Great Wall Ute as 2nd car...or 4 doorwheelbarrow with me kidding myself

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

The rodeos aren't a bad bus. Those little Isuzu motors are quite reliable.

I currently have an 05 3.0TD Rodeo that I bought ex company bus. Spent a few $ getting it the way I want it and it goes well. People I know have the same basic Rodeo with 300,000+k on board and all good so far. Very happy with how it goes (slowly). You have to pick the right gear but as long as you do that it goes where the Prado does in the soft stuff. Good on fuel too averaging about 10L/100km so overall I cannot complain.

[ntp Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close ntp]

Check out the ads that are now appearing on PradoPoint and cycling through this thread:

Mention Great Wall or Chery in a post and that's what happens!

I used to get lots of beer ads and ads about searching - but killed the ads using an 'ads buster' program on Safari. Wonder if MrsAJ120 gets knitting and scrapbooking ads. Hate to think what MLC sees.

Looks like GW will suffer these ads for a long time yet after starting this thread.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

here's one for you , speaking of the seriously ugly and possibly totally unreliable , what about a SANYONG MUSSO dual cab diesel ute , now ive posted about the fj cruiser being ugly , but this thing takes it to a new level . picture : the offspring of immediate relatives ,who unlike bill clinton HAVE had sexual relations . and throw in the questionable reliability of the BODY manufacture and probable appalling resale and this really should bring it into consideration with the gw . now lets see an add for the musso pop up .

[geograzza Member Find all posts View Profile Close geograzza]

I can't comment on the GW specifically, but I have a bolt around here somewhere that doesn't have a spiral thread, it has a bunch of circles cut around it. I have power tools that are out of square. I have spent hours trying to assemble flat pack furniture where the holes don't line up. I personally wouldn't trust a car from a country that can't make something as simple as a bolt or a table. From my experience, made in China, but in a western owned factory is generally OK because they implement standards, but made in China in a wholly Chinese factory seems to be a crapshoot. Having toured some of the electronics factories was an eye opener. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything from a Chinese brand unless it was cheap enough that i wouldnt mind losing my money.

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

If your only after a cheap city run about, forget the GW and any other cheap AWD or 4WD, get a cheap 2wd car, Then run it into the ground and forget about the resale value, I did this, and bought 3 years ago, a brand new Proton Persona, it has been a great little car, and even done a few trips to Sydney in it, it is used for my partners business ATM and is cheap to run (officially voted as Aust cheapest car to run), it has been soooooo reliable, I can not fault it, and one of the best parts is the suspension set up and chassis tune is pure Lotus, it out handles many a so called sports car/sedan, and is fun to drive, it ticks all the right boxes, and would be even better if there was a turbo or supercharged version.

[Peterpilot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Peterpilot]

The company bought a GW ute for the engineering department in Canberra. Only used to drive around the tarmac, to and from the hangar, carrying tools and the occasional wheel assembly. The engineers tell me it's rubbish, the gearbox went before 10,000km. If the running gear is Mitsu, then it must be made in China from the cans John West reject. In Sydney they use Hilux utes with no issues at all.

Went to Canberra again today and asked another engineer about the GW utes, he said "forget it" and if you need 4WD "get an old Hilux or a BT50 instead". Apparently the company bought two and they are both rubbish, the one with the dud gearbox had the issue since day 1 and GW refuse to conceed that there is a problem with it. I'm also told that they are underpowered and won't cruise on the highway comfortably.

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

Can't go wrong with an old hilux