Remember when cars didn’t cost over a million to a decent daily driver?
Remember when anything over a million pesos would have been a sports car.
Well unfortunately those days are over. Or is it?
These days, we’re stuck with “GR” (grab Readyready cars, not the racing kind I’m afraid, but more of the grab ready, plastics everywhere, dreary performance and just run of the mill styled cars.
I’m talking about the Toyota Vios, the Mitsubishi mirage G4s, while these are the great workhorses of our city, they just litter the streets with dullness and lack of refinement.
Not so for the Geely X3 Pro.
A mix of Good and Bad.
The styling of the Geely GX3 Pro is kind of a mixed bag, the front is a bit much for me, while that big grille looks alright, the headlights are reminiscent of older Chinese cars, not the current sleek design language that Geely has, this feels years behind and out of place, but at least it redeems itself with a European inspired rear design.
You have DRLs for both the headlight and another one where the foglights are normally located.
Going to the back of the car, the Geely brand badging works, and those two big taillights plus the detail on the bumper is a commendable effort.
Having played over the car on Photoshop and added stuff like dechrome and lower ride height the car has some potential for after-market upgrades or modding. The younger crowd has at least some room to play with the styling of this small SUV.
Its Sooo….. Comfy
The geely GX3 Pro has its moments of good looks but don’t worry about that, the interior is where you’ll most enjoy your stay.
The ride with the combination of the seats makes for a sofa on wheels.
You don’t get any electronic adjustment for any of the passengers, the GX3 pro’s interior at least doesn’t feel cramped and a young family of 4 would be in relative comfort.
The aforementioned workhorses provide more room and practicality. Still, if I were driving I would trade the Geely’s touches of luxury over scratchy plastics any day.
I’m good with the 60/40 split seats, a sunroof, and a maximum of 400L of luggage space and most folks should be fine.
Why CVT Geely?
I only got to drive it the whole day but from what i gathered it has the familiar “decent engine but the CVT sort of kills it situation.”
The drone of the engine when you floor is sad and it does not a nice noise, the motor could really use a conventional transmission.
Thankfully the manual override feels like a conventional transmission, you get a small icon on the instrument cluster to shift down or up.
The 3 drive modes of eco, comfort, and sport have enough of a difference for one to experiment, the comfort setting seems to be the do-it-all all configuration.
I still don’t understand why Geely PH cannot simply fix their licensing issues with android auto or add apple carplay, although the Car Link app is useful enough and better than the Q Link that preceded it.
And oh yeah the base model is a manual and of course cheaper.
Decent handling and NVH
This small SUV is no sporty hatchback so it has a tiny bit of body roll.
The Leather steering wheel with the sport setting gives it more feedback so the car has some feel. The Geely gx3 Pro just feels more at home with a more relaxed driving style.
It’s not particularly loud inside and the suspension handles bumps quite well.
Is it fuel efficient?
We couldn’t test the car, far or long enough to get our fuel consumption readings but other reviewers have noted getting 10Km/L in the city and 15 Km/L on the highway. Those city driving ratings are pretty good.
This or the familiar answer?
While it might seem like I’m expecting so much of out a sub 900k car the truth is you get quite a bit for your money..
If you’re under 30, you might be inclined to go for a Vios or probably a Honda Brio.
With the GX3 Pro you get a car that’ll beat neighbors Grab ready car with a lot more comfort and refinement.
The geely GX3 Pro is proof you don’t have to settle for cars that we’ve all ridden on.
You can opt to get this, and feel relaxed knowing you can get a taste of how your next car will feel like.
Thanks to Geely Fairview for providing the test unit.
