When companies choose to value what really matters
The most interesting thing we did with the new GAC M6 Pro was try and turn it over. Or make it slide.
This is important because it should have, but it didn’t.
Modern cars have increasingly complex safety systems, and with anti-lock brake systems as standard, it has become more common than ever for drivers to stomp on the brakes when needed. Which is what they should do given the situation.
The problems can come in when other things are happening, such as big weight shifts in rather top-heavy MPVs.
For the M6 Pro, which is meant to be an MPV priced to get into many family garages and be driven by family members of different levels or ability and experience, this can be especially important. So we very much appreciate the test in which we accelerated the car past 60 kilometers an hour then made a very hard turn, and then hit the brakes.
And stayed upright.
And continued to steer.
Because what could have happened is the car made the turn but because all of the weight and mass is high, and suddenly shifting to the outside of the curving circle, is that the rear of the car should have swung out and fish-tailed or completely tipped over.
But it didn’t.
This means that the natural instincts of a driver are taken into account.
Driving at 60 and suddenly a motorcycle stops or a child walks out, and you suddenly have to make a sharp turn. But then you have to hit the brakes while the weight is all loaded towards the outside, physics would have that rear end swinging out.
What we think is the key feature for the model we tested, the M6 Pro GL, is the safety suite that is the ADAS, or Advanced Driving Assistance System. What comes into play in this maneuver is the Electronic Stability Program, which basically keeps the vehicle upright and steerable while weight shifts are occurring rather sharply.
When the companies list ADAS and its features, they tend to start with the convenience stuff like Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, and High Beam Assist. But what I feel is most important is the systems that keep you alive when everything else goes wrong. Anti-Lock Brake Systems are great, but surviving whatever that saved you, used to mean you would fishtail as all the weight lifted off the rear. The Electronic Stability Program takes care of what happens next.
These are truly life-saving features, and I very much appreciate that they are available in a vehicle even at the lower variant. Too often these features are dangled as a way to move up to a level with things you may not actually want or need.
When Ken Quintal began his vision of what would eventually become a car magazine with over twenty years of life he always said that beginner and inexpensive and family cars should have the best systems possible, and he always pushed for that and pushed for us discussing that.
The M6 Pro is comfortable, well-equipped, easy to enter and exit and easy to drive. What I like most is that there are more modern systems in place to keep safe what we truly should treasure.
