0:41 >> This is a T01 from the brand called 212.
0:44 And yep, you guessed it right. It is
0:46 Chinese. Now, to me and you, the 212
0:49 name might be new. And technically it is
0:50 because even though the brand was
0:54 established back in 1965, it was called
0:57 BJ212 and they recently relaunched the
1:00 brand as 212 in 2024. Now over the past
1:02 60 years, this brand has developed a
1:04 cult following for its approach of
1:06 making cars that are simple and no
1:08 nonsense. And the main point of the car
1:11 is that they are excellent off-roaders.
1:14 Now in the UAE, 212 offers only one
1:16 model which is a T01. As you can see,
1:18 this is the top-of-the-line variant.
1:20 This is called the Pioneer Edition, and
1:22 this right here is a standard model.
1:24 This is the adventure variant. Before we
1:26 go further, take a good look at the car
1:27 and try and see if you can guess the
1:29 prices. You can guess the prices in the
1:31 comment section, and let's see how many
1:33 people get it right. Here's a clue. It's
1:35 under 150,000 dirhams. But the overall
1:38 design on both cars are very similar.
1:41 They're very retro. And if you notice,
1:43 they resemble quite a lot of the
1:45 previous generation of the Defender. And
1:48 to me personally, I'm in love with the
1:49 way it looks. While both the base
1:51 adventure variant and the Pioneer
1:53 Edition share the same overall design,
1:55 it's in the details where they begin to
1:57 differ. The design is very deliberate.
2:00 Flat body panels, squared off edges, and
2:02 large windows all around to offer better
2:04 visibility. Up front, you get round
2:06 headlamps, a simple three slat grill,
2:09 and protruding front bumpers that also
2:11 doubles up as a seat. With the Pioneer
2:13 Edition, the T01 adds four carbon fiber
2:15 inserts on the grill, the side mirrors,
2:18 and several other areas across the body,
2:20 mostly wherever you see the 212 badging.
2:22 Move to the side, and that strong
2:24 shoulder line immediately gives the SUV
2:26 a muscular stance. The difference again
2:28 comes down to the details. The pimped
2:30 out Pioneer Edition runs on lowprofile
2:32 tires, whereas the Adventure variant
2:34 gets the more functional all-terrain
2:36 tires. Take a step back and you realize
2:39 just how massive the T01 actually is. On
2:42 paper, this thing measures roughly 4.7 m
2:47 long, 1.89 m wide, and 1.9 m tall, and
2:51 gets 235 mm of ground clearance. These
2:54 numbers put the T01 in the same ballpark
2:56 as a G Wagon. But the one thing that the
2:58 G Wagon does not have is that
3:00 hood-mounted spotlight. Isn't that a
3:03 cool touch? But what makes the T01 so
3:06 appealing to me is that 212 has not
3:07 tried to modernize the off-roader
3:10 formula. Instead, it embraces its heritage.
3:20 Now, that retro theme continues over to
3:22 the interior as well. Now, sitting here,
3:24 I'm baffled by how much you're getting
3:25 for the amount you're paying. Now,
3:27 that's another thing that surprised us
3:29 because when they announced the prices,
3:31 we were all quite taken aback because we
3:33 never thought it would be so affordable.
3:35 Now, I'll reveal the prices towards the
3:37 end of the video, but to give you a
3:39 better perspective now, this
3:41 top-of-the-line variant is in the same
3:43 price category as a Jett T2. Now, to be
3:45 honest, I think that this interior is
3:47 far better than the other ones. The
3:49 first thing you'll notice is a presence
3:51 of physical buttons, which for an
3:52 off-roader is exactly what you need.
3:54 These buttons handle the climate
3:56 control, diff locks, traction settings,
3:59 and drive modes, making everything easy
4:01 to operate when you're off the road.
4:03 You'll also notice grab handles
4:05 everywhere on the front passenger side
4:07 and along the doors. Once again,
4:09 reinforcing the rugged functional nature
4:11 of this interior. At the top of the
4:14 center console sits a large 12.3 in
4:16 infotainment system which displays media
4:18 as well as a 360°ree camera view of the
4:20 car. However, features like Android Auto
4:22 and Apple CarPlay are not built in as
4:25 standard. Instead, 212 provides a dongle
4:27 with the car that enables these
4:30 functions. And to be fair, it does the
4:31 job. Elsewhere, the cabin is finished in
4:34 plush leather across the dashboard,
4:36 seats, door panels, and all major touch
4:38 points in the cabin. In terms of
4:39 features, here's everything that's
4:46 The T01 does not fall short in terms of
4:48 practicality either. There's plenty of
4:50 headroom and leg room even in the rear.
4:52 And there's plenty of storage space in
4:54 the door cubbies, center console, and
4:56 rear armrests. But the coolest feature
4:58 here in our collective opinion are the
5:00 multicolored star lighting that's on the
5:02 roof. Overall, the interior strikes a
5:05 very good balance. It feels solid,
5:07 practical, and genuinely well thought
5:09 out. When it comes to the boot space,
5:11 there's no official figures available,
5:13 but in our testing, it was large enough
5:15 to comfortably fit all our demo bags
5:27 Now, when you're behind the wheel on the
5:29 road, you definitely do get the feeling
5:31 that you are the king of the road. you
5:34 feel like no rules apply to you and that
5:37 you can go anywhere you want. You're sat
5:41 that high and it feels so good behind
5:42 the wheel. Now, when it comes to the
5:45 power, the T01 is powered by a 2 L
5:46 turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that
5:51 produces 248 horsepower and 480 Nm of
5:52 torque. Now, by the torque figures, you
5:54 would have figured that it's meant for
5:56 off-road performance. We'll talk about
5:57 the off-road performance in a little
5:59 while, but for now, let's talk about how
6:02 it performs while you're driving on
6:03 paved roads. Now, the first thing I want
6:05 to talk about is the amount of aura
6:07 points this car gives you when you're on
6:10 the road. [music] It's almost as much as
6:11 how much you would get when you're
6:15 driving a G Wagon. And even the seating
6:17 position doesn't encourage you to drive
6:19 with both hands of the wheel. It makes
6:21 you want to drive like this. You know, I
6:24 bet if 50 Cent was Chinese, he would be
6:26 driving this car. [music]
6:28 [music]
6:30 Now, the time has come for us to test
6:33 how this behemoth fares in the 0200
6:35 test. Now, we switch the car to sport
6:38 mode. Turn the traction control off,
6:41 left foot on the pedal, fully pressed,
6:43 build up the revs with the right, and
6:52 Now, the company says that this car can
6:54 do a 0 to 100 sprint in 10 and 1/2
6:56 seconds. So, the time that we clocked
6:59 was 11 seconds, which is very close. On
7:01 paved roads, the T01 is exactly what
7:04 you'd expect from a tall ladder frame
7:06 off-roader, but in a good way. The
7:08 fivelink axle suspension does a solid
7:11 job of balancing ride quality and body
7:13 control. The moment you take it
7:15 off-road, that's when things start to
7:18 get interesting. This brand built its
7:20 reputation on making tough, reliable
7:22 off-roaders. And even though our testing
7:25 was limited to the dunes, the T01 didn't
7:27 miss a beat. And part of what makes the
7:30 T01 work off-road are its geometry
7:33 numbers. The T01 is claimed to have an
7:35 approach angle of around 40°, departure
7:38 angle of about 35.5°,
7:40 and breakover angle that's close to 23.6°.
7:41 23.6°.
7:44 All of which means it can confidently
7:46 climb and descend uneven terrains
7:48 without scraping bumpers or hitting its belly.
8:00 Now let's answer the important question.
8:01 The question that most of you might have
8:04 stuck around this long to have answered
8:06 the prices of these cars. So the base
8:07 model which is the adventure variant is
8:10 priced at 115,000 dhams. And this car
8:11 right here, the Pioneer variant, which
8:13 is the top-of-the-line variant, starts
8:16 at 145,000 dirhams. Now, when you look
8:18 at rivals which are similarly priced
8:21 like the JetR2 and the Tank 300, somehow
8:23 this car edges them out, at least in my
8:26 book, because of its old school charm
8:28 and that thorough off-road pedigree that
8:30 it comes with. And if you compare cars
8:33 that's as capable as this off-road, you
8:35 would look at rivals like the Inos
8:37 Grenadia or even the G Wagon or even
8:39 Defenders. And that means that this car
8:41 is punching above its weight. And that's
8:43 something that's really charming to me.
8:44 On that note, we would like to wrap up
8:46 this video. If you stuck around this
8:48 long, I really want to thank you for it.
8:49 Until we see you next time, this is
