The Great Chinese Car Revolution

With some trepidation, I recently bought myself an SUV from a brand that many people have so far turned up their snobbish noses at.  Trying to get as much bang for buck as possible, I looked at the technical specifications and features vs. cost factor among several small and medium SUV’s and the clear winner was the Great Wall X-series.  Having a $25,000 budget, I compared a 2010 Mitsubishi ASX, a 2011 Nissan X-Trail, a 2011 Toyota RAV4 and the 2012 Great Wall X200.  All diesel, manual 4WD’s with no low range; “softroaders” for the not-so-serious weekend bush basher.. but only one had less than 10,000km’s on the odometer and with no previous owner.

I wanted a car with enough room to carry a fortnights load of shopping in the boot, along with the rest of the crap I sometimes ferry to and from work.  It needed to be capable of taking a fair sized tent on the roof and an array of camping crap in the back – with the added flexibility of a half-decent towing capacity so that if we want to drag along a bunch of extra comforts, food and water on an extended trip then we have that option.  Oh and it absolutely must have a bull bar.  Not only does it deflect potential wild life bouncing into its path of a night time, it looks bloody beefy and as we all know; looking good is important!  How else am I supposed to assert my man-hood behind the wheel??

So without further ado, I present to you my 2012 Great Wall X200!

Front profile

Side profile, bonnet

Side profile, rear

Standard features:

2.0L 4 cylinder, turbo diesel 4WD (Torque on Demand drivetrain), 6-speed manual providing 105kW @4000rpm, 310Nm @1800-2800rpm. 1700Kg towing capacity (braked) and 700Kg (unbraked).  Reversing camera/sensors.  Built-in dash LCD touch screen for radio, DVD’s, MP3’s etc.  2x front air bags (no side/curtain).  Bluetooth phone connectivity.  Leather seats, steering wheel, gear shifter.  Auto headlights/wipers.  Central locking, keyless entry and engine immobiliser.  ABS, Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC, standard by law in all new vehicles as of a year or two ago).  Tyre pressure monitoring system (displays in LED on the rear-view mirrors edge) with full size spare.  Auto-dimming rear view mirror.  Front and rear fog lamps.  Steering wheel mounted controls.  6-speaker stereo.  Power windows and mirrors.  12v power points in the front and in the boot and a partridge in a pear tree!

So it’s fairly obvious that it’s brimming with features which when compared to the ASX, X-Trail and RAV4 are either on-par or slightly better; except for the lack of more than 2 airbags and cruise control etc.  The steering handles brilliantly and smoothly, requiring only the lightest hand pressure to keep it on track which is great when the other hand is gear shifting.  It handles with a touch of over steer but for a vehicle this size, it’s not uncommon and it also isn’t too keen on returning back to centre on its own; requiring the driver to make most of the effort of getting the wheels back to a straight line; which is really no effort at all.

The biggest issue with this vehicle is that the take off is quite sluggish from a stand still in 1st gear to 20km/hr and unless you ride the clutch while giving it some revs, taking off with confidence is only achievable when given enough time to avoid oncoming traffic.  Sometimes riding the clutch in this instance is inevitable but thankfully the hill-holder feature is great when taking off from an incline, rather than having to use the park brake.  I haven’t actually towed anything yet but I hear they lack even more power on the take-off.  Once in the 20-70km/hr zone though, urban driving becomes quite pleasant and highway speeds are easily achieved and it cruises along without effort.  The higher vantage point commands a good view of the road and with the bull bar in front, seeing the front dimensions over the curved bonnet are easy.

The gear shifting feels firm and defined allowing the driver to engage gears confidently, with Reverse being all the way to the left and up; next to 1st.  A ring lock under the gear knob must be lifted before being able to engage Reverse, an improvement over an earlier model which meant that searching for 1st may have meant accidentally shifting into Reverse instead.  Compared to many other cars I’ve driven, the brake pedal takes a bit more downward travel before being totally effective however for a vehicle this size, not being too touchy has a feel that fits.  Equally so, the grab point on the clutch pedal gives you a bit of travel before engaging which feels right for this vehicle class and engine type and as with driving any new manual vehicle, it takes very little getting the hang of.

Compared to the dozens of other cars I’ve driven (some were 4WD’s), the suspension is a little spongy and tends to translate an undulating road through to the chassis fairly easily.  Combined with the slightly inadequate side supports built into the back rest of the chair, one has a tendency to shift sideways in the seat when rolling along an uneven road and whilst taking corners.  I’m close to buying a padded cloth seat cover as the leather seat trim, although imparting a touch of luxury they simply do not provide enough grip.

I’m normally a brilliant reverse parker but getting used to the decreased visibility out the rear (high and tinted windows) has taken a bit of practice.  Thankfully the image from the reversing camera has a wide FOV and is clear, even at night; though occasionally it can catch the glare of a setting sun to leave you guessing enough to just check out the back windows and look through the huge mirrors.  Combined with the decreasingly intermittent beeping of the reverse sensors, parking is actually not that hard and with continued practice I’ve managed to get this bulkier vehicle reverse-parked perfectly almost all the time.

Another one of my gripes are the sub-standard cup holders in the doors next to the leg.  They don’t take my standard water bottle and barely fit my travel coffee cup and due to their positioning, can be a bit tricky to get out by reaching forward and going on feel alone.  I can see myself solving this problem by retro-fitting a cup holder into one of the central air vents next to the steering wheel.  Storage space in the centre console is also severely limited under the elbow and with no shelf space in front of the gear stick as it is taken up with the extensive climate control and media centre.  As I optioned up with a dash mat however, I will likely just velcro on some sort of pouch above the air vents.

One other small concern was an intermittent squeaking noise coming somewhere from the back but after mentioning it to the dealer, he suggested I cable tie the tools in the tool roll together.  This lives under the rear-right seat and since securing them, the squeak has disappeared.

At this stage I’ve barely added 700km’s onto the 8,000km clock but already I can say this is one of the best cars I have driven.  Though lacking some of the refinement of many other cars from Asian and European manufacturers, it has all the features where it counts and I think it drives quite nicely.  I paid $18,990 on a dealer demo model, which included the $2000 cash back from Ateco (the company which imports Great Wall into Australia) when they were celebrating 30,000 GW’s sold in Australia in 2012.  I then optioned up with $5000 worth of dealer fitted extras such as a bull bar, side steps, tow bar, dash mat and rubber floor mats, bonnet and headlight protectors, roof racks and basket.  What I ended up with is a great looking, feature packed, safe and practical 4WD for my family and I.

At the time of this writing, I highly recommend one and for the price it simply can’t be beat.

Time will tell if I end up regretting taking a chance with GW but something gives me the feeling I won’t.  Fingers crossed!

-R