Changan Hunter review: is it worth buying in SA?

The short answer: the Hunter 4x4 automatic is a decent bakkie at a very good price. But only if you pay the street price, live near a Changan workshop and plan to keep it.

• What to pay: about R470,000 for a new 4x4 automatic (25 for sale), not the R569,900 list price.
• What it does well: it feels solid, has low range and a diff lock, and carries a five-year warranty.
• What it does badly: it runs out of breath at 120 km/h, has no CarPlay on the diesel and rides hard when empty.
• Towing: 2,000 kg braked on the 4x4. A work trailer is fine. A big caravan is not.
• Dealers: Changan’s own dealer finder lists 32, with 12 in Gauteng and none in Limpopo.
• The real risk: the brand. It sold here as Chana before, and that importer went bust.
• What else: a new GWM P300 4x4 asks about R80,000 more, but has a seven-year warranty and tows 3,500 kg.

Prices here are asking prices from October 2026, not selling prices. The current numbers are on the Hunter listings page and the Hunter market page.

Changan is not a new name here. It is the old Chana, the brand behind the little Star bakkie. In 2012 its importer was liquidated. Almost 10,000 owners and 23 dealers were left without support. Plenty of bakkie owners still remember it.

Now it is back, with a different importer and a proper double cab. Testers like it more than you would expect. So the Hunter question is simple. Is a new auto 4x4 with low range, at about R470,000, worth the risk of a brand that left once?

What the Hunter is

The Hunter is two bakkies with one name: a diesel, and a petrol-electric hybrid called the K50 REEV.

The diesel is the twin of the Peugeot Landtrek. Changan built both. Changan calls the engine a 2.0, but it is the same 1.9-litre turbodiesel as the Landtrek, with the same 110 kW and 350 Nm.

It went on sale in October 2025. The importer is Jameel Motors South Africa. Every Hunter is a double cab; there is no single cab.

All three carry a five-year or 150,000 km warranty and five years of roadside assistance. The REEV battery is covered for eight years or 150,000 km. Services fall every 15,000 km. Prices and terms are from Changan South Africa, October 2026.

What a Hunter really costs

There are about 92 Hunters for sale on BakkiesSA. Every one is a 2025 or a 2026. At least 70 are new or dealer demos with under 5,000 km. The rest have between 5,000 and 16,000 km. Nobody is selling an old one, because there are no old ones yet.

Look at the middle row. A new Hunter 4x4 automatic asks about R100,000 under list. Only 5 of the 25 ask the full price. The cheapest, a new one in Pretoria, asks R439,900.

The 2WD manual asks about R40,000 under list. The REEV mostly asks full price.

Two more things the numbers tell you. First, a Hunter 4x4 with 8,000 km asks the same as a new one. So there is no saving in buying one that somebody else has driven. Buy new and get the full warranty and plan.

Second, these prices move every week, both ways. One new REEV was cut from R799,900 to R699,900. Two others went up by R70,000 and R80,000 two weeks later. If you see a good price, get it on a signed quote before you drive to the dealer.

One thing that catches people out: search “Hunter” and you also get the “JAC T9 Hunter”. That is a JAC, not a Changan.

What it is like to drive

South African testers have mostly driven the 4x4 automatic. Their verdict is kinder than you might expect for a Chinese bakkie at this price. One road test summed it up: it may be cheap, but it does not feel cheap.

What they liked:

• It feels solid. No squeaks or rattles on rough gravel.
• It is good off-road. Low range and a diff lock come standard on the 4x4.
• The cabin has real buttons and dials, not just a screen.
• The 4x4 gets electric leather seats, cruise control, a 10-inch screen, a reverse camera and six airbags.
• It carries a tonne: Changan quotes 1,000 kg on the 4x4 and 1,100 kg on the 2WD.

What they did not:

• It runs out of breath at the national limit. 110 kW is not much for a double cab this size. Overtaking on the N1 needs a plan. The 4x4 took 13.4 seconds to reach 100 km/h in one test.
• It tows only 2,000 kg braked. The 2WD is rated at 2,030 kg. A 1.5 tonne work trailer is fine. A big caravan or boat is not.
• No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto on the diesel. The GWM P300 has it, so you will notice.
• The ride is firm and jiggly when empty. Gauteng potholes shake it. Put some weight in the back and it settles. Landtrek owners say the same.
• It uses more than the claim. Changan claims 9.1 litres per 100 km for the 4x4. The test got about 10.5. The 80-litre tank still gives you about 800 km.

The 2WD manual has fabric seats and 17-inch wheels, but keeps cruise control, stability control and hill descent.

The hybrid, in plain words

The REEV is not a diesel Hunter with a battery. It is a different bakkie.

Two electric motors drive the wheels, one at the front and one at the back. There is a 2.0 turbo petrol engine under the bonnet, but it never turns the wheels. Its only job is to make electricity for the battery. REEV stands for “range extender electric vehicle”.

That means you never have to plug it in. When the battery runs low, the petrol engine starts and charges it as you drive. Testers then used 8.6 to 9.4 litres of petrol per 100 km.

But it is cheapest when you do plug it in. Changan gives you a home charger, fitted to your DB board. Changan claims 145 km on a full battery. Two South African testers both got about 100 km in real driving.

It is quick: 200 kW and 470 Nm. It tows 2,200 kg and Changan quotes a 1,000 kg payload. Unlike the diesel, it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though testers found them glitchy.

The catches, all from South African tests:

• No low range. Its two motors give it 4x4, but it is not a hard-core off-roader.
• One tester found no spare wheel. On a gravel road 200 km from town, that matters. Check before you buy.
• The rear motor hangs exposed underneath.
• There is no stop button. To switch the petrol engine off at the fuel pump, you lock the bakkie with the remote.
• It charges itself slowly. One tester drove 200 km from Joburg to Dullstroom and the battery only went from 30 to about 70 percent.

Who it suits: someone who drives under 100 km a day, can charge at home (solar helps), and wants a quiet, fast double cab. For how it stacks up against the BYD Shark 6, see our guide to hybrid and electric bakkies.

Will Changan still be here in ten years?

Nobody can answer this honestly. Here is what is known.

Last time. Chana sold cheap cars and the Star bakkie here from the late 2000s. In September 2012 the South Gauteng High Court put its importer into final liquidation. Owners were left without support.

This time. The importer is a different company, Jameel Motors South Africa. It opened its first dealer in October 2025. A year later Changan says it has 40 outlets in eight provinces, double the 20 it launched with. It says it climbed from 30th to 22nd in national new-car sales between April and September 2026.

The dealer map. Changan’s own dealer finder listed 32 dealers in October 2026. That is fewer than the 40 Changan claims. Most are in Gauteng (12) and KwaZulu-Natal (8). It listed none in Limpopo, one in the Northern Cape (Kimberley) and one in North West (Klerksdorp). Before you buy, find your nearest one and ask if it has a workshop.

Parts. At launch, Changan said it had a parts warehouse in Gauteng with daily deliveries. It also says nine in ten parts are in stock in South Africa. That is the company’s own figure, and it has not said how it measures it.

Recalls. No Hunter recall has been published in South Africa. Its twin, the Landtrek, had a wiring recall in 2025.

The honest answer: a five-year warranty is only as good as the company behind it, and this one is a year old. If you buy a Hunter, buy it to keep. Do not buy it to trade in after three years.

The warranty fine print

Five years or 150,000 km is the headline. Changan’s warranty page has more detail, and some of it matters on a bakkie:

• Some parts get only 3 years or 100,000 km. That includes shocks, rubber hoses, paint, rust and the touchscreen.
• Dirty diesel is not covered. Injectors and the fuel pump are covered for five years. Damage from poor fuel or the wrong fuel is not. Fill up at busy stations and keep your slips.
• Modifications can void it. Changan says changes to the factory spec void the warranty, and non-approved accessories are not covered. Ask in writing before you fit a tow bar, canopy, lift kit or engine chip.
• The 2WD manual has no service plan unless you pay for one. Only the 4x4 automatic gets five years or 90,000 km of services included.

Watch the finance offer. Changan advertises the 4x4 automatic from R5,999 a month. That deal is 72 months with a 40 percent balloon. After six years of payments you still owe R227,960. Nobody knows yet what a six-year-old Hunter will be worth. And that offer is built on the R569,900 list price. Get the dealer’s discount first, then talk finance.

The Hunter against its rivals

Here is what a new or demo automatic 4x4 double cab asks on live listings in October 2026 (all under 5,000 km). Warranties are from each maker.

On what dealers actually ask, the Hunter is the cheapest new automatic 4x4 here. It undercuts the GWM P300 by about R80,000. The JAC T9 costs about R110,000 more. A Ford Ranger XL costs about R180,000 more.

What the extra money buys:

• The P300 has a seven-year warranty, more than 100 dealers, CarPlay and 3,500 kg of towing.
• The T9 has a ZF eight-speed and tows 3,500 kg. One magazine called it arguably the best Chinese bakkie on sale.
• The Ranger buys a dealer in nearly every town and the biggest used market in the country.

At the bottom, Foton’s Tunland G7 2WD double cab is from R399,900, about what a discounted Hunter manual asks. Its service plan is only three years or 50,000 km.

For the longer comparison, see Chinese double cabs compared.

Who should buy one

Buy the 4x4 automatic if you want a new auto 4x4 with low range and a service plan for the least money. Pay around R470,000, not R569,900. It suits someone who lives near a Changan workshop, tows under 2 tonnes and plans to keep it for five years or more.

Buy the 2WD manual only well under R400,000, and add the service plan. Otherwise a Tunland G7 or a good used D-Max is the better deal.

Buy the REEV if you commute under 100 km a day, can charge at home and want something quiet and fast. At R799,900 it is a lifestyle bakkie first and a work bakkie second.

Do not buy a Hunter if you tow a caravan, live in Limpopo or far from a dealer, or trade in every three years. Nobody knows what these will be worth in 2029. If that keeps you up at night, buy the P300 or a used Ranger or D-Max.

Before you sign:

• Find the nearest Changan workshop, not just the showroom.
• Get the discounted price first, then the finance.
• Ask in writing before you fit accessories.
• On a REEV, check for a spare wheel.
• Get an insurance quote before you sign.

Then look at the Hunter listings, where every one is shown against the going rate. If you are open to other brands, the bakkies under R500,000 page shows what else that money buys.

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