Kia Cerato vs GWM Tank 500

What's the difference?

Three years after the fourth-generation Cerato small car rolled into Australian dealerships, Kia launched a mid-life facelift for the sedan and hatch range in mid-2021.

It ushered in styling tweaks including new headlights and Kia’s new logo, as well as more safety tech and a multimedia upgrade.

At the top of the range sits the warmed-up Cerato GT. It’s not quite Hyundai i30 N-level performance, more i30 N-Line. In other words, more than enough performance to keep most people satisfied and enough poke to get away quickly at the lights.

But is the updated version of Kia’s Cerato trying to be something it’s not, or is it a performance bargain?

Read on to find out.

The arrival of the GWM Tank 500 Ultra PHEV is noteworthy because it’s the first plug-in hybrid Tank model in Australia.

It’s also a major event for the Aussie adventure-travel community because it’s a plug-in hybrid 4WD with five seats, high- and low-range gearing, and a front, centre and rear diff lock.

The Tank 500 PHEV gets more power and torque than its hybrid stablemate, offers about 120km electric-only driving range (listed), and it can be used as a 6kW mobile power station (V2L) at your campsite. Towing remains at 3000kg.

There’s a lot in this Tank’s favour: it’s a body-on-ladder-frame chassis large 4WD with a packed standard features list and real off-road adventure potential.

All of that – and more – for under $80 grand.

But does the plug-in set-up add anything substantial in terms of daily driveability or does it simply make this Tank an $80,000 camp-site generator?

Read on.