Hongqi Ousado review: the newest, least-tested car in the Bahraini market
3.6/5MotorsSouq Editorial Team
The Ousado is Hongqi's attempt to add a lifestyle-flavoured sedan alongside the more mainstream H5, and it succeeds at making its cabin feel special in a way few cars near this price manage. But it is also the newest, lowest-volume model in an already unproven brand's Bahraini range, which means less dealer stock, less familiarity among Zayani's own technicians, and zero used-market data. Buy it for the cabin and the warranty, not for any certainty about what it will be worth in three years.
Pros
- Panoramic sunroof and eight-point massage seats are unusual at this price
- 223hp turbo four with a conventional 8-speed automatic feels eager and easy to drive
- Same 7-year unlimited-km Zayani Motors warranty as the rest of the range
- Genuinely differentiated cabin experience versus the mechanically similar H5
Cons
- Newest, lowest-volume model in Hongqi's Bahrain range with almost no local history
- Zayani technicians will have handled far fewer of these than the H5
- Zero used-market data exists to judge resale or depreciation
- Uncommon parts likely take longer to source than for the volume-selling H5
Every established brand eventually adds a second sedan alongside its volume seller to chase a slightly different buyer, and the Ousado is Hongqi's version of that move: a 2.0-litre turbo sedan with 223 hp and 340 Nm through an eight-speed automatic, positioned as the more design-led, feature-heavy alternative to the H5.
What actually sets it apart
The case for the Ousado is entirely about the cabin. A panoramic sunroof measuring roughly a metre across and eight-point pneumatic massage seats with adjustable lumbar support are features you would expect on a car costing considerably more, and they are the reason to choose this over the mechanically similar H5 rather than any difference in how the two drive.
Performance is respectable rather than exciting: 223 hp is enough to make the Ousado feel eager off the line, and the eight-speed automatic shifts more conventionally than the dual-clutch gearbox Hongqi fits to some other models in the range, which should make it marginally easier to live with in Manama's stop-start traffic.
The cost of being the newest car in the room
Being the newest and least-common model in an already young brand's lineup has real consequences in Bahrain. Zayani's technicians will have seen fewer of these than H5s, replacement parts for anything unusual will likely take longer to source, and there is no used example anywhere in the kingdom old enough to establish what a three-year-old Ousado is actually worth.
None of that makes the Ousado a bad car to drive. It makes it a car best suited to a buyer who genuinely wants the cabin features it offers and is comfortable being an early adopter of a nameplate rather than a brand — a smaller, more specific gamble than the H5 already represents.