you'd need huge balls of steel to pick up this cheery or cherry or whatever the fark it's called...it's a piece of junk each and every way you look at it...URGH....PTUI!!!
the "best" review that i have seen so far here...haha
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The QQ is cute, but there's scary stuff underneath the good looks
YOU KNOW HOW some things look great from afar but have the equivalent resilience to close scrutiny as candle wax has to a blowtorch? The Chery QQ's smile-to-frown transition threshold is about 15 feet.
Of all the Chinese carmakers, Chery is probably the most famous, and one of the most successful. The company was founded in 1997, and made a name for itself by famously 'borrowing' the design of the Daewoo D'arts, otherwise known as the Matiz. This did land the company in some hot water with Daewoo's owner, General Motors, although the situation has since been resolved, with Chery being allowed to continue churning out Matiz clones.
The clone in question is the Chery QQ, and it's only just gone on sale here. The QQ is a compact hatchback powered by an 800cc three-cylinder engine, and it's targeted at the likes of the Kia Picanto and the soon-to-be launched Chevrolet Spark.
The car still bears an uncanny resemblance to the Matiz, which is no bad thing as that car's shape continues to be very attractive.
The QQ has a very distinct 'face', a pair of big round headlamps act as eyes and they come complete with a wide bonnet shut line smile that's sure to win many hearts over. There's even a set of stick-on appliqués that make the car look very convincingly like a giant panda. The side treatment looks pretty neat, with the QQ describing a taut, well-balanced outline, and the rear is nice and perky.
All this is from 15 feet. Go closer and this is where things fall to bits. The lack of attention to detail is something quite jarring, especially considering the generally high quality standards we're used to nowadays, even from the most affordable Korean marques. If you take a stroll around the car, you'll find nothing by way of consistent panel gaps. Some are gaping, others narrow, and no two edges share the same sort of finishing.
In fact, finished edges are a luxury item, as you have to be careful about which surfaces you run your fingers over. At one point, the QQ actually made me think of getting tetanus shots. It's almost like the engineers who put the car together did it with the QQ in one room and them in another one very far away, through crude tin can telephone type telepresence technology. And that's just the stuff on the outside.
DRIVING IT
The 800cc three-cylinder engine is actually quite sweet, it's relatively smooth, and makes nice sporty noises. It's the rest of the drivetrain that needs attention. Using the gear lever feels like stirring a vat of glue mixed with rough iron filings, and the clutch pedal has one of the shortest, and vaguest actions I've tried. As with most things, though, spend enough time with the QQ and you'll get used to its controls.
The steering is also not bad, turn-in is quite responsive and the rack feels quick. In fact, it seems so quick that the rest of the car has trouble keeping up. The suspension feels like each corner was tuned by four different people. Through the twisty bits, there's plenty of body roll, which would be okay if it weren't for the fact that it isn't progressive, there's a bit of lean, then suddenly a lot, and sometimes not very much at all.
Poke about in the QQ's innards and you'll find a massive front strut tower brace as well as an anti-roll bar with the same diameter as my ankle, both to compensate no doubt for a very wobbly chassis.
As a basic, daily driver, there's nothing really wrong with the QQ. Unless of course you place stopping in very high regard. The QQ's brakes are abysmal, requiring a hefty shove before they even think about biting.
INSIDE IT
There's decent amounts of room, and the cabin does manage to come off as nice and breezy-feeling, but it's not a pleasant place to spend time in, and part of the problem is the seats. They're so softly bolstered that you wonder if Chery's used washing up sponges to stuff them with instead of the usual high-density foam.
The other part of the problem is again, quality, or the lack of it. The materials used in the QQ's cabin aren't disastrously bad but the slipshod way everything's been put together is pretty inexcusable.
You don't need to take a close look at the dashboard and other bits of trim to notice that nothing fits properly, the panel for the air-conditioning controls sits awkwardly askew, as does the factory-fitted cassette player. In our test car, where the lower part of the centre console and dashboard meet, you get a smooth, flush interface on one side, and a gaping, uneven gap large enough to poke your hand through on the other. Comical.
The rear seats fold forwards to form a relatively flat loading area, which is useful, but the operation is incredibly awkward and exposes a disconcertingly high amount of rusty metal.
The overall impression you get is that like the rest of the car, the cabin was put together with precious little care or concern about quality. It's doubly riling because it makes you wonder, if the company can't be bothered to make sure that the little things fit properly, then how much care and attention have they lavished on the big things, like the engine, transmission, and crash safety?
As with every cloud, though, there's a silver lining; meaning that you get quite a lot of equipment. All four windows are electric, and feature one-touch operation. You can even open and close them with the remote key fob. The wing mirrors are electric, too, but, and this is a big but, none of these extras excuse the shoddy build.
If Chery intends to pitch the QQ at the likes of the Kia Picanto, then it might be prudent to dim the lights in the showroom when potential customers start poking around inside the car.
DOLLARS AND SENSE
At SGP$31,900 with COE, the QQ comes off as very expensive for what it is. The Picanto, the new Chevvy Spark and the Perodua Kelisa are in the same price spectrum but all are built to far, far higher standards.
Consider that in terms of a ten-year loan, with nothing down and at current interest rates, a Kia Picanto costs just XX more a month to own and the QQ goes from making very little sense to no sense at all.
CONCLUSION
It's easy to scoff at Chinese cars, especially if you've spent any time in one. But people laughed themselves silly when early Hyundais groaned into local showrooms. Today, the company's cars are worthy Japanese alternatives, and even Toyota considers them a major threat.
In Chery's case, the hugest problem with the QQ is price. At the $30,000 plus level, and considering the competition, there are simply too many areas where the QQ fails to shape up. However, if Chery were to subtract about $5,000 to $8,000 from the list price, the picture changes drastically, for you'll then be able to better forgive the myriad faults.
History tells us that it'd be dangerous to discount Chery completely, but from the looks of things, its rivals have zero to worry about for the moment.
PLUSES
ARE THERE??????
MINUSES
Laughable build quality, pricey next to the competition
VERDICT
Check back in ten years
NEED TO KNOW
Model Chery QQ
Engine 812cc, 12V in-line 3
Max Power 52bhp at 6,000rpm
Max Torque 77Nm at 3,500rpm
Gearbox 5-speed manual
Top Speed 130km/h
0-100 km/h 18.5 seconds
Price 31,900 with COE
Warranty 3 years / 100,000km
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and why do i say it's a farking glorified milo tin? just look at the crash test photos below....sheesh, you sure as hell do not want to crash into a dustbin with that...the dustbin will come off better than the car...
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