There was a time when Great Wall made other cars than just a bunch of SUVs that all lookalike. One of these cars was the Great Wall Florid, a compact hatchback. They also made a cross version of the Florid, and that is the car we have here today.
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The Florid Cross debuted in 2009 and was manufactured until 2011. These short production runs were pretty common for the time, when local Chinese automakers were trying all sorts of things, launching one new car after the other.
The Cross got black wheel arches, a black side skirt, black bits under the bumpers, skid pads, and of course a sweet set of roof rails to attach the canoe to.
There were two engines available: a 1.3 with 92hp and 118nm and a 1.5 with 105hp and 138nm, both mated to a 5-speed manual. Price started at 63.900 yuan and ended at 67.900 yuan. Our red car is a 1.5.
The interior with a mid-mounted instrument panel, a small screen for the infotainment, and rather hip looking air vents. Seat covers are after-market.
The Florid looked nice but it wasn’t exactly original. Most of the design was borrowed from the first generation Toyota ist, with some second generation Toyota Vitz thrown into the mix. Build quality was okay at best, and these days the Flord is a rather rare car on the road, especially in such a good shape as this one, which I found in Shandong province.
On the left: Great Wall Auto. On the right the Chinese name of the Florid: Xuanli, best translated as Dazzling.
Well, this fiery red paint job is dazzling indeed!
wow