2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra Review

It’s been a while in the motoring world since we’ve seen a true automotive celebrity. Y’know, a car that’s been hyped up, looked forward to and upon its release, had a red carpet laid out in front of it. Perhaps because so many new car sales come from luxury brands so seeing an expensive car isn’t as exciting as it once was, or perhaps because we already have so many brands locally, most cars we test barely get a look from bystanders. But this one was different – behold the 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra.

Revealed in 2020, the Tank 300 has received much fanfare since it was announced. Our market is very off-road vehicle friendly – and rightly so, just take a gander at our backyard – and while usually most are quite brand loyal, we’ve not seen this level of excitement from all types of people for a long time. Even in our week with it, there was rarely an hour that went past without people staring at it and wondering what it is. Does the Tank 300 live up to the hype? Let’s find out.

Price & Equipment: 9/10

Priced from just $46,990 drive away for the entry-level Lux, the upper-spec 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra that we tested is priced from $50,990 drive away. Buyers can spend more on a Tank 300 by choosing the hybrid variant – $55,990 for the Lux and $59,990 for the Ultra – but even then, the Tank 300 is great value for money.

Standard equipment on the Ultra variant we tested includes 18-inch alloy wheels with a full-sized alloy spare, automatic dusk-sensing LED exterior lighting with daytime running lights, auto wipers, a sunroof, keyless entry and start, heated and auto-folding mirrors, roof rails, nappa leather upholstery, a 12-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat with massaging functionality, heated and cooled front seats, a heated leather steering wheel, dual-zone climate control with rear air vents, a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, AM/FM radio, a nine-speaker Infinity sound system, a wireless phone charger, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, 64-colour LED interior ambient lighting and four USB ports.

Safety kit includes seven airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, lane trace assist, door open warning, traffic sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring, front and rear cross-traffic alert (with braking), auto high beam, front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree camera. The Tank 300 earned a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2022.

Colour options for the Tank 300 Ultra include the no-cost ‘Fossil Grey’, as well as the $595-extra ‘Crystal Black’, ‘Pearl White’, ‘Lunar Red’ and our test car’s ‘Dusk Orange’. Black leather is the only trim option.

For those looking to spend under $80,000 on an off-roader, there are a lot of options available to compare to the Tank 300. At the cheaper end are the Suzuki Jimny and Mahindra Scorpio, while the Jeep Wrangler (probably the closest in size to the Tank 300) and Land Rover Defender 110 are far more expensive. In the middle are a plethora of options of varying size, engine and seating capacity. Cars like the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Toyota Fortuner and Prado and SsangYong Rexton are all available for those wanting a big SUV to take off-road.

We think the Tank 300 strikes a great balance between off-road ability and price – yes, it doesn’t feature seven seats, and it’s a bit smaller than a lot of the cars mentioned above. But priced from under $50,000 for the entry-level Lux, the Tank 300 represents a lot of car, off-road ability and equipment for the money. As for standard equipment, it doesn’t lack much but we’d like to see features like satellite navigation and an electric front passenger seat added to the standard kit list – and the digital radio, auto parking and memory driver’s seat from the Ultra hybrid should be standard on the Ultra petrol too.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

Under the bonnet of the 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra is a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 162kW of power (at 5,500rpm) and 380Nm of torque (between 1,800rpm and 3,600rpm). That’s mated to an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission sourced from German giant ZF and power is sent to the ground via a part-time four-wheel drive system that features both front and rear differential locks, as well as both high- and low-range gearing.

The engine itself is one of the surprises of the Tank 300 package – it’s quite refined, it sounds good and it offers pretty reasonable pep as well. Its refinement isn’t just good compared to its mostly loud four-cylinder diesel rivals either, even compared with similar petrol rivals, it’s nicely hushed. Peak torque hits at just 1,800rpm and even though the Tank 300 weighs a porky 2,106kg tare mass, the engine moves it pretty well. While there’s no claimed 0-100km/h sprint time, we guesstimate it to be around the 8.5 second mark, which is plenty quick for most people, especially in comparison to four-cylinder diesel rivals.

The only available transmission for the Tank 300 petrol is an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission from ZF. As we’ve seen in many other brands, ZF makes some great gearboxes and the one used in the Tank 300 is pretty good as well – it shifts seamlessly and intuitively, and added to how quiet the engine is, makes for a pretty refined overall driving experience. The Tank 300’s braked towing capacity is 2,500kg, which is around 1,000kg less than the best that four-cylinder diesel rivals can do.

The claimed fuel consumption for the 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra is 9.5L/100km, and in mostly urban driving, we achieved 12.3L/100km – around 2-3L/100km more than four-cylinder diesel rivals in similar testing but still not horrible. Helping running costs is that it can run on 91RON regular unleaded, while it features a big 75-litre fuel tank. Those wanting more efficiency out of a Tank 300 should consider the hybrid – its 8.4L/100km fuel consumption rating is under 1L/100km less than the petrol model, but it does make a huge combined 258kW of power and 615Nm of torque for more effortless performance.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

Based on GWM’s ‘Tank’ platform that underpins both the Tank 300 and its larger Tank 500 sibling – which is reportedly due in Australia in 2024 – the 2023 GWM Tank 300 drives quite well. Not just for its size, segment or branding, but just quite well in general. Like the drivetrain, the driving experience is quite refined with little in the way of road noise, and just a touch of wind noise thanks to the Tank 300’s brick-like aerodynamics. The ride quality might be a touch firm for some, but its body control is pretty good and its handling is reasonable as well. We’d like more weight from the steering, however.

While we were unable to take the Tank 300 off road in this test – we hope to in the future – other Australian motoring publications have give quite positive reviews about its off-road ability. Helping its off road cause are a 224mm ground clearance, 33-degree approach and 34-degree departure angles, various off-road driving modes, hill descent control and ‘tank turn’, which brakes the inside wheel for sharper low-speed turning. Elsewhere in the driving experience, the Tank 300 is not quite as positive – the lane keep assist is frustrating as it dings every time it turns on and when the stop-start system restarts the engine, it flickers the headlights. Sorry to the car in front, we weren’t flashing you!

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

While there’s a clear influence from Mercedes-Benz’s latest cabins on the inside of the Tank 300, it – like the Haval H6 variants we’ve tested – is a surprisingly high quality place to spend time. Most of the surfaces inside the Tank 300 are of pretty good quality – from the lovely nappa leather upholstery on the seats to the stitched soft plastics on the doors, it’s certainly nicer than the cabin of a Jeep Wrangler.

Storage inside the Tank 300 is pretty good with a huge central bin with a sliding shelf, big cup holders, a reasonable glovebox, a big tray underneath the dashboard with a wireless phone charger, two storage areas on the right of the driver’s leg and reasonable door pockets.

Centre of the Tank 300’s cabin is a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as AM/FM radio – though no satellite navigation or digital radio. It’s broadly the same system that’s used in other GWM products, but it’s been improved since we last used it thanks to brighter colours, some redesigned menus and a quicker processor. The nine-speaker Infinity sound system is quite punchy as well, and shows a higher quality of depth than we’re used to from Infinity sound systems.

GWM has revised the physical versus virtual button situation in the Tank 300 versus the Haval H6, and some of the climate control buttons are now located on the lower dashboard, unlike the H6 and its almost all-digital climate control system. It’s much less annoying to use the climate control system as a result, but we still wish that some functions – like disabling the lane keeping assist system – were performed through physical buttons because there’s no home button. Disabling the lane keep assist while using Apple CarPlay – for example – takes a good five button presses, which is just too many.

The rear seat of the Tank 300 is not massive – as can be the case for many body-on-frame SUVs – but two adults will fit fine thanks to good levels of both leg- and headroom. There are some nice amenities too, such as two USB ports, air vents, a centre armrest with cupholders, door pockets and map pockets – plus, the ambient lighting continues to the rear doors as well. There are two ISOFIX points, as well as three top-tether points, for child seats.

The boot of the Tank 300 is not huge, but measures a reasonable 400-litres of space with the seats up – GWM doesn’t quote a figure with them folded but we guesstimate it to be around 1,500L. With the rear seats folded, there’s a lot of space and unlike most rivals, they fold completely flat. The boot is well finished with a few bag hooks, a 220V household socket, some hooks and storage on the rear door and some under-floor storage too, but no cover blind.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like other GWM products, the 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra is covered by a seven-year/unlimited km warranty with five years of roadside assistance. The odd service intervals from the H6 carry over to the Tank 300 – the first service interval is at either 10,000km or 12 months, with each service a further 15,000km or 12 months onwards. Five years or 70,000km of servicing costs $2,000 ($400 each).

Most rivals offer five year warranty terms, with varying distance terms – Suzuki, Ford and Toyota’s warranty is for unlimited km, while Isuzu Ute gives you six years and 150,000km of coverage and Jeep gives you five years, but 100,000km of coverage.

The 2023 GWM Tank 300 Ultra DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.4/10

Overall, we’re happy to admit that we came away pleasingly surprised at the 2023 GWM Tank 300 for a variety of reasons. More than the usual compromised-in-the-name-of-off-road-capability we’ve become used to like cars like the Jeep Wrangler, Suzuki Jimny and Toyota Fortuner, the Tank 300 proves that it’s possible to make a car that’s both aimed at the off-road crowd, up to date in tech and quite refined. It’s also excellent value for money, comes quite well equipped, is cheap to service for the segment and, perhaps because of its retro-like styling, shows a lot of character.

As for the downsides, it’s not that frugal, cabin space isn’t huge, some of its features like lane keeping assistance and lack of a home button are annoying, and its 2,500kg braked towing capacity will turn some buyers off. But overall, we think that the Tank 300 is largely a home run and it – plus its Ora sibling and the new MG 4 – shows that Chinese car makers are quickly catching up to their Western rivals. The first Chinese automotive celebrity? You betcha!