Designed predominantly for tradies, but equally as useful for the home handyman, dirt bike or mountain biker, farmer or camper, the 2024 GWM Cannon-L CC Cab Chassis blends practicality and toughness with a dash of class and luxury, and all for the right price.
Hitting the road at just $40,490 drive away, it’s one of seven Cannon ute variants, a roster that includes five traditional pickups and two cab chassis, both with a free alloy tray. In terms of bang for buck, it is impossible to argue with the value here.
Good looks come thanks to 18-inch alloys, 6-way power adjustable (driver) heated (front) Comfort-Tek faux leather seats, a premium steering wheel, 360-degree camera, tint, climate, roof rails and shiny chrome highlights.
Those goodies are in addition to keyless entry and push button start, a ZF 8-speed auto with paddles, active cruise, AEB with pedestrian detection, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired), 3000kg towing capacity and a 1050kg tray payload.
The five-seater comes in a similar number of colours, with our test vehicle draped in Pittsburgh Silver. There’s also a range of genuine accessories. Power comes from a 120kW/400Nm 2.0-litre turbo diesel.
The goodies continue with Cooper Discoverer HTS tyres, chrome plating on the front grille and a paint matched bumper, electroplated door handles, a 7-year unlimited kilometre warranty, 5-years roadside assist and 5-years capped servicing.
Creature comforts like the 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen add to the appeal of the Cannon-L, as do multiple drive modes (for both on and off road), a digital instrument cluster, and a 6-speaker sound system.
The Canon-L CC also has tyre pressure monitoring, hill start assist and descent control, lane keep assist, electric folding power adjustable mirrors, LED lighting, and front and rear fog lamps.
Throw in lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition and an overspeed warning, and it’s hard to fault as a complete package. There are two rear ISOFIX and two tether points, along with rear A/C vents, a 12V outlet and a proper power point (220V/120W).
Those drive modes we mentioned are controlled by a rotary dial and include Standard, Economy, Sport, and 4L. The front suspension is double wishbone, with dual leaf springs at the rear. GVM is 2030kg.
The Cannon-L CC holds 78-litres of diesel and GWM claim 9.4-litres/100km. We managed 9.6-litres/100km in more than 1,000km of testing. While that’s not super efficient, it’s not too bad for a big 4WD.
It’s an amazingly well spec’d vehicle for the price, and while some won’t find the 2.0-litre motor adequate, the outputs are fine. We worked that out by loading the cab up with five people and throwing four days worth of luggage in the back.
From there, we headed away for a family trip. After five hours on the road, we arrived at our destination feeling in much the same shape as we would if we’d taken a sedan, and the kids loved the back.
Comfortable, well equipped, spacious, with brilliant visibility and plenty of charging points to keep the kids devices running while mum and dad enjoyed 1990s music on Spotify, the GWM impressed us and then some. As a motocross family, this ute would be ideal.
Well, mostly. It is one seat short, as we have four kids, but it worked out this time. Aside from the expected body on chassis leaf spring harsh ride and bouncing around at times, which would improve with a load onboard, the Cannon-L CC proved itself admirably.
It’s no fast ute or stump puller, but it gets along sufficiently and the eight-speed is really well matched to the engine. It’ll climb any hill, you just need to enjoy the drive, and not rush. The only time it struggled was with cruise control on, whereby it slowed for hills.
Regardless of drive mode though, the gearbox made the right choices, at the right time. A double tap back on the T-bar drive selector engages paddle shifting, which we tried, but felt it was not useful on road. It’s also too easy to accidentally engage it via the T-bar.
The engine is not overly loud either, which is a good thing, and sure, it could have done with more power, but it’s an impressive rig nonetheless. Off-road, in 4L, there’s ample grunt, and with a rear diff lock, you’d get the GWM out of almost any situation.
Low speed crawling and trail driving is fun too, in a car that’s capable, tractable and although longer than its pickup sibling, has a reasonable breakover angle. Approach and departure angles are acceptable, even with the extra length of the tray.
Firmly sprung, it’s a workhorse, so expect bouncy progress off-road and some intense chattering over dirt road corrugations. Dropping the tyre pressures helps dampen the latter but at speed on loose bumpy roads, and can get a bit skittish.
Braking performance is good, thanks to four-wheel disc brakes, while in the wet, where cab chassis utes can get tail happy, the GWM remained planted. There are a few quirks in the GWM Cannon-L CC though.
They’re things that will drive you crazy too, like a confusing to operate infotainment system, safety and driver assist functions that are far from refined, and a climate control system with a mind of its own.
You’ll also get random forward collision warning alerts for vehicles in adjoining lanes, while the adaptive cruise control struggled with hills (as we mentioned already). As has been an issue with other GWM vehicles, lane keep assist is also unpredictable.
Switching off the assists requires multiple steps in the menu and it has to be done every time the ute is powered down and re-started. It’s a real shame, given there’s so much to like about the hardware on offer from the Cannon-L.
It offers astounding value for money, comes with a host of great features, and is stylish and well built. It just needs its software issues sorted. When GWM can fix those, we’ll buy one in a heartbeat.
You can find out more about the 2024 Cannon-L CC Cab Chassis from GWM’s Australian website, or by talking to your local dealership.
Our test vehicle was provided by GWM Haval Australia for independent review purposes.
