Ssangyong Rexton - Different but practical

Ssangyong Rexton 2.7


A friend took me out today in his 2009 Ssangyong rexton auto. Both on road and on some tracks. For the money, equipment available and off road practicality its not bad at all. - I took down some notes.

Pros:

• Exceptional engine. Great amounts of torque and efficiency.

• A high level of practicality. - Can be used to eat up miles on the motorway or towing a trailer full of logs through a forest.

• Quite good fun to drive.

• Easy 4wd selection and smooth tip tronic auto gear box.

• Excellent value for money.

• Large Cargo Area.

• & Excellent Towing ability (3,500kg).

Cons:

• Skittish ride on road

• Loud road noise above 70mph

• Low slung factory side steps gets hung up on everything off road

• High depreciation if bought from new

• Major parts can be expensive

• Not many Mods

Vehicle Specs:

• 2.7 crdi. (Mercedes benz)

• Automatic Tip-Tronic (Mercedes benz)

• Electronic Switch, Part Time 4wd with hi & low ratio. Rear LSD & Hill Descent Control

• 5 door

• Full Leather

• Electric Windows

• Electric Mirrors

• Climate Control

• Cruise Control

• Bose In Car Entertainment

• Front Independent suspension

• Rear Live Coil sprung axle

• Factory Tow Bar

Basically Its a Mercedes M-Class with different body panels. A similar process to the Terracan & Shogun/M Class underpinnings. The Reliability is quite good. There have been a few reports like on any vehicle of bits going wrong here and there, mostly on the mk1 but being from a Mercedes design the parts are readily available and for an acceptable price. This Vehicle was a 2009 and had 40,000 miles on the clock. In great condition with a good equipment. It had a good load space & cargo area when the seats are folded up.
On road it was not bad at all, but not great either. The Brakes work well, body roll is minimal but the steering is off and the suspension is jittery. The engine and gearbox worked well. One thing is for sure that the 2.7 Oil Burner has lots of low down grunt. The Auto / Tip-Tronic Trans was 5 speed no overdrive. The first 3 gears are relatively close with the 4th & 5th being further apart for higher speed cruising.
Figure's say that it can Legally Tow 3500kg Braked. And I don't doubt it. It certainly does feel like a Work horse. The Interior is well laid out, with plenty of storage and cup holders. The dials, switches and knobs are easy to locate and use, all illuminated.

On the wet grassy slopes and muddy trails the vehicle was fine on road tyres. A slight wheel spin when turning in to the hill with the wet grass but certainly no problems with the 4wd system. The muddy trail around a farm was not a problem. One rear wheel did ger a little air from the rut left by the tractor but again there was no drama.


Its not the best vehicle on road, and the off road applications will not be in the extreme because of the ground clearance, approach and departure angles. But a 3 year old sub 50,000 mile 4x4 with a proper 4wd system and engine for less than £9,000 is not a bad deal at all. Especially when you have got a 5 or 7 year warranty still in tow.
Its defiantly got the potential to be a Overland Vehicle. You can get a snorkel, suspension upgrade and a roof rack. With a 16" wheel allowing lots of tyre options.

I would recommend that any people wanting a vehicle for Touring or Overland Travel look at one.
You could get better vehicle for off road, a better vehicle for on road but the Ssangyong does it all quite well.



My Verdict: Practical Value for Money.

TJ

Good report, but think I'll wait until they reach the £1,000 mark on fleabay. Trouble is, as with virtually every modern 4x4, by the time i could afford one the electronics will have started playing up big time, so it really wouldn't be cost effective. Apart from sticking to my tried and tested formula of using and abusing Range Rover Classics, I really don't know what the answer is?

Yes I do, keep using and abusing Rangies as the body panels are cheap and easy to replace, the ladder chassis/live axles/drivetrain are basic and easy for a mechanical dummy like me to understand, and of course the electronics are pretty minimal. Even ECU's are cheap as chips (secondhand naturally) so why change a winning formula? Besides, as I'm 'that side of 50' the supply of RR's will see me out, I'll let the following generations worry about electronic gadgetry and monoquque construction. Who says I'm stuck in the mud? No pun intended.

Tom Mc

Vehicle breaker specialising in RR, keep enough parts and you can build your own from scratch.

Ha, that sounds a lot like Johnny Cash's brilliant 1976 song "One Piece at a Time" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxLJkphanN4&feature=fvwrel
You ever noticed the melody is virtually identical to "A Boy Named Sue" (1969) only substituted with new lyrics? Still a great song though!

"What model is it? Well it's a 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 ...... "


Well, I left Kentucky back in '49
An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line
The first year they had me puttin' wheels on cadillacs

Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.

One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand
Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired
But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.

[CHORUS]
I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.

So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunch box full of gears
Now, I never considered myself a thief
GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it out over several years.

The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission and all of the chrome
The little things I could get in my big lunchbox
Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.

Now, up to now my plan went all right
'Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.

The transmission was a '53
And the motor turned out to be a '73
And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.

So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit
We had that engine runnin' just like a song
Now the headlight' was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.

The back end looked kinda funny too
But we put it together and when we got thru
Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."

So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.

[CHORUS]
I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.

[Spoken] Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on

Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?

lots of them down this way there cheap and cheafull and carry lots of drugs,,,,,,

I have seen some right ropey ones, absolute dire in condition. There was an older Daewoo Musso, it was a 2.9 . Old school no frills but a real work horse. Loved by Caravan owners until the Kia Sorento 2.7 came out on 03.

Who comes up with these names tho. I Mean Musso? Rexton?

Koreans eh.................

TJ

Not too inventive in Asia. It must have taken Toyota for instance ages to come up the name Landcruiser, wonder what gave them the idea to call it that?

Tom Mc wrote:

Not too inventive in Asia. It must have taken Toyota for instance ages to come up the name Landcruiser, wonder what gave them the idea to call it that?

Well I prefer the name Landcruiser to PRADO....

What drunk came up with that?

what car once came out with brilliant quote regarding the rexton


BEST BITS ABOUT THE REXTON THE MERCEDES BITS


WORST BITS ABOUT THE REXTON THE NON MERCEDES BITS

kevinf wrote:

what car once came out with brilliant quote regarding the rexton


BEST BITS ABOUT THE REXTON THE MERCEDES BITS


WORST BITS ABOUT THE REXTON THE NON MERCEDES BITS

There is merit to that.
It is the vehicles worst bits, but it is far from poor quality.
Its no £35,000 Shogun but its alot better than a Ural, Tata and Lada. Prices new are 14,000+ for base model which still has Air Con and Electric windows, but I have seen many with demo miles just over 1 year old around £10,000.

Excellent value for money if you are looking for a proper Tow vehicle IMO.

Note: You can tell the quality difference when compared to Jap makes. If you get in to a 2004 Mk1 Rexton straight after driving a 2012 model Rexton.

TJ

All good and mostly fair comments. The older version I would avoid like the plague as the build quality wasn't much better than Tata and it was a bit like driving a big dog poo on ice....but the newer version IS a lot better. As said, it is NOT a Shogun OR a Landcruiser, but it IS relatively CHEAP.

However, I have driven one with a trailer on the back; While the handbook may say it can tow 3500kg (and it might), I personally wouldn't risk it! I was pulling just under 2 tons perfectly loaded and balanced ( I could lift the trailer by the hitch fairly easily) - IT DID NOT LIKE IT. The slightest hint of an incline and it wanted to go into "automatic reverse", if you know what I mean! it also made the steering even lighter, to the point where there was virtually NO sensation of "feeling the road" and was actually a little scary. Going around corners/turns, there was a very "heavy" feel to the back end, much more than I would have expected for a vehicle of that size. I would NOT feel comfortable putting a horsebox or caravan on it.

That said, if you are only going to tow, say, a camping trailer,anything up to around the 1 ton mark, it should be absolutely fine and you probably wouldn't even know it was there.

I have to agree with others, if you are looking for a CHEAP, reasonable workhorse with a great engine it really is worth a look - just NOT for towing big loads


In fact I think for similar prices you would be better off withnone of those Teracan thingamyjigs....


This is just my opinion - don't take my word for it.

Oh go on then, I'll ask on behalf of the nation - how do you know what "driving a big dog poo on ice" is like?

Tom Mc wrote:

Oh go on then, I'll ask on behalf of the nation - how do you know what "driving a big dog poo on ice" is like?

Have you ever driven a Fiat Punto?

Its not for everyone. If you wanted a big torque based engine, with good practical uses and towing abilities then it is a vehicle to go for.

Having said that, when I test drove one they were good value for money £16995 for base model, now you are looking at £20,000+ new.

TJ

Terracan Jas wrote:

Its not for everyone.

What Jason - driving a big dog poo on ice or driving a Fiat Punto? I forgot, they're the same.

Maadmaan, agree with you on the towing.

Neighbour had one and a caravan and it broke down while they were moving their caravan back to storage and fetching their large trailer to collect firewood, with the caravan (950Kg's) it struggled to select the right gear and was constantly changing, oh how i wish it was the Shogun i towed it with, and it seemed to lack any sort of consistent torque, even with the torque multiplication of an auto box. With the trailer on and loaded with 2 tonnes of logs, about 2.5 tonnes towing weight, it really struggled and was worse.

Without the trailer on it was very wallowy, and in any form of cross wind it tracked badly and required constant steering corrections, it was not comfortable after about 30 minutes of driving and it was noisy.

Would have to agree with Tom on this one, if it was around £1000 or less for a 3 year old example i might have one.

Each to their own.

Its got nothing on the old Daewoo Musso tho!

It is each to their own, totally agree, but people have differing constrainsts and priorities and one vehicle may suit all these parameters for one person, and not another.

Fortunately i get to drive most of them so i can make comparisons between them all.

Im hearing ya.

If I were someone who needed to tow a caravan alot, had a family and went touring and camping then I would not hesitate to look at one to buy. The vehicle I drove was great for just that, and Im not just saying that because I own a Korean vehicle, I drive the latest commercial vehicles and pick-ups most days, as it is apart of my job.
The rexton has its everyday practical uses and they are cheap to buy, they have their reasons why it is cheaper but I tent to see it as a badge problem not design or mechanical.

What I think is good value. With £4000 you can buy a 2005 Rexton with 50,000 miles. Sure it does not have the best equipment as standard, it has some funny styling and depreciates quick, but Id put a weeks wages on a Rexton doing anything that a Discovery 3, 120 Series land cruiser or Terracan does except for holding its re-sale value.
Take the 2005 model, you still have 1 year of warranty left on the original 7 year deal and being pre 2006 registered your road tax will be significantly less than new full sized truck prices.

PS & Watch this space, I will be doing a review on the new Nissan Navara 3.0 V6 Diesel, Isuzu RT-50, Mitshubishi L200 Barbarian and if all goes to plan the New 2012 Mazda BT-50 3.2 auto that can tow 3350kg to be released near the end of march.

TJ

Jason, just to add to your education a little, which I know you won't take in the wrong way.

What you always have to remember is that vehicles evolve and change, and not always for the better, and that change is always influenced by the public making demands on vehicle manufacturers, irrespective of which country them manufacture in as nearly all vehicle manufacturers manufacture in many countries. Peoples priorities also change, when they are young and single, or newly married without children they traditionally go for a vehicle that stands out from their friends who may also be married and have children, but have a different car for practicality, and children grow, both parties work so they need two vehicles with lower running costs, and children depart when they get older and parents have a little disposable income.

Public perceptions change and manufacturers have to respond to ensure sales, this creates fads. During the late 1980's and into the 1990's it was car theft, any sporting model was stolen and basically joyriders would trash them and burn them out when they had finished, this escalated to the point where it became a public concern because it cost us all money in raised insurance premiums. This fad of vehicle security became a major issue and a number of aftermarket alarm companies sprung up, most are now defunct, and all because manufacturers responded by offering an immobiliser as standard on their top end models, and gave the purchaser the option of a full alarm for a price of course, so more profit for a manufacturer, and we all know they exploit this to the full. It then became a national issue and legislation was introduced making it compulsary to fit a security system as standard.

If we look to todays fad it is environmental efficiency, considerable legislation has been introduced to make vehicles more energy efficient, and manufacturers exploit this to their financial advantage also, and once again a persons requirement has changed, they may be at any stage of their life, may have changed requirements, or simply their thoughts have changed due to them being aware of an issue.

This culminates in peoples decisions on which choice of vehicle they elect to go for being a very personal thing; and badge vanity or kudos is certainly in this equation.

Out today doing the Tesco run when 'er indoors spotted a little Astra-sized vehicle in a parking bay. It had a fair amount of ground clearance so it was clearly a four-wheel-drive. Getting closer I reaslied it was a Nissan Juke - she realised it was the car she's always wanted! Opps!

Long way off affording one in the short term, but a Juke is firmly on her shopping list when secondhand prices become acceptable. Anyone know what they are like?

Tom Mc wrote:

Nissan Juke

Tom Mc wrote:

Out today doing the Tesco run when 'er indoors spotted a little Astra-sized vehicle in a parking bay. It had a fair amount of ground clearance so it was clearly a four-wheel-drive. Getting closer I reaslied it was a Nissan Juke - she realised it was the car she's always wanted! Opps!

Long way off affording one in the short term, but a Juke is firmly on her shopping list when secondhand prices become acceptable. Anyone know what they are like?

That's what happens when you to take her shopping!

Tom Mc wrote:

Out today doing the Tesco run when 'er indoors spotted a little Astra-sized vehicle in a parking bay. It had a fair amount of ground clearance so it was clearly a four-wheel-drive. Getting closer I reaslied it was a Nissan Juke - she realised it was the car she's always wanted! Opps!

Long way off affording one in the short term, but a Juke is firmly on her shopping list when secondhand prices become acceptable. Anyone know what they are like?

Yes bad idea Tom,

you should no better at your age, i did not imply you were old.