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Road Test – Ssangyong Kyron 2.0 2WD (A)
30 Sep 2009|17,247 views
The guys over at Ssangyong think this is a trendier name for an SUV, but one thing’s for sure – it’s definitely more hard-core than your average soft-roader. The Kyron comes in way of the Korean car manufacturer’s model revamp that took place between the Rexton/Rodius 7-seaters that were quite popular in Malaysia.
The updated tool was originally meant to go against the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Chevrolet Captiva, but all of these cars are different in structure. Yes, by that we mean the Kyron is actually one of those hard-core, body-on-ladder-frame kind of things – the type that a Land Rover wouldn’t want to mess around with off-road.
If you were well informed, you would also know that driving one of these ladder-framed vehicles isn’t exactly a comfortable affair – it’ll pitch, roll, and respond erratically to driver commands under pressure. Of course, they weren’t meant to be driven that way, but with today’s ever-so-demanding plethora of customers, you never know.
The 2WD model is a basic, do-it-all variant of the Kyrons – there are leather seats, roof-mount racks, ABS with EBD, electric windows all round, powered door mirrors, front and rear fog-lights, a Sony CD/radio stack and cruise control mounted behind the steering wheel.
The updated tool was originally meant to go against the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Chevrolet Captiva, but all of these cars are different in structure. Yes, by that we mean the Kyron is actually one of those hard-core, body-on-ladder-frame kind of things – the type that a Land Rover wouldn’t want to mess around with off-road.
If you were well informed, you would also know that driving one of these ladder-framed vehicles isn’t exactly a comfortable affair – it’ll pitch, roll, and respond erratically to driver commands under pressure. Of course, they weren’t meant to be driven that way, but with today’s ever-so-demanding plethora of customers, you never know.
The 2WD model is a basic, do-it-all variant of the Kyrons – there are leather seats, roof-mount racks, ABS with EBD, electric windows all round, powered door mirrors, front and rear fog-lights, a Sony CD/radio stack and cruise control mounted behind the steering wheel.
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If you take a look at it from the side, you might easily take it to be mistaken for some of the more expensive SUVs on the market. Shoulders run high, and its lines seem to converge at just the right points, with plenty of ruggedness.
It has that ‘European’ look, without any hint of brazenness, and it is not surprising as it was designed by a British!
 |
Space
Thanks to a spare tyre that’s mounted below the car, the boot has humongous amounts of space, especially that this vehicle only seats five.
The heavy tailgate opens up to 625-litres of space. That balloons to 1,085-litres when you utilize the single-action lever in order to fold the 60:40 split benches.
There was also a removable webbed bulkhead, presumably to keep my nonexistent pet lion from moving around too much, or more realistically, your family’s getaway cargo for a year.
The interior is one of its bigger surprises – a distinct lack of unnecessary bling-bling that plagues so many budget-oriented cars to such bad taste. The cabin is a good place to be in – while sedate even when compared to an Audi, the choice and shape of every single surface adds up to a very functional, good-looking whole.
Rarely do you get angular corners working well with other circular devices. The instrument panel is fairly wide. Located well behind the rake-adjustable wheel, it makes for easy reading of the well-sorted dials.
Thanks to a spare tyre that’s mounted below the car, the boot has humongous amounts of space, especially that this vehicle only seats five.
The heavy tailgate opens up to 625-litres of space. That balloons to 1,085-litres when you utilize the single-action lever in order to fold the 60:40 split benches.
There was also a removable webbed bulkhead, presumably to keep my nonexistent pet lion from moving around too much, or more realistically, your family’s getaway cargo for a year.
The interior is one of its bigger surprises – a distinct lack of unnecessary bling-bling that plagues so many budget-oriented cars to such bad taste. The cabin is a good place to be in – while sedate even when compared to an Audi, the choice and shape of every single surface adds up to a very functional, good-looking whole.
Rarely do you get angular corners working well with other circular devices. The instrument panel is fairly wide. Located well behind the rake-adjustable wheel, it makes for easy reading of the well-sorted dials.
Driving Impressions
Not much really. Like we mentioned, the Kyron is built on a ladder-framed chassis, meaning scuttle-shake, stiffness and predictability is pretty much absent.
This was apparent when we were hard on the brakes and steering. But we doubt anyone would want to drive something that’s 1.8 metres in height, weighing nearly 1,900 kg in such a way.
Once you get past that, you’ll find that it’s pretty comfortable to live with. It has a great driving position that comes along with its ancillaries. The armrest-storage compartment works well for lazy-armed right handers, while the leather seats provide satisfactory amounts of bolstering.
Normally, you would never need to press down on the throttle, as the 140 bhp (available at 4,000 rpm) 2.0-litre diesel is extremely torquey – 310 Nm at just 1,800 rpm. The brilliant thing is, the spread of torque stays strong across the rev range, all the way to its 4,000 rpm peak power output point.
Not much really. Like we mentioned, the Kyron is built on a ladder-framed chassis, meaning scuttle-shake, stiffness and predictability is pretty much absent.
This was apparent when we were hard on the brakes and steering. But we doubt anyone would want to drive something that’s 1.8 metres in height, weighing nearly 1,900 kg in such a way.
Once you get past that, you’ll find that it’s pretty comfortable to live with. It has a great driving position that comes along with its ancillaries. The armrest-storage compartment works well for lazy-armed right handers, while the leather seats provide satisfactory amounts of bolstering.
Normally, you would never need to press down on the throttle, as the 140 bhp (available at 4,000 rpm) 2.0-litre diesel is extremely torquey – 310 Nm at just 1,800 rpm. The brilliant thing is, the spread of torque stays strong across the rev range, all the way to its 4,000 rpm peak power output point.
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This gives it a healthy 0-100 km/h sprint time of 15 seconds, and a 0-80 km/h time of just 10.7 seconds. First gear was enough to send the rear wheels spinning for traction, and if you try hard enough, second gear too.
And this gives the Kryon towing capabilities of up to 2,100kg when trailer-braked.
Fuel consumption figures were pretty good too – we averaged 15 kilometres to the litre throughout our day’s worth of driving over a distance of nearly 200 km in mixed conditions.
Most importantly, comfort levels were extremely high when cruising along the expressway at around 100 km/h – Ssangyong seemed to have known this beforehand, as they must have deliberately engineered the car to sonically damp noise around this commonly utilized speed.
And this gives the Kryon towing capabilities of up to 2,100kg when trailer-braked.
Fuel consumption figures were pretty good too – we averaged 15 kilometres to the litre throughout our day’s worth of driving over a distance of nearly 200 km in mixed conditions.
Most importantly, comfort levels were extremely high when cruising along the expressway at around 100 km/h – Ssangyong seemed to have known this beforehand, as they must have deliberately engineered the car to sonically damp noise around this commonly utilized speed.
A good alternative?
At the time of publication, it is worth noting that the list-price of the Kryon is $97,888. We strongly recommend you go for the four-wheel driven variant that comes with technology from Mercedes-Benz such as the T-Tronic automatic transmission, not to mention proper four-wheel drive capabilities.
The lack of proper occupant protection could be a minor setback, depending on its importance on your hierarchical-list-of-things-to-consider.
But on the most part, consider that you’re getting more comfort, more space and definitely more capability than a similarly-priced sedan such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Now, how about that diesel tax?
At the time of publication, it is worth noting that the list-price of the Kryon is $97,888. We strongly recommend you go for the four-wheel driven variant that comes with technology from Mercedes-Benz such as the T-Tronic automatic transmission, not to mention proper four-wheel drive capabilities.
The lack of proper occupant protection could be a minor setback, depending on its importance on your hierarchical-list-of-things-to-consider.
But on the most part, consider that you’re getting more comfort, more space and definitely more capability than a similarly-priced sedan such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Now, how about that diesel tax?
The guys over at Ssangyong think this is a trendier name for an SUV, but one thing’s for sure – it’s definitely more hard-core than your average soft-roader. The Kyron comes in way of the Korean car manufacturer’s model revamp that took place between the Rexton/Rodius 7-seaters that were quite popular in Malaysia.
The updated tool was originally meant to go against the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Chevrolet Captiva, but all of these cars are different in structure. Yes, by that we mean the Kyron is actually one of those hard-core, body-on-ladder-frame kind of things – the type that a Land Rover wouldn’t want to mess around with off-road.
If you were well informed, you would also know that driving one of these ladder-framed vehicles isn’t exactly a comfortable affair – it’ll pitch, roll, and respond erratically to driver commands under pressure. Of course, they weren’t meant to be driven that way, but with today’s ever-so-demanding plethora of customers, you never know.
The 2WD model is a basic, do-it-all variant of the Kyrons – there are leather seats, roof-mount racks, ABS with EBD, electric windows all round, powered door mirrors, front and rear fog-lights, a Sony CD/radio stack and cruise control mounted behind the steering wheel.
The updated tool was originally meant to go against the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Chevrolet Captiva, but all of these cars are different in structure. Yes, by that we mean the Kyron is actually one of those hard-core, body-on-ladder-frame kind of things – the type that a Land Rover wouldn’t want to mess around with off-road.
If you were well informed, you would also know that driving one of these ladder-framed vehicles isn’t exactly a comfortable affair – it’ll pitch, roll, and respond erratically to driver commands under pressure. Of course, they weren’t meant to be driven that way, but with today’s ever-so-demanding plethora of customers, you never know.
The 2WD model is a basic, do-it-all variant of the Kyrons – there are leather seats, roof-mount racks, ABS with EBD, electric windows all round, powered door mirrors, front and rear fog-lights, a Sony CD/radio stack and cruise control mounted behind the steering wheel.
|
If you take a look at it from the side, you might easily take it to be mistaken for some of the more expensive SUVs on the market. Shoulders run high, and its lines seem to converge at just the right points, with plenty of ruggedness.
It has that ‘European’ look, without any hint of brazenness, and it is not surprising as it was designed by a British!
|
Space
Thanks to a spare tyre that’s mounted below the car, the boot has humongous amounts of space, especially that this vehicle only seats five.
The heavy tailgate opens up to 625-litres of space. That balloons to 1,085-litres when you utilize the single-action lever in order to fold the 60:40 split benches.
There was also a removable webbed bulkhead, presumably to keep my nonexistent pet lion from moving around too much, or more realistically, your family’s getaway cargo for a year.
The interior is one of its bigger surprises – a distinct lack of unnecessary bling-bling that plagues so many budget-oriented cars to such bad taste. The cabin is a good place to be in – while sedate even when compared to an Audi, the choice and shape of every single surface adds up to a very functional, good-looking whole.
Rarely do you get angular corners working well with other circular devices. The instrument panel is fairly wide. Located well behind the rake-adjustable wheel, it makes for easy reading of the well-sorted dials.
Thanks to a spare tyre that’s mounted below the car, the boot has humongous amounts of space, especially that this vehicle only seats five.
The heavy tailgate opens up to 625-litres of space. That balloons to 1,085-litres when you utilize the single-action lever in order to fold the 60:40 split benches.
There was also a removable webbed bulkhead, presumably to keep my nonexistent pet lion from moving around too much, or more realistically, your family’s getaway cargo for a year.
The interior is one of its bigger surprises – a distinct lack of unnecessary bling-bling that plagues so many budget-oriented cars to such bad taste. The cabin is a good place to be in – while sedate even when compared to an Audi, the choice and shape of every single surface adds up to a very functional, good-looking whole.
Rarely do you get angular corners working well with other circular devices. The instrument panel is fairly wide. Located well behind the rake-adjustable wheel, it makes for easy reading of the well-sorted dials.
Driving Impressions
Not much really. Like we mentioned, the Kyron is built on a ladder-framed chassis, meaning scuttle-shake, stiffness and predictability is pretty much absent.
This was apparent when we were hard on the brakes and steering. But we doubt anyone would want to drive something that’s 1.8 metres in height, weighing nearly 1,900 kg in such a way.
Once you get past that, you’ll find that it’s pretty comfortable to live with. It has a great driving position that comes along with its ancillaries. The armrest-storage compartment works well for lazy-armed right handers, while the leather seats provide satisfactory amounts of bolstering.
Normally, you would never need to press down on the throttle, as the 140 bhp (available at 4,000 rpm) 2.0-litre diesel is extremely torquey – 310 Nm at just 1,800 rpm. The brilliant thing is, the spread of torque stays strong across the rev range, all the way to its 4,000 rpm peak power output point.
Not much really. Like we mentioned, the Kyron is built on a ladder-framed chassis, meaning scuttle-shake, stiffness and predictability is pretty much absent.
This was apparent when we were hard on the brakes and steering. But we doubt anyone would want to drive something that’s 1.8 metres in height, weighing nearly 1,900 kg in such a way.
Once you get past that, you’ll find that it’s pretty comfortable to live with. It has a great driving position that comes along with its ancillaries. The armrest-storage compartment works well for lazy-armed right handers, while the leather seats provide satisfactory amounts of bolstering.
Normally, you would never need to press down on the throttle, as the 140 bhp (available at 4,000 rpm) 2.0-litre diesel is extremely torquey – 310 Nm at just 1,800 rpm. The brilliant thing is, the spread of torque stays strong across the rev range, all the way to its 4,000 rpm peak power output point.
|
This gives it a healthy 0-100 km/h sprint time of 15 seconds, and a 0-80 km/h time of just 10.7 seconds. First gear was enough to send the rear wheels spinning for traction, and if you try hard enough, second gear too.
And this gives the Kryon towing capabilities of up to 2,100kg when trailer-braked.
Fuel consumption figures were pretty good too – we averaged 15 kilometres to the litre throughout our day’s worth of driving over a distance of nearly 200 km in mixed conditions.
Most importantly, comfort levels were extremely high when cruising along the expressway at around 100 km/h – Ssangyong seemed to have known this beforehand, as they must have deliberately engineered the car to sonically damp noise around this commonly utilized speed.
And this gives the Kryon towing capabilities of up to 2,100kg when trailer-braked.
Fuel consumption figures were pretty good too – we averaged 15 kilometres to the litre throughout our day’s worth of driving over a distance of nearly 200 km in mixed conditions.
Most importantly, comfort levels were extremely high when cruising along the expressway at around 100 km/h – Ssangyong seemed to have known this beforehand, as they must have deliberately engineered the car to sonically damp noise around this commonly utilized speed.
A good alternative?
At the time of publication, it is worth noting that the list-price of the Kryon is $97,888. We strongly recommend you go for the four-wheel driven variant that comes with technology from Mercedes-Benz such as the T-Tronic automatic transmission, not to mention proper four-wheel drive capabilities.
The lack of proper occupant protection could be a minor setback, depending on its importance on your hierarchical-list-of-things-to-consider.
But on the most part, consider that you’re getting more comfort, more space and definitely more capability than a similarly-priced sedan such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Now, how about that diesel tax?
At the time of publication, it is worth noting that the list-price of the Kryon is $97,888. We strongly recommend you go for the four-wheel driven variant that comes with technology from Mercedes-Benz such as the T-Tronic automatic transmission, not to mention proper four-wheel drive capabilities.
The lack of proper occupant protection could be a minor setback, depending on its importance on your hierarchical-list-of-things-to-consider.
But on the most part, consider that you’re getting more comfort, more space and definitely more capability than a similarly-priced sedan such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Now, how about that diesel tax?
Car Information
Ssangyong Kyron 2.0 2WD (A)
CAT B|Diesel|11.5km/L
Horsepower
105kW (141 bhp)
Torque
310 Nm
Acceleration
-
This model is no longer being sold by local distributor
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