A PICK-UP FOR THE PEOPLE (some text hidden) new_ssangyongmusso_2018

By Jonathan Crouch

KGM's Musso pick-up aims to shake up its segment. Jonathan Crouch takes a look

Ten Second Reviewword count: 90

KGM's Musso pick-up aims to redefine the value proposition for customers in this segment and provide them with rugged but car-like transport. It's the only model in the sector tough enough to offer a seven year warranty and its combined payload and towing capacity is unmatched in the class. As when this model wore a Ssangyong badge, there's the option of a long wheelbase 'Long-bed' 'Saracen+' variant at the top of the range. If you're buying in this sector, you probably won't have been considering a Musso. Perhaps you should.

Backgroundword count: 179

What do you want when buying a pick-up? Probably things like rugged practicality, load capacity, towing strength, reliability and cab space. Here's a contender you probably haven't considered that claims to be class-leading in many of these areas at the same time as being one of the most affordable pick-ups in its class to buy. This is the Musso, previously sold by Ssangyong, a brand now re-named KGM. Some background might be useful at this point. After all, since pick-ups from this Korean brand haven't so far made much headway in our market, you probably don't know much about them. What was then called Ssangyong first began to make headway in the pick-up segment with the 'Korando Sports' back in 2012, which was then updated and re-branded with 'Musso' badging in 2016. This current-era 'Q200'-series Musso model was launched in 2018, sharing all its engineering with the third generation version of the company's Rexton luxury SUV (introduced just before). Various small updates were made to this Musso in 2022 and 2023 and in early 2024, Ssangyong was re-branded KGM.

Driving Experienceword count: 266

If you're used to driving pick-ups, there'll be one thing that'll immediately strike you as soon as you set off in a Musso. This model's exceptional refinement. Its Korean maker has put a huge amount of effort into improving this and it's really paid off, especially at higher highway speeds. On urban tarmac, refinement remains excellent but on poorer surfaces, you do start to notice a rather unyielding standard of ride quality. Some have criticised this but we prefer to take into account that this KGM offers the highest combined Gross Train Weight in the class. You don't get that without a fairly stiff suspension set-up - which in this case uses rear coils rather than the crude rear leaf springs that still feature in some rivals. Other pick-ups certainly deal with tarmac tears, speed humps and pot holes much better. But they can't carry a one-tonne payload at the same time as pulling along a 3.5-tonne trailer. It all comes down to priorities. What are yours? The figures we've just quoted refer to the automatic gearbox variant that most buyers will choose - it's a well-proven Aisin 6-speed package. A 6-speed manual gearbox is also available at the foot of the range. Either way, the engine beneath the bonnet is the same - a 2.2-litre e-XDi220 in-house-developed diesel unit that puts out 202PS and 441Nm of torque. That's enough to breeze you past 60mph in about 11.3s in the manual (11.9s in the auto) on the way to a top speed that's rated at 113mph in the auto model - or 116mph in the manual.

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