GWM Tank 500 vs Kgm Musso

What's the difference?

The GWM Tank 500 Ultra PHEV is an impressive five-seat 4WD wagon. It’s reasonably nice to drive, it’s comfortable and it’s a capable 4WD. These vehicles keep improving and are increasingly stacked with characteristics to like.

There are still glaring range-specific issues with some of its driver-assist tech and its plug-in hybrid set-up doesn’t offer the fuel economy you’d hope for. At least not under real-world testing conditions. But the Tank 500 is packed with features and represents decent value-for-money when cross-shopped against the likes of its stablemate the regular hybrid, or the Prado and Everest.

The KGM Musso Advance is a large 4WD ute offering a decent amount of appeal for the price and it makes a lot of sense in XLV form.

It’s generally nice to drive, it’s comfortable and capable for a ute and – as with the Rexton – the Musso is another clear sign that KGM continues to improve its vehicles, albeit incrementally in some cases, in terms of quality and functionality.

In terms of dimensions, the Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV is 5078mm long (with a 2850mm wheelbase), 1934mm wide and 1905mm high. It has a listed kerb weight of 2820kg, so it’s not an insubstantial vehicle.

There are plenty of old-school 4WD design cues in the Tank 500’s appearance. It’s mostly chunky and straight up and down, with some softer curves here and there as concessions to contemporary styling.

It's clear to see where the GWM Tank 500 takes its cues from – most of the current crop of popular 4WD wagons, such as the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.

The Tank 500 is a large vehicle straddling that line between large and extra-large 4WD wagons. It is longer than any 300 Series, but it’s narrower and shorter.

It has a sunroof, roof rails, electric side steps (that extend when doors are opened and retract when doors are shut) and 18-inch alloy wheels.

The interior is well laid-out and functional with some understated class to it. There are soft-touch surfaces and genuine Nappa leather seating throughout.

The Musso is based on its SUV stablemate, the Rexton. It’s a body-on-frame 4WD ute, available only as a dual-cab, and its appearance is inoffensively pleasant.

Styling changes to the Advance include a black grille, black 18-inch alloy wheels, HID headlights (on short and XLV grades), and rear privacy tint.

It also has a black leather-look interior with black leather-look seats.

The Musso’s interior offers plenty of space for the driver and passengers and is neat and well laid out.

Build quality and fit and finish are impressive with a mix of durable plastic and soft-touch surfaces throughout including a leather steering wheel and leather-look seats in the Advance.

This Tank 500 has five seats because the two at the very rear have been removed to accommodate the hybrid battery.

The front seats are Nappa leather, power-adjustable (eight-way for the driver, six-way for the front passenger), as well as being ventilated with massage and memory functions.

The three-position second row – set up in a 60/40 split-folding configuration – breaks the usual 4WD wagon second-row seat tradition of being fine but not fantastic. The second-row set-up in this Tank is a first-class-cabin-style back seat with a flip-down control console (which includes air-con controls) instead of a basic centre armrest.

As mentioned there is no third row in this Tank 500 because of its underfloor battery.

Up front, the 14.6-inch multimedia screen (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) dominates the dash. It's generally easy enough to use, although I had difficulty getting my iPhone hooked up to the system and the cabin set-up remains clunky and counter-intuitive in its operation.

The cabin has wireless charging, front and rear USB ports, as well as 12V and 220V power outlets.

The second row folds away to expand the rear storage capacity. Cargo volume is a listed 640 litres when all seats are in use and 1400 litres when the second row is stowed away.

The rear cargo area has tie-down points and a cargo slide cover.

There is the expected array of storage spots (glove box, door pockets etc), cupholders (two to the rear of the auto shifter) and charge points (two USB-C ports and a 12-volt plug point for driver and front passenger).

The seats are comfortable and supportive and, in general, KGM has maximised space in the cabin, yielding plenty of shoulder and legroom for driver and passengers.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system works reasonably well although you do have to cycle through numerous menus and sub-menus to change some settings and I did have to try several times to pair my phone to it, so overall functionality is clunky.

Rear-seat passengers have access to directional air vents, but there are smart-device charge points.

The tub size is as follows: 1600mm long in the XLV (1300mm in the standard Musso), 1570mm wide (1100mm between wheel-arches) and 570mm deep. The tub has a plastic tub liner and four tie-down points.

For a direct comparison of dimensions: the standard Musso is 5095mm long with a 3100mm wheelbase while the XLV is 5405mm with a 3210mm wheelbase; the standard Musso is 1950mm wide and 1870mm high (the XLV is 1885mm). For reference, the Ford Ranger XLT dual-cab ute is 5406mm long (including rear bumper and tow bar receiver) with a 3270mm wheelbase.

The difference in dimensions between a standard Musso and the XLV version also means a difference in off-road angles so approach is 22.8° / 25° (XLV), departure is 23.4° / 20° (XLV) and rampover is 23° / 20° (XLV).

Minimum ground clearance is 215mm in a standard Musso and 220mm in the XLV, so the Musso XLV does stand taller off the ground than its regular stablemate.

Kerb weight is listed as 2090kg for the standard Musso and 2100kg for the XLV. Turning circle is 11.8m for the standard Musso and 12.2m for the XLV.

The KGM Musso is available in three grades - ELX, Advance, and the Ultimate. All three can be optioned up with an XLV Pack, which adds a 300mm longer tub giving you an additional 251L rear tub capacity, along with a 110mm longer wheelbase. XLV also increases maximum torque from 400Nm to 420Nm.

At the time of writing, our test vehicle, the Advance, has drive-away price of $48,700.

Standard features in the Advance include 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), 12.3-inch digital LCD instrument cluster, leather-accented heated and ventilated front seats with electric adjustment, 18-inch black alloy wheels, HID headlights, LED daytime running lights, and a suite of driver-assist tech, but more on that in the Safety section below.

Exterior paint choices include Grand White (no extra charge), Amazonian Green (metallic paint), Marble Grey (metallic paint), Pearl White (metallic paint) and Space Black (metallic paint). Metallic paint is available for $700.

Every Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV has a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, a 37.11kWh lithium-ion battery and an electric motor. And that combination produces a total* of 300kW and 750Nm. 

* Electric motor 120kW, petrol engine 180kW at 6000rpm. Motor 400Nm, engine 380Nm at 1700-4000rpm.

This system is mostly seamless in operation but as for GWM’s claims that it delivers “outstanding efficiency, performance, and refinement smooth, responsive take-offs, strong acceleration, and exceptional fuel savings - while ensuring minimal noise and maximum driving confidence”. Well, let’s just say this Tank 500 gets off the mark well for a large 4WD but the prompting requires a heavy right foot.

It is generally quiet and comfortable and yields a smooth driving experience. And as for fuel saving, flick your eyes down to ‘Efficiency’ to see how it did on this test.

This Tank 500 has a nine-speed automatic transmission, low- and high-range 4WD gearing, as well as a front, centre and rear diff lock.

The KGM Musso Advance with the XLV Pack has a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine – producing 133kW at 4000rpm and 420Nm from at 1600-2600rpm – it gets an extra 20Nm over the shorter version's 400Nm from 1400 to 2800rpm.

It has a six-speed automatic transmission, part-time 4x4 with high and low range, and an auto-locking rear differential.

This is a sluggish combination producing a generally lacklustre performance and the powertrain is not particularly efficient but, having said that, the Aisin auto is a reliable, well-proven transmission and the Musso ultimately does reasonably well with what it has.

The 4WD mechanicals and driver-assist tech actually work better in this package than they do in the Musso’s stablemate, the Rexton.

Official fuel consumption is 2.1L/100km on a combined cycle on regular unleaded fuel (91) with low-charge consumption at 8.4L/100km. For reference, low-charge fuel consumption on this test was 10.2L/100km as recorded. Okay, but not a particularly compelling result.

The Tank 500 has a 70-litre fuel tank so, going by those fuel figures, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 686km out of a full tank.

Official fuel consumption for the Musso Advance with the XLV treatment is 9.0L/100km.

On this test, I recorded 11L/100km, but on the test I spent a chunk of time in 4WD high and low range.

The Musso has a 75-litre fuel tank, so going by my on test fuel-consumption figures, from a full tank, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 681km.

But it is worth noting that I didn't have a lot of weight on board during this test – it was just me and the vehicle recovery gear – and you will have a lot more weight on board: your family or your mates, pets, camping gear, surfboards, kayaks, the whole kit and caboodle.

The Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV is decent on road – and that’s good news for anyone thinking about buying this large 4WD.

It has more power and torque than its hybrid stablemate (300kW/750Nm vs 255kW/648Nm) for general day-to-day drivability while it retains all of the regular hybrid’s positive driving characteristics and few of the negatives.

This Tank 500’s turbocharged petrol engine and the electric motor work seamlessly together, with no discernible clunking or shifting between systems in the powertrain.

This is a big, heavy four-wheel drive – even heavier in this plug-in hybrid form than the regular hybrid because of this vehicle’s battery. But it is nicely settled and composed because of that weight.

This flip side is the extra heft on-board means there is some body-roll to this vehicle. It’s noticeable, but not a deal-breaker.

On highways, sealed surfaces or well-maintained bush tracks the Tank 500 is quite impressive. It’s settled, controlled and quite nice to drive.

Overall, this Tank 500’s suspension – double wishbone independent with coil springs at the front, and multi-link live axle with coil springs at the rear – is firm. There has been talk of it having been retuned for Australian conditions, but it remains stiff and jittery at pace, especially through backcountry bitumen in poor condition and lightly corrugated dirt roads. However, GWM informs me that the suspension set-up will undergo more retuning for Australian conditions and those changes will be incorporated into 2026 production vehicles.

Besides that, the engine, electric motor and transmission work quite well together. It is a reasonably smooth 4WD wagon to drive.

There are, however, glaring issues with the driver-assist tech, which is quite annoying in its operation. It’s either very jarring or intrusive in its application (example: adaptive cruise control braking way too early), or bloody annoying/dangerous (example: road-sign recognition abruptly tried to cut my speed from 100km/h to 40km/h because it registered the school zone sign off to the side of the highway. At the time it was outside school drop-off and pick-up times anyway.).

You can switch off the driver-assist features every time you start up, but the system resets and defaults to being annoying again when you switch off.

When it comes to 4WDing though, the good news returns.

This hybrid retains all of the regular Tank 500’s 4WD mechanicals, including the (BorgWarner-sourced) transfer case with high- and low-range 4WD, and it offers up plenty of torque across a decent spread of revs.

The off-road traction control system is suitably dialled in, hill descent control is effective, keeping you to a nice controlled low speed and there’s low-speed cruise control or the equivalent that keeps the vehicle to a controlled pace across varying terrain.

Not forgetting, the Tank 500 is triple locked – front, centre and rear diff locks – so there are few excuses to not be able to crawl over most off-road obstacles.

However, the tyres on this vehicle (Giti Xross HT71 SUV - 265/60R18) aren't up to scratch when it comes to off-roading beyond anything other than well-maintained tracks in the dry. The Tank 500 as is well suited, straight out of the dealership, for light to moderate off-roading. But if you swap in a decent set of aggressive all-terrain tyres the Tank 500 will be able to more comfortably take on more challenging terrain.

But it's capable of climbing. I took on a 30-35 degree incline of rock steps and the Tank 500 did it easily and comfortably on its standard highway tyres.

Most of the plug-in hybrid Tank’s off-roading characteristics check out. Approach, ramp over and departure angles are as per the regular hybrid Tank 500 (30, 22.5 and 24 degrees) and wading depth is a listed 800mm although the country was so dry at our proving ground that I never had the chance to test that claim.

Ground clearance on the Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV is listed as 213mm (it’s 224mm in the normal hybrid) but that doesn't negatively impact this vehicle's off-roading capability if you drive it with control and consideration.

It is big, so it can be a little bit tricky to steer around, especially when the track becomes tighter and the obstacles become a bit more cheeky, but generally this can be driven very safely and with the utmost control through a lot of tricky four-wheel driving challenges.

It's not as polished in its off-road performance as something like the Toyota Prado or Ford Everest, but it does the job and there's a bit of a gruff edge to it, which some people might consider part of its charm.

As mentioned, the Tank 500’s 37.11kWh battery supports Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality, which in theory means you’ll be able to power your camp-site (lights, fridge etc), but I’ll reserve final judgement on this set-up until I have the opportunity to test it over a long weekend with several appliances drawing power at the same time.

If you’re thinking about using this Tank PHEV as an adventure touring vehicle then it’s handy to know its payload is listed as 610kg, while it’s noted as 790kg in the Tank 500 HEV. Throw two adults, two teenagers, a dog, and camping gear in and you’ll hit that 610kg mark in no time.

The Tank 500 is rated to tow a 750kg unbraked trailer and 3000kg braked. Gross vehicle mass is 3430kg and gross combined mass is 6430kg.

On-road, the longer-wheelbase Musso is composed and comfortable with well-subdued NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) levels adding to an impressive overall sense of low-key refinement.

The engine and auto work reasonably well together, but as mentioned earlier this is a sluggish unit and it takes some urging to get it going. Pronounced lag from stand-still can be disconcerting, especially when you need plenty of zip to punch you into the traffic flow.

This ute’s suspension – double-wishbone, coil springs and stabiliser bar at the front, multi-link with coil springs at the rear – is firm, mostly controlled, but the Musso becomes jittery on irregular surfaces, such as lumpy back-roads bitumen and mildly corrugated dirt tracks.

One noteworthy annoyance: the Musso does not have adaptive cruise control.

Despite that, the Musso is actually quite reasonable for general driving duties.

As a 4WD, the Musso actually performs pretty well. It is a long wheelbase ute, so you have to drive it with consideration because you have to take into account its shallow off-road angles – approach, departure and ramp over – and it has quite a large overhang of tub behind the rear axle.

It has an auto locking rear diff, which is clunky in operation and I’d prefer a switchable diff-lock, which you could select whenever you want to, but otherwise it's effective in a workman-like kind of fashion.

Steering is not too shabby, it has a nice weight to it in all situations, whether you are on the bitumen or a dirt track. Turning circle on this long-wheelbase ute is 12.2m, but it feels nimble to steer around on the tracks.

The Musso has part-time four-wheel drive and high and low range 4WD gearing. It doesn't have a lot of power and torque in terms of the contemporary dual-cab ute market, but it does fine with what it does have; 420Nm in the XLV Musso gives it that little bit of extra punch over the standard Musso (400Nm) and that torque is available across a decent spread of revs.

If you intend to use your Musso as an off-road adventure vehicle or a weekend holiday machine, then it's handy to know that it's unbraked towing capacity is 750kg and its braked towing capacity is 3500kg and that's on par with the dual-cab ute market.

In terms of tyres, it’s the same story here as with most standard 4WDs – the Musso’s Nexen NPriz RH7 (255/60R18 108H) are not well-suited to anything other than light off-roading. The easy fix? Replace those tyres with some decent all-terrain tyres.

Payload is a listed 880kg (790kg in the standard Advance), GVM is 2980kg and GCM is 6480kg.

The Musso does not have an ANCAP rating because it has not been officially tested.

As standard, the XLV Advance has six airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, trailer sway control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, front/rear parking sensors plus reversing cameras and more.

Adaptive cruise control is not offered on Mussos in Australia, only old school cruise control.

The Tank 500 is covered by a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, seven years' roadside assistance and seven years' capped price servicing.

The Tank 500’s 37.1kWh traction battery has an eight year/unlimited km warranty.

The first service is scheduled at 12 months/10,000km; the rest of the servicing appointments are set for every 12 months/15,000km. Lowest price per services is $335, highest is $975.

GWM has 122 dealerships nationwide at time of writing.

The MY26 Musso range is covered by a seven-year/unlimited kilometre new-vehicle warranty, and five years of roadside assistance.

A service is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs soonest with cost per service either $418 or $522.

Note, KGM considers off-roading as an example of a “severe driving condition” and so your Musso may require more frequent servicing.

KGM Australia has more than 50 dealerships across the country with a decent spread across metro and regional areas. Rextons can be serviced at those dealers or at approved workshops.