What's this?
The SsangYong Rexton, a large, up-to-seven-seat SUV from Korea's third manufacturer. And, in the manner that Kia and Hyundai have spent the 21st Century going from rank outsiders to challenging the very best of the old European guard, SsangYong is aiming to do the same - by putting some real effort and quality into its products from hereon in. While it cheerfully admits it will purely remain a maker of crossovers/SUVs, and therefore will never make city cars or similar, the
Tivoli crossover started the company's renaissance, and this Rexton should only build on that solid platform of promise.
For a start, gone are the
oh-so-bland aesthetics of the old car, which was utterly inoffensive and forgettable. The new model isn't what you'd call stunning, but it has an overall rightness and proportionality that makes it perfectly pleasant to look at. We'd perhaps do away with the glitzy chrome-finish 20-inch alloys of the range-topping Ultimate model, which are a bit 1998, but other than that you should find little to complain about with the looks.
Ditto the interior, which is even more impressive. It's not class-leading in here but the sea-change from the old car's brittle plastics and plain design to this model's wood-effect trim, clean digital displays, chunky switchgear and leather-clad luxury is quite startling. As you swing open the Rexton's big front doors and are greeted with an interior that looks top-notch, you're surprised; and then you climb in and start tentatively prodding and poking things, and the SsangYong doesn't let itself down. You'll notice key touchpoints, like the steering wheel and column stalks, feel excellent and there's a pleasing solidity to the action of the buttons on the console. Higher-spec models in the UK get leather upholstery and a 9.2-inch touchscreen display for the infotainment, to further up the opulence quotient. We're not trying to say it's like sitting in a
Volvo XC90 in here, but by the same token it's so far removed from what has gone before in SsangYong's cabins that it's hard not to suspect the company has had some outside help in getting the interior so right.
It's also huge inside. Choose from five or seven seats, and either way passengers of all shapes and sizes should have plenty of space to get comfortable. OK, so the back row in the seven-seat model is for younger kids or very short adults, but it feels every bit as roomy in here as a
Hyundai Santa Fe or
Kia Sorento. All the seats in the back, whether you've got three or five of them, tumble and fold out of the way easily using a series of levers and fabric pull-loops, enlarging a 649- (seven-seat) or 820-litre boot (five-seat) into a colossal cargo area of either 1,806 or 1,977 litres. SsangYong won't quote the boot area with all seven chairs in place, but as the seat backs are very close to the hatch, it's unlikely to be much more than 150 litres, so you'll only be able to stuff a few coats in there with a full complement of humans onboard.
Trims in the UK run EX, ELX and then Ultimate, with prices starting at £27,500 and rising to £37,500. EX Rextons get seven seats, a six-speed manual transmission as standard (with a Mercedes-sourced seven-speed auto a £2,000 option), 17-inch alloys, air-con, front and rear parking sensors, auto lights and wipers, cruise control, folding electric door mirrors, an eight-inch touchscreen with a 'smart' audio system, and then a host of useful assist features like forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, high beam assistance and traffic sign recognition.
ELX also has the manual 'box with the two-grand auto option and seven seats, although a five-seat configuration is now available, while dual-zone climate control, 18-inch wheels, leather upholstery, the digital instrument cluster screen, TomTom navigation on a 9.2-inch display (the mapping has pretty primitive graphics, unfortunately), heated and powered front seats, a heated steering wheel, keyless entry and go, nine airbags (it's seven on the EX, by the way), speed-sensitive power steering and rear privacy glass are all added. Phew!
Think that's comprehensive? Then you want to check out the Ultimate. It adds the automatic as standard and you only get five seats, not seven, but everything barring metallic paint and a tow bar is fitted without extra charge - including a 3D around-view camera, climate seats, quilted Nappa leather, even more driving safety items and 20-inch alloys. It is crammed with goodies, although it is £37,500; or £38,100, for one finished in a nice metallic hue.
How does it drive?
There are one or two rough edges to the SsangYong's dynamics, mainly because the old one - for all its bog-basic appointments and rudimentary appeal - was actually a bloody useful workhorse, with serious off-road abilities and mammoth towing capability. SsangYong is trying to build its sales base, not trim it, so if it were to make the Rexton a purely urban animal, loyal customers would look elsewhere for their rugged, affordable country 4x4.
Thus, the Rexton is not actually a monocoque SUV, but one that has a separate body on a ladder frame. That results in a shaky ride quality, particularly the secondary ride over corrugated surfaces; even on 50-profile tyres, you'll feel far too many minimal transverse ridges coming through the base of the seat, manifested as a constant shudder. You can minimise this by switching Ultimate trim for ELX, as the latter's 18-inch alloys on plumper rubber provide a much better sense of serenity, albeit it's still miles off the monocoque class leaders on this score. Further, the solitary 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine is a little noisier on start-up and during hard acceleration than you'd expect of any motor in this class, although it is at least quiet in the main 1,000- to 3,000rpm operating range. We're not big fans of the slow-witted Mercedes autobox, which has the weird SsangYong toggle switch on the side for manual gearchanging, and the eco-stats of said 2.2 engine are woeful by today's standards - 34mpg and 218g/km CO
2 would be pretty poor for a supercharged petrol V6, never mind a four-banger diesel. And we only saw 26mpg during a very sedate run around a Shropshire test route. Crikey.
That, though, is where our criticism of the Rexton ends. If you can tolerate the ride, then the suppression of wind and tyre noise will leave you deeply impressed, as will the SUV's midrange turn of speed, which belies the printed performance data and speaks volumes about having a robust 420Nm at your beck and call. The steering is very good, nicely weighted and direct without totally lacking feel, while the SsangYong resists body roll admirably for a big 2.2-tonner sitting on ladder-frame underpinnings. Indeed, the grip levels are superb too, with little understeer to talk of; you might even experience a little bit of thoroughly controllable roll-oversteer if you're in two-wheel drive mode, which is a surprising treat. OK, the Rexton is no
Porsche Macan - it's nowhere near - but it drives absolutely fine in a wide variety of situations. It's such a shame about that bobbly ride, then.
Nevertheless, off-road the SsangYong would have any of its chief rivals easily covered. A lockable centre diff with a low-range function and hill descent control make it capable of the sort of mud-tracking and vertiginous grassy descents that would have almost every SUV this side of a Land Rover Defender in a cold sweat. Even with that auto box, the Rexton is so controllable and seemingly unstoppable on boggy tracks that you feel like it could go deep into the most inhospitable of terrain with little hardship. Which makes its quilted-leather cabin feel even more incongruous.
And as for towing? Well, we hauled a weighted horsebox around on the back of an ELX as if it simply wasn't there, so the Rexton should keep the Hunter wellies brigade more than happy with its undoubted workhorse capabilities. Honestly, it's like a Korean, cut-price
Range Rover: lovely inside, pretty good on the road, unbeatable in the rough stuff. What's not to like?
Verdict
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block is that the SsangYong Rexton Mk2 has shot up in price to a level where the more desirable examples are in the region of £35,000 - and while the company can cite more expensive rivals, in isolation it's asking a lot of new customers to part with such a pile of cash for an unproven product.
Yet the new Rexton deserves to succeed, mainly because it is so much closer to the mainstream elite than it has any right to be, given its lacklustre predecessor. It's a long way from perfect and you would probably still be better off with a Santa Fe or Sorento if you don't want a European seven-seat SUV, but if you live in the country and you're a bit adventurous with your car choices, you could do a lot worse than the vastly improved SsangYong Rexton.
