Searching for the perfect first car is just like choosing the love of your life. You have to know every little detail about it, so you won’t have any regrets once you have it. Sometimes, your dream car isn’t fit to be the best first car for you because practicality takes precedence. Take my experience as an example. Ever since I was a kid, my dream car has been the Toyota FJ Cruiser, but with the gas prices today? I would be crazy to get one! That is why we ultimately decided to review cars available today and review them based on how much we would recommend them to someone looking to invest in their first car.
A very great start to this “POV as your first car” review series is an up-and-coming sedan that intends to challenge the Honda Civic, and that is definitely not easy. Who wouldn’t want a Civic as their first car? I definitely had my doubts about this car before I had the chance to try it out. But without spoiling you too much, I can gladly tell you that the 2023 GAC Empow GB exceeded my expectations.
GAC? Yes! Despite not being as known as the other Chinese brands in the market today (Geely, Cherry, etc.), they have actually produced quite a lot of cars in the last five years, and one of the best ones that they can be proud of is the Empow.
My initial reaction when I first saw the Empow was literally “Empow? Wow!”. The mean-looking front end with all the lines and curves around the car is enough to sell it to anyone who wants a good-looking car. The bonus would be how luxurious the rear of the car looks, along with the chrome accent on its sides (although I wish they removed the fake exhausts).
Does it look better than a Honda Civic? Well, maybe. But just to have that ability to go head-to-head with the Civic in design speaks volumes about how well the Empow was designed. It has a mix of class and aggressiveness in the way it looks that just makes you feel excited every time you see it. In the week that I’ve had the chance to drive it, there is not a single day where someone would ask me what type of car it is, just because it pops out so much. There was even a time when I parked next to the usual sedans you see in the streets, and the Empow looked like a sports car behind them! So, for a first-time car? Design-wise, the GAC Empow is a bang for the buck!
Now let’s talk about its interior. The 2023 GAC Empow’s interior depends on the variant that you’re going to get, but in my case, the variant that I had doesn’t have the boring and plain interior that you commonly see. It’s so busy and vibrant that at first sight it didn’t sit well with me, but as time goes by, it matches the vibes of the Empow’s exterior. You’re going to see a lot of crimson red on the car—from its dash, seats, and even the stitches! I think it blends well with the tiny bits of carbon fiber textures on the interior, which adds to the premium feel that you get while driving it.
One of the biggest highlights of the Empow is how well the infotainment is placed and designed. It’s not so big that it becomes a distraction but rather has that perfect size that displays all the information you need. I love how the 7-inch digital instrument cluster and its 10.25-inch main infotainment screen just blend extremely well with each other. I prefer having this instead of the big iPad-like infotainment screens that can ruin the interior’s design.
The Empow is very spacious. I am 5’11″, so what usually happens when I drive smaller cars and sedans is that the seat behind me has very tight legroom, but not on the Empow. Spacing on the back seat is very spacious, too, based on my friends who enjoyed the ride back there. So, if you’re buying this as your first car and you are worried about the Empow’s space, then ease your worries. Its trunk space is very spacious too. As you can see, I bought a very large suitcase, and it did not take up all that room in the trunk. It is a practical car to have if you carry a lot of things around.
Enough talk about all the other things; what we all really want to know is, how well does it drive? Before I had the chance to drive the Empow, all I had in mind was what my boss told me. He said, “It is actually the fastest accelerating sedan right now in the Philippines”. So, I had high expectations with how it drives, and well, it did not disappoint.
So, as soon as I had the chance to drive the 2023 GAC Empow, I went out and tested how well it would do on long drives. I decided to go out of town and go for a 200 km drive to Cavinti, Laguna. At first, I was very confused as to why there was a “lag” that was happening whenever I wanted to accelerate or just simply overtake. To my surprise (this happened because I was so excited to drive it that I didn’t have the chance to read about the car), it actually has a dual-clutch transmission (DCT) instead of a CVT, so it has that shifting feel whenever you accelerate, which I absolutely love! A DCT at this price point is such a steal for the Empow, especially if you want your first car to give you that enjoyable driving experience.
In my 3-hour drive to Cavinti, I then put to the test how the Empow’s 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine would perform. First thing I did? Check how fast it will accelerate! So, in my first tests, it actually felt like there was something missing, and then, silly me, I was actually in Eco mode the entire time!
It has five riding modes: Eco, Comfort, Sport, DIY, and Sport+. Apparently, the Sport+ mode is locked when you first buy the car, and you have to meet certain milestones before the Empow sees that you’re fit to drive it in that mode, so it’s kind of like a game, but for your safety! In my case, it was already unlocked, so I thought, why not? I then changed the mode, stepped as hard as I could on the gas pedal (since the roads on Cavinti were so wide and empty), and there I had the most fun I’ve had with a sedan in my life!
Although that is not the best mode to be in when driving in the city, it’s still a nice mode to have. Most of the time, Eco is the best mode to be in. Not only because gas prices are so high right now, but also because of the “lag” that I’ve mentioned, which can be quite uncomfortable in other modes because its aggressive throttle response increases when switched to them.
Throughout my time with the Empow, I never felt tired while driving it. The roads to Cavinti are all urban roads, so there are a lot of tiny bumps along the way that you don’t really feel in the Empow. Its suspension is great at handling rough roads, but also not so soft that it affects your driving experience which makes it a great daily driver. It will take some time for you to get used to the “lag” though, as it took me three days to completely adapt to it.
I drove the Empow on almost every type of road. On my trip to Cavinti where I was driving on a very open road with very minimal traffic, I was able to achieve a very impressive 15.6 km/l with the Sport+ mode active the majority of the time. It’s a different story when driven on traffic though, as on my trips in Manila, especially EDSA, my averages were around 8km/l, and that’s on eco-mode!
To put the cherry on top, Empow offers you a wide array of features, just like most Chinese brands do. The Empow comes with a beautiful electronic shifter, active cruise control, power-adjusted driver’s seat, power sunroof, lane keep warning and assist, front collision warning, rear parking sensor with camera, Apple CarPlay, and It even has my favorite feature, the auto-hold function.
All in all, the GAC Empow has done nothing but exceed my expectations, one at a time. Would I recommend the Empow as your first car? Absolutely. Is it a better choice than the Honda Civic? Well, that purely depends on what you’re after. If you’re a big fan of the Civic and you have the means to get it, then go for it. But to me, the Empow feels exactly like how the Geely Coolray was at the beginning. The Coolray went on and changed the narrative for Geely, and I have no doubts that the Empow will do the same thing for GAC. The dealbreaker here? The Empow is actually P300,000 less than where the Civic STARTS, so if you’re on a budget but still want the same aura and features that the Civic can give, the Empow is a no-brainer.
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