver’s seat. When I subconsciously stepped on the brake pedal, I found that the car door had closed by itself. At this time, I found that the assistant had pressed the button on the interior of the B-pillar, and accompanied by the mechanical sound of the actuator, the cool gull-wing door slowly closed, and the interior of the car suddenly became quiet.
This quiet atmosphere in the car also continued during the driving process. As someone who has a strong sense of low-carbon awareness, I have adjusted the kinetic energy recovery to the strongest mode. Although I drove smoothly on the elevated road and did not use the brakes, when I was about to arrive at Hongqiao Airport to pick someone up, I found that the foot feel of the brake pedal was too much like GL8 and not very suitable for someone like me who has requirements for driving feel.
So I searched through the menu for a long time and switched the feedback of the brake pedal to the sports mode. My frustration was not because I didn’t know how to use the in-car system, but because the setting of the brake pedal and the adjustment of parameters such as steering, throttle, suspension, and kinetic energy recovery were not put together, which made me think that this function did not exist at one point.
When I arrived at the departure level, the assistant got off and boarded the plane on his own. And within the 6 minutes of legal parking time, I also fiddled with the car door.
It’s hard to say whether it looks good or not, but it’s definitely explosive in this way.
I have to say, I enjoy being looked at by others. At this time, my mentality is not much different from that of a high-street boy like Fear of God or Supreme, who may not necessarily look good but definitely has recognition.
Well, what’s wrong with being middle-aged? As long as you’re not greasy.
Another advantage of HiPhi X is that, in conjunction with the gorgeous car paint and highly identifiable rear door, the person you need to pick up will almost certainly not miss you.
On this 16 km journey, the displayed range decreased by 15 km, but the accuracy was quite high.
Substance Behind the Glamour
Before taking CEO A to see the project after his arrival in Shanghai, I asked the driver to take us to Xintiandi for a quick meal. I knew that the in-flight meals in business class were nothing special, and my colleague would not eat them.
With a wheelbase of up to 3,150 mm, I thought even our experienced driver might have to maneuver several times to parallel park such a large vehicle. But he drove it into the space in one go. It seems that the addition of rear-wheel steering to the platform, which is becoming increasingly unconstrained by its pure electric powertrain, shows great wisdom in the wheelbase war.
While in park mode, you can use the ISD intelligent interactive lights at the four corners of the vehicle to display customized animations, such as thumbs-up or hearts.
Despite having animations that direct pedestrians to cross the road, middle-aged men think such gimmicks are clearly aimed at children.
The HiPhi brand logo on the wheel nut cover is smaller than the one on a Rolls-Royce, but its function is similar. Equipped with an internal weight, it can remain stationary relative to the ground when the vehicle is in motion. When I got out and played with it, I found that it had a feel similar to that of a fingertip gyroscope. At the same time, I also noticed the Brembo four-piston calipers.
It gave off a faint performance smell, making me feel immediately close to it.
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The photo above is not because my photography skills are poor and I did not focus on the camera, but to demonstrate whether the opening is a fake vent, and it has actual aerodynamic significance.
As we were opening the back door to invite guests to take their seats, the stylish way of opening the door once again attracted passersby. This seemingly Japanese uncle stationed in China couldn’t resist taking out his phone and taking some snapshots, while his Chinese colleague seemed to have found some information about the car on his own phone and glanced at it.
After finishing dinner, A and I were both sleepy. So on the way to Wujiaochang, I suggested he use the button on the door panel to recline the seat and activate the massage function.
A comes from a wealthy family and has driven luxury cars since he was young. He couldn’t stop praising the massage seats of the HiPhi X by Human Horizons, due to its powerful intensity. So I let him experience the passenger seat, as the massage intensity of the front seats is still insufficient.
As we all know, electric cars are very heavy because the battery pack is heavy. Furthermore, for the safety of the battery pack in the event of a collision, electric cars are made even heavier. But this weight has a wonderful side effect, which is the improvement of the torsional rigidity of the body. This is also why many electric cars lack a top crossbeam.
For the HiPhi X by Human Horizons, what is missing are two longitudinal beams that connect the B-pillar and C-pillar. However, in terms of riding and driving experience, thanks to the strong lower body brought by the pure electric platform, I did not feel any weakness in the body due to the lack of upper structure elements. If there must be a flaw, it might be on the rougher road conditions north of Wujiaochang. With the addition of a door without a frame and glass, it will rub due to the slight torsion of the car body, resulting in some friction noise.
After A finished listening to my strong recommendation of the metaverse project, he didn’t feel that I was peddling anxiety to him. Instead, he began to thank me for refreshing his understanding. He also knew that the concept of the metaverse now is no longer the same as the VR bubble a few years ago. This is the dawn of a new generation of Internet social interaction and the vanguard of a new way of interaction.
# Translation
I invited him to sit in my new office in Lujiazui to discuss our intention regarding the project. As I expected, he not only agreed to invest in the project on behalf of the company, but also asked if I had any shares of my own.
He’s quite sharp. I did indeed acquire some shares at an earlier stage via my previous employer’s channels. A was impressed with me, so I suppose I’ll have to sign a nominee agreement with him later to give him a small portion.
Details
A, who had a few sips of Niulankeng cinnamon pork, felt much accomplished after coming to Shanghai this time. Unfortunately, it was time for him to go catch his flight. He was in a good mood and expressed that he wanted to try driving a Gaokai to Pudong airport by himself.
After spending half a day driving and sitting in the Gaokai driven by A, I noticed some more details.
A’s driving skills were indeed not as good as my driver’s. Coarse throttle operation has always been a big taboo for electric vehicles, especially for models with large energy recovery range. I was ready to take a break and watch the trailer of “Free Guy” in the passenger seat when I found the acceleration changes back and forth a bit nauseating.
Fortunately, the energy recovery can be turned off in the settings of the Gaokai, and the gentlest energy-saving mode can be accessed, making passengers less dizzy due to the high-frequency and large-amplitude throttle operation. However, the 22-inch large tires mean that the sprung mass is not low, and even with air suspension and CDC, it cannot completely compensate for the huge amount of kinetic energy generated by this heavy object when it is stimulated on various road surfaces.
In order to make my journey more comfortable, I suggested that A turns on the lane-keeping feature. The Gaokai’s system is a Bosch solution. Overall, its ability is not strong, but it can still reduce some of the operation pressure on highways where straight lines are dominant.
However, I noticed during a lane changing process that when HiPhi X detects potential danger from other vehicles and emits collision warning sounds, the electronic sound effects of the turn signal are blocked. This can also happen when parking or driving at low speeds in narrow spaces.
In addition to having to balance the big fingerprint collector and slow-responding infotainment screen, the electronic rearview mirror is also a small regret as it can vibrate slightly due to the vibration of the car body, affecting the picture, and the black border is quite large.
The touchpads on the left and right of the steering wheel also suffer from sluggish responsiveness, but the bigger problem is the design flaw of being too close to the edge of the steering wheel, making it hard to grip.
There are two aspects of the handling that I’m not satisfied with. One is the low damping force for steering return. This can easily cause unnecessary lateral acceleration when you release the wheel after completing a turn, due to the direct steering-wheel turn that results from the front wheel’s return moment. If the car is primarily for business purposes, the steering system’s speed of return could be slower.
Fortunately, for a professional driver with good car handling skills and a calm attitude, these issues are not very challenging and cannot be easily perceived as problematic.
After saying goodbye to A at the airport, I asked the driver to take me to a dinner party on the Bund.
I had a sudden idea this time and wanted to try sitting in the third row.
Although there is a front windshield to relieve the cramped head space, the third row does give a sense of being enclosed. Of course, for most MPVs or SUVs, the third-row space has never been considered as a key selling point.
The small-looking side window is actually a mirror that can turn on the backlight. I don’t know how strong the demand for makeup is here, but if the initial intention of this configuration was to reduce the sense of being enclosed, I would prefer it to be a real glass window.
I never understood the highlights of Programmable Maneuvering Light (PML) with projection function. Apart from the optional functions like projecting the driving trajectory on the road or marking pedestrians, are there any other advantages? Until I discovered that it can actually print custom text on the road. Although it doesn’t have any practical meaning, this operation does deepen my patriotism.### The ultimate destination of HiPhi X, perhaps a nightclub?
After finishing their business, take these socialites to their territory. Before this, I always thought that the butterfly doors were just a gimmick, but I didn’t realize until I parked the car at the nightclub entrance that it has a very practical function: anti-exposure.
Many people say that Rolls-Royce’s suicide doors have a very big advantage, which is to allow ladies wearing short skirts to get out of the car very elegantly and not easily expose themselves. HiPhi then added a third pair of doors that opens from above based on the rear hinge of the back door. This door makes getting in and out no longer a low-profile behavior, but a confidently way to enter or exit the car.
This function not only protects the beauty of girls wearing sexy skirts from social death, but also serves as a good auxiliary function for elderly people at home whose waists and legs are not good. After all, getting on the back seat of a HiPhi is as simple as walking up a step.
Under the triple ravages of noise, second-hand smoke, and spades A, I faintly realized that understanding the advantages of this car requires a long logical chain, just like finding a pure heart in this mixed-up world requires time, precipitation, and enough courage.
Conclusion
How to evaluate HiPhi’s car correctly?
To be honest, I’m quite confused.
Because it’s quite divisive.
Its chassis texture is very good, and the driving experience even has the taste of a performance car. After all, the CTO of HiPhi is Mark Stanton, the father of the Jaguar I-Pace racing car. He is definitely a master of the chassis.
The actual driving range of 171 km corresponds to a displayed range reduction of 185 km, with an error of 8%. It is indeed quite honest.
Although there are quite a few exaggerated points, after careful consideration, you will find that these exaggerated points are quite interesting, and even considerate for users, and executed quite delicately.
Take the exaggerated two-piece rear doors as an example. They are equipped with ultrasonic radar and rain sensing functions. They ensure that the doors do not open blindly in situations with obstacles or rain. From inside the car, passengers can also independently open the upper part of the rear door to achieve a dazzling effect.How to describe it? It’s a magical car that is meticulously crafted, yet still has some flamboyant elements. If you compare it to the overall smart car/electric car market, its cost performance is definitely not high. But, you need to ask yourself:
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Is there an MPV that is more handsome than it?
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Is there an MPV that is faster than it?
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Is there an MPV that has better handling than it?
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Is there an MPV that is more intelligent than it?
It seems… there really isn’t.
If it really is an SUV, then it will likely face even greater market pressure, but if it is truly an electric version of a traditional MPV, it will lose all its capital for being eye-catching.
Other than the lack of common solid wood and metal elements at this price point in the interior, many criticisms that you might have about it can actually be compensated for by the exaggerated turning rate that its doors bring and hiring a dedicated driver.
Underneath the high percentage of dramatic elements lies an extremely serious industrial tool. Both clearly come at a cost, as seen in their selling prices.
Is it reasonable? Yes, it is.
If you are an “anxious middle-aged person” being sold anxiety and want to ensure that you maintain a young heart by doing something interesting while staying grounded (at least in appearance compared to your peers), then you have the conditions to accept it and this car can indeed satisfy you.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.