GWM Tank 500 2024 Review

The 2024 GWM Tank 500 full-size seven-seat 4x4 ladder-frame wagon arrives in Australia in two model grades separated almost entirely by equipment rather than technical features.

They are the $66,490 Lux and $73,990 Ultra. Both these prices are national drive-away.

Based on its 5.0-metre length, three-row seating and off-road aspirations, the 500 is a competitor for the Toyota Prado, which dominates the segment and is soon to go through generational change.

Other ladder-frame rivals include the Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X. Some people might even be tempted to think of the far more expensive Toyota LandCruiser as a competitor given the Tank is actually a fraction bigger.

The new Prado will also be more expensive than the Tank, while the Everest starts cheaper but accelerates up past it when you get into the V6 diesel 4x4s. The MU-X is the budget offering here.

Weighed down with equipment, the 2024 GWM Tank 500 offers a combination of pricing and gear that will be incredibly appealing in the showroom. We’ll stop short of calling great value as there’s no data on reliability and durability available at this point.

As the flagship, the Ultra is a burger with the lot. Externally, it comes with acres of chrome, power-retracting side steps, a panoramic sunroof, roof rails and 18-inch alloy wheels with Giti Xross 265/60 R-spec rubber. Of that lot, only the wheels and tyres are shared with the Lux.

A full-size spare tyre is fitted under a cover on the side opening tailgate – very much like the current 150 Series Prado (the new 250 Series goes to a liftgate).

The Ultra is accessed by smart key and has push-button start. Nappa leather-accented seats include power adjustment (eight-way driver, six-way passenger), heating, ventilation and massage up front. The second-row seats have ventilation and window shades and the third row seats are power-folding.

Tri-zone climate control, a heated steering wheel, 64-colour ambient lighting, double-layer laminated windows and rear privacy glass are also standard.

The GWM Tank 500 is the first model from the Chinese manufacturer to launch in Australia with a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, seven years’ roadside assist and seven-year capped-price servicing program. All other GWM Models are 7-5-5.

The Tank 500 is expected to have the same service intervals as its smaller relation, the Tank 300. After a first visit within 12 months/10,000km, they are 12 months/15,000km.

In something of a rarity among auto brands, GWM Australia is quite happy to state it’s expecting a five-star ANCAP safety rating for the 2024 GWM Tank 500, based on current protocols.

Testing by the safety authority is only just getting underway, but after its own research GWM is confidently forecasting the maximum result. We’ll find out in a few months.

As is to be expected, the Tank 500 is fitted with plenty of driver assistance systems including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with lane centring supported by a phalanx of aids designed to keep you in your lane, warn you if you’re veering out of it, dodge stuff entering your lane and help you change lanes if you want to.

Other safety assistants include rear collision warning and rear cross traffic braking, traffic sign recognition, door opening warning, driver fatigue monitoring and traffic sign recognition.

The Tank 500 also comes with front, front-side, curtain and front-centre airbags. Multiple cameras stitch together into a 360-degree view. There are 12 parking sensors, reverse and auto parking assist.

The headlights are LED with auto high beam. Two ISOFIX and three top tether strap points secure child seats.

A 14.6-inch colour infotainment touch-screen sits prominently on the dashboard of the 2024 Tank 500 Ultra, with a 12.3-inch instrument panel implanted next to it. And just to complete the set, there’s a head-up display projected into the windscreen ahead of the driver.

Infotainment features includes wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth connection, AM/FM and digital radio and embedded satellite navigation. Audio is played through an Infinity 12-speaker system.

There is also active noise cancelling, just like your clever headphones.

For the first time in Australia, GWM has introduced a smartphone app that includes safety and security features with more stuff under development.

Wireless smartphone charging is included, along with USB-A and USB-C points in the first two rows. Up front there’s also a USB port for a dash cam.

Overseas, the 2024 GWM Tank 500 also comes with a V6 twin-turbo petrol engine and a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but in Australia we only get the plug-less parallel-series petrol-electric hybrid. At least for now.

The package includes a 180kW/380Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine tuned to the efficiency-chasing Miller combustion cycle, a 78kW/268Nm e-motor tucked into the transmission tunnel and a small 1.76kWh battery pack under the floor.

The combined outputs are claimed to be 255kW and 648Nm. The torque number is interesting because it is the max outputs of the petrol engine and e-motor added up. Often the combined number is smaller because peak outputs are produced at different parts of the respective rev ranges. Toyota doesn’t even publish a combine torque figure for hybrids.

The rest of the powertrain includes nine on- and off-road driving modes, a GWM-developed nine-speed auto, a BorgWarner transfer case with low-range, front and rear locking diffs, wheel-locking tank turn, crawl control (off-road cruise control) and hill descent and ascent control.

The official fuel consumption claim for the 2024 GWM Tank 500 is 8.5L/100km, with the cheapest 91 RON unleaded fuel ruled acceptable.

It also has three-level regenerative braking to restore battery capacity.

Combine that with the 80-litre fuel tank and the 500 looks like it could generate a pretty decent range between fuel stops.

At this point though we’re just not quite sure how achievable that theoretical fuel consumption claim is. On the launch drive the trip computer average swung between 12 and 14L/100km, which cuts range dramatically if accurate. And that’s without taking into account stuff like towing or going off-road in low-range.

It backs up GWM’s claim the hybrid system is more about performance than economy. If so, how did that optimistic consumption claim come about?

Anyway, we’ll know more when we get a Tank 500 in our possession and drive it for a while.

We’re so used to large 4x4 wagons being diesel it is a bit weird to quietly potter along in the 2024 GWM Tank 500 Ultra on electrical power.

That doesn’t happen often or last long, of course, but even when the petrol engine inevitably chimes in the noise and vibration is still less than traditionally associated with a diesel. Clatter be gone!

The drivetrain is a bit of a chameleon. It is very clearly focused on economy in the dull Normal mode, becoming much more alert and responsive when switched to Sport. This is one multi-mode system that isn’t just a placebo.

GWM makes a big deal about how the nine-speed auto is its own design and that the team leader on the program is ex-Mercedes-Benz. Well, he did his job because there is no obvious clunking, flare or lag in any mode, or when shifting manually using the steering wheel paddles.

The Tank 500’s big challenge based on our previous experience of Chinese vehicles (and GWM models specifically) is the way it steers, handles and rides.

Well, based on the Tank 500, GWM has a decent handle on ladder-frame vehicles. It’s certainly better than some of its monocoque-based vehicles like the Haval Jolion and H6 SUVs.

The steering is pretty tight and accurate, the body control is quite decent for such a big, tall and heavy vehicle, and apart from some typical ladder-frame shimmy across potholes and laterals and some evidence of firmness from the live-axle rear-end, the ride is comfortable as well.

That’s all at cruising speeds on some quite bumpy and winding country bitumen roads. When the going got tighter and more pressure was put on the Tank 500 there was lots of front-end push and roll. Add in some rain and the Giti tyres struggled to hook up on the greasy surface.

Relaxed driving – that’s what the Tank 500 likes.

Engaging lane keeping systems and the like had also been approached with some trepidation. You might have seen our video of the Tank 300 misbehaving, but happily there was no sign of that in the 500 on our first drive.

I still preferred the lane centring to be switched off because there were some impulses channelling their way through to the steering wheel that were too abrupt. But it wasn’t egregious. It’s tuned within the bounds of acceptability. Quite a step forward.

But there were still annoyances. The primary one was the car regularly warning me there was a curve approaching. I’m not sure which system controlled that function or why it picked certain road situations to pipe up. Another thing to investigate further later.

Anyway, I think we figured out a way to switch it off because it disappeared after some jabbing at the touch-screen.

Sadly, our off-road drive of the 2024 GWM Tank 500 was curtailed by monsoonal rain that burst just as we were about to engage low-range. It was a case of better safe than bogged!

However, we were in the situation during the day’s driving to witness the Tank 500 negotiating some proper technical tough off-road sections and it did so without getting beached or ripping its guts out.

The capabilities are backed up by off-road info in the screen that includes tyre pressure monitoring, compass, pitch and roll, atmospheric pressures and see-through cameras so you can assess what you are clambering over.

Given what we saw and the specification, the signs are very good for the Tank 500 as a true off-roader capable of competing with the Prado, Everest and Co.

Like the fuel consumption though, a proper verdict is TBA.

So let’s crunch the 2024 GWM Tank 500 numbers.

For starters, the Tank 500 measures up at 5078mm long, 1934mm wide, 1905mm high and has a 2850mm wheelbase. The outgoing 150 Series Prado’s equivalent numbers are 4995mm, 1885mm, 1890mm and 2790mm. So the Tank is a bigger vehicle.

It’s also significantly heavier, weighing in at a LandCruiser-rivalling 2605kg, versus a maximum 2350kg for the 150.

That then leads to payload and towing numbers.

The Tank 500 has a 790kg payload, a 3395kg gross vehicle mass (GVM) and a 6705kg gross combined mass (GCM). The maximum braked towing capacity is 3000kg, and when you add up all the figures the adjusted payload comes out at a usable 490kg.

Do the same calculation for the 150 Series Prado with its identical 3000kg braked towing capacity and the max payload is 340 litres. The Tank is looking good.

Of course, the 250 Series Prado is only months away and we don’t have all the relevant numbers for that – only that it will bump up to a 3500kg towing capacity.

The 2024 GWM Tank 500 makes quite the impact when you first clamber inside.

Light grey woody-style stuff permeates the dashboard and doors and contrasts with the darker and opulently quilted leather of the seats.

Then you’ve got those screens that add a techno element to it all, plus chrome, plus piano black plus soft coverings for touch points. Yep, there’s plenty going on in here.

Give yourself time to understand the various permutations and operations of the central screen and what happens within its various functions.

You can also select one of a number of views for the instrument cluster.

You have to drill into the touch-screen to adjust audio (or use steering wheel buttons or voice control), but not air-conditioning, which has its own set of permanent controls located on the central stack just below a distinctive analogue clock.

The seats not only attract attention for their trim, they provide plenty of support and comfort. The driver’s seat does not slide far enough forward for shorter drivers, but at least there’s power reach and rake adjustment and no shortage of foot space.

Row two has a 66/33 split-fold and slides and reclines. There’s also plenty of space, so 180cm-tall people should be seated comfortably in both the first and second rows.

The powered third row is really for the kids. There are two concerns here: the easiest way to access the rearmost seats from row two is via the driver’s side – the traffic side. It would be safer to access through the tailgate if you can. Mind you, with the wheel attached, the tailgate is a hefty device to open and close.

Also, when all three rows are in place there is very little luggage space left over. Just 98 litres. That expands to 795 litres with two rows in place and 1495 litres when only the front seats are in use.

There are air-con vents and storage nooks and crannies spread through all three rows including sizeable door bins. The second-row passengers also get access to their own set of climate controls.

But overall this doesn’t have the interior functionality and storage ingenuity of something like a Land Rover Discovery or Defender.

Based on this first drive, the 2024 Tank 500 makes a good impression.

But we’re talking about a substantial investment in a vehicle that is designed to safely and competently transport up to seven people across wild and rugged terrain.

We simply don’t know yet if the Tank 500 will hang together in such challenging circumstances.

Toyota 4x4s do and that’s why they are so popular and people are prepared to pay a premium for them. Tank is just at the start of a journey Toyota’s been on for decades.

Undoubtedly, the price and equipment equation the Tank 500 offers will attract an audience and the seven-year warranty will provide reassurance.

The drive experience also appears competent and that’s encouraging.

But we need more time with the Tank 500 before acknowledging anything more than this vehicle has potential.

2024 GWM Tank 500 Ultra at a glance:
Price: $73,990 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol-electric
Output: 180kW/380Nm (electric motor: 78kW/268Nm)
Combined output: 255kW/648Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 199g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested