Brilliance M2. Chinese "BMW".

Brilliance M2. Chinese "BMW"

As you know, a beautiful life requires beautiful things. And one of those things is a stylish car. But what to do if you want exactly that kind of beauty, but the budget doesn't allow it?

As it's easy to guess, the best specialists at combining desires with possibilities live in the East. In the world of cars, a clear example of this approach is the Brilliance M2. Paying just over $28,000, you become the owner of your own "almost BMW 5 Series." Why BMW? It's simple: one glance at the front of the car is enough to notice the obvious similarity in styling solutions, and in some details — even a direct reference to the BMW E38. Copying, of course, is not good, but it's precisely thanks to this that the Brilliance M2 stands out favorably against other Chinese cars on our market. If competitors either lack style altogether or try to parody Japanese models, the Brilliance was created with an eye on European automotive classics.

That's why, unlike most average Chinese cars, the exterior here is in perfect order. The rear of the M2 also doesn't disappoint. The lines of the rear fender, the shape of the trunk, and the design of the taillights look quite stylish — nothing to nitpick. Even the strange Brilliance emblem, which resembles either a trident or a bold stylized flower, doesn't spoil the appearance. But okay, let's leave the emblem alone.

After examining the exterior, it's logical to move on to the interior.

Once inside the Brilliance M2, your sense of smell immediately tells you: you're in a Chinese car. This smell of plastic and phenol is ineradicable. What its concentration in the cabin is — a mystery. Although the importer of these "Chinese treasures" claims that such an aroma was only characteristic of the first batches of cars.

The M2's interior is trimmed with light leatherette, the quality of which is, to put it mildly, so-so. The "wood" plastic inserts on the dashboard and doors try to harmonize with the dark plastic of the dashboard and center console, but it looks strained. Moreover, the trims on the rear doors rattle suspiciously on bumps. And here's another characteristic "hello from BMW" — the smooth curve of the glove box line. It's clear that the creators of this example of the Chinese auto industry tried to give the car a sporty-dynamic image. This is felt both in the design of the instrument panel and in the automatic transmission lever. The selector, by the way, is styled as a "manual" gear knob. The styling is so radical that the usual "automatic" mode designations on it are impossible to find. Information about the selected gear is displayed on the instrument panel. The Chinese went down this path but overdid it: to make out the gray icon between the tachometer and speedometer scales, you have to strain your eyes. At first, until you get used to determining the selector position by the clicks when shifting, you constantly end up in the wrong mode.

The air conditioner on the Brilliance M2 also turned out to be "standard Chinese." We saw exactly the same one on the M1, the Chery A21, and many other siblings. It seems that the assumption that the party and government of the Celestial Empire assigned some factory to equip the entire Chinese auto industry with air conditioners is becoming more and more plausible. As in most Chinese cars, the ventilation system (heater and air conditioner) has low performance: at temperatures below -10 degrees outside, you won't want to take off warm clothes in the car, just as you won't at heat above 25.

The driver's seat immediately makes it clear who's in charge here. The seat adjustments are electric. The passenger seat, as is usually the case, is adjusted mechanically. Sitting in it is quite comfortable — the lateral support is unobtrusive but adequate. The steering wheel adjusts only by height — and thank you for that. The side mirrors are equipped with electric adjustment and heating. You can't call them "ears," but they provide all the necessary information both in traffic and when parking without complaints. The sunroof here has standard modes: "tilt" and "slide back" to the desired distance.

In the back row, three passengers can easily fit. The absence of any adjustments for the rear seat in a car of this class didn't surprise me. The clear positioning of the car as a "driver's car" allows for this. Apparently, the desire to at least somehow differ from competitors pushed Chinese engineers to a strange, from a practical point of view, solution: the rear seat cushion is removed literally with one hand movement. Why? Probably to somehow compensate for the inability to fold the backrest. Strange, because no matter how much you love dynamic driving, you sometimes have to carry something long, like skis. It's not like you're going to attach a roof rack! By the way, about cargo transportation. The trunk of this car doesn't shine with special convenience. When you open the lid, it seems like you're looking into a burrow — the opening is so small and the loading height is so great. However, this design flaw is explainable. Caring about the comfort of rear passengers, the Brilliance M2 designers moved the rear pillar of the cabin far back, shortening the trunk lid to a minimum.

Under the hood of the Brilliance M2 is a two-liter engine with 130 hp, produced in China under a Mitsubishi license. The car is not lacking in power reserve. It's not a sports sedan, of course, but it's not a slow "barge" either. Even despite the old "automatic" that shifts gears with noticeable jerks, you won't develop an inferiority complex when driving the M2 in the flow of modern foreign cars. The absence of sequential modes in the automatic transmission doesn't bother: if you want to drive more actively, feel free to use kick-down. And even with this driving style, fuel consumption doesn't exceed about 12 liters of 92-octane per 100 km. It's hard to say more precisely: the onboard computer can't calculate such complex values.

In everyday driving, it turned out that drivers around treat the silver "face" approaching from behind with great respect. And in profile, the car looks organic in traffic. In general, the translation from Teutonic to Chinese can be considered successful. At least externally...

Alexey Vorontsov

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Source – www.automania.ru