Great Wall X240 - Test Drive in Brighton Great Wall
What we liked Sharp, modern design at an affordable rate, well equipped three years free roadside assistance.
Not as side airbags, traction control and stability not available AWD can t be selected on the coarse motor tarmac modest power gaps in the quality of the cabin.
Overall Rating 2 5 5 0 Motor and Drive 2 5 5 0 Price, Convenience value 3 0 5 0 0 5 0 Safety 2 Behind the wheel 2 0 5 0 X-Factor 3 0 5 0.
OVERVIEW In a hot market Having made headlines with the cheapest crew cab utes on the new-car market, Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motors has entered the lucrative compact but very competitive segment softroader His X240, which is sold on site in October 2009, is one of 24 participants in the class has 23,990 moving vehicles, it is also one of the cheapest.
Only the small, three-door Suzuki Jimny 4WD is cheaper 20.490 and more on roads although superceded soon to be Hyundai Tucson, Nissan Dualis and Kia Sportage, which, like the X240 are also soft-roader five-seater cars are only 2000 more than the Chinese offer.
The Great Wall X240 is new to our shores, but he had already been on sale in China for at least three years before coming here Thus, although it seems modern, its foundations are relatively dated and due to a revision sometime in the next two to three years.
GWM should at least be commended for coming up with a unique design that doesn t seem to be a copy of another popular model in the class some observers have noted similarities between the appearance of the Great Wall utes and Isuzu models, for example.
The X240 is what's known in the business as a vehicle body frame on which the body is mounted on a separate chassis, a technique mainly used in commercial vehicles and trucks, as opposed to the body is a unit complete and having a suspension attached to him how most cars and softroaders are made.
Thus, the X240 shares some components and chassis with GWM V240 ute, but technically they are not identical twins under the skin.
Although they share the same source 2 Mitsubishi 4 liter gasoline engine with four cylinders, the five-speed manual transmission and a 4-wheel drive system, the chassis softroader X240 is shorter than its ute stable and obtains a suspension coil at the rear instead of ute s leaves most rudimentary spring set up and disc brakes on all four wheels instead of rear drums UTE.
The X240 has not set new benchmarks for the technology or innovation indeed, it is quite raw in some areas by modern standards, but it has a big asset in his round of price.
So even before we started testing the conduct of the X240 in and around Sydney suburbs, we knew what the last question if only you buy a nearly new softroader a consumer brand with half the remaining warranty, or take a punt on a new thereof.
PRICE AND EQUIPMENT At this price, it is worth looking at, at the moment there is only one model of the X240 2 range 4 Motor petrol with five-speed manual transmission A manual diesel and gasoline Automatic are due in the second half of 2010.
The only option suited to our test car had a sunroof, which in 1000 is a bargain.
Leather seats, reading lamps, sunglasses holder, remote central locking, MP3 CD player, power windows and mirrors, dual air bags, antilock brakes, rear privacy glass and rear parking sensors are all the standard is three years 100000 km warranty and roadside assistance 24 hours.
The audio device with an auxiliary audio input in the form of a USB port Indeed, the only notable omissions of comfort features are a lack of standard Bluetooth connection, although dealers will no doubt be pleased help you here and cruise control.
Buyers of the family should consider, however, that the side airbags, traction and stability control aren t available at any price to see security below.
MECHANICAL origins Ute 2nd transmission 4 liter four 100 kW gasoline engine cylinders and 200 nm and five-speed are the same as those found in GWM V240 ute.
When we tested this ute last year, we commented on the lack of high-revving engine refinement and fairly flat power band even for the same engine and transmission in the X240 course, the X240 is not supposed be a race car and win a luxury price, but these comments are made while putting the vehicle in the context of his peers.
The engine doesn t seem willing at first and it takes a while to head up steam but, interestingly, seem to be really high speed against-productive, so you need to keep the engine boiling between 3000- Anything beyond 5000rpm which gives the X240 a bit of an asthma attack.
The 0 to 100 km formal request h is about 20 seconds Our stopwatch showed between 19 and 21 seconds slower This is 1960.
The manual five-speed transmission is solid, but can be a bit notchy The clutch action is light and easy You can switch to 4WD while traveling to 60km pm and there is a high end choice and there for those who want to go off-road driving but the 4WD system is not designed to run on the tarmac most softroaders in this class have 4WD systems that only work on the tarmac.
The X240 is also slightly more thirsty than its closest rivals, despite its slow pace of official combined cycle average is 10 4L 100 km, but for comparison the four-wheel drive Subaru Forester has an average rating of 9 3L 100 km and the base model 2WD Kia Sportage has an average rating of 8 0L 100 km.
city cycle for the X240 is 13 100 km and 6L road cycle is 8 100 km 5L according to the Green Guide Vehicle.
A diesel engine is due to the second half of 2010, with an automatic option for the alternative fuel.
PACKAGING Five seats, large cargo space The X240 is slightly smaller on the side of the current generation of softroaders but this is not necessarily a bad thing in this respect, it is similar in size to the first generation Subaru Forester or Mitsubishi Challenger.
The body design of X240 chassis brings with it a compromise, but the load floor is higher and the floor in the cabin is quite shallow, if you feel your knees sitting a little more than they would in to other vehicles.
But aside from that, the cabin is a relatively comfortable place to be s room for four adults or two adults and three children there are also many storage pockets in the front, although the storage pockets in the doors are pretty slim.
The seat back flips forward and one movement easy to create a massive cargo space tools for wheel jack are stowed under the rear seat also.
A full size spare wheel is mounted under the rear of the car, which means that you will get dirty if you get an apartment, but it also means that you do not have to unpack your luggage to get to the damn thing as this article was published, Goodyear was still shares or have an official price for the original equipment of the X240 235 65 R17 tires Fortera.
Great Wall Motors seems to have copied the Toyota instruments basic layout keyring is almost identical to an old key fob Toyota is a pity that they haven t yet matched the quality of the test car and other X240s, we looked out the car window yard there was a large gap between the top of the dashboard and the trim around the radio controls and air conditioning.
In addition, some switching devices are indicators that squeaks when some things did not work as well as expected opening the roof cover gets stuck halfway you try to retract.
At least the horn worked on this test car, it didn t on the previous ute tested Horn fans would know that actually gets X240 not one but two Euro style horns They're so strong that you will have people looking of a train.
SAFETY Figure ANCAP soon, but the lack of active safety Although GWM X240 shares some components with the V240 ute, it would be wrong to draw conclusions from the ute rating of two stars in crash test ANCAP last year.
That's why the independent authority plans to test the X240 The results are expected in the first half of 2010, it would be helpful to check the site to see how it works.
The failure of the passenger's seatbelt into the ute V240 ANCAP during a test at the end of 2009 and the subsequent recall does not affect X240 According to the local distributor Ateco Automotive, retractors seat belts in the X240 softroader differ seatbelt retractors in the V240 utility.
All five seating positions have lap-frame seat belts and headrests adjustable for height in terms of safety equipment, the X240 has dual front airbags and antilock brakes bases Unfortunately, traction control, stability control and side and curtain airbags are not available at any price.
Since the X240 is already at least three years, it is unlikely that these features will be added to the current vehicle, we may have to wait for a new model in two to three years which are fast becoming active safety features based.
distributors local GWM saw at least able to equip all X240 with rear parking sensors as standard went dead and grandchildren injuries are a tragic reality, so we hope that this sensor system can help to prevent such an incident happen.
That said, if the GWM product planners are currently preparing a list of what to put on the next model, we suggest you to a rear camera and becomes standard on an increasing number of days vehicles Toyota Camry Ford Territory.
COMPETITORS New thereof, or those old Suzuki Jimny when the new X240 is cheaper than its small but three doors while the X240 is a five-seat wagon Indeed, because the X240 has a high starting price, its real rivals are used cars.
The closest new are the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson who both guarantees unlimited mileage five and the Nissan Dualis But it softroaders-motor two-wheel drive and at least another 2000 more expensive five-seat wagon competitors the X240.
rivals dollar for dollar real world will probably be used Toyota RAV, Subaru Forester and Mitsubishi Outlander, which are available for about the same money at about 18 months 30000 km on the clock.
They got a ve always guaranteed left and, provided they have been served by the book should give you any problems.
ROAD jiggle a bit like with the GWM V240 ute, which felt like a previous generation ute, the softroader X240 feels like a vehicle of the previous generation It reminded me of the original Mitsubishi Challenger's a realization of all sorts, except that Mitsubishi has already moved to the next rank.
At least GWM has seen fit to equip the X240 with the same type of quality tires that are mounted on AWD models Ford Territory Goodyear Fortera So while the suspension wiggles around and gets a little disturbed by the bumps, there adhesion once everything settles.
The brakes felt surprisingly good maybe because the X240 gets discs on all four corners while the ute rear drums.
Visibility is good all around with large windows and a low window line compared to most modern cars convex mirrors on both sides of the car also allowed to see what is happening around you.
The shift could be more smooth, and the engine power delivery could be better and more consistent, but we're talking about a car 23,990 driveaway here.
My last comments echo those made for GWM utes The X240 is a good first effort, and the building blocks for a better vehicle is there that says I'd be inclined to wait a little longer before taking a punt clearance.
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