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By
EWAN KENNEDY
19 March 2006
SsangYong has trimmed $1000 off the price of its Stavic people mover and
the price list now begins at an impressively low $35,990. That’s for
the Stavic 2.7-litre turbo diesel with a five-speed manual transmission.
Though it’s one of the most practical of all people movers
the Stavic is currently struggling to find more than about 400 new
owners each year.
Stavic’s biggest problem is its appearance. We are on the
record as saying we love the bold attitude of the designer,
ItalDesign and, after initially disliking the two-stage rear end,
have come to really appreciate the overall style. Then again,
beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we know of more than one
person who disagrees with us.
There is plenty of space for seven people in a SsangYong Stavic.
The cabin is laid out in a two/two/three seating arrangement. The
front seats are the usual individual items, centre seating row
consists of two reasonably-spacious bucket seats that can slide
backward and forward individually to let occupants gain the best
compromise in legroom.
The rearmost seat is a bench arrangement that can also be
longitudinally adjusted. Depending on adjustments, it can have
good legroom for adults. The back seat is best used by three
children as adults are likely to rub shoulders. But it’s hardly
alone in that latter matter.
The view out from the rearmost seats is spoiled by that unusual
sloping side-rear panel so have any potential child passengers
come along on your road test to see what they see.
This is a big vehicle and overcomes one of the major problems
with other seven-seater people movers – luggage space. Even when
the seats are set up to give good legroom there's room in the
Stavic for three decent sized suitcases in the boot, with space
for several softer bags around them.
All the seats behind the front buckets can be removed without
too much of a hassle to create a van-like interior.
Power comes from a Mercedes-Benz designed turbo-diesel engine.
Most of the time you wouldn’t know that it was a diesel, only at
idle does that distinctive clattering under the bonnet betray its
fuel type. There's plenty of torque and this 2.0-tonne people
mover shifts along in a lively enough fashion.
Mated to a five-speed automatic transmission, also Mercedes
based, the Stavic's engine generally drives the rear wheels, but a
4WD is also offered for an additional $4000.
The two-wheel drive Stavic comes in at a very reasonable
recommended retail price of just $35,990, that figure being
arguably one of the most attractive features of this new SsangYong.
Ride and handling are competent enough and Stavic is able to
hold onto the road well enough to cope with life in normal driving
conditions. Its ride is generally quite and smooth unless the road
turns really rough.
The complete SsangYong Stavic range with prices (excluding
on-road costs) is:
SV 270 Sports Plus 4x2 2.7-litre diesel: $36,990 (manual),
$39,990 (automatic)
SV 270 Sports Plus 2.7-litre diesel: $40,990 (manual), $43,990
(automatic)
SV 270 Limited 2.7-litre diesel: $44,990 (manual), $48,990
(automatic)
SV320 Sports Plus 3.2-litre petrol: $38,990 (automatic)
SV 320 Limited 3.2-litre petrol: $43,990 (automatic)
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Marque Publishing Company
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