Can anyone give me feedback on the Great wall utes? Needing something for our lawnmowing business and these seem relatively cheap. or a van but not sure what one to buy?
monaro17,
Oct 14, 2:03pm
Two schools of thought here. You can either buy a great wall ute and put up with it being totally 'average' and then dump it after 3 years when the warranty runs out for whatever you can get for it.
or you spend a little extra and get a base model ranger xl (last of run out model if you can) and actually enjoy driving it and using it daily. After 3 years you could drop it and pay trade up to a new one Iif you want of keep it or even trade it in on a brand new great wall ute and get cash back in your hand!
tintop,
Oct 14, 3:08pm
Another option is a Foton.
'Name' brand mechanicals that should not cause any problems - but the rest of it? Who can tell?
tony9,
Oct 14, 3:10pm
If you are going to be driving it on your own, then whatever suits you.
If a valued employee or family are in the vehicle, then look carefully at the number of air bags etc.
3tomany,
Oct 14, 3:20pm
costs no more to buy and run a ranger than great wall or try Toyota as they are desperate to rid the old model from showrooms
golfdiver,
Oct 14, 3:21pm
Another option is to buy a good brand at the end of its new vehicle lease at around 3-4 years old for around 21k and drive it for another 5 years.
It's fair to say that they are not yes as well designed, engineered, or built as mainstream. How that plays out on reliability is a quess. Then theirs resale, parts. Then safety, it got a right Royal slaming by ancap who spoke out about just how bad it was. Something about it only got stars due to odd scoring system. What about Mahindra ute?
budgel,
Oct 14, 4:28pm
No matter how good they may or may not be, the look of them would prevent me from buying one.
tamarillo,
Oct 14, 10:46pm
Some bright murals , flags, loo seat on bonnet. Might be alright.
cathair,
Oct 15, 12:10am
I used to drive one at my previous job. Total and utter crap utes! My one in particular went back for warranty claims 4 times. The gearbox's need to be serviced every 20,000k's which isn't very well documented so the warrenty was voided when it went in for gearbox issues. The brake pads wear out insanely quick and the rotors also need replacing frequently, went through 3 sets of pads before the vehicle ticked over 50,000k's and at the time there were no aftermarket pads/rotors available so it was all genuine parts. Very gutless vehicles also. They couldn't pull a skin off a rice pudding.
skiff1,
Oct 15, 1:01am
the fact they are so ugly, actually makes me slightly more confident. It seems to me, that the mahindra has focused on making it work, while the Great Wall has focused on making it look like any other known brand.
cagivachick1,
Oct 15, 1:44am
i see there is a foton single cab welldeck for around 23k
brapbrap8,
Oct 15, 1:49am
Mitsubishi Triton base models are similar priced to the Great wall, and are much nicer, more powerful, safer and quite good resale value. Buy a good brand, it does work out to be cheaper long term, and they are just so much nicer to own anyway.
2get1,
Oct 15, 3:06am
think of the resale value as well, those nasty budget brand vehicles value drops like a stone. Yet 2nd hand Hilux's have for years held their price and commanded a good price on the used market.
poppajn,
Oct 15, 6:09pm
Had 2, never missed a beat, BIL has 3 in a logging gang, they will last as long (3 years) as anything else in those condition's and be used up just as his Nissan's were before them.
brapbrap8,
Feb 6, 8:29pm
Assuming you are talking about 2wd OP, Mitsubishi is advertising the new Triton GLX-R 2wd manual at $29,990. That is quite a high spec ute with all the gear in it including touch screen stereo, reversing camera, 5 star safety and a 10 year warranty. One of the best utes to drive now, similar to the Ranger or Amarok.
They do cheaper models too, no reason to look at a Chinese ute at all.
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