Editor-in-Chief | Zhang Kehuan
Edit | Zhang Li
Author | Steamy Jun
Reports from The GreatAuto
"What is more luxurious than it can be off-road, not luxurious than it; what is more luxurious than it, no one can be off-road."
About ten years ago, I saw this promotional slogan of the Lexus LX570 and was shocked. Indeed, Toyota has a very good set of luxury off-road vehicles, from China to North America, from Australia to the Middle East, Land Cruiser, Prado, Lexus LX, GX swept the whole world.
Just as the so-called tree is a big move, Toyota's position in the luxury off-road vehicle market has always been challenged by car companies. As a former "apprentice", Great Wall Motors has been aiming at Toyota as a teacher for decades, hoping to achieve such achievements in the luxury off-road market. Since 2020, Great Wall Motors has made great efforts in the off-road market again, from tank 300 to today's tank 500, we see the "ambition" of the Great Wall.
Especially the recent tank 500, many friends compared this car with the Toyota Prado ... One is more than 300,000 domestic luxury off-road, one is the Toyota off-road that was once fried to 500,000 or 600,000, the young Great Wall, can it shake the big tree of Toyota?
More luxurious than it, not cheaper than it
Cheaper than it, not as luxurious as it
If the Toyota Land Cruiser series is all counted as "luxury off-road", it seems a bit far-fetched. In addition to the Lexus LX and GX families, Toyota's rest of the off-road vehicles such as the Prado, land cruiser, 4RUNNER (American version of the Prado) and so on, are more like a tool car.
But for the tank brand, the Great Wall hoped to deeply bind the word luxury from the beginning to create a luxury off-road brand that is truly like a Land Rover.
In fact, the Tank 500 did just that. The car has a body shape comparable to the Prado (LC150), but inside, it has a very different style.
If the Prado LC150 is almost practical and has a slightly old-school luxury style inside, then the Tank 500 is a pure "luxury car". With its distinctive interior colour scheme, extensive use of luxurious leather, and modern interior layout and design, it's no exaggeration to say that the Tank 500 is more like a Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class modified by Carlson. But at the design level, you can't see any traces of imitation, all of which are original to the Great Wall.
Of course, if a car can be said to be "luxurious" by design alone, it is still a bit funny. True luxury should be from the macro to the details of the whole, really allow the driver and passengers to enjoy a full range of texture.
In this regard, American cars do better than Japanese cars, such as the ergonomic design of vehicles, internal NVH tuning, etc. The tank 500, in these details, is more American.
For example, in terms of seat design, this car is not just a few sets of soft sofas for the car. At the same time, it incorporates a lot of ergonomic considerations. In our actual experience, the seat is not blindly soft, functional, and can support all parts of the human body in a relatively good position after adjustment, and can bring enough lateral support to ensure that the driver and occupant can be firmly fixed when off-road.
For another example, as an off-road vehicle, the wind resistance of the tank 500 will not be small, and the wind noise after driving will not be small. What to do? The solution idea of Toyota off-road vehicles is to increase the passive sound insulation equipment of the vehicle as much as possible, such as liquid damping mats and so on. But the tank 500 not only has a large number of passive sound insulation materials, but also equipped with an active noise reduction system, which has the same principle as the active noise reduction headphones, and the low-frequency noise is canceled by algorithms. Therefore, as the Tank 500 travels, you will hear the roar of the V6 engine and the normal wind noise, but there is no annoying low-frequency noise in your ears, which makes people feel comfortable enough.
In fact, from the level of luxury alone, the tank 500 can undoubtedly be played. If used to benchmark the former Prado, the Tank 500 has an advantage in terms of luxury texture and price; in the current market, the joint venture off-road vehicle with the price of the Tank 500 is almost no more luxurious than it; and the Land Rover model that is more luxurious than the Tank 500 obviously has no advantage in price...
On off-road strength
Tanks can also rank in the top five without saying the boss
Whenever we talk about the off-road performance of off-road vehicles, most of the things that come to mind are "time-sharing four-wheel drive/full-time four-wheel drive", "girder chassis", and "three locks". However, what I want to say is that even if an off-road vehicle matches these elements, but the main engine factory does not optimize on this basis, it is still a white ride. Whether the off-road ability is strong or not is not only a problem of hardware, but also a problem of how to adjust and how to make these hardware better coordinated.
First of all, let's take a look at how the tank 500 performs at the hardware level: first, based on the tank platform, using a non-bearing structure and equipped with a front double wishbone rear overall bridge suspension; second, the tank 500 is equipped with BorgWarner's third-generation intelligent four-wheel drive system, using a two-speed TOD transfer case similar to the Raptor, with mechanical locking function.
At the configuration level of "off-road soft power", the tank 500 has functions such as low-speed creeping to get out of trouble and tank turning. At the practical operational level, the most intuitive feeling of this car is that "it is more convenient to control" and "novices can also adapt to medium-intensity off-road".
It can be seen that the logic of the tank 500 in the off-road configuration is not to pursue the limit, but to pursue "enjoyment". While taking into account the texture of road driving, it makes off-roading easier, so as to bring fun to more people.
Many friends are still struggling, why should the Tank 500 be on BorgWarner's TOD intelligent four-wheel drive system? In essence, isn't it similar to the four-wheel drive at the right time?
First of all, this four-wheel drive system from BorgWarner is not simply a timely four-wheel drive. Although it can switch between two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive, AWD and other modes, its transfer case can still be mechanically locked, and in low-speed four-wheel drive mode, it can amplify the torque by 2.64 times. In terms of performance, it is not worse than the Prado with time-sharing or full-time four-wheel drive.
Moreover, because this four-wheel drive system can carry out intelligent distribution of torque, it can also better match the electronic de-trapping functions such as low-speed creeping and tank turning. Seeing this, you may ask: is the LX570 equipped with the Towson-style full-time four-wheel drive system different from the low-speed creeping and tank turning functions? Why would the Tank 500's BorgWarner four-wheel drive system be more appropriate?
The reason is actually very simple, LX570 equipped with a Tolson-style full-time four-wheel drive system, in the operation of the tank steering, is the brake system to lock one side of the wheel, through the differential to distribute power to the other side of the wheel, to achieve passive tank steering. The tank steering of the tank 500, which can achieve the distribution of torque through a four-wheel drive system, is similar to the Honda SH-AWD, which is a more efficient "active operation".
Moreover, at present, the Towson four-wheel drive structure is actually not the best four-wheel drive form. Of course, towson full-time four-wheel drive structure strength is high, torque bearing capacity is large, but the economy is not too good, Audi and other manufacturers are gradually abandoning this similar four-wheel drive structure. The BorgWarner four-wheel drive system of the tank 500 has actually changed to the direction of intelligence, and the overall benefits will be higher.
3.0T large displacement
Let the tank overtake in 500 straights
In the current luxury off-road vehicle market, there are not many six-cylinder diesel off-road vehicles you can buy, the mainstream ones are the tank 500 (3.0T V6 twin turbo) and the Land Rover Defender (3.0L L6 double supercharged). And in actual performance, both have good strength.
The Tank 500 has a zero-hundred acceleration time of 7-8 seconds, while the Land Rover Defender can run within 7 seconds. Considering the price, the Tank 500, although a little slower, can also be accepted by most consumers.
So, if we compare it with the Toyota off-road vehicle laterally, the performance of the tank 500 is in the middle of toyota's alternating old and new. Compared to the Toyota 4.0L self-priming engine, the 3.0T twin-turbo engine of the tank 500 is a bit of a bully. Even in the face of Toyota's latest 3.5T twin-turbo engine, the 3.0T nose of the tank 500 is not weak. Toyota's latest 3.5T engine has a maximum horsepower of 415 Ps and a maximum torque of 650 N·m, while the tank 500's 3.0T engine has a maximum horsepower of 354 Ps and a peak torque of 500 N·m.
If the off-road vehicle only spells data, it does not mean much, and more importantly, it is the intuitive driving quality and other performance.
The tank 500 is equipped with a 9AT gearbox and 48V light mixing system independently developed by Great Wall. Although this gearbox does not have as much gear as the LC200's 10AT gearbox, it is no problem to meet various driving scenarios.
Especially when users need comfort and quality, the 9AT gearbox with the 48V light mix system can make the gear change process as smooth and smooth as possible, and improve the driving texture of the vehicle. At the same time, although the users of this level of models do not pay much attention to fuel consumption, in the actual measurement, the comprehensive fuel consumption of 100 kilometers of tank 500 is about 12-13L, which is also more prominent in the same level.
On the whole, although we can't say that the Great Wall's 3.0T+9AT+48V powertrain must be more advanced than the same level of powertrain of Land Rover or Toyota. However, we need to consider many aspects when buying a car.
First of all, in terms of price, the price of the tank 500 is more than 300,000, and the Land Rover Defender needs more than 700,000, and the price of the new Toyota LC series imported in parallel will certainly not be low, whose cost performance is more obvious; secondly, how high are the requirements of the vehicle in the actual use process? The former Toyota 4.0L engine, Land Rover's 2.2T diesel engine, the power reserve is average, but everyone has come this way, and think there is no problem, and the tank 500 gives more, it is even more faultless.
epilogue
Therefore, from the overall point of view, tank 500 with the current product strength, the current price to compete for the "number one seed" in the luxury off-road market, there is not much problem. In the author's opinion, the breakthrough made by this car is not only a breakthrough in technology and price of domestic cars, but more importantly, it really stands in the position of consumers and brings better choices at a price that is not expensive. This alone is worth believing in.
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