1. Too many opinions, not enough clarity
If you’ve been shopping for a ute in Australia, you already know the story: Ranger and Hilux dominate the sales charts, new names like BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon keep popping up, and Chinese brands such as JAC, GWM and LDV are pushing hard on value and tech.
Reviews are helpful, but they often look at different things. One review talks about off-road, another about screens and gadgets, another about towing. Every ute sounds “tough” and “capable”, but it’s hard to put them on one simple scale.
So we asked a very practical question: “If we turn what matters to ute buyers into numbers, which ones actually come out on top?”
2. Five pillars, one score you can sort by
When we spoke with tradies, fleet managers and everyday drivers, the same themes came up again and again:
- Can I trust it? – will it keep going without drama, and will the brand look after me?
- Will it keep my family and crew safe? – not just marketing, but proper safety tests.
- What does it really cost me? – not only the sticker price, but fuel over years of use.
- Can it actually do the job? – can it tow, carry and pull like I need it to?
- What is everyone else buying? – does it have a track record in the real world?
These became our five pillars. Every ute in the list gets a score out of 100 for: Safety, Economy, Performance, Reliability and Sales. We then blend those into one overall score, using weightings that you can change at the bottom of this page.
3. What sits behind each pillar (in plain English)
3.1 Safety
For safety, we lean on modern ANCAP crash tests where they’re available. In short: we prefer recent, comparable results, and we turn them into a score out of 100. That way, you’re comparing today’s utes against today’s standards.
3.2 Economy
Economy isn’t just “cheap to buy”. We look at what the ute roughly costs to get on the road, plus how much fuel it’s likely to use over several years of normal driving. Utes that are kinder on your wallet over time get higher scores.
3.3 Performance
Performance is about real-world work, not drag-racing. We look at towing capacity, payload and usable torque. If a ute is happy pulling a trailer, hauling tools and still feeling relaxed on the highway, it will show up well here.
3.4 Reliability
Reliability is built from a few simple questions: How long is the warranty? How strong is the coverage? What has recall history looked like in recent years? And how does the brand generally perform in the long run? Utes that are set up for fewer surprises and better backup score higher.
3.5 Sales
Sales are the “reality check”. Models like Hilux and Ranger have been tried, worked hard and lived with by a huge number of owners. Newer or more niche utes simply don’t have that level of history yet. Rather than chasing exact numbers, we put utes into simple bands (S/A/B/C) to keep things fair.
4. Starting point: built for someone who keeps their ute
Out of the box, the calculator assumes you’re planning to keep your ute for a while and actually use it:
- Safety: 8%
- Economy: 15%
- Performance: 12%
- Reliability: 40%
- Sales: 25%
In other words: we put the biggest weight on “Will this thing look after me over the years?”, then factor in how proven it is in the market, plus running costs. Safety and performance still matter, but they’re balanced against the more long-term questions.
5. What the default ranking says – especially about Chinese brands
With the default settings above, the table currently looks like this (FinalScore rounded for simplicity):
| Rank | Model | FinalScore (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota Hilux | 75.7 |
| 2 | Ford Ranger | 71.2 |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Triton | 69.2 |
| 4 | JAC T9 | 63.8 |
| 5 | Isuzu D-Max | 62.3 |
| 6 | GWM Cannon | 62.3 |
| 7 | Mazda BT-50 | 61.6 |
| 8 | LDV Terron 9 / MG U9 | 59.1 |
| 9 | Kia Tasman | 58.5 |
| 10 | Volkswagen Amarok | 53.2 |
| 11 | BYD Shark 6 | 50.0 |
| 12 | Jeep Gladiator | 33.4 |
Hilux and Ranger still come out on top, which matches what you see on Aussie roads. But the interesting part is how the newer Chinese brands show up when you score them on the same scale.
JAC T9 is the highest-ranked Chinese ute in this view, landing 4th overall. It does especially well on safety and running costs, with a solid reliability story for a newer player. GWM Cannon and LDV Terron 9 / MG U9 are not far behind, showing how quickly Chinese brands are closing the gap once you stop looking only at badge history.
If your question is “Can a Chinese ute genuinely compete with the usual suspects?”, this is one way to see where they’re already strong – and where they still need time and more real-world kilometres.
6. How to use the interactive model
- Start with the default view – when you open this page, the calculator below has already run with the long-term owner settings. That’s your baseline.
- Tell it what matters to you – in the “Safety / Economy / Performance / Reliability / Sales” boxes, type any numbers you like (for example 1 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 1). They don’t need to add up to anything special. We’ll do the balancing for you.
- Click “Recalculate ranking” – the list below will reshuffle instantly based on your priorities.
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Try a few real-world scenarios:
- Hard-working tradie: increase Performance and Reliability.
- Family daily driver: lift Safety and Economy.
- Short-term lease or lifestyle ute: lower Reliability, boost Performance and Safety.
- Tap “Reset to default weights” anytime – one click takes you back to the long-term owner view shown in the table above.
7. A quick disclaimer
This Ute Calculator is built from public information and a set of reasonable assumptions about how people use their utes. It’s designed to help you think things through, not to tell you what to buy. Always combine it with your own test drives, quotes, finance and insurance offers, and your gut feel about which ute actually suits your life.