SsangYong Musso XLV ELX 2019 Tow Test

There are very few dual-cab utes on the market today that don’t have at least 3500kg towing capacity, and any manufacturer or importer releasing a new ute would be mad to offer anything less, if they want to be competitive in the class.

How useful the magic figure of 3500kg towing capacity is for dual-cab utes beyond the slick advertising material is another thing, as we have discovered. You can have maximum payload or maximum towing capacity in most duel-cabs, but not both at the same time.

So here we have the new 2019 SsangYong Musso XLV ELX dual-cab ute, with a promising spec sheet and attractive pricing entering the battle for dual-cab ute buyers.

The Musso XLV ELX’s kerb weight is 2160kg and it has a 1025kg payload, giving a GVM of 3220kg. Towing capacity is of course 3500kg, with a maximum 350kg towball download.

With its GCM of 6370kg, once you subtract the vehicle’s GVM, you’re left with a towing capacity of 3150kg.

Assuming you’ve got a 10 percent towball download mass (315kg) pressing down on the back of the vehicle, it leaves you a maximum of 710kg payload in or on the Musso. The Musso’s real-world towing weight specs are therefore an improvement on the top-10 dual-cab utes.

What you get for the $35,990 drive-away price for the ELX auto is competitive. The 2019 SsangYong Musso XLV ELX comes with cruise control, 17-inch alloy wheels, full-size spare wheel, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, reversing camera, keyless start, auto wipers and headlights, front fog lights, steering-wheel mounted audio controls, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW) as standard.

The factory 3500kg towing kit costs an additional $1350 plus two hours’ fitting time.

The Musso’s interior is large with accommodating, comfortable seats for four adults, five at a pinch. The controls and instruments are all straight-forward, although the staggered-gate gearshft is too easy to drop into manual mode when you’re aiming for “D”.

SsangYong has a long history of providing all the bells and whistles in its vehicles – literally – and the Musso is no different. There’s a sound it emanates for just about any situation, whether it’s the cheery hello jingle as you open the door to a variety of other bells and beeps, for reasons not always entirely clear.

Time for towing

We grabbed a 2800kg Millard tandem caravan (with 200kg towball download) from RV Connection in St Marys NSW to try out behind the Musso.

After hitching up, using the clear reversing camera to line up the towball with the coupling, the Musso’s body rose a mere 1mm at the front and had a relatively minor 21mm droop at the rear.

Shuttling though the ‘burbs to the freeway, the Musso was quiet and composed, the towball weight helping to smooth out its relatively brittle ride when unladen. While its long (3200mm) wheelbase didn’t present any obvious problems swinging around corners or doing U-turns, its particularly long 5405mm body means that you’ll have to be selective about parking spots in tight urban confines.

There is one notable towing edict given by SsangYong, and that is that you should, “Always drive your vehicle at a moderate speed (less than 80km/h)”. Does that mean if you exceed 80km/h when towing, you become legally liable if you crash? It is a grey area, but then this statement in the Musso’s owner’s manual is quite definitive.

We did sit at 100km/h in a 110km/h zone for a period and the Musso didn’t feel all that planted to the road. While we used the identical Millard off-road van for the recent Toyota LandCruiser 200 towing test (behind which it was stable) but the towball sits lower on the Musso (although not an unreasonable or illegal 400mm with the van hitched up) and as a result, the van had a clearly nose-down attitude. With no time to get another, higher-mount hitch tongue (and the standard tongue not being able to be flipped to sit higher) we had to test with the rig as it was. It’s fair to say that the Musso would likely felt more stable with a better-balanced caravan.

At 100km/h, the Musso was happiest in fourth gear, with upshifts to fifth when on the flats. Only as the road headed downhill did the transmission want to select sixth gear. The engine is really smooth and quiet, only getting intrusive when pegging speed downhill or revving hard on hill climbs or overtaking.

The Musso doesn’t have class-leading power or torque specs (133kW/420Nm), so it was hardly surprising that it was down to 72km/h on the test hill with a full throttle after a 90km/h start at the bottom of the hill. Engine braking is not class-leading either, with speed rising from 70km/h to 75km/h on the descent.

Solo, unladen fuel consumption was down to 9.5L/100km with mostly highway cruising. With the van behind, consumption averaged a quite reasonable 16.1L/100km. Allowing a 50km safety margin so you don’t risk running the Musso’s 75-litre tank dry, you’d get 466km before needing to refuel.

The Musso XLV is a value-laden dual-cab ute with promising specs, good towing fuel economy and reasonable towing performance. While we can’t accuse it of being unstable when towing without further testing, SsangYong’s 80km/h towing speed cap is a drawback.

How much does the 2019 SsangYong Musso XLV ELX cost?
Price: $35,990 (drive-away)
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 133kW/420Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 233g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Not tested