2022 GWM Ute Cannon X review

Well I’ll be a son of a gun. That’s actually kind of true because one of my father’s many honorifics is ‘Canon’. But my exclamation is more about the fact that there is a big, bluff ute with a name that really hammers home the impression that this is a unit – the GWM Cannon.

Sitting atop this range is the 2022 GWM Cannon-X, a luxed-up dual-cab ute with a leathery interior, lots of chrome bling and big alloys that would probably not appreciate being dumped into a rut, at least for keeping the polished surface the way its makers intended.

GWM’s offering is an unashamed assault on our usual choices of ute in this country, making no secret that it is going after Ford, Toyota, Isuzu and Mitsubishi’s lunch.

65

Pricing and features

The Cannon-X tops the GWM ute range at $45,490 drive-away, which is a snip compared to its main rivals. The cheapest four-wheel drive Triton GLX dual-cab is $1500 more once on-road costs are taken into account and is nowhere near as well-equipped.

A Cannon-X ships with 18-inch alloy wheels, a six-speaker stereo, climate control, a tray liner, 360-degree cameras, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, digital dashboard, powered front seats, LED headlights and taillights, auto headlights and wipers, power windows and mirrors, wireless charging and a full-size spare.

The 9.0-inch touchscreen runs an in-house software system that has bits from GWM’s sister brand Haval, which means it’s a bit hit and miss. While there are separate physical controls for the climate settings, the heated seats are controlled via the screen, which is bizarre.

65

Most annoyingly, whenever the cameras are active, it renders the system inoperable and by that I mean you can’t turn down the volume, even with the volume control on the steering wheel.

The cameras themselves are terrific – when you indicate left or right an image pops up to show you what’s down the inside of the vehicle and should help in close quarters maneuvring, which is made all the more difficult by the Cannon-X’s long wheelbase and lazy turning circle.

One black mark is the lack of native sat-nav. If you’re reading this via an NBN satellite connection, you will be acutely aware why that is quite annoying in a vehicle of this type. It also nullifies the inclusion of the digital dashboard because it doesn’t do anything a conventional dashboard can’t except look pretty.

65

Five-star ANCAP safety comes from 2021 after the brand’s second attempt. To its enduring credit, GWM modified the Cannon to make the five-star rating and cars delivered between late 2020 and mid-2021 have a parts package to bring them up to scratch.

The Cannon comes with seven airbags (including a front-centre airbag), the usual braking and stability controls, lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, reverse cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition and speed warning and hill descent control.

For those wishing to install child seats, the rear features two top-tether anchors and two lots of ISOFIX attachments.

65

Comfort and space

The Cannon is a big unit. Visually it even looks like it could be a size up because it rides so high and the tub’s sides are even higher, the whole shebang being more than three centimetres taller than a Ranger, which doesn’t sound like much but it is for reasons you will discover in the next section.

Starting with the tub, a durable plastic liner protects the tray from the bashing and crashing you might expect for a ute to bear, except this one probably won’t be subject to too much of that kind of indignity. The tray also has various eyes for lashing things to and a big bar to look tough and attach even more things to.

Unusually, the tailgate is damped so smaller kids won’t cop a concussion if you’re not paying attention or their siblings are looking for some kind of revenge. I would say that unique to the class is the retractable step poking out of the tailgate that, while in the down position, enables you to climb more easily into the tray if need be. Incredibly clever.

65

The tub itself is comparable in size to most utes in the class and you can load up for a maximum 1050kg and you can tow up 3000kg braked, about 500kg down on the segment leaders. I don’t think that’s a serious problem for all but the most committed towers of large objects, so it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for many buyers.

Stepping into the rear of the cab, the door is a bit on the narrow side but perfectly normal for this kind of vehicle. The seats are actually quite comfortable – some in cars like this are on the more upright end of the scale – and as with the front seats are covered in what I think is fake leather, which got a bit hot in the rare moments of sun we had.

It probably didn’t help that the car we had was black. You do get USB ports, a 220V/120W plug and your own air vents, which is pretty good going. I’m sure there are good reasons for a 60:40 split-fold backrest to access the scarce space behind the rear seats, but I can’t think of any apart from maybe protecting the upholstery.

65

The middle seat won’t win any awards for leg and knee room, however, and it does sit appreciably higher than the outboard seats. The bench will be fine for pre-teens and pretty much anyone up to 180cm for a reasonable journey. There’s a nice quilting effect on the seatbacks and in the door cards, which has a very upmarket vibe.

Up front, you get some very comfortable seats, nicely kittled-out in quilted leather and some fancy cream-coloured piping. You’ve got plenty of storage under the armrest, big door pockets with bottle holders, a pair of cup holders in the console, a rubberised charging mat at the base of the centre stack and a glovebox.

In with the charging mat are two USB-A ports with handy lighting so you can find them at night and a 12-volt port. There is also a sunglasses holder where the grab handle goes in left-hand drive versions, which is a clever use of the space and I appreciate its soft-close damping mechanism.

The dash design is mostly conventional but some blingy detailing around the switchgear and a slab of fake carbonfibre on both the console and in front of the passenger look a bit cheap. The touchscreen is bookended by two vertically arranged air vents.

65

On the road

Behind the huge grille and suspiciously familiar headlight shape is a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine with 120kW and 400Nm. Both of those figures are a little off the pace compared to most rivals except for the entry-level 1.9-litre unit in the D-Max/BT50 pair.

GWM has opted for a four-wheel-drive system that runs mostly in rear-wheel drive until the rears start slipping. In Eco mode, the power won’t shift at all to save fuel, but in Normal and Sport you get the “torque-on-demand” effect. An eight-speed automatic from ZF handles the shifting for you.

It’s a pretty loud and grumbly engine, but probably no worse than, again the D-Max/BT50 pair. For some reason – and I’m guessing it’s because the engine doesn’t pre-glow when you unlock – there’s a long wait for the engine to fire when you hit the start button.

65

Unladen it’s unlikely to be much slower off the mark than the other machines in the class with comparable specs, so there’s no need to worry. The ZF eight-speed is, as ever, excellent – smooth and quick-shifting, although it’s a bit reluctant to kick down on a floored throttle.

I mentioned earlier that the Cannon-X’s height briefly became a concern. Entering the car park at our local shopping centre, a big familiar sign says “clearance 2.2m”.

Now, that’s plenty of room for even the biggest ute. I carried on without a thought, for about a millisecond because hidden by the big official sign was a handwritten sign saying, “Temprary [sic] clearance 1.8m”. If it had been that low, whatever it was that was hanging down would have peeled the roof off the cab or the bonnet would be its new temprary [sic] home.

65

Its height isn’t even the tallest of off-the-peg utes. Anyway, point is, the cityscape isn’t as friendly to these things and you do need your wits about you.

The mean streets of the city are also not kind to the Cannon-X. Like many a ute before it, the rear end is held off the ground by leaf springs and you’ll really feel it. Without anything weighing down the rear to stop the rebound, the Cannon-X’s ride is a bit on the rugged side around town, which chips away at its lifestyle vibe.

It’s just vaguely unpleasant rather than outright nasty and this is probably the first time I thought, “Ah, I can see why you might buy something else over this.”

65

The first time I drove a HiLux – and that wasn’t all that long ago – I thought it was going to launch me into orbit it bounced around so much. Over the years the ride has calmed, as it has in the Ranger, Triton and D-Max, so the Cannon is a bit of a throwback. A tooled-up tradie with a full tray won’t notice, but a family being trucked around in a Cannon-X will.

Its lane-keep assist is a little more persistent than I would like, constantly applying torque to the steering wheel where it isn’t really required, as well as being a little frantic on occasions. Worth its weight in wiring, however, is the reverse cross-traffic alert because rearward vision is tricky, as is the over-the-shoulder view.

The switchable steering weight is a cute feature, but near useless in a ute, especially with such big balloony tyres. Artificially adding weight did nothing for steering feel which, again, is not something dual-cab buyers worry too much about.

65

Ownership

GWM’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty is excellent going for a ute. You also get five years of roadside assist.

The ute is subject to a capped-price service regime covering the first five services. The first one is due at six months or 5000km and costs $260. From then on you’ll pay $360 for a service every 12 months or 10,000km, which is a bit awkward if you’re a high-miler.

It’s also worth knowing that you’ll need to do a timing belt change at 75,000km.

65

VERDICT

Australians have gotten past the suspicion that just because a car is cheaper than the other ones it must be rubbish and I think GWM has recognised that by going all-in on the Cannon-X.

Its plush-for-a-ute interior is immediately impressive, as is the equipment level. There aren’t any confusing levers and buttons for off-roading so it presents as a very straightforward proposition to someone deciding they want a ute instead of an SUV.

It seems very well-built, is reasonably good to drive – if a bit on the bumpy side – and does pretty much what it says on the tin. Despite the sharp price, it is going into battle with quality and quantity on its side rather than just one or the other.

There’s still a little way to go in some areas but, as the GWM sub-brand Haval is showing, the company is catching up fast.

65

2022 GWM Ute Cannon-X specifications