2022 Maxus G50: Media Drive To Subic

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Things are definitely going back to normal as car manufacturers left and right start holding physical face-to-face events and activities once again. Not to be left behind, Maxus Philippines invited us to participate in their first-ever media drive with their compact MPV offering, the G50.

The Maxus G50 is no stranger to us as we already tested two of its variants, the top-spec Premium and mid-grade Elite back in August 2020 and June 2021, respectively. This time we were to take all (now) four variants out to beautiful Subic Bay from the Maxus dealership in Makati City on the last day of the media drive which coincided with AutoPH’s fourth anniversary. 

And since we’ve already tried it out before, does the Maxus G50 still drive as good as we remember, and is it still a viable option with more established Japanese rivals such as the Toyota Innova, Mitsubishi Xpander, and even more taking up most of the pie?

Design Impressions

Two years after it was introduced in the Philippine market, the Maxus G50 is still definitely a looker, one of, if not the best-looking, in its segment for sure. No matter which variant you get, from the base-level 1.3 M/T Comfort all the way to the 1.5 DCT Premium, all look well-equipped exterior-wise.

Of course, the Premium looks best with its more striking set of LED daytime running lights, LED headlights, 17-inch gunmetal gray alloy wheels, and of course, its Roland Purple paint job which is still one of my favorites in the market. The 1.5 DCT Elite on the other hand still gets LED DRLs but loses the LED headlights in favor of halogen projectors. Finally, both the 1.5 DCT Pro and 1.3 M/T Comfort variants get a silver painted plastic front grille instead of chrome, and smaller 16-inch alloy wheels but still with a gunmetal gray paint finish. The best part is, if you don’t know, you probably won’t even notice the differences.

The interior is another standout feature of the G50. Maxus’ design and choice of materials is surely above most, if not all its rivals. The design itself is very modern with a touch of premium. Soft-touch plastics are abundant in the cabin of all variants except the entry-level Comfort. Additional leather surfaces can be found on the Premium and Elite. 

In terms of tech, the Comfort variant is the only one that lacks a touchscreen infotainment system, making do with just a normal 2DIN display audio system, while the Pro gets an 8-inch touchscreen, and the Elite and Premium both get large 12.3-inch touchscreen units. In addition, Pro, Elite, and Premium also get electronic parking brakes with auto-hold, and the Premium gets a wireless phone charger.

Driving Experience

Once it was time to go, our team immediately settled into our assigned unit for the first part of the drive to Subic, a Premium. In fact, it is the exact same one we reviewed back in 2020 and since then has racked up more than 10,000 additional kilometers and considering that, it still felt exactly as it did when it had just 1,000 km. 

Driving inside the city, on the way to the Skyway Stage 3’s onramp in Buendia surely showed one of the G50’s main strengths which was its light steering. This made it easy to make tight turns especially at the entry toll plaza of the Skyway which required you to make a tight turn in a narrow space. Entering the Skyway showed even more of the MPV’s strengths as it surely wanted me to go faster, making it a bit of a challenge to stay within the elevated expressway’s strict 60 kph speed limit. Finally, reaching the North Luzon Expressway treated us to full enjoyment of the G50 Premium’s superior comfort until we had to switch to the entry-level Pro at the first stop.

Despite being less in equipment, the G50 Pro still had the same powertrain as the top-spec Premium, which means we had the same experience. This was what we drove until our 2nd stop at the lay-by of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) in Floridablanca, Pampanga. With the extremely light traffic conditions of SCTEX, we were able to push the vehicle more especially after getting a bit left behind by the rest of the convoy who seemed to be going faster than we expected.

This also showcased the G50’s stability and comfort at highway speeds. Unlike other competitors, the G50 remains very stable, smooth, and quiet at speeds above 100 kph. The only noise we could hear really was the wind noise. In fact, I was surprised to see what speed I was going when I tried to catch up to the guys ahead of me. Remember, always stay within the speed limit.

Finally, after the last stop at the lay-by, we switched to the entry-level Comfort with a manual transmission and smaller powertrain. Minus the equipment, or lack thereof, the combo of the 1.3L turbo and the 6-speed manual transmission were actually quite good, if not better. Response was definitely better given that you are in full control with the manual gearbox, plus it’s only a very few horses down from the higher variants. The engine even gives off an even better note to be honest.

Finally, we got to our destination which was at the Camayan Beach near Morong, Bataan. Here we tested out the G50’s safety features where of course they all worked flawlessly. Hopefully we won’t have the need to use them though, except for the reverse camera or 360-degree around-view monitor of course. Really, the only thing I didn’t like about the Maxus G50 was its lag caused by its dual-clutch transmission which the guys at Maxus admitted it really had. This anyway is a characteristic of pretty much all vehicles I’ve driven with dry-type DCT’s.

Conclusion

After a drive back to Makati City which felt like it took forever because of heavy traffic jams caused by heavy maintenance works on NLEX, I was definitely happy to be behind the wheel of a very comfortable and well performing MPV. After a whole day with the full lineup of Maxus G50 variants, I could tell why it’s no surprise that when you see a Maxus on local roads, it’s most likely to be a G50. It’s affordable at just between Php 948,000 and Php 1,338,000, comfortable on all types of roads, a great performer, and finally a standout among its rivals.

Two years in the market and it still definitely has not lost any of the things we loved with it the very first time we tried it out. And for sure, there’s a lot more to love with it once you take it home.

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