Haima Family II and Freema now available in the Philippines!

[niky]

Just came back from a visit to San Fernando, Pampanga to view their showroom. Very impressed with the quality of their Mazda-derived vehicles. There are no Manila dealerships yet, but they're working on it.

They have three models available, the Family II, which is based on the Lynx/Familia, the Freema, based on the Mazda Premacy (MPV) and the F-Star, which is a 1-liter microvan in the Suzuki Super-Carry vein.

Build quality for all three models is, on first inspection, pretty good. The F-Star is the cheapest of the lot, but the build quality seems much better than Chana's similar model. As a publicity stunt, they drove the F-Star up to Baguio with two passengers and two sacks with 80 kilos each (in total, equivalent to a five-passenger load) with no problem.

Haima used to build the Freema and Family for Mazda, and bought the licensing right and, more importantly, the manufacturing tooling to build them. And it shows. Quality for the price is far and away much better than stuff from other locally sold Chinese companies in the same price range.

The Freema has some cheap bits, but it felt solid in the short time we rode in one. The top-of-the-line model has a huge sunroof and (tiny) third-row jump seats. The suspension and brakes are near-identical to the Ford Lynx RS, excepting probably the rear spring rates. The engine is a 1.8 liter version of the RS 2.0. This means that parts availability should not be a problem.

The most impressive model is the Family II. It's based on the 323/Lynx platform, and the interior and mechanical bits look completely identical. It isn't a complete clone, though. There are refinements to the engine, suspension, chassis and insulation, and the trim of the top-of-the-line model is quite luxurious. Build quality is superb, and I can understand why this car has won numerous awards in China.

Best of all... prices start at 599k for the base 1.6 model. And that already comes with power windows, power mirrors and four-wheel disc brakes. That's quite a bargain for a car that feels this good. Again, parts availability should be just as good as the Ford Lynx 1.6.

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Have a short review up for the Family II for those who are interested:


http://www.bigbigcar.com/boards/defa...m=39216&#39216

[_Qwerty_]

hmm ok to ahh... sana magkaron nang mga taxi na ganito.. mas maluwag pa sa vios..

[Memphis Raines]

I agree, so peeps like us can fit inside

Nice opening salvo with those projector headlamps.

[niky]

Didn't get to test those lights, though.

Hoping to get a chance at a longer drive of the Family... but we're also interested in the Freema... it's a shame we didn't get the Premacy here, and depending on the performance and refinement of the Freema, it might actually be a cheaper alternative to the Carens and Grand Livina.

[safeorigin]

interesting platform. should be solid chinese car imho

[niky]

It's won quite a few consumer awards in China... so definitely quality is up there. We're talking to them about if they want to do a test-drive event in Manila... (they should do the motor show) to build up buzz.