During Vbox testing of the 2023 GWM Tank 300 recently, we noticed the rear wheels leave the ground under heavy braking. In over 10 years of vehicle testing, we’ve never seen this before, let alone on a new production vehicle.
The front suspension seems to be far too soft, causing the front end to dip right down to the point of bottoming-out under heavy braking. Again, this is not something we usually see from new vehicles. This then pivots the Tank 300 forward and down, propping the rear axle upward.
As clearly seen in the video below, both rear wheels come off the ground by around 1cm. Using Premiere Pro editing software, we measured a flight time of 0.12 seconds. At 100km/h, applying full braking, the vehicle might slow to around 80km/h at the point of take-off.
At 80km/h the vehicle is travelling at 22.2 metres per second. That means the rear wheels are not providing any directional stability or braking power for 2.66 metres. If emergency braking is required during a corner, the rear end would pivot around, potentially across the width of a lane.
With 100 per cent of the vehicle’s weight on the front two wheels/tyres, or just two contact patches holding up the 2106kg tare mass, overall safety is reduced significantly. In our opinion, this needs to be rectified. A vehicle should not behave in this way.
Our Vbox showed the Tank 300 required 44.46 metres to come to a complete stop from 100km/h. We usually see this sort of distance from heavy-duty utes and SUVs that feature off-road tyres (less contact patch). However, the Tank 300 wears quite good Michelin Primacy road-oriented tyres.
For example, on the same piece of private road where we test all vehicles, 4×4 utes – some of which have featured all-terrain tyres – require around 40-43 metres to stop from 100km/h. Even the 70 Series LandCruiser ute, which is regarded as one of the most heavy-duty new vehicles on the market, required 43.11 metes during our tests.
You can see our full Vbox data results table here to compare other vehicles. Keep in mind these vehicles are tested with the same driver and on the same piece of tarmac. Other outlets and vehicle testing data might be different to ours. But, like with our 0-100km/h tests, we put these together as consistently as possible so you can compare the vehicles we’ve tested on an equal playing field.
You can check out our full video below, and jump straight to the 27:13 mark for the braking demonstrations if you prefer. Our written review and usual 0-100 video are coming soon as well.
