Great Wall Motors X240 4WD
October 28, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
Since June Great Wall Motors has been doing better than most had expected. Last month the Chinese owned company sold 76 V240s and 56 SA220 twin cab utilities. Today sees the introduction of the first 4WD model from the brand.
The X240 4WD sports utility vehicle will go on sale from a low price of $23,990 drive away. Although many might suspect a cheap Chinese car to be lacking in features, the X240 4WD comes with; electric driver’s seat; leather trimmed seats, power steering, air conditioning, central locking, eight speaker CD/MP3 sound system, alloy wheels and four wheel disc brakes.
Powering the X240 is a 2.4-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that produces 100 kW (5,250 rpm) and 200 Nm of torque (2,500-3,000 rpm) mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. It will drink around 10.4L/100km on the combined fuel cycle.
Although the X240 4WD comes with dual air bags, anti-lock brakes and electronic brake force distribution, going by the recent Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash test results, it’s two brothers only scored two out of a maximum five points.
Like all other Great Wall Motor vehicles, a three year/100,000km warranty is standard. Colours available are white, black, silver and red. A sun roof is a $1000 option.
X 240 Technical Specifications
| Drive |
4×4 |
||||
| Vehicle curb weight (kg) |
1830 |
||||
| GVM (kg) |
2305 |
||||
|
Axle load |
Unload |
Front (kg) |
970 |
||
| Rear (kg) |
860 |
||||
|
Fully load |
Front (kg) |
1070 |
|||
| Rear (kg) |
1235 |
||||
| Dimensions | Length (mm) |
4620 |
|||
| Width (mm) |
1800 |
||||
| Height (mm) |
1800 |
||||
| Wheel base (mm) |
2700 |
||||
| Track | Front (mm) |
1515 |
|||
| Rear (mm) |
1520 |
||||
| Min. ground clearance （full load） (mm) |
≥175 |
||||
| Min. tuning diameter (m) |
≤12 |
||||
| Front suspension (mm) |
850 |
||||
| Rear suspension (mm) |
1070 |
||||
| Approach angle (°) |
≥28 |
||||
| Departure angle (°) |
≥27.5 |
||||
| Power performance： | |||||
| Acceleration time 0 – 100km/h (S) | ≤20 | ||||
| Max speed(full load) (km/h) |
160 |
||||
| Fuel consumption | |||||
| Fuel consumption – Urban (L/100km) | 13.6 | ||||
| Fuel consumption – Extra Urban (L/100km) |
8.5 |
||||
| Combined fuel consumption (L/100km) |
10.4 |
||||
| Braking performance： | |||||
| Braking distance at initial brake speed of 50km/h (m) |
≤20.0(full load), ≤19.0 (unload) |
||||
| Emergency braking distance at initial speed of 50km/h (m) |
≤38.0 |
||||
| Noise： | |||||
| External noise at acceleration dB(A) |
≤74 |
||||
| Internal noise at constant velocity of 50km/h dB(A) |
≤79 |
||||
Engine specifications
|
Item |
Specification |
| Model |
4G69S4N |
| Type |
4-cylinder in-line, four-stroke, water cooled, overhead valve, Multi-point Sequential Injection |
| Displace (L) |
2.378 |
| Cylinder × stroke (mmXmm) |
87×100 |
| Rated power/rotational speed (kW/rpm) |
100/5250 |
| Max. torque/rotational speed (Nm/rpm) |
200/2500-3000 |
| Compression ratio |
9.8:1 |
Tyre specifications
|
Tyre size |
235/65 R17 104H |
|
Rim size |
5°Deep trough rim 17×7J |
|
Pressure (Kpa) |
230 |
|
Rolling radius (mm) |
358 |
Steering
| Type |
Rack and pinion steering gear, power-steering, power-absorbing steering column |
Brakes
| Type | Drive | Dual-line vacuum Braking Systems, Anti-lock brake system |
| Park | Mechanical | |
| Front | Ventilated disk brake | |
| Rear | Disk Brake | |
Suspension
|
Front |
torsion bar spring, hydraulic shock absorber, stabilizer bar, double wishbone arm type independent suspension |
|
Rear |
Four-bar, screw spring, hydraulic shock absorber, stabilizer bar, dependent suspension |
Transmission
|
Model |
ZM001DF |
||
|
Gear Ratio |
1st gear |
3.992 |
|
|
2nd gear |
2.150 |
||
|
3rd gear |
1.334 |
||
|
4th gear |
1.000 |
||
|
5th gear |
0.857 |
||
|
R gear |
4.220 |
||
|
H gear |
1.000 |
||
|
L gear |
2.480 |
||
Print it: 
For those who have actually seen and driven one………how do you think they’d go towing a camper trailer? I know the towing specs say it’ll do it be I’m concerned about all this talk re: power.
Mate it wouldn’t tow a bloody thing !!! It would the longest trip ever !!! Very guttless.
would kill the clutch in no time. probably not covered under warranty as it is a ‘wear & tear’ item.
Test dorve the x240 yesterday, the overall exterior I was quite inpressed with, it looks like a more expressive SUV, the interior was ok, just cause its got leather doesn’t mean its a luxury car, but the engine performance, WTF !!! My work truck would beat off the line in reverse ! I was very dissappointed, as soon as we left the dealer driveway I said to the wife we ain’t buying one, it had no get up, maybe 10 years ago it might have been a good competitor, the Outlander 2.4L motor does nothing for it, the Triton engine would have been better.
I was ready to buy one yesterday, as the wifes shopping car, 3rd car, but the test drive killed that !
I bought GREAT WALL X240 its better than my old raider wich was dangerous! so all u naysayers should be happy its off the road.
Buy a 2y.o X trail with 30000km instead, its better economy in the long run!
A car that is slow would be safe on ours roads because then dickheads that are hoons cant hoon into you cause they are toooooo slow!! HAVE I GOT A POINT?
Just because you dont do the speed limit, it doesnt make those that do hoons
hey just drove and totally checked it out .the build quality is great.the engine is old mitsu great.no i am not a sales man.but if your talking price then do i ne to remind you the people that run this great land is giving us a tax break so its not 23990 it more like 11995 so even if it does only last for the three years you only pay 10 bucks a day plus rego now you want ten dont you.im getting a white one then once i get it i will be the first to put a as injected system on it it will go better and cost nothing to run…ps i work for that roadside company r something somthing v thanks now go cry if you just purchased a hilux for 50000..hehhehhhhh
r u gunna turbocharge it as well??????
Friends have just bought one, I am about to order one next week, have driven my friends, it IS a little under powered at the start, but once it gets going the acceleration is quite good. OK, sure, it may not have the pickup of some others in the market, but for the price, it is a great vehicle! Have been looking for something of a similar size, test drives for Hyundai Tucson (not as much storage, and no 4WD unless you pay close to $30k) Ford Escape (beautiful car, better drive and specs but also $7k+ more expensive)and on comparison, it scrubs up very nicely thankyou! Dealer says that part if their deal with Great Wall is a requirement to have all spare parts in stock, so no worries about replacement parts etc, about the only major gripe is how hard the jack is to get out!!! But all in all, a great vehicle, for a great price!! Why don’t you people who are so busy knocking the vehicle get off the computer and actually take one for a drive – try to be objective when you do, don’t just automatically knock it because you don’t know the vehicle or the brand!
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No, I leave that up to Boy Racers who are compensating for deficiencies in other areas.
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V240 2 stars but majority of that style utes are only 3 stars & how many stars do you think the ute people are trading in have…0 stars! The X240 should be a 3 star as the car has pretensioners on the seat belts it also has saftey features such as ABS, electric brake distribution & brake assist! At $23990 it’s as cheap as chips!!
okay so it sounds good on paper. It may have a half-way decent ride. But unless you are absolutely dead set that this is the best car in the world, and can ignore others, i’d be pretty embarrassed to be riding around in a Great Wall. You can call me a brand snob, but i’d rather be seen in a SsangYong than this. Btw, i found the Ssangyong pickup quite alright for off-roading in a 4WD dirt course display a couple of years back at the Sydney Motor show.
I am also keen to know if anyone has these. Lots of different comments but dont seem to be many owners.
hey whAT price can u get 1 of these for? anybody know? I know they r saying $23990 but has anybody wrangled a dealer down to cheaper? like ford and holden generally can wrangle 10% off rrp ($2400 in this case).
its funny,we went through all this when kia and hyundai came out,ive done the research and test drove one,even had a chat with ancap on the upcoming test.i have a mazda 3 max sport and i dont mind a x240 for a second car,the barina and sirion and jumbuck were only alowed into oz after the flooded them with air bags other wise the wernt alowed in.some will hate them some will like them and then some will sit on the fence,ive lost 4 friends this year in car accidents,3 in a new falcon with 5 star ancap and one in a prado with 5 star ancap,wasnt their faults and no they were not speeding.sometimes all those stars dont count for much.
Has anybody actually driven this SUV, not just speculating as to it’s performance. We test drove one last week and was happy with it’s road performance. Would love to hear from anyone who has taken it off road.
thanks
I am certainly keen on taking one for a drive. I was looking at an X-Trail TI earlier this year for around 40K and this x240 has similiar specifications. There is a lot of talk of no power but the engine only puts out 25kw in power and 26nm on Torque behind the x-trail, the only issue being that this vehicle is 300kg heavier than an x-trail, however with the chasis from a Toyota Surf I am guessing that it will be practically unbrakable, glad I didn’t buy the x-trail as I will save about 16k if i buy a x240 instead, and also gain low range 4×4, I think the price of Nissan, toyota, Ford etc SUV’s may start to come down a bit when the x240 takes off, and about time too, looking at the price of the x240 other manufacturers must be making a killing
I drove one today with the wife as we want to get rid of the magna tj and get something a little newer and for the money the warranty and roadside assist makes you look at it a little harder and i dont want to go fast just pull my boat i think we will buy one so if you have not taken one for a drive stop gobbing off about it and drive one the road noise is less then my 100 series i just sold to buy the wife a new kia
Cheap car, but at a cheap price would be better than most old cars on the road any way (& probably the old Magna).
Just make sure that you get one that has had the seatbelts replaced under the “mandatory safety recall”.
You’ll all be driving chinese cars in the future anyway, so why not now.
Buy it and if you feel bad, spend another 10 g’s, get a Jetski and still be better off than those guys with their overpriced SUV’s!
Rather get there cheaper than get there and don’t have money to do annything else.
FOR ANYONE LOOKING AT BUYING A X240. AN HONEST RUN-DOWN.
-When I was buying one I found a lack of unbiased opinion so heres a writeup.
(Ok guys I have pretty decent experience with all sorts of cars from building porsche 911s to racing Nissan GTRs. I bought a GWM x240 about 1 month ago this is my honest take):
Styling – excellent, reminds me a bit of a merc CDI with the upward slanting chrome window finishes. The look of the car (and price first attracted me to it).
Interior carpets – very nice (does not come with floor mats – i had to buy some)
Interior seats – leather is cheapish quality but still leather.
Sound system – Good sound system and decent quality sound. takes a while to flip to the next track but I am impressed, nice and bassey, it aint so Nakamichi deck but it will do 99.9% of buyers fine!
Cupholder – flaw (if youve got a drink in the cup holder it inhibits your ability to put the car in 1st gear without sliding you hand lower on the shifter. Design error or whatever. Its silly.
Cupholder – propensity to break (I got my dealer to fix prior to deliver so just be easy on them when fliping them out, dont let them spring out hard and it should last)
Bonnet release lever – mine is fine but i saw one broken on a demo model. So maybe just go easy on these.
Interior (more info) Has got window tint, elec windows, elec driver seat. Passanger can also lock/unlock doors from their side which is a good safety thing or a pain if youve got a girlfriend who likes locking the doors when you like to drive with them unlocked.
Door locks – these feel flimsy to me and i will be going easy when manually operating these. Although, you shouldnt really need to becuase the doors lock when the car is son and doors are closed, although to unlock when the car is operational you either press unlock button (prefered) or manually pull the flimsy feeling door lock flap.
Airconditioner – good except you cant ‘block or turn off’ the passanger air vents (you can only divert them)
Body finish – I noticed some little imperfections in the paint and chrome grill. i have painted cars etc before so I have an eagle eye for this type of stuff. If you were none the wiser you probably would not realise. Also the front tips of my quarter panel were dented (near where it meats the headlight) so i asked the dealer to take these dents out prior to purchase. I am not sure if it was dented in transit or it comes with dips near the tip of the panel near the headlight, anyway it was fixed prior to delivery.
Chrome outer door handles – I have noticed a few little marks on a chrome door handle (maybe QC) isnt as strict as Merc but to be honest this mark is about 1 mm in diameter and most wouldnt even realise.
Boot – you have to shut this with a fair bit of force to close it and the rear out hatch handle feels flimsy, it will last but I suspect it is an item you would go easy on.
Tyres- they decked my car out with good quality Kumhos prior to purchase, tyres are pretty impotant so thats good. Any tyres fitted would need to pass Aussie standards anyway.
Brakes – I havent had to brake hard but looking forward to changing to Bendix etc when I need to, just like the korean motorbike Hyosung the pads that come with these cheaper toys are often lower quality than a replacement you would get here. Anyway I have had no dramas so far.
Fuel cap – the silly thing is that my cars fuel cap has a slot for your key but it doesnt actually lock. I cant figure out if the slot is just for looks as there is no locking mechanism.
Roof rack – only aethetical (but proper ones are coming apparanetly)
Battery – mine came with a Narva batter which is a good thing
Brake lines – dual brake lines which is good
Discs – probably a little small but what do you expect … 6 pot brembos.
ABS – havent had a chance to try it yet, will take it to a skid pan in the wet come winter.
Dash styling – looks a little cheapish (just the finish on the edges, not a deal breaker though).
Rear seat fold mechanism – no complaints and works well.
Drivers side air bag cover – I noticed in the heat mine wrped a little so that you almost had to give it a slight push back into shape…could get annoying if you have to keep doing that or you could just leave it.
Gears – Trans is ok, a little stiff into 1st but as I do more kms I think it will loosen up.
Reverse sensor – very good will give a constant beep when you are about 12 inches away from an object. Also picks up onjects to the rear sides so you dont scrape the edge of your bumpers (if you can’t park).
Noise from bonnet – my bonnet makes a squeeking noise if I drive over a bump. you can’t hear it when driving but If i push up and down on the closed bonnet or front bumper I can hear a slight squeek. When I drive with no music and coast (no engine noise) I can hear slight whistles etc but not enough to drive you mad, unless you were on the brink.
2wd/4wdlr/hr – good electronic transfer via knob. Haven’t done any serious off roading in this but I did play around in a gravel lot. Low ratio seems like it would have enough guts to do what most of us need, it aint no hummer but I think it is suffiicient. It takes a little whicle for the electronic transfer to occur, sometimes you need to drive forward slightly.
4wd button position – would be better if its away from the passanger incase you have one of those idiot friends who like to touch buttons and knobs. You could do some damage if switched on at high speed or on sealed road. Also the knob doesnt have much resistance so it could be turned accidentally if something brushed past it.
Paint – decent quality metallic (mine is black)a few imperfections (1mm in size) Ive probably got 4 all over the car.
Number plate block – to fit aussie plates to the front a disgusting plastic block is fitted to the lower front bar, it is crap, looks cheap and I am going to ditch it eventually and do something else.
Head light fog lights – good visibility, adjustable up and down (depending on load in your car) could do with some spotties on the roof rack (a la jeep wrangler) if you do some serious country driving.
Great wall door sills – as youd expect the car sometimes slips up and reveals that it is a cheaper chinese car. the door stepper sills look great but you can see a tiny bit of glue where it had oozed out from between the steppers and the sil. I am going to finely cut it off with a stanley but it is an example of how something silly can let you remember it was a cheap car.
Trans – back on the trans I am unsure but I heard they may be a borg-warner, if thats the car thats a good thing. I am totally unsure have not made any inquiries and dont intend to.
Engine – yes its has got an underpowered Mitsu 2.4 litre. Honestly I have driven everything from a 600hp 993twin turbo to a 1960s centurion tank. This car IS underpowered. You would need to slip the clutch if you were towing a heavy load at capacity from an uphill start especially with the a/c on.
This did not stop me buying this car, once you are going it is acceptable but this is not a fast or quick car. For me that was not a deal breaker as I was after a respectable conservative car. But when you first drive it it will be noticable unless you step out of a toyota hilux 18r then you may think its a rocket.
Alarm – a bit dissapointing that the car does not comne with an alarm (thats a chrissie project for me). A Chin aalarm wouldn tmeet our requirments anyway so GWM probably decided to stay in their price band and not get them fitted in Australia).
Engine bay – when you lift the hood it is a bit pedestrian. You can see everything was manuafactured in China. A cable tie holds my throttle cable to an intake pipe. there is no plastic stealth looking cam cover like most euro cars have nowdays. But it looks neat and is acceptable.
Spare parts – I beleive parts for these are available, many engine parts would be Mitsubishi and I am sure supporting and ancillary parts are in stock in Australia or can be sourced from GWM. It is comforting to know this car is sold elsewhere like it Italy and has been for some time so there is some sort of support commitment by Great Wall.
Speedo – I have not confirmed this but I have a feeling my speedo reads slightly high (about 2-3 kms at 60-70km) may be if Jumho tyre specs were different to what the speedos were calibrated on.
Fuel economy – is calimed at approx 10.4l per 100 km. I am getting slightly more economy. Its is ok.
Overall – Bang for your buck! Looks great, some have told me to de-badge it but i am going to keep the badges cos I am proud cos overall it is a respectable car!
Would I recommend – If you want a 4wd for rock crawling or serious deep river fording, if you want to tow a big caravan or a big boat do not buy this it is too underpowered. Otherwise, yes I highly recommend this car.
BTW – I wanted one now but a turbo diesel is rumoured to be avaialable mid next year, that would be very interesting and may shut alot of critics up.
Marc Maglione
The fuel cap dose lock, its a bit of a mission, stick it in, screw it turn the key, sounds simple, till you try it, its chinese! Ive done over 2000 ks in mine it gos alot better now, but i wont fit a tow bar. I like the x240 more now than when i bought it. It was a quick buy, as my old car was stuffed and i got a good trade. That was the only good thing about dealing with the cairns.The pre delivery was bad, the car was scratched chiped and still had plastic stuck to it, in and out. At the 1000 k service i ask them to check a slight scratching noise at low speed when turning. they say there is no noise, how would they know, when i got the car back after the service the radio was so loud you wouldnt hear a scream,and the wheel alinment was out. The cars OK but go to a better dealer!.
Great review by Marc, wll done, I had the same chip at the front near the headlight, but have let it go. I hope you remain happy with your car.
Well I have done 700 ks in my new x240, and for what my family needs we couldn’t be happier.
When I get back to work and enjoy the power of my 4 litre ute I’m sure it will be a welcome feeling.
With my 3 yo and 8 day old boys and Wife (to be )in the car I have no need for speed.
It drives fine, smooths out the bumps that my 06 navarra let you know were there, fuel ec seems fine, and we feel very safe and secure in our new vehicle.
Only time will tell if it is a long lasting product, but for now I couldn’t imagine paying 15 or 20 more thousand for a similar, or inferior product.
Long live the Great Wall
Thanks Agro,
saw a pic of the turbo diesel last night, have put my name down to trade my x240 for one when its available mid next year….they look fantastic and if they can price the TD in at the sub 30k range they are going to clean up.
Spoke to the GWM sales man last night and sales are doing much better than expected here in WA for both x240 and the utes.
Yes i stand corrected the fuel cap does infact lock.
Another thing i realised is that the roof racks are not load rated so my dealership has been selling the cars without them incase of damage or injury. All the x240s in their yard have had the racks taken off.
People look at my car on the street and ask me what on earth it is, a couple of ppl have stopped me at petrol stations to enquire about it.
done over 2000kms now and no issues. Did 1000 kms of country driving and its fine.
Still very very happy with my x240
hi Marc,
we are in QLD and are seriously looking at purchasing an X240 soon. we live within spitting distance of one of the best 4×4 beaches on the east coast and would like to know if you or anyone at the dealerships in WA have taken one on the beach. Would love to hear how it preformed.
cheers.
I note with interest Marc that you say the X240 may not tow a large caravan or boat. I am looking to perhaps tow a small poptop with such a vehicle. They specify 1800kg towing capacity but the torque at 200 seems a little low compared to similar size engines of similar size vehicles but which have far greater price tags. I know that any salesman is going to extoll the virtues of this X240 as being quite adequate to do the job I might have planed for it but I am wondering if anyone has actually tried towing using this vehicle and how did it perform in doing so. (preferably something in the poptop size and weight – up to say 1600kg)