Never have I seen such adaptability. Such a keen interest to listen to critique, owners and market research. GWM are fighting for top honours, and they’re adapting and evolving at the quickest pace I’ve seen from a vehicle manufacturer in recent years. We were lucky enough to drive the 2.4-litre diesel Tank 300 in Melbourne, Australia, when it was launched, and now we’re back in the same neck of the woods to drive the 3.0-litre Tank 500 and Cannon Alpha range. These international launches are always exciting for us as a brand. We get the opportunity to drive roads and tracks we’re unfamiliar with, which adds to the adventure side of this work we love so much.
Due to market feedback from the 2.4-litre Cannon Alpha and the lack of a diesel variant in the Tank 500, GWM listened to Australian and New Zealand buyers who wanted more torque and broader options. I felt that hankering too when I drove the Tank 500. It was lovely, but I wanted to hear a diesel engine and feel diesel torque from behind the wheel. I wanted it to feel like a back-country four-wheel drive. I even thought that, if I were in the market and there was a diesel variant, I could be tempted. It was that good.
Fast forward a couple of years and, shockingly, GWM has developed an all-new 3.0-litre. This isn’t a bored and stroked version of the 2.4-litre engine. It’s an entirely new four-cylinder turbo-diesel, producing 170kW and a huge 620Nm. In New Zealand, the Cannon Alpha 3.0TD costs $64,990 in Lux form or $71,990 as a Vanta, while the diesel Tank 500 is offered only as a Vanta at $79,990. The outputs and prices give both vehicles a strong case on paper, but we wanted to know whether the new engine improves them where a 4WD owner actually needs it: on a long drive, under load and on loose ground.
Good foundations, one missing ingredient
Neither vehicle was waiting for a new diesel to become a proper four-wheel drive. The body-on-frame Cannon Alpha has independent front suspension, a leaf-sprung live rear axle, low range and a rear differential lock, with a front locker added in Vanta form. The seven-seat Tank 500 has a multi-link, coil-sprung live rear axle, low range and front and rear lockers. Both quote an 800mm wading depth. The ute’s 3350mm wheelbase gives it space and stability but leaves a modest 19-degree breakover angle. The Tank’s shorter 2850mm wheelbase improves that figure to 22 degrees.
The vehicles also weigh a lot. The diesel Cannon Alpha has a quoted kerb weight of 2550kg, while the Tank 500 Vanta weighs 2705kg. The previous 2.4-litre Cannon Alpha made 135kW and 480Nm, respectable figures until you ask that engine to move a large ute loaded for a trip. The new 3.0-litre adds 35kW and 140Nm. In the Tank, which previously offered no diesel option, the change is as much about character as output.
What the engine brings
Peak torque arrives at just 1400rpm and stays at 620Nm until 2400rpm. That’s the part of the rev range a touring 4WD uses constantly, climbing a gravel road, pulling a trailer or moving gently through a technical section. GWM has fitted a variable-geometry turbocharger, Bosch common-rail injection and a water-to-air intercooler, with a shorter intake path intended to improve response. An electronically controlled viscous fan manages cooling demand without drawing full power all the time. It is a technical package aimed at usable low-speed performance as well as the headline number.
The nine-speed automatic has received local calibration work alongside the engine. GWM’s Australian AT-1 programme also covered steering, suspension, towing behaviour, the brake controller and driver-assistance systems. The company says its Australian validation ran to more than 50,000km on roads, tracks and towing routes. That development is encouraging, although a media drive cannot tell us how a new engine will hold up after years of heavy towing or touring.
Cannon Alpha on road and trail
GWM planned a route east of Melbourne into Bunyip State Park. I had been out that way before, but Bunyip was new territory to me. Australian state forests have usually treated us well, with fire access routes, rough trails and plenty of gravel. There were enough vehicles for each of us to take one, so I chose the Cannon Alpha for the first leg. I already knew I wanted the Tank for the drive back. They’re fancy. After about an hour in traffic, we reached the trailhead, regrouped and selected 4H on the move before heading onto the loose stuff.
The first thing the 3.0-litre does on the road is remove some of the effort from driving the Alpha. It doesn’t turn a 2550kg ute into something small or fast, but there’s more engine available without asking for a handful of revs or another downshift. It gathers speed with a broad, low-rpm shove that suits its size. The extra 140Nm feels more useful in daily driving than a peak-power figure alone would suggest, because the engine no longer seems to be working so hard to carry the vehicle.
On gravel, you can make progress without winding up the engine and generating unnecessary wheel speed. When the trail tightens, low range multiplies that torque and the lockers provide mechanical traction when wheel travel runs out. The long wheelbase still asks you to think about breakover, and the Vanta’s 265/55R19 Continental road tyres aren’t what I would choose for a remote touring build. GWM confirmed there is no factory all-terrain option at present. The chassis and driveline have more off-road ability than those tyres suggest, but tyres would be high on my list before taking one deeper into the back country.
The Tank finds its character
The return drive in the Tank 500 was the one I had been looking forward to. I liked this wagon the first time I drove it, but its powertrain didn’t quite match the vehicle I wanted it to be. Underneath the comfort and the fancy cabin are a ladder-frame chassis, low range and two locking differentials. A diesel seemed the natural fit for a big wagon built to carry people and equipment well beyond the sealed road.
The 3.0-litre gives it the lazy, low-speed pull I was missing. Even at more than 2.6 tonnes, the Tank can lean on its torque without feeling busy. On the road it is quiet and comfortable, while the same response is easy to work with as speeds fall off-road. Its shorter wheelbase helps in tighter terrain, and the coil-sprung rear suspension gives it a different balance of ride and axle control from the leaf-sprung ute. The Tank always had the mechanical equipment. It now has an engine that feels at home with it.
Towing and touring numbers
Both diesels are rated to tow 3500kg braked and have an integrated trailer-brake controller and a dedicated towing mode. The Tank 500 reaches that tow rating for the first time. GWM has also worked on the transmission and trailer-related electronics locally, including a camera display to help manoeuvre with a trailer. We did not tow 3500kg on this launch, so the rating and the promised calibration still need to be tested properly with a heavy trailer in New Zealand.
The Cannon’s quoted payload is 945kg, with a 3495kg GVM and 6555kg GCM. The Tank 500 Vanta has a 690kg payload, 3395kg GVM and 6545kg GCM. Neither vehicle can be loaded to its maximum GVM and tow the full 3500kg while remaining under GCM. Add passengers, camping gear, accessories and towball mass, and the individual axle limits matter too. The Tank Vanta does get a useful factory touring feature: a 131-litre fuel supply, made up of a 78-litre main tank and a 53-litre auxiliary tank.
GWM claims combined fuel consumption of 7.3L/100km for the Cannon Alpha and 7.1L/100km for the Tank 500. They are controlled-test figures, not a promise for a loaded 4WD wearing all-terrain tyres or towing into a headwind. We will need a longer New Zealand drive to see what either vehicle actually uses in the conditions its buyers care about.
Would I own one?
The question a launch drive cannot settle is long-term ownership. Toyota, Ford and Isuzu have spent decades building parts networks, aftermarket support and a record of how their vehicles age in local conditions. The GW4F30 is new. GWM’s development testing and seven-year warranty offer some reassurance, but we still don’t know what thousands of these engines will look like after 250,000km of customer use. If I planned to keep one for 15 years and modify it extensively, I would weigh that uncertainty carefully.
Judged on the vehicles we drove, though, the answer is yes. The Alpha now feels properly matched to its size, with low-speed torque that makes its load-carrying and off-road hardware more useful. The Tank is the bigger surprise: it has the comfort and factory touring equipment I already liked, but now drives like the diesel 4WD I had imagined when I first got behind its wheel. I said a couple of years ago that if GWM put a good diesel in the Tank 500, I could be tempted. Well, they did, and I am.
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