1998 SsangYong Korando 3.2 review from Malaysia

The engine and automatic transmission was sluggish when I bought the car.

There seems to be an ECU programming error or maybe a defect at the engine electronic management cables/network.

The body wallows and rolls uncomfortably upon exiting a corner on heavily undulated asphalt surfaces.

This car sex appeal is tremendous, but unfortunately no matter what people profess the majority are racists. If not for the "Made in Korea" tag, I believe Ken Greenley's design would have taken the world by storm. A face lift would definitely be in order to satisfy the "taste of the masses".

However due to the Mercedes engine, the superb performance, rarity and the uniqueness of this design I believe it will be a prized collector's car in years to come.

This car is amazingly fast given the 3.2 normally aspirated petrol engine pushing 2,100 kgs of metal.

After some slight modification on the intake funnel which is just before the air filter unit and at the exhaust system my car could sprint 8.2 sec from 0 to 100 km/h.

It's a good car to learn on how to take corners fast because the body rolls dramatically and you sense the amplified handling dynamics cars go thru in racing environments.

However it is a very forgiving car, I could throw it at corners and despite the tyres screaming due to the sudden turn, after a slight fishtail (instantly corrected by the car), one could savour the corner in a rally like fashion. I have outdriven other more expensive 4wds and not to mention sprightly cars going up or going down winding roads and guess must have left them aghast.

This car needs to be treated like an exotic mistress, all the attention, care and love.