The Brilliance coupe is officially on the market as of today and starting at the bargain price of 111,680rmb to 160,950rmb. The 1.8T powered motor can do 0-100kph in 10 seconds and has looks to kill. We doubt Brilliance will have any problems selling these babies over the next 12 months, hopefully improving their share price.
More information as we get it.
Nice looking vehicle, but that rear bumper is a shocker. Looks like something you would see on the back of an SUV.
Shame they could not have gone the extra yard and finished the job off properly.
This car have a nice profile, I would like to see the front, seem very good looking car, but Im not sure about that back. Maybe is the color of the lights or the size of them. I’ve had always thought that designer put a great effort designing the car and when they get to the rear they are invaded for a kind of mental laziness or blockage of some sort and finish the car in not a brilliant way. Few cars I’ve seen with really beautiful “ass”, most of the time they are or very ugly or just ok. In this case I would say is ok but could be way much better.
One of the very few brands that I think they put a lot of thought in their rears is the British TVR, and they know it, even when you open their website some of the main pictures in the home page are rears.
http://www.tvr.co.uk
I think those car are probably the most beautiful designed cars I have ever seen, its a pity you can find them only in UK. Im looking forward for some chinese brand to start doing something like this, I know they can.
I think its a great looking car from all angles (well, okay, the front end isnt so great.) but the rest is 100%.
I cant wait to take it for a test drive.
I found this pics of the front of the car, let me tell you this is a real pretty car.
http://www.adgoog.com/blog/photo/4332a-le_coupe_brilliance_zhonghua_bc3.jpg
http://cimg2.163.com/photo/0008/2006-11-17/305MJANJ055E0008.jpg
http://www.dailycars.ru/autoshow/china_china/large/china_03.jpg
http://www.adgoog.com/blog/photo/4332a-le_coupe_brilliance_zhonghua_bc3.jpg
http://www.dailycars.ru/autoshow/china_china/large/china_03.jpg
http://cimg2.163.com/photo/0008/2006-11-17/305MJANJ055E0008.jpg
I was looking for some pics to make sure what are we talking about here, this car is real pretty!
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2007/08/30/if-sex-had-4-wheels-and-a-metal-body-it-would-look-like-this/
More here!
I have seen a comment who says the car’s Chrome Grill bit looks like a lady’s G-string :). Kind of girly looking for some people, particularly for those Northern lads!!
This is a nice looking car… think I better start saving…
Looking at it some more, just how big is that rear windscreen wiper? Jesus Christ. It would have been better to just leave it off.
You are right, that wiper looks like a leg! jajajajaja
NO FCK CLONE.
A clone of what ?? If you can specify. And to be honest, people here are very open minded, if it is a clone then they will say it is a clone.
Brilliance is one of the few Chinese carmakers that do not copy cars
Actually I always thought if I buy a chinese car it would be a brilliance, and I hate copies. Brilliance is one of the very few brands with original cars and they are also very good looking. I have to admit the profile have a slight resemblance with the Hyundai Tiburon but I don’t think they meant to copy that.
Yeah, I like Brilliance more than the others it seems, but I also agree with some of the comments a little further up here. There is just something about the front light/grill design that is a deal breaker.
Some of these Brilliance cars even sound good.
Nice looking vehicle
I found some pics and video
http://www.lesvoitureschinoises.com/20070927257/voitures-chinoises/Photos-et-video-du-Brilliance-BC3-sur-la-route.html
Absolutely amazing. Can’t wait till they sell these overseas. If it can muster up decent crash safety, which I’m sure they can sort out, then sign me up!
Such a good looking car!
Im assuming for 160,950 gets you the 1.8T with all the goodies (leather, etc)… For 111,680, what type of engine would that get you?, would you be able to opt out not to get the rear wiper ;-)- would the suspension and manual transmission be the same?
I believe you have the choice of a standard 1.8 (non Turbo) or the 2.4 Mitsubishi with manual trans. I’d take the 1.8T full stocked for 170k!
If the non turbo 1.8 is the same Harbin engine as in the BS4 you might as well have a hamster in a wheel for an engine. The Harbin engine used in the BS4 is either license built Mitsubishi engine or one based on technology from them. Information from Brilliance seems to be a bit conflicting.
I’ve driven the 1.8T in a BS6 automatic and it’s a good engine.
oooh - didn’t know a 2.4 was an option, wonder how much of a premium for that nicety though :-/
Too bad they don’t have a “build your car” page so you can see the options/prices…
It looks like whenever the Chery A6CC comes out (think it might be this year?) - it would be a direct competitor?
Bob, The Mitsubishi engine is a lesser engine, and comes cheaper than the 1.8T.
Mark - the dealer for Brilliance was hinting that the 1.8T is of Passat 1.8T origins. Not sure if that is true or not, or if he was just trying to make me believe its a great quality car (of which it is!)
The 1.8T engine is Zhonghua’s own, although it was developed by or in cooperation with FEV of Germany. Zhonghua are currently developing a whole range of engines. The 1.8T is the first to see light of day.
I agree with you Ash. The 2.4 is definitely a lesser engine. As far as I know it’s quite an old Mitsubishi engine doing the rounds with a number of Chinese manufacturers such as Great Wall.
The Brilliance coupe, originally came with a 5 speed?
Looks to now (or maybe always had?) a 6 speed?
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fauto.sina.com.cn%2Fnews%2F2008-04-11%2F1605364551.shtml&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Looks like the suggested price hasn’t budged much - 155,900 rmb for the 1.8T and 6 speed Manual. (Assuming the Automatic is around 10-15K more?)
Bob,
There was a recent price drop on the top 170,000rmb model by 8000rmb. Still not enough to make me want to drop 170k on one.
150k, and id think long and hard, 170k, no way.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know any Chinese cars were coming with 6 speed units. I wonder what the gearbox is like? My trial of some versions of the BS4 showed the 5 speed manual to be pretty bad.
not sure this will help with your question about the transmission but….
From a post on Chinacarforums.com
“6MT from GETRAG (Jiangxi) Transmission Co., Ltd, a China-Germany Joint Venture between GETRAG CORPORATE GROUP (Germany) and Jiangling Motor Group (China)”
out of interest, is the word ‘chinacartimes’ still banned on China Car Forums
Haha - well I know the statement “China Car Times” is not. I sense there was some drama?
Yes. It is a long story. The owner got his pants in a twist that CCT took off like a rocket, and CCF stagnated. He banned my URL from my sig, from any posts etc etc.
Never mind, all water under the bridge etc etc.
When you say top model, do you mean the most expensive (with the Automatic Transmission), or do you mean just having the biggest engine? - if the later - only 6K to go
On a side note, when buying a car in China, does this price include all the miscellaneous taxes, registration fees, etc?
Bob: Not usually no, you’re looking at 8.5% tax, 500rmb reg fee + insurance of say 5000rmb. And as far as I know you can’t bundle these into any finance package, so you’re looking at a 30% downpayment plus the above. God knows how the average man in the street can afford a car here!
Is this car in full production? Kinda surprised I have not seen one yet…
Also did this auto ever get Crash-rated?
I’ve seen one or two on the road now. I can tell you that back in December there were a lot of them rolling around the Brilliance factory. Not sure where they’ve all gone to though as I only saw the first one on the road last month and that was in Hefei of all places.
I saw one in QD, and one in the hell hole that is Tianjin.
Bet the one you saw was red, wasnt it?
I saw a red one in Beijing last month… haven’t seen any others since then.
Finally saw a coupe driving around the other day - the most identifiable feature…the front grill that resembles a girl’s choice of underwear *cough* “Gull Wings”….
Im not sure, if it was because of the crappy day and matching color of the auto (Sky was a gloomy grey, the auto was silver that needed a wash) - but this auto wasn’t that eye catching…kinda felt like a fat Hyundai Tiburon (doesn’t help that a shiney red one was a few cars behind it)… atleast from the side as it drove by….
If one looks at the NACP crash tests, the Brilliance coupe seems to have the same survivability as with the sedan. While it may look nice the tests say it is dangerous junk.
Can you share the link to the NCAP tests for the coupe?