Test Drive丨JMC Ford Leader, a cost-effective "true Ford" specially provided by China

At the 2022 (24th) Chongqing International Auto Show, which opened on June 25th, the JMC-Ford Technology's Lingrui Extreme Edition will be officially launched, with a limited order of 100 units.

The Lingrui has become the hottest model of Jiangling Ford.Since its launch on March 28, the total number of orders for this new car has exceeded 5,000 in just 20 days.In May 2022, the sales of this car increased by 42.24% month-on-month to 1,485 units, and it has become the best-selling model of Jiangling Ford.

In a short period of time after its listing, it has become the brand's sales leader and confidently released limited edition models. What are the advantages of Jiangling Ford Leader?Just before the launch of Lingrui Extreme, Yiou Automobile participated in the test drive of Lingrui.The power, handling and other aspects of this product are consistent with the upcoming limited-edition model.

After more than 200 kilometers of back-and-forth experience, the most profound feeling of Jiangling Ford Leader is that it is "very Ford".Whether it is design, tuning, or configuration, you can feel that Ford's participation in the development process of this model is still relatively high.At the same time, this product has three obvious advantages, namely "low price and large size", "small displacement and large power", and "Nengshan Road in the urban area".

Next, let's take a look at how the three advantages are reflected.

low price big size

In terms of appearance, compared with Lingjie and Lingyu, which were previously launched by Jiangling Ford, the special models for China, Lingrui has a "more Ford" appearance design, and maintains the same design style as the new generation of Ford Mondeo and EVOS.

The large polygonal air intake grille on the front face of the leader is connected with the daytime running lights.The headlight adopts a split design, and the lower headlight is integrated with the front surround.The side of the new car adopts a double waistline design, and the rear waistline is relatively thick, creating a certain sense of muscle.At the rear of the car, the new car adopts a large number of horizontal lines to enhance the sense of heaviness.The taillights use a combination of "inverted L-shaped" light strips and three-point array light sources.

In terms of body size, the length, width and height are 4630/1935/1706mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2726mm.In addition, the new car also provides 18- and 19-inch wheels with corresponding tire sizes of 235/55 R18 and 235/50 R19 respectively.

Compared with the target competing models such as Toyota RAV4 Rongfang, Honda CR-V, FAW-Volkswagen Tanyue, etc., Lingrui has a more competitive price and a larger "body".At the same time, the new car also has a lower price than the target competitor, and even the top model is less expensive than the opponent's low-end models.

From the point of view of riding experience, the interior space of Lingrui has obvious advantages.The experiencer with a height of 1.82m can still easily lift Erlang's legs in the back row after the front seat is adjusted to a suitable position.The headroom of the new car is also very generous, even on off-road roads, the head will not hit the roof.The panoramic sunroof with a length of more than 1.2 meters extends to the rear row, which makes the riding experience of rear passengers more comfortable.

It is worth mentioning that there is no bulge in the middle of the rear row of the leader, so that passengers in the middle of the rear row can also get a more comfortable riding experience.Such a rear flat floor design is not common in SUVs of the same level.

In terms of intelligence, the new car has dual 12.3-inch floating integrated screens, and is equipped with the latest generation of Tencent TAI4.0 intelligent vehicle system, which supports OTA upgrades of modules such as entertainment system, intelligent driving, body electronics and power system.From the operating experience point of view, the functions of this product are indeed rich enough, and the fluency performance is not bad, but the interaction logic needs to be improved.

Small displacement, big power

The entire Lingrui series is powered by Ford's 1.5T EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder engine.The whole series of such large-sized SUV models only rely on a 1.5T engine to drive, and many people tend to have five words in their minds: small horse-drawn cart.

Judging from the parameters, the power provided by this engine is beyond expectations.Thanks to Honeywell's small inertia high-speed supercharger, DVVT hollow combined camshaft, variable displacement oil pump and other components, the EcoBoost® 170 engine equipped in the new car has a maximum power of 125kW and a peak torque of 125kW. 260N m.

It is worth mentioning that the Lingrui is also the first mass-produced car equipped with this engine.

Matched with the EcoBoost® 170 engine is a Magna seven-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, with a transmission efficiency of 97%.In addition to Ling Rui, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA and other models also use this gearbox.The overall tuning of this power system is more active, allowing the engine to break out 250N･m of torque at 1200 rpm.

In the process of test driving, Yiou Automobile can indeed feel that there is a sufficiently sensitive dynamic response in the initial stage of stepping on the accelerator pedal, so that the vehicle can start more lightly.However, this kind of throttle adjustment requires a little getting used to, and it is very easy to cause the vehicle to jump forward when starting off when driving for the first time.

After getting used to the throttle, the dynamic response speed of this small SUV at low and medium speeds is very satisfactory.But after all, this is a 1.6-ton vehicle, and when the speed reaches 100km/h or more, the acceleration performance is somewhat weak.

But for consumers who want to buy a joint venture medium-sized SUV at a price of about 150,000 yuan, few people have excessive pursuit of power.If you just want a vehicle with such a large size and large space, you only need enough power, and Lingrui can still meet your needs.

After all, with the rise in oil prices, saving fuel is the last word.Official data shows that this 1.5T engine can reduce the vehicle's NEDC comprehensive fuel consumption to 6.3L per 100 kilometers.For a medium-sized SUV with a wheelbase of more than 2700mm, such fuel consumption performance is already ideal.

Can the urban area can go up the mountain

Although it is a special vehicle for China under the JMC-Ford joint venture, the steering and chassis texture of the Leading Rui have a certain "Ford flavor".

From the perspective of the chassis, the training of Lingrui is more inclined to comfort.Such tuning means a more comfortable and relaxed driving experience on smooth roads.But at the same time, this product is really not suitable for extreme driving. It has more obvious roll during sharp turns, and the bumps during rapid acceleration, rapid deceleration and over speed bumps are also more obvious.

Under the daily urban road and highway road conditions, the driving quality of the Lingrui is still at the level of a joint venture car, and it will not make people feel difficult to control because of the body size.

But after all, Lingrui is an SUV after all, and many people still hope that it can carry themselves, their families and friends to "embracing" nature.In order to meet the needs of consumers, Jiangling Ford has designed a ground clearance of 185mm for this model, which exceeds that of most urban SUVs.In addition, the approach and departure angles of the new car also reach 19° and 25°, which can cope with various road conditions such as winding roads, hairpin bends, gravel roads, and potholes.

Most of the road conditions for this Lingrui test drive are winding roads.Judging from the directionality of the steering wheel, chassis tuning, power output and braking performance, whether it is going up a hill, going down a hill, or taking a continuous curve, this SUV can comfortably pass the corresponding road at the maximum speed limit of the road.Even when Yiou Motor was running on the winding road at the speed limit for more than an hour, the media teacher in the car completely fell asleep.

In this test drive, we also challenged a section of gravel road with a slope of nearly 40° and many potholes.The city SUV manages to pass the road with three people on board.Ordinary off-road roads don't hold it back.But after all, this model is equipped with a 1.5T engine, and the chassis tuning is more comfortable, so you can't expect to use this car to drive passionately on large-slope off-road roads.

Epilogue

In this test drive, Yiou Automobile mainly experienced the driving performance of this vehicle in static and urban and mountain driving.After a day's experience, the driving performance of this product far exceeded Yiou Automobile's expectations for a joint venture mid-size SUV at a price of 150,000 yuan.

As a product designed for urban roads, Lingrui has the rare size, interior space and ground clearance of joint venture vehicles of the same price, as well as the fuel consumption level that is rare in pure fuel vehicles of the same size, and the 1.5T power is used to deal with It is also perfectly adequate for everyday city and mountain driving.

Intelligence has always been a shortcoming of joint venture car companies, and Lingrui's car-machine interaction is not surprisingly not as "understood" as the new forces.But in terms of price, space, configuration, design and other aspects, this new car is already a very cost-effective choice.