KGM Torres review

Is the KGM Torres a good car?

The KGM Torres is a solid start for this reborn brand, with excellent amounts of cabin space and generous equipment lists. Performance is only respectable, though, and efficiency is behind the curve. Several of the car’s rivals offer a better user experience when it comes to the all-important in-car tech. Keen finance deals may well be required if the Torres is to win converts from more polished Korean and European rivals. But there is promise here, certainly, that perhaps the electric EVX version or the forthcoming hybrid can really fulfil.

KGM Torres: model range, specs and rivals

It can’t be easy to overhaul an entire car company, but that’s precisely what KGM is attempting to do with the brand formerly known as SsangYong. The process started last spring with the change of name, but it’s really kicking in now with the arrival of the first all-new model launched under the fresh ownership: the Torres.

You could hardly describe KGM’s first debut as an easy vehicle to slide under the radar, either, because the Torres is neither a small car nor a subtle one. The company says it wants to “build on the heritage of SsangYong”, which you could literally argue it has with this 4.7-metre-long SUV; that’s lengthier than the Nissan X-Trail. If you’re looking closer to home, this model is designed to slot in between the Korando and the KGM Rexton, both still on sale as part of KGM’s rebranded portfolio.

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KGM claims the Torres is based on a new platform, although work on the car started before the company took over Ssangyong, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it were in some way related to the old Korando architecture. Either way, it can accommodate a variety of powertrains, and it’s being launched with a choice of combustion or pure-electric power. There’s a single regular engine on offer, a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged unit producing 161bhp and 280Nm of torque. It’s paired up with a six-speed automatic gearbox and either front or four-wheel drive.

The all-electric version is badged the KGM Torres EVX and it’s equipped with a BYD-sourced ‘Blade battery’ measuring 73kWh and delivering up to 287 miles of range. A petrol-electric hybrid, again featuring tech sourced from BYD, will be added to the range, although it’s hard to see how it won’t end up replacing the regular 1.5-litre petrol completely.

In the meantime, KGM UK has gone for a simplified line-up, with just two trim levels on offer, both of them pretty well equipped. The Torres K30 comes with 18-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, full-LED headlights, heated front seats and steering wheel, keyless entry, front and rear parking sensors, a 12.3-inch infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, dual-zone air-con and cruise control. It costs a little bit more than smaller five-seaters such as the Nissan Qashqai, but is in the mix with seven-seaters like the Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq.

The K40 carries a premium of £3,000, but steps up to 20-inch wheels and adds navigation, power adjustment on the front seats, heating and ventilation in the front and rear seats, premium leather upholstery, adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree camera system. This is the Torres that you can have with four-wheel drive, incidentally, for an additional £2,000.

How much does the KGM Torres cost?

Despite its size, every version of the KGM Torres manages to come in at less than £40,000, with the entry-level K30 starting at just under £32,000. Go for the fully equipped K40 version, and it’ll cost you around £35,000. If you need four-wheel drive, you’ll have to go for one in the top K40 trim, increasing the price to around £37,000.

Alternatively, you can lease a KGM Torres or buy a used Torres, all on Auto Express.

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A 1.5-litre engine doesn’t sound much in a car this big and with a kerbweight of more than a tonne and a half, but in unladen form, at least, the Torres makes a decent fist of things. The gearbox doesn’t appreciate being rushed, but a more patient approach will be rewarded by smooth progress – much the same, in fact, as you’ll find in any of the large SUVs featuring smaller petrol motors instead of good old-fashioned 2.0-litre diesels. The KGM’s engine – which is already used elsewhere in the range – spins up smoothly enough, only sounding harsh if you stamp on the throttle and demand instant acceleration, sending the revs rocketing.

The latest platform delivers a more rounded dynamic performance than SsangYongs of old, with slightly better body control and keener turn-in than the likes of the Korando. This is still a tall vehicle, though, and one where the trade-off for compliance is a bit of lean in corners – so you might find yourself correcting the relatively quick steering if you try to tip the Torres into a corner at high speeds. The ride at low speeds is a bit too fidgety for what is supposed to be a family car that’ll spend most of its time trundling along on the school run. Still, that lengthy wheelbase helps on the comfort front at higher speeds, where only really sharp, high-frequency inputs break through to the cabin. We suspect a K30 on 18-inch wheels would be even better at this, bringing the overall dynamic package closer to the likes of the Kia Sportage. Cruising refinement is pretty decent, in fact, despite the bluff front end, tall windscreen and larger wheels. 

Besides the electric Torres EVX, all petrol models use a 161bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine and a six-speed automatic. Whether in front or four-wheel drive form, it gets from 0-62mph in 10.8 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 118mph. Neither figure makes the Torres the quickest in its class, but it has enough for most needs. It might be more of a struggle when fully loaded with passengers and their luggage, though. We’d like to see a little more calibration work done on the throttle, because we found the Torres is a little slow to respond initially, which is then followed by a slightly unexpected burp of power, making it a challenge to modulate at lower speeds in order to make smooth progress. Once on the move, the automatic transmission shifts between gears smoothly enough.

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While the KGM Torres will be more affordable to buy than its similarly sized rivals, it unfortunately won’t be the cheapest to run. Its sole petrol option only gets a WLTP rating of 33.2mpg for the front-wheel-drive version, and 31.2mpg for the four-wheel-drive variant. In our testing, we saw economy in the high 20s, which is hardly impressive for an SUV in this day and age, especially when the equivalent Skoda Kodiaq with mild-hybrid assistance is rated at 47.3mpg. To be fair, that was in stop/start driving on faster country roads and should improve on longer runs, but in our view, the hybrid version of the Torres can’t come quickly enough for those not ready to leap to full electric.

To make matters worse, you don’t get a particularly large fuel tank to make up for the Torres’s poor fuel economy. At a mere 47 litres, that means you’ll get just shy of 350 miles to a tank based on the combined figure for the front-wheel-drive version. There are some fully electric cars with a longer electric range, and that petrol range figure doesn’t seem all that far away from the 287 miles of range of the electric KGM Torres EVX. 

Low fuel economy also means high emissions, with all petrol versions sitting in the highest 37 per cent Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) company car tax band. At least private buyers can take some comfort in the fact that due to every version of the Torres coming in below the £40,000 luxury-car tax threshold, you won’t have to pay the higher yearly VED rate of some of its rivals.

Residual values, according to our experts, are on par with competitors, with the Torres expected to maintain between 43 to 46 per cent of its original value after three years or 36,000 miles. The Skoda Kodiaq will be worth between 41 to 49 per cent over the same period.

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In design terms, the KGM Torres is a bit of a mishmash of influences, with Jeep-like vertical grille slats at the front and a distinct whiff of Range Rover in the way that the rear lights wrap around the corner of the tailgate. There’s a lot of faux butchness about it, in truth, with bonnet-mounted grab handles and roof rails, but it’s probably imposing and distinctive enough overall for what is a desperately crowded market.

The Torres’s elevated cabin delivers a commanding view of the road ahead, and the sharp edges of the chunky styling mean that it’s an easy vehicle to place on the road, despite its size. From the driver’s seat, the dash is dominated by a pair of 12.5-inch displays, integrated into one neat panel that combines the infotainment and instruments.

Material quality is certainly better than you’d expect for a car at this price point, with plenty of squidgy surfaces on the dashboard and door cards. There are some harder plastics used, but they’re in places generally outside your eyeline in areas you wouldn’t normally touch. We also appreciate that you won’t find any piano-black plastic that’s easily scratched. Instead, there’s some interesting copper-coloured trim, a colour that’s also repeated in the stitching of the seats.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

There’s no denying that the displays are crisp enough, and the system is reasonably rapid in operation, but there are a couple of software flaws that we hope could be overcome through updates. Firstly, the infotainment takes too long to boot up considering it needs to be accessed for several key functions, including heating and ventilation. You’ll find yourself waiting for up to a minute after start-up just to flick on the windscreen demister (did anyone suggest a physical button, we wonder?).

Secondly, once it is up and running, the interface is a little haphazard. There are sensible shortcut buttons to the main functions, admittedly, but they’re on the far side of the screen from the driver, and the system isn’t averse to overlaying information about, for example, audio volume over the top of virtual buttons controlling vehicle functions. There’s no wireless Android Auto, and we found the connection via cable to Apple CarPlay could be a little flaky, with occasional drop-outs.

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Once you look beyond the digital tech, the cabin definitely feels like it has the space for seven occupants, even though the Torres is sticking firmly with a five-seat configuration. There’s masses of space for four grown-ups, with generous leg, knee and headroom in the second row. Only the transmission tunnel cramps the style of the fifth occupant, but we’re sure anyone less than six feet tall could get reasonably comfortable there. Family-car buyers will be able to utilise the two ISOFIX points on the outer positions of the rear bench for fixing a child seat safely in place. Top-spec K40 trim comes with some neat retractable sunblinds in the rear doorcard if you need to keep the sun off the little ones on a hot day.

The boot is big – on paper. KGM claims a capacity of 703 litres with the rear seats in place, although you’ll probably need to retract the load cover when carrying taller items, because the space below the tonneau cover seems a little shallow. With the rear seats folded, the load capacity is 1,662 litres, with access helped by a small loading lip. There’s nothing clever back there, though. There’s no way of stopping your luggage from sliding around on the floor, and not a single hook on either side of the boot itself. But there is some underfloor storage to hide valuables from prying eyes. SsangYong had a history of providing big, practical transport – and if the Torres is anything to go by, KGM is going to continue the tradition. 

Towing capacity is a relatively strong area for the Torres, because every version can pull a 1,500kg braked trailer or caravan, putting it ahead of even larger SUVs, such as the Hyundai Santa Fe. It can’t quite match the Skoda Kodiaq, which can manage up to 2.4 tonnes (2,400kg) in some configurations.

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It’s hard to comment on what the ownership experience of the KGM Torres will be given that it is a new model, and the marque (even when it was called SsangYoung before its rebrand) hasn’t featured in a Driver Power customer satisfaction survey for a number of years. There will be some peace of mind in the fact that the KGM brand provides a longer warranty than many mainstream manufacturers, with a five-year/100,000-mile warranty for petrol models beating the rather stingy three-year/60,000-mile warranty of Skoda. 

Safety experts Euro NCAP haven’t had the chance to crash-test the latest Torres yet. However, every version comes with lots of standard safety-assistance technology, such as autonomous emergency braking to help prevent or mitigate collisions with pedestrians, vehicles or cyclists at low speeds. There’s blind-spot monitoring to warn you of any vehicles alongside you on the motorway, and lane-keep assistance to maintain your position within the lane. Traffic sign recognition is also standard, helping to keep you informed of a road’s speed limit.

KGM Torres alternatives

The affordable pricing and large size of the KGM Torres sets it apart from smaller mid-size SUVs that target a premium price tag, such as the Nissan Qashqai, Peugeot 3008, and Volkswagen Tiguan. The Torres also undercuts larger SUVs such as the Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq, although the latter two can be optioned with up to seven seats.

The petrol engine in the Torres is also rather thirsty compared with the more fuel-efficient hybrids of the Kia Sportage, or our preferred mid-size SUV, the Hyundai Tucson. Both of which are the sort of car the Torres needs to steal sales from, yet both are altogether more polished overall, helping to justify their premium over the KGM.