Zeekr X vs GWM Tank 500

What's the difference?

It's a good thing in a small package, this Zeekr X, and there are a lot of things I like about it. In fact, the only sticking point for me is the price. But that's all about perspective. If you see this as a newcomer Chinese brand, then yes, there are a lot of more affordable options out there. But if you see it as a premium player, it's really a more affordable version of a Volvo.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

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 visual changes aren’t massive. This AWD version welcomes a couple of new exterior colours, including the 'Matt Khaki Green' of our test car. It also gets the two-tone black roof and there are new 20-inch alloy designs.

Elsewhere, it's the futuristic-style of design we’re used to which differentiates the X from its Volvo EX30 twin under the skin.

Inside, this is a seriously well-equipped and polished-feeling small SUV, and — unlike some of the newcomer brands to Australia — it all feels very high quality and well put together. And that includes the material choices.

I don’t even hate the fact that most of the functions are controlled via this screen, thanks to the little shortcuts glued to the home screen. I do, however, hate the fact that there’s no easy way to change the wing mirrors or shortcuts for toning down some of the safety stuff.

That aside, though, it’s a nice and high-quality feeling space.

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.

You know you're in a small vehicle when you can't fit two large (not those crazy American-style jumbo cups, just normal coffee-shop takeaway) coffees in the cupholders, but so it is with the Zeekr X.

The small SUV's 4432mm length, 1836mm in width and 1566mm height doesn't leave much room to spread out up front. There's ample room for driver and passenger, of course, but we are talking about a small vehicle here.

Clever storage helps to mitigate that, though, especially the super-deep storage space in the centre console and the very clever fridge that separates the driver and passenger seats.

Weirdly, though, the space doesn’t feel overly tight in the back seat. We had a massive baby seat in there, and that fit without issue. And full size humans can genuinely get pretty comfortable. I'm 175cm, and I had enough knee and headroom.

In the boot, there’s 404 litres of volume with the rear seats upright and 1247 litres with them folded flat. And it’s worth pointing out this isn’t intended to be a family car, but there’s certainly enough space for the shopping... and a pram.

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.

The GWM Tank 500 PHEV is only available in high-spec Ultra trim and has a listed drive-away price of $78,990.

Standard features in the Ultra include a 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen (with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), three-zone climate control, 18-inch alloy wheels, electric side steps, a 360-degree view monitor plus 'clear chassis view', auto parking assist, auto reversing assistance, lane departure warning and lane keep assist, all-terrain driving modes and an electronic rear diff lock.

Worth noting the Tank 500’s 37.11kWh battery supports Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality, which means you can power your camping gear (lights, fridge etc). It offers up to 6.0kW of off-grid power, according to GWM.

'Marble White' paint is standard. Metallic paint, including 'Crystal Black' ($495), 'Dune Gold' ($595), and 'Onyx Silver' ($595) costs extra.

The big news here is a more powerful rear motor – meaning you get more grunt whether you opt for the rear-wheel drive or this all-wheel drive.

In rear-drive form, that boosts your outputs from 200kW to 250kW, dropping the sprint to 100km/h to 5.6 seconds. In AWD guise, your new outputs are 365kW (up from 315kW) and 573Nm, and your sprint to 100km/h falls to 3.7 seconds.

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.

This is where it starts to get weird. The rear-drive Zeekr X is fitted with a 61kWh LFP battery, which can accept up to 230kW DC fast charging, taking you from 10 to 80 per cent charged in just 18 minutes. Total claimed range is 405km.

The flagship AWD, though, charges at a slower rate. It gets a 66kWh NMN battery and can only be charged at 150kW, meaning the same charge takes 30 minutes. Zeekr is promising a 415km driving range between charges.

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.

Short answer? Pretty good, with some caveats.

I'm partial to a firmer ride. I find some Chinese car companies can feel like they get their suspension bits from Captain Snooze, such is the soft, pillowy ride served up. And to be honest, it makes me a little seasick at times.

The Zeekr is not like that. It has firmness dialled into the ride equation and can feel harsh at times, but also improves the drive experience, delivering connection and engagement at the cost of some sharpness on the wrong road. 

It's also faster than the model it replaces, but it's also one of those cars in which the real-life feeling doesn't quite match the on-paper promise.

This thing serves up supercar speed, but it doesn't feel like it from behind the wheel. Instead, the acceleration - especially from a rolling start - feels potent, but not biblical.

From a standing start it pauses for a moment, almost like an internal-combustion vehicle might, before delivering a quick (but not stratospheric) flow of power. None of that is a bad thing, by the way. Who wants their small SUV to accelerate like a supercar?

It's otherwise an entirely pleasant drive. The cabin is serene and quiet and it's a small car that doesn't feel like one. There's nothing light or tinny about the drive experience, instead there's a heft and quality.

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.

The Tank 500 has the maximum five-star ANCAP rating from testing in 2024. As standard, it has seven airbags and a comprehensive suite of driver-assist tech including AEB, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree around-view camera.

Zeekr's coverage is an underwhelming five-year, unlimited-kilometres, while the drive battery is covered for eight-years or 160,000km. There’s five years' of roadside assistance thrown in, too.

Service intervals are 20,000km or 12 months, with five years' of ownership setting you back a hefty $3072; an average of $614 per workshop visit.

There are currently 16 Zeekr dealers in Australia - two of which are 'pop-up' sites rather than full retail centres.

Multiple locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with the ACT, Adelaide and Perth also covered. Others include Geelong and the Sunshine Coast but so far you're out of luck in Tassie or the NT.

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.