SsangYong’s new Korando opens a new styling era for the South Korean company. With famed Italian styling house Italdesign-Giugiaro penning the shape, new Korando is much more mainstream in looks than the ‘interesting’ previous designs from SsangYong.

While SsangYong can be lauded for attempting new automotive shapes in the past, the fact that the company went into virtual bankruptcy while doing so proves that most buyers shy away from anything that strays too far from the norm.

Now SsangYong is back in business with new backers, Indian giant Mahindra and Mahindra, and taking a more conservative styling route.

New Korando works well in its appearance, its large radiator grille follows the current fashion of major European marques, the grille mates neatly with the semi-sporting shape of the lights and bonnet and the lower surfaces are aggressive without going over the top.

The remainder of the Korando’s body is more conservative in style than the standout front, but the overall result is pleasing and there are many who will buy the SsangYong Korando based on its shape alone.

But there’s a lot more to the new SsangYong Korando than simply its styling. Realising this is a make or break effort for the company in Australia, the local importers, Sime Darby, have gone for the big winner in any sales race - price. Korando comes to the market with a recommended retail list that starts at only $26,300. Participating dealers can do a driveway deal at $27,990. You get a lot of vehicle for your money.

Finalising the list of desirable features on the Korando is a five-year warranty. So new is the vehicle to Australia that the distance limit during this five years has yet to be set. Try you local dealer for information on that before settling on the purchase.

Interior room is impressive for a vehicle of this size, with plenty of legroom for adults in the back seat and a good sized boot. A clever feature is the provision of stowage clips under the boot floor for the luggage cover when it’s not in use. This is far better than having it rolling about in the boot as happens in other vehicles. 
 
At this stage all new generation SsangYong Korandos are powered by a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel producing 129 kW of power and 360 Nm of torque between 2000 and 3000 rpm. A petrol variant may come later, but SsangYong generally sees itself as a diesel-engined company so don’t hold your breath.

The turbo-diesel engine has been designed in conjunction with a European maker, but SsangYong won’t say which one it is. We suspect it’s Mercedes as there have been strong links between the two companies in the past.

Transmission choices are six-speed manual or six-speed automatic.

Drive is either taken to the front wheels alone, or to all four wheels. The AWD models aren’t intended to be off-road vehicles but all Korando's have a very low first-gear ratio and those with four driven wheels can be locked into AWD. So the Korando is capable of doing some exploring of forest trails, make trips to the beach and so on.

On the road we found the engine to be sadly lacking in performance below 1500 revs, but over that it develops good torque and sings along beautifully with a nice business-like note. There’s the usual diesel engine ‘clatter’ at idle but the engine is reasonably quite once the Korando is on the move

The aforementioned low first gear can be a nuisance in on-road driving as you have to change up to second virtually as soon as the vehicle is moving.

Fuel consumption is officially rated between 6.1 and 7.5 litres per hundred kilometres depending on model and transmission choice. We will comment on fuel use when we road test in our home area later.

Crash testing is yet to be officially carried out, SsangYong anticipated four stars, but say it may even reach the maximum five.

Handling is on the soft side and there’s too little feedback through the steering wheel. While this isn’t a market segment favoured by keen drivers we feel that SsangYong will have to further develop its suspensions before it’s fully acceptable.

Comfort is generally good, but some rough surfaces we encountered on our initial test drive caused Korando to thump around a bit.

Korando comes in three models, S, SX and SPR all with a good list of standard features, including alloy wheels, air conditioning, power windows and mirrors, a multi-input audio system with steering wheel controls, ABS brakes and a rollover protection system.

So strong is the push for the new model in this country that the Australians have launched the new Korando here before it has been introduced to its home market in Korea.

The complete 2011 SsangYong Korando range, with prices (excluding government and dealer charges) is:
Korando S 2WD 2.0-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $26,311 (manual), 28,811 (automatic)
Korando SX AWD 2.0-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $30,311 (manual), $32,811 (automatic)
Korando SPR AWD 2.0-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $36,811 (automatic)

The entry-level Korando S 2WD manual will sell for a limited time at $27,990 driveaway. Contact your local SsangYong dealer for other driveaway prices.