Need an inexpensive frame SUV? I’m showing you a great option.

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A large SUV with all-wheel drive, and even with a frame. Why do you need such a car? There can be many options here, from direct off-road driving, to simple love for large four-wheel drive vehicles, without the need to leave city roads. I think that many of you at least once thought about purchasing such a car, and at the same time, everyone had their own reason for this. I think that you should not go in cycles in the reasons for buying such a car, since this is not so important.

More importantly, it is quite difficult to find such cars in the budget segment. Now such cars, in principle, are not very popular, and therefore, even on the market for new cars, the choice is not very large, and prices tend to rise more and more every year. On the secondary market, the picture is also not the most pleasant, most of the options are either very old or cost 2-3 million conventional units. Especially for fans of such cars who cannot afford to buy famous and expensive models, I am launching a series of articles about cheap frame SUVs. I note that in this segment, I consider cheap cars whose cost does not exceed one million conventional units.

So, the hero of this article will be a Korean SUV from the end of the 2000s, the beginning of the 10s – the second generation SsangYoung Rexton. The car was produced from 2006 to 2012 and during this time managed to scatter in a very small circulation. At the moment, there are about 200 offers on the secondary market for the sale of this model throughout the country.

From my own experience, I can say that not everyone is familiar with SsangYoung cars. Most, if they have heard about these cars, do not really know anything about them, and some even consider the SsangYoung brand to be Chinese, although this is not at all the case. And if we confuse the roots of the car, then only with Germany, why I will tell later. Now I note that once this company was one of the largest Korean automobile companies and ranked fourth in terms of the number of cars produced. Unfortunately, the company has now filed for bankruptcy.

The SsangYong Rexton SUV is mostly the efforts of the Germans and Italians than the Koreans themselves. Italdesign was responsible for the design of the car, and Mercedes-Benz was responsible for the technical component. From the Koreans here, for the most part, it only remained to collect everything together and send it for sale. Let's take a closer look at this international SUV.

Let's start our acquaintance directly with the body. Externally, the car does not look the best way. In general, everything seems to be not bad, but the design solution itself is not the most familiar, and therefore may repel some buyers. By itself, the body holds up quite well, even though it is not the standard of “stainless steel”, but it does not cause strong problems with mushrooms. The set of places where you should look is very standard: the lower edges of the doors, wheel arches, hood, bumper joints with fenders and sills, windshield frame. The car has no more problem areas, and on those that I have listed, corrosion, if any, is minimal.

As for the frame, it is here and is famous for its relatively good corrosion resistance. If the car is running and no one really followed the state of the frame, then most likely it will be possible to meet serious pockets of corrosion on the back of the frame. However, if the previous owner or owners followed the frame, then there should not be any special problems. Particular attention should be paid to the internal cavities, as well as zones of active influence of the external environment. One of these places is located behind the front wheels, and on the right there should be a frame number at all, the presence of which should be checked.

Also, the transmission of the car will be an interesting place. Here, to be honest, you can even get confused. Despite the fact that the car can hardly be called massive, the choice here is through the roof. There is a choice: an option with permanent all-wheel drive and without a lowering, there is also an option with a lowering, but with a hard-wired front axle and without. It is also possible to purchase a car with an automatically connected front axle. In the next generations, a few more schemes were added, but it makes no sense to write about them in this article.

Now about the most interesting, motors. Here they are, as I said above, from Mercedes. Diesel variations are more popular, which are distinguished by high reliability and a fairly small number of problems. As for the resource, for the most part, diesel cars calmly cross over 500 thousand kilometers, and all possible problems are commonplace for diesel engines.

Speaking about gasoline units, a 3.2-liter aspirated engine with a capacity of 220 horses can be noted. The unit is very reliable and does not cause any special problems, and it rolls quietly for 400 thousand km or more. Of course with normal maintenance. The petrol versions are equipped with an exclusively automatic transmission, the resource of which is also quite high. Diesels can be found paired with both mechanics and automatic.

As for the interior, everything is not bad here, and one can even say that it is good. For its price, the car has a fairly rich equipment and good interior design. There is enough space inside, and in general it is quite comfortable, of course, not a Mercedes, but far from being a UAZ Patriot. There is not much to say about the cabin, it's just good, that's all. The trunk here is also very typical and its volume varies from 925 to 1525 liters.

In general, the car is not bad, but not perfect. However, if you start from the price, then it is unlikely that you will be able to find something much better. As for the price, you will practically not find cars for a million conventional units, since, at the moment, the top of the market is 900 thousand conventional units, and the price tag in the range of 650-700 thousand conventional units can be considered an adequate price. If you need a really perfect car, then it's worth preparing for about 800 thousand, for this money you will get the most fresh and well-groomed car.

Are you familiar with this car? Maybe there was an experience of ownership? If you have something to say, then be sure to write comments, it will be very interesting to read and chat! And that's all for me, thank you very much for your attention and see you in the comments!