Sometimes, what you want in a ute is a no-nonsense back to basics vehicle that doesn’t mess about with the fancy stuff but just gets on and does the job.  After all, that’s what a tradesperson’s commercial vehicle or a farmer’s ute needs to do.  You don’t want a car that has all the bells and whistles in an attempt to be a smartphone (you’ve already got one of those, thank you very much) and you don’t want something so posh that you shouldn’t really seriously consider taking anywhere a building site, or using for carting sheep and the working dogs (and maybe the spoils of your hunting trip). And you don’t want to buy something that just about costs as much as some people’s houses.

What you want is the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab ute.  All of the Great Wall line have been manufactured with the goal of being easy on the pocket but still capable of doing the job.  This means that the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is a ute of the old-school type, the way that a proper farm ute or tradie ute ought to be.  What’s more, the ethos of the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is working: the Great Wall V240 was named the least expensive car to run in Australia in its class (2WD cab chassis) in a study by NRMA in 2013.  And it’s proving popular.

If nothing else, the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is designed to be practical.  Take a look at that deck – just about the most important part of any ute. You have the option of putting the sides and the rear “walls” of the deck up or down as it suits you, making it easier for you to carry awkward loads, tie down loads and manoeuvre loads on and off the deck.  With a 3050-mm wheelbase (that’s over 3 metres long), with most of that space dedicated to the deck, you’ve got a loading space that’s 2.4 metres long and 1.8 metres wide – with the “walls” rising to 250 mm.  Add in a ground clearance of 194 mm with a full load and a braked towing capacity of 1700 kg, and you’ve got something that will get you and your work gear where you want to go – no worries!  The Great Wall V-Series Single Cab will be especially good at getting you where you want to go if you opt for one of the 4×4 models.

With the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab, you have three variant options: you can get the petrol powered V240 as a 2×4 or as a 4×4, or you can get the turbodiesel V200 4×4.  The V240 comes with a 5-speed manual transmission and the V200 gets a 6-speed auto.  The V240’s power plant is a 2.4-litre 4-cylinder petrol unit with a maximum power output of 100 kW at 5250 rpm and a maximum torque of 200 Nm in the 2500–3000 rpm range.  The diesel engine in the V200 is also a 4-cylinder engine but it has a displacement of 2 litres, a maximum power output of 105 kW at 4000 and a maximum torque of 310 Nm right low down at 1800–2800 rpm, just where you need the torque to peak if you’re towing.

The Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is all about getting back to basics and keeping the costs down for you, so you won’t find all the bells and whistles and driver aids, etc.  In fact, this is probably the vehicle that you want your teenagers to learn how to drive on – they’ve got to learn how to check the blind spot, parallel park, back, change lane and so forth for themselves instead of relying on the car to do it all for them.  Let’s face it: the more gadgets and sensors there are on a vehicle, the more there is to break down, and by stripping things back to the bare essentials and putting the focus on the driver, the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab keeps the running costs down and makes sure that there’s less to go wrong and to fix.  The only real driver aids you’ll get are power steering and the automatic transmission.

This does not mean that the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is totally Spartan in its interior or in its safety features.  It does have air conditioning, keyless entry, electric windows, ABS brakes, a load-sensing proportioning valve for the brakes and EBD.  Fog lamps come as standard.  It’s also provided with cupholders for the driver and his/her sole passenger, and a sound system that takes radios, CDs and MP3 player input. Bluetooth comes as an optional accessory, as do the towbar kit and nudge bars.

All in all, the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab is proud to be a back-to-basics no-frills ute that skips on all the fancy-pants gear and just sticks to getting you and your work gear (and maybe the dog) from A to B.  And that’s no bad thing, as plenty of more conservative hard-working Australians are finding out.

Current model series include:

• Great Wall V-Series Single Cab V240 2×4
• Great Wall V-Series Single Cab V240 4×4
• Great Wall V-Series Single Cab V200 4×4

For any more information on the Great Wall V-Series Single Cab, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Great Wall dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!