SsangYong Tivoli Limited G16 4X2, road test and review

A couple of months ago we had the opportunity to attend the national presentation of the SsangYong Tivoli, the smallest model from the Korean brand.

It is a completely new model, with an approach different from what is expected of SsangYong, which we liked a lot. We have now lived with the Tivoli for a week in order to analyse it thoroughly.

Exterior design

The Tivoli’s bodywork is much more eye-catching than the South Korean brand has accustomed us to. This small SsangYong is set to compete with models such as the Nissan Juke, the Renault Captur or the Peugeot 2008, which means “earning its stripes” in one of the most hotly contested segments on the market today.

That is why the people at SsangYong have decided to bet on an image that breaks away from convention, resulting in one of the most angular bodies around at the moment. Driving down the street in this car is fun if you like being looked at (and even more so now that it is not yet a model you see often on the road), as it leaves no one indifferent.

The front also departs from the general trend today, opting for angular surfaces with few air intakes. The grille is practically non-existent, featuring a rather small logo. The light units incorporate an LED strip for daytime running lights, with projectors for the dipped beam. They light the road well.

The front fog lights sit low in the bumper, at the extremes, accentuating the sense of width and sturdiness. The lower lip also stands out, finished in a sort of plastic with a carbon-fibre look that gives it a very appealing sporty touch.

The side view is very robust thanks above all to the angular lines and the powerful shoulders that develop from the B-pillar, which adds to its sense of solidity. This is undoubtedly a clearly distinctive feature, which sets it apart from its rivals and gives it a lot of personality. Additionally, the alloy wheels of up to 18″ offer a modern look with two-tone finishes. The rear stands out above all for its boomerang-shaped light clusters.

Interior design and quality

Time to open the doors of our Tívoli. One of the first details that catches our attention is, precisely, the doors. They fit very well, and even the sound when opening and closing them suggests more quality than we might a priori expect from a SsangYong.

A first look reveals a more welcoming cabin than usual, with attractive and modern lines. Finding a good driving position is a breeze in this car, which has what are arguably the best seats in the segment, very comfortable and with excellent support in any situation. The steering wheel adjusts for height but not for reach.

The instrumentation offers two large dials with a rev counter and a speedometer, with the fuel and coolant temperature gauges reserved for the central screen. On this same screen we also find the on-board computer with various information. Its operation is simple, although its data is somewhat confusing -tyre pressure data in psi instead of bar-. The button to use it is located in the middle of the dashboard, next to the warning lights. These Asians…

The central part of the cabin, trimmed in black plastic, houses the air vents, the multimedia system and the controls for the single-zone climate control, which is very effective but rather complicated to use. The centre console has no great extravagances, and is neatly finished with several recesses for coins or keys and a large armrest.

The materials used in the Tívoli’s interior are not bad. For the most part they are hard plastic — except for a couple of pieces in front of the two occupants — but despite being hard material, it is of good quality and the fittings are good. The door trims are also made of hard material, although there are padded areas where you rest your elbows.

The rear seats are unusually spacious. Their dimensions seem more like those of a higher segment, with genuinely generous space for both legs and head. The boot is also very large, with a capacity of at least 423 litres, expandable to a maximum of 1,115 litres.

The brand claims that the Tívoli is one of the best SsangYong models in terms of dynamics. Time to get behind the wheel to see whether the small Korean lives up to models such as the Renault Captur or the Peugeot 2008, two of its strongest rivals.

The first thing that strikes me as soon as I start the engine is the absence of vibrations or noise. It is a very smooth engine; to know whether it is running you have to look at the rev counter. When we try to pull away, we have to adapt to a clutch feel that is, let’s say, strange. The biting point is very high and very narrow, which makes it somewhat difficult to find. Once you get used to it, there is no further problem.

In the city the Tívoli feels good. It likes urban environments, suits its calm-natured engine and generally smooth controls. When we get out onto the open road things continue to go well, although you have to get used to working the gearbox more often than usual if you need to overtake or regain speed quickly.

The braking system stops the car well, although the feel of the brake pedal gives the impression that it brakes more than it actually does, as it has a small completely dead initial travel where I find no response whatsoever, before suddenly braking with considerable force.

The steering, which has three assistance modes — comfort, normal, sport — has, in any circumstance, a high degree of assistance. It doesn’t offer much feel or tell you much about what is happening under the front wheels, although this is not something this car aims for nor something its typical customer is looking for.

The engine, as mentioned before, moves the car well, though without any great fuss. It is not a fast car, although neither is it excessively slow as long as we keep it in the appropriate rev ranges to get a good response. With 128 CV and 160 Nm, the performance figures homologated by the brand are 11 seconds for the 0 to 100 km/h sprint and a top speed of 181 km/h.

This engine can only be combined with a 6-speed manual gearbox with fairly long ratios (6th gear has a speed of 37 km/h per 1,000 rpm), which are partly to blame for the engine’s poor response, especially at low revs. Once under way, the Tívoli has no trouble maintaining cruising speeds within the legal limit. The problem comes from the need to rev high, which ends up penalising both fuel consumption and occupant comfort.

The average consumption homologated by the brand is 6.6 litres per 100 km. It must be acknowledged that when you drive calmly and shift at low revs, the engine shows its most frugal side and it is possible to get close to the figures quoted by the brand. The problem is that as soon as we need some “oomph”, the engine will demand more fuel. The average figure on the computer after 1,000 km of mixed use was 7.4 litres.

The front-wheel-drive Tívoli — like this unit — has a fairly simple suspension layout (MacPherson at the front and a rigid axle at the rear), sufficient for normal use of the car. The damping is rather firm, despite which, when we take corners with some abruptness, quite pronounced body roll makes its appearance. With a clear tendency to understeer at the limit, the rear axle can only be made to slide — minimally — if provoked by lifting off the accelerator abruptly mid-corner.

Tívoli range

The SsangYong Tívoli arrives in our market with two engines: the 1.6 petrol with 128 CV, which is the one tested here, and a 1.6 diesel with 115 CV. Although with the petrol engine the only possible combination is front-wheel drive and manual gearbox, for the diesel engine a 6-speed automatic gearbox (torque converter, sourced from AISIN) is planned, as well as the arrival of a non-permanent all-wheel-drive system which also modifies the rear suspension, switching from a rigid axle to a multi-link layout.

The Tívoli is offered in three trim levels, named Line, Premium and Limited. The Line trim, the most basic, comes as standard with features such as air conditioning, seven airbags, ESP, hill-start assist, USB or Bluetooth, among others.

The Premium line already fits more striking upholstery, cargo-area and seat anchoring straps and cruise control, while the Limited version becomes the most fully equipped with features such as automatically folding mirrors, light and rain sensors, the Tomtom-branded navigation system, the rear-view camera or the climate control. Items such as xenon-LED headlights or a sunroof cannot be specified on any version.

As is normally the case with brands of this type, these items are not offered as options on the lower trims, forming a closed package which often means that some potential customers settle for less equipment rather than move up to the more expensive version.

The price list starts at 14,650 euros for the petrol variant in Line trim, including a discount of approximately 1,000 euros. The Premium version rises in price to 16,500 €, while the Tívoli G16 Limited starts at 18,500 euros. The diesel versions, named D16T, start at 18,000 € for the Premium variant — the Line version is not available with diesel — and rise to 20,000 € for the Limited or Premium 4×4 versions. Finally, the most expensive versions are the automatic Limited, priced at 21,500 € for the front-wheel-drive model and 24,000 € for the all-wheel-drive variant.

In short, SsangYong enters one of the most hotly contested segments of the European market with the Tívoli, a model whose distinctive design, interior space and equipment are its sharpest weapons.

Photography | Daniel Valdivielso