Be the first to test drive the Tank 300, a hard-core off-road vehicle for workers is already on the road

The four great joys in life: when you are named on the gold medal list; the night of flowers and candles in the wedding room; meeting an old friend in a foreign land; meeting dew after a long drought. However, today I met the fifth greatest pleasure, flying in the morning and driving a "tank" in the afternoon!

The test drive model this time is the WEY? Tank 300? high-end version "trial assembly car". Although it is a trial assembly car, it is not much different from the final production car. This test drive is mainly for It "finds faults" and makes corrections. The test drive routes include Chongqing urban areas, highways, mountain roads, and off-road venues.

1. The name "tank" is not in vain, it has strong off-road capabilities

Let's get straight to the point. Let me first talk about the off-road performance of the Tank 300. I have mentioned the appearance and interior before, but it is real. It was my first time to go on a test drive and go off-road.

WEY's official slogan for the Tank 300 is "No road, find a way out." It is not difficult to guess from the slogan that it is more suitable for long-distance cross-country off-roading. Our off-road experience projects this time include: shell craters, cross axes, deep puddles, undulating roads, inclined side slopes, A-shaped slopes and other traditional off-road projects.

There is no coach on board for this off-road experience, only the coach leading the way. In such an unfamiliar venue, and without the guidance of an on-board instructor, Che Jujun was still worried about whether he could pass at first. It was a challenge for both the body and the car.

But after I passed the first obstacle, I felt that all these worries were unnecessary.

The top version of the Tank 300 tested by Che Jujun is equipped with a 2.0T engine with a maximum power of 167kW and a maximum torque of 387N·m. It is matched with a ZF 8AT gearbox and " "Three locks" and a non-load-bearing body, the software equipped with off-road functions includes 2H (high-speed two-wheel drive), 4H (high-speed four-wheel drive), 4L (low-speed four-wheel drive), and various terrain mode options. Off-road novices can easily handle complex road conditions.

However, the drive mode selection knob has "stepless adjustment" and has no limit. It is easy to misoperate and overoperate, which is not conducive to blind operation. Since it is a trial assembly of the car, the test drive is to find faults with it. These problems are also All feedback is given to the manufacturer for processing.

Due to the combination of these software and hardware, when the Tank 300 passes most off-road obstacles, it only needs to switch to the corresponding road mode, turn on the rear lock and low-speed four-wheel drive mode, which is enough to cope with complex road conditions.

Of all the cross-country events, the most exciting are the wading pool and deep pit events. The original maximum wading depth of the Tank 300 can reach 700mm. After entering a deep wading pit, you don’t have to worry about water entering the engine and cabin, and you can go through it smoothly without any pressure. Moreover, it is still muddy on the exit slope. The original factory-equipped AT tires will not cause slippage and scratching on muddy slopes.

When going off-road, you may not feel scared when passing through small potholes such as shell craters and cross axes, because you can still see the normal road conditions ahead. But if there is a deep pit in front of you and you cannot see the normal road surface on the downhill road, you will have a fear and you will neither be able to see the road conditions nor judge the distance to the side of the car. Anyway, Che Jujun was very scared when he entered the pit where the car could be buried.

But fortunately, the Tank 300 is also equipped with a 360-degree panoramic image. You can also choose to view separate scenes of the front and rear wheel arch areas, and it also has a transparent chassis function. Even if you cannot see the road, you can only see inside the car. The central control screen image can also be "blindly manipulated" to get out of the trap. Of course, it is also inseparable from the body design blessings of 33° approach angle, 34° departure angle and 224mm minimum ground clearance. Although it made my hands sweat, fortunately, the car's functions were complete and it passed perfectly.

In addition, there are steep slopes, gravel slopes, narrow road turns and U-turns, etc. After you turn on its creeping mode or descend a steep slope, and the Tank 300 turns around, there is almost no need to control the accelerator and brakes. You only need to control the steering wheel, and the Tank 300 can easily pass these obstacles. These "dumb version" off-road functions allow people with little off-road experience to cope with complex road conditions. After all, it is a "tank", so as long as you don't let it fly, you can do anything!

The entire off-road section is about three kilometers, and Che Jujun experienced it twice.

Personally, I feel that if the Tank 300 is placed in this kind of venue for off-road use, it will release its 60% off-road performance. I look forward to more exciting off-road test drives in the future.

2. Tough guy appearance, soft heart

The tank 300 has a body shape that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. It looks very "solid". With its square shell and round light shape, many people say it looks a bit like JEEP, Land Rover Defender, FJ Cruiser and other models. Everyone's aesthetic appearance is different, but for hard-core off-road vehicles, almost all models are developing in the same design direction, and the public aesthetic accumulated over the years is not easy to change. What if consumers don’t like it after the change?

Instead of worrying about the appearance, it is better to take a look at the improvements made by the Tank 300 compared to other models.

There are 2 trailer hooks under each front and rear bumper, totaling 4 trailer hooks. This is standard equipment for hardcore off-road vehicles. It also retains the rear "rogue hook" - a reserved opening for an external trailer hook, which can also be hidden. This time the "rogue hook" is finally no longer rogue. In addition, a 13-pin trailer interface is also equipped.

If you want to travel through difficult off-road terrain, a winch is definitely indispensable. For many off-road vehicles currently on sale, if a winch is installed later, most of them will have to rearrange the original license plate frame. However, if this is done, it will not comply with regulations if it is not firmly fixed, and it will also affect the safety of the winch in later use.

Tank 300 reserves a winch installation position under the license plate frame, which can perfectly avoid the license plate and greatly facilitates later modification and upgrade. But unfortunately, it is said that the original winch has to be optional and made as a bonus from the original factory. Isn’t it good to get it right in one step? Since it is a trial vehicle, we have also reported these issues that are beneficial to consumers to the manufacturer.

The interior of the Tank 300 is mostly similar to those previously exposed online, with dual 12.3-inch LCD instruments, "Piranha" air outlets with ambient lights, co-pilot galloping handles, and electronics similar to those of an aircraft. The gear handle also continues the previously exposed interior design.

For such a hardcore off-road vehicle, I always thought it should feel like a small bench when sitting up, but its seats are very comfortable, with good softness and lumbar support. Chair massage function.

With a wheelbase of 2750mm, the rear seating space is also sufficient, but the angle of the rear seat backrest is a bit straight. Considering that it is a non-load-bearing body, if the rear seats are tilted too much, It is easy to cause the dizziness of "riding on a boat".

3. What is hardcore off-road driving on city roads like?

The Tank 300 is equipped with a Honeycomb Yichuang 2.0T engine. The initial throttle adjustment is heavier, so that this big guy, which weighs just over 2 tons, will not look "boring" when driving.

ZF’s 8AT gearbox has little shifting noise when driving smoothly, but when driving intensely, the shifting feedback is more obvious during forced downshifts. Compared with ZF’s ZF gearbox equipped with other luxury brands, Fu 8AT, the 8AT on the Tank 300 is a little less interesting.

With the non-load-bearing body, there is no discomfort when driving on flat roads, but the high-speed cornering experience is definitely not as good as that of a city SUV. You will feel a bit floaty. The Tank 300 has also strengthened the suspension damping and calibrated it to the greatest extent possible. To reduce the sense of separation between the chassis and the cabin. When riding on a very hard speed bump, it may be due to the AT tires and the very hard suspension adjustment. You can feel the front bump of the car quite obviously, which somewhat reduces the comfort of the passengers in the car.

Che Jujun feels that these jumps may be transmitted from the front axle. The manufacturer can finer the matching of the suspension springs later to ensure the comfort of the passenger compartment.

As for NVH, since it is a trial vehicle, double-layer laminated glass has not yet been used in the front row. However, the wind noise is not obvious at 60km/h. If double-layer laminated glass is installed in later production cars, the wind noise will be better suppressed. However, the sound feedback from the engine is quite obvious. It may be due to the trial installation of the car. I hope it can be optimized later. After all, no matter how comfortable the seats are, you can't fall asleep lying under the stage.

Tank 300 is also equipped with L2-level assisted driving function, but it has not been calibrated yet, so the function cannot be activated. We will call you more detailed tests later.

As for fuel consumption, let me tell you a little bit about it. It doesn’t have much reference value when trying to install the car. Test road conditions: Chongqing's morning rush hour traffic jam expressway, smooth driving for 40 kilometers, average speed 30km/h, fuel consumption per 100 kilometers 14.3L/100km.

Car gathering summary

The threshold for hard-core off-roading has always been relatively high, either Wrangler or Land Rover Defender. However, the hard-core off-road vehicles produced by Great Wall have always been close to the people. There was the "Baoding Hummer" - Haval H5 in the front, and the WEY Tank 300 in the back.

The Tank 300 also makes up for many shortcomings in hardcore off-road vehicles, allowing hardcore off-road vehicles to have super off-road performance and the most comfortable ride experience, so that hardcore off-road vehicles are no longer limited to sand and mud wading. Since then, it has been used in more life scenes.

Great Wall Motors has been doing a lot of "sexy things" recently. In the past, there were black and white cats and trendy models, and in the later, there were big dogs and tanks, plus various car-making platforms such as lemons and tanks. The naming and marketing were too slippery. . If marketing is in place, product strength must be strictly controlled.

By the way, Che Jujun blindly guessed the pre-sale price at the Guangzhou Auto Show between 180,000 and 240,000 yuan. Let’s see if his guess is accurate! For more questions about Tank 300, please leave a message in the comment area to discuss.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.