Great Wall V200 2011 Review

Name: Great Wall V200 2011 Review
Brand: Great Wall

Chinese brand's first diesel pick-up has landed, from $24,990 drive-away

Great Wall V200

First Drive
Penrith, NSW

What we liked
>> The sharp drive-away price
>> Leather seats and steering wheel
>> Looks good and perception of quality is improving

Not so much
>> Power lag below 1800rpm
>> Vague gearshift, easy to slip into first or reverse
>> Firm rear suspension unladen, low but realistic towing capacity

Great Wall Motors has made great headway into the Australian market over the past two years.

In that time it has managed to outsell ute specialist Isuzu and other more established mainstream brands.

It entered the market with Australia’s cheapest crew cab ute, which at $18,990 drive-away was several thousand dollars cheaper than the competition.

But the vehicles were only available with petrol power – yet the workhorse ute market is dominated by diesel.

So, in effect, Great Wall utes have been fighting with one arm tied behind their back. But not any more.

The first boatload of diesel-powered Great Wall utes arrived in the past fortnight and have already begun trickling on to dealer forecourts with little fanfare.

The diesel alone will likely lead to a doubling in sales of Great Wall utes in Australia.

We rang the distributor to get behind the wheel of a media test car, but the boss of the company loaned it to a mate in construction, who ordered six of them later that day.

So your correspondent ventured into dealer land for a test drive (our thanks to Great Wall Motors in Penrith in Sydney’s west). We didn’t get to put the car through the usual media review rigour, but we did go further than the typical lap around the block.

I’ve driven most of the Chinese cars that are on sale here (as well as some overseas) and, it must be said, they get better each time. But they are still several years – if not another decade – away from matching Korean or Japanese levels of quality, reliability, refinement and safety.

For the time being, the big strength of Great Wall vehicles is their price. At $24,990 drive-away for the 2WD crew cab and $27,990 drive-away for the 4WD crew cab, they undercut the opposition by up to tens of thousands of dollars. And for that you also get leather seats and alloy wheels into the bargain.

It might be a good deal but we still don’t know what the longevity of the Great Wall and other Chinese vehicles is like. Only time will tell. Tool-of-trade vehicles live or die by their word-of-mouth reputation on work sites.

As with most new cars, the Great Wall ute is covered by a three years/100,000km warranty. Plus the distributor includes roadside assistance for the full three-year term of the warranty. (Some other brands only offer free roadside assistance for the first 12 months).

Given that the 2.0-litre turbo diesel isn’t the biggest engine in the class (most are between 2.5 and 3.0-litres in capacity), it has the lowest power and torque among its crew cab peers.

Perhaps for that reason the towing capacity has been reduced from 2250kg to 2000kg with the facelifted model that went on sale a few months ago. Ute-watchers will note that 2000kg is well below the average of 2500 to 3000kg towing capacity of other crew cab utes.

But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. And, as Great Wall says, not everyone with a ute wants to tow.

The payload is rated at 1000kg – on par for the class.

Consumption is relatively frugal, with an average rating of 8.3L/100km.

The 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine itself is in fact Great Wall’s own design. The 2.4 four-cylinder petrol engine is a joint venture engine widely used in China and originally bought under licence from Mitsubishi.

The diesel in the Great Wall ute is the maker’s first common rail turbo diesel – some of the development was done with Bosch in Australia.

It’s not the most dynamic diesel engine we’ve driven but it’s an impressive first effort and surprisingly refined.

There is a noticeable lag in power below 1800rpm, but then it comes alive, all the way to 3500-4000rpm, at which point it suffers an asthma attack in much the same way most diesels do.

Power delay is typical in diesel engines but the step change is more noticeable in this engine. We expect this is an area Great Wall engineers will finesse over time.

Plus, the engine would likely improve with more kilometres under its belt (our test car had only 18km on the odometer). Diesels typically don’t start to hit their straps until about 10,000km or so.

The six-speed manual gearshift is light and smooth, but it is easy to accidentally grab reverse instead of first gear. A more defined shift gate would be welcome. In the meantime, Great Wall has helpfully fitted a warning buzzer when reverse is engaged. It does not (as the label on the console warns) create an external reversing beep.

There is no automatic transmission available, or planned at this stage. The 4WD system can only be used on unsealed roads, otherwise it will be damaged.

Although the turning circle is wide, it steers well (the bolstered leather steering wheel is a nice touch).

Visibility all around is excellent. The wide-view side mirrors help negotiate lane changes in traffic, although we did have to push the driver’s side mirror manually because the power adjustment didn’t extend far enough. This is likely a quirk of where the mirror has been positioned on the mounting point behind it, something which can also be rectified.

Other little things: the tension of the air vents above the radio is quite stiff whereas the air vents on either side of the dash were quite loose-feeling.

None of these minor issues are deal-breakers – just keep reminding yourself of the price – but they are among the few tell-tale signs of how Great Wall’s quality is tracking.

Another easily fixed bugbear I was reminded of: the headlights don’t switch off automatically or warn you with a buzzer that they’ve been left on. Oddly, the Chinese make these switches for other car makers but haven’t put them in their own car.

As with all new vehicles sold locally, the V200 meets Australian government safety requirements. It comes with two airbags and anti-lock brakes.

However, the dearer crew cab utes from Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi are available with six airbags (including side impact ‘curtains’) and a more sophisticated stability control system which can prevent skidding in corners.

Although the Great Wall V200 is yet to be assessed by crash test consumer guide ANCAP, the petrol equivalent Great Wall V240 scored a “poor” two stars out of five for occupant protection in its crash tests.

The Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton scored an “acceptable” four stars in the ANCAP tests.

The only five-star ute on the market is the Volkswagen Amarok, even though it only comes with four airbags and offers no airbag protection for back seat occupants.

Nevertheless, despite numerous areas where there is room for improvement, the upshot is that I was pleasantly surprised by Great Wall’s new diesel engine (party because I had low expectations and other Chinese engines are notable for their engine ‘flare’).

No doubt that owners would quickly get used to finding the engine’s power band.

Would I buy one? Tough call. But this is the closest yet I’ve come to saying yes to a Chinese car.

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Great Wall V200 2011 Review

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