UNDERPRICED AND UNDER THE RADAR
A partnership with Mercedes has created a new 4x4 from SsangYong which surprises – in a pleasant way – at every turn, says Neil Lyndon
The SsangYong Rexton is an affordable 4x4
The SsangYong Corporation of Korea is among the abiding mysteries of the car world. For more than 60 years, the company has staggered from partner to partner like an old drunk at a ceilidh, tottering meanwhile in and out of insolvency as if stripping the willow. Yet it still manages to keep turning out cars and some of them – as the latest Rexton proves – are pretty good.
As a matter of fact, the Rexton isn’t just pretty good. For country people who need a big 4x4 with serious off-road and towing capability, it is a thoroughly estimable piece of work at a price to wipe the smirk off the face of anybody who thinks that name is a bit weird. This car wasn’t awarded the title of 4x4 of the year by 4x4 Magazine for nothing.
Part of the reason the Rexton is so good is that significant bits of it come from Mercedes. SsangYong is now largely a subsidiary of India’s Mahindra corporation but they have also linked arms with Mercedes. For the Rexton, that continuing association now supplies most of the internal switchgear and secondary controls plus the seven-speed gearbox on the automatic, which is the more desirable version.
Underlying those components is a rock-solid foundation of chassis engineering. These days most so-called 4x4s share monocoque construction in which the body and the chassis are one. That’s because the manufacturers understand that customers for these cars rarely, if ever, drive them off-road.
However, the classic formula for off-road construction, adopted for generations by LandRover and Mitsubishi, is to join the body of a 4x4 to a ladder-frame chassis and that is the approach that SsangYong continue with the new Rexton.
For towing horse-boxes, boats and trailers, no 4x4 on the market can better the Rexton’s three-and-ahalf tonne capability and, for heavy-duty off-roading, only Land Rover come close to this SsangYong. The selectable four-wheel drive system splits the engine’s torque or pulling power equally between front and rear axles to provide all-round traction and ensure optimum grip across even the most challenging terrain. In its low-range setting, it could probably slog up a Greenland glacier.
To improve fuel consumption in normal road driving, the system automatically switches power only to the rear wheels. But being bulky in body and heavy in construction, the best average figure the owner is likely to see will probably be around 30 mpg.
Close to two metres in height and five in length, this is not a vehicle to be flung into corners with abandon, unless your passengers share a peculiar taste for motion sickness. However, SsangYong’s own in-house 179 bhp 2.2 litre turbodiesel will labour to propel the Rexton from 0-60 mph in under 11 seconds and its top speed of 115 mph mean that high jinks are likely to exist in imagination only. To compensate for those shortcomings, the Rexton’s interior is as luxurious as a stateroom in a cruise ship. Quilted leather upholstery and door trims and dual-zone climate control, with heated steering wheel and keyless entry and ignition, are all the appurtenances of premium 4x4s that cost £50,000+. With seven seats in place, there might just about be enough loadspace left for a bag of chips but the five-seat version offers a boot as big as some rooms.
The big news, however, is that all this can be bought for £37,500, with little to pay for extras. For that kind of money, many people would be happy to put up with a funny name.
“The Rexton wasn’t awarded the title of 4x4 Magazine’s car of the year for nothing