GAC GS8 review: a genuine three-row flagship at a Tucson-plus-a-bit price
3.5/5MotorsSouq Editorial Team
The GS8 is the car that makes the strongest case for GAC in Bahrain: genuinely quick for a seven-seater, properly finished inside, and specced the way a car costing 20 to 30 percent more from an established brand would be. The resale gap against a Palisade or an Explorer is real and should factor into your budget, but on pure product merit this is GAC's best work and worth cross-shopping seriously against anything in its price bracket.
Pros
- 248hp turbo four is genuinely quick for a seven-seat SUV at this price
- Third row is usable by adults, not just a token bench
- Dual-zone AC reaching the third row copes well with Bahraini summers
- Equipment list matches cars costing 20-30% more from established brands
Cons
- Resale still trails a Palisade or Explorer of similar age and spec by a wide margin
- Single-distributor service network for a car this mechanically complex
- Fuel consumption for a 2.0-turbo hauling this much weight is not segment-leading
- Brand unfamiliarity still costs real money at trade-in despite the car's genuine quality
248 hp and 400 Nm from the 2.0-litre turbo four is a genuinely strong output for a three-row SUV in this price bracket, and the 8-speed automatic makes good use of it — smooth around town, decisive when you need a gap on the highway to Saudi Arabia. This is the quickest-feeling car in GAC's Bahrain range by some margin.
The cabin is where the GS8 does the most to justify its flagship billing: a dual-screen dashboard, quilted leather-style upholstery on upper grades, and a third row that adults can actually use for a short trip rather than the token bench some rivals fit. Cargo space with the third row folded is genuinely large.
Heat, causeway, and daily reality
A car this size asks a lot of its AC system in a Bahraini August with seven people aboard, and the GS8 copes — dual-zone climate control on upper grades reaches the third row via separate vents, which matters more than most spec sheets let on. On the causeway to Saudi Arabia, the turbo four and 8-speed combination holds a cruising gear comfortably without the hunting some smaller-engined turbo SUVs show at sustained highway speed.
The resale trade-off
This is the one area where the GS8 can't fully escape being a GAC. A three-year-old GS8 still sells for meaningfully less than a three-year-old Palisade or Explorer of similar specification, even though the ownership experience day to day is closer than the resale gap suggests. If you plan to keep the car for the long haul, that gap matters little; if you're financing on the assumption of strong resale, budget conservatively.