This is the Rexton, from South Korean carmaker Ssangyong, a brand that hopes to undercut
its rivals with affordability yet maintain capability.
But what is a Rexton?
Well, to quote the brochure, it offers a “blend of elegance and traditional 4x4 values”
– and yeah, that sums it up pretty nicely, and with that luxurious 4x4 character, the
Rexton aims to challenge the likes of the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe and Mitsubishi
Outlander.
Okay, its design may be a tad more conservative than those models, but let’s see what lies
beneath.
So my initial thoughts on getting into here were ones of luxury, I mean you’ve got this
two-tone leather, big, airy cabin, a mammoth centre console and loads of little bit of
soft touch flair dotted around - although it does remind me a bit of an old Lexus GX
mixed with an old Chrysler Voyager.
This is the flagship EXL trim as well, so we’ve got some pretty cool kit like heated
seats, electrically adjustable memory seats, automatic air con, cruise control, parking
sensors and this Kenwood system with sat-nav and DAB digital…
now this system is a bit, well, naff.
It’s a nightmare to connect your phone via Bluetooth, the DAB radio is just confusing
and there are far too many screens to trawl through.
At least the sat-nav works, although that’s not great either.
A few other notable things are these two cup holders, you also get cup holders in the doors
and some rather awkward storage slots, and a few storage compartments for keys and coins.
Seven seats come as standard in the Rexton, but this flagship model only has five seats
and sitting in the back of the Rexton is a very nice experience, you’ve got loads of
room, these leather seats are comfy, you’ve got cool pop out cup holders, a fold down
arm rest and an arm rest on the door, a small transmission tunnel so it’s easy to move
around, some under floor storage – and, if you are on a particularly long journey,
you can recline these seats and have a sleep.
Now if you are after a massive loading space for camping kit or suitcases, then the Rexton
is spot on – as you get vast amounts of space here, with this slip matt being a nice
touch, and you can also fold these seats forward.
Which is a bit of a pain, but it does free up a lot of space… oh and if you need to
change a tyre and are looking for the jack, it’s under here.
Surely they could’ve put it somewhere back there.
So let’s start with what I like about the Rexton – well, get up to speed on the motorway
and it’s 176bhp 2.2-litre diesel happily plods along, and this seven-speed Mercedes-Benz
E-Tronic automatic transmission smoothly shifts through the gears too.
It definitely has a solid, long-haul, American road trip feel to it.
And if you plan on taking an off-road route on that road trip then its 400Nm of torque
and selectable 4x4 system, which includes a rugged, torque-distributing low range mode,
will give you the freedom to do so – and the Rexton’s got a braked towing weight
of three tones as well.
Pretty impressive.
Now, what happens when you’re not going in a straight line on the motorway?
Well, take it into a corner and you get loads of body roll, the steering, although fairly
well-weighted, has very little feel to it, the gearbox doesn’t respond very well to
changes in speed, a lot of engine and wind noise seeps through to the cabin and the suspension
sends shudders through the car when you hit a bump.
It just feels more like a slightly refined pick-up truck rather than a large SUV.
And as for its efficiency, well this model emits 194g/km of CO2 and it claims to return
an average of 38mpg – and even if you manage to achieve that, it still isn’t very good.
So maybe all those factors are overshadowed by a low price then?
Well, it depends if you are after luxury.
You can have a Rexton for £23,000 – which is cheaper than its key rivals – or you
can go for something like this model and pay £29,000.
It can be quite difficult to determine where the Rexton sits in the current market, because
it’s not necessarily a bad car, it has plenty to offer and some of its traits that may seem
subpar, like its bulky, unrefined drive, are things you may typically associate with big
4WD SUVs.
The Rexton’s problem is that the other 4WD SUVs currently on sale are much more refined
and polished.
And if you drove say a Kia Sorento and a Ssangyong Rexton side by side, you would be pretty astonished
by the difference between the two.
But what are your thoughts on the Ssangyong Rexton?
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