Ssangyong Hideous...er, I mean Rodius

[soldierguy]

There's a car company here in Korea...Ssangyong. Most of their product line is made up of out-of-production high-end German and Japanese cars...Ssangyong buys the rights and tooling of an outgoing car that's being updated, does a light re-style, then sells it here in Korea. They do Benz S-Class cars, Lexus, high end Nissans and Infinities, etc. They also have a couple of vehicles that they've actually designed themselves. The Ssangyong Rodius is one of them...I think it should have been called the Ssangyong Hideous.Just thought I'd post this for those that might be interested in seeing a truly ugly vehicle.Note how the wheels are tucked in too far under the body, the horribly oversized lights, unfortunate grille, and the grille guard with the vehicle name on it in chrome. Most of them on the road here have all-wheel drive and a Benz turbo-diesel under the hood.

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[soldierguy]

Here's another shot

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[soldierguy]

And here's a shot of one of their Benz S-class restyle jobs...this is the Ssangyong Chairman (I'm not making that name up!), and this one has a 4.0 liter Benz V8 under the hood.

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[soldierguy]

And one more shot of a local car here...this is the Daewoo Matiz...it's a city car with a 1.0 liter 3 cylinder mated to a CVT...it can't get out of its own way! But they're easy to park anywhere, and they do get decent mileage.

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[BlueCrush]

The Chairman is ok. The others are nasty!

[wicked1981]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »The Chairman is ok. The others are nasty!I agree!

[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »The Chairman is ok. The others are nasty!At least the Rodius looks better than an Aztek or a Honda Element!

[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by soldierguy »And here's a shot of one of their Benz S-class restyle jobs...this is the Ssangyong Chairman (I'm not making that name up!), and this one has a 4.0 liter Benz V8 under the hood.Thanks! I love to see what the rest of the world is driving. Post more pictures when you can! How about Korean versions of the models that Daewoo, Hyundai and others ship over here?Thanks again, and thanks for serving for us!

[GMJAP]

It's the Grodius! Really quite bizarre. I like the Matiz, though. It's cute.

[redlava]

The Rodius looks like a Suzuki Areo and a Lincoln Navigator had a ******* child which was locked in the basement until it escaped.

[soldierguy]

Quote, originally posted by redlava »The Rodius looks like a Suzuki Areo and a Lincoln Navigator had a ******* child which was locked in the basement until it escaped. Yeah, it ain't pretty! I see a lot of them on the roads here, but I can't imagine why. I mean, it's roomy, AWD, and they all have turbo-diesels here (gas is about $5.60 a gallon in Seoul, diesel is around $4 per gallon), but it's absolutely hideous! And the interior has an enormous center-mounted instrument panel...gauges are strung out on the middle half the dashboard with none in front of the driver!

[soldierguy]

And in response to the requests for more, I'll start with a really nice car...the Ssangyong Equus. That is a sweet car...it's a lightly restyled last-generation Lexus LS 450...crisp, elegant, and just an all-around nice ride.

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[soldierguy]

Another view of the Equus...again, I actually like this thing. But we all jokingly call it a "Rexus"...as in it's Really a Lexus.

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[soldierguy]

And yet another view of the Equus...

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[soldierguy]

And one final view of the Equus.

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[soldierguy]

This next one is a Daewoo Korando, also sold as a Ssangyong Korando. Daewoo originally had plans to bring this one to the US as an alternative to the Wrangler, but Jeep's lawyers got involved claiming copyright infringement because of the grille, then Daewoo never really took off in the states anyway, so plans were scrapped. Most here are powered by a Benz inline 5 cylinder turbo-diesel, so it sounds a lot like an old turbo-diesel S-class Benz from the 80's when it's running...not a bad thing at all.This particular one is owned by the US Army.

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[soldierguy]

Another shot of the Daewoo Korando...kinda boxy and not much room in them, but they are very popular with the off-road crowd here.

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[soldierguy]

And in reference to my last post about the Korando being popular with the off-road crowd here, this is one that I saw on the street today in Itaewon in Seoul. It's the Ssangyong version that's been given a suspension lift and mud tires.Oh and yes, that is a hood scoop on a minivan in the background. The scoop feeds air to the intercooler...it's a turbodiesel.

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[soldierguy]

Another view of the lifted Korando...if it's got the equipment to back the stickers, it's probably a pretty good off-roader.

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[soldierguy]

And another view of a slightly older Ssangyong Chairman...this one was replaced by the droopy-eyed version I posted earlier. But if you look closely, the script on the side has the number 600 in it, meaning that it's powered by the Benz 6.0 liter V-12 engine. Ssangyong ties the numbers in the model to the engine size.

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[soldierguy]

One more view of the older Chairman. These big Ssangyongs are mostly chauffer-driven...easy to spot because there's usually a young guy driving, and an old guy asleep in the back seat.

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[soldierguy]

I was about to stop posting pics when I realized that there are two more models that I have pics of. This one is the Ssangyong Rexton...same size class as an Explorer, but it's wider, a little shorter in length, and looks a lot better in my opinion. Again, powered by a turbodiesel sourced from Benz.

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[soldierguy]

Another view of the Rexton...I think these would sell in the states pretty well, as long as the price undercut the comptetition by a few thousand dollars.

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[soldierguy]

And my entrant for the most dangerous death trap on wheels...the Daewoo Damas. This particular example is a few years old and is used for delivery. Newer ones are available as 4 seaters (still with sliding doors on both sides), and this year's model has had a nose graft...add about six inches in length to the nose and you've got the 2005 Damas. I put the shopping cart in front of it for a size reference.

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[soldierguy]

One more view of the Damas. The thing is so narrow that two average American males riding up front would be rubbing shoulders and have maybe an inch or two clearance on the outside before they'd hit the side windows. They're all powered by a 1 liter 3 cylinder gas or LPG engine, they're rear drive, and the rear differential is REALLY tiny...about the size of a grapefruit, so not much torque capacity. I'd swear that if I pushed on the top of it, the thing would tip over.

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[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by soldierguy »And in response to the requests for more, I'll start with a really nice car...the Ssangyong Equus. That is a sweet car...it's a lightly restyled last-generation Lexus LS 450.Is that a Chevrolet parked behind the Equus?

[redlava]

That Damas would never roll over in a crash. You get a good perspective with that shopping cart infront of it.

[ragingfish]

The Matix is already in Mexico and in Canada (as the Pontiac Wave). I've heard rumors Chevy might be looking to bring it state-side...

[AzFusionGT]

The Matiz in Ireland is rebagded as a Chevrolet. See it as well as their other models at http://www.chevrolet.ie

[soldierguy]

Quote, originally posted by esjones »Is that a Chevrolet parked behind the Equus?It's a Daewoo Prince...and no, I'm not making that name up either. Basic mid-sized FWD car, made here from the late 80's to the mid-90's.As a side note, there's a cottage industry here of keeping older Korean cars alive. With so many American military people that are just here for a year, many of us buy a cheap used car just to get around in, then sell it to another American before leaving the country. It's really common to see old Korean cars from the 80's on the road here driven by Americans...most are literally held together with duct tape and baling wire. Repairs are cheap here...rebuilt automatic transmissions can be had for $400 installed, same price for rebuilt cylinder heads. My Kia (seen on my cardomain site) was in an accident before I bought it...it was a pretty good repair job, but they missed replacing a broken motor mount and recharging the AC. So I had a new motor mount installed, AC recharged, had the brakes checked and adjusted (parking brake was out of whack), and tires rotated for $70.

[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by soldierguy »There's a car company here in Korea...Ssangyong. They're really burnin' 'em up in New Zealand! Here is the statement from Ssangyong's New Zealand web site....Sales of Korean-built SsangYong vehicles in New Zealand are continuing to increase dramatically, following on a very encouraging 2004. SsangYong sold 182 new passenger vehicles in 2004 - an increase of 420% over the 37 it sold in 2003.

[GMJAP]

Thanks for posting those....I always enjoy seeing the vehicles in other countries. I lived in Europe for a while, but haven't been to Asia hardly at all.