Genesis GV80 vs GWM Tank 300

What's the difference?

I rarely drive luxury vehicles so it doesn’t take much to impress me. However, it’s clear to anyone with half a brain (even me) that the GV80 is a premium ride and in Black guise it’s even better, albeit by increments only and those perceived improvements largely hinge on styling tweaks to the Signature platform on which it’s based.

Does it tick all of the boxes that someone considering this type of vehicle would want ticked? Sure it does and then some. But there’s plenty of stiff competition in the form of other premium AWDs on the market nowadays and even some 4WD wagons that offer similar levels of prestige.

There’s a lot to like here. The GWM Tank 300 in any of its forms is a competent vehicle from the helm and backs up its off-road claims with real ability. The ride quality, in particular, is a highlight, and it’s a good size for couples or young families. Its value for money is also quite brilliant.

Add this plug-in hybrid driveline to the mix and the performance is quite astounding, while the petrol engine and EV potential have arrived at a critical point in history where such things carry more weight than ever before. It remains to be seen what happens globally and what effect that has on fuel prices, specifically the price gap between petrol and diesel. There’s also the question of what happens electronically when you dunk the Tank into Nolan’s Brook on the track to Cape York. But for now, this is a car whose time appears to have come.

But while the overall concept deserves praise, there’s still some work required in terms of the way the car drives and in its attempts at keeping its occupants safe. The calibration of both the throttle response and some of the driver aids is, frankly, in need of some final polish. And though it sounds odd, the Tank 300 would be a better thing to live with if GWM ditched the contentious driver aids and took the points hit on its ANCAP rating. Even better would be to stick with the tech but refine it to the point where it works in the background and not as an irritant.

I most frequently test and review vehicles that are tall, bulky and have plenty of ground clearance – usually 4WDs – so the GV80 is, in my experience, a mild revelation.

Firstly, it’s low and sleek and practically oozes – yes, oozes – prestige. Word of warning here. If you don’t like black as a colour on your car you’re in the wrong place because the GV80 Black and GV80 Coupe Black are only offered with – you guessed it – a black exterior and interior.

Secondly, this G80’s interior is a plush mix of quilted Nappa leather upholstery with black suede inserts, black ash wood trim, an abundance of soft-touch surfaces and very impressive all-around fit and finish. The interior of the cabin makes a strong style statement but it’s not over the top.

Genesis Motors Australia also says it has used a range of eco-friendly materials, including leather upholstery and door trims dyed using recycled carbon-black extracted from waste tyres. So, there’s that.

The cabin more than matches its rivals, such as Audi Q7, BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE, in terms of pure styling and as for practicality? Well, keep reading…

Derivative is a strong word, but from most angles there’s a little bit of something else in the Tank 300’s exterior. We can easily see a bit of Suzuki Jimny in profile, and a dash of new Ford Bronco in the lights and grille. And if you squint there’s a blob of Jeep Wrangler in the wheel-arch extensions.

Which should mean it’s just a mash-up. Yet somehow, it isn’t, and the Tank has its own vibe.

Inside, that vibe suddenly becomes a bit overdone, and the plastic garnish above the glove box, in particular, looks like it will date pretty quickly (if it hasn't already). There's also a lot going on in here; this is a busy place and even the gear selector looks like a prop form the Star Wars franchise.

The GV80 Black is the same size as the standard GV80 – 4940mm long (with a 2955mm wheelbase), 1975mm wide and 1715mm high – so nothing has changed there.

And because the Black treatment is all about the looks, inside and out, the interior remains the same as standard for roominess and practicality. So, let’s dive into it.

First up, the 27.0-inch multimedia touchscreen dominates upfront, which is handy because it’s from here you operate most of the GV80’s controls. Thankfully, though, there are some physical dials and buttons, as well.

That screen is big, the colours are clear and crisp and the on-screen controls are easy to use, even for a true luddite like me.

Same goes for the driver display and the 12-inch head-up display. Clear to read and versatile enough in configuration choices to set them up as you want.

Then, everything flows on from that well-appointed dash.

The steering wheel is heated and power adjustable. By the way, I still don’t see why a heated steering wheel is a thing in Australia. Nowhere on this continent is cold enough to warrant it.

All seats are soft but supportive and very comfortable as you’d expect in a prestige vehicle with an interior that’s replete with “rich textures and bespoke materials”, according to Genesis.

There’s adequate seating room all-around, but the third row is squeezy and best suited to children or other height-challenged people that you despise.

The front seats are 18-way power-adjustable, heated and ventilated. They even have a massage function – if that’s your particular cup of tea.

The second row has heated and ventilated outboard seats (with power-base tilt and backrest recline), and there’s a climate-control panel each for the second and third rows.

Charge points abound with USB and 12V options available in the front and second row.

There are plenty of storage options throughout the cabin including a glove box, sunglasses case, cupholders etc. But the door pockets are narrow and awkward to get anything in and out of. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance, nonetheless.

In terms of cargo area capacity, with all three rows up and in use there is a claimed 327 litres of space available, 727L with the power-folding third row stowed away, and 2147L with the second and third rows folded down and out of the way.

Worth noting for anyone who drives beyond city limits is the fact this vehicle does not have a spare wheel, it only has a tyre mobility kit attached by Velcro to the rear cargo area floor.

The GV80 also has a power-operated tailgate.

While GWM is by no means the worst offender, we still reckon the Tank’s interior would be better without such a degree of reliance of touchscreens and menu-driven functionality. While it’s obvious that there’s a lot going on in the cabin, it still seems odd that important functions such as shifting from conventional hybrid mode to EV mode would require a dive through the on-screen menus when a simple switch would be faster, easier and simpler.

And even when GWM has provided switches, the end result is muddy. Take the volume controls for an example. There’s no central volume knob accessible by both front seat occupants, so you rely on the steering wheel mounted up and down buttons to change the volume. Except they’re not marked as volume controls in any specific way. Okay, if you know, you know. But if you don’t know, you’ve just missed the news headlines.

Overall, it's disappointing. And I resent the fact that GWM (or anybody else) thinks it’s okay for me to have to learn to operate a car all over again. The dashboard is also full of tiny symbols and lettering making things difficult to decipher if you normally wear glasses to read, but not to drive.

We’ll take issue with the indicator stalk, too, which has an indistinct feel when trying to discern whether you turned the indicators on for an intersection, or just tipped them on for three flashes for a lane change. And if you have accidentally gone too far and they’re still flashing away merrily after the lane change, turning them off manually is a lottery that might see you succeed, or mistakenly turn on the other side flashers.

The rest is better with proper buttons for the various off-road drive modes, diff locks and hill holder. There’s even an analogue clock for some real nostalgia. You’ll also find a single USB-A and USB-C charge port in the dash, and a pair of cupholders buried deep in the centre console which also has a lid and sliding drawer.

It’s obvious that this is a smaller vehicle than some, and the four-door layout dictates shorter doors. But that doesn’t alter the fact that the driver’s seat slides back a few centimetres every time you shut the car down. The trouble with that if you’re tall, is that the seat is now tucked back in behind the B-pillar, meaning you have to climb out and around it to exit the car. Perhaps you can switch off this slide-back function, but I didn’t have the spare hour to troll through the menus to do so. Oh, and there should be a driver’s grab handle on the A-pillar, too. There isn’t.

The rear seat is better with an adjustable backrest that provides proper comfort, and leg and knee room that hides the 300’s smaller dimensions well. There’s lots of glass and light and a pair of USB charge points. You also get a pair of rear reading lights and central vents, but no climate controls.

Even the cargo area is a decent size with the five seats in place (360 litres, up to 1520L with 60/40 rear seats lowered) but the under-floor storage space has been consumed by the hybrid battery, meaning the jack and tools and charging cable live in the cargo area and the spare tyre is bolted to the tailgate.

The single-piece tailgate is hinged at the side, and needs a fair bit of real estate to be swung open fully.

The Tank features vehicle-to-load capability, too, which means you can operate your power tools using the vehicle as the power source, and there’s a 220-volt socket in the luggage area to do just that. But when camping, too, this feature can also power induction cookers, microwaves, and all the other stuff you probably should have left at home. And if the hybrid battery runs out of charge, the Tank can run its petrol engine to act as a generator (your camping neighbours are going to love that).

The real gadget freaks out there can also download the Tank app which allows you to operate functions such as power windows, climate control, seat heaters, central locking and check your charging status all from the comfort of your smartphone. You can also use this functionality to flash the hazard lights to help spot your Tank from everybody else’s in the carpark.

The Tank 300 PHEV is available in two trim levels, starting with the Lux at $55,990 drive-away. That gets you 18-inch alloy wheels, roof rails and side steps and, perhaps a little surprisingly, a sunroof.

There’s also power folding mirrors, keyless entry and start, paddle shifters, adaptive cruise-control and a rear differential lock.

Inside, there are leather accents for the seats, a pair of 12.3-inch multimedia, ambient lighting, digital radio, wireless connectivity, wireless phone charging, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic headlights, full LED lighting, and dual-zone climate control. That’s quite a bit of gear for the money.

But throw another four grand on the sales rep's desk, and you into the Ultra grade which adds heated, cooled and massaging front seats, eight-way power adjustment for the driver’s chair, Nappa leather inserts, underbody protection, a front differential lock and no less than 64 colour choices for the expanded ambient lighting package.

Fundamentally, then, your extra $4000 is buying the clever front seats and front diff lock, but that’s easily worth the money anyhow. That said, the entry-level variant is one of the better equipped at that price-point, so either way, you won’t be slumming it.

This Genesis GV80 Black has a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine producing 279kW and 530Nm, matched to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

This SUV has an all-wheel drive system and an electronic limited-slip rear differential.

The GV80’s engine has plenty of punch and the auto is impressively cluey as well.

The Tank’s plug-in driveline, starts with a petrol engine measuring 2.0-litres and contributing 180kW to the overall picture. But then there’s a single electric motor, sandwiched between the petrol engine and the nine-speed transmission. That means the Tank is still a mechanical four-wheel-drive platform, and when both powerplants are singing together, there’s an eye-opening 300kW and 750Nm of torque on tap.

The four-wheel-drive system operates as a rear-wheel drive on dry bitumen, and there’s the usual 4WD high range and 4WD low range. What there isn’t, is a 4WD-auto setting that allows you to use four-wheel drive in the dry on a paved road. That sounds minor, but for towing in particular, having all four wheels doing the driving is a major safety bonus.

All Tank 300s get a rear differential lock, but this version, the Ultra, also gets a locking front diff as well. Typically, the Tank also features a range of driving modes (no less than nine of them!) for the four-wheel-drive function, tailoring throttle, transmission and differential response according to the type of terrain being covered.

The Tank 300 is built the old fashioned way with a ladder-chassis upon which the body is bolted, and it still uses a live rear axle, too. But the front suspension is independent and the GWM uses coil springs rather than old-school leaf springs for much better ride quality.

Official combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption is listed as 11.7L/100km.

On test we were seeing a dash-indicated 9.6-9.8L/100km but recorded an overall average of 12.4L/100km after a mix of city, highway and suburban driving.

The GV80 has a 80-litre fuel tank so, going by our on-test fuel figures, you can reasonably expect a driving range of about 645km from a full-tank.

Worth noting this car requires 95 RON premium fuel.

The headline number here is GWM’s official fuel consumption number of just 1.9 litres per 100km. Or it would be if it had anything to do with the real world. As it is, nobody is going to achieve that, and our mix of urban running netted an average of about 11.0 litres per 100km, with that dropping to 8.5 litres per 100km in country conditions.

The truth is, your consumption in this vehicle can go from zero to, say, 12 litres per 100km depending on how and where you drive and how much battery charge you have available.

Speaking of charging, the Tank 300 can use a commercial fast charger to absorb voltage at a rate of 50kW. At that rate, it can go from 30 to 80 per cent charged in about 24 minutes. A wall box (GWM offers one as a factory option) can take the 37.1kWh battery from 15 per cent to fully charged in 6.5 hours. And, of course, you can also charge the Tank from a domestic wall socket in a claimed 14.4 hours. We managed to add about 6km worth of charge per hour on such an outlet during our time with the car.

As far as range goes, GWM reckons there’s 115km (NEDC) of EV-only range, while starting a journey with a fully charged battery and a full 70-litre fuel tank should see you covering somewhere between 900 and 950km between top ups.

An excerpt from my initial drive notes on the GV80 Black read "smooth, slick (too slick?), impressive open-road cruising, plush, couch on wheels”. All sound points but there’s even more to this car.

For a big wagon, the circa-2345kg GV80 gets off the mark nicely with a crisp throttle response and it punches along at a fair clip once on the move. There’s little to no noise from the outside world, other than the low-key rumble of the V6 and it’s easy to hit the speed limit without realising.

The power-adjustable steering wheel can be dialled in for a preferred position and while this weighty AWD still exhibits minor body roll through tighter corners that characteristic can be restrained somewhat via the Sport drive mode for better suited suspension behaviour and controlled with sufficiently precise steering.

Ride and handling are well sorted out with the GV80’s all-wheel drive system and an electronic limited-slip rear differential giving the driver welcome levels of confidence in a variety of driving conditions.

Turning circle is listed as 11.98m and this car doesn’t feel unwieldy on busy suburban streets.

A few niggles. Digital rear-view mirrors are not among my favourite features in cars as they offer a headache-inducing fish-eye view of the world not to my liking and such is the case in this GV80.

Speaking of views, because the GV80 is low and sleek, it doesn’t afford the driver the levels of visibility I’m used to getting in the taller, more upright vehicles I most frequently review.

All-around, however, the GV80 is a smooth daily driver, with plenty to like about it and just a few foibles.

GWM claims a 0-100km/h acceleration time of just 6.3 seconds for the Tank 300 PHEV, and that’s impressive. There are two caveats here. The first is that you need at least 40 per cent battery charge on board to extract maximum thrust. And, secondly, even in those circumstances, the Tank never feels that brisk. It’s more effortless than genuinely rapid, although the torque up hills is genuinely impressive.

There’s no getting around the refinement inherent in using volts for some of the time. And when the petrol engine does chime in, it’s all but imperceptible. You’ll eventually hear the engine if you wring it right out, but even then, vibrations are minimal.

All in all, the Tank’s relatively compact dimensions work in its favour in an urban setting, and the range of camera views (including an off-road one showing you the obstacles you’re about to encounter) make parking a lot easier than it might have been. Only a high degree of distortion in the birds-eye-view camera mode takes a bit of getting used to.

On the move the ride quality is quite exceptional, and those coil springs really do make a difference. Even the usual council speed bumps don’t bother the Tank and the short wheelbase pitching we’ve seen in some similar vehicles just never emerges. Well chosen damper rates help, too, and there has been some Australian input into the way the Tank handles. It shows.

Steering, too, feels light and natural, although the almost constant fidgeting at the helm by the lane-keeping assistance program is annoying. And switching it off is not only a multi-button job, it needs to be done every time you start the vehicle.

Far and away the biggest hurdle in living with the Tank, however, is a throttle calibration that is way off the mark. Pressing the accelerator pedal initially doesn’t seem to do much at all, and then suddenly, the power comes in and you discover you’ve input too much throttle as the Tank surges away down the road, threatening to actually spin its tyres if there’s any gravel about. But not until that initial hesitation has caused the driver behind you to wonder aloud (I can lip-read) if you’re ever going to move at all. This needs to be fixed as a running change.

The all-important off-road driving experience is pretty sharp and the Tank 300 is a genuine competitor in this discipline. It’s extremely stable and capable on unsealed roads and tracks and the front and rear diff locks make it a proper adventurer’s rig.

It’s relatively demure dimensions also mean that it fits down the tracks and trails that have been created by decades of vehicles of a similar size, unlike some of the bigger new off-roaders we’re seeing that simply don’t fit in to the terrain so neatly.

Ultimately, the Tank’s stock tyres will be the limiting factor, but there are plenty of alternatives out there for a bit more off-road bite.

The Tank has a strong safety story to tell, especially on paper.

Regardless of what specification you buy, you’ll get seven airbags including full-length side-curtain bags and a centre airbag to reduce head injuries in a side-impact crash.

There are rear parking sensors, a range of camera angles including an overhead view, tyre-pressure monitoring, Isofix child-restraint mounts, and the usual driver aids including autonomous emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alert and braking, blind-spot monitoring, traffic-sign recognition and rear collision warning.

But away from the brochure, features such as the lane-keeping assistance and the driver-fatigue monitor need work on their calibration. GWM is by no means on its own here, but it’s a fact that some other makers do a better job of making this tech transparent and vastly less intrusive.

The original Tank 300 launched in Australia in 2022 scored five safety stars in ANCAP testing, and that rating has been carried over to this car.

Every new 2026 GV80 is covered by a five-year/unlimited km warranty and five years' roadside assistance. If the car's serviced at an authorised Genesis dealer this coverage increases to 10 years.

Servicing, scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km, is free for the first five years or 75,000 km, whichever occurs soonest. Genesis offers a concierge and courtesy vehicle service for five years with the complimentary service.

There are 11 Genesis dealers in Australia - Five in Sydney (including a CBD 'studio'), two in Melbourne and one each in Brisbane, The Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth.

GWM offers a seven year/unlimited kilometre warranty on the Tank 300, as well as eight years of cover for the hybrid battery (also with no kilometre limit). There’s also seven years of roadside assistance thrown in, too.

Capped-price servicing is available for the first seven years, with the first service due at 12 months or 10,000km and subsequent services every 12 months of 15,000km after that. Prices for each service (in order) are: $320, $460, $460, $685, $685, $1075, and $370.

GWM has a network of 123 new-car dealerships able to handle servicing, and the company tells us that regional centres have not been forgotten.