The Long-Term GWM Cannon/Poer/P-series Review Thread

[Disco Nic]

The Wuhan Warrior looks awesome in Blue Bulls Blue. [

Crap, need to return it for a red one now.

Manny happy miles Lissie...

Thanks Manny.

[Redman]

Congratulations with the new wheels

[Disco Nic]

Some first pictures:

Compared it to my dads 2022 Navara and it’s definitely bigger.

Drove it home to Swakopmund and I’m impressed. Seats are comfortable. The 2l doesn’t feel as pap as it should, but I think that’s down to the ZF8 speed that’s simply sublime.

Will follow up with a proper write up later.

[Disco Nic]

P-Series Initial Impressions

Why a P-Series?

Sounds funny when i say because it’s cheap, because this thing surely doesn’t feel it/look it from the inside and out. All in, paid just under N$600k and the levels of tech, comfort and features are unparalleled.

The Exterior:

This thing is massive! It has presence and the full LED head and tail lights look cool!

The doors open nice and wide (for the eventual child seats) and the “bak” is decently sized, but what’s especially important is that it’s deep. I can fit my camping fridge under the tonneau cover with space to spare. (Future project: Rear tub mounted battery box and fridge slide/drawer system). They tail gate comes with struts to soft open/close the tail gate and the tail gate step is a nice little feature to climb into it.

The front is imposing. Although I am not a big fan of the dinner plate sized google location pin badge thing in full chrome. I think that could have been done better. Funnily enough, steering and back badge are the traditional GWM logo, so feels a little disjointed.

31” wheels suit the vehicle well, but it definitely needs some meatier tires, these Chinese Coopers don’t like being off tar roads.

Visibility is excellent, huge side mirrors and you can easily see all 4 corners of the vehicle.

I have extra park sensors fitted in front, for some reason the LS only comes with rear sensors and rear plus left hand side camera. Not a deal breaker, but a bit of a head scratcher.

[Disco Nic]

P-Series Initial Impressions Pt.2

The Interior:

This is where the build quality belies the vehicles price. Full Leather, (real leather from the finest Chinese cows/bats) with diamond quilting on the seats, and the door panels, real leather on the top of the dash. What really surprised me is that they didn’t skimp in the rear. Same full leather in the door panels, super soft and feels really expensive. Everything feels really well put together and solid, no rattles, shakes or shimmies anywhere (in the first 700km anyways).

The seats are seriously comfortable. Like seriously comfortable. Reminds me of the E-Class rental I had last year, it’s that good. Drove 400km yesterday, no back aches or stiff necks. I’m really impressed. Bolster hold you in firmly, without making you feel claustrophobic. Seats are fully (manually) adjustable but don’t have lumbar support.

Rear room is excellent. Definitely built with the average South African in mind. My dad is 6’4” and in his Navara, I have little to no knee room behind his seat. In this thing I have about 4 fingers space between front seat and knees. Rear Seats are comfortable too, not too upright and with the same leather as the front it’s a very comfy place to do some long distance miles.

The LS has the traditional dash layout, which I think looks smart. Trip computer could probably be a little bigger, but again not a deal breaker. Everything is neatly laid out and functional.

Steering Wheel is fully rake/reach adjustable , and generally very well laid out. It has paddle shifters, which is a nice feature and helpful when you need to overtake quickly (more on this later). One thing that does bug me a bit, the steering wheel is plastic. Feels thin and cheap. Leather covering would sort that out, so again a bit of a head scratcher as to why this was omitted on the LS.

The Radio is a bit of a hit and miss. Functionality wise it’s amazing. 9” and Full HD quality, it looks the part. Rear and Side View Camera display in Full HD quality, clear and crisp and full of detail. Rear Park Sensors are stock, as mentioned before and the camera displays dynamic movement lines and the sonar read outs.

Apple CarPlay works flawlessly, albeit with a cable, but the display quality is fantastic and the functionality is good. Minor annoyance, is that the Apple CarPlay controls are set up for LHD vehicles, so everything has to be managed on the left hand of the screen. Have to stretch a bit to hit the buttons but that’s nit-picking, really.

Where the radio really disappoints is in the sound quality and in the slow initial load times on start up. Sound quality is awful. Speakers are tinny, no bass and the volume needs to be pumped over ¾ to have any decent sounds while driving. It does offer a Dolby CTS feature that improves sound a little bit, but it’s still not great.

This can be fixed with a DSP and some better speakers, but it’s annoying this hasn’t been fitted out of the box. The Gala feature (increases volume when speed increases) is very sensitive and I recommend you turn that off or on low, otherwise the volume changes drive you mad.

On start up, the radio goes through an extended boot cycle. It takes a good 45-60 seconds before the display is usable. Again not a deal breaker, especially since the camera works pretty much instantly, but a minor annoyance.

While the aircon can be adjusted with the screen, it does have “old school” A/C control, same with Volume which I really like. Easy to adjust without taking too much focus off the road. A/C works well enough, kept it on auto and set at 20° and it worked well enough.

What I really don’t like/understand is the interior lighting situation. There are only two small LED lights above the rear view mirror. It barely provides enough light for the front, and there is no lighting in the rear… but I did buy myself some LED modules that will be connected to the front interior lights. No Idea wtf GWM was thinking here.

Overall, this interior is a nice place to be, feels very solid and again, not cheap.

[Disco Nic]

P-Series Initial Impressions Pt.3

How does it drive?

I was initially not sure what to think of the 2l motor in this thing. The “2l Milk Bottle” Amarok jokes spring to mind, but I must say I am pleasantly surprised. It has 120kw, 400NM and coupled to a 8-Speed ZF gearbox. The ZF makes up for ALOT of the short comings the motor might have. It’s sublime, knows exactly what gear it needs to be in to make sure the motor is at its sweet spot and overall it’s not as slow as you’d expect it to be.

TransferCase is a Borg Warner, Torque on Demand system, basically offering full time 4WD with lockable center diffs in High and Low. It doesn’t have a diff lock, but does have a limited slip diff and from what I can tell a really sophisticated off-road reaction control system. Haven’t done any off-roading with the vehicle (bar a bit of sand in the desert) so I’ll provide more feedback after our first outing.

The drive to Swakop allowed me to stretch the vehicles legs. Acceleration is good, it’s not as fast as others but it doesn’t feel like you are driving a 3l Fortuner.

Overtaking is effortless, pull the gears back 2-3 cogs and the thing shoots forward nicely. I did a few tests with the gearbox, at steady cruise (125km/h) it sits at 2100rpm in 8th, 2750rpm in 7th and 3250rpm in 6th. Fuel consumption worked out to just over 9l/100km or 11km/l, with the computer telling me 9.5l/100km. I am happy with that. It has a little tire noise and at 125 you get some wind noise from the wing mirrors, but not to the point where you can’t have a normal conversation. I think fitting AT’s will make that a little worse… but a worthy trade off I feel.

Ride is another hit and miss affair. It’s fairly firmly sprung, which makes it feel solid at higher speeds, but VERY jiggly in and around town and on gravel. It’s harsh over bumps, and takes some time to settle down when you hit a speed bump or a pothole a little too hard. I think it’ll be better with some weight in the back. The Leaf Sprung Navara handles this a whole lot better, but again it’s not necessarily a deal breaker. (Edit: Non-SA Navaras get leaf springs instead of coils!)

Steering weighting is adjustable in three stages, Sports, Comfort and Light, but I honestly think that is a bit of a faff. Sport makes it feel unnecessarily heavy and cumbersome, so I’d stick to comfort or light. It’s got a fully electric steering, so there is no feedback from the front wheels, making it feel a bit vague. But it doesn’t need constant input and the vehicle stays nice and centered so it’s not too bad. Haven’t had it in gravel too much yet, but it felt stable at speed. Will provide feedback once I’ve done a few longer trips.

Overall, I like how this thing drives.

Tech:

The LT comes with all the acronyms available in the automotive lexicon… the LS doesn’t, which is exactly why I decided to get one of these. Cruise Control is all I really needed.

It does have a built in TPMS with temperature and pressure sensors, but the thing is stupid and I hate it. It alarms at 2.2 bar, and over reads by about 0.2. I’ve also seen reports that if it detects pressure under 1.5 bar, it won’t let you start the vehicle but I’ve not been able to confirm this.

It has a remote start feature which is handy, you turn the car on and let the a/c run 5-10 minutes before you get in, but I suspect that’s a gimmick that’ll get old fairly quickly.

It’s 5 star safety rated, but then again most bakkies are so that’s good.

[Disco Nic]

P-Series Initial Impressions Pt.4

The Bad?

I’ve mentioned a few things that I’d file away under minor annoyances… but what I really think is terrible executed is the throttle lag.

This car has the WORST throttle lag I have ever experienced in a vehicle. It’s Chinese, so the way it works is like this:

You put your foot down, and then the throttle committee send a request to the engine committee to provide more acceleration.

And then the engine committee votes on it. And when it decides yes, it gives you acceleration.

It’s terrible. Slow speed take offs are awful. Once you are on the move and the turbo spools it goes nicely, but initial take off is awful.

The brakes are sensitive. Give a little too much input, it slams on the anchors hard and flashes the indicators so that the whole world can see you drive like a poephol.

Traction control is just as sensitive, kicks in very early and makes a terrible noise while doing so. It doesn’t like accelerating after you’ve gone over a bump, cuts all power for 2 seconds and makes a terrible banging noise through the brakes. Definitely needs to be reworked.

[Disco Nic]

Sorry for the wall of text and the terrible Ingrish. I’m tired and I’m German.

To summarize it short and sweet…

Awesome little Bakkie the Chinese have built. Has its flaws, but overall it’s an amazing product.

[Mad Manny]

Very well written initial impressions Lissie.


Now, about your Forum name...
May I suggest a few options?
• Nun Chuck Nic
• Nanking Nic
• Great Wall Nic
• Nam Nic
• Lissies Sussie Bussie
• The Wuhan Warrior (your idea)
• China Nic
• Baodeng Bakke (GWM is based in Baodeng)

[Disco Nic]

I’ll go for the Wuhan Warrior.

[Disco Nic]

First 1000km update:

The Wuhan Warrior is going well, the engine feels smoother and more responsive the more I drive it. Still has terrible lag though.

Fuel consumption average is sitting at 10l/100, which includes the beach driving we did yesterday evening to go fishing.

New tires are on and they seem to have settled down the harshness over bumps a little bit, and made the vehicle a lot more capable.

Not all good though. Currently have a terrible rattle from underneath the passenger side center, assuming it’s a heat shield.

And the left license plate lamp is damaged (and not detected during PDI) so I’m having that sorted next week.

And the TPMS is throwing a Manny Sized Hissy fit about my tires being at 1.8 bar, but much like the real Manny, I choose to ignore it.

[jakeslouw]

You didn't notice any turbo lag during your test drive?

[Disco Nic]

You didn't notice any turbo lag during your test drive?

I did. It was terrible then too. You learn very little from a test drive though.

[Mad Manny]

Ling Long Lisse, its tyres, not tires.
We are not Americans, in fact we barely shoot our kids at school.

1.8 is not that low, I run Fearless at 2.1 bar.
Grips barely pumps over 1.6bar.
But, Kathu is a sh!thole.

Turbo lag is because the committee sending instructions from Motor to Gearbox, is also responsible for the Turbo to motor comms.

I see on Anythingbutt4x4.cum, that Benson claims good tuning results with the Poer in sy Moer.
Maybe contact him...

[Disco Nic]

Benson has a Catch-Can and a throttle map booked with me next time he comes to Swakop.