Living With the Tank 300: A Retro-Styled Off-Roader You Can Actually Use Daily

The Tank 300 drives like what it is: a proper ladder-frame off-roader, but a more polished one than that description usually implies. On the road the turbocharged petrol four feels muscular and relaxed in normal driving, with enough low-end shove to make merging and overtaking unstressful; the hybrid version layers in an extra dose of immediate, smooth response from a standstill and is the easier of the two to drive gently in stop-start traffic. The automatic gearbox shifts cleanly and is happy to be left to its own devices around town. You always sit high and command a commanding view out, which makes it easy to place on the road despite its boxy footprint. The flip side of true off-road hardware is steering that is light and a little vague on-centre, plus some body lean if you hustle it through corners — this is a vehicle that rewards a calm, unhurried pace rather than back-road blasts. Where it genuinely shines is the rough stuff: with selectable drive modes, locking differentials on properly equipped versions, and generous ground clearance, it climbs, wades and crawls with real confidence, and the off-road camera views take the guesswork out of tricky obstacles. For most owners the everyday reality is an SUV that feels planted and unflustered, as long as you accept it is tuned for ability and comfort rather than agility.

Ride comfort is one of the Tank 300's stronger suits for this type of vehicle. The long-travel suspension soaks up broken surfaces, speed bumps and unpaved roads in a way that softer monocoque crossovers often can't, and at a steady cruise it settles into a comfortable, loping gait. You do feel the trade-offs of the genre: over sharp expansion joints there's a faint shimmy you won't get in a car-based SUV, and the chunky off-road tyres on higher-spec versions generate noticeable roar on the highway. Wind noise around the upright windscreen and squared-off mirrors is present at speed but not intrusive. The seats are broad and supportive with a sofa-like quality that suits long drives, and the driving position is comfortable for taller occupants. The hybrid is the more refined choice in town because it can move off and creep on electric assistance, smoothing out the jerky low-speed moments. Overall it's refined enough that you won't dread a long motorway slog, while still feeling rugged and honest about its purpose.

Inside, the Tank 300 is a five-seater with a square, upright cabin that makes good use of its footprint. Front occupants get plenty of head and shoulder room and a high, airy view out. The rear bench is comfortable for two adults and workable for three on shorter trips, with decent knee room thanks to the boxy roofline giving generous headroom front and back — child seats are easy to fit through the wide-opening doors. Practicality is helped by lots of cubbies, big door bins and a sensibly sized centre console. The main compromise is the boot: the side-hinged tailgate carries an externally mounted full-size spare, which looks the part but means the door swings out into the space behind you (awkward in tight parking) and the load area, while a usable square shape, isn't class-leading for outright volume. Fold the rear seats and there's a long, flat floor for bikes, camping kit or flat-pack loads. For a family of four with weekend gear it's perfectly accommodating; if maximum luggage space with a full complement of passengers is your priority, a larger monocoque SUV will swallow more.

The cabin leans modern despite the retro exterior, built around a large central touchscreen and a digital driver's display. The infotainment is responsive and clearly laid out, with wireless phone connectivity, voice control and crisp graphics; the off-road information pages — pitch and roll angles, tyre direction, differential status, and the surround/under-vehicle camera views — are genuinely useful rather than gimmicks when you leave the tarmac. The main daily-use frustration is the same one that affects many recent Chinese SUVs: a lot of routine functions are buried in the touchscreen rather than given physical buttons, so adjusting climate settings on the move takes more attention than it should. There's a healthy spread of driver-assistance features — adaptive cruise, lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring and parking aids — that work well on the highway, though as with most systems some of the lane-keeping interventions can feel eager and are worth tuning to taste. Wireless charging, plentiful USB ports and a good stock audio system round out a tech package that feels current and well equipped for everyday family life.

The Tank 300 is built on Great Wall Motor's dedicated body-on-frame off-road platform, and mechanically it relies on a relatively conventional turbo-petrol engine and automatic gearbox (or a hybrid system on those variants), which bodes reasonably well for long-term durability — there's no exotic hardware to fret over on the petrol cars. As a newer model from a brand that is still young in many export markets, the biggest ownership variables are the local dealer and service network and parts availability rather than the engineering itself, so it's worth checking how established Tank's support is in your country before buying. Day-to-day running costs are typical of a heavy, four-wheel-drive off-roader: the petrol version is thirsty by modern SUV standards, especially around town, while the hybrid meaningfully improves fuel use in city driving and is the smarter pick if you do a lot of short trips. Servicing intervals and procedures are conventional, and the chunky off-road tyres on rugged-spec models will wear faster and cost more to replace than road-biased rubber. Build quality inside feels solid and the materials are better than you might expect, though long-term feedback is still accumulating given how recently the model arrived in most markets.

The Tank 300 is for the buyer who genuinely wants off-road ability and rugged character but isn't willing to suffer a punishing daily drive to get it — overlanders, outdoor-hobby families, and anyone drawn to its distinctive retro looks. If you never leave the pavement, a car-based crossover will be quieter, more economical and more spacious for the same footprint, and you'd be paying a comfort tax for capability you won't use. Against the obvious benchmark, the Suzuki Jimny, the Tank is vastly roomier, more comfortable and far better equipped for daily and family duty, while the Jimny remains the more compact, charming city-and-trail toy. Compared with a Jeep Wrangler it offers a more modern, better-finished interior and a more settled on-road ride, though the Wrangler has deeper aftermarket and heritage appeal and arguably more hardcore credibility. Versus a ladder-frame workhorse like the Ford Everest or a Toyota in the same space, the Tank counters with more standard technology and a more design-led cabin, while those rivals bring larger dealer networks and longer proven track records. The hybrid version also gives it a daily-usability edge that most traditional off-roaders in this class can't match.