Chinese Budget Suv Here

[Phatboy]

Has anyone had any experiences with Great Wall Motors (GWM)? Their utes have been on sale here for about a year or so, but I have never seen them on the road, and their X240, the budget SUV has been on sale for a few weeks I think.

Drive's X240 road test

X240 on youtube

I was actually looking for a basic SUV as I needed more space than the skyline could handle, and came across it. For something similar spec from other carmakers you would expect to pay 15k more at least.

Full 4WD with low-range gear, good ground clearance, leather seats, airbags, power everything, 8 speaker sound system, alloy wheels, aircon, 3 year 100k warranty. That's all standard for under 24k driveaway.

The chassis is based on the Toyota 4Runner. The 2.4L 4cyl petrol engine is sourced from the old Mitsu Outlander. Quite anaemic, only 100kw/200nM. They proudly announce 0-100 kmh time of less than or equal to 20 seconds

Based on Mitsu/Toyota parts, shouldn't break down too quickly but I guess only time will tell if it lasts beyond the warranty period. That said though, you could sell it easily after warranty for half price so that's still only 4k depreciation per year - a hell of a lot better than what you get with a new expensive SUV from other carmakers. I think the main drawback is the fit and finish of some of the interior fittings as well as the slow engine, but I don't expect much more from this price. Hell, my friend's Mazda 2 was about the same price driveaway. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with GWM cars, and this one in particular.

[astrotristan]

[Phatboy]

Haha I've got another good one:

In all seriousness, Chinese cars in the past were absolute crap. The reason was that they were sold in China, which didn't give a crap about safety ratings. Why would carmakers spend millions of dollars of R&D and jack the prices of their vehicles up thousands of dollars for something that neither the government, the "regulatory bodies" or the consumers cared about? The only thing they cared about was price, and sometimes styling.

Only now, because China wants to export cars, does it need to make cars "safe". Invariably when it started off the first few were crap, as they engineers had no idea what crash tests were, but steadily they improved. I think the NCAP 2 and 3 star cars that China makes now are a big improvement on those earlier models shown in crash tests.

We went through all of this say 10 years ago when Daewoo, Hyundai and other Korean cars started to be sold in Australia. Yes the first few were cheap and nasty, but nowadays they are similar in reliability to locally made cars, and have become mainstream. The same will happen to Chinese made cars in 5 years time.

[JamesK]

Keep in mind GWM has been making cars in china for 34 years although they only just recently started (since 2003) making vehicles other than pick ups and trucks i think they should be pretty reasonable for their costs

[emts]

http://www.ancap.com.au/results/341/

nuff said.

buy a 2nd hard real car..

[JamesK]

http://www.ancap.com.au/results/341/

nuff said.

buy a 2nd hard real car..

http://www.ancap.com.au/results/294/ Holden Colorado is only 1 star more brand new

[Phatboy]

That's the ute version. I think the X240 is 3 star.

A 10 year old secondhand 4WD for that price is extremely unlikely to be 3 star. More like 1 or 2 star.

[Phatboy]

China is, for better or worse, going to dominate the economic landscape. This year, it will overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy, trailing only the USA (which it will overtake in less than 20 years).

It already has become the world's largest auto producer and consumer.

While it may be true that its economic growth might be unsustainable, that's what they said 10 years ago. During the GFC China's economy grew nearly 9%, while developed countries contracted alarmingly. That is the kind of resilience we are talking about.

I think in around 20 years time the majority of us will be driving Chinese or Indian-made cars. It is an interesting future. As more and more cars are being made, these cars will be getting relatively cheaper and safe and the stigma of "Made in China" may be lessened, while the Euro/Jap/US cars will become increasingly more expensive as they are priced out of the lower end and become a niche market for those wealthy and discerning among us.

You cannot argue with economy of scale or cheap labour. Who would buy a similar car for double the price from Japan/Europe/US? The only way the carmakers from those countries have any chance of competing is to make the cars in cheap asian countries where labour is almost free, which is already happening. Many carmakers for example Honda and Mazda are already making their cars in Thailand.

[iseekool]

Has anyone had any experiences with Great Wall Motors (GWM)? Their utes have been on sale here for about a year or so, but I have never seen them on the road, and their X240, the budget SUV has been on sale for a few weeks I think.

Drive's X240 road test

X240 on youtube

I was actually looking for a basic SUV as I needed more space than the skyline could handle, and came across it. For something similar spec from other carmakers you would expect to pay 15k more at least.

Full 4WD with low-range gear, good ground clearance, leather seats, airbags, power everything, 8 speaker sound system, alloy wheels, aircon, 3 year 100k warranty. That's all standard for under 24k driveaway.

The chassis is based on the Toyota 4Runner. The 2.4L 4cyl petrol engine is sourced from the old Mitsu Outlander. Quite anaemic, only 100kw/200nM. They proudly announce 0-100 kmh time of less than or equal to 20 seconds

Based on Mitsu/Toyota parts, shouldn't break down too quickly but I guess only time will tell if it lasts beyond the warranty period. That said though, you could sell it easily after warranty for half price so that's still only 4k depreciation per year - a hell of a lot better than what you get with a new expensive SUV from other carmakers. I think the main drawback is the fit and finish of some of the interior fittings as well as the slow engine, but I don't expect much more from this price. Hell, my friend's Mazda 2 was about the same price driveaway. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with GWM cars, and this one in particular.

Because it is using mitsubish and toyota bits - should be no issue for reliability because they are from older vehicles (tried and tested). Even though safety is bad - just think of it as buying an older 4runner - you will be in the same situation - I dare say you would be slightly better off in the brand new chinese model.

I say go for it as long as you are not planning to keep it long term - End of the day it's a brand new vehicle.

Reason being is it will depreciate real fast and I "imagine" (un-founded claim) their paint qulity is not too good - therefore it will probably start rusting sooner. The quality for rubber components could also be a questionable.

[eMsta]

omg!!!!! lol!!!!!

[Mayuri Krab]

Has anyone had any experiences with Great Wall Motors (GWM)? Their utes have been on sale here for about a year or so, but I have never seen them on the road, and their X240, the budget SUV has been on sale for a few weeks I think.

Seen plenty of the utes around in my area.

Theres also a dealership around my area, tempted to go & test drive one myself. LOL

Speaking about safety ratings on cars, how many stars would my 1993 skyline get? I don't think It would get that much higher to be honest, I mean it doesn't have ABS, Traction control nor air bags...

[_Ryan_]

China is, for better or worse, going to dominate the economic landscape. This year, it will overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy, trailing only the USA (which it will overtake in less than 20 years).

It already has become the world's largest auto producer and consumer.

While it may be true that its economic growth might be unsustainable, that's what they said 10 years ago. During the GFC China's economy grew nearly 9%, while developed countries contracted alarmingly. That is the kind of resilience we are talking about.

I think in around 20 years time the majority of us will be driving Chinese or Indian-made cars. It is an interesting future. As more and more cars are being made, these cars will be getting relatively cheaper and safe and the stigma of "Made in China" may be lessened, while the Euro/Jap/US cars will become increasingly more expensive as they are priced out of the lower end and become a niche market for those wealthy and discerning among us.

You cannot argue with economy of scale or cheap labour. Who would buy a similar car for double the price from Japan/Europe/US? The only way the carmakers from those countries have any chance of competing is to make the cars in cheap asian countries where labour is almost free, which is already happening. Many carmakers for example Honda and Mazda are already making their cars in Thailand.

Of course China grew during the GFC, only way companys could keep going was to send jobs over there more than they already were. China and India will keep growing. Only jobs left in our country will be things that need to be done in the country. Thats the way I think we will see things headed...

[llama_au]

The panels look wafer-thin. I saw a demo model in Knox shopping center and it was riddled in door dings already...

[Mohsen]

omg!!!!! lol!!!!!

my exact thoughts.

its like a magical dissapearing truck..

[Morgs]

I've seen the results of a couple of these vehicles at "a crashlab in NSW" post circa 60km/h incident test. The results were incredible (not in a good way), particularly when you compare them to a similar age Commodore. When you talk about safety features like airbags etc- I'm not too sure these are going to help in this case......

I don't doubt China will be building our cars in the future - but I will not be getting into one of the current ones on the market.

* Disclaimer: This is my view only

Edited January 25, 2010 by Morgs

[Waterloo]

omg!!!!! lol!!!!!

Fooled again! This is a well known YouTube spoof. The vehicle is actually a Volkswagen Transporter T3 loaded with a tonne of sand. Its not a test of the vehicle, but a test to make sure the thing its running into doesn't move. So its a German vehicle, made in Germany, being crashed into a wall in Germany. Oh yes, and before you say VW are the biggest car maker in China, which they are, the Transporter has not been sold or made in China. Sorry!

Edited January 26, 2010 by Waterloo

[Phatboy]

I found the C-NCAP testing of the X240 (known as the GWM Hover internationally). Make of the C-NCAP 4 stars what you will... not sure what it will get for ANCAP, probably 3 at most.

[alr33x]

the word budget is something i wouldnt want associated with on my cars..

[MRSAMO]

Its not that China didn't give a stuff about car safety, the roads there are terrible, crowded and accidents are limited to stupid pedestrian stuff. China does lead the world in road accidents however.

That said, I knew about some of the brands they have including Great Wall for years and am still not confident in being in one. I'm also not keen in the Indian car TATA either. If China ever become instrumental in the auto industry it would be from buying up failing companies just like how India bought over Jaguar and Malaysia buying over Lotus. If China did end up buying over GM then we would have a very interesting generations of cars, possibly electric.

For now I would look at the Korean brands like Kia and Hyundai, they've improved a hell of a lot in terms of reputation and their warranties are pretty good.

Reason being is it will depreciate real fast and I "imagine" (un-founded claim) their paint qulity is not too good - therefore it will probably start rusting sooner. The quality for rubber components could also be a questionable.

Absolutely, but I'm not sure if it would rust that easily, its 2010.