2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition Review

South Korean brand SsangYong has been selling cars in Australia since 1997 and in the process then, it’s gained a loyal base of customers. We recently tested the Musso ute and it’s easy to see why SsangYong owners love their vehicles – it’s a high quality, no nonsense and excellent value workhorse. We recently got to test the Rexton SUV, which uses the same platform but adds a wagon body with seven seats – much like a Ford Everest does to a Ranger – and that opens the brand up to a much wider audience. What’s the 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition like? Let’s find out.

While SsangYong’s recent sales aren’t huge, its 2022 performance of 3,943 sales is a healthy 32.4 per cent increase on 2021 – especially impressive given the stock shortages that continue to hurt the global automotive industry.

Price & Equipment: 9/10

There are two permanent models in the Rexton lineup: the entry-level ELX (priced from $48,990 drive away) and the top-spec Ultimate ($55,990 drive away). We tested the Ultimate based limited edition Black Edition, which retails for $56,858 drive away.

Standard equipment on the Black Edition includes 20-inch alloy wheels with a full-size alloy spare wheel, automatic all-LED lighting with front and rear daytime running lights, automatic wipers, roof rails, a sunroof, rear privacy glass, black exterior detailing (the grille, wheels and window surrounds), keyless entry and start with an electric tailgate, heated and auto-folding mirrors that drop in reverse, puddle lamps, a leather steering wheel with paddle shifters, Nappa leather upholstery, 12-way driver/6-way passenger powered front seats with both heating and ventilation plus driver’s memory functionality, a heated steering wheel, heated second row outboard seats, dual-zone climate control with a third row fan speed controller, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, a wireless phone charger, four USB-A ports, a six-speaker sound system, an auto-dimming rear mirror and cruise control.

Safety equipment includes nine airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB) with forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping assistance with lane departure warning, auto high beam, driver attention monitoring with front vehicle start warning, front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree parking camera. The Rexton is unrated by ANCAP.

The Rexton Black Edition is available in either ‘Space Black’ as our test car was or ‘Pearl White’ for no extra cost, with black upholstery.

While there are a number of competitors to the Rexton – both ute-based and car-based – we consider the Ford Everest Ambiente 4×4 (around $64,000 drive away) and the Hyundai Santa Fe Active diesel (around $59,000 drive away) to be the Rexton Black Edition’s closest rivals.

Both the Everest and Santa Fe feature more safety equipment than the Rexton, like adaptive cruise control, lane trace assist and automatic rear braking. However, the Rexton adds quite a lot of other equipment over both rivals, including Nappa leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, heated outboard middle row seats, a sunroof, larger 20-inch wheels, electric front seats and a power tailgate. Bringing the Rexton’s value equation home further is that it’s priced over $2,000 less than the Santa Fe and a full $7,000 less than the Everest, despite featuring a lot more standard equipment.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

Under the bonnet of the 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition is a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that makes 148kW of power (at 3,800rpm) and 441Nm of torque (between 1,600 and 2,600rpm). It’s mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a dual-range four-wheel drive system. Both the Santa Fe and Everest also use four-cylinder turbo-diesel engines – the Santa Fe’s has very similar 148kW/440Nm outputs, while the Everest’s is smaller at 2.0-litres, but has an extra turbo for 157kW/500Nm. The Santa Fe uses an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic – the Everest has a 10-speed torque converter unit instead.

The engine is very refined, with not much noise at any speed – even when it’s just been fired up. But even if it’s warm, it’s not the quickest performer – SsangYong doesn’t claim a 0-100km/h time but we guesstimate it to be above 10 seconds. There’s a reasonable amount of turbo lag but once it’s on boil, the Rexton feels torquey and reasonably punchy. It cruises at highway speeds without issue, and overtaking isn’t difficult either.

The only available transmission is an eight-speed torque converter automatic, which shifts smoothly and mostly imperceptibly. It has paddle shifters if you want to shift gears manually, but the Rexton’s relaxed driving dynamics rarely make you want to do so. The Rexton’s electronic shifter is more intuitive than most with one nudge shifting from reverse to drive easily.

The claimed combined fuel consumption rating for the Rexton Black Edition is 8.7L/100km with CO2 emissions rated at 223g/km – versus the Santa Fe’s 6.1L/100km claim and the Everest’s 7.2L/100km claim. The drivetrain is rated for Euro 6 emissions, though not with AdBlue or a stop-start system. We achieved a reasonable 9.8L/100km in our mostly urban testing. The Rexton has a 70-litre fuel tank and can travel around 700km on a tank based on our consumption.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

Using the same platform as the Musso ute, the 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition isn’t the sportiest SUV out there – in fact, an Everest runs rings around it for overall dynamics – but it’s quiet, very comfortable and relaxing to drive. The ride is soft and comfortable – even on the 20-inch wheels of the Black Edition – with reasonable body control. The steering is slow but well weighted, while the visibility and driving position are pretty good as well – the large mirrors do help, however.

The Rexton can tow a 3,500kg braked trailer (the same as the Everest and 1,000kg more than the Santa Fe). Its active safety systems are a mixed bag – the forward collision warning and auto emergency braking work well, but the lane departure warning needs refining to be like both Hyundai and Ford’s systems, which are excellent. Worse still, systems like adaptive cruise control and lane trace assist are unavailable in Australia, which is disappointing given how well it is otherwise equipped. Overall, the Santa Fe and Everest provide more engaging driving experiences and more safety equipment, but they do cost more.

Interior & Practicality: 9/10

The interior of the 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition, like the Musso on which it’s based, is surprisingly plush and of a high quality – especially against its pricepoint rivals. The Nappa leather upholstery used is excellent, while the quilted pattern extends to the centre console as well. The leather steering wheel is nice to hold, and the dashboard and door top plastics are soft touch too – plus, the switchgear feels nice in hand as well.

The Rexton’s front cabin is quite practical with plenty of storage space – there’s a large central box underneath the arm rest, big door bins, nicely sized cup holders, a wireless phone charger and a reasonably sized glove box too.

Centre of the Rexton’s cabin is an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and to be honest, it’s one of the biggest issues we have about the car as it could be bigger, brighter and better featured. In comparison to the Santa Fe’s 10.25-inch screen and the Everest’s huge 11.6-inch portrait screen, the Rexton’s screen is small and more difficult to use. While it’s really not bad at all, the screen size is small in this day and age, it’s quite dark (it annoyingly automatically dims whenever the headlights are turned on) and it lacks features like inbuilt navigation and digital radio. The six-speaker sound system is reasonable, though nothing special.

The middle row of the Rexton is reasonably spacious, though not huge – three adults will fit fine, though leg room can be a bit tight for folks with longer legs and the seat doesn’t slide fore and aft to help out. The seats are split in a 60:40 split and both sides fold and tumble to help access to the third row. The second row is otherwise well featured with door bins, map pockets, air vents, heated outboard seats, a central arm rest with storage and two USB-A ports and a 12V socket for charging.

The third row of the Rexton is reasonably spacious and much less of a penalty box than both the Everest and Santa Fe. The seats are comfortable, there’s a reasonable amount of space on offer and there are also air vents in the ceiling, a fan speed controller, cup holders and a 12V socket for charging duties.

Behind the third row of seating lies 236-litres of space, with 641L available (to the top of the seats) if you fold the third row down and 1,806L if you fold and tumble the second row – just 12L less than the Everest. The boot has a few features like tie down points and a false floor, but that’s about it. A full-size alloy spare wheel lies under the body.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

SsangYong boasts one of the best standard new car warranties in the market, with seven years/unlimited km of coverage, plus seven years of roadside assistance and 15,000km/once yearly service intervals. There’s also seven years/105,000km of capped price servicing at $375 per service, though there are additional items that push the cost up to $3,009 over five years/75,000km (or $602 per service).

Both the Ford and Hyundai can’t match the SsangYong’s warranty coverage with lesser five-year/unlimited km warranties, though Ford offers up to eight years of roadside assistance as well (if serviced at a dealership in that time) and Hyundai will give you roadside assistance for as long as you service at a dealership. Five years/75,000km of servicing the Santa Fe will cost $2,295 ($459 per service) and $1,651 for the Everest ($330 per service), which is comfortably less than the Rexton.

The 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.4/10

The 2022 SsangYong Rexton Black Edition is overall an impressive car that should be given way more consideration by Australian new car buyers. It’s well equipped, it drives well, it’s quiet, it’s practical, it looks good and best of all, it’s insanely good value for money – especially against its worse equipped and more expensive competition. It’s great at carrying seven people in comfort and relative luxury.

Of course, it’s not perfect – safety features like adaptive cruise control and lane trace assist are unavailable, the infotainment system is basic with a small screen and limited functionality and the engine could do with more performance. But these are minor issues in what is overall a pretty good offering – like the Musso ute on which it’s based, the Rexton isn’t flashy or show itself off, but it’s got more than enough equipment and luxury features and it excels at just being a great family car. If you’re looking for a big family SUV – regardless of if you need its off-road ability or not – you’re missing out if the Rexton is not on your test drive list.