2025 GWM Cannon XSR is here to rattle Toyota Hilu’s throne.

The 2025 GWM Cannon XSR lands at $52k (less if you’re an ABN queen), and Toyota should be sweating like a politician at a corruption inquiry. For around 30% less than a Hilux, GWM has built a ute that not only keeps up — it gives the Hilux a lap dance, takes its car keys, whispers something filthy in its ear, and slaps it across the face for being overpriced.

Every Cannon comes with proper ADAS, wireless CarPlay, a 7” driver display, sprayed tub liner and an auto. But the XSR?
The XSR is the one that escaped from the lab.
The filthy, overbuilt, “I can break rocks with my teeth” one.

Full brochure HERE: cannon_brochure_au

It gets:

• Front AND rear diff locks
• Steel front and rear bumpers
• Snorkel
• Underbody armour thick enough to deflect gossip
• Heated + ventilated leather
• Dashcam USB
• 12.3” infotainment
• 700mm wading
• Proper BorgWarner low-range

It shows up like the bouncer at a gay club:
“I do not come here to play, darling. I come here to enforce.”

Leaf springs? Yes.
Drum brakes? No. GWM had the decency to put ventilated discs all around — which is more than we can say for some “heritage brands” who still think drums belong anywhere except on Mardi Gras floats.

Above: This Week’s VIDEO Review – 2025 GWM Cannon XSR is here to rattle Toyota Hilu’s throne

#GWM, #CannonXSR, #UteReview, #4x4Australia, #CarReview, #GayCarBoys, #GWMUte, #2025Cannon, #ValueUte

#GayCarBoys

ABOVE: 2025 GWM Cannon XSR Review: Brilliant Value

Looks & Cabin

Visually, it’s a ute that lifts.
A ute Nico could take home to mother.
A ute your tradie crush would lean against for a thirst trap.

The design’s finally grown up: no more awkward chin, no more “did a high school student draw this?” styling. From a distance it could pass as a Hilux or Triton — which is a favour to all of us. Early Great Wall utes looked like they’d been slapped together in a dimly lit garage; the Cannon XSR looks like it’s been professionally gym-sculpted.

Inside? Shockingly pleasant.

The dash is modern, clean and vaguely European — which makes sense because it was designed by actual Europeans and not a bloke named Dennis in a shed. The seats feel comfy, the screens are crisp, and everything you touch feels more expensive than it has any right to be at this price.

Yes, some of the plastics over foam are thin enough to hear a sigh underneath. And yes, a pair of muddy tradie boots will test the structural integrity of those door cards. But for normal humans? It feels luxe.

And then there’s the sunroof.
A sunroof!
In a ute at this price!
Tradies will be able to get melanoma in cross-ventilated comfort.

Rear passengers get decent room, fold-flat seatbacks, and enough space for overnight bags, emergency snacks, one slutty jacket, and whatever Nico insists bringing “for the photos”.

The Drive

We took it up to the farm — The Cottages — where the weather was “mostly dry with sprinkles of hangover.” The 2.4 diesel and (factory-developed) 9-speed auto feel solid, strong, and unbothered — like a Connaught martini stirred a mixologist called Maxamilian.

The throttle response is predictable, the gearbox behaves, and the engine doesn’t sound like a bucket of cutlery being shaken by a poltergeist.

But the ride…
Oh, the ride.

HARD.
Rock hard.
Dentist’s children in private school forever hard.

Casper clutched his jaw and declared he could “feel his molars trying to unionise.” Even Max, who grew up riding in paddock bashers older than religion, winced once or twice.

But then you point it off-road and suddenly it makes sense.
This thing is a billy goat in industrial footwear.

• Front diff lock
• Rear diff lock
• Snorkel
• Low-range
• Steel bumpers
• 700mm wading
• Approach angle like a mountain goat staring down a cliff

It’ll crawl, climb and slither through mud like Max after too many Fireballs at the vineyard. Once both diffs click in, it becomes unstoppable. You can almost hear it whisper, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Life at The Cottages: The Reality Test

Most car reviews pretend people live in neat, air-conditioned houses with double garages.

We do not.

We go to The Cottages — Alan’s personal blend of rural idyll, questionable WiFi, a pantry full of things nobody remembers buying, and a collection of mismatched wine glasses that suggest several exes left in a hurry.

The Cannon XSR fit right in.

Loading it involved the usual chaos:
Max yelling for everyone to pack light (which nobody did), Nico insisting the good olive oil must come, Casper cradling the wine like it was a newborn, and Raffy carrying nothing except his dimples and good intentions.

With no roller cover, everything went under a tarp. We prayed neither rain nor bogans would interfere. You haven’t lived until you’ve stood at a servo somewhere on the way north, side-eyeing every passing human and thinking, “If you touch my box of pinot, I swear to God…”

But the ute handled it all. Up the gravel driveway to The Cottages, into the paddock, down to the creek — no hesitation. It shrugged off potholes, corrugations and the occasional suicidal pheasant.

And when we finally parked, it looked utterly at home:
a tough ute with muddy tyres, sitting proudly outside a cute stone cottage with fairy lights and the faint smell of wood smoke and Max’s garlic bread wafting through the air.

Verdict

GWM has built a ute that embarrasses Toyota on value, Ford on equipment, and Isuzu on price. The Cannon XSR is genuinely capable, wildly well equipped, deeply competent, and stupidly cheap for what it offers.

Is it perfect?
No.
The ride is stiff, the matte paint shows dirt like an OnlyFans performer after Pride, and some interior trims will age faster than David’s patience with young tradies.

But for this money?

Sweetheart…
this thing is sorcery.
Powerful, diesel-scented sorcery.

#GWM, #CannonXSR, #UteReview, #4x4Australia, #CarReview, #GayCarBoys, #GWMUte, #2025Cannon, #ValueUte

More GWM from gayCarBoys

• GWM Launch Offer for Haval H6GT PHEV is a Bargain
• GWM Tank 500 Ultra Hybrid is Bloody Brilliant – Here’s Why
• Why GWM Tank 500 Ultra 1st Impressions were Unexpectedly Fabulous
• 2023 GWM Ora Review – This Tiny EV Kicks Ar$e, Here’s Why
• Why GWM Ora EV is a Game Changer
• GWM ORO Gets New Names and a New Factory
• Is GWM Cannon Pickup a Good Value Good Drive REVIEW
• Top 10 Best Things: GWM Cannon Ute – 1 Min Review