Ssangyong Rodius reviews

Don't be fooled by the five year warranty, you pay dearly for it through service costs and faults causing down time. Let me start from the beginning although this will not be all of the problems and faults. We bought the car new in December 2012 as a dealer demo with 2000 miles on the clock and only four/five months old, it was fitted with the upgrade Kenwood GPS and reversing camera system, running and tow bars etc. That Ssangyong dealer has now went burst and I am now onto my third Ssangyong dealer. Within a month of getting the car the "new" battery failed, which when you live on an island of the North of Scotland is big problem, next was front Tire wear, £200.00 tires last about 7-9000 miles, cheaper alternatives maybe 4-5000 or less, I have went through 5 sets of front tires, which the Ssangyong dealers simply shrug their shoulder at as if it is of no consequence. I have paid for several four wheel alignment checks which all say the alignment is OK, so the Tire problem is somewhere else in the design and/or poor set up of the running gear. After lots of little niggles like the reversing camera not working (not covered by warranty as the dealer who fitted it went burst, as who also fitted the tow bar whose electrics have went U/S). In December 2014 the fan belt which drives the alternator etc snapped at about 25-26,000 miles rendering the car useless, as there is no Ssangyong dealer in the Scotland above Dundee (having lost their dealer in Inverness), this would mean a five hundred mile round trip and at least two nights overstay along with an expensive ferry crossing which if all combined would amount to about £500.00 to get the car to a dealer. After much shoulder shrugging at Ssangyong HQ, where an ever so condescending manager who laughed when I suggested they meet part of the travel cost and who also suggested that at 25000 miles it is not surprising for a fan belt to snap (my company Toyota and Nissan are at 60,000 and 70,000 miles plus on the same fan belt) agreed to send the parts to a local and very well qualified repair garage to carry out the warranty work, this took a ridiculous two weeks to arrive after two weeks of arguing the point. Transpires that one of the pulley brackets had snapped hence the fan belt snapping. The Rodius was off the road for about three weeks and no follow up by the warranty manager. Bottom line Xmas without a car. Numerous other niggles annoy, the heating / air conditioning seems to work then doesn't, the center box catch broke (my fault for using it and it is not covered by warranty - so much for no quibble five year warranty), the fuel economy never betters 20 miles to the gallon (more on this) and tires just seem to get eaten. Servicing costs are a joke, at every 10,000 miles and cost about £165.00 plus vat for the minor and about £300 plus vat for the major which is every 20,000 miles, then to comply with the warranty at every 20,000 you have to add about £100.00 plus vat for diff oil change plus another £50.00 for a brake fluid change and at 40,000 miles (where my car is now) another £70.00 plus vat for an auto box oil change. Cheapest quote for 40,000 mile service was £365.00 the most expensive £576.00. BUT REMEMBER THIS IS EVERY 10,000 and/or 20,000 MILES. I moved down south in April 2015 and had the Rodius 30,000 mile service done (another £165.00), I was then advised and had to have all its discs and brakes done at a cost of some £700.00, expensive as this was it was not as ridiculously expensive as the £950.00 or so quoted for Ssangyong parts to do the same job. Then the air conditioner failed after the dealer had charged another fee of about £35.00 plus vat to top it up, the air conditioner was again done under warranty at only 34,000 miles or so. In August/September 2015 I reported to the Ssangyong dealer that the transmission was bumping and snatching when accelerating and decelerating, that it was making a whining near screeching noise (which the kids hear more often than I - better ears), it was dismissed as misshapen tires and I was charged £50.00 plus vat for the privilege of having a five year no quibble warranty complaint dealt with!!! I had the tires changed at the rear some 2.5-3000 miles ago and the fronts changed two weeks ago. I took the Rodius back for its 40,000 mile service in December 2015 and complained again about the screeching noise and vibration from the running gear. I suggested that there seemed to be some more drag on the running gear or engine, I got the car back with the comment of rear tires have low tread (after only 3000 miles) and that balancing was off on the new tires (I watched the tire company balance the wheels I did not watch the Ssangyong dealer service the car?) and this may be the cause in the dealers opinion? I was only then told by the dealer that the £299.00 I had just paid did not include the "warranty essential" diff oil change and this would be another £110.00 or so. I agreed to have it done after Xmas and drove the car away, however the vibration was so much worse, the screeching and running gear drag worse so I took the car back to the dealer immediately to have the technician sit in the car and finally agree that he can now hear the noise and feel the vibration (he is 45 something plus and probably has age impaired hearing also). Turns out he never did test drive the car as they initially claimed as they laterally claimed that the tires are too worn (after only 3000 miles) to test drive the car properly and that I now have to replace the tires at the rear again before they will investigate the problem any further. I am maxing out at 20 mpg on a 50/60 mph run and I think the running gear drag problem and the awful mpg are linked. Bottom line I am left without a car over Xmas AGAIN and Ssangyong don't really give a damn. This Ssangyong Rodius car has been a nightmare, the attitude of the small dealers (and they are all small dealers) is very poor - I won't say rip off but not very good when compared with Nissan and Toyota (and don't listen to their claims of they are cheaper servicing - they are not - my works Navara has cost a fraction of the expense of the Rodius). The attitude of Ssangyong customer services is even worse, their GBHQ warranty manager is a condescending so and so and it is no wonder their dealer network adopts the same approach. Ssangyong cars may be cheap (ish) to buy at the beginning but they work out very very expensive and even more frustrating is dealing with dealers who have limited service equipment and experience (many Ssangyong dealers are so new to the brand that their service people have never driven a 2700cc pre 2013 Rodius vehicle before). My advice - forget the 5 year warranty you pay for it through the nose, buy a six month old Nissan or Toyota or Honda, the over all running costs and frustration will be much less and the residuals much higher - and here is the final insult to injury!!!! My 40,000 mile top of the range with every extra Rodius EX four wheel drive MPV car costing £20,000 plus only three an a bit years ago was valued by a dealer at ..... £5,500.00 in a trade in. TAKE MY ADVICE LEAVE THIS BRAND ALONE.

My second rodius.the first did 351,000 in 5 years as a taxi with never a any trouble. This one a year and 6 weeks old 80,000 and not a problem.5years unlimmited warrenttey. I have never had to use it. Thanks for letting me brag .