Kyron Reviews

0-100km/h 16.2 seconds

Topspeed 170km/h

Weight 2001kg

Ssangyong Kyron; that's not a name that trips off the English tongue that easily, and Ssangyong is even more difficult to spell. But this will change if the Kyron is anything to go by. Ssangyong is a Korean company that first came to our shores in the form of the Musso off-roader, also badged as a Daewoo. The Musso was alright; cheap and a bit 'old school' but even old technology isn't too bad when it's based on Mercedes-Benz's old technology.

The last couple of years have seen an upswing in Ssangyong's fortunes in the Australia, and this must be attributable to more European-friendly styling. While the Stavic MPV seems to top most people's list of ugly/bizarre looking cars, the introduction of the seven-seat 4x4 Rexton has made the Ssangyong badge a more common sight on our roads. The Kyron follows in the tradition of the Rexton by being less controversial in its looks; in fact, it's quite smart looking. Our black test vehicle looked great from most angles, though I wasn't too sure about the aluminium finish strip across the rear, but otherwise there was little to jar the senses and little to give away the low price. It looks even better in silver.

Prices start at just $34,490 for the 2 Litre 104 Kw Manual four-wheel drive version, rising to $43,990 for the top of the range 162kw Automatoc four-wheel drive Kyron. So how can Ssangyong make a car this big so cheaply? The first clue is under the bonnet. No thumping great V8 up front here, not even a six. Just a four-cylinder diesel engine, two litres in size. Now this had me more than a little worried. Ssangyong had been kind enough to supply the Kyron for test to coincide with my needs to tow my racecar up to Cadwell Park, which is about 150 miles each way. A quick look at the specification sheet did little to allay my fears; 139bhp is OK, but no more, and my car trailer adds 2000kg to the Kyron's own 2000kg. A lot of weight to pull then. A further check showed 0-100km/h appeared to be glacial, taking 16.2 seconds - bizarrely the automatic model is claimed to be two seconds quicker!

Time to stop worrying and get aboard. At first I thought the next saving came with the dashboard. The seats were all trimmed in leather in the SE trim of 'our' car and looked fine, but the dashboard itself offended. It looked cheap and haphazard. I didn't like it. Just little things like non-matching shades of different plastics, and a large rotary bank of switches containing really necessary stuff like the odometer trip - I've never seen one so big before. I wasn't too sure about the gear knob either; it just didn't feel right, like a box with too many sharp edges. We're not off to the best of starts here.

The good news is that it all got better. First off, round town the Kyron seemed pretty brisk. The 0-100km/h time might seem slow on paper, but there's not much wrong with the 0-50km/h performance. The Kyron was more than holding its own in an urban setting. Turning into junctions in too high a gear showed that not much really happened below 1500rpm, but with that kept in mind response was always good. It seems Ssangyong is aware of this too, as I noted that the engine seemed to hunt on idle in traffic before realising that it is set to increase idle speed to 1200rpm as the clutch pedal starts moving up making pulling away smoothly so much easier. This feature should be fitted to every car, especially the ones used by learner drivers as it would end 'kangaroo' starts for ever.

As is typical of the 4x4 genre, and surely what makes them so popular on the school run, the driving position is set high giving a commanding view of all around you. This made the Kyron easy to place in traffic despite its size, and make no mistake here, it's a big vehicle. The gear change took some getting used to, the gate for the gears being wider than anything I've driven since the Austin Maxi, but in time I got used to this and for the movement needed, never once missed a gear in 750 km of testing.

Now, as luck would have it, I was unable to race at Cadwell Park, so drove up there in the Kyron without the race car and trailer. This gave me the chance to check what the Kyron was like on a longer run, and I have to say it was pretty good. Cruising at 120km/h showed only 3000rpm and for a big four-wheel drive it was relatively quiet too, insulated from wind, road and engine noise. It took a little while to gain lost momentum, but was more than capable of maintaining its cruising speed up hills.

When we got off the trunk roads, another pleasant surprise was in store. For a big 4x4 the Kyron handles better than expected. At sensible speeds it doesn't even roll that much and passengers wouldn't feel the driver was pressing on. At elevated speeds, such as when I did the last few miles approaching Cadwell Park (purely in the interests of research you'll understand) I was amazed. Now I'm not going to claim the Kyron would stay with a BMW X5 round the Nurburgring or anything like that, but I had expected it to seriously complain once the going got hilly and twisty with a vengeance. I wouldn't have wanted to be a passenger though, as the roll angles increased dramatically, but it stayed in control, never fell into any form of lurching, and this at cornering speeds that few customers would ever expect to try in this kind of vehicle. This was all the more impressive given that our test Kyron came on the standard 16-inch wheels (looking woefully undersized) rather then the optional 18-inch rims.

Arriving at my destination after three hours of driving I was impressed to find that I felt completely fresh, not at all tired or uncomfortable. After a long journey like that I have felt much more fatigued driving most vehicles, but I had found the journey in the Kyron to be completely relaxing. Ssangyong fits a proprietary solution to satnav, in this case the optional Blaupunkt Rome combined CD-tuner/satnav system (standard in SX trim), and on the whole it worked really well. I treat satnav as a guarantee of arrival at a selected destination and accept it will not always take quite the best route. Save for one small disagreement about a cross country short cut I take, the Blaupunkt system here worked well, and when later asked to find its way round urban problems, coped admirably there too.

With more urban use, and a few short journeys, there was time to take in some of the Kyron's other attributes and foibles. On an exceedingly hot summer's day I was almost thankful for the air conditioning system being a little keen, if anything I was in danger of getting frostbite it was so powerful, although easier fine tuning of the temperature would have improved it. As a town vehicle I found the Kyron rather disconcerting in that it applied the central locking automatically, but not until you reached 30mph. Most vehicles that do this do so at 10mph, but with the Kyron it was possible to travel quite a distance, especially if your journey started and remained within the confines of urban speed limit.

Anyway, one of the reasons Ssangyong loaned us the Kyron was so that we could test its towing ability. So later in the week I hooked up my trailer and loaded up my road car (about 2300kg in total), right on the Kyron's 2300kg towing capacity. Now while I can hardly state that the Kyron pulled the extra weight without even noticing, what I can state is that it pulled all that weight in total security and with just a few more revs needed to get going. Once moving I found it better to hold on to the lower gears again a few revs further, but we kept up with traffic, cruised down the dual carriageway at 60mph in as relaxed a fashion as we had driven without the trailer behind. A big plus with the Kyron is that it is simply huge inside; there is no pretence at being an occasional seven-seater although it must have been tempting to fit an extra row of seats in such a large boot. But the Kyron is all the better for having just five seats and one of the largest load spaces I've seen in a long time.

All in all this is a lot of vehicle for not much money; it looks good, even to the school mums. It's well equipped and enormous inside. I didn't really get on with the manual gearchange but you do get used to it. I suggest the automatic version might be the best choice. The Ssangyong Kyron deserves to become a common sight on our roads.

Summary

Performance: 3/5
Looks slow on paper, but never felt lacking on the road.

Engine & Transmission: 3/5
Very torquey engine; gear change reminiscent of the Austin Maxi with largest gate we've driven in years.

Ride & Handling: 4/5
Rides really well giving a relaxing time on long journeys; handles pretty well even though it rolls a fair bit when pushing on.

Fuel Economy: 4/5
We averaged over 34mpg, a little shy of the official combined figure of 36.7mpg, but still good considering the driving. Switchable four-wheel drive helps.

Tactility: 4/5
Much better than expected at the price.

Appearance: 4/5
Quite smart, more so in silver, probably even more so with the optional 18-inch wheels - a big leap forward for Ssangyong's styling department.

Interior: 4/5
Fascia took a while for me to accept it, but more than made up for by the comfortable and good looking seats.

Equipment & Value for Money: 5/5
You get so much car for the money, and such a capable car too. Surprisingly no sunroof though.

Kyron is not just a wannabe

It'd be easy to dismiss the Kyron as just another wannabe from some backwater Korean brand.

But that would be doing the stylish, five-seat four-wheel drive wagon a grave injustice.

That's because it's actually pretty good – we'd even go as far as to say impressive.

Kyron is built by SsangYong, the other Korean, that has been hovering in the wings in one guise or another for a few years now.

They're the mob that brought us the original Musso wagon, later rebadged as a Daewoo – you know, the one where everyone switched to a Benz badge.

That's because it had a Benz engine under the bonnet.

SsangYong is the fourth largest car maker in South Korea and the smallest of the three Korean brands here, not including Daewoo whose cars are now badged as Holdens.

The name SsangYong incidentally means twin dragons.

It was founded as Hadonghwan Motor Company in 1954 and started by building jeeps for the US Army.

Ties with Daimler-Benz (now Daimler- Chrysler) in the early 1990s saw Benz engines used in early models.

In 1997 Daewoo bought a controlling stake, only to sell it off in 2000, after it got into financial difficulties.

Then in late 2004, China's government-run Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) bought a 49 per cent stake.

It now owns a controlling 51 per cent interest.

With big plans for expansion, it's not surprising to discover that SsangYong is Australia's fastest growing automotive brand.

It sold just over 2600 vehicles here last year and is closing rapidly on this figure already with February just behind us.

Kyron is the company's latest offering and joins the larger off road Rexton, twin cab Musso Sports ute, Stavic people mover and special order Chairman sedan.

It is powered by a surprisingly small but effective 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel, with a larger 2.7-litre diesel and 3.2 litre petrol engine still to come.

The 2.0-litre, third generation common rail diesel delivers 104kW of power at 4000rpm and 310Nm of torque from a low 1800rpm.

It is mated to a five-speed manual or five- speed T-Tronic auto (again from Benz), with drive through the rear wheels.

The four-wheel drive system is a part-time one and as such four-wheel drive cannot be engaged on dry bitumen.

Designed by MG's Ken Greely, Kyron looks smart and turns heads, particularly the light metallic blue of our test vehicle.

The distinctive rear styling generates plenty of comment, with its shield shaped tail lights.

While we didn't car much for the design first time we saw the car at last year's Frankfurt motor show, we have to admit that it's growing on us.

Kyron sits on a full ladder chassis, with low range four-wheel drive available at the touch of a button and a limited slip rear diff.

The diesel engine is one of SsangYong's own and for a small power plant is remarkably smooth, quiet and responsive.

There is a definite surge as the turbo kicks in and the vehicle is slow to respond in full auto mode, but otherwise it performs well.

Fuel consumption is rated at 7.7L/100km for the manual and 8.6L/100km for the auto.

Our test vehicle was the five-speed sequen- tial auto which adds $2000 to the $35,490 cost of the base car.

It returned just under 800km from a single, 80-litre tank of fuel, putting consumption at 10.0L/100km in real world terms.

Like most Korean units, this one is pretty well equipped, with two airbags, three-point belts all round, air conditioning, ABS brakes, rear park sensors, steering wheel audio controls and 18in alloys.

Overall fit and finish is very good and on par with many of the vehicles we have tested from the US, Japan and Europe.

Around town the suspension is firm, verging on harsh at times, confirming its role as an offroader.

About the only blot in our test vehicle's copybook was the audio system which seemed to have a mind of its own.

The remote central locking controls were also difficult to use.

Cruising in Kyron

SsangYong continues on its strong revival in Australia, introducing yet another new model. This time a mid-size 4WD named Kyron. SsangYong is to be complimented for sticking to its guns in the styling stakes. In a world where just about every other marque is going the global route and producing cars that could come from just about anywhere, Korean SsangYong is doing its own thing.

Kyron has a central grille that slopes sharply in towards its lower edge, there it meets up with an interesting dummy grille that runs the full width of the front of the 4WD just above the bumper. The bumper itself carries a further central, air intake. The overall effect is somewhat complex, but once you get your mind around the theme it all works well enough.

The side profile is relatively sedate, with front guards that remind us of those on some upmarket German cars (which can be no bad thing). There's an interesting styling scallop that begins below the front door handles and continues all the way to the back, where it continues around into, and across, most of the rear hatch. This takes some of the visual width out of the rear, but works well enough and certainly leaves you in no doubt that you’re looking at a SsangYong.

Those who like to challenge convention in their day-to-day lives may well be deeply attracted to the design of this new Kyron from SsangYong.

Kyron's size may prove somewhat confusing, as it isn’t a lot smaller than the SsangYong Rexton that’s been on sale here since mid 2003. SsangYong in Australia has decided to concentrate on importing seven-seat variants of the Rexton to differentiate it from the new Kyron.

There's good interior space for four adults in the Kyron and a fifth could be carried without an unpleasant squeeze.

This is a true 4WD of the old school, with a ladder-frame chassis and a two-speed transfer case. There's the choice of two-high, four-high and four-low ranges, but no neutral position. Shifts between ranges are controlled from a turn-knob on the dash and indicated by lights within the tacho dial.

Power at this stage comes only from a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine. A 2.7 turbo-diesel and a 3.2-litre petrol engine are planned to be added to the Kyron range later in the year.

The 2.0-litre produces 310Nm between 1800rpm and 2750rpm, with peak power of 103kW being pretty good for an engine in this class.

The Kyron 2.0 engine is of modern common-rail design. It’s obviously a diesel, with that distinctive rattle if you’re standing outside the car and listening to it idling, but from the inside it’s pretty peaceful in the way it sounds. Noise levels from the engine are about average when accelerating but, fascinatingly, the SsangYong becomes very quiet when cruising. Indeed at a steady 100km/h the Kyron is one of the quietest vehicles in which we have ever travelled.

Transmission is by a five-speed manual or an automatic with the same number of forward ratios. The auto is sourced from Mercedes-Benz so uses the side-to-side tiptronic-type overrides, rather than the fore-and-aft changes seen on most other sequential automatics. This system continues to impress us in its ease of use.

We were also impressed with the general handling of the Kyron. Its steering has a nice feel and there's good road grip even at above average cornering speeds. The damping from the shock absorbers was a little slow at times and caused some mild hassles over hard bumps. Other than that this 4WD is pleasant to sit in and to drive.

SsangYong Kyron has a recommended retail price of $34,490. Automatic transmission is more expensive than average at $3000 and on-road costs have to be figured into your buying equation.