Off-Road Test | Is It Your Dream Pickup? | Saic MAXUS Star X Pickup 2025

The first thing that impresses people in Star X in urban areas, highways and mountain roads is the SAIC πPlus 2.5T diesel engine. It has a powerful engine that can be compared to the 6-cylinder 3.0T diesel engine with a maximum power of 165kW and a maximum torque of 520N·m. What is even more surprising is that it can achieve high torque output at a lower speed. It is also compatible with ZF's 8AT transmission, which provides extremely smooth and fast driving, and you almost never feel the discomfort of shifting gears. At the same time, the silence of this engine is also magnificent. Whether in the city or on the highway, it does not have any obvious noise or vibration just like a gasoline engine.

The second prominent feature of Star X is its chassis. It adopts SAIC Maxus' original "star bridge architecture" design, which connects the body and chassis through 30 symmetrically distributed fixed link fixed points (15 on each side), which is a beam load-bearing body. The advantage of this design is that the load is evenly distributed to every node of the body through the bridge-type distributed stress structure, reducing stress concentration, showing strong support capabilities in dynamic loads, and comprehensively improving long-term stability.

In addition, Star X also adopts front and rear double wishbone independent suspension and air suspension, which are rare in its class. The latter can adaptively adjust the suspension height within the range of -40mm to +75mm according to the vehicle speed and terrain to cope with various off-road conditions. For example, the suspension is lowered during high-speed driving, which can effectively reduce wind resistance and improve off-road durability, make the vehicle more passable during loading, the suspension is lowered by 60mm; it is easier to carry items.

The chassis texture of Star X is very close to that of an SUV, and the vibration isolation is very strong. Even when driving fast on rugged mountain roads, the chassis bumps can be controlled within an acceptable range. Along with the soft steering feel, you can always balance the car's body easily, and the ride comfort is outstanding.

During the test drive, many off-road projects such as steep slopes, muddy roads, continuous cross axles and continuous rolling mountain roads were tried. Although the road conditions are complex, variable and full of difficulties, Star X can still easily handle this situation. I only need to hold the accelerator pedal steady and control the direction of travel, and Star X can easily complete hill climbing, avoiding trouble, etc. The main reason for this is the super selected four-wheel drive system.

This four-wheel drive system not only provides intelligent switching between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive to improve economy, but also can manually switch to 4L low-speed four-wheel drive mode to cope with complex off-road landscapes. Star X is also equipped with three differential locks at the front, middle and rear, which means that the car can get out of trouble even if only one wheel has road grip. Combined with the powerful low-torque performance of the SAIC πPlus 2.5T diesel engine, conquering a 45-degree slope (100% slope) will not be a problem.

Star X also fully considers the needs of off-road novices and provides Star X with many technological configurations. off-road expert mode can clearly display information such as height, direction, vehicle body inclination and rolling angle on the large screen; high-definition panoramic images + transparent chassis can effectively observe and avoid blind spots in the field of view; risks; "crawl mode" can be set according to the settings. It automatically controls the engine and brakes at the set target vehicle speed to ensure that the vehicle moves at a constant speed and reduces the operational burden on novice drivers. The new car is also equipped with ATS 3.0 off-road system, which supports 12 off-road driving modes such as mud, snow, sand, rock climbing and water crossing.

It is also worth noting that Star X also has a 3.5-ton towing capacity and is the first company to introduce a trailer support system to the market. With the trailer support system, all we need to do is draw the direction of travel on the screen, and Star X can visually define the angle between itself and the trailer and automatically control the steering angle to obtain the trailer angle desired by the user.

Source: https://chejiahao.autohome.com.cn/inf...