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02/06/2008
By EWAN KENNEDY
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SsangYong has announced a new low-cost variant of its Sports Dual Cab. Coming to Australia at just $24,990 for the 4x2 with a modern common-rail turbo-diesel engine and five-speed manual it offers a lot of vehicle to the cash-strapped Aussie tradie. Hence the title of SsangYong Tradie.
 To keep costs down, the importer offers the new Tradie in any colour you like – so long as it is white! Not necessarily a bad thing as most working utes are soon sign written and a white starting point is often appreciated.
The Tradie isn’t a stripped down special as it includes air conditioning, power windows and remote central locking. Dual front airbags are part of the safety package. The Sports Dual Cab Tradie has cloth trim that looks to be comfortable and hard wearing.
The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel produces power of up to 104 kW at 4000 rpm. In keeping with its working aspirations maximum torque of 310 Nm is reached at a mere 1,800 rpm.
Official tests have the SsangYong turbo-diesel Tradie showing fuel consumption of 8.1 litres per hundred kilometres so it’s economical to run as well as to buy.
Payload is 750 kg and a standard tray liner means it can do real work without damaging things.
As well as the 2WD described here, the new SsangYong Tradie is also available as a 4WD. It also comes with a five-speed manual gearbox and is priced at just $27,990.
SsangYong's Sports Dual Cab runs much more quietly than most other utes thanks to its coil rear-spring setup, something that’s not all that common in this class of vehicle. It’s not the most refined of vehicles, but is an honest worker that provides good value for money in all variants, and in this new Tradie format further excels in the value equation.
She use of the word Sports by SsangYong is somewhat misleading as this really is a pure ute not a sporting vehicle in the generally accepted manner. However, if you go to interesting locations and cart some camping, or other fun gear along with you, that may just be described as sporting. We’ll leave it up to you… |
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