2021 SsangYong Rexton Ultimate review

The SsangYong Rexton Ultimate is the features-packed top-spec version of the two-pronged Rexton range that’s easily one of the plushest ute-based four-wheel-drive SUVs on the road.

It’s also the most affordable range-topper in its class with a fixed drive-away price of $54,990, which is several thousand dollars less than rivals such as the Pajero Sport Exceed, Isuzu MU-X LS-T and Toyota Fortuner Crusade. And it’s about $20 grand less than the Ford Everest Titanium.

If you’re looking for something to haul your growing family everywhere from school to a camping holiday in comfort, this seems to represent a great bargain.

But there are a few things you need to know.

What is the SsangYong Rexton Ultimate like to live with?

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Sharing underpinnings with the SsangYong Musso 4x4 ute, the second-generation Rexton has been around since 2017. It recently underwent a significant facelift that brings a much bolder-looking face dominated by the huge grille and attractive quad-style LED headlights, LED DRLs and LED foglights.

It’s available in two flavours in Australia, the ELX and Ultimate. The ELX priced, at a very competitive $47,990 drive-away, comes with a 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster and creature comforts such as leather-appointed seats, power-adjustable front seats with heating and ventilation, heated outboard rear seats and dual-zone climate control.

The Ultimate has all that, with the extra $7000 bringing fancier Nappa leather upholstery, illuminated scuff plates, sunroof, driver’s seat position memory, ambient interior lighting, 360-degree reversing camera, powered tailgate, touch-sensing front door locks and a wireless phone charging pad.

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The Ultimate also ditches the ELX’s 18-inch alloy wheels in favour of very fancy 20-inch chrome-finished rims, which are odd inclusion for a vehicle with genuine off-road capability.

Step inside and the Rexton Ultimate oozes showroom appeal. The heated and ventilated front seats are a nice place to be with their Nappa leather and quilted side bolters, feeling sturdy and supportive.

The quilting is replicated on the dashboard trim and the door cards and is just one of a few different finishes across the cabin that look and feel good.

Step inside and the Rexton Ultimate oozes showroom appeal. The front seats are a nice place to be with their Nappa leather seats and quilted side bolters, feeling sturdy and supportive.

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Overall fit and finish are good. Hard plastics are mostly confined to hidden spots and the area directly above the 8.0-inch touchscreen.

The centre console looks good and houses the wireless phone charger, cupholders and two USB ports under attractive roller shutters.

It has a joystick-like gear shifter similar to those found in BMWs, which looks attractive but can be quite fiddly – give me an old-school T-bar any day.

Storage is okay with a modest size centre-console tub complemented by big door bins.

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The middle-row seats are trimmed like those up front and are quite comfortable, the outboard ones coming with bum warmers. Taller people will find leg and headroom to be a little tight, which is surprising for a large SUV.

Although the seats don’t slide back and forth, the backrests recline up to about 60 degrees so passengers can catch 40 winks on longer drives.

The middle seat is okay for short trips, though you will only be really comfortable if you have an unusually inward-curving spine. With nobody sitting there, the centre backrest folds down to become an armrest with cup holders and a handy enclosed storage tray.

Rear-seat passengers also get air vents, two USB sockets, and a 12-volt socket, and the door trims have the same plush furnishings as the ones in front.

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The third row is accessible by folding the middle row seatback down and rolling the lot forward. This provides a decent gap to get back there, but that is about where the convenience ends.

The rear space is very tight even with the second-row backrests upright. The seats are very low too, so anyone from about 12 years old will be sitting with their knees up and hard against the seatbacks.

Kids will naturally find it roomier back there, but there’s no view and they’ll feel quite isolated. Having been the carsick kid of the family I can’t think of anything worse for a long trip. But at least there is an air-vent with fan control back there should they feel a little queasy.

I reckon you’re best treating the Rexton as a five-seat-plus SUV that brings a huge boot with pop-up seats for emergencies.

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Speaking of boot space, with three rows up storage is very tight – the floor area is about 116cm wide with about 40cm between the powered tailgate and seatback, but that decreases as you come up because of the seat pitch. Still, it’s enough to fit your weekly shopping or a set of golf clubs.

But put the second-row seats down and you have a huge 641-litre cargo area that will take loads up to 1.2 metres long. You can also raise the floor so it lines up with the folded seats to create a flat surface.

Folding the middle row seats down or forwards allows for loads up to 1.7 metres long.

If you need to haul more, the Rexton has a big 3500kg braked towing capacity.

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The Rexton has an official combined fuel economy rating of 8.7L/100km, which isn’t bad for a 2.3-tonne wagon.

Running costs are also kept down with an affordable service regime under the brand’s 777 Care Cover that includes a seven-year warranty, seven-year roadside assistance plan and seven years of capped-price servicing.

Like all SsangYong models, it has a 15,000km/12-month service schedule, which costs $375 for each service and includes oil changes plus air- and oil-filter replacements. As with most brands, you pay extra for parts when required, and SsangYong provides up-front pricing for different parts.

What is the SsangYong Rexton Ultimate like to drive?

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The Rexton is powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine that produces 148kW of power and 441Nm of torque delivered via an eight-speed automatic gearbox sourced from Hyundai.

This is a smallish engine compared to its rivals, but it produces more or power and torque than 2.4- and 3.0-litre turbodiesels in the Pajero Sport and Isuzu MU-X.

The Rexton is primarily rear-wheel drive, but you can select high- and low-range four-wheel drive with a neat dial for when you want to go bush or to the snow – though with those shiny wheels and the fancy interior trim I was hesitant to try either.

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It’s quick off the mark and will get to highway speeds soon enough, the transmission quickly finding the right gears to get you there. Once at speed there is sufficient power in reserve for overtaking albeit with a little turbo lag.

The engine sounds rather agricultural on start-up, but once you get moving is surprisingly quiet, with the entire 4x4 diesel powertrain feeling quite refined.

The Rexton rides on a 10-link independent rear suspension setup with wishbones up front and coil springs at each corner, which brings reasonable road manners at moderate speeds around town. However, this is an old school body-on-frame SUV meaning that, at higher speeds, you feel every bump and crease, which isn’t helped by the Ultimate’s bigger 20-inch rubber. The ride on the ELX's 18s is noticeably better.

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The ride isn’t jarring as such, just busy, and it can become unrelenting as road conditions deteriorate – though it’s pretty good on gravel. You get used to the busy ride in the front seats but it can be a little hectic in the back, especially in the third row – I’d hate to think how my younger self would fare back there.

And while its 203mm of ground clearance will see off any speed bump, you'll quickly negotiate the need to tiptoe over them.

To be fair, none of the Rexton's direct rivals exactly provide a smooth ride, but they do tend to settle a little quicker over bumps.

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Another disadvantage of the body-on-frame chassis is that handling can be compromised, particularly on winding roads. Body roll can be quite pronounced and the steering feels a little light despite getting tighter as you speed up.

If you do overcook a bend the Rexton will do its best to avoid disaster by employing anti-rollover protection, which adjusts the amount of engine output and braking power delivered to each wheel while driving around sharp turns to keep it upright.

But it brakes okay, and on downhills, you can engage paddle shifters to gear down to ease yourself into bends.

The ride isn’t jarring as such, just busy, and it can become unrelenting as road conditions deteriorate – though it’s pretty good on gravel

What is the SsangYong Rexton Ultimate like for safety

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For some reason, the Rexton hasn’t been independently crash-tested by ANCAP or EuroNCAP, but both variants bring a bunch of safety features including autonomous emergency braking with forward collision warning, braking assist, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, trailer sway control and parking sensors at both ends.

It also comes with nine airbags, including for the driver’s knee and side curtains although the third row is unprotected.

Noteworthy omissions are adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist, which are available in the smaller Korando Ultimate.

Verdict

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I’d love to say the Rexton is an excellent comfortable large SUV that will take a family anywhere in comfort. But I reckon its busy ride and tight third row, which kids will quickly grow out of, precludes it from being suitable for a younger family or anyone with more than two older children.

But, if you’re not after a family chariot but want an affordable large SUV with a big towing capacity, huge boot, reasonable fuel economy, a tonne of creature comforts for the daily drive and the ability to tackle moderate off-roading, the Rexton Ultimate is well worth a look.

That said, you won’t be wanting for much if you settle for the cheaper ELX, which, to me, is the real bargain buy of the pair.

2021 SsangYong Rexton Ultimate specifications

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