Car review: SsangYong Tivoli XLV

Unfamiliar name, unusual looks, unmatched value

Rugged and without the prohibitive price tag of a Land Rover, the XLV is a tempting prospect (SsangYong)

Am I being fanciful, or is there a bit of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport about the SsangYong Tivoli XLV? A provocative remark in some circles, as the SsangYong, an obscure upstart from Korea, is about as far away from the heritage, brand recognition and, frankly, snob value that that storied British badge enjoys.

SsangYong, after all, is owned by an Indian company, Mahindra & Mahindra, whereas of course Land Rover is owned by… an Indian company, in this case Tata. Well, we’re all getting used to globalisation, aren’t we?

In fact SsangYong has been putting four-wheel drive cars together for decades, albeit with sometimes mixed success.

The interior is a generation behind that of Peugeot or Toyota (SsangYong)

The original SsangYong Rodius that belly-flopped onto our shores a few years ago was a design of unsurpassed ungainliness – it was styled by an Englishman – though the current Rodius is elegant by comparison. In any case, SsangYong, as you’d expect, make rugged, perfectly useable vehicles, which may or may not be more reliable than a Land Rover (there’s not that much data around on SsangYongs, as far as I can tell. SsangYongs have a long standard warranty (5 years/unlimited mileage) which either means that their maker has huge confidence in them, or they need to reassure nervous customers.

I can speak for the Tivoli XLV I recently tried out, and confirm that there’s nothing to dislike in this car, and it will suit some rural and semi-rural customers well. It comes with a choice of two-wheel drive only, so you just get the looks, the big boot and the ground clearance, or an intelligent optional two- and four-wheel drive system that you or the car can switch on when you need it.

It’s based on the pretty Tivoli baby SUV, which probably should be rewarded with more sales success than it’s seen, but with a big boot grafted onto its tail – a further 297 litres of storage space for a total of 720 litres, with the length extended by 245mm.

The extra overhang at the back doesn’t affect the handling noticeably, which is SUV-soft in any case. It rolls, which some of us enjoy. It’s also cheap, or “good value”, as car companies prefer journalists to write. The list price for a base model is £18,250, but I’ve seen a new one out there for £12,000, and that makes it much more tempting, if you’re the muddy type.

Those big and badly positioned door mirrors cause too big a blind spot (SsangYong)

Drawbacks? A few. The interior isn’t that far behind its more established competitors, but you can judge that, for example with the air con controls, it is about a generation behind what you can get from, say, Peugeot or Toyota. More seriously, they seem to have made a bit of a mess of the door mirrors, which are just too big and badly positioned. Coupled with the usual heavy door pillars I found there was much too big a blind spot for the driver.

The diesel, which is Euro 6 compliant, so the latest type of spec, I found rather unrefined, and heavy on fuel (and therefore emissions), fitted as mine was with the automatic gearbox. The pure front-wheel drive version is better, preferably in manual, but I’d not be buying the Tivoli XLV for economy of running costs. And of course as a new, relatively unknown brand you may find residuals values a bit depressed when the time comes to trade it in or renew the lease. A car to buy and keep on the farm, I’d have thought.