Thinking Of Buying A Great Wall...

[GTR-N1]

I would be more worried over its safty in a crash.

Good luck to anyone who has an accident in one may need to buy a new face...

You see a few crashed specimens don't you Brian?

Just like an NTSB officer (in the US) roaming around an air crash, I suppose you see some catastrophic failures in chassis integrity and not just tyres/bad maintenance?

[ARTZ]

Single cab petrol 4x2 with tray - GW - $18k drive away

Single cab t/d 4x2 with tray - BT50 -$28k drive away. Where the hell do you get $22k on road?

Ten grand difference. Do I need to point out the bleeding obvious?

And I knew a guy with a Falcon that did well over 750,000ks with barely a spanner touching it, so therefore all other cars are buckets of shit and you should throw them away and drive a Falcon.

And to compare tyre life is utterly preposterous. For starters the tyres are KHUMO brand not bloody GREAT WALL. Secondly tyre life is probably dictated 80% by driving style. As is brake pad life.

As for the head gasket, it had an aftermarket LPG system on it and you expect it to be warrantied? And then blame the car for your friends incompetence at sourcing the correct parts?

This thread is full of fail, beginning right at the opening post.

Someone delete it before it contaminates the interwebz.

2006-2011 model was 21,990 on road been advertised as such for years..i dunno how much the new model is but i imaging that price will drop once the old model has been runout..

My old Mazda came with optional gas fully covered by factory warranty but lasted 240,000kms anyway

Look all i am suggesting here is 2 cars compared worth the same $$ at the time one has clearly came out way ahead...

As for GW being a POS that is obviously my opinion, it appears to be built with inferior parts that dont last..If the tyres, brakes and headgasket dont last half the life of another model thats the same price, what other short cuts have been taken.. You can make your own decision...Im just presenting you with some facts, take it as you please

[Marcus89]

I can't understand people attacking OP yes he has his opinion that GW's are not worth the saving of small amount of initial outlay but he doesn't appear to be fanatical about it or annoying.

I found this an interesting read as I only know of 2 people with GW's 1 has spent more time getting warranty fixes done to it and the other while much more reliable says he will never buy another. Not to sure on his reasons why but then again these are budget tight ass cars with build quality to match very comparable to the old hyundai's. In future GW's will likely be much better quality but atm they are focusing on the budget market and will have a generally inferior product

[ARTZ]

Another thing i quickly did the maths on while driving around this arvo..

as i said GW 18k vs BT50 22k...

without the gas, the petrol GW has a fuel economy of 10.7/100km

the BT50 has fuel economy of 8.3/100km

so after 100,000kms (which is roughly 18months driving for us) and 10,700L and 8,300L respectively

..Lets say your paying on average 1.50$ per litre

GW..16,000$

Bt50..12,450$

I will add that unfortunately the BT50 uses 7L of oil each change so factor in an extra 20L of oil over 100,000kms which is less than 200$, though GW will need a few sets of spark plugs so lets say 50$

So far you are only 700$ ahead with buying the GW, but then again you will need new tyres and brakes,

so there goes your 700$..and we're about even

Also I just noticed, you will need a timing belt change @ 120,000kms on the mazda.

NB *I just changed mine at 150km and it looked fine,no cracks, splits and only minimal signs of any wear...I know a few guys that have run them past 200,000...They usually snap not long after , between 210-220kms*

GW...... 80,000km timing belt change....So even the timing belt only lasts 2/3s as long.. Now I'm not sure how long it "could" last, but this can often be 1000$ job at most dealers and now the Mazda is way out out in front again...

This thread is meant to be more of a comparison than a rubbish on GW session. Though i do have a pet hate for these new breeds of soulless, budget automobiles and I believe the GW is exactly that, they really are just targeted at a market that look at no further than the initial purchase price when buying a car...but of course most of you know that already

[Cowboy1600]

The reason people (well, me at least) are attacking the opening post (not ARTZ) is because it's full of, well, for want of a better term, shit.

Comparing two brands driven by two different people is ridiculous as is blaming tyre and brake wear on the car. My dad and I could drive identical cars, same price, spec and ks and I'll tell you my car will be a damn site more f**ked than my dads. He's 66 and drives like the grandpa he is. I'm 33 and drive like I'm 18. The way you drive will have a much greater bearing on the longevity of a car than the brand and we have no way to gauge the differences between your driving styles. For all you know the other bloke was doing track days in his GW every second weekend.

And the prices are NOT similar. There may have been some fanciful way that they were close 6 years ago (although I doubt it - Carsales suggests the OP is wrong [2007 4x2 cab only tray back with ~50-70k ks going for >$20k still]), but at the moment a GW is $18k and Mazda $28k. That is not similar. We're also comparing a stock standard factory car against something with an aftermarket LPG conversion. We're also meant to take some guys inability to source the correct part as fundamental to the argument that GW is shit.

As I eluded too, I know of Falcons which are well on their way to 1,000,000 kilometers with barely so much as typical maintenance so does that mean that Falcons are the pinnacle of cars and anyone driving anything else are deluded. Hell, my Datsun 180b was on it's original clutch, engine, box, diff and discs and had over 400,000 ks on it. Not a spot of rust and parts were piss easy to source. So if you buy something shit like, say, a Mazda BT ute which might struggle through to 150,000ks but hell, could detonate at any second, then you're a dumbo!

And, well, I'm bored and have seen this episode of Big Bang Theory already. Perhaps it's time for some Beef3.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Cowboy1600

[ARTZ]

You should still be able to pick up a run out model BT50 and mate ,my mazda hasnt struggled through anything, its in near perfect condition...another bt50 at work has 600,000kms on his original clutch, though he keeps blowing engines cause he doesn't change timing belts...lol..

i already stated earlier that if anything GW is the far more sedate driver ..compared to my often hoonish antics..

my b2600 also got 480,000 on original discs engine gearbox with no signs of rust. There was even no wear or tear on the seat fabric and I never used seat covers, I never had a single problem with it (that I didnt cause anyway) and I know of a few up around 1,000,000kms

i too am watching boring BIG bang waiting for 2 broke girl boobage....whats beef3?

[Mayuri Krab]

Though i do have a pet hate for these new breeds of soulless, budget automobiles

For a second ago, I thought you were describing a Camry...

As far as I know, majority of GW utes are bought as company cars for tradies which gets changed after warranty expires.

My dad's old work place's Mazda BT2600 ute managed to live past 250,000km with f**k all servicing (get serviced like every 40k - 60k km) or when something actually broke (like the alternator belt was almost worn down to nothing). Was still working when the company went bankrupt & sold as scrap to the wreckers.

[ARTZ]

camrys arent tooo bad, and the Aurion can be an awesome car...Its moe the Kias and Hyundais..they have no gimmick, no wow. they are just 4 wheels and an engine..

Though there build quality does seem to be picking up recently, i still see no pizazz...

yeah i barely ever serviced the b2600, i would use repco brand oil, 6l and a free filter was about 20$ on sale, i would stock up on these and change every couple of months when i could be bothered,,if ever it felt down on power it was always just plugs and/or leads.

[hamiltonau]

So your saying the Camry is NOT a soulless anodyne car artz?

To me it typifies what Jeremy Clarkson and his ilk call 'white goods for the road', sure fully capable of getting you from A to B but as boring as batshiat and the Aurion is just a camry with a different grill.

lol @ Cowboy being 33 and driving like an 18 yr old. .

me too!

[ARTZ]

Aurion has a 3.5lt v6 and they are pretty damn fast

[bjd]

Good story Artz. Shame how this site is full of people who just want to disagree for the sake of it. I just recently sold my BT50 4wd purchased new in 09. The drive away price was $36990 but list price was in the low $40's. I can vouch that the cab chassis was only $22,000 drive away however the list price may of been greater. A mechanic that I know told me he has a mate who purchased GW had several issues with it so he got a 2nd GW for spare parts. True story.

[Seano350GT]

Feel sorry for the guy. I sell new Fords and had a customer trade his 4x2 in for a new Ranger, the resale value on these great walls is something i've never seen before. Ended up getting around $9,000 i think it was for a 5 year old vehicle that was used as a company car.