2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV Review

It’s no secret that in 2022, new car prices continue to head upwards. For various reasons – the pandemic, the chip shortage, short supply, model change overs, etc – some cars now cost upwards of 40 per cent more than they did in 2020. Naturally, many new car buyers are looking for the cheapest way into a new car, hence the rise of sales for brands like MG. But how about in the ute segment? Well, we’ve got a new contender for you to consider: the 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV.

South Korean brand SsangYong has been in existence since 1954 and has been in Australia on and off since 1997. Since then, the Musso has been its bread and butter product and while it once was a large SUV that used Mercedes-Benz technology, it’s now a ute that competes with big names like the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton and the Mazda BT-50 and Isuzu D-Max twins, as well as new lower-priced entrants to the segment like the LDV T60 and Great Wall Cannon. Read on to find out if you should be considering the Musso for your next ute purchase.

Price & Equipment: 9/10

While the Musso range kicks off at $36,790 drive away for the entry-level ELX manual, we tested the upper-spec Ultimate (with its standard automatic transmission), which costs just $42,090 drive away.

Standard equipment on the 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate includes black 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic HID (low beam) headlights with LED front and rear daytime running lights, auto wipers, keyless entry and start, faux leather upholstery with heated and cooled front seats, a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, cruise control, manual air-conditioning, electric windows, heated and auto-folding mirrors and two USB-A ports.

Safety equipment includes six airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, driver attention alert, forward vehicle start warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, auto high beam, tyre pressure monitoring, a 360-degree parking camera and front and rear parking sensors.

There are two options available for the Musso Ultimate: the $1,500 XLV Pack that extends both the wheelbase (by 110mm) and tray (by 300mm) for greater cargo carrying capacity – its payload is increased by 80kg to 880kg in total. There’s also the $3,000 Luxury Pack, which adds Nappa leather upholstery, electric front seat adjustment with driver’s lumbar adjustment, dual-zone climate control, a sunroof and heated rear seats. Tick both boxes with metallic paint and the Musso is still only $47,185 drive away.

Premium paint adds another $595 and you can choose from our test car’s ‘Pearl White’, ‘Indian Red’, ‘Atlantic Blue’, ‘Marble Grey’ and ‘Space Black’. The only no-cost colour is ‘Grand White’.

There’s no doubt that the Musso is great value for money, but it is missing some pieces of equipment: some overseas markets get a larger 9.2-inch touchscreen with inbuilt navigation and digital radio, as well as kit like lane trace assist, while safety features like adaptive cruise control and a proper seatbelt for the middle rear seat are unavailable at all. We hope these features are added soon, especially as it’s disappointing to see a lap-sash middle rear seatbelt in 2022.

The Musso competes with a plethora of rivals, but we think the Great Wall Cannon X ($45,490 drive away) and Mitsubishi Triton GLX ($48,740 drive away) are closest to it in pricing. The Cannon X is priced and equipped broadly the same as the Musso Ultimate with the Luxury Pack, and has features like LED headlights and adaptive cruise control, but the SsangYong has dual-zone climate control, Nappa leather upholstery, lumbar adjustment and cooled front seats/a heated steering wheel and rear seat.

Against the Triton GLX, the Musso Ultimate has way more equipment, including alloy wheels, blind-spot monitoring, faux leather upholstery, automatic HID headlights, auto wipers, heated and cooled seats, a larger centre screen, a digital driver’s display and so on. In era when most utes are priced above $50,000, it’s very refreshing to see one that tops out at comfortably below that threshold. It’s clear that the Musso is excellent value for money.

Performance & Economy: 7/10

Under the bonnet of the 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV is a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that makes 133kW of power (at 4,000rpm) and 400Nm of torque (between 1,600rpm and 2,600rpm) – our test car had the XLV Pack fitted, so its peak torque was increased to 420Nm. Those outputs make it gruntier than the 120kW/400Nm Cannon X but the Triton has 10Nm more torque.

While the engine’s outputs aren’t amazing – the same engine is used in the Rexton SUV and overseas Musso making 148kW/441Nm – the Musso’s secret weapon is just how quiet it is. The sound deadening used is fantastic and only under full acceleration is the engine really heard – it is far quieter than rivals like the Triton, BT-50/D-Max and it even gives the super refined Ranger a run for its money.

The only available transmission in the Ultimate is an Aisin-sourced six-speed torque converter automatic, which can be a touch slow, but it’s otherwise totally fine. It’s largely intuitive and provides part-manual control through a button on the gear lever.

The 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV is rated at 9.0L/100km on a combined cycle, and in mixed driving, we recorded 10.3L/100km – less than our testing of both the Triton and Cannon X in similar conditions. It features a 75-litre fuel tank and the engine is rated to Euro 6 emissions compliance.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

Based on the same body-on-frame platform as the seven-seat Rexton SUV, the 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV drives well. While it’s not a keen handler as the Ford Ranger is, it’s comfortable and entirely pleasant to drive. Part of that pleasantness is that it has a coil spring rear suspension set up, which is still quite rare in the ute segment. Because of that, it handles bumps with more ease than the vast majority of its rivals – while many utes feel like two different cars joined together, the Musso mostly feels like you’re just driving a big SUV. Thanks to its platform, you almost are.

The steering is also nice, thanks to it having lighter weighting than some rivals, making low speed manoeuvres easier than in something like the Triton and its heavy steering. But the steering still offers plenty of feel, and allows you to place it easily on the road. Like the engine, the Musso’s road noise levels are pleasingly low, while its visibility is also good thanks to large windows and mirrors – the 360-degree camera also helps a lot with parking. The Musso’s towing ability is 3.5 tonnes braked, which is equal to the best in the segment – it’s also 500kg more than the Cannon X and 400kg more than the Triton.

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

Being based on the Rexton large SUV means that the Musso’s cabin is less utilitarian than a lot of its rivals, and is quite car-like in its design. While it’s not state of the art in terms of technology or its design, it’s well finished, good quality, spacious and a practical place to spend time.

The quality inside the Musso’s cabin is surprisingly good for a ute – while there are plenty of hard plastic surfaces, the faux leather trim on the lower dashboard and soft touch upper dashboard materials feel great, as do the leather steering wheel and the faux leather on the seats. The quality inside the Musso is definitely superior to price points rivals, let alone utes which cost a lot more money.

Centre of the Musso’s cabin is an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though no inbuilt satellite navigation or digital radio. It’s well laid out and the screen quality is good as well, though it’s hardly feature packed and it annoyingly dims automatically when the headlights are switched on. The 12.3-inch digital driver’s display is better quality and adds a richer feel to the cabin.

The Musso’s cabin is relatively practical with good sized door bins, big cup holders, a large box under the centre console, a tray ahead of the shifter and a large glovebox.

The back seat of the Musso is excellent for the segment. It’s spacious, practical and is definitely larger than rivals like the Ranger and HiLux. It also features a centre arm rest with cup holders, door pockets, air vents and two map pockets, though it lacks USB ports to keep devices charged. But if you choose the Luxury Package, you get heated rear outbound seats, which no competitor features.

The Musso’s tray is large, measuring 1,600mm long, 1,570mm wide and 570mm tall – it also has four tie down points. By contrast, the Triton’s tray is smaller at 1,520mm long and 1,470mm wide – the Musso’s tailgate is lighter than the Triton’s heavier equivalent. Both the Triton and Musso’s trays have four tie down points, though that’s largely it – some Ranger-like features such as a 12V socket, lighting and inbuilt cupholders and would be appreciated.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

SsangYong covers its new products with a great seven-year/unlimited km warranty, with seven years of roadside assistance and seven years of capped price servicing. The Musso’s service intervals are once yearly/every 15,000km, and five years/75,000km of servicing costs $375 per service for the first seven years, but items like fuel filters, axle oil and transmission oil are not included in that price, and including those necessary items increases the cost to a steeper $3,520 ($705 per service).

Mitsubishi gives its products a five-year/100,000km warranty that’s extended to a full 10 years/200,000km if serviced at a Mitsubishi dealership. Five years/75,000km of servicing costs $2,595 ($519 per service). Great Wall gives its products an identical seven-year/unlimited km warranty but with lesser five years of roadside assistance. Five years/45,000km of servicing costs $1,700 ($340 per service) but the Cannon has strange intervals: the first service occurs within six months/5,000km, and every service that follows is one year or 10,000km afterwards.

The 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.0/10

With so many new car brands launching in Australia in recent years, it’s entirely plausible that many buyers dismiss products some manufacturers purely due to a lack of brand name recognition. In the case of the 2022 SsangYong Musso Ultimate XLV, we think that would be a shame because it’s a vehicle that offers quite a lot for a reasonable price. It’s also got a nice cabin, good quality materials, a quiet and relatively grunty turbo-diesel engine, pleasant road manners and it’s got lots of equipment.

Of course, it’s not perfect – the engine isn’t a firecracker, the lap-sash only middle rear seatbelt is disappointing, its payload could be better and it can get expensive to service – but no ute is. We think that the Musso presents itself as a vehicle with capability equal to or even better than something like a Nissan Navara – but it also costs a good $15,000 less in equivalent spec. But unlike some rivals like the Great Wall Cannon X, price isn’t the main consideration to buy the Musso. We were happily surprised by it, and based on how good it is, we can’t wait to see what products SsangYong has for the future.