SsangYong Musso 2022 review: XLV ELX - GVM test

There are new 17-inch and 18-inch alloy wheel designs and other minor styling tweaks but the latest range is most easily identified by its striking new front-end design.

Ssangyong claims that “the magnificent and imposing grille wraps the horizontal breadth of the front and harmonises with the restrained bumper that subtly supports the solid body.” In other words, it’s a good-looking facelift with a tougher and more imposing appearance.

The Musso breed maintains a consistently high standard of finish and build quality. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

Otherwise, the latest Musso is much the same as before, with the XLV having an extra 110mm in wheelbase (3210mm) and 300mm in bed length compared to its SWB sibling, along with rear leaf-springs instead of coils to (theoretically at least) improve load-carrying. It also has a competitive 12.2-metre turning circle and is externally about the same size as a Ford Ranger dual-cab.

Fortunately, the Musso breed maintains a consistently high standard of finish and build quality. It's rattle and squeak-free with a pleasing interior design and all doors close with a satisfying thud. Like the SWB Musso, the XLV’s rear doors are only 50mm shorter than the fronts, ensuring easy entry/exit even for tall adults and spacious rear seating.

Ssangyong claims a combined consumption of 8.3 litres/100km and the dash readout was showing 11.4 at the end of our 432km test, which included about one third of that distance lugging a heavy payload. Our figure, calculated from fuel bowser and tripmeter readings, worked out at 10.2L/100km. So, based on our numbers, you could expect a useful driving range of around 730km from its 75-litre tank.

With its 2195kg kerb weight and 3220kg GVM, the XLV has a genuine one-tonne-plus payload rating of 1025kg. It’s also rated to tow up to 3500kg of braked trailer, but to do so would require a 350kg drop in payload to 675kg to avoid exceeding the 6370kg GCM, or how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time.

Alternatively, if you wanted to keep the 1025kg payload capacity, the towing limit would have to be lowered by that same 350kg to 3150kg, which is more than ample for most ute owners in the real world.

The large load tub has square internal dimensions of 1610mm in length and width when measured at the top edges. Combined with its 580mm depth, it has a sizeable 1262 litres of load volume which is almost 25 per cent more than the SWB Musso and its load anchorage points are located nice and low at floor level in each corner. Our test vehicle was also fitted with a non-standard full tub-liner, which we’d strongly recommend to protect from scrapes and dents.

Front cabin storage includes a centre console with small storage tray up front containing USB, auxiliary jack and 12-volt outlets, along with two small bottle/cup-holders in the centre and a storage box with padded lid at the back which doubles as a driver’s elbow rest. There’s also a large-bottle holder and storage bin in each front door plus a shallow tray in the centre dash-pad, an overhead glasses holder and lockable glovebox.

There’s a large-bottle holder and storage bin in each front door. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

Rear seat passengers also get a large-bottle holder and storage bin in each door, plus two cup- holders in the fold-down centre armrest and flexible storage pouches on each front seat backrest. The rear bench seat base can’t be flipped up and stored vertically to create more internal cargo space like some rivals, but it does provide hidden storage space underneath for soft items.

The rear bench seat base can’t be flipped up. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

We forklifted 650kg into the load tub, which with driver equalled a 750kg payload. Although this was 275kg under its 1025kg payload rating, the rear leaf springs compressed more than 60mm, leaving only 30mm of static bump-stop clearance.

As a result, the rear suspension bottomed-out over larger bumps, as it did during our first test of the XLV ELX in 2019 with a higher payload. Fact is, the rear springs need to be stiffer for owners who regularly carry and/or tow heavy loads. Perhaps Ssangyong could offer a heavy-duty ‘tradie’ suspension option for Aussie buyers?

We forklifted 650kg into the load tub. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

The powertrain proved more than capable of lugging this payload up our 13 per cent gradient, 2.0km set climb at 60km/h, self-shifting back to third gear and holding 2400-2500rpm to easily reach the summit.

Engine-braking on the way down in a manually-selected second gear wasn’t as strong, quickly spinning to 3800rpm on overrun (4500rpm redline) before the transmission over-rode our manual selection and shifted up to third gear. These engine-protecting shift protocols are increasingly common in LCV auto transmissions, which is fine as long as you’re prepared for them when leaning on the engine to assist with braking on steep descents.

Seven years/unlimited km warranty, service intervals of 12 months/15,000km with capped-price of $375 for the first seven scheduled services up to seven years/105,000km, plus seven years of complimentary roadside assist if serviced on schedule by a SsangYong dealer.