This cover just needs a book

The Steed 6 has the looks, but will it keep you warm at night?

I recently had the privilege of driving the new Steed 5 and Steed 6 bakkies, thanks to Bosch Diesel Works in Durban that sells 'em.

Both these big Chinese pick-ups turned heads everywhere I  went and everyone who poked and probed around inside the neat cabins agreed the interiors lived up their handsome styling outside.

So the big Chinese bakkies have the looks, but has it got the goods?

Having driven these Steeds’ main competitor — the JMC Vigus — over the same routes, we deem
the Steed 5 to be six of one, the Vigus half-a-dozen of the other despite their price difference. The bigger, pricier Steed 6 can, however, do with a lot more grunt.

Grunt it ain't got

It has the same 2,0 turbo diesel that works very well in the smaller, lighter Steed 5, but in the heavy 6, this engine comes over like those first Hilux diesels, which saw the sand in our egg timer for the 0-100 acceleration run out long before the bakkie got up to speed.

You won’t notice it crawling in city traffic, but on the highway, you will miss the get up and go the same smooth Bosch-designed common rial turbo engine delivers in the lighter Steed 5.

You will also miss the Steed 5’s touch screen audio system, which we easily paired to our phones while, note, on the move. In the Steed 6 we gave up with the radio system after a day’s struggle, which included reading the owner’ manual.

Instead, we started laughing at the endearing Chingrish instructions in it. Owners who struggle to make sense of the system may not find it so funny. (Why the giant GWM company, which aims to employ 10 000 people just in its research and development department this year, still does not see fit to have its manuals translated to avoid phrases like “when riding a pregnant woman”, must remain one of those inscrutable Orient mysteries.)

The nozzle flop

Now you see it...

Thus far into our mini shootout the Steed 6 had lost for the guys. But for the girls in the group, the Steed 6 was still hanging in there just on the strength of its good looks. Until it was time to meet the engine’s thirst for diesel, that was. As the attendant withdrew the diesel nozzle from the fuel tank inlet, the thick rubber inlet pipe flopped down into the bodywork of the bakkie.

Fishing it out with a wire and pulling the inlet back in place with a pair of pliers did not take too long, but the girls all agreed, a floppy fuel pipe is so not on.

Now you don't.

The upshot of it all, if you are in the market for a handsome double cab at relatively low retail prices, go kick the tyres on both the Steed 5 and JMC Vigus. 

Favour the harder riding, Steed 5 without the service plan if you load stuff and don’t want to be forced into a service plan. 

Go for the Vigus if ride comfort and a guaranteed service plan are your prerequisites.

Sorry, it has to be said.

As for the beautiful Steed 6, sorry GWM, but it has to be said: that handsome cover now just need a book to fill it.