The dilemma

Jim is in the market for a used dual-cab 4x4 ute to help with an upcoming house renovation, as well as covering his short daily commute. He’d love a Toyota Hilux but is finding he’s restricted to examples with early-2000s build plates and high odometer counts. He’s tempted by the 2012/13-ish Great Wall V200s he’s seeing for similar money, or should he stick with the known product?

The budget

$10,000

The shortlist

The now two generations old HiLux is famously robust but there are downsides to its age. It looks dated today and airbags and other safety features weren’t common fitments. Its diesel drivetrain, dependable but hardly a technology or driveability leader even in its day, will feel thoroughly old-school now.

These issues make a similarly priced V200 – with its much later built plate, airbags and more contemporary drivetrain – seem like a handy circuit breaker.

That’s the theory, but the reality isn’t quite so simple. Or, if we’re totally honest, desirable. So we’ll throw in a couple of other HiLux alternatives to keep it honest.

2006-11 Ford Ranger crew cab 4x4 diesel, from $9500*

Examples of this Ford in this price range will typically be older and more travelled than an equivalently priced V200.

The origins of its design go back to last century, so it looks dated now and isn’t that roomy in the back. Vague steering and a bouncy ride mean it isn’t the best ute of its era to drive.

But it’s sharper value than a HiLux (we’ve seen 2006/07 models with 100,000km-ish odometers in this price range) and its 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine is strong and thrifty.

Where the Great Wall’s safety artillery is limited to twin front airbags and anti-lock brakes, it offers access to side airbags as well.

Its cabin isn’t a bad place up front and its road manners – while not without their niggles – are much better sorted than its Chinese rival.

Read Drive’s Ford Ranger reviews:

Road-test comparison: Dual-cab 4WD utes

2011-14 Great Wall V200 dual cab 4x4, from $8300*

This Great Wall – with its comparatively fresh built date, low-km potential and up-to-date turbodiesel engine – looks unbeatable on paper here.

Its exterior is more contemporary than the Ford’s, its tray is competitively sized and its safety package (twin front airbags and ABS) looks pretty reasonable.

But the V200 wasn’t offered with an automatic transmission. Its diesel drivetrain had laggy low-rev response. Its ride was brittle and its handling soggy and imprecise.

Its safety credentials were inferior to the older Ford and its performance in independent crash tests left a lot to be desired.

So, too, did its quality. It was never particularly well built or a model of durability, and reliability niggles were common.

Read Drive’s Great Wall V200 reviews:

Used-car review: Great Wall V200/V240

2006-16 Mitsubishi Triton double cab 4x4 diesel, from $10,200*

Examples of this Mitsubishi in this price range are typically much older than equivalently priced Great Walls, and tend to have more kays on the clock than equivalently priced Rangers, too.

Ponderous handling, flat front seats and a comparatively short tray are other question marks.

But it’s this group’s most contemporary design with this group’s most comfortable ride and roomy back seat, plus a strong 3.2-litre turbodiesel drivetrain.

It’s a safety benchmark for utes of this vintage, offering access to this group’s only curtain airbags (from 2008) and stability control (from 2009’s MY10 update).

MY10 models have other attractions to justify their high kay counts in this price range, including an extended-tray model and more refined, thrifty 2.5-litre turbodiesel engine.

Read Drive’s Mitsubishi Triton reviews:

Used review: Mitsubishi Triton
Road-test comparison: Dual-cab 4WD utes
Road-test comparison: Dual-cab 4WD utes

Drive recommends

The Great Wall ticks the on-paper boxes but the reality is notably shoddy. We’d sooner set our sights elsewhere, even if that meant accepting an age/kilometre handicap.

The Mitsubishi, contrastingly, is probably the best ute of its era. The downside is having to accept a high kay count to tap into some of the desirable safety features that were added later in its life, though this isn’t necessarily a kiss of death when some rivals in this price range (notably the HiLux) tend to have travelled even further.

The Ford? It’s not as good as the Triton but it’s far from bad and, in this budget range at least, is the better buy. In the reality of the used-car lot, that could be enough to flip the finishing order between it and the Mitsubishi the other way around.

* Values are estimates provided by Redbook based on an example averaging up to 20,000km per annum and in a well-maintained condition relevant to its age.