Mom's taxi test - Peta Lee gets to know the latest double cab from GWM:
Back in the old days, when I bought my first car, I felt like a princess in it. A cute little square Morris 1100, it had a big steering wheel, quite a lively hooter, seats and an engine, and that was pretty much it.
No aircon or anything. I bought a wireless/tape system for it … one of those pull out anti-theft bracket jobbies that had just been invented back then, and played my 90-minute tapes at full volume.
Of course, I'd paid the princely sum of R450 for the car (my salary was a staggering R225 a month), so couldn't expect anything too fancy. A major point in its favour was it had a full sized spare tyre in the boot, even back then.
Amazing how spoilt we've become over the years. Airbags, leather upholstery, sunroofs, 16 speakers, central locking, heated seats, for Pete's sake, and all the acronyms you could wish for, like EBD, ASC, ESC, ABS and so on, are now expected in pretty much every car you drive.
I mention this because my daughter actually whinged recently when the GWM Steed 5 bakkie I was driving didn't display the ambient temperature (that's outside temperature, bud).
So what? It was freezing cold, that's all we needed to know, and anyway, the truck had a fabulously effective heater, more than enough torque to keep me happy and get me out of trouble in a hurry, and dual airbags upfront. Oh, and a wireless - with CD/MP3 player and steering wheel audio controls.
Bigger and beefier, and also way tougher than the Steed 3, the 2.5 TCi double-cab 4x2 bakkie provides a surprisingly decent ride with more than acceptable suspension. Beneath the bonnet is an engine delivering a maximum power output of 80kW at 3400rpm with a maximum torque of 300Nm at 1800-2600rpm. A front mounted intercooler, Bosch fuel-injection and a 70-litre tank complete the picture.
Appearance wise, it's big and mean, with a macho front grille and rather nice contours all round. Its load bin, incidentally, has double insulation, and you get mud flaps front and rear.
And unlike my old Morris, it boasts ABS and EBD, dual front airbags, front fog lamps, and remote central locking. No, you can't tell the outside temperature, but hell, if you're freezing you're freezing: simply pop on the heater and thaw out.
And there IS a clock, apparently, which I couldn't find, but you need to fiddle with a button on the radio to spot it. Never mind, I wear a watch.
GWM is quietly making its move on the bigger names out there, and if there's one area in which it can knock spots off the competitors, it's pricing: this bakkie costs just R199 990, and comes with a three-year/1000km factory warranty and roadside assistance.
Jeez, who else can sell you a decent double cab for that price? And a very, very nice one, at that ...