I'm after feedback about Great Wall vehicles.
(Used-private sales)
They are going cheap for low kms, but I don't much about their life span, parts availability & costs.
Any info or feedback you have would be appreciated.
Thanx
Used Great Wall - Good Buy or Not?
rlbarrett on 22/08/2018 - 23:21
Last edited 23/08/2018 - 12:31 by 1 other user
Last edited 23/08/2018 - 12:31 by 1 other user
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Isn't there industry standards that they need to pass before it's released to the market?
Depends on what you expect. I guess you think noone wants one so the market must be depressed (cheap).
A lot of people think this way but after years of Chinese brands being sold here, there still aren't many on the road. A new GW pulled up beside me recently and TBH, the paint on old Mahindras looked far better. There was nothing else about it that seemed to be anywhere near average.
I wouldn't want to be in one, let alone drive one. What makes a good vehicle is a lot of things, safety, performance, reliability, quality… and even then it may not suit you because of the way it was done. All these things can only happen well when good designers, engineers, resources and factories work together well.
Better to look at cheap commodity vehicles from companies that have been building them for a few more markets and a few more generations. If not you will be paying for an incalculable number of mistakes that others were able to stop making (decades ago).
So China makes almost everything but they're hopeless at making things OK.
They are hopeless at making some things; some food products, some dodgy toys that were recalled, asbestos break pads on Great Wall cars etc. just because they make lots of stuff doesn’t mean they get it right every time and that you can trust all their product range.
China can make the best or the worst in any product just like any other country.
Remember back 10 yrs ago no one would touch a tv from china… where are most made now?Meh.
If you don't like the Great Wall,I have an excellent bridge for you in Sydney.
I presume they removed the asbestos break pads
The big uproar was for the asbestos in the head gaskets.
If you don't eat the head gasket you are safe.Eating asbestos isn’t the issue it is breathing in small particles into your lungs. This is why intact asbestos sheeting is OK but breaking down sheeting isn’t. Anything that has breaking down asbestos would be an issue. It was Toyota with the third party asbestos break pads. The issue with the gaskets was around exposure when servicing the vehicle, but I also wonder how the gaskets would be disposed of.
Mmmm asbestos crisps
Great Wall - good bye
No, just no
You got suggestions for cars on your other post, don't be silly
Had a brand new company single cab GW a few years back. Had the 2.4L Mitsubishi engine.
Build quality would say was sub par, had little annoying problems like poor aerodynamics which meant there was a horrible whistling noise over 70km/hr, interior rattles etc, not something you'd expect from a brand new vehicle.They may have a low price on the used market but will be very difficult to sell later on too
One day they will probably be as good as any Jap/Korean car, but not today
i see more great wall vehicles broken down on the side of the road than any other
If you're looking for value for money you should consider a Korean car instead.
Thanks everyone.
My intuition was right.
No Buy- just bye bye for a GW
I'll keep looking
Great wall is the same as Haval?
AFAIK Haval is owned by Great Wall Motors (GWM). So if the quality of GWM vehicles is generally sub-par, I'd be relatively confident in suggesting the same is true for Haval.
The trouble is, I just don't know for sure.
If GWM et al Chinese Auto manufacturers put a fair whack of money into their vehicles one could presume that they would be in a position to produce a competitive vehicle in terms of reliability, I think the trouble is possibly doing so within budget?
I think if OP has the option of selecting an alternative that they go with a more reputable brand. I mean, I think GW will get there like many other car manufacturers have, and it's easy to see that the Chinese are a real up and coming powerhouse for manufacturing, it just doesn't really seem to me like they're quite there yet. But again that's just my perception, I don't have data to back it up, which makes me hesitant to ever write off a brand completely.
It's not just throwing money at it - a lot of industries, and auto manufacturing is no exception - is about institutional knowledge and experience. There's a reason even Tesla, with it's billions in cash funding, has below-par build quality. But their vehicles are (over)-designed, so even below-par quality results in a decent vehicle from a quality perspective. Great Wall has…. maybe average designs (at best), which coupled with below-par build quality leads to what we have now.
additionally though, with these cheap vehicles they'll use existing designed stuff so they don't need to design themselves. eg using an older design Mitsubishi engine. They've saved money by buying the old/spare manufacturing stuff that Mitsubishi don't need/want anymore and kept it going. or found a standard window winder/button and made it fit their door rather than getting a special one made.
But yes, you do get what you paid for, older tech, less quality control etc.
I’d always imagined that with enough money a company could iron that out but the Tesla example is a good one, one that didn’t really occur to me. One would imagine that the body and fit would be fairly straight forward, in contrast with building electric cars which is somewhat novel.
What do you mean by over designed? Don’t follow you there.
@Jawanzar: Oh as in - a lot of convenience and safety features designed into the car, so even if it performs at a below-average level for those parts, the overall performance is still above average for cars generally (eg. having a 7-airbag system at 80% build quality is still better than a 5-airbag system at 100% build quality, as a rough example).
eg. having a 7-airbag system at 80% build quality is still better than a 5-airbag system at 100% build quality
Unless they're made by Takata 😂
I'm going to go with a different approach.
OP - I feel like you are going to make a decision irrespective of the advice you get here. So I say go with your curiosity and purchase a Great Wall. Please report back on your experience.
I have had 2 x African vehicles, I would never buy a chinese vehicle.
TBH I didn't know there was such a thing
BMW 335i and a VW Golf Gti. Both made in South Africa.😁
You can probably get a 10yo toyota for the same price with possibly the same amount of things to go wrong (Toyota wear and tear items, GW breaking stuff). The toyota will have a much better resale value when you sell it later.
You pay less, you get less. Less quality, less reliability. BUT, you might be lucky and get one that keeps on going and only breaks little things that don't affect the driveability, just comfort. ie power windows fail, door becomes harder to open etc.
I'm not going with GW…
However if anyone else is interested one of the ones O was looking at was a 2013-Oct build (5yo) with 80K going for 6.5K negotiable
Aren't these the ones that always score zero on the safety and crash tests? Especially the older ones.
As I would prefer to live through a crash if possible, I don't think I'd touch one.