GWM Tank 300 Ultra Diesel review

“If it had a diesel I’d have bought one.” That, according to GWM Australia, has been a recurring feedback from potential Aussie Tank 300 buyers the importer has thus far failed to convert into owners. And it’s remained the elephant in the garage ever since the upper-mid-sized 4×4 wagon first arrived in 2023 as a turbo petrol and, 12 months later, a petrol-based hybrid.

To date, the Tank 300 has enjoyed some success as a relatively attainable, alternative-powertrain disruptor to the harder-core all-terrain wagon scene, if a critical mixed bag. Yours truly has reviewed all of them — this is my personal fourth swing at Tank 300 in two years — and I can attest that the breed’s misses thus far aren’t centred on a lack of multi-terrain capability.

Comfort, faith, surety: call it what you like, but Aussies prefer diesels for adventure and hard yakka. And if shoehorning an oiler into Tank 300’s engine bay is a no-brainer, transplanting the 135kW/480Nm 2.4-litre single-turbo diesel from the Cannon ute appears, ahem, no-brainier.

“Around 75 percent of the Tank 300’s competition in large and upper-large segments are diesel,” claims GWM Australia.

There’s also more to the Tank 300 2.4T, as it’s badged, than swapping donks and calling it a dusty day. GWM seems keenly aware of how towing and payload impacts credentials, so both upped respectively to 3000kg braked (from 2500kg) and 600kg (from 400kg).

“We didn’t just up the spec sheet figures,” its imports says, with the diesel variants benefiting from “around 20” technical changes to support its load-lugging and van-dragging chops.

Highlights include larger brakes, revised front suspension knuckles, a new rear diff casing, upgraded wheel bearings and a stronger prop shaft, to name five of those tweaks.

But the big ticket item is that diesel gets a different, part-time 4×4 driveline: essentially a simpler and more robust application than the one specified for the higher-output 225kW and 648Nm petrol-hybrid powertrain, for durability’s sake as much as anything. (The GWM proprietary nine-speed auto, though, is ported over to the diesel largely unchanged.)

What makes the diesel more enticing within its own range is that, despite its range-topping credentials, GWM has positioned the oiler between the base turbo-petrol and the high-spec petrol hybrid on price, for both the nice Lux and nicer Ultra trim grades, the latter of which we tested for this review.

So what better place to start…

What are the Tank 300 Diesel’s features and options for the price?

As standard, the Tank 300 Diesel is offered in lower-trim Lux guise at $47,990 driveaway, which is just $2000 above the base Lux (petrol, at $45,990 D/A) and three grand below the Lux Hybrid ($50,990 D/A).

Meanwhile, the higher-grade Ultra on test here lands at $51,990 D/A, just a thousand bucks more than the Ultra (petrol, $50,990 D/A) and five grand thriftier than the line-up crowning Ultra Hybrid ($56,990 D/A).

Given both diesel trim grades mirror specifications of the petrol/hybrids, it’s curious that the oiler Ultra pricing is a little sweeter than the Lux. GWM Australia is forecasting that diesel should make up around 60 percent of Tank 300 sales moving forward, so it makes sense that the pricier Ultra variant appears a little more value-laden, perhaps…

Whatever the case, the standard Lux Diesel features include:

• 17-inch alloy wheels with full-size spare
• LED headlights and tail lights with auto high-beam
• Dual-range 4×4
• Rear electronic-locking mechanical differential
• Two-piece underbody chassis guard
• 360-degree rearview camera
• ‘Transparent chassis view’ underbody camera
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Heated/power-folding mirrors
• Synthetic leather seat trim
• Six-way driver/four-way power front passenger seat adjustment
• 12.3-inch dual displays for driver and media
• Nine-speaker premium audio
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Proprietary sat-nav
• Dual-zone climate control
• Seven-colour mood lighting
• Sunroof
• USB, 12v and 220v power

Beyond these, the Ultra Diesel on test here exclusively fits:

• 18-inch wheels with full-size spare
• Front electronic locking mechanical differential
• Nappa leather accented trim
• Heated steering wheel
• Eight-way power and four-way lumbar driver’s seat
• Driver seat memory and massaging
• Wireless phone charging
• 64-colour ambient lighting
• Wing mirror memory function
• Auto dimming rearview mirror
• Nine-speaker ‘premium’ audio

Both grades fit 4×4-centric inclusions such as 2H/4H/4L selection, Crawl Control, Turn Assist, and various off-road drive modes including Snow, Sand, Rock, Mud, Auto and a customisable Expert suite, which allows tuning of throttle, steering, traction control and differential locking.

Outside of standard Fossil Grey, there are four premium paint colours commanding $595.

Value wise, the Tank 300 diesel offers a lot of features for its price point, particularly when compared against pricier if similarly feature-rich all-terrain offerings in the line-ups of Ford Everest, Toyota Prado, Jeep Wrangler or Defender 110.

How does the Tank 300 Diesel drive?

There’s something comforting and reassuringly old school about the introduction of one thing to the Tank 300 recipe that’s been missing to date: diesel rattle. It does rob a real highlight of the petrol-based variants — smooth and quiet commuting and touring — but so be it.

Still, it’s no brash rattler. In fact, this ‘4D24’ 2.4-litre diesel is polite and reasonably refined compared to many familiar Thai-sourced 4×4 ute and wagon engines, its character (somehow) more muted than the near identical units shared in GWM’s own Cannon and Cannon Alpha pick-ups.

It’s single turbocharged, albeit using a variable-geometry unit — a design intended on adding drivability breadth and limiting lag without having to revert to a sequential twin-turbo arrangement, as used by rival Ford. It plies 480Nm in a slim 1500-2500rpm sweet spot, with a modest all-she’s-got 135kW arriving at just 3500rpm.

Once it mounts its torque plateau, the 2.4’s an energetic unit with plenty of thrust. It’s handy on the open road and for on-the-roll punch, and the auto, at least on road, does a decent job of plucking one of the more fitting of the nine available forward ratios to make for dignified and refined progress.

Off the mark, though, it’s not quite on the ball. In lazier drive modes, there’s a dip in the throttle response before it lunges quite abruptly as torque piles on. In Sport mode, the throttle becomes uncomfortably peaky, demanding concentrated and measured right foot inputs for smooth driving.

That’s on road. And this is not the sort of calibration that’s going to do the driver or progress favours when faced with low-speed, low-traction work once you stick it into the rough stuff.

The local launch program for Tank 300 diesel took place on some easy-to-moderately tricky bush fire trails set into the hills around Victoria’s Yarra Valley wine country. And a lot of it involved relatively steep climbs and ascents that, while hardly stretching the wagon’s capabilities, did serve to highlight some off-road shortcomings.

Firstly, the throttle take-up is too sharp and pedal travel too short. The package is perfectly capable just in two-high (2H) across a typically loose dirt road, but the rears (Michelins at that) tend to constantly spin for traction or bang up against the traction control with the latter left activated.

Across flatter terrain it’s easy enough to make controlled and consistent progress in high-range 4×4, but faced with low-range climb things get measurably trickier. The crawl ratio simply amplifies the alertness of the throttle inputs, and it’s easy to get the wagon ‘pig rooting’ without being very very steady with the right foot.

Strangely, too, is that low-range will cling desperately to transmission ratios when left in D for drive, at times the engine spinning above the 4000rpm mark where, specs suggest, is well outside the diesel’s sweet spot. During steep climbs, progress is a bit ‘lung and stop’ — fine for dry running conditions, but unproductive if the going gets muddy and slippery.

Our test car also got flummoxed switching from 4H to 4L and back, demanding the vehicle be shut down and restarted, or something… That said, it did right itself quickly with some on-the-fly button fiddling.

Dig into the labyrinth of driver selectable off-road adjustment options in the media screen and there are probably solutions to taming — and suitably dulling — the powertrain character in there somewhere. But who wants to troubleshoot when you’re perched skyward with a wheel in the air on some forsaken trail in the middle of nowhere?

The coil-sprung double-wishbone front and Panhard-type live axle rear suspension has proven, in Tank 300 tests past, perfectly adequate for reasonably challenging off-roading. But the Diesel seems quite firmer in tune that its petrol and hybrid stablemates, and s jury is out regarding wheel articulation and outright traction when faced with properly serious moguls.

The electrically assisted steering is very light, which is a real boon off road if a little disconnected on the hot-mix, where the feather tiller and stiff ride make for unusual bedfellows. Character wise, it’s as if GWM engineers arrived at a middle ground between the petrol Tank 300 mild-mannered pleasantries and a Jeep Wrangler’s rough and tumble agriculture.

It’s a nice enough tourer, provided you stray from sharp bumps and speed humps and keep the rig moving and away from its issues with stop-start turbo lag. It tracks confidently on its rubber, is easy to place on the road and outward visibility is excellent.

Fantastic 360-degree camera system too, and the Transparent Chassis View — underfloor forward camera — is as handy at a Bunnings carpark as along some rocky fire trail.

Then there’s towing and payload. With a GVM of 2880kg but a GCM of 5580kg, you could legally tow three tonnes with, maybe, two-up in the cabin. Or you could load up four mates and a heap of swag in the boot (and hitch a much lighter trailer). But all at once? Well…

Perhaps the big and very pleasant surprise is that Tank 300’s electronic driver assistance (aka annoyance) systems seem to be tamed to much better outcome than the woefully calibrated hybrid versions…something I’ve personally whinged about very long and very hard.

In the petrol-electric version, the driver is bombarded by a constant barrage of warnings of indiscretion. In the diesel, rarely a peep.

The overspeed system’s long verbal tirades and the woefully calibrated driver attention monitor, once the banes of misery accompanying any Tank 300 Hybrid trip, are almost non-existent in the diesel. The active lane keeping/centring/departing nannies that used to bleat ad nauseam, too, are now strangely silent, and remain so after restarting the vehicle.

Has GWM finally eradicated the biggest critical barrier to recommending Tank 300 as an ownership proposition with fixes to these systems that were so desperately needed? We’ll really need to get this apparently ‘fixed’ diesel into the Chasing Cars garage for a more forensic assessment outside of a curated OEM launch program to see.

What is the Tank 300 Diesel’s interior and tech like?

Unsurprisingly, the powertrain swap hasn’t introduced much in the way of changes to the Tank 300 Ultra interior fitout. Bar some very small tweaks — the media system now offers audio volume buttons in its frame, for instance — the diesel is a dead-ringer for its stablemates.

The Ultra’s cabin continues to present nicely. Now two years old in the local market, the look and feel is impressive and upmarket against segment competitors that want for anything like this sort of thrifty price point.

There’s still very little that separates the Lux from the Ultra grades in terms of spec — the lower grade now gets wireless phone mirroring and the Transparent Chassis View that were once Ultra exclusives — and so many of the Ultra upgrades centre around driver’s seat fanciness and functionality.

An excess of conspicuously cheap plastics remain but, again given the $52K driveaway price point, is quite acceptable given the lavish tech appointment of dual-12.3-inch digital eye candy and the myriad features beyond the sharp media touchscreen.

It still looks as if Tank design went pilfering the Jeep and new-old-stock Mercedes-Benz parts bins after hours for inspiration in the details, but the bluff theme topped with a veneer of luxury motoring — as plasticky as it so conspicuously looks — continues to charm.

The partial nappa leather trim is nicely tactile, the huge array of driver’s seat adjustment makes for a very comfortable helm for long hauling, and like the rest of the Tank 300 line-up the diesel has a real bank vault-like sense of solidity to its build.

The pistol grip transmission selector continues to be a novelty that looks interesting but’s completely unintuitive to use — Park is almost hidden in the top of the lever — and your reviewer still loves the turbine air vents even if the clumsy HVAC control remain tucked away in the media screen where making adjustment is distracting.

On that, accessing settings for the Expert drive modes requires a lot of digging about — getting the most out of the user adjustability will demand you spend a bit of time parked up and figuring it all out.

The Tank 300 is quite comfy in both rows, with an airy ambience afforded by generous cabin width and a large glasshouse, with excellent visibility from the second row thanks to the huge glasshouse.

It’s roomy, too. In resisting the temptation to squeeze an extra third row of seating into the Tank 300’s almost 4.8-metre long form, the rear passengers get oodles of knee room, complimented by ample head and shoulder room for a cabin space fit for three adults across.

Large grab handles on the B-pillars, rear air vents, dual USB device power outlets, large door bins, dual cup holders in the fold down armrest…the rear fit-out is pretty decent as well.

Unsurprisingly, the Tank 300 continues with hanging the spare wheel off the side-hinged tailgate, rather than the lift-back arrangement (and underslung spare) that Toyota has opted for in the new Prado.

What this brings in unfettered cargo space — 400 litres as a five-seater, 1635L as a two-seater — you lose in practicality, as boot access is nigh on impossible when reverse parking to a wall at your local shopping centre.

Is the Tank 300 Diesel a safe car?

Despite clearly stating that “petrol/diesel and hybrid” versions of Tank 300 are covered by ANCAP’s current five-star rating on the regime’s website, the diesel versions are, in fact, currently unrated/untested when you bury down into the ANCAP report.

However, GWM Australia is “confident” that assessments that have been conducted on the oiler versions will return a five-star result today to mirror the 2022 outcome applied to the petrol and hybrid variants.

The Ultra diesel gets most, though not all, of the features fitted to Ultra hybrid version of the Tank 300 and includes:

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Forward collision warning
• Lane departure warning
• Lane keeping/lane centring
• Emergency lane keeping
• Lane changing assist
• Rear collision warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert with reverse automatic braking
• Front cross-traffic alert with braking
• Driver attention warning
• Overspeed warning
• Open door warning
• Tyre pressure monitoring

Absent from the diesel (if fitted to the hybrid) are:

• High Way Assist (with collision avoidance)
• Reverse Assist
• Auto Parking Assist

The Tank 300 fits seven airbags, with front-middle, front, side and full-length curtain coverage. It also fits Isofix mounting points on the rear outboard seating positions.

As mentioned above, we found many of the active safety features to be either a) much improved compared to past assessment of petrol and petrol hybrid variants or b) not functioning or switched off at the time of testing.

What are the Tank 300 Diesel ownership costs?

The Tank 300 diesel is offered with GWM’s ‘triple-seven’ ownership coverage of seven years of unlimited-kilometre warranty, seven years of roadside assist and seven years of capped price servicing.

At the time of review, Tank 300 diesel servicing pricing was yet to be finalised, with GWM stating that it’ll likely mirror the Cannon ute range: currently a six-month/5000km first service ($310) followed by 12-month/10,000km intervals ($420-$460 per visit), for an indicative 54-month/45,000km outlay of $2065.

This is a different schedule to the petrols, which have a 12-month/10,000km first service ($335) followed by 12-month/15,000km intervals ($350-$635 per visit), for an actual 60-month/70,000km outlay of $2305.

The Tank 300 is rated to use 7.8L/100km, though we saw 8.4L in our hefty (2280kg) Ultra after generally mixed on-road touring. Its importer reckons there’s as much as 950km of touring range — on the iffy NEDC measure — using a single (75-litre) tank. Hmm… maybe in best-case conditions; urban, off-roading or towing will, of course, greatly impact frugality and range.

The honest verdict on the Tank 300 Diesel

While the barrier to Tank 300 entry for many Aussie buyers has been the lack of the diesel option to date, the biggest sticking point in recommending petrol and hybrid versions as ownership propositions thus far have been chronic issues with driver assistant technology. Full stop.

On evidence, these issues have by and large disappeared in diesel press cars as presented and sampled at its national launch program. It’s a good sign that this major — deal-breaking, even — problem appears to be rectified. However, a week’s loan in the Chasing Cars garage for more thorough assessment will bring more confidence in this outcome…

Aside from that, the Tank 300 Diesel is (mostly) precisely what it needs to be. The oiler surety. Movement in the right direction for payload and towing. Positioned well in its line-up and against its rivals. Excellent value for money.

But that throttle calibration…why is it ruining the party? Or at least lingering around like an unwanted visitor. It’s a repeat offence from the recently released Cannon ute: same engine, similar problem.

Then there’s the terse ride — it’s not bad by ladder-frame load-lugging measures, but the petrol-based Tank 300s are certainly nicer and more refined, be it hot-mix or fire trail. A symptom of greater payload and concessions to a higher trailer tow ball download? Perhaps.

GWM appears committed to improving and localising its models – including hiring ex-Holden man Rob Trubiani as Product Engineering Manager. Its Tank 300 range is now complete and its newest-comer is a fine no-brainer addition to bolster the range. And it feels only a tweak or three away from genuine critical acclaim.