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What is it?
The Foton Tunland is a Chinese-built utility available in single- and dual-cab body styles. According to Foton, the Tunland has "tuns" of everything, power, technology, comfort and safety... lets see, as we're driving the top-of-the-range 4x4 dual-cab variant.
How does it drive?
The ride is a little on the firmer side and the steering is fairly vague but neither of those elements are out of the ordinary for this type of vehicle. It's a little sharp on small bumps and road imperfections but it's not back breaking and far from the worst dual-cab ride on the market.
The first thing you notice about the engine is it's a little noisier than other diesel utes, however you cannot complain about the power or the credentials of its Cummins power plant which has strong pulling power throughout the rev range with very little turbo lag. The gearbox is a five speed unit from Getrag, which is a little notchy and has a long throw but it is easy to shift, direct and is not worth complaining about. Coupled to the gearbox is a BorgWarner transfer case which gives the ute full low range 4WD capabilities.
What's the interior like?
The Foton has a fairly basic cabin, with clear and simple instruments and controls that are easy to use. The dash and door trims are hard plastics but seem to be well made and visually give the impression they could be soft touch materials. There's also some faux wood trim with some chrome highlights, which some people won't like it but it's certainly not offensive. The fit and finish of the interior is very good, as the trim components line up with even gaps.
The seats are perforated leather (although feel more ike vinyl) and they have a decent amount of bolstering for support although the cushion is a little on the firm side with the potential to give you numb bum on a long haul.
There's no telescopic adjustment for the steering wheel, no vanity mirrors and no other storage options other than average sized glove box and centre console. There are adjustable height front seat belts, three lap sash belts for the rear seat, adjustable headlights, a sunglasses holder in the roof, Bluetooth, power windows and cruise control. The trip meter display also has a tyre pressure monitoring system along with average fuel consumption and distance to empty.
What's the payload and towing capacity?
The total payload is 1025kg. And its towing capacity is 750kg unbraked and a maximum of 2500kg with a braked trailer.
What about load space dimensions and anchor points?
This dual-cab variant's tray is 1500mm long and 1570mm wide and 430mm high, while distance between the wheel arches is 1050mm.There are four anchor points, one in each corner of the tub.
How does it perform under load?
Quite good actually, as it performed similarly over light bumps and imperfections in the roads as it did without a load in the tray. However, larger bumps at speed saw the ute take a little more time to recover in the rebound department but still with acceptable behaviour .
The Foton feels strong and gave us confidence it would cope with its 1025kg payload. The engine also felt robust and willing and handled our test weight no issues both on the freeway and in suburbia.
Overall, the ute coped surprisingly well with the weight on board, leaving us with a reassuring feeling of the vehicles capabilities.
Any special features worth mentioning?
Stability control is now available and standard in this model, as is hill hold assist, a reversing camera and cruise control. The Foton isn't a bad looking ute either - it's not offensive and we haven't meet anyone who thinks it looks ordinary, something that can't be said of other competitors.
Any criticisms?
We had issues with the cruise control; when a speed is set and overridden by the driver using the accelerator pedal to overtake the Foton would continue to accelerate faster for a few seconds after the driver has backed-off the accelerator pedal before it resumed the set speed, which might be a bit hard to explain to Sargeant Plodd if you got pulled over. The accelerator pedal itself felt like an old sticky door hinge too, binding-up with light applications, and the brake pedal rattles on rough roads. The driver's window would shudder intermittently midway on the down cycle.
How does the warranty and servicing costs rate?
Warranty is three years or 100,000km, whichever occurs first, with three years roadside assistance. There is no capped price servicing available.
What else should I consider?
In this segment, the likes of Mahindra, Tata and Great Wall are all competitors at similar prices. But stretch your budget an extra $2000 and that will see you driving away in a Mitsubishi Triton 4WD dual cab.
Verdict
The Foton is a surprise (in a good way) and proof that Chinese vehicles are taking steps forward and heading in the right direction. It's still lagging behind main stream utes in the safety department and our test vehicle did have some niggly issues but this ute will do what it says it will on the box. This is one Chinese ute definitely worth taking notice of.
The Checklist
0-60km/h time: 5.6 seconds (unladen), 6.7 seconds (loaded)
0-80km/h time: 10 seconds (unladen), 11.7 seconds (loaded)
0-100km/h time: 14.4 seconds (unladen), 16.9 seconds (loaded)
Load testing weight: 700kg
Safety rating: N/A
2017 Foton Tunland 4x4 Dual Cab Specifications
Price: $30,990 drive away (metallic paint $400 extra)
On sale: Now
Engine: 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel
Power: 120kW at 3600rpm
Torque: 360Nm at 1800-3000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual, 4WD
Fuel usage: 8.3L/100km (we averaged 9.8L/100km throughout our loan including carrying weight)
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15 Comments
Imagine on friday arvo you are at the bar with your mates and you are asked about your new ute. Owning up to the fact you have bought a TUNLAND. Yes you will be asked to repeat the name again and again ... Your former mates have never laughed so hard.
The Chinese are coming. They will get better and better. Eventually they will own the world car market. No one can match them for price and the quality will improve,it's already happening.
DJM61 - Y'know, many people really don't care what other people think, they buy what works for them. Seriously, who cares? I am not that insecure that I drive what others expect me to. These Chinese vehicles are making slow but steady inroads, just like the Koreans and Japanese before them. But they are improving even quicker than those did. It is only a matter of time before Chinese vehicles will be a mainstream choice. I have spoken to farmers, tradies and others who are value conscious and have bought Chinese made vehicles They seen to be happy about what they got for the money. How long will it be before we see Chinese made VW/Audis (huge in China), GM and various other brands' products from there? Not long I suspect. They have very large, super modern, high quality and lower cost factories pumping out models we already know. Won't be long before these makers see the sense in sourcing some products from there - the US has started doing so.
The comparison of the Chinese auto industry to the Japanese auto industry is flawed. Japanese cars exported to the West were never inferior in quality to domestic brands in the export markets. By the time they were being exported to the West in significant numbers, the likes of Honda and Toyota were leagues ahead of European and American brands in terms of reliability and build quality. Whilst Japanese consumer products exported in the immediate post-war period were considered cheap and poor quality, large scale auto exports did not commence until the 50s and 60 by which time manufacturing quality in Japan had already surpassed that of the West.
I can imagine Mr Short's top lip curling as he makes his comments, It's OK, but...... Pretty obvious that he's not giving this vehicle a fair go
DJM61, my mates would laugh a lot harder if I told them (Heaven forbid) that I'd bought a Moochsibitsi, or some other unpronouncable named vehicle.
People may knock Chinese Utes; but let me ask this - how many genuinely Australian companies make anything these days. There is no one in this country that could conceptualize and execute a manufactured good as complex as a new vehicle. People in glass houses!
After driving a triton for a few months whilst working, i can honestly say its not one i would recommend to anyone. Crude would be my description. The chinese are coming. but to say they will dominate the world in car production is a little premature. Yes they will make good cars , they will take a big chunk of the industry but like Japan, they will settle into a niche. Just as some will buy this car, some will buy better.
You look at this ute and makes one wonder, what must the Chinese build it for, what must Ford build there's for, this cost $30,000 or about, ford 45 to $60,000 how much dose the government and the car-makers and sellers make out of them, reason I say this is I live in Dubai, here you can buy any of the top three Utes, Ford, Toyota, VW, all for around $35,000 on the road, Dubai is duty free to a certain extent. We don't have a free trade agreement with China that I am aware of, so no subsidy there, but we do with Thailand where Ford, Toyota, Mazda and others are made, so why are they so expensive here compared to this chines ute, and how much are the big name companies leaching from all. By the way my mate has a Tundland 4x4 single cab tray back that he has had for nearly 18 months now without any trouble other than a couple of cosmetic things falling of, back in Aussie he uses it on his two farms 130KL's apart, as well taking stuff to local markets a few days a week and he has said that it is the best money he has ever spent on any ute, it dose the job well and you can't kill it.
Speaking as someone who after considerable research have recently purchased a Foton. I can say that extra $3K for a Triton would be a complete waste of Money. & as has been already mentioned the Hilux BT50 & Ford ranger are all cicra $50k, It's really hard (if not impossible) to see $20k's worth of Extra value for the Average Motorist. The main deciding factor for My decision to Buy the Foton is I have a Client who has 3 Fotons with the Oldest 3 yrs old with 90,000 trouble free Kilometres. I'd say the Chinese are already here. Remember wha twas said about Kias & hyundias 20 yeras ago & the Jappers 35-40yrs ago
Cost to purchase is one thing. But i bet the resale value will smash your total costs when viewed against many other established competitors (like Triton). So i don't see why you'd bother buying one.
Dont just simply criticise. How great are Australian cars?
Australians criticise too excessive. Please wake up, otherwise will lag behind many emerging economies standards.
The interior looks almost exactly the same as as my 2010 11 subaru impreza
Spazzatura obviously wasn't around when the Japs first entered the domestic car market. The Jap cars were pretty awful (some of them still are)! That's why people called them Jap Crap! American and European cars we're bullet proof in the 50's and 60's. And they were made to last. Nothing is made to last nowadays.