GWM Cannon Ultra 2025 Tow Test

The 2025 GWM Cannon Ultra is $44,990 drive away, with the test vehicle optioned with $595 metallic paint, $1449 towbar kit and $773 Redarc electric brake controller (both including fitting), totalling $47,807 (not including any accessory taxes).

The Cannon comes with a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty (except when used as for commercial purposes, where it’s a 150,000km cap) and five years of roadside assist. GWM also offers five years of pay-as-you-go capped-price servicing, currently totalling $2530. The GWM service schedule is a bit unusual as the first service is due at 12 months/10,000km, but then every 12 months/15,000km after that.

Highlights of the Ultra’s standard features list include a sunroof, 18-inch alloys (with a full-size spare), tailgate step, rear privacy glass, rear sports bar, side steps, roof rails and a spray-in bedliner.

The cabin is treated to faux leather seats, power adjustable, heating and cooled at the front, heated steering wheel, ambient lighting, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, single-zone climate control, wireless smartphone mirroring and AM/FM and digital radio.

The safety list includes autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, driver monitoring, blind spot monitoring, rear collision warning and braking, front and rear parking sensors, tyre pressure and temperature monitoring, LED headlights with auto high beam and a 360-degree camera view.

There are two child seat top tethers and ISOFIX mounts at the rear of the cabin. Passive safety features include seven airbags, while the Cannon has a five-star ANCAP rating (for all models except the XSR) from 2021.

The GWM Cannon Ultra has a 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine, nine-speed automatic and dual-range permanent 4x4 system.

As for the towing stats, there are 3500kg (braked) and 750kg (unbraked) capacities, with a 350kg towball download maximum (TBM), which is as good as it gets in the medium ute class. The GWM’s kerb weight is 2230kg, Gross Vehicle Mass is 3225kg while Gross Combined Mass is 6200kg.

The upshot of all this is that the Cannon can’t tow to its 3500kg maximum while also carrying a full 995kg payload (bear in mind almost all 3500kg-capable tow vehicles have similar mass issues). When including the trailer’s 350kg TBM as part of a full vehicle payload (as you must), at full trailer weight capacity of 3250kg you would be 275kg over GCM.

Yes, the Cannon’s payload is still 645kg (if you assume TBM is at the maximum 350kg), but any way you slice it, a compromise on trailer weight and/or payload must be made to stay within legal towing weights. The upshot is you’d have around 400kg of payload to play with when towing the maximum, which is quite good.

Testing was done with a 2900kg caravan, supplied by the guys at RV Connection at St Marys North, NSW.

The 2025 GWM Cannon Ultra offers a great deal of features for the relatively low sticker price.

The level of tech with the large screens, extensive safety and entertainment features is very good. As are the nice touches like the fold-down tailgate step and heated/cooled front seats and heated steering wheel.

The new engine performs well when not towing, with very good touring fuel economy (we saw 6.8L/100km when freeway cruising without a trailer, and 17.2L/100km when towing) and acceleration up to around 60km/h with a van was surprisingly strong.

The engine settles into an easy cruise at 100km/h, with the transmission relaxing into seventh gear for most of it and the engine spinning about 2400rpm (even dropping to ninth at 1600rpm on occasion).

Engine braking downhill was quite good, just creeping up from 70km/h to 75km/h on the steep downhill section of the test.

The side mirrors are large and adapted to the clip-on mirrors we used without issue. While a 40mm droop in rear suspension with the 240kg on the towball is a little high, the front suspension lift was just 5mm.

While the 2025 GWM Cannon Ultra’s tech levels are very good, the way some of them work isn’t always so sophisticated.

The lane keep assist made freeway driving tiring, as the steering wheel sharply made small corrections to keep the vehicle precisely in the centre of the lane (at least it can be turned off). The indicator stalk is also unconventional – in that it doesn’t have the typical mechanical detent when activated, which requires some getting used to.

Turbo lag off the mark is not much better than the previous 2.0-litre mill and the turning circle is large (13.1 metres). While being pretty good when towing on the flats, head for the and hills the 2.4-litre runs out of steam – our 90km/h test hill saw speed ease to 75km/h on the crest.

Ride quality around town when unladen is abrupt, although it improved when on 80km/h-plus roads. While towing, the ride is also a mixed bag, stuttering across bumps at lower speeds and the front axle is on the soft side for highway driving.

The Cannon was also affected by cross-winds and air around trucks, with sway moments occurring. This is, in part at least, due to needing to use the OEM tow hitch with a van coupling that sat a little too high in this set-up. A different coupling, a (higher mounted) hitch point, a weight distribution hitch or even towing a different trailer might produce more stable towing results.

One thing is clear, the GWM doesn’t settle into heavy-trailer towing and isn’t as comfortable as the Ford Ranger, for example.

That the 2025 GWM Cannon Ultra offers exceptional value for money, with excellent features, safety and long warranty, is obvious from the brochures.

Yet, even for someone (like me) who can forgive a lot for good value, there are still elements that might grate when towing for long distances with a Cannon.

The active safety measures still need some improvement, and you might end up heading to the aftermarket to lift towing performance and suspension. However, you’d also have plenty of spare change over buying the more expensive utes to do it.

2025 GWM Cannon Ultra at a glance:
Price: $44,490 (drive away)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 135kW/480Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 221g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2021)

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