GWM: Price, Reliability and Performance - a straight answer.
- Tim Bond
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The four powertrains, briefly:
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GWM has become one of Australia's fastest-growing car brands, and it's earned that growth by covering nearly every powertrain type at once.
What often gets overlooked is that GWM isn't actually new here: it launched in Australia in June 2009 as Great Wall Motor, making it the first Chinese auto brand to enter the market at all, over 17 years ago, well before BYD, MG's modern China-backed era, or any other Chinese brand currently on sale locally.
Whether that breadth and tenure translates into the right car for you depends on what you're shopping for.
Price. GWM's range runs from genuinely affordable to solidly mid-market. The Haval Jolion opens the range from $24,990 drive-away (VIC), the Ora hatch and Ora 5 SUV both start from $33,990 drive-away, and the Haval H6 mid-size SUV starts from $35,990. Utes and off-roaders sit higher: the Cannon from $36,490, Cannon Alpha from $54,490, and the flagship Tank 500 into the high $60,000s to $70,000s depending on variant. Drive-away pricing varies by state, these are VIC private-buyer figures from GWM's own site.
Verified Fuel Consumption: Hybrids and PHEVs
These are GWM's own official combined-cycle claims, cross-checked against independent test reviews. PHEV figures assume a charged battery, since that's how the manufacturer tests them, real-world consumption rises significantly once the battery is depleted.
Model | Official Combined Claim | Independent Real-World Test |
Haval Jolion Hybrid | 4.8–5.1L/100km | Mid-to-high 6L/100km, claimed as "achievable if driven very gently" (Driven Car Guide) |
Haval H6 Hybrid | 5.2L/100km | Not independently tested in our sources |
Tank 300 Hybrid (HEV) | Around 8.4L/100km | Not independently tested in our sources |
Haval H6 GT PHEV | 0.8L/100km (charged) | Not independently tested in our sources |
Tank 300 Hi4-T PHEV | 1.9L/100km (charged), rising to 8.3L/100km depleted | 5.7L/100km over a 440km mixed road trip (carsales); 11.0L/100km urban, 8.5L/100km country (CarsGuide) |
The Tank 300 PHEV is the clearest example of why the "charged battery" caveat matters: GWM's 1.9L/100km claim is real under lab conditions with a full battery, but independent testers recorded anywhere from 5.7L/100km on a mixed road trip to 11.0L/100km in pure urban driving.
Treat the official PHEV figures as a best-case number, not a realistic daily average, unless you're genuinely charging it every day and doing mostly short trips.
Warranty. This is genuinely one of GWM's stronger selling points: 7 years/unlimited km on the vehicle for private, ABN, fleet and government buyers (7 years/150,000km if used commercially, such as rideshare), plus 8 years/unlimited km on the battery for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric models.
That's a longer vehicle warranty than most established Japanese and Korean rivals offer.
Reliability, honestly. This is where the picture is genuinely mixed, tenure alone doesn't settle it. GWM's build quality has improved and industry reviewers note it's closing the gap on more established brands.
But owner reviews on sites like ProductReview include a number of complaints about after-sales service and dealership responsiveness, including accounts of lengthy repair delays and service disputes.
These are self-reported and not a measured satisfaction benchmark, and review sites skew toward people posting about bad experiences rather than good ones, but they're a genuine signal worth knowing about, not nothing.
Seventeen years in the market hasn't fully resolved GWM's after-sales reputation, even as its sales numbers climb fast.
Performance. This varies enormously across the range. The entry-level Haval Jolion is competent but unremarkable, built for value rather than excitement.
Step up to the Haval H6 and H6 GT and there's genuinely more punch on offer, the H6 GT in particular leans into a sportier, more engaging drive than its price suggests, with the PHEV variant capable of a genuinely quick 4.9-second 0-100km/h.
The Cannon Alpha PHEV surprises with strong outputs for the money. The Tank range trades outright performance for off-road capability and presence instead.
The Verdict on GWM price reliability performance
Buy if: you want a long warranty, sharp pricing, and the reassurance of a brand with genuinely the longest track record of any Chinese manufacturer in Australia. The PHEV and BEV models in particular offer strong value against established rivals, provided you go in with realistic expectations on PHEV fuel figures rather than the optimistic charged-battery claim.
Don't buy if: dealership service reputation matters more to you than upfront price and warranty length. Seventeen years in the market hasn't eliminated real after-sales complaints, so if a rough service experience would seriously bother you, it's worth reading recent owner reviews for your specific model before committing, regardless of how long the brand's been here.
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