Changan CS35 Max Lite: The “bigger is better” approach

Changan Philippines may be going all-in with its electrified offerings, but it still also offers its pure internal combustion engine offerings for the mass market, or for those who just aren’t ready to make the jump yet.

One of the more popular offerings previously was the Changan CS35, which proved to be a fairly popular offering for those looking for an affordable crossover with distinct looks. It had several iterations in the Philippines, dictated by a “tier” level that was originally “Plus”, kind of like how the Chinese would name their smartphones.

I guess that’s just how things roll.

Fast forward to 2026, the CS35 gets upgraded by one tier to a new Max level (pun intended). In fact, this is actually a different model in China called the Changan X5 Plus, but it benefits from being a newer vehicle than the CS35 Plus, a next-generation platform, and all.

This growth spurt has resulted in the car looking a lot sharper in the literal sense and becoming more driver-focused, with a handful of gimmicks that somehow play into that aspect. All of this, while taking a leaf out of the playbook that older Chinese cars from 6-7 years ago used to be attractive to consumers.

For one, it starts with how it looks. From a funky, futuristic-looking boxy crossover with soft lines, it’s now stretched out and edgier, resembling a fighter jet (which is what most aggressive Chinese designs tend to draw inspiration from), though I’d argue that it resembles an Acura crossover if you squint a bit, especially with its large grille, multi-spoke 18-inch alloy wheels, the spoiler at the back, sleek LED headlights, and curvy LED taillights.

If anything, the designers deserve some kudos for how good it looks, as its design would lead you to think that it costs way more than its starting price of Php 1,109,999 for this Lite variant.

The driver-focused aspect continues when you step inside. While this Lite variant uses more affordable and less luxurious materials to keep the price down, it’s an eye-catching cabin with, again, a fighter jet-inspired cockpit layout of three “screens” pointing to the driver, a thrust lever gear shifter, and a pair of fabric seats that look like bucket seats. Otherwise, it’s a dramatic-looking first impression that’ll get you interested.

Mission accomplished.

The eccentricities continue within the driver’s partition, with the leftmost panel showing your current climate information via a segmented display, but it doesn’t allow you to change anything. The digital instrument cluster measures seven inches, while the infotainment uses a larger 10.25-inch panel, but it feels cheap with how much black bezel surrounds the screen.

The infotainment’s operating system suffers from the usual problems of Chinese cars: bizarrely translated “Chinglish” that’ll have you scratching your head over what these functions do, with lots of hidden functionality buried beneath menus. It does support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so it’s best to just “set and forget” things in this system.

Now, onto the gimmicks.

The leather steering wheel has a fairly interesting Attack button that’s guaranteed to get some chuckles. However, you’ll realize that Changan is quite serious about the functionality of this button, as pressing it automates a handful of functions related to overtaking (in China). First, it puts the car in a dedicated “Attack” mode, followed by turning on the left turn signal, flashing the headlights twice after three seconds, and honking the horn twice after one second.

It’s novel, but it ends up becoming a fairly useless button for most driving scenarios, and based on driving behavior in the Philippines, you’ll probably have lost your chance to overtake by the time the automations complete.

My second favorite gimmick in this car would be the Racing Mode. There are several drive modes (which I’ll get to again later) accessible by the toggle in the center stack, but go down to the racing mode, and you’ll be greeted with a loading screen of a CS35 Max with a “racing livery” spitting flames and drifting.

After a short while, say goodbye to whatever you had on your smartphone mirroring, as the entire screen is now this 2D-style driving game that shows your steering angle, throttle percentage, turbo pressure, acceleration, a timer, altitude, gradient, and curiously, a nitrous gauge.

It’s cute and all, but then it starts blasting out an incredibly annoying piped-in engine sound that’s synchronized with the throttle (you can disable this, thankfully), and the throttle and steering are at their most sensitive, because, y’know, racing. It apparently even has a launch mode that’s enabled by digging through the settings, enabling racing mode, and building turbo pressure by doing the good ol’ foot on the brake and accelerator until it’s ready.

While these feel like aspects that are catered to the newer, tech-infatuated generation where flashy graphics and gimmicks are required to catch their attention, it’s something that’s not really needed, especially with how the car’s powertrain proves itself as one of the main attractions In fact, it feels a little too punchy in the standard Normal or Smart modes; Eco is where you’d want it at for relaxed driving.

The 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine is mated to a seven-speed wet-type dual-clutch transmission. Business as usual from the Chinese, but then you realize that it’s putting out 180 horsepower and 300Nm of torque to the front wheels, and it feels a lot faster than it actually is.

In fact, it kind of reminds me of old turbocharged vehicles where turbo lag is a big factor. On the expressway, you press the accelerator to merge. It accelerates, then suddenly, bam. The car surges forward with a lot more torque than it initially had, which makes it fun to drive. Overtaking, merging, and driving up inclines are all easy peasy. Fuel economy is fairly decent, clocking in at about 12-14km/L for mixed city and expressway driving.

Of course, the handling is still one thing where it falls short of its driver-focused intentions. It’s no GAC Empow as it’s, well, a crossover, so the ride is floaty and bouncy, and it can actually induce some nausea when going over the likes of C-5’s infamous truck lane, so you might want to keep your racing intentions in check.

And that’s where you suddenly get grounded and realize that yes, despite this vehicle’s ambitions—this still is a fairly practical five-seater compact crossover. Measuring 4,540mm long, 1,860mm wide, and 1,620mm tall with a 2,715mm wheelbase, it’s actually very roomy inside, being 115mm longer than its predecessor. Even the sloping-ish roofline doesn’t eat into headroom at the back, and there’s a lot of space in the trunk, with a spare tire to boot.

And if you want to talk about luxuries, well, there isn’t that much because we’re looking at the entry-level variant. There’s a sunroof, a meh-sounding four-speaker system, three charging points (two USB-A and one USB-C), and no advanced driver assistance systems to speak of. If you want those luxuries, that’s when you step up to the Luxe variant.

There’s one aspect to realize about all this, and it’s the value proposition of this vehicle. As a base variant, it has everything that you need with a couple of bonuses.

Gimmicks aside, this offers a good size and power for its price, especially considering how it’s under Php 1.2-million. This is still priced pretty much like the segment was when the Geely Coolray rolled out back in 2019, and that Chinese car also offered a similar value proposition as the CS35 Max does.

However, this was back in the day, before electrification became a key driver for other brands. It’s a bit hard to be a pure ICE model when you have similarly priced plug-in hybrids breathing down your neck within the same price bracket, but again, this stands out in an old-school way of being “bigger is better”.

2026 Changan CS35 Max Lite | Key Information

Motor	1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine
Output	180 horsepower, 300 Nm
Transmission	7-speed wet-type dual-clutch automatic
Drivetrain	FWD
Seating Capacity	5 (including driver)
Price	Php 1,109,999 (as of August 2026)
Pros	Sharp looks, punchy engine, good size for the price—three aspects that are attractive to consumers.
Cons	Focus on “racing” is borderline gimmicky and suffers from the same floaty ride that Chinese crossovers have, and competition from electrified offerings is stiff.

^{Photos by Sam Surla}