GWM Ute 2021 Tow Test

You get a lot of value in the 2021 GWM Ute for not much money. At $41,990 drive-away for this premium model tested here, the Cannon-X, you’re looking at a saving of 30 per cent on the established mainstream 4x4 dual-cab ute equivalents.

Even the SsangYong Musso costs more, in premium trim, leaving you only with the LDV T60 and Mahindra Pik-Up costing less.

There is no shortage of equipment for the price. Standard gear includes leather upholstery with heated and power-adjustable front seats, 60/40-split folding rear seat, keyless entry and push-button start, a 9.0-inch infotainment touch-screen, a 7.0-inch colour instrument cluster, voice recognition, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connection, wireless smartphone charging, USB ports front and rear (and a 220V port in the rear) and an electric park brake.

Outside, you get 18-inch alloy wheels, side steps, a sports bar, hydraulic tailgate struts, a pop-out tailgate step (rated to 120kg) and a spray-in tub liner.

There is no native sat-nav offered; you’ll have to rely on your smartphone mirroring and data to access navigation in the GWM.

There’s a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and five years or 100,000km of roadside assistance on offer.

Service intervals are a bit odd; the first service pops up at 5000km and then services are due every 12 months or 10,000km after that.

There is no shortage of safety systems in the 2021 GWM Ute, a far cry from its predecessor, the two-star ANCAP-rated Great Wall Steed.

The GWM Ute offers among the most comprehensive safety and tech features in the class, and has, after almost a year on sale, finally been accorded an ANCAP crash-test score.

It achieved a five-star ANCAP result, but only for vehicles produced since August 1, 2021.

GWM Utes built before this change will be part of a service campaign for rectification work (changes to head restraints and steering column components) to effectively match the spec of the later, five-star Ute models.

The GWM Ute’s standard safety offerings include autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane change assist, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition.

There are seven airbags (including a front centre bag), LED headlights (high and low beam), tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree camera.

There are five lap-sash seat belts, five head restraints and ISOFIX and anchor points for child seats.

There is no shortage of advanced electronic safety features in the Ute, but as ever with such technology, it comes down to not how many zeroes and ones that software engineers can stuff into the vehicle but how well that programming has been nuanced.

The lane keeping assist, like many such systems, feels too intrusive and god forbid if you are still crossing over freeway lane markings after the indicator has stopped flashing. You will hear beeps and feel the steering wheel tug at your hands for your efforts.

The GWM is not the first vehicle by any means to have intrusive safety tech, and it is by no means the worst. In the main, the safety and convenience features worked well, or at least as expected.

While the Chinese characters appearing on the rear-view camera screen look out of place, the centre touch-screen was otherwise mostly fuss-free on test (and the screen gave an excellent, accurate view for hitching up the caravan).

There were no frozen or lagging screens, although some of the menu structure could flow a bit better.

There were other little oddities, such as the pop-up message: “This function can only be available in ON gear” (sic), when trying to change vehicle safety settings with the ignition off (you need ignition on to do so).

The instrument cluster menus are also a bit confusing; we couldn’t get the display to keep average fuel consumption shown while on the move, for example.

The instrument cluster was also very hard to see around the middle of the day, due to reflections on the cluster cover.

The gear lever has a button on top of it to engage Park. When adjusting the audio volume knob (on the centre stack) while at standstill, you can inadvertently press the Park button with your arm, which can be unsettling if you don’t notice in traffic and try to take off and nothing happens.

The 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine in the 2021 GWM Ute is on the lower side for power and torque outputs for a dual-cab ute, although having so many forward ratios (eight) to play with helps keep it in the sweet spot – mostly…

Following media and customer comments about the engine’s off-the-line laggy response, GWM updated the engine management software in July 2021 to give it some more initial grunt.

In traffic, the test vehicle’s turbo lag did not seem unusual for the class. It’s the transition from no lag to boost that is the problem. It happens quite suddenly.

This is not obvious in progressive throttle applications under light load. But when loaded up at low speeds (turning a corner up and climbing a gradient, for example), it feels like the throttle has gone from nothing to everything.

In other words, it is not always progressive.

This is a vehicle that is perfect for the around-the-block five-minute test drive; it has (aside from the lag) good engine response, is relatively quiet and seems to get up to speed effortlessly.

This was mirrored during testing, when conditions are easy; keeping up with the traffic in town or the highway is simple.

Once you push for more though, you find that the GWM doesn’t have a lot of power on offer. There is a 20-30kW shortfall between this vehicle and class leaders, and it is obvious.

We borrowed a 2500kg off-road van from the guys at RV Connection in St Marys, NSW, for this test.

The GWM Ute has a 3000kg towing capacity, with up to 10 per cent of that allowed on the tow ball.

On the hill climb test the GWM shed 16km/h, dropping from 90km/h to 74km/h. Part of the problem was it was in fifth gear for the last bit of the climb, with revs dropping to about 2500rpm and all the time refusing to kick down to fourth gear (even when tried manually, by this point), where it might have been better able to make use of its power band.

On the descent, speed rose from 70km/h to 76km/h, which was acceptable.

On flat terrain the Cannon-X would shift regularly between seventh and eighth gear to maintain 100km/h. At 100km/h, it was spinning at about 2200rpm in seventh and about 1600rpm in eighth. Gearshifts were predictable and smooth.

Fuel consumption averaged 15.2L/100km cruising with the caravan, and 8.4L/100km without the caravan.

The 2021 GWM Ute has the typical independent coil-spring front/leaf-spring rear suspension you’ll see on many utes in this category, although it benefits from rear disc brakes when most have drums.

Steering is positive although doesn’t offer much feel. There is a lot of steering correction going on though, with the lane keeping assist regularly tugging the wheel to keep the vehicle in its lane (even though you appear to be doing a fine job of that yourself).

At least the static suspension rise and droop when the van was attached was unremarkable; a 10mm ride at the front and a 25mm droop at the rear.

The ride’s initial compliance was a bit firm when unladen, but with a 2500kg caravan behind (with 200kg tow ball download), ride deteriorated significantly on bumpy roads; it was quite jittery.

At the other end of the spectrum, with long undulations taken at speed, the front-end seemed to take a while to recover.

When towing, often you can feel a vehicle’s inherent instability through the steering; a slight sawing at the wheel results in the trailer wagging like a dog.

The GWM was not like that; in fact, it was entirely stable for the first section of freeway towing.

Yet on the return leg, when both winds and heavy vehicle traffic had increased, the rig started to yaw a few times.

It appeared to be sensitive to crosswinds and the turbulent air around large vehicles such as semi-trailers.

The 2021 GWM Ute Cannon-X would seem to have a lot going for it as a value-laden purchase in the 4x4 dual-cab ute market, and is arguably the better model among the cheaper entrants.

However, it does not appear to be a towing natural, with unresolved towing ride quality, and based on this test, has a question mark over its overall towing stability.

As for performance with a heavy trailer, you’ll also have to be more patient than you would be with other, more powerful utes.

If you can work around these shortcomings – and do not want to tow more than 3000kg – the GWM Ute has great value, loads of features, high-grade safety credentials and a reassuringly long warranty on its side.

How much does the 2021 GWM Ute Cannon-X cost?
Price: $40,990 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 120kW/400Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 250g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2021)